By What Authority?

David Poland

Matthew: Kingdom Authority • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

Matthew 21:23–27

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Sermon 66 in a series through the book of Matthew.

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Transcript

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 9:11-20

Psalm 9:11–20 ESV

Sing praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples his deeds! For he who avenges blood is mindful of them; he does not forget the cry of the afflicted. Be gracious to me, O Lord! See my affliction from those who hate me, O you who lift me up from the gates of death, that I may recount all your praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in your salvation. The nations have sunk in the pit that they made; in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught. The Lord has made himself known; he has executed judgment; the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion. Selah The wicked shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever. Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail; let the nations be judged before you! Put them in fear, O Lord! Let the nations know that they are but men! Selah

Scripture Reading: Psalm 119:113-115

Psalm 119:113–115 ESV

I hate the double-minded, but I love your law. You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word. Depart from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the commandments of my God.

Sermon

Good Morning Church! I was truly glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord!

It is good to be back with you in the flesh after spending a week up at Pine-brook Bible Conference center in East Stroudsbourg PA. Which means probably very little to all of you, that used to be the camp owned by the BFC but they sold it to a camping group. Part of the deal in selling it was that we could have annual conference there for free for however many years, but again, those details don’t matter much to you, but that is where I was, and that is what I was doing.

And as a side note, I felt a little convicted is not the right word, but I was realizing that i think it would be good for the church to know what happens over at annual conference. We are BY FAR the most removed congregation from conference, we are just kinda out here, at least the mexico churches there are 5 of them, and the napes FL Church still shares a time zone, but Here we are out here kinda feeling like we are floating on an island by ourselves. So what I have decided to do is that NEXT Sunday evening, 6:30, we will have a time when I will present to whoever wants to come and hear, what we talked about, what the discussion was on certain topics, what was voted on, what may change for you (short answer: not really anything), but also how I voted on everything so that you can know MY heart and what is going on there. And also there will be a time if you have any questions of thoughts that you would like to ask, we will do that too. But that will be NEXT week so that I can get everything prepared and laid out for you all.

But one of the things that struck me is that as I was preparing my sermon, we will be looking at Matthew 21:23-27, the ESV titles this section “The Authority of Jesus Challenged”. Ultimately it is a passage about authority, Jesus authority in particular, what is it, where does it come from, and probably most importantly what are we going to do about it? But I would say that at the heart there are a few feelings, not the least of is: Who HAS authority.

I would like to share as I originally was writing this sermon how I was approaching this question, I believe it is helpful to get us thinking right, but as we will see the heart of the passage is much deeper. But I started asking myself the same sort of question that Jesus was asked in the passage. “By what authority do I stand up here in this pulpit and preach to you.?” By what authority do i stand here and bring before you scripture and say: this is what GOD has said. And this is probably why I was thinking like that this week in particular, because the first answer we might look to is the group that holds my ordination, the denomination of this church, the BFC. So in one sense, it is by the authority of the BFC that I get up here and preach, by ordaining me they have said: this is a man who we believe will rightfully handle God’s word, so we authorize him to preach in our churches. But as I thought about it, that is not fully true. Because I am not talking about some theoretical pulpit, rather this one, here, at Grace Bible Church. Y’all don’t have to listen to me, you all brought me here, You all continue to tolerate me. SO in one sense sure, it is by the authority of the BFC, but the more important one, and the one I really care about, it is really the church that gives me this authority. you all have empowered me to speak with authority.

but even then, if we are being frank and honest that is not REALLY where the authority comes form, it comes from God. For it is God who empowers the preaching of his word. it is God who imbues not my words, but HIS words with power and then allows me, a broken sinner saved by grace, to share them. I don’t say this in boasting, I am not trying to stand up here with some crazy power trip, for it is not me, but truly anyone who stands up here and opens before you God’s word, this is true of them too. For it is not the vessel to be honored or seen but rather the words.

The second Helvetic confession, which is a really old confession (1562, so one of the first confessions of the reformation) puts it this way:

THE PREACHING OF THE WORD OF GOD IS THE WORD OF GOD. Wherefore when this Word of God is now preached in the church by preachers lawfully called, we believe that the very Word of God is proclaimed, and received by the faithful; and that neither any other Word of God is to be invented nor is to be expected from heaven: and that now the Word itself which is preached is to be regarded, not the minister that preaches; for even if he be evil and a sinner, nevertheless the Word of God remains still true and good.

Heres the point, when we open up God’s word, The very nature of those words as being God’s is what offered those words power, so the authority of preaching has nothing to do with this man standing in front of you, and I truly believe like the confession states, that this person here is not to be regarded, for if you look to ME i will unfortunately let you down, but rather we hear the words of God and those are what change us.

But in Matthew the issue is less of why are you ALLOWED to say this, which would be a good question, and thinking this way is why i struggled with this passage for a bit, but setting that aside, it is not a why are you allowed sort of question but rather a “who do you think you are”?!?! By what authority do you get off Jesus doing and saying these things. “HOW DARE YOU” will be the Pharisaical heart. and seeing this, and knowing this, and understanding this distinction we can see what Matthew is doing here. Because if you asked me “by what authority” I have no ground to stand on, but the grace and power of God. When Jesus is asked this question, he can answer it as God. That is the difference here.

So with those thoughts in our mind, lets Read God’s word together. Matthew 21 starting in verse 23

Matthew 21:23–27 ESV

And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

these are the words of the Lord for us this morning, lets open with a word of prayer.

Dear Lord we thank you for your word, given to us that we might know you and see you and even hear from you. We do pray that you would speak to our hearts. give us ears to hear and eyes to see, that you would grant to us understanding of all that you have said and done. We pray that you would work in our heats. that you would convict us, mold us, shape us and change us. Help us to be a people who are not just hearers, but rather doers of your word. I pray that you would speak through your servant this morning. in Jesus name we pray. AMEN.

As we look at this passage, It is fairly straight forward what is happening narratively. Jesus is teaching and performing miracles and here come the Pharisees. The Pretenses of trying to get along, trying to figure it out are pretty much gone by now. jesus has already started stirring the pot. he started proclaiming not just to his disciples but rather the whole world who he is at the triumphal entry. he has also started just really calling the pharisees out. There were seed of it earlier in conversations about hand washing and fasting, But just the passage before the Pharisees were like, hey, why are you letting the kids say these things, and Jesu answer was sorta, because they have to. Because YOU GUYS are not praising me like you should, so lets go to infants and babies, they are wiser and more godly than you are Pharisees. (that’s not the words, but surely that is close to the heart…). The Pharisees, pictured by the fruitless withered fig tree are here going to come, and really we will see from here to the end of Matthew that the Pharisees are done with Jesus, and so they come to him and say: who in the world do you think you are?!? this is our temple, this is our place to teach, these are OUR sheep, WE are their rabbis. WE are their teachers. who do you think you are? Where do you get off teaching these things, who gave you the authority to say this? I know I got the authority from Rabbi this person who was trained by Rabbi that person who was trained by Rabbi that other person. That’s my linage. you on the other hand are the son of a carpenter. From Nazareth no less. Who gave you the authority?

Jesus questions them back. OK, you want to know, I will tell you. He says that. if you answer me this I WILL ANSWER you. The question that he asks them is not a hard one, there are only two possible answers. Where does JOHN get his authority? and for John and for Jesus I would argue, and this is what makes this question from Jesus so appropriate, there are again two answers. you get you authority from heaven or your authority from man.

and the pharisees go off, they are in a bit of a pickle. For they didn’t believe john, and though they don’t let everyone know that. proof they didn't believe him is the fact that they will not listen to him or follow him. But lets be honest, john was a rabble rouser who wanted to reform what THEY were doing, how dare he mess with the status quo. and then he ran afoul of Rome, in particular Herod and his wife, so it might be dangerous to side with this killed guy. So saying his authority is from heaven is right out, because we already know the follow up question: Well why didn’t you listen to him. SO he cant be from heaven.

but if we say his authority comes from man, well now we are in some real trouble. because the people seem to love john. The people were going in droves, half the city it fealt like was out there in the wilderness receiving the baptism of John a baptism of repentance. Baptism by this man THEY deem is a prophet from God. If we say he was only speaking with mans authority THEY would like that. So the pharisees answer: WE DON’T KNOW. And Jesus refuses to answer them.

Really here this is a question of authority that runs much deeper. the Pharisees surface level is: By what authority. that is the sort of why can David preach question. But the REAL question I would say here is WHO IS JESUS?

The Question: WHO IS JESUS?

If he is the Messiah, if he is, the Christ the son of the living God, Peters statement in Matthew 16, if he is, the King, riding in humble and mounted on a donkey, Matthew 21. Well if he is that - his authority comes from heaven because HE comers from heaven and so this question is really a moot point. If he us however a usurper, a trouble maker and whats worse a blasphemer, and his authority comes from man, this man saying I have this so you have to listen to me, well then we are in a whole ‘nother place.

The Pharisees seem to think it is the latter. that Jesus is claiming this for himself. So they think that by coming and asking this question they can trap him. For again, they can stand up and say our authority comes from a long linage of Pharisees, our authority comes from tradition, our authority comes from this that or the other. But the ultimate problem they have is the same problem we have seen over and over and over again in life, but in particular in Matthew. it is the reason that the curing of the blind is the most common miracle in all the gospels. The Pharisees cant see who jesus is. they cannot see him, so they challenge him, they test him, they ultimately kill him. They go and they try to attack Jesus at this fundamental level, who HE IS. Where his authority comes from, but Jesus turns it back on them

he goes to john. The one of who one greater was ever born of Woman. the one who COULD see Jesus. At Jesus baptism he looked at Jesus and said: HERE HE IS. Remember I said one was coming who’s sandals i would not be worthy to touch? well here he is. John said it is not right that I baptize you, jesus said it is not just right, but you will, for I must do this to fulfill all righteousness. John was there when the heavens opened the voice from heaven resounded as the dove descended and he heard, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. John saw. John Knew. Later in Matthew when John would send his disciples. While john was languishing in Prison Awaiting his death He sent his disciples, ARE YOU THE ONE? Jesus responds, you tell him what you have SEEN! Me healing people, the lame walking, the blind receiving sight, the gospel of the kingdom is preached to the poor. You tell john what you have seen and John saw, and john Knew. - the Pharisees couldn’t

I was reading through one of my commentaries on this passage and they said something rather insightful that really shows the issue with the Pharisees question, for this is very telling. Another reason I believe that Jesus wanted to look to John is to look at the fundamental messages of these two men and see how that ties to the question of WHO IS JESUS? John’s message, in one word: REPENT! Johns message REPENT is the precondition of Jesus Message, BELIEVE. In other words, if you will not accept John’s message, that you need to repent, that you need to turn to God hat you need to flee this corrupt generation, then you will never hear Jesus when he comes with his message of BELIEVE. For he is the messaih.

So the Pharisees are trying to trick and trap Jesus. Who do you think you are. Where do you get this authority. you are not one of us what are you doing here in the temple teaching? But their fundamental problem is that because they wouldn't listen to John, they cant see jesus and they miss the bus completely. They wont believe they wont repent they didn’t listen to John, they wont believe in the name of Jesus, their hearts are hard as stone. This is shown by their response to Jesus question.

And truly this is, I think for us, one of the most important reasons that Matthew put this narrative in here. What do we have here? I believe the heart of What Matthew is getting at is this: WHO DO YOU FEAR?

The Heart: WHO DO YOU FEAR?

Jesus, the perfect savior, the perfect teacher, the perfect one, asks this question about John with perfect clarity. because Jesus, the one who can discern the thoughts and intentions of man knows that this question will drive to the heart of the Pharisees, and as we read the response of the pharisees my hope and prayer it also drive to our hears as well.

Here is the question: Where did Johns Baptism come from? The response of the Pharisees shows what is really at stake for them.

Well if we say form heaven, jesus will say why did you not believe him. john said that we must repent, that we are a brood of vipers. A ravenous generation. john said some harsh things about us. If he was truly speaking from heaven and God Was speaking to us through him, why did we not change. WHY did we not repent. If John’s authority came from heaven, we should fear the wrath that is to come. WE should fear that we are in the hands of a holy God. We should fear that John truly was a prophet and we denied his teaching.

And so by not repenting with john we are just as bad as everything our forefathers did why they didn’t listen to ANY of those prophets. When Isaiah said “don’t go down to Egypt”, and we were on the first caravan down to Cairo. When Jeremiah proclaimed the future exile and trouble and we didn’t seem to care, when we heard the warning “woe to those that proclaim peace when there is no peace” and we proclaimed peace with God through our false righteousness and we didn't care about holiness and writing the law on peoples hearts. When WE questions God against Habakkuk, we didn’t listen to Malachi. This is no better if we don’t listen to john and he is from heaven.

But heres the heart: They don’t fear God enough to ponder if these words truly came from him. So it must be from man. And here is the flip side of that thought. They didn’t fear God but they DO FEAR MAN.

Matthew 21:26 (ESV)

But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd

They think it is from man, they obviously didn’t put enough stock in his message, because i would argue, their comfort was more than their fear of God and their comfort was nice for them. But we cant SAY from man, for we fear man. WE fear the crowd. We fear what they may do to us. They might rebel, they might riot. They might stop giving us positions of power. they might kick us out of the temple, they might not listen to us. WE might not get the respect, we might not get to sit on the high council, we might not get the love and adoration that we so crave and quite frankly that we deserve. So we fear the crowd. the crowd that holds that john was a prophet and so quite ironically the crowd that is showing that they fear God, at least in some small sense more than the pharisees do. The crowd that at least knew we should try to listen when God speaks, well them, we fear them. Just not God.

This becomes, the test of our hearts. For the message then, is the same message now. It is the same message Jesus asks in chapter 16: who do you say that Jesus is. Who is this Jesus. by what authority can he say and do the things that he says and does. jesus has said quite a few very bold things. “I am the way the truth and the life and NO ONE comes to the father except through me.” DO we run to him. Because we fear God and we realize our desperate desperate need for a savior will we run to this jesus? Or do we fear man?

They rejected Jesus, what if they reject me? Who do you fear?

What is fascinating about the question of Jesus authority, is that Jesus doesn't answer it here. Here the Pharisees keep their mouths shut and so does Jesus. but we can look elsewhere in Matthew and find a full and robust answer. Matthew has been painting for us a strong dichotomy. We have seen it in things like CROWD and DISCIPLES. there is the loud and boisterous crowd that wants FROM Jesus, and there are the disciples who want to KNOW Jesus. We will see it later, when the same crowd that glorified him at the triumphal entry is screaming crucify him later. And they fear not God but Rome. The Pharisees fear the loss of their comfort or whatever, but not God. But those that will fear God, who will see their perfect savior, we get to hear the answer to this question.

For at the end we see that the veil is pulled back. Not just where from, but how much authority does Jesus have? He has ALL OF IT!

Matthew 28:18 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

But who gave it to him? Well it is his, by nature of being God, the second person of the trinity, but in some sense we can say carefully the father has given these to him, but either way it is all his. Every last ounce of authority is his, so will we listen to his teachings? Will we cry out to him to be our perfect savior? Look to him, to be the one who instructs us in all that we need? will we devote our lives to him, loving him with all our heart soul mind and strength? Giving to him all glory and honor and praise that he is worthy of shouting: HOSANNA TO THE SON OF DAVID BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST!