Confronting Authority

Greeneville Seventh-day Adventist Church: Isn't that beautiful? was really nice. I want you to me a favor. Can you be completely silent? Can you hear the rain? It's very subtle. I was sitting there reflecting. It makes me think about how God is with us sometimes. Only when you're really, really silent and still, if you just listen, you can hear. And it reminds me of that Ellen White quote. She says, know, when in silence we sit before him, the quietness of the soul makes more distinct the voice of God. Anyways, sorry, that was off topic. I'm have a quick word of prayer. Today's sermon is talking about confronting authority. We're picking up in the book of Matthew chapter 8. Let's pray. Father, Lord, nobody needs to hear what I have to say, Lord, but we all need to hear what you have. So I pray that you would hide me behind your cross, let your spirit speak with power, and help us all to leave this place with a thus saith of the Lord and the spirit in our hearts. In Jesus' name, Amen. So I was studying this section and Pastor Kent's been preaching throughout ⁓ Matthew 7, Matthew 8, and he's been bringing up the idea of authority. And I was like, yeah, that's good, I don't want to copy Pastor Kent though, but I couldn't help, but as I'm studying this, the idea of Jesus' authority is coming up again and again, and we're gonna talk about that. We're confronting Jesus' authority as his authority confronts us. So, I want you to have this idea in the back of your mind. The authority of Jesus because it's very relevant to each one of these sections. We have three stories. There's the cost of the discipleship, the lake, and then the demoniacs. And within each of these stories we see the authority of Jesus and how different people respond to that or relate to that authority. So first, we have this call of discipleship, the cost of discipleship. My Bible says the privations of discipleship. But it says, certain scribe came and said to him, Master, I will follow you wherever you go. That's pretty strong language, right? It'd be great if we just all said that. And a lot of us do say that. When we have been baptized, that's what we're basically saying. We're calling him our Lord, our Master. And we're saying, I'm gonna commit my life to you. I'm gonna follow you wherever you go. And I'm sure he meant it, right? I'm sure this guy was sincere. But Jesus doesn't say, great. He gives kind of a little expectation of what that really means. Do you know what you're saying? Do you know what you signed up for? What you're gonna be committing to? He says, foxes have homes, birds have homes, but I'm homeless. So you're gonna follow me wherever I go? Are you willing to sleep in the streets? Are you willing to be dependent upon some stranger's kindness for your next meal? And we don't hear anything else about what happened with the scribe. So it might be safe to assume that the cost was too high. Jesus is to this scribe, he sees Jesus and his authority. He sees something about Jesus that makes him say, I will follow you wherever. That's not a light statement. He sees something about Jesus that's different. He sees something of value. When it comes to his comfort, there's friction. Basically, he's saying, I'll follow you wherever except there, unless it makes me uncomfortable, unless it's inconvenient. So this is one of the ways that we relate to Jesus' authority. Yes, I understand, Jesus, that you have all authority, but I only want to submit to that authority. I only want to follow you when it's comfortable. And then another one says, Lord, first let me go and bury my father. I'm still getting over a cold. This isn't, yeah, my dad died and I'm just gonna go bury him real quick and then I'll follow you. This is, in that day, it's the idea of let's wait until my dad dies and I get the inheritance and we deal with all that and then I'll follow you wherever you go. Not right now, Jesus. I want to follow you, but now's not a good time. You see, my dad, he doesn't like you, and ⁓ if I follow you now, he's going to disown me, and then when he dies, I'm not going get any of the inheritance. And that kind of sucks. So maybe we'll just wait. We'll just put our relationship on pause. And then once my dad passes away and we deal with all of that, then I'll follow you. So he's saying, yeah, Jesus, I know you're a man of authority. I know there's something different about you. It's not as important to me as my convenience, on my terms. There's this book that I've been reading, it's called Not a Fan. It's really good. If you guys ever want a good book to read, it's called Not a Fan. And there's this, at the beginning of the book, he talks about the DTR talk. I don't know if you guys know what the DTR talk means. It's defining the relationship. And he kind of gives this visualization of, you know, at some point in your relationship with your spouse, before they're your spouse, There comes a point in the relationship when you have to kind of define it. What are we? Are we just friends? Are we serious? Is this exclusive? Are you seeing other people? And Jesus has this defining the relationship moment with this guy. And he has it with each one of us. And so what is Jesus to you? It's this kind of this, are we exclusive? Are you seeing other people? Is this just a weakened thing or am I your one and only? And so we see here priority issues in this first section. These are people who recognize the authority of Jesus and they want to follow him, but he's not the number one priority. Their comfort, their conveniences, these other things in their lives kind of usurp their desire and therefore they have greater authority in their lives than Jesus does. So we see here a very dangerous but common issue of the heart. And so from here, we kind of have a different transition. It seems like they're not related, but I was digging into it they really are. So Jesus confronts both of these people and we don't hear any more from them, so we can assume they probably didn't listen to his counsel. But then he goes into a ship, his disciples follow him, those who have given up everything, those who have that relationship, they recognize his authority, they follow him into a ship. And there's a storm. Not just any storm. It's such a bad storm that the ship is covered with the waves. I've never been in a ship that's been covered with waves, but I imagine it's pretty terrifying. To be in the middle of water and seeing the water that is supposed to be under you, above you. That's kind of scary. And so, rightfully so, his disciples are freaking out. If you look at parallel stories in other gospels, they're trying to get the water out of the boat. They're trying to do everything they can to save themselves. But the Bible just says in four words, but he was asleep. Does it ever feel like Jesus is asleep in your life? Like you're going through something. It seems really hard. It's difficult. Stuff's happening. And it seems like Jesus is asleep. Like, God, why are you letting this happen? What are you doing? But why was Jesus asleep? That's kind we need to dig into this. Yes, he was asleep, but was Jesus not scared? Was Jesus scared of the storm? Did you think he knew the storm was coming? I think he knew. Jesus, I don't know if can give this insight, Jesus was not asleep in divine independence. Like, oh, I'm God, the storm's not gonna hurt me, I'll be all right. He was also not sleeping in indifference. I don't really care if my disciples perish, the ones who I literally have spent the last, all of my life preparing to train for the work of the gospel for the rest of the world. He's not indifferent to their needs, he's tired. This man has been going from place to place to place, healing and ministering, and now he's finally got some time to himself. So he's sleeping. Yeah, there might be a storm that's going to destroy the boat soon, but he's tired. He's sleeping. And yet, these people, these disciples, they know Jesus' authority. They know who He is. They've seen all these miracles. And yet, They're fearful. They're freaking out because there's a storm. it says, Ellen White says that they were so caught up in trying to save themselves that they forgot that Jesus was in the boat. And so yes, maybe you are going through these times in your life. Remember who your Lord is. Remember His authority. He's in the boat. If you've accepted Him into your life, if you're following Him, He's in the boat. Don't forget it. He's not gonna let your boat sink. And so they finally come and they call to him and say, Lord, save us. We're perishing. And he said to them, why are you fearful? Oh, ye of little faith. It's interesting, God always answers with questions, right? When Adam and Eve sinned, he says, Adam, where are you? He knew where they were, but he asks the question to help us look into our own hearts. with Cain and Abel. He goes to Cain, where's your brother? He knew where his brother was. And so here, why are you fearful? He knew why they were scared. There were 10 foot waves going over their boat. But he's trying to get to their heart. O ye of little faith. So this is another way that we can relate to Jesus' authority. Do we relate to it with unbelief? Jesus was in the boat. He was there with them. He's the one who told them to get in the boat. And yet they were scared when the boat got rough, when the ride was tough. They had little faith. They trusted in Jesus, but they didn't trust him with their lives. They didn't trust him through the storm. And so we see here another issue of authority. And so he says, why are you afraid, you little faith? He arises, he rebukes the wind and the sea, and there was a calm. So everything calms down and everything's fine. And it says, but the men marveled, saying, what manner of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him? There's the authority again. This authority is so great that even the winds, even the sea submit to the authority of Jesus. That's important, it's gonna come up again. Everything submits to the authority of Jesus in nature. And yet these people were fearful because they doubted, they either doubted his authority or they doubted his love for them and his desire to save them and preserve them through trouble. And so, how does that relate to us today? Whatever you're going through, is Jesus in the boat? If not, you better get him in the boat. If he is, calm down and ask him to help and then believe that he's gonna help. Do you believe he has authority in your life? Amen. Then trust that authority. And then we have the demoniacs. This one is crazy. And it just gets so deep here. I don't have time to get into it all. But then they come to the other side. The disciples have just had this humbling experience. And they see these demoniacs running at them. I imagine that's pretty scary too, right? You have these two men with cuts on their arms, chains. They probably were very crazy looking, unkempt. And they're just, ⁓ And I imagine the disciples are running back to the boat, hiding. They didn't learn their lesson. And yet Jesus just stands there. And the book of Mark gives more insight, so we're going to turn to Mark. Mark chapter five talks about the same story. When they had come out of ship, they met a man with unclean spirit. He had been dwelling among the tombs. No one could bind him, not even with chains. He had often been bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been broken asunder by him. The fetters broken in pieces. No man could tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones. It's pretty crazy. Quick pause. This is what your life will inevitably become. when Satan has the authority in your life. The thief does not come except to steal, to kill, and destroy. This man allowed Satan to have authority in his life, and Satan stole his manhood, killed off every relationship that he had, and basically destroyed his life. There's no life to live, living in the tombs, cutting yourself. He was basically crazy. And yet when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and what? Worshipped him. That's a strong word. I don't run to the drug store and worship the pharmacist because they have the medicine I need. Right? I don't run to the grocery store and worship the cashier because they give me food. And those are things that I need to live. But this demoniac sees a man and runs and worships him because something in him knew the authority of Jesus. That there was an authority standing there that was greater than these things that had authority in his life. And so he ran and worshiped him and he couldn't even say what he wanted to say. The demons had such control in his life that he couldn't even say to Jesus what he wanted to say. And so the demons speak out of him and he cries with a loud voice and says, what have I to do with you, Jesus, thou son of the most high God? That's quite the title, right? I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not. So here we see the demons recognize the authority of Jesus. They say, of the most high God, don't torment us. Because you have the authority to. Would Jesus torment them? Is that the character of Jesus? I don't think he would. I don't think Jesus is going to torment them before their time. If we turn back to Matthew. It says the devils besought him. They said, how art thou come here to torment us before the time? Basically, the devils, the demons know that there's a time coming when they're going to get what's coming to them. And so they're scared of Jesus's authority because they know who he is. They know where he came from. And yet somehow they don't know his character. And so here we have another way of relating to Jesus' authority. Is Jesus, is God this authority in your life who you know you have to deal with someday and he's mad at you because you've sinned and you've messed up and he's gonna torment you and punish you for everything you've done wrong. That's not my Jesus. That's not the right way to relate to the authority of Jesus. Because even though he has the authority to torment them, they still fall back on his mercy. And they say, please, cast us, if you're gonna cast us off, let us go into the pigs. And Jesus lets them. Even to these demons, even to these ones who have no hope of salvation, he shows mercy. He allows them something that they ask. Jesus' authority does not override his mercy. But the demons submit to the authority of Jesus. They had no choice. He has authority in their lives. And so they're cast out and the pigs run down the hill. And then it gets really sad. they say, he says, go and they went out, they went into the pigs, the whole herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea and they died in the waters. Verse 33, those who kept the pigs fled and went to the city and told everything what had happened to the people, but fall into those possessed of the devils and behold the whole city came out to meet Jesus and they saw him. and besought him that they would be able to worship him and serve him as Lord, right? No. They besought him that he would depart out of their coasts. That's not good. That's not the right response, right? These people too, they hear these demoniacs that we've tried to chain for years that have been a nuisance to us. This guy came and cast them out. And the guy's in his right mind. He's closed again. But our pigs are gone. All of our money, all these resources, they're gone. They're dead. He cast all the pigs. He cast all the demons into pigs. And now they're gone. I can't help but laugh because it's like, man. You just saw a miracle and you're more concerned about pigs! And they say, man, we just lost all this money from all these pigs. This guy's going to be trouble for us. We don't want the cost. So Even though they know something of Jesus's authority this authority to cast out demons out of a man and bring him into his right mind people that they couldn't fix for years They know something of Jesus authority, but then they say Yeah, but the cost Yeah, but but You just hurt our finances and our livelihood That's not cool, dude and so they kept they send him away and Jesus Listen. He just, he goes. And so we see a lot about the authority of Jesus in this section. And I want to bring it all home. Jesus has, Matthew 28, all authority has been given to me in heaven and in earth. He has the authority. The wind obeys Him. The seas obey Him. Nature obeys Him. Disease obeys Him. Demons obey Him. And yet he seems to have the hardest time dealing with The people don't obey him. The people try to tell him to leave. The people want to compromise and try to work something out. You don't see the waves when Jesus says, be still. You don't see the waves kind of murmuring and being like, come on, Lord, can we just a little bit? You don't see the demons be like, well, no, we don't want to leave. They leave. Jesus says, leave, they leave. Jesus tells the wind, be still. It's still. But then Jesus says to the people, follow me. And they're like, Yeah, about that, Lord, you know, I have a dad and I'm waiting for him to die so I can get his money. Isn't that crazy? It's funny, but that's how we are. And so the message here for us is, who is Jesus to us? And I love verse 27, what manner of man is this? Who is Jesus to you? What does authority mean in your life? I mean, if I were to go to school and sit in the classroom and look at my teacher and be like, teacher, today we're going to talk about thermodynamics because I want to. And the teacher's going to look at me and be like, sorry, is this your class? I don't have authority. She has the authority. She tells me what we're gonna learn and we learn it. And yet we go to God and we say, God, you know, I really want this in my life. I, you know, I know you said this, but this. And it's crazy. We don't relate to authority like that on earth. And yet because Jesus does not exercise his authority upon us, we seem to think that that authority does not have authority over us. Does that make sense? Because Jesus chooses to give us the freedom to choose whether or not to submit to his authority, we seem to lose a sense of the authority. And yet the authority of Jesus is everything. If Jesus didn't have the authority, he couldn't cast out the demons. He couldn't heal the sick. Why would the sickness listen to him? I can't just tell this cough in my chest, be gone, and it listens to me. I tried, I'm still sick. But Jesus, if he said to the sickness, be gone, it'd be gone because he has authority. And so the question that this whole section of Matthew brings up to you and to me is, does Jesus have authority in your life? He has the authority, but do you let him have it in your life? When Jesus says, give up the cheese for me, do you listen? I did, praise the Lord, but it was hard. When Jesus says, hey, I want you to go do this, Do you listen? Does Jesus have authority in your life? When Jesus says, know you're tired, but I want you to get up and pray, do you listen? He's not gonna make you. I mean, the waves listen to him. Why don't we? The demons listen to him. And of anyone who wouldn't listen, you think it'd be the demons. They're rebellious. And yet, the question comes to us, is our comfort, more important than the authority of Jesus in our lives? Is our conveniences more important? Is our self-preservation more important? Or are our finances, our plan of what's important in life come before Jesus and his authority? It shouldn't. It shouldn't even be a question. When the God of the universe tells you to do something, you do it. But it is a question. And it's something we all have to deal with every day. Because there's a lot of things that we're told to do. And they're not easy. And we actually can't even do them in our own strength. But that's why I want to go back to the story of the centurion. This man, he's a pagan, doesn't even believe in Jehovah as his God. He comes to Jesus, he said, Lord, that's a bold statement, calling him Lord. My servant lies at home, sick of the palsy, grievously tormented, and Jesus said to him, I will come and heal him. And the centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy. that you should come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. I say to this man, go, and he goes. And I say to another, come, and he comes. And to my servant, do this, and he does it." Isn't that powerful? This pagan man looks at Jesus and he says, I know. that you have authority. And I know what it's like to have authority because I say something to this guy, he does it. And so I know if you just say to that sickness to be gone, it will be gone. And Jesus marvels and said to them that followed, truly I say to you, I have not found so great what? Faith. What is faith? Believing. But here we see faith is understanding the authority of Jesus. Believing in the authority of Jesus. And so the same Jesus, this is where it all kind of ties together for me. The same Jesus who commands all these things is the same Jesus who wrote the whole Bible, right? And the same commands here are in the Bible, right? There's commandments in the Bible, right? And Ellen White says all of his commandments, all of his biddings, are enableings. And so when Jesus commands us to do something, he empowers us to do that something. And the question is, do we have faith? Are we willing to believe in the authority and the goodness of our God and submit to the command knowing that we will have the power to do it because he said it and he has authority? And so that's what I want to leave you with today. When you look at this chapter and you see these stories, they're beautiful stories, but they also beg the question of us, how do we relate to the authority of Jesus? Do we believe it? Do we submit to it? Or do we resist it? Because every single one of us will bow at some day. The Bible says so. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. Everyone's gonna submit to his authority. But the question is, will you do it voluntarily, out of love for him, or reluctantly, when the time comes, because of judgment? So if it's your desire today to say, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief, I want to obey you, I want to submit to your authority, I know that what you say will happen and I want to be a part of that. I want you to raise your hand with me as we pray. Father, we thank you that you are authority in our lives by God's grace and if not Lord I pray that you would help us to be submissive to you to be willing to lay aside our crown and take up a cross to deny ourselves and follow you to submit to your authority to go wherever you go to set to do whatever you tell us to do and to be whatever you call us to be Lord that you would give us the faith that we need, that this centurion had, knowing that your word is as good as done. And I pray that your word would be as good as done in our lives too. Your word that forgives us of our sins. Your word that creates in us a clean heart. Your word that gives us power to overcome. And we ask this in Jesus' amen. ⁓

Matthew 8 · chapter mention