Mark 11:27-33 A question of authority
Gospel of Mark • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 221 viewsJesus trips up the Temple priests as they try to entrap Him.
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Joel and Mary Nadel, Covenant Church
Joel and Mary Nadel, Covenant Church
From J.C. Ryle’s “Expository Comments on the Gospels - Mark”
From J.C. Ryle’s “Expository Comments on the Gospels - Mark”
House Rules: Phones, Respect, Stay on the Text
House Rules: Phones, Respect, Stay on the Text
Pray
Background
Background
Approaching the end of Jesus earthly ministry
First part was Him establishing His purpose for God’s people - that He/the Son of God, has come to save His people from their sins
The Gospel
The Gospel
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Introduction Continued
Introduction Continued
He continues to teach God’s will
He continues to address the cost of discipleship
He continues to explain His mission to save His people
He continues to prepare His followers for what will happen in Jerusalem
Now in Jerusalem, He is engaged in the work that will inevitably lead Him to His death
Today: The leadership in Jerusalem take Jesus to task for purging the Temple, but the Lord turns the tables on them.
They came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to Him, and began saying to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?” And Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. “Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me.” They began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ “But shall we say, ‘From men’?”—they were afraid of the people, for everyone considered John to have been a real prophet. Answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Those who hold high positions in the church may be spiritually blind
Those who hold high positions in the church may be spiritually blind
Mark 11:27-28 “They came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to Him, and began saying to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?””
These were the official teachers and rulers of the Jewish church
The Jews believed they were the final authorities on religious knowledge
All ordained, could trace their history to Aaron, Moses brother, who founded the priesthood
Though they should have been the instructors of others, they were prejudiced against the truth and enemies of the Messiah
The lesson is that we must beware of depending too much on ordained ministers/pastors/preachers
They are not infallible - no church leader is
No church can make its ministers infallible, not Catholic, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Baptist or non-denominational
Bishops, priests, ministers, deacons are only human and can make mistakes in both teaching and practice, just like the elders of the Jews
All their teaching must be tested by God’s word.
We should follow them only so far at they follow the Bible, but no further
There is only one priest and minister that makes no mistakes - that is the Lord Jesus - He has no weakness, no failure, no error
We must learn to depend entirely on Him
Matt 23:9 ““Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.”
If we do this, we will never be let down
Envy and unbelief cause people to trash the godly
Envy and unbelief cause people to trash the godly
These chief priests and elders could not argue that the Lord’s miracles were not real
They could not say His teaching was against the Scripture or that He led a sinful life
What did they do? They questioned His authority.
Mark 11:28 “and began saying to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?””
There is no question that, in general, all teachers of the Christian faith should be appointed under the authority of the church
Paul the apostle said as much: Heb. 5:4 “And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was.”
Many churches have this requirement as well.
Having said that, this requirement doesn’t prevent anyone from sharing the Christian faith or the Gospel.
If the priests and elders were being honest, they would have accepted that Jesus was the Son of God, and that was all the authority He needed
This point remains the primary difference between Judaism and Christianity to this day
We need to avoid being narrow-minded on these questions, especially in this day and age
Clearly we need to respect the need for order and discipline in the church - its just as necessary there as in the military
On the other hand, we should not expect that the Lord only works through ordained ministers and preachers
There is both an outward call of man and an inward call of the Holy Spirit -
the second is necessary to share the Gospel, and the first is helpful in confirming that
The first, without the second, can happen too, because church leaders are human, but it won’t lead to sound Christian service
If a man says he has the the inner call, the questions should be:
Is a man for Christ or against?
What does he teach?
How does he live?
Does he do good?
If you get good answers to these questions, thank the Lord and hear him
A doctor is useless if he cannot treat people. A well-trained soldier is useless if he cannot face the enemy
The best doctor is one who can cure, the best soldier, the one who can fight
Those who refuse to accept the truth, can easily become dishonest
Those who refuse to accept the truth, can easily become dishonest
We should see here how dishonesty and quibbling can be caused by a refusal to accept the truth
The chief priests and the elders were afraid to answer the Lord’s question about John’s baptism.
They couldnt say it was “of men” because they were afraid of the people - they were being political, not spiritual
They were afraid to say it was “of heaven” because they knew that the Lord would say: “Why didnt you believe him? He testified about me plainly”
What did they do? They lied. They said: “we do not know”.
It is a sad fact that dishonesty like this is pretty common among unsaved people
Many will avoid questions to their conscience with answers that are not true
When pushed to deal with matters of their souls, they say things they know are not true
They love the world and their sin, not the Lord, and are determined not to give up their way of life - they are ashamed to say the truth
So they make false excuses
Some say they cannot understand
Another says he/she has tried to serve God, but makes no progress
Another says he wants to serve Christ, but has no time
All these are shameful untruths - they are as worthless as the chief priest’s answer here - “we do not know”
The honest truth is that we need to be very careful and skeptical about the unsaved person’s reasons for not serving Christ
Its pretty certain that when he says he cannot, it really means he will not
A truly honest and open spirit in the things of the faith is a real blessing
Once someone is willing to live in the light, and act on the knowledge he has, he will soon know the teachings of Christ and come out of his sinful way of life. John 7:17 ““If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself.”
The ruin and destruction of many is that they are dishonest about their own souls - they make up excuses for not serving Christ - and refuse to accept the reality that they love darkness rather than light. They simply don’t want to change.
“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
This ends the lesson for today. At this point, Jesus is not finished with the Chief priests and elders. Next week, as we start Chapter 12, we will see what else He has to say to them.Pray
Prayer requests/Lord’s Prayer
Prayer requests/Lord’s Prayer
Questions
Questions