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Listen to the sermon on Mark 11.27-12.12 given on 21st August 2011 here: Download Embed Embed this video on your site

By what authority?

Mark 11:27-12:13

27 Then they came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him. 28 And they said to Him, "By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority to do these things?"

29 But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things: 30 The baptism of John — was it from heaven or from men? Answer Me."

31 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?' 32 But if we say, 'From men'" — they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed. 33 So they answered and said to Jesus, "We do not know."

And Jesus answered and said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

CH12 Then He began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 2 Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers. 3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. 5 And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some. 6 Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, 'They will respect my son.' 7 But those vinedressers said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' 8 So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.

9 "Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not even read this Scripture:

'The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the chief cornerstone.

11 This was the Lord's doing,

And it is marvelous in our eyes'?"

12 And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them. So they left Him and went away.

By what authority? It is the case that there is an authority in our lives whether we think so or not. The chief priests, scribes and elders in the Temple had traditions as authoritative in their lives. And because Jesus did not fit the mould as a recognised Rabbi by them or their organisations then they wanted to know why he thought he had the right to teach, to heal, to overturn tables and generally be, in their eyes, a nuisance as he was a challenge to their authority. After all he came from Nazareth, they from Jerusalem, he had no time for their rules but rather ignored them, and he was not accredited through any Rabbi University like they were.

By what authority? Jesus answers by asking them a question because he saw their question for what it was: a trap. If He said He was sent by God they would ask who confirmed it and if he said that it was by his own authority it would be counted as blasphemous. And interestingly the question that Jesus asked them about where John the Baptist got his author confounded them so much that Jesus has to re-iterate the statement to respond: Answer me! Jesus put himself on at least the same level as John but they had no answer and would rather stay on the fence than to lend credence to the ministry of John the Baptist and to Jesus revealing their capacity to compromise and be diplomatic in order to keep the status quo. The status quo is not the way of God, nor should it be the way of his people or the Church. Very often Christians are afraid to stand up for the right things in doctrine and in action so that the status quo can be kept for the sake of peace so-called. It seems that cooperation with politics as was the case of these leaders leads to concessions, and cooperation with churches that do not hold doctrine with a high view leads to a negotiation on what is the lowest common denominator which would be fine if the lowest common denominator was Jesus and the uncompromising call to repentance and faith in Him but most churches today are apostate even if there are Christians within them that are not.

By what authority? What our authority is matters and so the question is legitimate even if their motive for asking was not right. What is our authority? Perhaps we think it is not uncompromising for us to join with others who call themselves Christians but venerate Saints and Mary and the Pope and the priests and the magisterium, or those who do not believe in the Trinity as God, or with those who have their faith in experience, or in tradition, or in reason, or in opinions.

By what authority? How we answer this question reveals what we really believe. Are John Piper or John MacArthur or Brian McLaren or Billy Graham or Charles Stanley or T.D. Jakes or any other number of Christian or so-called Christian leaders or Ian Thomas or Clive or Darren or anyone else here or elsewhere the ones who authoritative in our lives? This was the error of the Corinthian Church in saying I follow Paul or I follow Apollos. This leads, instead, to sectarianism within the Church.

By what authority? Is not the one who has authority Jesus? Jesus was the one who had authority not only because he was a prophet sent from God like John the Baptist but because he is God and so He has the right to speak into our lives because he gave us life to start with

Heb 1:10

"You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.

And so we read in Col. 3. 16 Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. Jesus is called the Word of God.

Rev 19:13 speaking of Jesus says: He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

Jesus spoke the world into existence. He is the Word of God. The Word of God is also synonymous with the Bible which is also called the Word of God.

By what authority? Everything that we understand about God, Jesus, the Trinity, the world, the plan of salvation and everything else pertaining to life and godliness is found within the Word of God. If there is anything at all that is contrary to the Word of God it is not of God.

By what authority? We measure doctrine, life and all other things against what the pages of the Bible says and so if we have any other authority including our own authority, our own thoughts and opinions – if they do not measure up to what the Bible says then we are wrong. There are those who claim to be Christian that do not have the Bible as their authority but tradition, experience, reason, and themselves and they founder upon the sinking sand. We have nothing against tradition, experience, reason and opinions as long as they are informed by the Bible and shaped accordingly. If we found our lives upon the Bible and make it our authority and that what it says we will do then we will be on solid ground.

By what authority? These men that came to Jesus and asked him thought that they had the authority because they were recognised by others as such and I, too, have been ordained…but I have no authority other than what the Bible says I have and I am to be in submission to it as any other Church leader and to be moulded as such and what I say and do should be tested accordingly. These men, according to the parable that was told about them, about the vineyard and the hirelings who rented it off the owner thought that they had sole rights to the property because of their greed but it was only lent to them. In over reaching their authority they committed atrocious crimes including murder culminating in the putting to death of Jesus on a cross. But in AD70 they lost their place and position in the land of Israel that they held so precious and most died at the hands of the Romans, something foretold by Jesus in this parable and elsewhere.

By what authority? Most of us here would claim that the Bible is our authority as revealed by Jesus but the fact is that most of us have a poor knowledge and understanding of what is contained in it but it is in our interaction with the Bible that we grow into mature Christians. There is no point in saying that we have read the Bible before as the Bible should be in constant use and God will breathe by his Spirit into the Words so that we see more of Him and what He has done and less of us.

By what authority? Jesus is the foundation upon whom everything else must be built.

Matt 28:18-20

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

If we have built upon human understandings, upon traditions, upon our experiences, upon our reasoning, upon others then we are going to find that something in life is going to destroy that foundation.

Because Jesus and His Word have authority we have been authorised to go and make disciples and to teach because He lives in us by his Holy Spirit.

So, whilst Irena and I are in Macedonia, why don’t we all make that extra effort to read through the New Testament again over the next four weeks? I will do the same. Then we have a good foundation for the Lord to continue to build his church for

Matt 24:35

35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

Let us pray for people to come in and be part of this fellowship and that together we can be disciples not following anything or anyone else other than our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us also pray that we recognise what authorities we rely upon and pray that Jesus becomes our sole authority and that together we can discover his will and do it accordingly.

By what authority are we going to live today?