Sermon Tone Analysis

/How many of you have ever called customer service?

You know—the toll free phone number on the product you buy meant to be your hotline to satisfaction.

“If you have any problems or questions please call this toll free number.”

/

/            But you soon learn satisfaction isn’t always just a phone call away.

Most of the time you’re put on hold, waiting for that elusive creature known as “the next available operator.”

When you finally talk to a human being, sometimes they take care of the problem, and sometimes they don’t.

Sometimes they give you the old runaround, trying to get you to drop the whole thing and quit bothering them.

/

/            And maybe it works.

Maybe you decide it’s not worth the hassle, and you’re tired of trying to get things fixed.

Or maybe you’re one of those folks that demand to speak to the supervisor, the manager, the president of the company, because by George they promised customer satisfaction and you’re a customer and you’re not going to give them a minute’s peace until you’re satisfied!

Not even if it means going all the way to the top!

You want to speak to somebody with the authority to fix what’s wrong.

/

/            Authority is one of the foundations for life.

Without authority there can be no society or civilization---only chaos.

If nobody’s in charge, things can get ugly.

/

/            One of the biggest questions you and I need to answer in life is: Who is the *ultimate* authority?

Not just the highest authority at AT & T or Microsoft or Proctor and Gamble-- but the highest Authority in the world?

Who is the ultimate Judge of what’s right and wrong?

Who’s in charge of how this world is run?

Who is the One Who possesses the answers for how life really works?

How do you get to Him?

Where do you go—to Whom do you go—when you want to take things all the way to the very top?

/

/            The Bible gives some clear answers to this question in *Luke 4:31-44*- a true story about the Man Who claims to be the Authority above all other authority, Who claims to have the answers to life’s ultimate questions.

Let’s see how He says you and I can take it all the way to the top.

Read with me, beginning in *vs.

31-32*.

/

*PRAYER*/  /

/            /Who is the ultimate Authority?

Jesus Christ, of course.

In these verses we find 3 truths about His Authority over all things.

First of all these verses show us *Jesus’ words carry the weight of ultimate authority.

*

*            Vs.

31 *picks up the story of Christ after He’s rejected in His own hometown of Nazareth.

He walks away from a murderous mob into a city where people are more receptive.

In fact, the city of Capernaum becomes the headquarters of His ministry from this point on.

One reason they are so receptive is because, as *vs.

32*: /…His Word was with authority…/

            Why is this so astonishing to them?

What is there that makes Jesus’ words so different from the words of other teachers?

One thing Scripture says is different is described in

*Mt 7:28* …/ He taught them as one having authority, and *not as the scribes*./

/            /Teachers and preachers back then did what teachers and preachers do today—we appeal to other sources of authority (mainly the Bible or other books or scholars) to add weight to our words.

The scribes did this, but Jesus didn’t do this.

He didn’t quote other teachers to confirm His Words.

In the Sermon on the Mount He repeats over and over again /…you have heard it was said….but

*I say to you*…./

In the Gospel of John He says things like

*Jn 8:51* /…if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death./

*Jn 5:24* /… he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life./

No other preacher or teacher in their right mind would claim this much weight for their words.

But Jesus does, and what’s more people recognize the authority of His Words.

This is why His preaching is so astonishing to the people, and so aggravating to the scribes and Pharisees.

Even when they send soldiers to arrest Jesus they come back empty handed.

*Jn 7:45-46* /45Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not brought Him?” 46The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this Man!”/

            Jesus’ words are heavy with the authority of God Himself, because Jesus /is/ God in the flesh.

/Jesus’ words are God’s Word, and God’s Word is Jesus’ Word./

/            Do Jesus’ words carry the same weight for you and I? I wonder.

We read Jesus’ word, preach and teach Jesus’ word, even put His words on pretty plaques and frame them up, but do His Words carry enough weight for us to obey them?

Take for example some of His most famous words found in /

/            /*Lk 6:31* /And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise./

/            The Golden Rule is one of the simplest expressions of how you and I should treat one another.

But do these words carry enough weight with you and I that we actually practice them?

Even Christians seem to have a hard time obeying such simple words.

Yet if Jesus’ Words carry the weight we claim they do, we’ll not just hear them, not just honor them, but we’ll put them into practice.

His words carry the authority of God Himself.

/

/            /The football game was grueling, and tempers were getting short when the referee called a 15 yard penalty on the home team.

As he marked off the 15 yards and put the ball down, one of the players yelled at the referee /You stink!

/

/     /The referee calmly picks up the ball and walks out another 15 yards against the home team, looks directly at the player, and responds, “How do I smell from here?”

/            Just as the words of the referee carry the most weight in the ball game, Jesus’ words should carry the most weight in our lives.

When you hear Him speak through the words of the Bible, you are hearing straight from the top.

How much weight do Jesus’ words really carry in your life?

Enough weight to read them, hear them---or enough weight to do them, to obey them?

/

/            /*Jas 1:25* /But he who…is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does./

/            /Jesus demonstrates His ultimate authority by His Word.

Weighty words are great, but authority is more than just weighty words.

A young businessman had just been promoted in the office and it went to his head.

He had a big impressive sign made up and hung on the door of his office that simply read THE BOSS.

A little later he returned from lunch to find a post-it note attached to his sign that read /your wife called and she wants her sign back.

/

            It’s not enough to /speak /with authority, unless you demonstrate/ /the power to /act/ with authority.

In *vs.

33-41* *Jesus demonstrates the power of His authority over both the invisible and visible world.

*

*            *Some modern readers wince when they read about demon possessed people.

They’d like to come up with some better explanation for what’s happening rather than face the possibility that the devil and demons are real, and that they can affect the lives of human beings.

Neither the Bible nor Jesus ever try to prove the existence of the invisible world—they take the existence of angels, demons, and even the devil for granted.

They assume that parallel to the visible physical world is the unseen world of the spirit.

Apparently during the ministry of Christ, the devil and his demons were especially active trying to oppose His ministry.

Today they work their mischief more behind the scenes.

Perhaps the reason for this is if they openly revealed themselves, more people might actually believe not only in the devil, but in God.

In any case, these demons certainly recognize Who Jesus is.

But notice Jesus takes charge of the situation in *vs.

35*: / Be muzzled and come out of him!

/ *Vs.

41* tells us Jesus silences the servants of Satan because Christ doesn’t need them to testify about Who He is.

            *Vs.

36* tells us the crowd is impressed.

One reason why is that exorcists in those days had different methods for chasing demons out of people.

Exorcists had two main methods of expelling demons: (1) scaring the demon out or making it too sick to stay—for example, by putting a smelly root up the possessed person’s nose in the hope that the demon would not be able to stand it—or (2) invoking the name of a higher spirit to get rid of the lower one.[i]

Jesus doesn’t do any of that superstitious mumbo-jumbo.

He just orders them to leave and they go---demonstrating His absolute power and authority over the spirit world.

But *vs.

38-39* demonstrate Jesus’ power doesn’t just extend to the spiritual world, but to the natural world as well.