Authority
Many of
the stories given to us in Mark 2 revolve around this issue of the authority of
Christ. In the first story, we see Jesus
saying that the paralytic man’s sins are forgiven. Immediately the scribes begin to question
just who Jesus thinks that He is. So
Jesus asks them which is easier, to forgive sins or to heal the condition that
they believe is the result of the man’s sin.
{After all, from their perspective if the man is a paralytic because of
the sin – perhaps generational sin – in his life, then for him to be able to
walk again means that the sin must have been dealt with, right?} Anyway, Jesus heals the paralytic man, who
takes up his bed and walks out the door after having come in through the roof! Jesus has authority to deal with sinful
behavior.
In the
next story, we hear Jesus call Levi.
Levi (AKA Matthew) has Jesus come up to him and tell him to follow. Levi does.
Now that’s authority, folks. When
the Son of God comes up to you and says, “I want you to live differently,” you
either do or you don’t. The one who
acknowledges the authority of God leaves his former life behind and pursues the
life that God asks them to pursue. Jesus
has authority over the ways of the world.
Then Jesus
goes into Levi’s house and eats with other sinners and tax collectors. The Pharisees and the scribes get upset and
ask Jesus’ disciples how he can possibly tolerate becoming ritually unclean by
hanging out with such people. In other
words, what authority does Jesus have to show such blatant disrespect for the
Jewish cleanliness laws? Jesus replies
with an answer of authority. He came for
the sick, because it is the sick that need to be cleansed. In making that claim, Jesus is asserting that
He has authority over the law. The
Pharisees believe that by obeying the law and separating themselves from the
world that they can keep themselves pleasing to God. Jesus’ words give a completely different
message. Nobody can be pure in the
world. The Law doesn’t keep us pure; it
tells us how much we need the Messiah.
Jesus came so that through His death the impure may be made pure. Jesus has the authority to make those clean
that the Law says are unclean.
The next
story is about Jesus’ authority on the teaching of fasting. Why do Jesus’ disciples seem to be able to
break this rule? Jesus’ reply is about
His authority. He has come to do a new
thing. His disciples are learning this
new thing. This means that His disciples
are going to be living by the rules of the new authority. Think about what we’ve already seen in
Mark. Jesus has been around lepers, tax
collectors, social outcasts, and people with demonic possessions. He was here to convert the godless rather
than justify the self-righteous. It
should not surprise anyone that the disciples of Jesus see life through a
different lens than the rest of the world.
What is
this new authority that we see in this story about fasting? It is a life revolving around grace, mercy,
self-sacrifice, and compassion. It is a
life where these things are done to display the character of God. Christian authority has everything to do with
entering the world and changing lives and absolutely nothing to do with
justifying ourselves. After all, who
among us is righteous on our own merit?
The final
story is about Jesus’ disciples as they go through the grain field. The pluck up some of the grain and eat it –
even though it is the Sabbath. The
religious leaders see this as Jesus’ disciples being able to do work on the
Sabbath, which clearly speaks against the teaching of the Law. Jesus counters their teaching by saying that
the Sabbath is not superior to man.
What I
really believe Jesus is doing here is teaching that the traditional
understanding of Sabbath as a day of “rest” is incorrect. Jesus’ new authority is that the Sabbath is
to be a day dedicated to the work of the Lord.
In other words, the Sabbath is about rest from the world’s work while
embracing the Lord’s work. Look at the
example that Jesus uses. In it, David is
doing the work of the Lord, so that authority supersedes the assertion of the
Sabbath. Here in Mark, Jesus’ disciples
are doing the work of the Lord – being a disciple of Christ – so their action
is not “work” but rather “of God.” Thus,
it is no violation of the Law because of Jesus’ new authority. Jesus has authority over what work is
genuinely of God (and His people) and what work is genuinely not of God.
Caution
Now, I
have to be really careful here. It is
easy to take the thrust of my words and say that I have set up a really nice pattern
of allowing people to do whatever they want.
Nothing can be farther from the truth, but if I am not careful that is
where I will end up. I am not saying
that we have authority from Jesus to do whatever we want and break whatever
Hebrew/Christian rules that we think are irrelevant. We must never see Jesus as breaking the rules
simply because He believes them as irrelevant.
There is a
purpose behind Jesus’ words and actions.
Jesus is about the work of God.
It isn’t that Jesus wants to get away with whatever He wants. In fact, Jesus isn’t even interested in
satisfying the desires of His own heart!
The fact that Jesus is not pursuing His own agenda is precisely what
allows Him to act in this new authority.
Jesus humbles Himself and does the work of God. When He is doing the work of God, He is under
the authority of God. No Law can
supersede the authority of God’s will.
A Side Trip To Acts
This is a
great time to bring in Acts 10:9-16.
Notice what Jesus says to Peter as the vision of the sheet comes
down? “What God has called clean, do not
call common.” What is it to live in
God’s authority? It is to submit to
God’s will and do what He desires. To
live under the authority of God is to be like Jesus – sacrificing our own
desires for God’s will.
If I’m
living under that authority, will people see God in me? In us?
Will they see something meaningful?
So I have
to come back to the typical human being and ask how well we do this. How well do I put aside my own agenda? How well do I choose God’s will and not my
own? How well do I stop pursuing my own
selfishness and actually pursue God’s calling?
How well can I claim to have followed the Great Commandment and the
Great Commission?
- You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. (Great Commandment, Matthew 22:37-40)
- Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. (Great Commission, Matthew 28:19-20)
If I am
not really living as though God is the supreme authority in my life, why should
I think anyone would see God in me? Let’s
flip that around. Can we have any doubt
that people saw God in Jesus because of the depth and faithfulness that Jesus
had towards God’s authority?
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I totally agree that "people saw God in Jesus because of the depth and faithfulness that Jesus had towards God's authority." What a powerful statement that is. However, so often we do profess to be Christians but we do not follow as God instructs. Of course, we're not perfect - but in an overall picture, we should still be seen as living Christian lives and following God's will. What about the person who blatantly hurts someone else emotionally as well as physically - and then sees no harm in it? Doesn't that violate the Great Commandment? Yet I see Christians who do that every day - backstabbing, hurting others - yet saying that because they pray and repent, they are forgiven. While I agree with this, why do they do it again and again and again? How can Christians do acts that are totally against God's will and still proclaim that they are following His authority? Or are they just "acting" as such?
ReplyDeleteI think Brenda's question/comment is very true (ties in well with the discussion I'm having elsewhere a bit)
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, we humans are so good at making it really messy. Let's imagine a moment someone as 'good' as Mother Teresa but now let's say that person has just one problem - that they once a year kill a little kid. I realize the example is preposterous, intentionally so. But, in my made up thing -- are they in Christ's power or the world's? Clearly they sinned, and yet they also do so much good.
Recently in my home church, a youth worker (by all accounts a great person,who helped so many teens) was found to be sexually assaulting a specific teen (of course, it was love, etc., but that's not germane).
It's just very complicated, because I'd be hard pressed to say this person isn't in God's grace. Or, that he was just "posing" -- too much fruit of the Spirit in him. But, at the same time what he also did was very anti-Christian (to the extreme perhaps). I may say he was a good person who was 'sick'.
So, the above doesn't do more but add my thoughts to Brenda's in a different way I suppose...
What makes the extreme any different than the common? Is one sin not as bad as another? And works alone don't get you into Heaven. So why would we need to look at an extreme. I think John had a pretty good list of sinful behaviors a couple days ago - are there degrees of sinfulness there? Yet I think as Christians, we pick and choose which we will follow. Will we be honest? Will we not covet? Will we be faithful? will we not steal? Will we not murder? Will we love one another as ourselves? Are we willing to lay down our lives for our friends? Do we love our enemies? Will we honor our commitment to our family? Will we honor our commitment to our church?
ReplyDeleteThe bottom line is having a commitment to Christ and to God is following His authority. We sometimes get put in tough situations. At that point, the cliche is "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." I whole-heartedly believe that the saying should read "When the going gets tough, the tough should be humble and turn to God for help." I think we'd have a lot more peace if we truly seek God when sin overwhelms our lives. However, more often than not, we run. God still sees us. He knows what we are doing. Why run? Repent. Turn back to God. Seek what He wants us to do in our lives. (I'm pretty sure that it's not continuing to live in sin)
So back to my original question - is one sin greater than another or do the works that one does override their sinful behavior? In my opinion, sin is sin. Works don't change sin. Repentance changes sin - and acquiring an attitude where your life reflects Christ helps to conquer sin. Just because Jesus died on the cross for our sins does not give us the right to act outside of His ways. (This is no way says that I don't have sin in my life - but when I've been focusing on the gifts God has given me and attempting to stay away from sin - the rewards are amazing! Hallelujah! I'm so glad God doesn't give up on us even when we're ready to give up on ourselves.)
I understand your point on extremes, sometimes extremes help illustrate a point.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I would agree its just as true in the small sins, but it gets more tricky to discuss if we say that a person does a great many good things, but also lies occasionally. Or, they bad mouth their mother. Both of the later are sins too - so to your first question "would that person still proclaim they are following His authority? Or are they just 'acting' as such?"
With the little sins (as we perceive them, I do not mean to say one sin is little or big, its just our culture that says so) are they following His authority? I understand they can repent, but does someone sit down and repent for their hundreds of mistakes a day? Perhaps some, I doubt many.
Your main point is a good one, argued in extremes or in the little examples.
Wow. Great conversation. I'm going to chime in on Tom's point first.
ReplyDeleteI think when we look at works we really get ourselves into trouble. To take the example of sexual sin ... is the perpetrator someone saved in need of forgiveness or is the sin evidence of a person not genuinely saved? The reality is that the answer could be "yes." It is possible for someone genuinely saved to commit an egregious sexual sin (and still be saved, for the record). It is possible for someone who thinks they are saved and who really are not saved to commit the exact same act. Committing the act does not tell us about their salvation.
For me, this is why it is so important to remember that the Holy Spirit is the guarantor of our salvation. (Ephesians 1:14) If a person has the Holy Spirit, they have the guarantee of salvation. If not ...
Now, how can we tell? That's the hard part. One could easily say, "look for the fruit of the Spirit." But the reality is that no sin is fruit ... and sometimes sin is so sticky that it masks fruit pretty well. I like to look for repentance. Does the person genuinely repent? Do they genuine speak openly about the wrongfulness of their act? Or do they say they are sorry but really try and push it under the rug so they don't have to deal with it? People who genuinely have the Holy Spirit will want to deal with their sinfulness openly so as to really deal with it. People who are "imitators" will want to say it is wrong but find ways to avoid actually taking ownership of it being wrong.
In the end, though, it all has to come down to the presence of the Holy Spirit. Being a Christian doesn't prevent us from falling into sin. And you know what they say about "the bigger they are." I've seen many people genuinely filled with the Holy Spirit fall to some pretty horrific depths. (And still remain saved, for the record).
As for your question, Brenda ... "How can Christians do acts that are totally against God's will and still proclaim that they are following His authority?" How can any of us sin at all? Is backstabbing someone worse than thinking a lusty thought that I keep to my self? No. Sin is sin. Biblical Greek defines Coveting as "desiring things that are beyond my needs." (As opposed to desiring what other people have, which is how we define it according to a modern perspective) Am I guilty of coveting? Do I desire things that I don't need? Absolutely! How can I do that - totally against God's will - and still be a Christian?
It's a great question. The reality is that sin dwells within us. This is why Mark 7:14-23 is so important. Sin is inside of us. We are defiled by our hearts, not the world around us. How can I sin while yet having the Holy Spirit within me? Well, because I am sinful.
This brings us back to the answer for Tom's question. Am I genuinely repentant? Is the Holy Spirit genuinely making me deal with my sinfulness? If so ... then it happens and I deal with it spiritually. If the Holy Spirit is not within me, then it's pretty obvious that I sinned because the Holy Spirit was not present to begin with.
In the end ... I don't think the key is "repenting for every sin." I think the key is living a life of repentance. Continual submission to God. Continual desire to toss away our worldly life and desire that which is God's. That is what makes people a "man/woman after God's own heart." Because one can only toss away the worldly life and pick up the Godly life with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Thanks for the thoughts john. It's an "age old" type of question Brenda asks (and I weighed in on). It's hard for humans to know, I think the biggest thing is we will all be held to judgement, and if the holy spirit is in us, we will be found guilty and redeemed through grace (unmeritted favor). If not, we will be still found guilty and condemned. At the end, we all need answer this to our Lord and for ourselves, standing exposed to God and God willing having Jesus say to us "welcome, good and faithful servant"
ReplyDeleteAs much as we wish it to be neat and make sense, I think grace in its true form is just too big for us to really get. Plato probably said it well (on a different topic), is for now we see the shadows on the wall, and later (only after death) perhaps we will finally really get that which casts the shadows.
Another good topic! Thanks bren/john ... It is always good to stretch.