Scripture: Matthew 7: 28-29
Message: Because He Said So
Anthony Perry
Introduction:
ἐîïõóßá: [exousia /ex•oo•see•ah/] We are going to look at the subject of authority found in these verses. These verses come at the end of a teaching session called the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus goes through a long list of instructions concerning people, their actions, their motives, their path in life, and the things they have laid as the foundation for living. He talks about worry, and falsely judging, He teaches about money and prayer, giving and revenge, sexual sin and divorce, anger and the importance of God’s word.
At the end of His teaching Matthew gives us a look at the response of the people to these instructions. It says the people were amazed, because He taught with authority.
Here is an interesting word for our day and time; Authority. People in our day and time, especially the younger generations beginning in the 1970’s have lost their respect for those in positions of authority. This disrespect can be seen today during a recent Presidential Address when a political figure from South Carolina interrupted the President of the United States, whether we like him or not, and called him a liar on national television. It can be seen today in the classrooms across the United States when teachers are ignored, talked back too, and even threatened.
What I want to focus on this morning is how we as a nation have even lost our respect; not only for those God has placed in the position of authority, but for the authority of the one called Jesus Christ. This lack of respect goes even deeper because the Word in many Christian circles is not considered authoritative. Neither is the call that has been placed over every human being that has listened and heard, and said I believe oh Lord.
Understanding the Morning’s Scripture
The people were amazed, because He taught as one with authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
When I think of authority I think of a law enforcement officer. The job of the police officer is to know the law, interpret the law in any given situation, and enforce the law if need be. When that police officer says you have broken the law and begins writing you a ticket for speeding, then you can beg and argue until you are blue in the face, but it won’t do you any good.
A woman in our congregation had a recent run in with an officer of the law who had some authority issues. No, for you younger people, it wasn’t Cartman on South Park. Carol had rolled down her window and a piece of paper flew out of it. The officer pulled her over for littering and refused to listen to her explanation. The officer then proceeded to laugh at her when she said she was a Christian and would never do such a thing. This is because we live in day and age where Christians are not looked well upon by a large section of our society, even by other Christians.
Now its not that the teachers of the law didn’t have authority in Jesus’ time. They were like modern day police officers. Their job was to know the law, interpret the law for a specific situation, and enforce the law if need be. It’s what they were trying to do with the woman caught cheating on her husband. They wanted to stone her to death as the law required. In an attempt to trick Jesus and turn the people away from His influence, they were trying to use this infraction of the law of Israel to show that Jesus didn’t respect its authority. We love Jesus’ answer. Let the person who has no sin cast the first stone. Everyone left, because they all had sin and were as guilty of breaking the law as this woman.
So the teachers of the law had authority, but what made Jesus’ teaching so different that the people took notice?
Every Sunday preachers and teachers stand in the pulpits and Christian classrooms across the face of the earth. They are required to know the Word, interpret the word for everyday life and for the gaining in the knowledge of God, but they have no way to enforce what they are preaching or teaching, unless the people of their churches surrender themselves to the fact that God has given them authority to enforce the Word.
Jesus, however, knew the Law, but did what no preacher or teacher of the law would ever in their right mind do. In this section of Jesus’ teaching and in all sections of His teaching he would say something like this, “You have heard it said, but I say.” “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” When Jesus taught, He taught from the aspect that His interpretation, His word overruled all other voices on the subject. We sometimes fail to see that this is why religious leaders of His day had issues with Him. He was basically saying to them, “It doesn’t matter what you think. All that matters is what I say. Why? It is because I said so.”
In fact Jesus ends his teaching section with these words, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
They were amazed because Jesus taught with a “Because I said so” attitude and speech.
The church has always recognized that “His authority was real because it was delegated to Him by the God at whose command He acted. As the Son of God, His authority is real because He is himself God. He said of himself that He had the authority to judge and to forgive.
This more-than-human authority of Jesus was shown during his ministry in many ways, such as when He exorcized power over demons and illness (Mk. 1:27); When he spoke and the storm listened (Lk. 8:24f.); And after his resurrection, when he emphatically declared that he had been given ‘all exousia in heaven and on earth’—a cosmic authority, to be used to bring the people of God into the kingdom of salvation. This authority makes Him a divine Ruler of all things, a Saviour-king of the universe. And the gospel we proclaim is His first demand from us as Saviour-king. It is the command and gift, the opportunity to Bow ourselves down before Him in acknowledgment of His authority in our life over our thinking, our feeling, and our living.”
Living Under God’s Authority
The New Testament teaches us to honor God’s authority in many ways. We do this in honoring others above ourselves. In doing this we will have the attitude and character of Christ Jesus who, as God in the flesh, so honored humanity that he gave his very life for them. We are to honor God with our body. In doing this we honor God’s authority by obeying His perfect design for living. We are to honor those in the church that God has called and placed in positions of authority. In fact Paul in Timothy says they are worthy of double honor. And everyone is to submit to the governing authorities, because there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
I have always wondered what would happen if the people of the church actually gave double honor to their leaders and submitted themselves to those God appointed over them as pastor, teachers, and leaders. There was a time when this was the case. Not today. In the same way people have shucked the authority of the President, and the teachers in the classrooms, they have shucked off the authority of Jesus Christ, the church, the scriptures, and those appointed and anointed by God to be the leaders of His people.
I think people in the church would have very different relationships and lives if they followed God’s design. I think there would be a lot more doing and a lot less ignoring and finger pointing.
So what’s the problem? Why have things changed?
We can see why in the description of Herold concerning the dictator Napoleon. In so many words he said, “Napoleon loved only himself, but unlike Hitler, he didn’t hate anyone. When he was doing good or doing evil, he didn’t feel one way or the other about it. He did whatever he felt necessary to do for himself. Napoleon’s main achievement was the revolution he brought about when it came to power and manipulating people. His use of the press and propaganda, his mastery of applied psychology to make people do what he wanted them to do, his rhetoric, his bulletins, his genius at self-dramatization, his flair for pageantry, his superb exploitation of human vanity, ambition, and gullibility, his genius at fanning fear and greed by turns, and finally, his artful creation of his own legend—all this places him squarely in our own times.” Why? It is because so many of us are just like him. So many people are like little Napoleons doing things their way, following their own thinking, feeling, and choices for living, because their greatest love is for themselves.
It doesn’t matter that Jesus said, “Because I said so, because I have the true authority.” For them it doesn’t matter what the Bible says, because if what the Bible says or asks of them is against the love and honor they have for themselves, and the things they want, then they reject it. I love what proverbs says. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to destruction.”
Oh’ how so many have lost respect for the Word of God. They look at it as just some ordinary book, even though for thousands of years it has had and still has the power to change lives. So many have placed themselves above this guide for life and life eternal and they only accept it in the light of their approval. They fail to see that it has the authority to reveal God’s acceptance and rejection of every aspect of our living.
There is one thing that I have read in God’s word that I believe. There is coming a day when the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, will hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, because of the wrath of God that is coming upon this world.
It is then we will see who held the only real and true authority in heaven and on earth. On that day it is said every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It is only those who accept this now, who live in this reality now, who profess this with great love for God and humanity now, who honor the authority of Jesus now to forgive sins and to grant eternal salvation that will enter into heaven.
On this day those who had to wait until the end to do so, will have waited one day, one hour, one minute, and one second too late.
George Mueller knew what choice everyone of us needs to make today. When he was asked how he became such a man of faith and service to God he said: “There was a day when I died, utterly died;” and, as he spoke, he bent lower and lower until he almost touched the floor—“I died to George Muller, his opinions, preferences, tastes, and will—died to the world, its approval or censure—died to the approval, or blame even of my brethren and friends—and since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God.”
This is because George knew that God in the end will be the one who ultimately will say to many, “I told you so.”
Tan, Paul Lee: Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations : A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers. Garland TX : Bible Communications, 1996, c1979
Wood, D. R. W. ; Marshall, I. Howard: New Bible Dictionary. 3rd ed. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill. : InterVarsity Press, 1996, S. 106
