May 19, 2012 What Authority?

What Authority? Mark 11:27-28 They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. 28 “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?” THE day after his temple cleansing, Jesus is “walking in the temple courts”. Possibly he has come to teach in the space the livestock and merchants have vacated. There is now physical room for him to teach and preach. Unfortunately, though, more spiritual warfare confronts him. The temple authorities want to know where Jesus, the rabbi, gets the authority to do cleanse the temple and to overrule them. Do you ever feel the teachings in the church are too authoritative, too confrontational over your life? Does a teacher at a Bible study or the pastor in a sermon, or I in these writings, say something that causes you to ask, “Who appointed you judge of my life?” or “Who gave you the authority to tell me what to do?” If you’re asking that question, then you need to go to the Bible to find the answers. God’s Word is the authority over your life as you declare Jesus your Lord. Humble yourself. Ask God, “Is this really a sin I must confront?” You must be willing to face your sins if you are to live in God’s eternal authority. Jesus had condemned the temple authorities with his powerful teaching. They objected. No one would tell them how to act! Well, someone did. And that someone is the living Son of God. For the sake of their mortal souls, I hope they humbled themselves before him. Pause and consider the authority by which you live—yours or Jesus’?