Authority – Sometimes a Scary Word
A few months ago, I suggested to my ministry colleague, Jeremy, that we’d preach through the book of James this Fall. With its practical, in-your-face challenges about authentic Christian faith, James was a great choice. But in early August I I had an extended time with the Lord one morning, and God spoke to me in a clear, powerful and convicting way. He’s even given me a picture of what was happening in that moment.
In the years before coming to Fall River, I spent a lot of time reading, thinking, talking, and pondering what it means to be and to do church. My mind became increasingly filled with powerful images and ideas of what the body of Christ can be, should be and can do. Yet, when I arrived here, all those ideas and possibilities were like the many strands of this rope, each one important and part of the whole, but not fully connected and unified, threatening at times to unravel.
That August morning, God melted those loose strands and drew them together in one word—a tired word for some, not at all flashy, often over-used, misused, misunderstood: discipleship.
God fashioned that word into a sword and pierced my heart. I knew we were to spend time together considering its powerful implications. “But,” I thought, “Jeremy and I have already decided on James. It’s all planned out.” So, I decided I’d test whether I’d truly heard from God. I needed confirmation that it was God’s voice I’d heard, and not just spicy food from the night before. So I shared with Jeremy my encounter with God, what I believed I’d heard. And Jeremy’s response went something like this: “I’m preparing to preach in Tatamagouche, and the passage I’m wrestling with is Matthew 28:16-20. I’ve been asking myself, ‘What’s the mark of a successful church?’ It’s coming down to this: making disciples; a successful church makes disciples. In fact, the two books on top of my reading pile now are both about discipleship.”
Then, without my asking, God provided one more confirmation. I shared my experience with another friend, expressing some lingering uncertainty as to why I felt so convinced. He simply said, “Rick, that’s a word from God. That’s why it’s burning in your heart.”
So, today and in the weeks to come, our agenda will be discipleship: what it is, what it means, how it works, why it’s essential. We’re doing this because God has made it clear.
Last week Jeremy introduced us to the foundational passage for this study: Matthew 28:16-20,
But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain Jesus had designated. When they saw him, they worshiped, but some were doubtful. Jesus “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
The pivotal term here, the root from which all else grows, our entry point into the richness of being Jesus’ disciples is this: authority. As modern and postmodern Western people of the 21st century, we struggle with authority. In part, this is due simply to our sinful nature, that inbuilt and hardwired bent toward saying, “Not God’s will be done, but my will be done.”
The boss says, “No, I want it prepared my way!” Inside, we do a slow boil.
Mom says, “Clean your room up, now!” Outwardly, you might put your dirty underwear in the dirty clothes hamper v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y, but inwardly you’re trashing your room.
Come on, admit it! There’s something in us that likes authority only when we’re in charge!!
But, there’s a second element in our issue with authority. It flows from our culture of democracy and notions about human rights, about social action and dissent, and our tendency to declare, Nobody’s got the right to tell me how to live!
During our years in Germany, we had to get our residency visas renewed periodically. The woman in charge of the local visa office didn’t like Americans. When asked why, she responded, “Because they don’t take ‘No!’ as an answer. When I tell them they can’t do something, they automatically start looking for some way to get around my decision.” They don’t know how to submit to authority. But, long gone are the days when the word of the King, or any other government official, functions as absolute law. The problem, however, is that this love affair with political and personal freedoms creates a mindset which says submission to any authority is optional, even God’s.
Let’s look for a moment at a brief encounter in Jesus’ life: Luke 7:1-10.
1When Jesus had finished teaching, he entered Capernaum. 2There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6So Jesus went with them.
He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7That’s why I didn’t consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
9When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” 10Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
The central character is a non-Jewish military man, a centurion (like a Captain) who had charge over 100 soldiers. He’s got a problem: his servant is sick. In fact, this highly regarded servant is at death’s door. As the story unfolds, we discover the centurion isn’t a typical, coarse Roman soldier. He’s a good man. Jews normally would have absolutely nothing to do with non-Jews. Yet, those who carry the Centurion’s request to Jesus were Jews. They tell Jesus that this soldier is worthy of Jesus’ time and attention because he loves the Jewish nation (strange) and built the local synagogue, apparently from his own pocket (stranger).
In response to their request, we’re told simply that Jesus went with them. But then, in great humility, the Centurion sends more messengers who tell Jesus not to trouble himself by coming to his home. Instead, he declares, just say the word and my servant will be healed.
Just say the word.
Just say the word, and my servant will be healed. Why such a response? What did this Gentile comprehend about Jesus that others missed?
Just say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; I say to this one, “Go!” and he goes; and to another, “Come,” and he comes; and to my slave: “Do this!” and he does it.
This soldier understood what authority is all about. He knew how it works. Authority flows with power through words. The one with authority speaks; the one under authority obeys. Speaking from his own experience of command, the centurion recognized the foundation of Jesus’ ministry was his authoritative word, fulfilled by the power of the Father. Jesus spoke; God’s power flowed, things happened: demons removed, sickness banished, disabilities vanquished, sins forgiven.
So what is authority? The right and the ability to command obedience.
Jesus tells us that he has all authority. What does he mean? Here we touch the deep mysteries of the Trinity and the incarnation, of God the Son taking on flesh and blood to live among us.
1. As God the Son, Creator of all things, the second member of the Trinity who from before eternity exists as eternal God, he already had all authority. For by him [Jesus Christ] all things were created, in the heavens and on earth visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created by him and for him; he is before all things and in him all things hold together. And, this divine authority he set aside in the incarnation: mystery indeed.
2. As the Son of God, the eternal-God-made-fully-man-without-ceasing-to-be-fully-God, Jesus became the agent of his Father’s authority, living as humans were created to live: in obedient submission to and completely dependent on the Father. “Truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself, unless it is something he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son also does in the same way.”
3. As God the Son, crucified, buried, and raised up from death, Jesus was given all authority. Because of a life lived by faith in complete dependence on the Father and obedient unto death on the cross, God gave him a name above all names, a name before which one day every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And we’re told also that …[the Father] raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
So, as he says in Matthew 28, Jesus really does have all authority: that which is His as God and that which He received as man. Mystery indeed. And now, as head of the church, Jesus has the authority to give the church her marching orders. We can obey…or not. He alone can define the life and purpose of the church: be disciples who make disciples! We can obey…or not. We proclaim to the world that we’re the church of Jesus Christ. Okay, says Jesus, then prove it: be disciples who make disciples.
So, why do we find this so difficult to do? Why do we seem to take lightly, or even dismiss, Jesus’ authority? Because we still don’t get how Jesus’ authority works, in a manner radically different than the world. And, conditioned by the world, we fail to perceive Jesus’ legitimate right to command our obedience. Jesus whispers while the world shouts in our ears.
The world practices a coercive authority: coercive authority produces compliance almost exclusively through the use of power, force, and the threat of penalty and punishment. The world’s authority is always Power over…. Power imposed….
Earlier in Matthew, in 20:20-28, Jesus responded to a request made by the mother of James and John. Believing Jesus was about to set up an earthly political kingdom, this mom wanted her sons to occupy the seats of greatest authority. Jesus disabused her, and his disciples, of that understanding of the coming kingdom.
He told his disciples: you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. In the world’s eyes, in the world’s system, authority is coercive, it’s power over others. But, Jesus’ authority is absolutely different, more powerful.
Jesus functions on the basis of Persuasive authority, This authority brings about compliance without force or intimidation. The power of persuasive authority is sacrificial love which brings about obedience freely given. True authority, according to Jesus, is Power under…, power that serves the needs of others. After reflecting on the world’s approach to authority, Jesus went on to tell his disciples: It’s not to be so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
While the world shouts power over, power to demand and dominate and intimidate, Jesus whispers power under, power to serve, power to give up our rights. Obedience to Jesus’ command in Matthew 28, be disciples who make disciples, is God’s chosen method, the pathway to effectiveness, to impact and influence, to joy and life. But, because I’m influenced by the world’s perspective, there’s a part of me that would dearly love to coerce your obedience. Since I don’t have the raw power to do force you to obey, I could try to coerce your obedience through the power of guilt, through the power of unspoken, but clearly communicated, expectations, through the power of “should” and “ought to,” the power of judgmentalism and a critical spirit, the power to suggest Christian living is more concerned with outward performance than with inward transformation.
I could do those things, but I won’t. They are lies and don’t produce anything good. Instead, I’ll point us to Jesus, to whom is given all authority and of whom it is said, Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
This Jesus, who whispers to us, is worthy of our willing obedience, a Jesus who exercises power under, not power over. A Jesus worthy of worship. A Jesus to obey. He has spoken; will we obey?