CHAPTER BY CHAPTER THRU LUKE
Why Should We Listen to You?
LUKE 20:1-8
#justJesus
INTRODUCTION… Why are you our professor? (p)
Several years ago, I was teaching at Florida Christian College on the first day of class and I introduced myself a little and went over the syllabus and went over the expectations of the class and previewed what we would do. It was a public speaking class and so I touched on how I would help with nerves and all of that. After I talked for a while, I asked if there were any questions. A student in the back row raised his hand. Now usually questions from the back row can be a little frustrating because most of the time back-row-students do not pay attention and so I was prepared for a question about something I had already covered and would have to repeat.
His question was not silly or ill-conceived or something I had not technically covered. It was also not a question any student had ever asked. He asked: “Why are you our professor?” That is a solid question. That is a worthy question. It was such a worthy question that I now answer it each and every class that I teach.
So, let’s pretend that it is the first day of COM101 at IVY Tech where I currently teach and you have enrolled in the Public Speaking Class. “Why am I your professor?” First, I have the education to be your professor. I spent 20 years in school and have achieved the terminal degree of PhD. “Terminal” means “it all most killed me” and also one cannot get a higher educational degree. My PhD is in communications and so I have the book-learnin’ to teach our subject.
Second, this is not my first time teaching or my first university I have taught at. I taught for many years at a school called Florida Christian College which then became Johnson University where I taught public speaking in class and online… just like this class!
Third, I have the practical experience to teach this class. In my real life, because this is one of my side gigs, I am a Christian minister at a church in Greene County. All total I have been a minister for over 25 years and so I have the weekly practical experience of speaking to crowds. Be comforted that as you prepare your 5-minute speeches for this class, I too am preparing a 30-minute speech from scratch for my congregation each and every week. So, I have the education, the teaching experience, and the practical experience to be your professor.
I have found over the years, that answering the question, “Why am I your professor?” enables me to be an effective teacher because the students understand that I really do know what I am talking about and have greater respect for me because I actually do what I teach rather than just teach it.
TRANSITION
The passage that we are going to look at today in Luke 20 has a similar question asked of Jesus Christ. Jesus is popular and the crowds are following Him. We discussed this last week when we talked about Zacchaeus in chapter 19. There were tons of folks following Jesus listening to His parables, taking in all His lessons, and spreading the word about His miracles. He was seen as a spiritual and religious authority and the spiritual and religious authorities did not like this one single bit. They come to Him with a significant question.
Let’s read about the question and what happens at the beginning of Luke 20.
READ LUKE 20:1-8
One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up 2 and said to Him, “Tell us by what authority You do these things, or who it is that gave You this authority.” 3 He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell Me, 4 was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” 5 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered that they did not know where it came from. 8 And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
VERSES 1-2: THE QUESTION
In the first two verses of this passage, we find that various religious leaders of Jesus’ day given the titles of chief priests, scribes, and elders who were all were taking issue with Jesus. They wanted Him to prove how and why He has the authority to teach and heal and direct people to God. They are basically asking the question: “Why should we listen to You?”
At first glance, we are maybe offended for Jesus. What a silly question! Jesus is the Son of God and the Messiah and they are asking a dumb question! Our reaction though is one that looks back in faith on Jesus understanding why He was born and that He would die for us on the cross and rise on the third day. We understand and believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
I actually do not think it is a silly question at all because they do not believe in Jesus. The chief priests, scribes, and elders all have the job of leading the people of God spiritually and they were to guard the people from false teachers. This was a worthy question to Someone who had come on the scene and was teaching truths they were not comfortable with. He did not teach anything in opposition to the Law or the Prophets, but He sure did teach against the authority of the chief priests, scribes, and elders and give a different perspective on some Truths. This is a great question for Jesus and one that I hope people asked Him over and over again. It was their job to ask this question and we should not fault them for it in my opinion.
ILLUSTRATION… Why am I your pastor? (p)
We started off this morning with my memory of a good question from a college class that I taught. It occurs to me that you may have a similar question in this church: “Why am I your pastor?” I don’t think that is a silly question, but a great question to ask. That is a solid worthy question. That is a worthy question. It is such a worthy question that I would like to answer it for you.
First, I am called to be a minister. Being a minister of the Gospel is not something one just volunteers for or just decides to do or falls into, but is a specific divine calling from God. I received my call to the ministry after an extended time of prayer when I was a senior in high school and this call was confirmed by my family, my church family at the time, and even a prophecy from my grandmother which I did not learn about until many years later.
Second, I have the education to be your minister. I have a bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in the Bible and church leadership and theology. Education is not a requirement to be a minister, but in our tradition, we like when our ministers have a degree in the Bible. Basically, I have been to seminary twice.
Third, I have been ordained by a church just like ours to be a full-time minister. The elders of Long Creek Christian Church in Parrottsville, Tennessee examined me and agreed in the Lord about my calling and officially ordained me into Christian ministry on November 28th 1999. Ordination means spiritual authority to be a pastor.
Fourth, the elders of this church called me to be the minister of this congregation and this decision was affirmed by the congregation in July of 2019. My ministry at my last church in Florida had concluded the year before in October and I was looking for where God would have me serve next. The elders, who are the leaders of the church, talked and prayed and decided that I would be a good fit to be the senior minister here. And here I am.
Hopefully that short explanation gives you some insight as to why I am here as your minister.
TRANSITION
So, a question has been asked of Jesus. It is a good worthy question. The religious leaders want to know about His authority to preach and teach. In typical Jesus-fashion, Jesus does not just answer their question, but He asks one of His own. I am never quite sure why folks do not insist Jesus answer their questions first, but none ever do. Jesus asks the spiritual and religious authorities a question.
VERSES 3-8: THE QUESTION BACK & THE ANSWER
Jesus asks the spiritual and religious leaders about the man known as John the Baptist. Jesus’ question is wise and calculated and is even connected to the answer to which the religious leaders are looking. Believe it or not, the answer to the question about Jesus is the same as John, but the religious leaders don’t realize it. Jesus is sneaky. He answers the question with a question back and gives them all they need.
We are introduced to the man known as John the Baptist even before his birth in Luke 1. An angel comes to a very old priest named Zechariah and says:
READ LUKE 1:13-17 (ESV)
“Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
We read a little bit later in Luke 1 about an incident with John’s mother:
READ LUKE 1:41-42 (ESV)
“And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the Fruit of your womb!”
And we read even more about John in chapter 1 as his father, Zechariah, sings some prophecy over his life and ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit right after he is born:
READ LUKE 1:76-79 (ESV)
“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways, 77 to give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
And I’d like to add one more verse from Luke 7 where Jesus describes John the Baptist:
READ LUKE 7:28 (ESV)
“I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
If you did not know, Isaiah 40:3-5, Malachi 3:1 and Malachi 4:5 in the Old Testament all predict that a forerunner would minister and preach and teach and signal the coming of the Christ. This prophet would point out the Messiah. If you did not know, John the Baptist was a prophet of God who was born to be that promise predicted herald of the Messiah. In order to do this, he was given the Holy Spirit before he was born and was born into a priestly family. His birth was a bit of a miracle like Isaac and Samson and the prophet Samuel in the Old Testament. God had purpose for John. John accepted this purpose and preached and taught and called people to repentance to prepare their hearts and ears for Jesus.
The miraculous birth and the presence of the Holy Spirit and the way in which he ministered like the Old Testament prophets showed him to be sent from God with a purpose. He brought people to repentance before God. Much like Jesus, the chief priests, scribes, and elders did not like John because he was outside of their sphere of influence. They could not control him. They could not tell him what to do. They let Herod kill him after putting him in prison (Matthew 14, Mark 6). Not only did John live a prophet’s life, but he died a prophet’s death (Hebrews 11:36-38).
Jesus rightly asks the chief priests, scribes, and elders about John to put them in a bind. Right away the religious leaders realize what He had done because however they answered it would be terrible for them. They cannot say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ They should have accepted John as a prophet. They should have listened. They should have encouraged the people to follow the Word of God as it was preached and be less concerned about their own authority.
To save face and to get out of answering one way or the other, the chief priests, scribes, and elders answer with a question mark. Jesus then states that because they do not know about John’s authority, He will not share about His authority.
John the Baptist was a prophet and baptized by the expressed authority of God.
Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah by the expressed authority of God.
How do we know this?
We know that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah by the authority of God because He literally fulfilled every prophetic prediction. Instead of going through the over 300+ Old Testament predictions that Jesus fulfilled, I would like to just take us to the one that Jesus pointed us too. We find, in John 1, a good summary passage about why Jesus asked the religious leaders about John the Baptist. Let’s read from John 1.
READ JOHN 1:29-34 (ESV)
“The next day he [John] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who ranks before me, because He was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know Him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that He might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him. 33 I myself did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
John the Baptist was a prophet and baptized by the authority of God and literally points Jesus out as the Christ. The forerunner of the Messiah literally pointed at Jesus of Nazareth and said He is the Christ. He is “the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.” The Holy Spirit filled prophet pointed out the Messiah.
Not only this, John 1 summarizes for us what Matthew 3 and Mark 1 describe in detail. When Jesus was baptized, God’s voice from Heaven claimed Jesus as His Son and the Holy Spirit lit Him up marking Him as the One Who Would Come. Jesus was the Son of God because God said He was… including sending a prophet to point Him out!
So, you see, if the religious leaders would not accept John as a prophet, then they would also not accept Jesus as the Messiah. The truths are linked. The truths are linked because the answer is the same.
John the Baptist was a prophet and baptized by the expressed authority of God.
Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah by the expressed authority of God.
TRANSITION
What does this have to do with us? Why should we focus on the spiritual authority of John the Baptist and then by extension the divine spiritual authority of Jesus? It matters because of the culture in which we live. What does this passage have to do with us?
APPLICATION
As a general rule, Americans do not like to be told what to do.
ILLUSTRATION…reddit.com/r/redscarepod/comments/americans_collectively_have_ a_
very_dont_tell_me
I read this statement in a brief non-expert social commentary about the American way of thinking and I think it expresses a little bit of what I am trying to get at:
“Like a teenager that was ‘about to do the dishes,’ we hate being told what to do. This has been the case since the American Revolution, which wasn’t started because we were getting taxed, but because someone told us we had to pay taxes. The qualm was with the fact that we weren’t represented in the body that was taxing us, so someone else was telling us what to do.
Knowing this is our national identity and when you starting looking at everything through that lens, things begin make more sense. Americans aren’t necessarily anti-vaccine, they’re anti-someone telling them to get vaccines. Americans did it not care about COVID, they were against being told to care about COVID. I mean Donald Trump’s election was literally America collectively telling the DNC “don’t tell us what to do.’”
Those are interesting thoughts that make you think.
I believe that as Americans we do have this innate “don’t tell me what to do” attitude that is part of our culture. That part is true. Whether or not it works out in vaccines or pandemics or politics, you will have to decide. How the American psyche works itself into your life is something worth digging into by the way. Some of the areas matter. Some don’t.
There is one area where it does matter: Jesus. Perhaps you ask Jesus the question… and it is a good question… “Why Should We Listen to You?” That is a worthy question to ask. I think it is anyway. I also don’t think Jesus minds the question.
Why should we live the way Jesus outlines in the Gospels?
Why should we forgive in the manner Jesus shows us?
Why should we spend our money the way Jesus commands?
Why should we use our time the way Jesus desires?
Why does a believer’s life have to look different from the world?
Why are our values different from someone who does not believe in God?
Why should I listen to Jesus over other influences?
What makes Jesus so great?
How is it that Jesus is better than other religious teachers?
Why should I set aside my own beliefs and adopt what God teaches?
Why should we listen to Jesus?
We should listen and follow Jesus because Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah by the expressed authority of God.
We live the way Jesus outlines in the Gospels because He is Creator of all life.
We forgive in the manner Jesus shows us because His way is designed by God.
We spend our money the way Jesus commands because He is our Lord.
We use our time the way Jesus desires because He is the author of time.
We look different from the world because God’s way is better.
We value what God values because He defines what is good and right.
We listen to Jesus over other influences because He is the way, the truth, and the life.
Jesus is great because He was sinless and died for our sins.
Jesus is better than other religious teachers because He is God.
We set aside our own beliefs and adopt what God teaches because His way is true.
Why should we listen to Jesus?
Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah by the expressed authority of God.
CONCLUSION
As we conclude this morning, I want to re-read the passage and humbly fiddle with it to show how things should have gone.
READ LUKE 20:1-8 [CHANGED]
One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up 2 and said to Him, “Tell us by what authority You do these things, or who it is that gave You this authority.” 3 He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell Me, 4 was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” 5 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered that John’s baptism was from the expressed authority of God. 8 And Jesus said to them, “It is by the same authority that I do these things.”
PRAYER
INVITATION
John 1:29 describes Jesus with the words “the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.” When a person accepts that Jesus is the Messiah by the expressed authority of God, one of the results is that our sin is taken away. Specifically, the guilt of our sin is taken away and there is no condemnation for those who believe in Jesus (Romans 8:1). Do you still feel the weight of your sin upon your soul? If you do, please let’s come talk about Jesus Who takes away that guilt.
