The Son of God has Authority
There is a slogan of the Outback Steak House that says: “No Rules—Just Right”…but I suspect that if you showed up and didn’t wait for the hostess, took a table ahead of people waiting, ordered something not on the menu, then walked out without paying your bill, the manager would think differently!
Peter T. Forsythe was right when he said, "The first duty of every soul is to find not its freedom but its Master".
This morning I want to talk about “authority”.
We are a society that disdains authority. We love our independence. We consider ourselves to be most free when we do things our way without any interference from others. We love to sing with Frank Sinatra: “I did it my way!”
And this is not unique to American’s, although I suspect we struggle with this a little more than most cultures. It is in the basic sinful nature of man to rebel against authority. We don’t like to be told what to do, whether it is our parents, our partners, our bosses, or our God. Satan rebelled in the beginning and tempted Eve to do the same when He said: “God did not say, you are not to eat from the fruit of this tree. Look at it. It is so beautiful. Certainly a loving God wouldn’t want you to miss out on the joy of the taste of this tree’s fruit.”
From the first lout “NO” of a two year old toddler, to the cantankerous “NO” of an elderly patient refusing to follow His doctor’s advice, we love to reject authority. But that is where the problem begins for us. Because, as the Centurion Soldier so clearly stated, we all live under the authority of God
In scripture the word ‘Authority” is sometimes translated ‘power’ and sometimes translated ‘right”. The Greek Word is exousia and it means ‘power rightfully held”.
Who is like God and to whom shall we compare Him? He is all knowing. He knows the heart of every man. He is just and righteous in all that He does. He is perfect in every way. There is no sin or darkness in Him, and so He is perfect just and has every right to sit as judge and jury over man. He is the creator, and all creation owes its existence and life to God. He is the redeemer of mankind. He has bought our lives with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. We are not our own, we belong to Him.
He holds all creation together, and every knee is subject to Him and will one day bow before Him. The Word of God is truth revealed to man. There is nothing we can know apart from God telling us about it. His word is our final authority, and when Jesus spoke He was declared as one who speaks with authority.
He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and there is no power or authority that is not under His authority. Again the definition of authority is this: power rightfully held. Jesus Christ as God’s Son has authority of each one of us. This morning I want to look at that authority, and I want us to search our hearts and determine for ourselves this morning if we are living under that authority, or if we are attempting to live apart from that authority today!
Theme: The Son of God has authority over my life!
1. He has authority over the darkness that threatens me.
When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake in the land of the Gadarenes, two men who were possessed by demons met him. They lived in a cemetery and were so dangerous that no one could go through that area. They began screaming at him, "Why are you bothering us, Son of God? You have no right to torture us before God’s appointed time!" A large herd of pigs was feeding in the distance, so the demons begged, "If you cast us out, send us into that herd of pigs."
"All right, go!" Jesus commanded them. So the demons came out of the men and entered the pigs, and the whole herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water. The herdsmen fled to the nearby city, telling everyone what happened to the demon-possessed men. The entire town came out to meet Jesus, but they begged him to go away and leave them alone. (Matthew 8:28-34)
This account happens after the disciples have seen the power and the authority of Jesus in calming the storm at sea. Now they face a new peril, a couple of demon possessed men who are so dangerous that everyone in the neighboring community avoids them. They are consumed with evil, with death and darkness living among the dead. It is a tale right out of a Stephen King novel.
But an interesting thing occurs as Jesus approaches these men. They identify His true personhood. They call Him, the Son of God. It is always interesting to me that even though so many of the religious people were blinded to who Jesus was, the spirits knew exactly who He was.
They fear Him. They know that He will one day judge them and send them into torment in the fires of hell and damnation. But for now they beg for His mercy, and Jesus grants it. How can we ever doubt the love and mercy of God, when Jesus was merciful to these demons who were torturing these men?
Much has been made of the fact that the area probably consisted of Gentiles because they were raising pigs, but regardless of who are what lived in this region, Jesus still had crossed over the Sea of Galilee to go and preach and minister to them. No one is so far gone, so far out of reach, that God does not extend His hand of mercy and love.
Jesus heals these men and they are restored to full sanity. Their value was immeasurable and certainly worth a lot more than a herd of pigs. But notice the reaction of the people of the town. They don’t care for Jesus and His ministry of compassion. They are afraid of Him and His power over darkness. They want nothing to do with Him, and they beg Him to leave them alone.
Sadly, many people are doing the same thing today. They want nothing to do with Jesus. They don’t want to hear about Him, and they don’t want to spend time with Him. They reject Him in favor of the comfortable material life of this world.
In this story we see the authority of Jesus over darkness. Darkness cannot stay where Jesus commands it to ‘Go’. There is no evil in this world that is greater than God. God can cast the darkness aside. God can chase away the things that torment your heart and mind. God can restore sanity and peace to the areas of your life that are enveloped in fear.
But you must be willing to submit to His authority. The demons submitted and fled. The people of Gadarenes did not submit, and Jesus could not perform any more miracles in that place.
Is there a darkness of spirit that has been invading your soul? Perhaps an overwhelming depression or a deep sense of despair. Maybe you have wrestled in the night with demons of fear, or anxiety or worry? Maybe you have felt the sun hiding behind the clouds in your life and you feel like you are living among the tombs? Jesus can dispel all of that darkness and bring you light. Jesus can restore to you the joy that has been missing. But will you submit to His authority, or chase Him away?
2. He has authority over the diseases that destroy me.
Jesus climbed into a boat and went back across the lake to his own town. Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, "Take heart, son! Your sins are forgiven."
"Blasphemy! This man talks like he is God!" some of the teachers of religious law said among themselves.
Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, "Why are you thinking such evil thoughts?] Is it easier to say, ’Your sins are forgiven’ or ’Get up and walk’? I will prove that I, the Son of Man, have the authority on earth to forgive sins." Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, "Stand up, take your mat, and go on home, because you are healed!"
And the man jumped up and went home! Fear swept through the crowd as they saw this happen right before their eyes. They praised God for sending a man with such great authority. (Matthew 9:1-8)
Notice the faith of the friends. They carry their paralyzed buddy to Jesus. They have confidence in Him that He can do something that no doctor or pill has been able to fix. Jesus can heal.
But notice that Jesus doesn’t say to the paralyzed man, ‘You are healed, get up!’ Instead He connects healing of the body with healing of the soul, and He declares: “Your sins are forgiven!” Literally the tense of the Greek indicates that at that moment, Jesus forgave the man sins. He spoke the word, and forgiveness was given.
By the way, this teaches us something about the Old Testament saints. How were they forgiven? The death of Jesus on the Cross paid for the sins of mankind both present, future, and past. His death paid for my sins 2,000 later, and His death paid for the sins of Abraham, 2,000 years prior. We are all saved by faith as we look to God’s redemption. The Lambs that were sacrificed in the Old Testament served as a picture of the future Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. So, even though Jesus had not yet died on the cross, this man’s sins were forgiven on the basis of faith in Jesus.
But look at the reaction of the religious leaders. They call Jesus a blasphemer. Why? Blasphemy occurs when we attribute to man what only God can do. It is blasphemy to say that I forgive sins. I cannot forgive sins, only God can forgive sins. I can forgive you if you have wronged me in some way, but I cannot forgive your sin against God. Only God can do that!
They were right to say “Blasphemy” if Jesus was not God. And so in this passage we have a direct situation in which Jesus affirms and declares that He is indeed God. Don’t let anyone convince you that Jesus did not declare Himself to be God, that this was somehow fabricated by later generations in the church. The Da Vinci Code for example tries to propose that it was the early church that made Jesus into a God. But here we have the words of Jesus recorded by an eye-witness, the disciple Matthew, just a few short years afterward. And in this account Jesus claims to be God and to have the power to forgive sins.
Not only that, but Jesus also claims to be the long-awaited Messiah. He quotes a prophecy from Daniel which declared that
”A Son of Man would have authority on earth to forgive sins.”. Daniel had prophesied that the Messiah would come, and that as a Man He would be given the authority and power to forgive the sins of mankind. He would be both human and divine. In alluding to that scripture, Jesus is declaring that He is God’s Son, that He is the promised Messiah, and that He has this authority.
And so He commands the paralytic as a demonstration of His authority to forgive sins to get up and walk. And the paralytic obeys. And the crowd reacts in fear and in wonder.
Jesus demonstrates that He has authority to heal our diseases and to restore us to wholeness, both physically and spiritually. He can forgive sins, and He can remove diseases which are the symptoms of our sin. He has authority over you.
Have you surrendered your life to His authority? Have you sought His forgiveness and His healing? Jesus is lord of our bodies as well as our souls. Are you submitting your body to His Lordship today? Have you offered your body as a living instrument in His hands?
3. He has authority over the directions that guide me.
As Jesus was going down the road, he saw Matthew sitting at his tax-collection booth. "Come, be my disciple," Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.
] That night Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to be his dinner guests, along with his fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners. The Pharisees were indignant. "Why does your teacher eat with such scum?" they asked his disciples.
When he heard this, Jesus replied, "Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do." Then he added, "Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ’I want you to be merciful; I don’t want your sacrifices.’ For I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough." (Matthew 9:9-13)
Matthew is writing this account, and I am sure he often thought to himself: Why me? Why did Jesus select me that day? But in the telling of the account he identifies himself with all the other sin-sick people that need the Great Physician.
Matthew was called in a very simple way. You follow me! No explanation, no description of what that would require, no sense of what Jesus intended him to do for the kingdom – but Matthew responds with total obedience. He leaves his very lucrative business which entailed collecting taxes from those who crossed the Sea of Galilee by boat and who sold wares along the seashore.
As a result of Matthew’s obedience He experiences a changed life, and his change is so dramatic that all of his wild friends and business partners want to learn more as well. He through a party and everyone shows up to meet this Jesus who had turned Matthew’s world upside down. TO Matthew all of this was out of a heart that was overflowing with excitement, not out of a sense of duty. There is no indication that Matthew was just fulfilling some religious duty, but that He genuinely was changed and wanted His friends to meet Jesus too.
Of course the Pharisees would have nothing to do with this riff-raff and Jesus uses their attitudes to teach them a very important lesson about God’s Will. God isn’t looking for religious drudgery and duty, but for men and women whose hearts are on fire for God and who are overflowing with mercy for those who are broken. Do we have that kind of heart for the lost around us? Are we moved to reach out to those who need mercy? Does love permeate all that we do for Christ, or are we in a rut of dry obedience out of duty, not out of love? God desires mercy!
Two calls are given in this short passage. The first is a call to Matthew to drop everything and to join Jesus in His mission to the lost. The second is a general statement that Jesus comes to call sinners to repentance (to change).
Have you responded and are you responding to those calls in your life? You can’t change yourself. Change will only occur when you repent (turn away from your own path) and turn towards Christ. He will produce the change your desire. And secondly, when you come to Christ be prepared that He will call you join with Him in His kingdom building. He isn’t interested in your houses and your jobs. He could care less about your widescreen TV’s and your soccer matches. What He wants is your heart and He wants you to have mercy on the lost sheep all around you. This is what He asks of His disciples, and He has the authority to demand it from us.
What are you doing today with the authority of Jesus in your life? Are you responding to the direction He has for you? Are you using your time and talent and treasure in the way He wants you to? Are you obeying His call to mercy?
The question again is ‘authority”! Who really sits on the throne of your life today? Is Jesus Lord? Or are you attempting to do it ‘your way’? Only you and God know the answer to that question.
