The Contrast of Authority

Transcript

Welcome to this week’s sermon from Trinity Church in Portland, Oregon. Following the scripture reading by Pastor Ryan Lister, Pastor Thomas Terry will deliver the message entitled, The Contrast of Authority. This is part of our series called, Follow the Sun, which is going through the book of Mark. Thanks for joining us, here’s Ryan. Our scripture reading will be coming from Mark chapter 1, verses 21 through 28.

And they went into Capernaum. And immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching. For he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.

— Mark 1

(ESV)

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Teaching with Authority

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be silent and come out of him. And the unclean spirit convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice came out of him. And they were all amazed. So that they questioned among themselves, saying, What is this? A new teaching with authority? He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him. And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

— Mark 1

(ESV)

This Trinity Church is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Well over the last couple of weeks, Mark’s gospel has set somewhat of a backdrop for us concerning the powerful and public ministry of Jesus. If you remember Jesus’s obedience in baptism, the empowering of the Holy Spirit and the affirmation from the Father prepared and set the stage for Jesus’s ministry. After being equipped with the power and authority for his mission, he is immediately pushed

into the wilderness by the Spirit to overcome the power and temptation of Satan. After succeeding in the wilderness, he begins his powerful ministry of preaching the kingdom of God, which brought us to last week, where we again saw the power of Jesus displayed in his life-altering, world-shifting words of authority to follow me. Two simple words that created a summons so powerful, so authoritative, that it immediately breaks the wills of these four fishermen to lay aside everything they know about life, vocation, and world to follow Jesus. Under the authority of Jesus’s call, these four fishermen lay down their nets and follow Jesus into public ministry to spread the good news of God’s rule, reign, and authority over all of his people. All of this power and authority in just the first 20 verses of Mark. So far, the constant theme and the constant thread that has run through these first 20

verses has been power and authority. And that same theme of power and authority continues through our passage this morning. Jesus, with his new disciples, enter the city of Capernaum to continue to expand the kingdom of God through the powerful preaching. This powerful preaching also creates conflict. The preaching of the kingdom of God is polarizing, and it creates friction. And the reason why it does this is because it calls people to respond. See, there is no neutral position. You either embrace Jesus and his message, or you reject Jesus and his message. There is no middle ground. You are forced to respond when Jesus speaks. And not only does his authority demand a response from you, but when Jesus preaches, there’s such an authority behind his preaching that it actually creates conflict. He speaks with such power that it challenges and provokes not only the people of this world,

but it also provokes the demonic forces of this world. I told you last week that Jesus intends to bring and build his kingdom through faith and not by force. And in one sense, that’s very true. But in another sense, Jesus’s authority forces you to face the facts. It forces you to face his demands, and it forces you to confront this conflict. So although the kingdom of God is built on faith, there is a force behind the summons of that faith. There is power behind it. And it’s here in our passage this morning where we get yet another glimpse of his power and authority. This passage this morning showcases Jesus’s authority by way of contrast, where Jesus and his authority is juxtaposed to the authority of the scribes and the authority of Satan. I’ve broken up this passage again into two sections. That’s my style for the last couple of weeks, that showcases this juxtaposition.

So we’re going to look at the teaching of Jesus versus the teaching of the scribes. And then we’re going to look at the kingdom of Jesus versus the kingdom of Satan. And what I hope to accomplish this morning as we go through this passage, my prayer for us this morning is that we will become captured by this absolute authority of Jesus. Not just look at it and kind of just glaze over the fact that he has authority, but that we would be moved by it, that we would take comfort in it, that we would find security and rest in the reality of his absolute authority over all things. My prayer is also for those who are here this morning who do not know Jesus, that maybe perhaps for the very first time you would be drawn in and persuaded by the authority of his words, that you would come face to face with this all powerful and almighty king

Jesus vs. the Scribes

of creation. That’s my hope for us this morning. So let’s begin first by looking at this contrast, the teaching of Jesus versus the teaching of the scribes. And we’ll begin at verse 21 and 22. And they went into Capernaum and immediately on the Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching for he taught them as one who had authority and not like the scribes. So to give you a bit of context here, Jesus and his new crew of disciples has set course for Capernaum. Capernaum is a very unpopular city, very similar to the city of Nazareth. So if you are looking for a city to make yourself known, to build your ministry platform, this is definitely not the place to start. But the reality is what we’ll see next week, Capernaum was the city where Simon and Andrew’s

home was. Simon and Andrew lived in Capernaum, although they worked at the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee. And so their home was somewhat a launch pad for Jesus and his disciples as they engaged in public ministry. Capernaum was relatively close from the shoreline. So every day they would fish and then they would make their trek back home to Capernaum. So after Jesus calls these fishermen, after a short distance, they begin to make their way to Simon and Andrew’s hometown. And because Jesus had been preaching and teaching with such authority wherever he was at, he had been extended an invitation to preach at the local Capernaum synagogue. Now because synagogues didn’t really have full-time rabbis, the way it worked is that they would oftentimes invite rabbis or scribes to come and teach in various different synagogues on the Sabbath. Now the typical order of service in a synagogue would be a time of praise, a time of prayer,

a time of reading either from the law or the prophets. There would be a sermon and then they would close with the benediction. This was their typical liturgy in a synagogue. Now a lot of people in Capernaum had heard about Jesus. They heard about his preaching and they were anxious to hear him preach. You can imagine a couple guys who would hang out in a synagogue approaching the rabbi and saying, hey man, there’s this dude and he is crushing it when it comes to preaching. We really want to see him come and preach here. Why don’t you extend an invite to this guy Jesus so we could hear what he has to say? So on the Sabbath, Jesus is given his opportunity to preach in the synagogue. Now we don’t get from Mark’s account the content of Jesus’s sermon or his preaching, but we can pretty much assume that Jesus preached the kingdom of God.

That’s what he’s been doing is preaching the kingdom of God. So we don’t hear the actual content in Mark’s gospel, but what we do get from Mark’s gospel is that when Jesus begins to preach, the people see and hear and feel something so completely different than what they’re used to. You see other scribes and rabbis, when they would teach, they would simply make reference to various theological positions of various rabbis. See these rabbis and scribes would state their opinions about what they believed to be true concerning their interpretation of the Torah, and they based that truth on this rabbi’s perspective and that rabbi’s perspective. So there was no real authority behind what they taught because they were simply appealing to popular opinions, to other people’s perspectives. Rabbis and scribes by virtue of what they preached and how they preach didn’t really create much conflict because there was no real substance behind what they preached.

There was no challenge or conflict, which when I read this reminds me of various churches in Portland, a bunch of preachers preaching with no authority, with no absolute certainty to stand upon. You can imagine preachers in Portland who really don’t preach Jesus, but more preach social commentary or feel good messages. Preachers who preach pop psychology or even universalism, only preaching what is safe and non-confrontational, and of course never, ever, ever, ever preach about sin or repentance.

We’re surrounded with churches like this in Portland and preachers like this. No authority, no power, which was just like the rabbis and scribes. But when Jesus begins to preach in the synagogue, those who are present for his preaching are astonished. Now, the word astonished doesn’t give us the full scope or the weight of the word, but astonished can better be translated caught up with fear and awe. Jesus’ powerful preaching provokes a sense of fear and alarm in the synagogue. Why does Jesus’ preaching provoke fear in the hearts of these people? Well, for two reasons. The first, they had never heard someone preach with this kind of authority before. Never. It’s so foreign to them. See Jesus preached not just passionately, but with the kind of power and authority that induces decision. When Jesus preached, he demanded a response. He demanded a response. Jesus preached as if he was the author of the very words he was preaching.

See this is where we get the word authority from. The word author. The author of the world’s story was making his story known in the center of the synagogue through the art of preaching. So his words came with all the authority that an author would bring. He wrote it all. It’s his story, so he speaks with more authority about it than anybody else. I mean, this would be like me trying to break down Ryan Lister’s book on the presence of God. I could probably tell you about three or four points, but I can’t break it down like Ryan. It’s his book. He wrote it. He’s the author of it. The author always has more authority with his words than we do. So Jesus, the author of life, preaches with passion and conviction, and that’s a good thing. It sets him apart from most rabbis. But the fear, what was uniquely different about Jesus, the fear came from the authority

behind what he preached. The people were struck with fear because it was as if they were hearing God speak, and of course they were. Secondly, there was fear because of the reality and weight behind what Jesus had been preaching. Jesus’ message was the same. The time is now. The kingdom of God is here. Jesus preached the gospel of God so that people might repent and believe. Jesus preached Jesus. There was this prophetic tone in Jesus’ preaching that caused both alarm and a sense of urgency in his preaching. So the people who were present to hear this preaching respond by saying, who is this man? He is not like anyone we’ve ever heard preach before. He’s definitely not like the scribes. See scribes were the experts of the religious law. They would be the closest to modern day lawyers with a PhD in religious studies. And so if there was anyone in the synagogue who could preach with any authority, it would

be these guys. But these masters of religious law paled in comparison to Jesus and his authority to teach. And when Jesus preached, it provoked fear and urgency in the hearts of people. Proverbs 9.10 says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Jesus who is himself wisdom personified preaches in a way that provokes the fear of the Lord. This is why they were astonished. This is why there was fear when Jesus preached. This is why there was a sense of urgency. Because Jesus was preaching that judgment is coming, that the wrath of God will be poured out on the wicked. And if you want to find freedom from the perfect judgment of sin and escape the wrath of God, then you need to repent and believe in Jesus. Yes, Jesus preached and it provoked fear, but Jesus preached freedom and forgiveness of sin.

See the message of the kingdom of God that Jesus preaches is equal parts hell and hope. It’s both death and life, sorrow and salvation. In fact, the good news is only good news when it’s contrasted with the bad news. So Jesus stood in the center of the synagogue preaching to repent and believe in the gospel of forgiveness of sins. Because that is the only way to escape the wrath of God that is coming. That same message that Jesus preached in that synagogue is the same message that we preach to you, that God’s judgment is coming, that it is going to be poured out on sin. And your only refuge, your only hope is to hide yourself in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And see, when you preach that, it creates conflict. And we see that in our text here this morning. When Jesus powerfully preached in the synagogue, it also provoked the realm of the demonic,

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Kingdom vs. Kingdom

which brings us to our second contrast, the kingdom of Jesus versus the kingdom of Satan. In verse 23 and 24, and immediately there was in the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit and he cried out, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the holy one of God. When Jesus teaches, it demands the attention of everything and everyone in his presence, those seen and unseen, including the demons. What we see here is this very real and spiritual dimension that is awakened at the declaration of the gospel. Through the authoritative preaching of Jesus, demons are alarmed. Jesus’s message not only captured the attention of the people, but it caught the attention of a demon that was possessing a man in the synagogue. In a synagogue. There’s a couple of things to notice here.

First, a synagogue was a public house of worship. This was a house of worship, a place for praise and prayer, a place to study and learn about God. Why then would a demon be in a synagogue? Why was he there? Because there is a very real and cosmic conflict going on behind the scenes. There is a spiritual war between forces that is taking place all around us, even if we can’t see it with our human eyes. The principles of darkness are everywhere, including the most unpredictable of places. Places like the synagogue, places like the church. Ephesians 6.12 says, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. This demon was doing his duty in the place that he was assigned by the devil himself,

the center of the Capernaum synagogue. This demon’s job was to do what demons always do, deceive, distract, distort, and disunify people, even the people of God. What better place to do that than in a house of worship, where it’s unsuspected and undetected? Secondly, it seems from this text that this was the first time the demon-possessed man was identified in the synagogue. Why did no one not know that there was a demon-possessed man in the synagogue before? Maybe it had to do with the way that scribes preached. Maybe they didn’t preach in a way that would cause a threat to a demon. See, demons are good in houses of worship where moralism is the main idea. Demons are quite comfortable in places where righteous, works righteousness is the emphasis. They love to be in places where religious superficiality is present, where people talk about God and sing songs about God, but not people who pursue God, that actually follow

after God. See, this demon didn’t have to worry. He didn’t have to be on guard. He could stay quiet and just work out a little bit of dark drama with really no pressure. But you begin to start to mention salvation through the merits of Jesus Christ, you start talking about the kingdom of God, demons begin to stand at attention. See, this demon in the synagogue was covert, quietly and strategically keeping things contained. So long as there’s no real threat, then there would be no real need for me to reveal my presence. But when Jesus begins to preach with authority, when Jesus begins to talk about the kingdom of God in this authoritative way, it cracks open the dark places of the demonic realm and exposes the forces of evil working behind the scenes. See, this unclean spirit could not contain himself in the presence of the Holy One.

So he shouts out loud, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Essentially this demon was saying, what business do you have with us, Jesus? We were fine until you got here. Everything was under control. Everything was contained until you got here. What have you to do with us? When he says us, this demon is making reference to the whole realm of Satan and the other demons. See, this demon sensed the threat of Jesus in his preaching and asked, what have you come to do? Have you come to destroy us? See the demon knew the inevitable fate of Satan, which means the demon knew his fate. And so he was afraid as he should be. The demon knew this conflict was going to come head to head. It was not going to be a truce. There was only going to be one victor and this was it.

So the demon says with one last ditch effort of survival, I know who you are, the Holy One of God. Why does the demon say this in his last ditch effort of survival? See, when demons say these kinds of things, when this demon calls out Jesus and says, I know who you are, the Holy One of God, this is not merely the demon identifying Jesus. This was an attempt to control Jesus. See history tells us that through exorcisms, demons would sometimes attempt to gain control of someone that was performing the exorcism by identifying the person, by calling that person out by their title. So this demon was attempting to establish control over Jesus. But in our text, we see it doesn’t work. It has no bearing in verse 25 and 26, but Jesus rebuked him saying, be silent and come out of him. And the unclean spirit convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice came out of him.

The defensiveness and hostility of the demon was no match for the sovereign and powerful words of Jesus. The demon was defensive and resistant, but completely defenseless and could not resist the authority of Jesus’s words. Jesus shuts the mouth of this demon and calls him out of the man. And in this one act, you see both the authority of Jesus demanding obedience from the demon, as well as demonstrating dignity to the man who was possessed by the demon. There is no incantation. There’s no magical or mystical routine. You don’t see anything like you would see in an exorcist movie with holy water, crucifixes and vomit. You just see God’s powerful and authoritative words, just words. Jesus basically tells this demon, shut up and get out. And the demon complies because of his authority. Jesus shuts the mouth of this demon. Why? Why does Jesus tell this demon to shut up?

For two reasons. One, Jesus does not want his messianic secret revealed yet. Jesus’s plans will not be hindered by the foolish words of a demon. Jesus’s secret will remain a secret until Jesus decides it’s no longer a secret. Even in this, you see God’s authority over all things. And two, he shuts the mouth of the demon so as to no longer deceive, distract, distort and disunify God’s people. Jesus silences this demon and controls this cosmic conflict. And it’s an effortless battle that showcases the absolute authority of Jesus. Jesus wins with only words. It’s done. And how do the people respond to this cosmic conflict? Verse 27 and 28. And they were all amazed so that they questioned among themselves saying, what is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him. And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

The people were yet again overcome with fear at the witness of Jesus’s absolute authority. They have no framework for this type of authority. See these people had never heard anyone teach like this. They’ve heard people teach before. They’ve heard people preach before. They’ve even seen exorcisms before, but not like this. Not with the exercise of absolute authority. What’s interesting is that it’s not the casting out of the demon that amazes them here. It’s the teaching. If you look at the text, it’s the teaching that amazes them. You would think that Jesus casting out the demon with his words would be the cause for their amazement, but it’s actually the teaching that amazes these people. They say, what is this? A new type of teaching that is so powerful, so authoritative that it awakens demonic forces while simultaneously forcing out demonic forces. The people were amazed by the authority of his teaching.

And that actually makes complete sense to me. Because if you were to measure what is more miraculous, casting out a demon or raising dead people to life, raising dead people to life would be the greater miracle. And that is exactly what happens when Jesus preaches. The authority behind his words raises dead people to life. When Jesus teaches, he transforms people. He transports people from death to life. His words pierce through dimensions and move people from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God. That’s the kind of authority that they were witnessing in that synagogue. And notice the response of the demon. When Jesus quiets him and casts him out, notice what happens. Convulsing and crying out with a loud voice. The demon came out of him. Jesus liberates this demon-possessed man from the power and influence of Satan by overcoming the power of Satan with his absolute authority.

So that the demon comes out crying with a loud voice. Does that phrase, crying out with a loud voice, sound familiar to you? It should because we hear it in Matthew’s gospel. When Jesus is on the cross carrying the weight of our sin, he cries out with a loud voice and yields up his spirit. Jesus on the cross liberates men and women from the power and influence of Satan by overcoming the power of Satan with his absolute authority. Jesus on the cross dies in our place to pay the penalty for our sin so that we might have freedom from sin, death, and Satan. And because Jesus was raised from the grave, he has victory. He has been given ultimate authority in heaven and in earth. Jesus raises people from death to life through the powerful and authoritative preaching of his word. This is why the people were amazed at his teaching.

The Reality of Spiritual Warfare

This is why they were in awe. This is why there was fear because they could see and sense the power of life and death in his words. Now, what are we supposed to think about this situation in our modern and sophisticated age? What are we to think about demonic forces? Do they exist today? Are they actively involved in the affairs of God’s people? Do they impact the church? The very simple answer is yes, they do. They do exist. They are active and they do impact the church in more ways than you know. See Christians tend to fall into one of two spaces. There are Christians who blame demons for everything, every struggle, every single hard situation and challenge. If their computer crashes, it’s demonic. If they lose the parking space at Trader Joe’s, it’s demonic. Everything is blamed on Satan. Every temptation, every slip into sin is a result of demonic oppression.

But doing this gives Satan victory in areas that are not his to have. So it’s not wise and it’s not healthy to have that view. And then there are Christians who fall into the other space and believe that there are no spiritual forces at work, not at all. They believe that every opposition and every challenge is just that, opposition and challenge. So they minimize the influence and the work of the dark spiritual forces. This is also a very unhealthy view to have. The British theologian Charles Cranfield said the greatest achievement of the powers of evil would be to persuade us that they do not exist. And he’s absolutely right. So we as healthy Christians need to land somewhere in the middle, not overestimating the dark spiritual forces of Satan and his kingdom and not underestimating the dark spiritual forces of Satan and his kingdom. Satan and his demons are active and at work.

They are a very real and spiritual threat. There is a spiritual battle that is going on all around us, including within the church. Listen, you’d be a fool. You’d be a fool to think that Satan is not gunning for this church. Think of everything that we’ve gone through. You’d be a fool to think that there is not spiritual forces attacking this specific church with the sole aim to finish what was started a year and a half ago. You’d be a fool to think that. There is a very real and spiritual battle that is taking place all around us. Even if you can’t see it with your own human eyes, it is there. It’s subtle. It’s there, but it’s subtle. Their dark deeds happen in the most subtle of ways, through deceiving, through distracting, through distorting, through creating disunity, through accusing. That’s how they work. It’s subtle because they want to remain subtle.

Because if we don’t think it’s there, we don’t do anything about it. The healthy view is to be aware of the devil’s schemes and actively fight against it. I want to remind you of what we’ve seen in our text this morning with God’s authority. Yes, there is a very real fight between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, but the battle is already won. The battle is won. Jesus in every way has authority over Satan. Jesus, through his obedience, through his perfect sacrifice of sin, by raising from the grave, by defeating sin, Satan, and death, has been given victory. The battle is won. So we need not fear these little fights with demonic forces. They can do nothing beyond God’s sovereign authority over us. Christ’s victory over Satan secures our safety from their harm. But it doesn’t mean we don’t fight. They can deceive.

They can distract. They can distort and they can disunify, yes, even God’s people, but Jesus is the king of his kingdom and we stand under the authority of his word. Demons flee when they hear his word. And brothers and sisters, this church is God’s church. It belongs to God. He purchased it. So he will protect it and he will keep her. That’s his promise to us. And one more thing, by virtue of our union with Christ, we have authority over Satan and his demons. The book of Ephesians, Paul tells us that by virtue of our union with Christ, we are now seated in the heavenly places with Christ, that we are seated above all rule, all authority, all power, and all dominion because we are in union with Christ. We also are victorious over Satan and his demons. So brothers and sisters, we have nothing to fear because we stand under the absolute authority

of Jesus. Listen to these last words from Martin Luther in his hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. He says, the prince of darkness, grim. We tremble not for him. His rage we can endure because his doom is sure. One little word will fail him. That word above all earthly powers. Jesus has all authority. He will defend us. He will protect us. He will be our advocate. He will save us. He will rescue us. And he will carry us home. Let’s pray. Father, when we see passages like this, it sobers us to the realities of what is going on in this world. It sobers us to the reality that nothing is a threat to you. It sobers us to the reality of the power of your word, which gives us every confidence to submit ourselves under it and declare it faithfully because the power is all yours.

The authority is all yours. But Father, I do pray that this text would inform our thinking about this very real fight that’s going on, that we would be guarded, that we would submit ourselves under your authority and that we would fight against this dark influence that would attempt to seize this church. I pray, God, that we would speak the authoritative word of God to one another, that we would call out sin, that we would call out when things are creating disunity and distraction and division. Father, help us to rest ourselves under the authority of your word. And we pray, oh Lord and God, that your powerful and authoritative word would continue to raise dead people to life in this church. Father, there are no words that we can speak that are powerful enough to draw people onto yourself. It is your word, it is your truth that raises dead people to life.

And Father, we pray that would consistently happen in this congregation. Help us, help us to preach your gospel to this dying world, that they might hear the truth of your words and come under the power of it, be captured by it and transformed by it. We pray these things in Christ’s name. Thanks for joining us for this week’s sermon from Trinity Church in Portland, Oregon. If you’d like to learn more about us, you can visit our website at www.trinityportland.com.