Allen Raynor Weblog:
“Jesus and All Authority” (Pt. 1)
(May 2, 2019)
We live in a
day and age where authority is highly questioned, and often outright
rejected. Young people are widely being
taught to be their own person and reject their parent’s ideas, teachings, and
even parental authority itself. Many are
rejecting the authority of elected officials to make decisions, laws, and
policies. Many are rejecting the police
and all law enforcement officials because they do not see their “authority” as
legitimate or worthy of being obeyed.
Many students are rejecting the authority of their teachers and causing
chaos in the classroom and schools fearing lawsuits let students get away with
things that would have been unheard of in previous generations. College professors are frequently defiant of
the authority of their supervisors and will say/teach off-the-wall things
because they are not respectful of Deans, College Presidents, and
Trustees. Authority, as we knew it in
our culture, is all but gone.
The single
worst rejection of authority we see in our world however; is the rejection of biblical authority. There are multiple ways this reality has
displayed itself. It is teaching kids
things that are contrary to God’s Word. It may be rejecting God outright. It may be silencing people from talking about
their faith, about God, and about what the Bible has to say. It is rejecting the ethical/moral teachings
of Scripture. The rejection of biblical
authority is the root cause of the rejection of all authority.
The
rebellion against, and even total rejection
of authority, is nothing new. It has
gone on since the Garden of Eden and continues to this day. But, what is worse now is that there is no
shame, no remorse, and no apologies for the rejection of God and His Word which
carries all authority. Adam and Eve, at least hid from God due to shame,
but today there is no shame! Jesus is,
quite frankly, not very well received in modern culture. Jesus was not very well received by the
religious leaders and those in authority in His day either. The people largely were astonished at the
things He said and taught, but many saw their status/position on the line and
therefore resisted and even rejected Jesus and His claims to authority. In Matthew 7:28-29, as the Sermon on the
Mount was concluded, we read “And so it was, when Jesus had ended these
sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as
one having authority and not as the scribes.”
Some were,
we are told, astonished at His teaching.
Occasionally someone comes along and they have a special giftedness to
get people to listen and even follow them in some way. We have seen positive examples of this and we
have seen negative as well throughout history.
Positive examples include people like Billy Graham, Charles Haddon
Spurgeon, and other great preachers, evangelists, and even some good
politicians and world leaders. Negative
examples would be Hitler, cult leader Jim Jones, and many politicians, world
leaders, and certainly false teachers within the church. The ultimate example of the negative will one
day be the “Antichrist” that the Scriptures speak of.
The Jews
were used to a certain type of teaching; a certain pattern of teaching; a
certain type of teacher. They noticed
immediately that Jesus did not fit the norm at all – not even close! As they tried to rationalize it all in their
mind, they were somewhat confused because they could only really see things in
earthly terms. We see a clear example of
their “earth-centered” pattern of thought recorded for us in Mat. 13:53-58 as
Jesus was teaching in His home town of Nazareth. There we read “Now it came to pass, when
Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there. When He had come to His own country, He
taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, ‘Where
did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the
carpenter’s son? Is not His mother
called Mary? And His brothers James,
Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His
sisters, are they not all with us? Where
then did this Man get all these things?
So they were offended at Him. But
Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his own country
and in his own house.’ Now He did not do
many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” It is made clear here the “unbelief” and
“rejection” hindered the work of Jesus in that place. It was not that His power was limited there
or anywhere else, but He was not willing to show accompanying signs and wonders
to people who were highly skeptical and rejected Him for earthly, worldly,
non-sensical types of reasons.
Today, men
are often not “astonished,” not “impressed,” and not concerned with Jesus’
teaching. Many reject the Bible who have
never really read it, much less studied it.
They do not see it as relevant, believable, credible, or important in
any way. They simply dismiss it in favor
of believing other things, whether they have solid evidence or not. “Belief” is a matter of the will. If we work hard enough we can find a reason
or a way to reject almost anything we do not want to believe. There is a saying which says “There are none
so blind as those who will not see.”
This is the truth on display here.
To know, to
really know, Jesus’ teaching is to be utterly astonished! It is to be blown away in the same way these
people were here who heard The Sermon on the Mount. Some people claim to be Christians, some even
go to church, but they are not enamored with the teachings of Jesus. There is no awe, no “Wow” factor. The more one studies the Scripture, the more
they should potentially be “wowed” by it.
God’s Word is truth, not only for the head, but also for the heart. Jesus, the Son of God, has all authority.
In Christ,
Dr. Allen Raynor, Pastor
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