A Crisis of Authority

Series on Luke

V The Imminence of the Kingdom

F Tradition

Text: 20:1-8

Introduction

The musical, “Fiddler on the Roof,” is the story of the Russian Jewish patriarch Reptevye struggling trapped between the modern ways of his daughters and the ancient traditions. The question is whether tradition can stand if it is not grounded in some absolute. The fiddler precariously situated on the steep pitched roof symbolizes the danger of the collapse of traditions that have no final authority. America today is a fiddler on the roof. Like Reptevye many love the old ways and do not know why they are collapsing. It is a crisis in authority. We are immersed in relativism. We have created our own special brand of tyrrany. It is exemplified in a page someone showed me from a World War II army manual. There the trainers had vehemently denied that we are a democracy. They condemned democracy and upheld the idea of a republic. Today the army manual says we are a democracy and makes no mention of a republic. There has probably never been a bigger shift in opinion that went largely unnoticed. The point is that once we believed in absolutes. We elected representatives with real authority derived from God because we thought they could reach a consensus of truth. We have a constitution to limit the power of the central government because it had real authority, but now we call ourselves a democracy which means that everyone tries to get his own way. It means that truth is whatever the largest number of people think. There is a relationship between this phenomenon and our faith. The original conviction was based on the Biblical concept that there is absolute truth. That is what is at issue in our text for today. It is a crisis of authority in Israel. Consider the acknowledgment, the abuse and the absence of authority.

I The Acknowledgment of Authority

Let us look first at the acknowledgment of authority. The question of the chief priests, scribes and elders in verses 1 and 2 is legitimate, although their motives are suspect, One day as he was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?” The people need to know about the authority of Christ. The Old Testament prescribed tests to determine whether a prophet was truly the mouthpiece of the Lord in Deuteronomy 18:21 and 22, You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?” If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him. John the Baptist himself sent messengers to Jesus asking if he were truly the Messiah in Luke 7. Jesus answer is found in 7:22 and 23, At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” Jesus did not avoid this issue of authority on other occasions because it is important. In fact when the high priest asks Him at his trial whether he is the Christ the Son of the Blessed, He answers, ”Yes and in the future you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming on the clouds of heaven.” This is not only a legitimate question it is the ultimate question, the only real question of life. Who is in authority? We think the Bible is about salvation. It is not! The Bible is about authority. In Luke 7 is the story of the centurion whose servant was sick, and we read in verses 6-9, He (Jesus) 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. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For 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.” When 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.” Why had Jesus not found such great faith? Because this man touched on the real issue of life. When Paul says in Romans 5:19, As by the disobedience of one man, Adam, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one man Christ many shall be made righteous, he places even our salvation under the umbrella of authority. Jesus did what Adam did not; as a man He submitted to the authority of the Father, wherefore God highly exalted Him. In other words the covenant of grace itself is only instrumental to Jesus fulfilling the covenant of works for us and the keynote of the covenant of works is God’s authority. Adam failed and Jesus succeeded. So this is not just a legitimate inquiry it is the most important question that can ever be asked. Who’s in charge? Are there absolutes?

II The Abuse of Authority

It is also true that sinners in a position of power abuse it. According to the Bible there is only one true source of authority, the living God, the God of the Bible. All authority derives from Him and is to be exercised in obedience to Him. Sinful men want to be the source of the authority and power. They want to be the authority rather than God! These leaders here have already sent to John the Baptist inquiring about his ministry in John 1:19-23, and he told them he was the forerunner of the Messiah and he also called them a brood of vipers. They didn’t like his answer. Their authority was based on tradition and John’s was based on God. Theirs was relative his was absolute. This is why Jesus answers them the way He does, and they are completely confounded by Jesus’ reply in verses 3-8, He replied, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me, John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or from men?” They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet.” So they answered, “We don’t know where it was from.” Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.” In all of life, in the church the state the school and the home, there is a crisis in authority wherever those who are in that position do not base their authority on God. Either authority is from God and is truth, or it comes from sinful men and it is lies. Why are we even discussing how to introduce moral teaching into the public schools? Why can’t anybody figure out how to do it effectively? The reason is that we have thrown out the only basis for authority, God. These leaders had done that and now they were complete pragmatists. Men may debate how Christian our forefathers were and how much their faith influenced the formation of this Republic, but there is one great undeniable fact. When they formed the great documents of our liberty they were careful to state that authority wherever it was vested in our government was always derived from God. The moral crisis in our society is a crisis of authority, but it certainly does more than affect civic affairs. It affects us at every level because there is an absence of authority.

III The Absence of Authority

In the days of the Judges in the Bible it was said that every man did that which was right in his own eyes. We tend to think of that as a chaotic paradise for criminals. Actually it is a statement about their philosophy of life. Its happening right now. It begins with the most innocent of convictions. My opinion is right so i don’t have to obey those in authority over me. It ends in rebellion. Jesus says to the leaders of Israel here, read between the lines. You wouldn’t recognize authority if it smacked you in the face, so I’m not going to tell you anything. In our culture we confronted with a crisis in authority. It is like standing in the middle of a field of poison gas without a gas mask. It seeps in to us! We inhale it! We are dying from it. Jesus’ whole ministry screams this message. He is among them without the approval of the Sanhedrin, the scribes, the elders, the chief priests, the Pharisees or the Saducees. He has no wealth, no position, no office among men, and yet He demands absolute obedience. He can do this only because He is under the authority of God the Father and is requiring the same of us. If you want to have authority over your teenagers you had better teach your toddlers that the authority you have is from God and act like you are under authority. If you want to have authority over your citizens or your church members or your students you had better teach them first that your authority is from God. We haven’t, and that’s why we have a crisis. Finally friends, repentance is not an option, love is not voluntary, holiness is not discretionary and obedience is not at our own pleasure. Worship involves obedience, so does love, so does evangelizing the world. The words of Jesus in Matthew 28, Go into all the world are not a request, for it is called the missionary mandate. In the end the crisis of authority is the source of all our failures. It is the original sin. It is the covenant obligation which Jesus fulfilled for us and which now he hands to us.