The Authority of Jesus

Mark 11:27-33.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on July 26, 2020.

With the advent of this summer’s protests and the consequent actions, the question of authority is a timely one.  The First Amendment of the US Constitution recognizes the God-given right of every citizen to peaceably assemble in order to give voice to their concerns, and to ask for redress of their grievances- what the Bible would call justice.  Thus, the founding generation saw God as the one who authorizes our right to do so, not the government.

However, if God has authorized the action that you are taking then you had better do it in a way that is pleasing to him because you will be accountable to him.  This is why our founders added the word “peaceably.”  Those authorized by God must work peaceably in this age of his grace.

The same can be said for police officers who are to protect and defend the public good.  It is God who tells men that they are to uphold righteousness within their nations.  Each nation is responsible to set up the means of authorizing individuals to serve as police, and as judges, so that righteousness may flourish.  Thus, there is a divine and human aspect to their authority.  Again, let us not forget that an authorized person must act in accordance with and under the direction of that which authorizes them.  Of course, this all applies as well to protesters as well.

Today, we are going back to the week leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus, and to the question of just what authorized Jesus to do what he did.

The religious leaders question the authority of Jesus

Just the day before our passage, Jesus had driven the vendors and money changers out of the temple compound.  The chief priests, scribes, and the elders of Israel were probably in shock at the time, but they have had their private discussions overnight and they are determined to publicly confront Jesus.  Just who does he think he is?  No doubt, they were watching for him to come into the temple area that day.

When he does, they are quick to confront him with a two-pronged question that is ultimately one.  By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?  Now, the immediate context would suggest that this is not about his itinerant teaching in Israel and the working of miracles.  Rather, they are questioning him about his right to interfere in the operations of the temple and to make it his public place of teaching.  You see, they were the ones who had authorized the vendors and money changers to be there in the first place.  Jesus had not so much challenged their authority, but rather, the particular things that they were using their authority to authorize.  They legitimately sat in the seat of Moses, but they were not making legitimate judgments and decisions.  They were unwilling to receive the public rebuke and were attempting to turn the tables on Jesus, so to speak.

Just because a person holds a position that is legitimately authorized by humans, it does not mean that they are actually authorized.  In Jeremiah 23:32, God rebukes the false prophets of that day. 

‘“Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” says the Lord, “and tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness.  Yet, I did not send them or command them; therefore, they shall not profit this people at all,” says the LORD.’ (NKJV)

Whether some of these guys falsely obtained their positions, or they held them legitimately, they were at the least misusing their authority.  God was not pleased with their judgments.  All authority in this world is ultimately answerable to God for its actions.  Those who questioned Jesus did not realize that they should have been asking themselves that question regarding each decision that they were making.  It is precisely their failure in this area that made it necessary for God to send His Son to set things right.

It can look like Jesus is avoiding the question, but notice that he actually promises to answer it, if they will answer his question first.  “Was John’s baptism from heaven or men?”  This is essentially the same question that they were asking, but regarding John the Baptist.  Who gave him the authority to do what he had done?  This is a masterful turn of the tables because they are assuming to be the proper authorities and are in judgment of him.  Jesus essentially says, “Let’s see if you can judge the case of John the Baptist before you judge mine.”

Now, John’s ministry was far less controversial than the ministry of Jesus, but it was adversarial to the religious leaders nonetheless.  They had not authorized John to baptize people in the Jordan River.  He seemed to be skipping around their domain at the temple.  John even publicly declared that they were a brood of vipers who needed to flee the wrath that was coming (Matthew 3:7).  John 1:19-28 gives us a picture of these religious leaders examining John the Baptist.  Jesus is merely asking them to publicly declare the conclusion of their investigations into John.  Was following himself, or another man, or had God sent him?

There is another aspect to this.  It was John who publicly declared that he saw the Holy Spirit come upon Jesus, and that he was the one that he had been promising would come after him, the Messiah.  If John was authorized then it was most likely that Jesus was too.

It appears that they have a sort of huddle to determine their answer.  However, they are in a predicament.  If they say that John was authorized by heaven (God) then Jesus will ask them why they didn’t believe him, and embrace his ministry.  Yet, on the other hand, if they say that John was not authorized by God then they feared what the people would say and do because it was popularly felt that John was a true prophet of God. 

Here, we see part of the problem with all authorities and their authorizing mechanisms.  They typically fear people more than they fear God.  They rely upon the power of their position, but they always realize that if enough people reject them then they will lose it.  What do powerful people who do not fear God do in such circumstances?  They operate behind the scenes and in the dark to manipulate the passions of the crowd.  O, Christian, let us not be caught up in the manipulations of wicked people, who have no fear of God, but rather, let us hear the crying of the voice in the wilderness.

“Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth…”  (Isaiah 40:3 NKJV)

There are a lot of mountains that are yet to be brought low, and a lot of crooked people, both in leadership and among the people.  God has a day of dealing with such, if they refuse to repent, but let us be about our Father’s business!

The leaders decide to say that they do not know by what authority John did what he did.  Jesus then responds that neither will he answer their question.  Those who refuse to give sound judgments do not deserve an answer because they do not seek truth, but are only serving themselves.  Very few people in our day and age are actually seeking truth.  Those who start out to do so are often hijacked by false prophets and the false wisdom of this age.  If you are hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and if you are in a daily relationship with God through prayer, studying the scriptures and doing the commands of Christ, then you will be able to navigate these times of peril in which we live.

Was Jesus authorized?  Completely!  The Scriptures foretold his coming, and it was even testified by Moses who said that a prophet would come that would be like him, raising up the house of God.  They would need to listen to him.  The prophet John had publicly revealed who Jesus was.  The Spirit of God had powerfully worked through his ministry.  He was the Son of God who had come to that which was his own.  He was the Good Shepherd seeking out the lost sheep of Israel before the wolves would come and have their way.  He is the only way to the Father by which all men must be saved!  Yes, Jesus was authorized, but they refused to accept it because they loved lies rather than truth.

How about me?  How about you?  May God help us to love truth more than lies, even when the truth publicly reveals that I have not been as good as I have pretended before the world.  Such a person will find Jesus and in him find eternal life!

Authority of Jesus Audio

Jesus Teaches on Prayer

Mark 11:22-26.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on July 19, 2020.

Last week, we talked about the situation where Jesus had cursed a fig tree and within 24-hours it was dead down to the roots.  There, we talked about the symbolic importance of what Jesus did.

Today, we are going to look at what Jesus told his disciples immediately after Peter expressed amazement that the bush was so dead only one day after Jesus spoke to it.  Peter’s amazement is itself a demonstration of his ignorance at how powerful prayer truly is.  Thus, Jesus takes advantage of the opportunity to hammer home just how powerful prayer is to the person who has faith.

We should have faith

Jesus does emphasize the faith of the person praying, but even more critical is his emphasis on whom our faith is based.  My faith must be based upon God alone.  God is the foundation of our faith, and prayer is a dependence upon the power of God.

People who do not pray do not believe that they need God’s help.  It is also possible that they may think they are too spiritual to ask God for things, but the prior reason is the most typical.  Such people will attempt to gain the goal or target that they desire by their own abilities.

Here is where we should recognize that it is unbiblical not to pray, and yet just as unbiblical to sit back and do nothing while asking God to do everything.  Instead, we are to do what we can while praying for God’s help in those things we can’t.

To emphasize the critical nature of having our faith based solely on God, here are some examples in Scripture.  When Jesus tells us that it is impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, he follows it up with the statement that with God all things are possible.  Thus, he is not impressing on us that rich people cannot be saved, but that it can only happen with God’s help- this is actually true of all of us.  This is the same message that the angel Gabriel gave to Mary when she questioned how she would have a baby- she was still a virgin.  The angel tells her that with God nothing will be impossible (Luke 1:37). 

The same God who created the universe is the Heavenly Father who watches over us.  His possibilities go far beyond our impossibilities.  He did not intend us to do life without Him.  Prayer is our ultimate birthright, to cry out to our Father for help, the one to whom all things are possible (that conform to his character, of course).

In case the teaching hasn’t sunk in, Jesus gives his disciples an illustration that is much greater than praying that no one will ever eat fruit from a particular fig tree ever again.  Praying that a mountain be removed and cast into the sea represents an extreme fantastic prayer that seems impossible.  There is an added symbol to this prayer because mountains are used as metaphors for political powers and empires, such as the Roman Empire.  It is the extreme nature of the request that highlights how unable we are, and yet how able God is.  By definition, God has the power to literally cast a mountain into the sea.  Yet, why would I ever need a real mountain thrown into the sea, and who will the resulting tsunami imperil?  A literal mountain is not the “impossible thing” that we typically need removed from our way, or life.  Instead, it represents an impossibility of any nature for which we would need God’s help.  This extreme example is intended to stretch our faith to the point that we stop limiting God just because we are limited.  Did not God literally move the waters of the Red Sea aside so that millions of Israelites could escape Pharaoh’s army?  So, can He not take care of my problem?  Of course, He can!

It is here that Jesus adds the issue of doubt.  We must not doubt God’s power, but neither should we doubt His care and concern for us.  It is one thing to have enough faith to pray a prayer, but we should not doubt that God will do it.  Granted, doubt is not the only issue here, but it is a critical one.  It might be better for us to ask the question, “Why do I doubt that God would answer this prayer?”  We will come back to this, but doubt is a huge reason why many people have quit praying, or never started in the first place.  We start doubting that God will do anything about our request.  He may help others, we tell ourselves, but I doubt that He is willing to help me.

In verse 24, Jesus gives us a summation of what he is saying.  When you pray asking for something, you should believe that you are receiving it, and it will be yours.  Another way to say this is that we should believe that God is taking care of it and that we will experience His answer to our prayer.  There is a certain load and burden in life that we all need to learn to carry, but there are things that are too heavy of any of us.  Prayer is intended by God to be the place where these overly heavy burdens are moved off of our shoulders and onto God’s  O, what joy we will experience when we learn to put those things we can’t change onto the shoulders of the one who cares for us (1 Peter 5:6-7).

This is not an exhaustive summation on prayer, but we need to let it sink in on its own merits.  Once that is done, we can move on to the other lessons concerning prayer.  This summation does beg two questions.  First, what impossible things should I be praying for that actually need removed from my life?  Second, what is the source of my doubt about it?

We must deal with our sins

In verse 25, it may appear that Jesus is switching the subject, but in reality, he is still teaching on prayer.  The sentence is introduced with the connective word “and,” and it involves a particular thing that affects our prayers, sin.

Jesus brings up the heart issues of what other people have done to me.  It can be hard for me to forgive those who sin against me and this becomes a source of problems for our prayers.  It is in the heart that I am to believe without doubting.  Yet, this very heart is often full of hurts and wounds that I have received from others.  Many people stop praying because they are angry that God has allowed other people to hurt them.  Technically, these are the sins of others, but they have intersected with my life and infected my heart.  We could say that they are other people’s sins that are now stuck in my heart.  Believers must learn to deal properly with those sins.  Harboring a grudge, hurt, or anger towards another person, and refusing to forgive them, becomes an obstacle to answered prayer.  Why is this?  It may be because it affects my faith and causes doubts, leading me to doubt that God really cares about me.  However, it may be because God is not pleased and wants me to deal with my lack of forgiveness first.  Scripture does not detail the nuts and bolts behind how this affects our prayers, but that it surely does.  Jesus teaches more about this in Matthew 18:15 and the following verses.  This would be good homework for us in the area of dealing with the sins of others against me and forgiving them.

Yet, notice that Jesus does not end up on whether or not our prayer is answered.  A lack of forgiveness for those who sin against me can even become a hindrance to me having my sins forgiven by God.  This is the exact situation that Jesus describes in the parable of The Unforgiving Servant in Matthew 18:22-34.  The question ceases to be about answered prayer and becomes about my own salvation.  A lack of forgiveness is far more serious for the believer (note the irony in that term) than just having our prayers answered.

Jesus leaves the teaching there.  Perhaps, he felt that it was a sufficient amount for them to contemplate.  However, I want to look at two more areas that God’s Word tells us can be a problem for our prayers.

The first is when we sin against others.   Jesus taught on this in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:23.  When we approach God in prayer and worship, He may bring to our remembrance some way in which we have sinned against others.  We are told to go and make things right with them, and then come back to God.  We may be avoiding things that we don’t want to deal with, or we may be obstinately clinging to our own righteousness in the situation.  Regardless, we are called to be at peace with all people, as much as is possible with us.  Being right is not an excuse to treat someone harshly, in short, to sin against them.  Such, lack of repentance in our heart will cause our prayers to be hindered.  The Apostle Peter gives us a picture of this in 1 Peter 3:7. There, he cautions husbands to dwell in wisdom with their wives, recognizing that, though they have different constitutions and roles, they have the same inheritance as them before God.  Husbands who mistreat their wives (i.e. sin against them) will find that their prayers are hindered by God.  Such hindering is God’s way of getting our attention and challenging us to deal with our sins against others.

James also gives us some more instructions on prayer.  In the first chapter, he too focuses on praying without doubting. 

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But, let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.  For, let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;” (James 1:5-7 NKJV).

Yet, in chapter 4:1-3, James gives us more teaching about prayer.  Prayers that are focused on our desires for pleasure in this life will also be hindered.

James says that he is writing to people who are relying on clawing their way over others to get what they want instead of praying and believing God.  Their problem is that they are not asking God for help.  They are prayerless.  Yet, in the rare times that they did pray to God, there was a second problem.  Their prayers were focused on their own fleshly pleasures.  James literally says that such prayers are bad or wicked.  God is not our Golden Willy Wonka Ticket to chocolate pleasures, or any others.  A heart that is only filled with the desires and pleasures of this life will also find that its prayers are hindered by God.  Why?  We will find them hindered because we are still pursuing the flesh instead of following the Spirit to become like Jesus.  It is not that God doesn’t want us to enjoy the simple pleasures of life.  He made them.  Yet, our flesh hijacks the purpose of our life and makes it all about obtaining as much pleasure as possible.  God in His grace will not answer such prayers.  However, let me give one caution.  Scripture does say that, if we persist in seeking wickedness, God may give us what we seek as a judgment against us.  We must not be deceived.  God will not be mocked.  If you sow to your flesh then from your flesh you will reap destruction, but if you sow to the Spirit of God then you will reap everlasting life (Galatians 6:7-8).

We need to be a people of prayer for our sakes, and for the sake of the lost around us.  Yet, to do so means to be a person who deals with the sin that is in their life on a daily basis.  Then, our hearts can be clean before God and our prayers will not be hindered, but answered.  Amen!

Prayer audio

The Joy of the Lord

This week we had a visiting evangelist, Joe Pyott, who preached on the Joy of the Lord.  There will not be a narrative this week.

Joy audio

A Fruitful Tree

Mark 11:12-21.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on July 5, 2020.

Today, we will look at the Gospel of Mark and follow the actions of Jesus during the days following his Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.  Jesus was ready to force the point, or rather, the question, “Who do you say that I am?”  Is Jesus truly savior and king, or is he a despised thing to be cast aside?

In reading the scriptures, it is easy to see the faults of Israel and its religious leaders.  However, the lesson is intended for us to search our own hearts and ferret out those inevitable aspects of our flesh that would undermine true worship of God.  This is important because there is a lot of lip-service that is given to justice and righteousness in our society, and yet, they really are important.  Am I just a loud noise that internally has no substance?  Do I cry for justice, but then turn around and abort?  Do I cry for justice, but then dishonor my neighbor?  Do I cry for solutions, but won’t lift a finger to embrace the solution that God has already placed in front of me?  I could go on, but let’s look into our passage and allow the Holy Spirit to search our hearts because God is looking for people who will be a fruitful tree, rather than a thorny bush in these last days.

Jesus comes back to Jerusalem

It is clear that the Triumphal entry happens on a Sunday, or the first day of the week.  We are told that Jesus had retired that evening to a small town called Bethany that was less than a mile east of Jerusalem.  We must remind ourselves that this is the week before the Passover Feast, which means that more and more pilgrims were arriving in the city every day.  Our passage opens on Monday morning, and Jesus is leading his disciples back into busy Jerusalem.

On the way, there is an episode involving a fig tree.  Why did Jesus leave Bethany without eating something?  Why can’t he wait until he arrives in Jerusalem to get some food?  We have no answer to these kinds of questions.  However, the logistics of this episode are not the issue because there is clear symbolism in what happens.  I am not saying that Jesus was faking his hunger just to make a point.  Rather, the situation becomes parabolic of Israel as a nation.  The disciples are recording this for that reason, and not just because it was a spectacular miracle.

This was an area that had many fig trees.  In fact, a nearby village called Bethphage literally means house of unripe figs.  However, it was not yet time for the trees to be ripe.  We are told that Jesus sees a fig tree that has leaves, and that draws his attention.  This is because those trees grow the fruit first and then grow leaves.  In other words, the fact that there were leaves was an indication that there would be some fruit.  Yet, when Jesus gets to it, it has none.

At this point, Jesus curses the tree with the phrase, “Let no one eat fruit from you again.”  This may make Jesus look petulant, but the issue is not really about his hunger.  Israel was created by God so that they could be fruitful for the purposes of God.  It had all manner of outward signs that signaled that it should have fruit, but when God came to inspect, He found none.  Notice that this is not a rejection of the fruit, but the lack of any fruit altogether. 

Other scriptures using the image of an olive tree give a more nuanced picture that recognizes that there was a fruitful remnant within Israel.  This was despite the work of the nation’s religious leaders.

Jesus moves on and enters Jerusalem with his disciples.  They then go into the temple compound.  When we talk about Jesus entering the temple, a word is used here that does not refer only to the inner-most building that housed the Holy of Holies with the Ark of the Covenant.  It actually refers to the whole temple compound, which had a series of courtyards and porches built around it.  For our purposes, it would be good to get a rough sense of where this situation is happening.

The inner-most building could only be entered by the priests with only the High Priest on one day of the year able to go into the Holies of Holies.  Outside this structure was the courtyard of priests where all the sacrifices took place.  Just outside of this was an area that was called the courtyard of men.  This was the closest that Israelite men could approach.  Outside of this walled off area, there was another courtyard called the courtyard of women.  This was the closest that an Israelite female could approach.  Beyond this walled off area, there was a large courtyard that was north, east, and south of the closer courtyards.  This was called the courtyard of Gentiles.  This was the closest that a non-Israelite person could approach.  It is most likely here that the event takes place.

We are told that Jesus begins to drive out those who were buying and selling in the courtyard.  They were selling guaranteed pre-approved animals and birds for the sacrifices.  This would be convenient for people who were traveling longer distances, even some by boat.  Yet, they paid an exorbitant price for the convenience.  It had become a money making scheme most likely given in nepotism, or through bribery.  Thus, a whole industry had been built up that made money off of the activity of religion, just as there were others built around the activity of government.  The trade is not illicit, but the ways in which it was generally being done was.  It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to recognize similar things that exist today. 

Jesus also overturns the tables of the money-changers.  Pilgrims would arrive from all over the Roman world with Gentile money.  All adult males were required to pay an annual temple tax.  This was to be paid with an Israeli Shekel.  This too was exchanged at exorbitant rates that were not fair.  Even if there had been no overcharging, Jesus objects to the location of the activity as well.

Jesus takes time to teach the onlookers why he was doing these things.  He first reminds them of the stated purpose for the temple compound.  It was not just for Israel, even though Gentiles were prohibited from entering into the inner courtyards.  It was intended to be a house of prayer for all nations.  This means that the courtyard of the Gentiles would be would be the closest place where a believing Gentile could come to God’s temple and pray to Him.  This is important.  The religious leaders did not care for the praying of the Gentiles.  They only cared about the money they could make from the convenience to the Israelites that God had required to offer sacrifice.  Making things convenient is not necessarily bad, but when it runs counter to God’s stated purpose, it is.  The Gentiles would have to pray in the middle of a marketplace filled with smelly animals and loud commerce, which is anything but conducive.

Secondly, Jesus uses a phrase from Jeremiah 7 to highlight that they are not only affecting God’s purpose for this area, but they are also robbing people.  He calls it a “den of thieves.”  It is bad enough to squelch a good purpose, but it is inexcusable to also encourage a bad purpose.  God does give us commands, but he does not intend those commands to be over-burdensome.  It is important for us to always keep in mind what God’s purpose is for things, or places, even our own lives.  We must first refrain from that which is counter to God’s purposes.  We must then embrace and perform the good purpose that He does intend.  This is not just about what happens in a church building.  Don’t you know that you are the temple of God?  It all begins with a proper understanding and worship of God within our own hearts and lives.  Everything else flows out of that.

Mark states that this so enrages the chief priests that they seek to destroy him.  It was mentioned prior that the religious leaders had already determined to get rid of Jesus.  However, they did not want to do it during the feast.  There would be way too many people around to witness the distasteful necessity (in their eyes).  Yet, Jesus is clearly forcing their hand by all that he is doing and teaching in the temple.  They are not so much afraid of what Jesus can do to them (though they should have been), but that the people might listen to Jesus and follow him.  They are afraid that they will lose their power over the people, and even that the Romans would step in.

Whether as religious leaders, or as parents with the duty to train our kids to worship God, we must always remember that we are not to dominate the spiritual life of another person.  We are to be a help and a benefit for them to connect with God, but we must be careful not to become a hindrance.  When the heart of an authority figure is not in the right place, they will always be threatened when those under them come into relationship with the Truth.  This is a dynamic that is always at work in the hearts of us all.  It takes humility and repentance to avoid this pitfall.

Again, they retire to Bethany that evening.  They return again the next morning, which would be Tuesday.  At this point, Peter recognizes that the fig tree is completely dead, down to the roots.  Jesus takes advantage of the opportunity to deal with Peter’s amazement at the miraculous effect that the command of Jesus had on the fig tree.  However, we will leave that for our next sermon.

Let us end by recognizing that the picture is for us to see that hypocrisy will not only lack good fruit, but it is destined to be cursed by God.  Jesus reminded Israel that Isaiah had prophesied well about them when he stated that they were a people who drew near Him with their mouths and lips, and yet their hearts were far from Him.  It is not enough to have the outward appearance of a fruitful and worshipful life.  Israel had all the trappings of worship that God had commanded them to have, but most of them did not have a heart that worshipped God.  Let us remember that, in this sense, Israel is no different than the Church, or you, or me.  We are all tempted to hypocrisy because we all have a sinful nature.  It is only through introspection and humility that we can keep our own hearts as a clean house, a place where true worship and prayer can occur.

Am I a fruitful tree or a tree that only promises fruit?  One will be blessed and the other will be cursed.  Humility and repentance is the only way that we can be a fruitful tree.

Fruitful Tree audio