Authority

The Authority of Christ in John 17 and the Ascension

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now here's a message.

From Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St. John the 17th chapter. When Jesus had spoken these words he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father the hour has come. Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.

Since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

I glorified you on earth having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now Father glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world.

Yours they were and you gave them to me and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you for I have given them the words that you gave me. And they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you and they have believed that you sent me.

I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you gave have given me for they are yours. All mine are yours and yours are mine and I am glorified in them and I am no longer in the world but they are in the world and I am coming to you.

Holy Father keep them in your name which you have given me that they may be one even as we are one. This is the gospel of the Lord in the name of Jesus. Amen. All right here's a word that we are not all that familiar with and we don't really embrace it too well as Americans and it's time for us to come to grips with it and the word is are you ready?

Authority. Boy do we not like that word. You know you'll note that we kind of work with the idea here in the United States that we are kind of our own authorities. Isn't that what life liberty and the pursuit of happiness is all about being completely unbounded from all authority to be the one calling all the shots?

No actually no. As Christians we recognize that Christ has been given all authority and we best pay attention to Christ because you'll note that when you entered Kongsvinger Lutheran Church and you stepped across the threshold you'll note that the American flags are outside of the main building here.

You are no longer in America. You're in an embassy of the kingdom of Christ. He's king. He's sovereign. He's Lord. You want to know what a Christian nation looks like look around right. All of that being said listen to the opening words of our gospel text.

When Jesus had spoken these words he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said father the hour has come glorify your son that your son may glorify you and since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him authority.

In Matthew's gospel in Matthew 28 that famous text that we're all very familiar with the Great Commission Christ says all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me and one of the things I don't like about how the church here works I almost feel like we need to like every few years like kind of fix this is that Ascension Day falls on a Thursday right and so that there that's an important text the Ascension of Christ because we worked our way through Christ's suffering his death his resurrection his appearances after the resurrection and you guys came to church today and well you know I'd hate to break it to you but on Thursday Christ ascended which by the way is one of the best arguments that Jesus is coming back on a Thursday okay because everybody knows Jesus says he's coming back on a day in an hour when no one expects it nobody's looking for Jesus on a Thursday.

Okay and of course he ascended on a Thursday so my theory is great it's solid but all of that being said when Christ ascended he ascended to do what Christ now sits at the right hand of the Father all authority in heaven on earth has been given to him he's the one calling the shots he is king of kings he is Lord of Lords.

Christ's Authority in the Church and the Apostolic Office

And you'll note that here in the church this ain't my church and that this ain't your church either. I hate to break it to you even if your family founded Kungsvinger this actually isn't your church it belongs to Christ it's under his authority.

And that being the case Christ is the one who calls the shots in his church and we don't get to vote on the things that he's decided for us. Right. So that being the case consider then our account in our first reading from the book of Acts Christ has just ascended and the disciples now have to do something there.

They've gone from being disciples to being the Apostles of Christ and they recognize there's supposed to be 12 of them but there aren't. And the reason why there aren't 12 of them is because as we all know Judas betrayed Christ sold him out for 30 pieces of silver just as the prophets said he would.

And now he has gone to his eternal reward which is not much of a reward if you think about it Christ said it would have been better had he never been born. But Peter now stands up among the brothers and he said brothers the scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth by the mouth of David concerning Judas who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

Wow. What a turnaround. Anything of a turnaround. Well I notice how now the Apostle Peter is wielding the Word of God and recognizing just like Christ taught him the Word of God cannot be broken. Cannot in fact it must be fulfilled.

It will always be fulfilled because God doesn't lie. If you remember back in that embarrassing situation that Peter found himself in on the night when Jesus was betrayed Peter. Peter was told by Christ you're going to deny me this night.

And Peter said Lord I will never deny you. And Jesus says the scripture must be fulfilled. The scripture says I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter. In fact all of you are going to deny me and are going to abandon me this night.

And Peter of course not listening not paying attention which we're all kind of prone to do. Basically says Lord I'll even if I have to die with you I will never. Uh-huh. Right. Well who turned out to be correct here.

It was Jesus. And what was Jesus pointing to those scriptures. Can the scriptures be broken. Nope. And so you'll note after that embarrassing set of circumstances where he ended up denying Christ three times and had to be restored by Christ.

And he was now Peter has gotten with the program. The Bible is God's Word. When the Bible speaks to us it is speaking to us with the authority of God himself. And so the scriptures have to be fulfilled.

You also note here that at this time before the day of Pentecost total number of Christians about 120. Wow. That's not a very big congregation but that's all there are. Right. Three whole years of ministry giving sight to the blind healing the sick hearing to the deaf raising the dead cleansing the lepers feeding multitudes and proclaiming the kingdom.

You'll note that those people who say signs and wonders are the thing we need to do to prove to the world that Christianity is true. Go ahead and try if you like. But your signs and wonders aren't signs and wonders.

And Jesus was the greatest miracle worker in all of human history. And at his death burial resurrection Ascension. Total number of Christians 120. Keep that in mind. So Peter the scriptures had to be fulfilled.

Which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David. Note great theology regarding the inspiration of Scripture. The Holy Spirit is the one who spoke by whom by David concerning Judas who became a guide to those who rested Jesus.

And then of course we get the gruesome details of what happened to his body and how it ended how they ended up buying a field of blood Akadama to have him buried. But Peter goes on to say is written in the book of Psalms.

May his camp become a become desolate and let there be no one to dwell in it. What a fascinating thing that Peter is doing here. Because if you read Psalm 69 verse 25 you can see in context. Yeah it does sound like that.

This is talking about Christ's enemy. But here's the thing in Psalm 65 the Hebrew is plural kind of fascinating. Made their camp their camp be a desolation. Let no one dwell in their tents plural. But here under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Peter now takes one of Jesus's adversaries that is prophesied and brings it all the way back to Judas.

And he quotes now this psalm using a singular set of words. May his camp become desolate let there be no one to dwell in it. I always loved watching how the liberals lose their minds over the how Peter quotes the scriptures.

He can't do that. He doesn't have the liberty to do that. Ah put a cork in it dude. Because Peter is the Apostle of Jesus Christ and he has he's speaking under the inspiration and authority of God himself.

And he is giving us a Holy Spirit inspired interpretation of this text. I'll go with Peter over you any day of the week. Right. And then he continues. And he quotes another text Psalm 109 verse 8. And listen to the words let another take his office.

Wait. What. There's offices in Jesus's church. Yes Jesus by his authority has set up offices. Now here we have the Apostles. They have their office. And I would note something here if you pay attention to how this works because Psalm 109 prophesied that one person needed to take the the vacant office of Judas.

It is not saying let others take their offices talking about all the 12 but let one take the office of Judas. Which is a strong indicator that the apostolic office is never intended to be an ongoing thing.

People who are running around today claiming to be Apostles are lying to you. They are false Apostles and deceitful workmen. They are not leading you to Christ. These are people who are claiming to fill an office that they have no right to fill.

That would be like me showing up in Washington DC and telling Biden to move over. I'm gonna go ahead and take his office from him. Right. That's how you get arrested you. Okay. Just saying it's not. It doesn't work that way.

So you'll note then that Christ has established the apostolic office. And here's where we might want to consider something else. And that is in 1st Timothy chapter 3 it says this. The saying is trustworthy.

And if anyone aspires to the office of overseer that's the pastoral office he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach the husband of one wife. Wait. We're talking about male pastors here.

Yeah that look what Jesus did. He's established it this way. They must be sober-minded self-controlled respectable hospitable able to teach. Not a drunkard not violent but gentle not quarrelsome not a lover of money.

He must manage his own household well with all dignity keeping his children. It's submissive. For someone does not know how to manage his own household. How will he care for God's Church. It goes on to say he must be one who has studied and showed himself approved as a workman and need not blush with embarrassment who rightly handles the word of truth.

We'll come back to the pastoral office here. But you'll note Christ in his authority has set up offices in his church. So Peter then says. Let one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us.

One of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection. Qualifications. To be an apostle. You had to be there when Jesus was baptized. You had to hang out with Christ for those whole three years those entire three years you have to be a witness of his death burial resurrection.

You get the point. Right. And of all 120 Christians who were present at the time there were only two men who fit the bill. How many do you fit that bill today. Zero. Not a single one. Right. Again anyone claiming to be apostle is a wingnut wackerdoodle sent from Satan to deceive.

You don't listen to them. So of the two that were taken that could possibly be an apostle of Jesus Christ two were chosen. Joseph called Barsabbas who was also called justice and a fellow by the name of Matthias.

So they prayed you Lord you know the hearts of all show which of these two you have chosen who's in charge of the church Christ is and his authority is invoked. And they are asking him which of the two he has chosen to take the place of Judas in the ministry and apostleship from the you know from which Judas had turned aside to go to his own place.

So they cast lots for them and the lot fell on Matthias and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. And I I always crack up when you read in modern commentaries and they go this seems a little awkward that they cast dice to try to figure this out.

They just left this up to chance. No they didn't. They prayed and they trusted Christ to answer their prayer through the means of these lots. It's not much different than how the urban Thuman worked of the Old Testament.

You can ask God direct questions from the high priest. How much more. From one of Jesus Christ's own apostles. Right. Yeah I would say that Peter probably had a pretty good connection with Jesus through prayer and since he knew him as well as he was and he was sent by Christ as his apostle.

Apostles, Pastors, and the Rejection of Authority

Now let me kind of help you out on apostles real quick here all. Right. Do you guys remember back when you were in junior high. Okay. And you first had your you notice the opposite sex. Okay. But the thing is is that when you're in junior high noticing girls as a guy it's a very terrifying thing.

Right. And there was always some girl who was willing she would know that you were casting your eye on on that girl over there. Maybe it was Jenny or Sally or Sue. Right. And of course you hadn't. You didn't have the guts to say that.

I really think you're kind of cute. Can we hold hands or something like that. Right. You just that's way too much to expect from a junior high kid. So what does the junior high boy do. He hires an apostle.

Okay. And they're for free by the way. And the apostle is usually a girl who's a friend of the girl that they think is cute. I'll go and ask her for you whether or not she thinks you're cute too. We'll kind of figure this out.

So she goes and she has a conversation. Right. A conversation on behalf of the guy. She is his apostle. Okay. Doing business in his name. Right. That that's a good way to think about it. Right. You guys are loving this one because we've all done this.

Okay. We've all done this. As a result you know she comes back and she says no. She thinks you're a booger head. And that the relationships over at this point and her apostleship comes to a crashing end.

All. Right. But the idea here is is that we've all had Apostles working for us. But when it comes to Jesus's Apostles note they are doing business in his name. They're the ones who write the scriptures and the Apostle Paul as one of the Apostles of Jesus Christ.

He says very clearly in first Corinthians 15 that he was an abnormally born Apostle. He wasn't even worthy to be called one yet Christ assigned him to be the Apostle to the Gentiles. And in 1st Corinthians chapter 14 he legitimately says if anyone thinks he is spiritual he needs to acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.

Right. That's the authority that these guys operate in now. That being the case you'll note that Christ commissioned the Apostles to disciple the entire nations. Right. We just happen to be a nation here a little bit of a mixed one here.

The United States is a multinational nation if you would. And so we've got Norwegians and we've got some Poles here. And then we got some folks from from Asia and other places from around the world don't even talk about my heritage.

It's really sketchy. You don't want to know. It's bad. But all that being said you'll note then that Christ has sent his Apostles and they are still discipling the nations. Who of you can say that your Christian understanding of the scriptures has not been in like wonderfully impacted by the ministry of the Apostle Paul.

Are you not a student of the Apostle Paul. I am. Are we not all students of the Apostle Matthew. How about John and Peter and the others. You kind of get the idea we're we're all still students of the Apostles.

The Apostles are still teaching us today. You sit there and go. Yeah. But we don't know what their voice sounds like. We have no idea what they look like. That's great. You don't have to smell their bad breath.

That's great. Okay. But we're all still being apostled by the Apostles through the living active Word of God. And here's where the pastoral office now comes into play. As we've already noted the pastoral office is now the office of note that moving forward Christ has chosen by his authority that in the church pastors are to pick up the scriptures and they are to teach them faithfully.

They are to teach the prophets and the Apostles and proclaim Christ and him crucified for our sins. But they are not Apostles. That you'll note I'm not an Apostle. I'm just the guy who holds the office of pastor in this particular congregation.

And you'll note that Christ is the one who determines who is qualified who is disqualified. And he's made it very clear through the living active Word of God and the Apostles of Jesus Christ that only men are to hold this office.

Korah's Rebellion and the Rejection of God-Given Offices

But in the day and age in which we live in there's a terrible thing that is happening. And there is a participation in something that Jude warns us about. And Jude warns us about something called Korah's rebellion.

Let me remind you what Korah's rebellion is by reminding you of the of the warning given by Jude the half-brother of Jesus in his one chapter long letter. It's basically just a letter. Jude writes beloved.

Although I was eager to write to you about our common salvation I found it was necessary to write to you appealing to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the Saints. And the reason I had to write this he goes on to say is because certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation.

They are ungodly people. They pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and they deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want to remind you although you once fully knew it that Jesus who saved a people out of the land of Egypt afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority but left their proper dwelling he is kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire they serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

Yet in like manner these people these false teachers they rely on their dreams. They defile the flesh and listen to the phrase they reject authority. You know we've all done that. That's something we have to think about here.

False teachers are known for rejecting authority. But in Christ's Church if somebody rejects authority whose authority are they rejecting Christ's. How many people have you heard within the visible church screeching down with the patriarchy.

Down with the patriarchy. We need we need to be egalitarian. We need to have women pastors. Women are gifted just as much as men are. I sit there and go woof. You are rejecting authority. At this point Christ is the one who is established that men are the ones to be pastors and false teachers.

Hallmark of them is they reject authority. They blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the Archangel Michael contending with the devil was disputing about the body Moses he didn't presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment.

He said the Lord rebuke you. But these people they blaspheme all that they don't understand. They're destroyed by all that they like unreasoning animals understand instinctively. Listen to what that saying here.

How many of you have listened to people in the church basically say. Doesn't it seem reasonable to you. X Y Z. They're not making a biblical argument when they say those things because usually the thing that they're saying it needs to be reason.

Wouldn't it be reasonable if we just got away from this idea that God made the heavens and the earth in six literal days. Don't you think it would be more reasonable if we embraced evolutionary theory and started teaching our kids to not buck against what they're being taught in their high school classes in science.

Wouldn't that seem reasonable to you. Is that a biblical argument. Not at all. But you'll note here these are arguments that are made according to their instincts not according to Scripture. I just keep pointing people to the fact.

Well Jesus believed in the six-day creation. He rose from the dead. Call me stupid if you want to. Other people have called me worse than that. But I'm just gonna go with Jesus. He rose from the grave.

He said Adam and Eve were real. And that God in the beginning created us male and female. Who am I to challenge him. So I'm gonna go with Jesus on this. That's a biblical argument by the way. Because who's the one to whom all authority has been given Christ.

So you know false teachers. They argue from their instinct from their reason not from the scriptures. But Jude says woe to them. They've walked in the way of Cain who is a guy who had religious activity but no faith.

They've abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error. Balaam was a prophet for profit. If you're not sure what that looks like just watch prophecy bingo on the fighting for the faith channel you'll get an idea pretty quick what that looks like.

And then the others they perished in Korah's rebellion. Korah's rebellion. This is a guy who rejected authority. Let me explain. In Numbers chapter 16 we hear about Korah. But let me give you a little bit of the background here.

If you read through the Old Testament you'll note that the children of Israel they come out of. They come out of Egypt in the Exodus right. They cross the Red Sea. They go to Mount Sinai. At Mount Sinai God gives Moses the Ten Commandments.

And the beginnings of the Bible are now starting to be written. And then as part of all of this God on Mount Sinai revealed to Moses that he needed to create a tabernacle which would become like the worship center of ancient Israel and that there needed to be priests who took care of all the sacrifices and the offerings and the things that were commanded by the Mosaic Covenant.

And so God established in the time of Moses offices the office of priests and the office of the high priest. And what did Moses do. Moses was the prophet at this point. And so Moses he consecrated. He anointed Aaron as the high priest.

And by the way Aaron had a uniform. It was a spectacular uniform if you read the details about it. He had a uniform that he wore and he and his sons were also consecrated for the priesthood. Well when after that all took place there was a fellow in the camp of Israel by the name of Korah who was one of the clan leaders who was hot under the collar.

He was as mad as a hornet because he legitimately instinctively and falsely thought that that Aaron and Moses were exalting themselves above the congregation of the people. But that's not what was taking place at all.

God is the one who installed Aaron and his sons into their path into their priestly offices. And he did so through Moses. And this was by the command and the authority of God. But here Korah comes along and Korah says it says this Korah the son of Ishar the son of Kohath of the son of Levi's and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab and On the son of Peleth the sons of Reuben took men.

They rose up before Moses with a number of the people of Israel 250 chiefs of the congregation. I consider the scariness of this right. We're not talking like. They didn't find some worthless fellows who were too busy throwing rocks at frogs.

They took 250 of the chiefs of the clans of all of the people of Israel of the congregation. They were chosen from the assembly. They were well-known men and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.

And they said to them you have gone too far. For all in the congregation are holy every one of them and Yahweh is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of Yahweh and all the Norwegians said Ufta right.

Rightly. So okay. They didn't. When Moses heard this he fell on his face and he said to Korah and all his company in the morning the Lord will show who is his and who is holy and will bring him near to him.

The one he chooses will be he will bring near to him. Do this. Take censors Korah and all of his company and put fire in them and put incense on them before Yahweh tomorrow. So as the story winds up God was not happy with Korah because Korah was speaking a false narrative.

He was rejecting God's own authority and rejecting the men that God had placed into the priestly office to serve him and to serve the Assembly of Israel. And Korah perished along with the other men. They brought their in their incense censors to the tent of meeting and they all experienced a death like you see on Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

They died horrible horrible death. So you'll note here Christ is the one to whom all authority is given. And this the seventh Sunday of Easter we need to consider this is that King Jesus by his authority has established certain offices in the church and those offices are to be respected.

They are not to be attacked or changed. Today people claim to be apostles when they're not there are people out there who are ordaining women. They have no right to be ordained. Christ has forbidden them from the pastoral office.

You have people who completely gotten rid of the pastoral office altogether. You think of what happens in the secret driven churches. In the mega churches they don't have pastors. They have vision casting leaders.

And that is not an office that Christ has set up at all. Right. And so you'll note that within the visible church just as Jude warned us there are false teachers who reject Christ's authority and they are participants in Korah's rebellion.

And here we would recognize then that each and every one of us if we're honest with ourselves after all we're Americans right. We don't do well with authority. That we seem to think that because we live in a Democratic Republic that because we can vote on who our Congress people are who are who is our president and people like that that somehow we can have that same kind of authority from ourselves to decide what takes place in Christ's church.

And it's false. It's not true. Where there is freedom we can make those decisions but where Christ and his authority has chosen for us we must respect the authority of Christ. And where we haven't respected his authority and bucked against it or even participated against it we need to confess our sin and recognize that we have acted in our own authority and rejected Christ and that it's sinful to do so and idolatrous to do so and we trust then this the good news that Christ who holds an office still in the church let me explain.

You'll note that we Lutherans don't acknowledge the Pope. There's a good reason for that because there is no such office listed in scripture the so-called visible vicar of Christ on planet Earth. That office doesn't exist but Christ still holds an office in his church.

Remember what it says in the book of Hebrews Jesus Christ is the our high priest in the order of Melchizedek he's the one who offered his own body his life for your life and mine he is our sacrifice so that we can be reconciled to God and forgiven of all of our rebellion including the rebellion where we have rejected Christ's authority.

And this same high priest of ours still intercedes on our behalf and prays for us. Christ is still the head of the church. A good way to think about it is is that when Christ came to earth we recognized that he was a prophet he was also a priest and he is also a king.

All of those offices are wrapped up in the one true Jesus Christ Messiah King and Lord. And so we recognize that he's the one who calls the shots in the church not us. And we humbly submit to what he is established and recognize that we are to put away the things that we think we the house should go based upon our intuition and instinct.

Those things will lead us away and we humbly bow the knee now as forgiven sinners reconciled to God by Christ our great high priest and sacrifice. And we then bear fruit in keeping with repentance by submitting ourselves to the authority of Christ.

That's what we're called to do. And I think I'll just end it there Jesus is in.

Charge amen. If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church you can do so by sending a tax-free donation to Kungsvinger Lutheran Church 15950 470th Avenue Northwest Oslo Minnesota 56744 and again that address is Kungsvinger Lutheran Church 15950 470th Avenue Northwest Oslo Minnesota 56744.

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