AUTHORITY IN RELIGION

AUTHORITY IN RELIGION AUTHORITY IN RELIGION
James Baird

Christ’s words in Matthew 28:18 are the basis for my message this evening, as he said, “All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth.” The word “authority” suggests “king,” and tonight I am speaking primarily of a king. I preach of a king because all authority in religion rests at this hour in the hands of a king. As you know, he is not a king of a purple robe or golden crown, for he is clothed in a vesture dipped in blood, and the stars could not equal the splendor of his crown. Although for clarity’s sake we might think of this king in earthly similitudes, he far surpasses in grandeur and splendor the greatest earthly king that ever reigned. A few days ago our local paper, on the occasion of King George’s death, carried the story of the events that led to his coronation in 1937. As the king was an important personage; it was considered important to know the events that led to his becoming king. As I am privileged to declare tonight that all authority in rlegion is in the hands of a king, and that the reign of this king concerns the salvation of every mortal, it becomes needful to understand how this king came to reign. May I then begin my story with the beginning? There is one thing particularly striking about the Genesis account of creation. As God made Adam and Eve and placed them in Eden, God assumed the right to command them both. By virtue of being man’s Creator, by virtue of his unlimited wisdom concerning that which was good for man, and his vast love for man; his authority was just and right; and the very basis upon which the order of Paradise was founded. I need not review for you that man dared to do what no flower, nor bird, nor beast ever did; for man, although possessing an immortal soul, brushed aside God’s authority. He thus sinned and brought banishment from the garden upon himself, and the certainty of death upon all mankind. From this beginning hour God had in mind a purpose through which wayward men would come voluntarily from their state of rebellion and once more live under the authority of their Maker. You readily recall the unfolding of God’s plan through the centuries as revealed in the Old Testament. Jew and Gentile alike lived and died under the condemnation of sin until Paul could exclaim of the entire human race, “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10).

Then, when God decreed that the time was at hand, Mary had the babe Jesus and placed it in a manger. Wise men traveled from the east because they had seen a star there and discerned from it, that a king had been born. This was the one, the Eternal Word, God’s Son, into whose hands God was to some day place all authority. When as a young man, Jesus taught in Galilee and Judea, before he became king; it was clear that God had already given to him unusual authority. The people marvelled because he had sufficient authority to command the demons and even those spiritual creatures obeyed him. When he spoke the much-loved Sermon on the Mount, Matthew tells us of the reaction of the people who heard that sermon in the original. They marvelled because he spake with authority. His disciples were even surprised that a word from him had power to control the impersonal and inanimate forces of wind and wave. One hopeless parlytic Jesus healed by first clearly announcing that he did it that they who witnessed might understand that he had the authority to forgive sins on earth (Matthew 9; Matthew 6). Of all the people who saw Jesus during his earthly life, one Roman centurion had the best insight into the absolute and complete nature of Christ’s authority; for he asked Jesus not to trouble himself by coming into his home, but to only speak the word and his servant would be healed. “For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me; and I say to this man, Go and he goeth: and to another, “Come, and he cometh” (Matthew 8:9). From a human standpoint, if you or I had selected some personage to whom all authority was to be given, in all probability you would have gradually increased the apparent authority of this one with greater and more awe-inspiring signs until the most rebellious heart was frightened and awed into submission. But no such sign from heaven was forthcoming about Jesus. God, instead, chose a nobler plan; but one which undiscerning man might thoughtlessly call the foolishness of God. It was so foreign to the Jewish conception of how the Jews thought God would wield authority over them that this act, which I am about to relate, was for the Jews a stumbling block (1 Corinthians 1:22). This act was the crucifixion of Christ. It was both a revelation of God’s power and his wisdom, that the dearest one to his heart, his son, should die crucified in shame and disgrace between two thieves, the sym bol, as it were, of the worst dregs of humanity. This was altogeher foreign to man’s ideas concerning the enthroning of a king. But notice what happened after this death and its consequent resurrection.

Matthew tells us that Jesus appeared at a mountain in Galilee about which he had spoken before to his disciples. As they saw him, some worshipped and others doubted. Then Christ came near to them, saying: ‘‘All authority hath been given unto me both m heaven and on earth.” It was after Jesus’ death that God willingly gave into Christ’s hands all authority. Everything, save God himself, was rightfully subject to his authority. Paul tells us: “. . . when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also that which is to come” (Ephesians 1:20-21). But this was after he had tasted death. It was after his death and resurrection that he ascended to heaven and was welcomed with these words: “Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory will come in” (Psalms 24:7).

Why did God let Christ die and then make him king? I would like to answer that auestion in terms of two mountains. The grandeur of a mountain is an aid to our thinking in order to better understand the magnificence of the authority of God and is sometimes so used in the Bible. From the flat plains of the Sinaitic Peninsula, there arises abruptly from the floor of the desert the towering, jagged crags of an immense mountain, Mt. Sinai. When the people were to receive the law of Moses, Moses brought them to the foot of that mountain to meet Jehovah. They were there immediately before it, brought up before it; but soberly warned not to touch it. We have a lesson there, in that man needs to be brought before God’s authority, to open his eyes and see it towering above him, but to be warned also: “Don’t reach out your hand to alter God’s authority.” The author of Hebrews wrote to those under the new covenant, “For ye are not come unto a mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and unto blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words: which voice they that heard entreated that no word more should be spoken unto them; for they could not endure that which was enjoined. Tf even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned; and so fearful was the appearance, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake: but ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem and to the innumerable hosts of angels . . .” (Hebrews 12:18-23). Isn’t the suggestion here that under this covenant of the blood of Christ that we are drawn to the mount of God’s authority and that we come to it gladly and willingly? Although we approach it with reverence, are we not also drawn to it by love? That is the reason that Jesus was crucified and then became king over all. In his death, since he died for the sins of all, men are drawn willingly and freely to become the subjects of a Savior like that. A preacher friend of mine told the story of being in a small Ten-nessee community for a meeting. Before the meeting started the brethren warned him not to preach against bootlegging. It seemed that other preachers had been run out of the community by a notorious bootlegger that delighted in breaking up the meetings. Just before services started on the second night, in walked a hulking swaggering fellow who sat down on the next to the back seat. In a few moments, one of the brethren sat down beside the preacher and whispered that the bootlegger was there. He said, “We’ve taken the best precautions that we can; we have placed two of our biggest brethren right behind him, so if he starts anything, they will be there to help out.” My friend preached the gospel. He declared men are condemned by sin. Then he preached that Christ died for all who have sinned, if man would only accept his Savior. He presented the invitation and the bootlegger started down the aisle. The brethren behind him started too, for they thought that this man was coming to make trouble. But he was coming with tears in his eyes to obey the gospel. He was baptized that night and from that time on he led a God-fearing life. He became a pillar in the church and community. Who was that man’s king? Jesus Christ. Why? He had been drawn into subjection to the king, because, that king first died for him.

Take the book of Acts, study the sermons of Peter and Paul, and you will find that to be gospel preaching. Some eight times in Acts the truth is proclaimed that Jesus is now a ruling, reigning Lord. When men become Christians, they come into immediate subjection to a living King. Peter said on pentecost: “Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified” (Acts 2:36). Some days later he proclaimed the same truth by saying: “He is the stone which was set at nought of you the builders, which was made the head of the corner” (Acts 4:11). We need today to keep foremost in our hearts this truth, taught us by inspired apostles. We are converted to a living reigning king; not primarily to a principle, or a truth; rather we are converted to serve the living truth, Jesus Christ.

Most kings today are figureheads with little actual authority. We envision their lives as largely made up of attending functions and ceremonies. To be a king in fact, the monarch must extend his authority until it is felt by every person in the empire. Christ is a king in fact; and it follows that he has his means of extending his authority. His plan is based on the well-known principle of delegation of authority. After his ascension, one of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, was sent by Christ into the world. Furthermore, while on the earth Christ selected the apostles who were placed in positions of authority in the early church. Christ said of these men, “In the regeneration, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:18). The word “regeneration” is used sparingly in the Bible and means “new birth.” In this verse it refers to the period of time in which the new birth is in effect, for it is the time when Christ is to “sit upon the throne of his glory.” Throughout the Christian era, the apostles are in this position of authority, for Christ reigns throughout this dispensation. Yet as the apostles are dead, how can they sit upon thrones? The Holy Spirit inspired these men and their intimate to write the books of the New Testament. These revealed truths became the standards of measurement and the means by which Christ’s authority, as the Great Judge, is extended over all. Christ has therefore seen fit to extend his authority by a written word, which is the word of the Spirit. Christ met Satan’s temptations by saying “It 's written” and quoted the Law of Moses. Even so in Christ’s law, the concrete expression of Christ’s will and the means by which his authority is extended, is through a written word, the New

Pursuing the subject of authority in religion further; we might say that the elders of a church have authority. Their authority is to “feed the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). They are the bishops of the souls and spirit of men. Woe unto the elder who refuses to accept the authority that God meant for him to exercise! But I bear you record the elder’s authority is drawn from and is an extension of the word of God. As an evangelist I have a given authority. Woe unto me if I use not my authority to “reprove, rebuke and exhort.” But again, my authority as an evangelist is prescribed by the word and the weight of it is in the word. The church itself constitutes an authority. “With such a one no, not to eat” (1 Corinthians 5:10). It has the authority to refuse to extend its precious fellowship to the impenitent and rebellious child of God. But its authority in that act is prescribed by the Bible and drawn from the Bible.

I would like to repeat again the means by which our King has extended his authority. It all stems from himself, as his spirit endowed men to write and thus established forever certain truths. In the light of these truths men have delegated to them certain authority; but only in the light of the word. I repeat this because men have made and are making mistakes concerning the way in which Christ’s authority is exercised. You have imagined a bird’s eye view of a great river as one torrent going forward; and then in some sandy delta, spreading out into many rivulets and streams. So it is that the one movement of the cause of our Redeemer was originally split into divided channels over this matter of how Christ exercised his authority. The pilgrims established the Mayflower compact because they sailed to the north of a region covered by a known authority from without and so, being under no authority, they made for themselves an authority from within. In civil matters this is acceptable; but frequently in religious matters, in either confusion or rebellion, man has refused to accept the plan of divine authority. He, too, lacking authority from without, has found an authority from within. Traditions, hierarchies, human creeds, or human experiences are all false and unworthy authorities from within. Christ is our king and his word must be our law.

Perhaps it occurs to you to ask, why, if man has such a glorious and wonderful king, isn’t every heart in wholehearted subjection to him? Paul gives the answer in terms of powerful, demonic forces unleashed in the world which would destroy and divert, if possible, the authority of our Soverign. “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world- rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). But, one might object, there is nothing appealing about Satan to lead man to place himself at his feet. “I am drawn to serve Christ because Christ died for me; but Satan did not.” But we must remember that the strength of satanic power in destroying Christ’s authority is found in the fact that Satan has used our own weaknesses briefly some of these qualities of self and of society which cause the authority of Christ to be less effective over the hearts of men.

First is the very human quality of stubbornness. Stubborness, although disguised as courage or conviction or authority, is in God’s sight as “idolatry and teraphim” (1 Samuel 15:23). Most of us who are stubborn, I am convinced, are secretly proud of our stubbornness, failing to see that we are harboring a quality which flaunts itself before the rights and prerogatives of God.

Pride is another quality which the devil uses with Satanic cleverness to lead us to disregard the authority of God. Paul said: “For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think” (Romans 12:3) because there is an inner force which leads each of us to exaggerate our own roles in life. The assertion of self leads man to defy the right of God to control. Augustine said pride is the worst of all sins. C. S. Lewis has likened pride to the skins of an onion, as there always seems to be another layer of pride underneath.

One of the most serious interferences with the exercise of God’s authority is earthly goods. Paul did not idly refer to covetousness as “idolatry.” Even a false god becomes an authority over an individual and the passion for material things can so dominate and control the strings of behavior that Paul could well make this comparison. Paul said, having warned Timothy of danger involved in the pursuit of material things: “Flee these things” (1 Timothy 6:11). Our own ignorance of the Bible will block the divine exercise of authority over our lives. Agassiz, the great zoology teacher of Harvard, would place a fish before a student with this admoniton, “You have your hands, your eyes, your brain; study that fish.” Later he would return and chide the student; “Open your eyes; you haven’t yet seen the fish.” We have an English Bible, we have eyes, our minds, but have we seen the Bible? A fine Christian woman with exceptional insight into both the Scriptures and human nature renewed her teaching career after several years away from the classroom. She was teaching high school senior girls. She became quite disturbed in the experience and observed: “These young people have never learned to accept anything without challenging it. Faith is foreign to them.” How representative of our day! The world seems curtained with dark confusion and the only penetrating light that can aid it is the light that stems from the throne of Christ. But it is sobering to think wherein the world must see Christ’s authority displayed. It is not in the thundering of the heavens, not in the trembling of the earth; but it is seen in the life of a Christian.

Obedience is the test of authority; and the obedient life is the only acceptable response to God’s authority. It was the son who went and did his father’s will that actually acknowledged his father’s authority and won his pleasure. To obey the edict of the king is to prove to all that you have in your heart accepted that king. In addition, we must stand willing to declare the authority of our king. We must believe Revelation’s message that some day the “Faithful and True” will go forth to conquer. The call of this hour then is to announce without fear or hesitancy the authority of Jesus Christ. An engineer preparing for the building of one of the TVA dams was buying up mountain farms in an area that was to become the lake’s floor. One mountaineer refused to sell. The engineer took his supervisor with him and they vainly tried to persuade the old man to move. Finally they insisted that he tell them why. He said: “My great grandfather came through the Cumberland Gap, built this cabin, lighted this fire. My grandfather and my father lived here and the fires never went out. My father’s dying words were “Don’t let the fires of your father’s go out.” As I stand here and apprehend the thousands of elders and preachers that have been here in previous years, and will come or would like to be here during this coming week; and I think of the thousands of churches from which they came, I am thankful. Then I think of a humped figure and what he would think if he and others who stood with him, could stand on this platform with me. David Lipscomb—called “The old woman with a broom” and those others, who against all obstacles, stood firmly by the authoiity of God. May we be humble and not proud; but resolute in our purpose of standing by the word of God by which Christ exercises bis authority. Others before us have been unwilling to let the fires go out; now the matter is in our hands. Let us be careful that the fires of our fathers do not go out.

We shouldn’t serve our king as sullen and indifferent slaves. We should be thankful subjects. I imagine a few days ago as Queen Elizabeth rode througn the streets on the occasion of her father’s death; that it would have been possible to have seen dirty urchins of the street, clutching Union Jacks in grimy hands and shouting with the rest: “Long live the Queen.” If you had asked one why; he would have probably answered “I want to give some glory to my monarch.” This is the way that I feel, and I believe you feel about authoiity in religion. We make mistakes; but we have a king that we love. In one way or another each of us should rededicate ourselves to bringing honor to our king!