A Sermon on Authority in the Bible

On September 24, 2020, I preached the following sermon for Oakhurst Lutheran Church. The church had both an outside, masked, socially distant service and a second Zoom service. As I prepared the sermon, I focused much of my preparation on how to preach via Zoom. I realize now I would have done things differently if I had considered more the “live” sermon. It was quite the experience trying to communicate the same message using two communication platforms and I needed to respect the differences in those platforms more.

The Zoom worship had supplemental PowerPoint slides. However, the experience of preaching and being unable to see or hear how the hearers respond was unsettling. I couldn’t hear where people may have needed an extra beat of silence or if I needed to stay on a point longer because the message was confusing or misheard. I had to trust that the prayer and preparation and slides worked. Meanwhile, during the live sermon, I realized that I was trying to communicate an awful lot orally without any visual aids!

Sigh.

Live and learn.

It was titled, rather blandly, “Authority & Expectations.”
This Scripture passages for the day were: Exodus 17: 1-7; Psalm 78:1-4; Philippians 2:1-13; and Matthew 21:23-32.

The Sermon:

All of today’s passages deal with authority & expectations. In the both Old Testament story and Gospel passage, the authority of God is questioned. These stories ask:

How do you know someone has authority? What is expected of those with authority? How does God use His authority?

Paul’s Epistle then asks:

What are the responsibilities of those under the authority of God?
And therefore, what are you to do with the authority you have been given?

Authority is rooted in the word “author,” originator, or creator.

Authority means the power or right to give orders, make decisions, enforce obedience. This is the kind of authority we think of when talking about God’s authority. It also means the right to act in a specified way due to official permission and the power to influence others, which is how we might think about Moses’ authority and our own.

Let’s start in the Old Testament. Today’s passage is part of the larger exodus story. The exodus story is the core narrative of the Jewish people. It tells how God acted as the creator of the community and why, therefore, He should be believed, why He should be obeyed, why He should be praised and why His story should be told to the next generation (which is what we see then occurring in Psalm 78). The Genesis stories tell how God created the tribes, and made his covenant promises to do a great thing through them, but the exodus story is how God created the community, the nation, the sense of the people as a people.

Let’s get some context for today’s passage. Where are we in the story of God creating the community?

The passage begins with the people doing as the Lord commanded. It says they, “set out from the Desert of Sin traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded.” They have already witnessed the power of God through ten devastating plagues back in Egypt. God has already parted the Red Sea, and has already answered their need for water once back in chapter 15. And He is with them. He sends manna, from heaven, daily. He is a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. God is with them. In the New Testament, we have a special name for the “with-us-God” — Emmanuel. You know what hasn’t happened yet? They have no Law. No Ten Commandments. No kosher food rules. The legal system that will govern their life as the special people of God isn’t a part of the story yet. Even here, in the heart of the Old Testament, God’s grace and God’s presence and provision precedes His Law.

God is authoring this community. He is leading them by doing mighty acts of power. So, what, in today’s passage, tells us what is expected of those in authority? How does God use his authority?

The people have followed him out of Egypt. They are no longer enslaved, but they are by no means self-sufficient. In fact, they are fully dependent on God for food, water, shelter, guidance, and protection. The mighty acts of yesterday don’t stop them from worrying, complaining, questioning, and even threatening because of the problems of today. This is actually pretty astounding. Not because we know how the story ends, but because, in those days, you didn’t demand miracles from the divine. Or, if you did, you at least sacrificed your best bull or ram when doing it. But they have a different kind of God. One who speaks directly to them and doesn’t demand payment. Prayer really is a gift of immeasurable value.

Anyway, the Israelites are desperate – a very basic need is not being met, so they go to Moses, and Moses goes to God, “What am I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.” They need a miracle. But can they really expect the divine to hear them and to help them? In this passage, even though they are irritating and frustrating their leaders, the answer is yes, they are listened to and their needs are met, even if it means getting water out of rocks in a desert. Again.

Notice, though, that God gives authority to Moses.

In fact, God works through Moses most of the time when exercising of His power. Moses, authorized by God, confronts the oppressive leadership of the Pharaoh. Moses lifts his staff over the Red Sea and then God parts it. Moses talked with God for the people, and then God sent manna from heaven. Moses is the co-collaborator in this miracle, too. He goes ahead of the people with the elders and strikes the rock, as God commanded. Moses acts as an exemplar for us. He speaks to God about the needs of his community. He then listens to and obeys God. Through Moses’ prayer and obedience to God, God mighty act of power is manifest. We know Moses has authority not because of what he said, but because of what he did. God worked through him to do amazing things, wondrous acts to save, to love his people. The story helps build the foundation that what we expect of God and of those authorized by God is to listen to those in need, even if we’re irritating and have no fatted ram.

So the Old Testament answers the questions this way:

How do you know someone has authority?

Because they do acts of power.

What is expected of those with authority?

To use their power to meet the needs of the people, to listen and care for those they who depend on them.

How does God use His authority?

God uses His awesome power to work with humans to create community, to lead people out of oppression, and to answer the requests and complaints of His people, to be in relationship with them. He journeys with them through life.

In the Gospel passage, Jesus’ authority is also being questioned.

This questioning comes after his final entry to Jerusalem. Jesus has spent 3 years teaching, healing, casting out demons, forgiving sins, blessing children, even raised a couple people from the dead. In this scene, he is again at the temple teaching.

The religious leaders say, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” He responds by asking about John. Was John’s acts and teachings just his own, or did John the Baptist act with the authority of the divine? When they admit they don’t know, Jesus refuses to answer their question about his authority since they apparently can’t discern divine authority – when God is at work. If they can’t discern that John was prophet from God, how could they possibly understand the authority Jesus held?

Their teachings and leadership have come from their studies with former rabbis. Their authority came from traditions rooted in the Torah – the knowledge of what God had done in the past. Jesus’ power, meanwhile, is in the present work of God and the coming Kingdom of God – what God is doing and will do. It is by “these things,” the mighty acts of power – chasing out the money lenders, feeding the multitudes, cleansing the leper, restoring sight to the blind – that he reveals, just like in the Old Testament, his authority and power comes from God.

He then tells a parable about two sons, one says he’ll work and then doesn’t, the other says he won’t work and then does. Jesus says the point of the story is that tax collectors and prostitutes will enter the Kingdom of God before the chief priests! Why? In the parable, it doesn’t matter what the sons say, but what they do. Not that we should aspire to be tax collectors and prostitutes, but to be sinners who change our minds to do as God asks of us. Jesus doesn’t say the chief priests won’t enter the Kingdom of God, but implies that by believing John and believing Jesus, by changing their mind and doing the work the Father sent them to do now, they enter the Kingdom of God before the chief priests.

So what are the responsibilities of those who are under the authority of God? What is the work the Father sends us to do in the vineyard?

Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, says, look at Jesus.

Jesus had equal authority with God, the Father, but he became fully human, fully under the authority of God. Look at how he used God’s authority when he was fully human. He listened to God and obeyed God. The Father gave him the wisdom, strength, and power, God’s immensely gracious love that Jesus used to be comfortable and delighted to eat with sinners, to work miracles for the destitute, and redeem those who refused him, betrayed him, questioned him by death on a cross. He loved even when it meant loving his enemies sacrificially. He healed people and fed them. He calmed anxieties and challenged all forms of oppression.

Paul writes, “in your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” Meaning a church is a community because of Christ. Jesus is the author of the church. We are empowered, authorized by Jesus, through the Spirit to do this will of God.

If we are the church of God, then we are bound to God and to one another through this Spirit. And the Spirit authorizes, empowers, and expects us to look out for the interests of others.

As followers of Christ, we are brothers and sisters in Christ, family, we are capable of sharing the same fellowship Jesus had with the Father, the same love God has for all his creation. The Spirit of God speaks to us and gives us opportunities to change our mind for the mind of Jesus. To see others how God sees them. To humble ourselves like Jesus did because we know we won’t be forgotten. We can fight against the oppression of others near and far with every gift God has given us because it is why we have been given those gifts. We can confess and talk about how God loved us, loves us still, and is still working in us to root out the sins and lies that frighten and trouble and weaken us. When we listen and obey the Spirit of God who dwells within us, we, too, are co-collaborators with God, who does mighty things in us and through us.

As Christians, our access to the authority and power of God cannot be separated from the responsibility to use our authority and power to serve God’s will, by loving and providing for God’s people.

You, with the Spirit, must daily, hourly even, answer together the final question: what are you to do with the authority you have been given? How is God calling you to use the love of God?

May you hear the voice of Jesus through God’s own Spirit. May it energize you and bring you peace.