AUTHORITY: Who’s In Charge Around Here Anyway? 03-31-2013
TEXT: Luke 12:5-9
I. SLAVERY ISN’T PRETTY
A. Jesus continues on His way to Jerusalem to fulfill His purpose on this Earth.
1. The word says Luke 12:5-6 The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.” 6 The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you!
2. If you’re not careful to follow rules of context, you’ll miss the meaning in the little parable Jesus tells about this servant just in from the field. Luke 12:7-10 7 “When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, ‘Come in and eat with me’? 8 No, he says, ‘Prepare my meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I eat. Then you can eat later.’ 9 And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not. 10 In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’”
3. I’m in charge here? (gruffly). 90% of us already have the mental image of the wicked, gluttonous Massa with dried food on his chin still from lunch and the over-worked, underfed slave, just in from the field, fingers dripping with blood from cutting them on the cotton bowls, back aching from dragging the sack down the rows, bare feet scuffed up cuz this child of God didn’t have no shoes. Now this slave is being commanded to get off his lazy back-side and get Massa sumthin to eat cuz heza starvin.
--Now I’m certain this very picture did indeed exist on way too many occasions in the history of this nation in both North and South.
--Slavery is a dark blot on our nation’s history to be sure.
--I cannot understand the mentality of the guy who could take away another’s man’s freewill, dominate that man, buy and sell that man like a commodity, no matter how well the slave may have been treated.
--The part the Colonies and later the United States played in the Slave Trade is not defendable, only by God’s grace is it forgivable.
4. However, we must willfully set this mental image, burned into the mind of so many, aside, if we want to get down to the important Kingdom facts Jesus is trying to relay to you and me.
5. Because I think Jesus is trying to tell us, we need to standup! Show a little spizerinktom! And...Stop being afraid to assume the position of authority God intended for us to command!
6. Because the truth is, somehow or another, these days, the one who is supposed to be master, is the one saying, “Yessa, yessa, yessa.”
6. I believe there are 2 important issues in this passage which are major themes throughout Jesus life and ministry here on Earth: 1) Authority; 2) Freedom For the Oppressed.
II. AUTHORITY: WHO’S IN CHARGE AROUND HERE?
A. Genesis 1:26-28 26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign (KJV says “let them have dominion” which, you know, sounds more anointed and everything) over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” 27 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign (comand, not a suggestion) over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”
1. Who’s in charge around here? You were meant to be by default of being created in God’s Image. You were supposed to be His representative. You and I were tasked to manage God’s whole creation.
2. And when we look around, where do we start to count the number of things which are beyond our control? Natural disasters, disease...all the stuff to which devil points when he taps us on the shoulder, and says, “God is love huh, what a bunch of huughy!”
B. So when God becomes flesh, comes back to His creation to set things right, it is said of Him, Matthew 7:28-29 ...the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law. (A little self-indicting and challenging: When was the last time anything I said, or any preacher said filled with so much authority you were amazed?)
1. Over and over this issue of authority is raised in Jesus mission. Authority to forgive sins, authority to determine what was permissible on the Sabbath—to do good or evil (seems like a no-brainer). We see He has authority to heal and to cast out demons.
2. Authority over what? Jesus taught us it was authority over who. Because of the fall of man, because sin had entered into the world, there was one who demanded mankind hand over the reins of just about everything in life.
3. So the one created to reign – to be the ruler over the good creation
God created became a harshly treated slave to the cruelest imaginable task master.
4. So Jesus came teaching and preaching about authority. He showed this world and everything on it Who was boss.
5. On the Sea of Galilea, What do we call Him? “The Master of the Sea”. (No Wally, “The Chicken of the Sea is another fellow).
--Fish willing swim into the fisherman’s net on 2 occasions at Jesus request, yielding their brief little lives, for the sole purpose of bringing glory to the Master.
--In Matthew 14, might be in the Message Bible or one of those free-er versions where James, jumps on John for not watching the weather channel before they go from the east side of the Sea to the west. Again, seasoned mariners are in over their heads in a fantastic squall. But who saves the day, come a walking on the water? So large and in charge He even has the authority to invite Peter out for a walk.
--Asleep in the boat during another horrific storm. Bible doesn’t say, but I think Jesus is just playing possum. Disciples wake Him in fear for their next breath. “Jesus, don’t you care, don’t you care...?” (Na, that doesn’t sound familiar) Luke 8:24 “Silence!” and the waves, “Quiet down!” They did it. The lake became smooth as glass 25 Then he said to his disciples, “Why can’t you trust me?” They were in absolute awe, staggered and stammering, “Who is this, anyway? He calls out to the winds and sea, and they do what he tells them!”
--How did He do that? He’s the Master of the Sea. He was teaching us about Authority.
B. But the real lesson about authority would come in just moments when the crew arrives in the region of the Gerasenes.
1. I want to switch gears here. In the Gerasenes we meet an individual who is in more ways than we would like to admit, like us. He was tormented under the demesne of the devil.
III. OPPRESSION: JESUS CAME TO SET US FREE
A. Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me...because he has anointed me... to set the oppressed free... Jesus forthrightly told us what He came to do. Then He set about doing it.
1. Luke 8:27 As Jesus was climbing out of the boat, a man who was possessed by demons came out to meet him.
2. We Christians have these certain words which catch our ears. All of the sudden, we want to debate, split hairs and argue. When we sink to this level we often miss Jesus’ point. Those words in this case are “oppression” and “possession”.
3. The man in Luke 8 was “possessed” in our collective opinion, certainly the worst of the two conditions. Sort of like the flu verse a cold.
--Naked; --living in a graveyard; --They tried to chain him up but he broke the chains; --Running loose like a fool; --Shrieking when he sees Jesus
4. And the horde of demons who had completely taken over his life and body spoke through him. They feared Jesus had come to send them to “The bottomless pit” or hell prematurely. They begged instead to be allowed safe passage into the bodies of a herd of pigs which they soon destroyed.
5. We accept by faith Jesus authority over the Earth. Through the eye witness testimony of the Bible, we see His authority over all things on the Earth. Here is a very clear picture of His authority over everything under the Earth –the realm we generally associate with the devil and the demonic.
6. The man is restored to complete sanity and is filled with an all-consuming gratitude for this great freedom he suddenly enjoys.
B. Here’s the deal. Here is where we often miss the point by wanting to debate oppression and possession.
ILL. Someone wants to tell the story of the undeniably awful, painful, tragic situation of the kid down the street (maybe down the hall in your home), hopeless given over to drugs, sex outside of marriage and a truck-load of other types of the devils junk. They say it all started when the kid started drawing pentagrams on their school notebook. (Here’s the departure into pointless debate) “Preacher, do you think he is possessed, or just oppressed?” And I will actually answer.
1. My experience has been there is a sliding scale between the two. The determination of when a person is completely saturated with demonic forces, to the point of no longer being in control of their actions –possession is many times a diagnosis made by SomeOne above my pay grade. Yes distinguishing of spirits.
2. It’s like people are reassured if their loved one is only oppressed and not possessed –they take some sort of comfort in this.
--At least they don’t run around naked in a graveyard foaming at the mouth completely oblivious to reality.
3. But have you calculated how the oppressed person has tossed in their bed at night, sweat through the sheets, contemplated suicide (the devils ultimate goal for all of us), or at least spent untold hours praying to die.
4. What I’m trying to say is, I’d be very surprised if the majority of people in this building today are not suffering oppression in some form to some degree, in your life today.
5. I challenge you to just flip through the gospels, do a survey. Consider the healing miracles Jesus performed. You will find a very large percentage of the physical problems Jesus remedied with a healing work, were problems the Bible associates with demonic activity.
6. Does this mean these individuals were secretly scribbling pentagrams on their school notebooks? Does it mean they were involved in something evil like Ouija boards and tarot cards?
7. What I’m getting at is this: Most of us presuppose that to be Possessed or even Oppressed by the devil, a person had to be engaging in something spooky, something evil, something really sorted and slimey, some sort of demonic practice –something which might give us reason to whisper a little about him or her and conclude, “I would have never done that! Therefore, I could never suffer from demonic oppression. I would never participate in any of that devil junk!”
ILL. I think of John Baab, hit by a car on the way to a youth league baseball game when he was 14. Sheared the frontal lobe of his brain. Expected to die. But, by God’s grace and Jesus authority, lived. I celebrated his 31st Birthday with him. John looks normal. But he isn’t. He is brain injured. John’s behavior is unique. He dances whenever he wants. He is completely uninhibited. He says whatever comes into his head. He cannot keep his feet still. He has been fired from a number of jobs. Because he looks normal, people expect him to conform to normalcy. And ah... “For nonconformity the world whips you with its displeasure.” –R. W. Emerson. I have cried with that kid as I have watched him get beat up by the world. As we cry, the dvil giggles. His brain injury will not allow him to be normal and conform in a large number of ways.
--OPPRESSION! FROM THE HAND OF THE DEVIL HIMSELF!
--OPPRESSION! STEALING A BLESSED LIFE FROM A CHILD OF GOD! –Wasn’t John Wasn’t just coming from a Séance or something? Wasn’t that why he was hit. Isn’t why he is oppressed to this day? No!
--When asked about this matter, Jesus would answer: Wrong Question! This is for the glory of God.
--We want to assign blame. –Jesus wants to set people free and forget about the blame and the shame.
8. You and I suffer from oppression too in some form or fashion. –Attacks which hit their intended mark in our homes, health, our finances, our jobs, our key relationships.
9. All my wife is suffering right now OPPRESSION! Every time we hear more bad news from a doctor, I hear something else --the devil chuckling mocking me, “Hey-there...little-man....of God. Ha,Ha,Ha”
10. Almost enough to make a preacher cuss, certainly at least want to hide my head in my hands and have a cry. But you know how the Holy Spirit is and that He usually gives me a song.
I must tell Jesus all of my troubles,
I cannot bear these burdens alone;
In my distress He promised to help,
He ever loves and cares for His own.
Tempted and tried, we need a great Savior,
One who can help my burdens to bear;
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus;
He always love me and sorrows will share.
I must tell Jesus! I must tell Jesus!
I cannot bear all these burdens alone;
I must tell Jesus! I must tell Jesus!
Jesus will help me, I know He will Jesus alone.
TS. And it happens that I find myself making a very familiar request, one I’m sure you have made a time or two...
III. JESUS, GIVE ME MORE FAITH!
A. ... “Show us how to increase our faith.”(and Jesus says to me, “Son, it doesn’t take much. A little dab will do ya.”) 6 The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you!
1. What You talking ‘bout Jesus? I think He’s talking about taking authority over my life, my family, my home, the people I love and the people He’s given me charge over.
2. I pick this up when I put it together with the story he tells about the master taking authority over the servant. He describes this as the right thing to do.
3. It is the right thing when we take our rightful place of authority in God’s good creation and tell the devil he has ridden for free long enough. It’s time to get off the train.
--I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of the devil riding my back, I think I’m man enough, mad enough, I think I’ve got faith enough to tell him to get out of my house and leave me and mine alone. Cause mine have been bought and paid for many times over by Jesus –with His very own blood!. Jesus said I could use His name.
4. Who’s supposed to be in charge here? You are! ...if you are a child of God using the authority of Jesus name!
5. I do not believe after the death Jesus died on the cross we who stand now as victors should grant quarter, clemency or mercy to Jesus’ vanquished foe. The victory cost too much. For whatever we may give the enemy will be used against us somewhere down the road. You’ve heard the old saying, “Give the devil and inch and soon he’ll be smack’in you in the face with the tape measurer.” Maybe I just made that one up... Or, maybe I’ve been smacked in the face with the tape measurer too many times.
6. Seems hard, harsh, seems... what’s the word...freaky, no ...fanatical, that’s it. Scott, you are talking like one of those fanatics.
IV. JUST DO YOUR DUTY
A. Jesus finishes by saying 10 In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.
1. ...'Forward, the Light Brigade!' Was there a man dismay'd? Not tho' the soldiers knew / Someone had blunder'd: Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die: Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred...--Tennyson 1854
2. There is so much which will escape our ability to comprehend while we travail here in what some days can only be described as the valley of the Shadow of Death.
3. Unlike the outcome of the battle described in this poem, there is One Who leads us through the Valley of Death and we are promised we will emerge victorious in every way.
4. But while we are here, we are in a real war, in real peril, with real casualties. People, whole families are hurting under the oppression of the devil.
--It matters not whether I’m labeled a fanatic.
5. It’s time to use the mustard seed sized portion of faith we have been given authoritatively and like Jesus, declare God’s Kingdom rule over our lives, our homes and everywhere God has granted us influence.
6. This is a good thing. My experience has been, whenever, where ever I have allowed Jesus to be King, to rule in authority over my life, it has been a good thing. Jesus describes it best:
7. Matthew 11:28-29 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
