What comes to your mind when you think of the word authority?
Do you think of authoritarian regimes, democracy, teachers, parents?
See, the reality is that we believe that authority should be submitted to
if it is the right kind of authority.
We submit to the police.
If someone breaks into our house, we call the cops,
because they have the authority.
We don't simply just take law into our own hands.
What if I told you that you need to submit yourself to Jesus' authority?
You probably ask me why.
And the passage that we're going to be looking at today,
Mark 11, verse 27 to 12, verse 12, answers that very question.
Where does Jesus get his authority from?
And why should we submit to that authority?
The talk today will be broken up under three headings.
First heading, Jesus' authority challenged.
Heading number two, Jesus' authority rejected.
And heading number three, Jesus' authority ultimately reigns.
So let's start.
Heading number one, Jesus' authority challenged.
I used to, probably like some people or many people,
I used, maybe not many, but I used to hate going to school.
It was just a miserable experience.
And back when I was young, going through that teenage angst,
I used to be quite rebellious against my parents and teachers.
And I was just constantly challenging authority after authority after authority.
And in Mark 11, verse 27 to 33, we see the religious leaders,
they're challenging authority too.
But they're not just challenging anybody's authority.
They're challenging Jesus' authority.
In the beginning of chapter 11, Jesus has just come into Jerusalem,
the city of kings, the city of God's anointed.
And the people, what they do is they line the streets,
they cheer, they lay down their cloaks and their branches.
Authority.
And then he goes into the temple in chapter 11, verse 15 to 19.
The temple symbolized God's presence,
God's dwelling place.
Jesus walks into the temple and he starts flipping tables.
Just imagine I walked into church today and I saw your communion table
and I started flipping it.
Not that I probably could, but just imagine I did.
You'd probably be thinking, what is going on?
Who is this guy?
Authority.
And the religious leaders, they're jealous.
Because Jesus is taking away their authority.
Jesus is gaining a bigger following than them.
So what they decide to do is they decide to trap Jesus
by posing to him a question.
Verse 28.
By what authority are you doing these things?
And who gave you this authority to do them?
It's a trap.
Because if Jesus says his authority is from God,
he's going to be accused of blasphemy
and that can get him killed.
If Jesus says his authority is from man,
then he's going against the Roman Empire
and that can get him killed.
It's a trap.
But Jesus responds by asking them a question.
Verse 30.
Tell me about John the Baptist.
Was he from heaven or man?
Why does Jesus ask this question?
It's because this question actually provides the answer
to their question.
Because if the religious leaders believed in John's authority,
then they would have known that Jesus gets his authority from God
because John the Baptist pointed to Jesus
and told people Jesus is the Son of God.
But if they say that Jesus,
now if they say, sorry, that John's from heaven,
then verse 31, Jesus would reply,
then why didn't you believe him?
Because they obviously didn't believe that John was from heaven.
But verse 32, can they say from man?
They fear the people
because everyone believed John to be a prophet.
And even though they don't believe that John's from God,
they're not willing to admit it
because they fear the people.
So verse 31, what they decide to do
is they decide just not to answer Jesus.
Jesus' authority challenged.
And friends, some of you in this room
might be having questions about Christianity.
How do you know that God is real?
How do you know the Bible is reliable?
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
How can you believe in miracles?
And friends, if that's you,
then I encourage you to keep asking questions
and keep seeking.
But friends, don't be like the religious leaders
who pose questions,
but they're not really concerned about answers.
All they're trying to do
is stir up trouble,
trap,
mock,
ridicule.
Friends, I encourage you
that if you're not a follower of Jesus today,
to ask questions
and earnestly seek the truth.
Because just maybe God will reveal it to you.
Jesus' authority challenged.
Point number two,
Jesus' authority rejected.
Mark 12, verse 1 to 8.
Last year in December,
my wife and I,
we went to Greece
for a short holiday.
And we arrived at this place
called Monastriki Square.
And we saw this little group of protesters,
these anarchists.
For those of you who don't know,
an anarchist is basically someone
that doesn't believe in the government,
they don't believe in a higher authority.
And it just totally confused me.
Because I had no idea.
It just didn't make sense.
How can you run a country without a government?
It just didn't make sense.
But what was clear, though,
was that they were rejecting authorities.
And Jesus now,
he goes on to use this parable,
this story,
to show the religious leaders
that they too
are rejecting his authority.
And through this parable
in Mark 12, verse 1 to 8,
Jesus also will answer
their question about where it is
that he gets his authority from.
To summarize the parable briefly,
there's a man
who owns a vineyard.
He decides to go away.
He leases the land to some tenants.
The time comes for harvesting.
He sends his servants.
And the tenants,
for some crazy reason,
decide to start beating on the servants.
And notice the patience in the master,
sending servant after servant after servant.
And also notice the escalation of violence.
Verse 2,
they beat the servant and sent him away.
Verse 4,
they struck him on the head
and treated him shamefully.
Verse 5,
then they killed another.
Verse 6,
keep beating and killing.
All of these servants
coming with the master's authority
until eventually.
verse 6,
he still had one other,
our beloved son.
Finally,
he sent him to them,
saying,
they will respect my son.
After all that's happened,
who in their right mind
would send their son?
Australia's current foreign minister
is Julie Bishop.
And America's current secretary of state,
US, sorry,
United States of America,
is John Kerry.
And when they're sent overseas,
they're not just representing themselves.
They're representing the prime minister
or the president.
And when they go,
they go with the prime minister
or the president's authority.
And that's how it is
when the father sends his son.
The son represents
the father's authority.
The son is like the father going.
So verse 6,
when the father says,
they will respect my son,
it's because it's like
the father going himself.
The son is the heir.
But what the tenants decide to do
is they decide
to end up
killing him.
They want to take the inheritance
for themselves.
And friends,
here is the answer
to the religious leader's question.
In Isaiah chapter 5
in the Old Testament,
the vineyard
is a way of God
speaking about
his chosen people.
The master in the story
is God.
The servants in the story
are the prophets
that God sends
to his people,
calling them to repent
and turn to him.
The tenants in the story
are the religious leaders
who constantly,
one after another,
reject the vineyard.
No, sorry,
reject the master.
All they end up doing
is killing God's prophets.
And the son,
here is the answer,
the son
is Jesus
and he comes
with the father's authority,
with God's authority.
Where does Jesus
get his authority from?
He gets it
from God.
But the religious leaders,
not only did I reject
the son,
not only did I reject
Jesus' authority,
but they eventually
killed Jesus too.
You see,
Jesus knows
that he's going to die.
He's already prophesied it
in Mark
a couple of times.
Jesus knows
that he's heading
to the cross.
Point number two,
Jesus' authority
rejected.
And friends,
in what ways
can you and I
reject Jesus' authority?
I think that there
are primarily two ways.
The first way
is to actively
reject Jesus,
make a stand
against Jesus,
make yourself known
as a prominent atheist,
hating on those
who love Jesus.
But I suspect
that for most of us
in this room,
the temptation
is not to actively
make a stand
against Jesus,
to actively
reject his authority,
but rather
passively
reject Jesus' authority.
And with passive
rejection,
you don't reject
Jesus
with your words,
but with your life.
For you,
outwardly,
you might
profess
Christ,
but inwardly,
Christianity
is a social club.
It's a gathering.
It's all about
being a good,
moral person.
Jesus,
yeah,
he's a nice guy,
but to change
your whole life,
your whole worldview
for him,
that's another matter.
And friends,
both of these methods
of rejection
is what the Bible
calls sin,
rebellion
against God.
Jesus' authority
rejected.
point number three,
Jesus' authority
reigns.
Mark chapter 12,
verse 9 to 12.
Anna and I,
we got married
roughly
one and a half
years ago.
And for Anna's
wedding present,
I decided to buy her,
it was a new friend
back then,
but I decided to buy her
a Samsung Galaxy S3.
I know it's old,
I know the S5's coming out,
but back then,
it was the best thing ever.
And one day,
we were at this restaurant
eating,
and Anna decides
to put her phone
on the table.
And by the end
of the night,
we had no idea
where it was going.
And I was just so sad,
not because she lost it,
but because we didn't know
what happened to it.
We suspect strongly
that it was stolen,
that she might have
just dropped it.
But if someone
did steal it,
let's just assume
someone did steal it,
it's right to expect
justice, right?
It's right to expect
that the phone
will be returned
and that justice
will be met,
if it was stolen.
And you see,
if justice is deserved
for something as small
as losing a phone,
or someone stealing
a phone, sorry,
then how much more
is justice demanded
for the crime
against the father
in the story,
where people killed
his son?
So friends,
how will the master respond?
How will God respond?
Verse 9,
He will come
and destroy the tenants
and give the vineyard
to others.
Friends,
God's judgment
is just.
God's judgment
is final.
For those who reject
Jesus' authority,
God will bring about
judgment on them.
Jesus goes on.
Verse 10,
Have you not read
this scripture?
Of course they have,
but they don't get it.
So Jesus goes on.
He quotes from
Psalm 118,
verse 22 to 23.
The stone that the builders
rejected
has become the cornerstone.
This was the Lord's doing,
and it is marvelous
in our eyes.
Psalm 118
is a psalm
about God's deliverance.
In Psalm 118,
God's chosen king
is surrounded
on all sides
by his enemies,
but God
in his power
delivers
his king.
And back in ancient times,
the cornerstone
was the foundation stone.
It was the stone
you laid first,
and every single
other stone
was built
on top
and around it.
And you see,
even though
God's chosen king
is rejected,
the ruler
ends up
becoming
the cornerstone,
the most central
stone
in God's kingdom.
And Jesus,
he quotes
Psalm 118
and uses it
in Mark
chapter 12,
verse 10
to 11
to refer
to himself.
Jesus knows
that his authority
is being challenged.
Jesus knows
that his authority
is being rejected.
But Jesus
also knows
that his authority
will ultimately
reign.
Jesus has already
foretold
his resurrection.
After he is
murdered,
he will be
raised to life
again
after three days.
And this stone
that the builders
have rejected
will be
the cornerstone
on which
people like
you and I,
people find
salvation
and forgiveness.
There's a saying
that goes
that power
tends to corrupt
and absolute
power corrupts
absolutely.
Give someone
complete power
and eventually
they'll abuse it.
And I guess
you see it
in history,
don't you?
You see it
in Hitler,
Stalin,
Pol Pot.
But it's
not always
true.
At least
for one,
it is not
true.
Because it's
not true
in Jesus.
Jesus
has
absolute
authority.
But Jesus
uses his
authority
for good.
God,
he lets
his authority
be rejected
by humanity
to the point
of death
on a cross,
taking on
the punishment
of sin
on himself,
the wrath
of God,
so that our
sins would be
forgiven,
so that we
wouldn't be
rejected
by God,
the one
who has
true authority.
Jesus uses
his absolute
authority
to love
and save
the lost.
Wouldn't
you want
to submit
to that
kind of
authority?
Friends,
I just
want you
to ask
yourself,
whose
authority
in life
are you
submitting
to?
Who is
it that
defines
and dictates
how you
live?
Is it
your
friends,
parents,
peers?
Are you
constantly
changing
who you
are in
order to
please
others?
And I'm
sure that
in a room
this big
there are
people
that are
constantly
submitting
to others
and letting
them be
defined
because that
was me.
Throughout
high school
constantly
fearing
living for
the opinions
of others,
constantly
letting
my life
be defined
by what
other people
thought of
me,
constantly
submitting
to these
people's
authority.
Friends,
whose authority
in life
are you
submitting
to?
A couple
of months
ago,
I'll confess
now,
oh yeah,
this is being
recorded,
no,
it's okay,
I'll confess
that a couple
of months
ago I got
a parking
ticket.
Yes,
I'm so bad,
I got a parking
ticket.
And back
then I was
thinking,
how could
they book
me?
I was only
parked there
for three
minutes and
it was for
a good cause
as well.
Anna needed
to buy
some medication
so I parked
in the no
parking spot
for three
minutes,
she went
out,
she came
back,
I got
home,
I didn't
even know
that I
got booked
until a
letter got
sent to
me and
it told
me that
I was
fined.
And at
that point
I had
to decide
whether I
would pay
this fine
or not,
whether I
would challenge
it or not,
whether I
would submit
to this
authority or
not.
And friends,
there are many
times in
life when
you have to
come to a
decision regarding
whether you
submit to
authority or
not.
will have,
can have,
sorry,
serious
repercussions.
And tonight
you have to
ask yourself,
will you
submit to
Jesus'
authority?
Why don't
you submit to
Jesus'
authority?
Submit
yourself to
Jesus,
the one who
uses his
authority to
demonstrate his
limitless love
for you on
the cross.
Why reject
that authority?
Why live with
the consequences
of eternal
judgment and
condemnation?
Friends,
although all
of us have
rejected Jesus'
authority,
Jesus gives
us the chance
to repent.
Through Jesus'
resurrection,
he demonstrates
his power over
death and his
ability to
forgive sins.
Through trusting
in Jesus,
submitting to
his authority,
true forgiveness
can be found,
a right
relationship with
God.
Jesus'
authority was
challenged,
rejected,
but ultimately
it rains.
Will you
submit yourself
to Jesus'
authority?
Let me
pray.
Father,
we thank you
that you
are not
like rulers
of men
who use
their authority
for personal
gain.
Instead,
Jesus is the
one with true
authority and
you use your
authority for
our good.
We thank you
that Jesus'
authority is
used for our
love and for
our good,
and we pray
that we will
submit to
Jesus'
authority.
And in
Jesus'
name we pray.
Amen.