Authority In The Church – Jesus’s Authority

Matthew 28:18 and the Church’s Need to Understand Authority

Well, a moment ago I introduced this first message on what will be, Lord willing, given to you in four parts, this and then the next three Sundays from now, as your deacon and I swap Sundays, Sunday afternoons, in order to bring you these different messages regarding authority in the Church.

If you would turn, please, to Matthew chapter 28, Matthew 28, and the verse on which I will focus this afternoon is verse 18, but I'll begin reading at verse 16, verse 18 is in the middle of this final paragraph of this Gospel.

I wish to read the entire paragraph, but again, verse 18 for the message this afternoon. Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them, and when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.

And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

God bless his word as we hear it and proclaim it. At our last members' meeting, it was suggested that more instruction on how the Church ought to make decisions would be beneficial. Decision-making is a big part of any church, even constituent, it's even each constituent part of the Church, its congregation, its leaders, its pastors, all of us have different roles, and with those roles, there comes authority to carry them out.

So in order to understand decision-making, we need to understand the authority we operate under and just what authority we have as a Church and as individuals. Authority is a matter of both power and submission.

With authority Christ gives the Church, with the authority Christ gives the Church, excuse me, comes the power for its exercise, and authority is also a matter of submission. We submit ourselves to the authority of Christ, who then authorizes the Church, but we must submit to the authority over us.

As you go about the business of advancing Jesus' kingdom, this great commission I just read to you, as you go on about completing this commission and doing your part of this commission, which is advancing Jesus' kingdom, be sure you are submitting to his authority, be sure you are trusting him as a wise and knowing king.

What is authority? Authority is simply the permission to use your power, your abilities, your resources towards a specific goal. God, of course, is the first and defining cause of authority. He knows that he needs no permission.

Like truth, authority would not exist except that God in his person, in his works, and in his word has defined what authority is. So any authority that anyone wields is ultimately from him. It is by his permission that it is had, and with it, the responsibility to use it correctly, to use it correctly, and notice, to use it.

See, any authority you have at home as a parent, at work as a supervisor, in church as a member or an officer, it is a grant from God that brings the duty to use it in accord with the wishes of the grantor, who is God.

The Meaning of Authority and Why It Matters

So how important is authority? How important is this? We're speaking this afternoon of Jesus' authority. How important is this? Think of how our four Gospels end. I want us to think for a moment how Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John end, because the way they end says a lot about what their author felt was important.

What's the final thought he wanted you to have? Remembering they're inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. Working from John up to Matthew, I'm going to work backwards, and very, very simplistic terms here, how does John end?

What's that residing thought he wants you to have after all the things that he's given to you in that fourth Gospel? He ends with the disciples on the beach, and especially Peter, being forgiven, being restored by the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Gospel before that is Luke. Luke concludes with the promise of the coming Holy Spirit. Now we know he's preparing us for the beginning of the book of Acts, which is really the second volume of his overall work, but the end of his Gospel is Jesus' promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Mark closes with the women at the empty tomb. As they run away from the angel, they flee from him. They're afraid of him, but how does he leave us? What's that last thought Mark gives us is the empty tomb, confirming the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Mark, where I read to you from just a few moments ago, Mark ends with Jesus proclaiming his reception of, quote, all authority in heaven and earth, and that coming to him from the Father. He said, it has been given to me.

So the end of this Gospel, that final thought he wants you to have when you close that book after having read it, this is how he wants you to think of it, that in the end, the last words of Jesus Christ before his ascension, that Matthew records, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.

Christ’s Authority Given by the Father

So we ask, where does Christ's authority come from? Where does Christ's authority come from? Now the answer may surprise you. We hold Jesus to be God, and that's proper. That is correct. We hold him to be God.

We hold him to eternally possess all possible authority. And yet, in sort of a surprising way, Jesus himself says, all authority has been given to me. You see, the authority he's talking about here, it's not his eternal authority as God.

It is something more concrete that he has been given as man. Now, as resurrected man, yes. As resurrected man about to ascend to the Father in bodily form, yes. As the eternal Son of God, he has all authority, but as the incarnate Word of God, the authority he has is given to him.

He earned it, you see. He earned it by his perfect life. He earned it by his vicarious suffering, his suffering on our behalf. He earned it by the offering up of himself as the one perfect sacrifice that takes away the sins of the world.

In Revelation 5, the ascended Lord receives this worship where he says, worthy are you for, for this reason, or because of this reason, worthy are you for you were slain. It's something he earned. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 27 continues this line of thought, for God has put all things in subjection under his feet.

But when it says all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is accepted who put all things in subjection under him. So God, the one who subjects to his Son, Jesus, is, of course, not subjecting himself to him.

God has put all things in subjection under Christ's feet. He delegated all things to his Son. It's the same all-encompassing language that we have at the end of Matthew, verse 28, 18. In several other places, we have our Lord saying unequivocally that his authority is a derived authority.

It's a given authority. We could even say it's been granted him. Matthew chapter 11, verse 27, all things have been handed over to me by my Father. John chapter 5, verse 27, and God has given me authority to execute judgment because I am the Son of Man.

That same gospel, chapter 8, verse 28. So Jesus said to them, when you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.

Other places he said, I speak as I am commanded, as I hear, so I speak. All words to that same effect that this authority that Jesus Christ has comes to him from the Father. The question is, where does Jesus' authority come from?

It comes to him from the Father. What sort of authority is this that comes to him from the Father? It is all-encompassing. We can understand that from the language. It's also a concrete authority. It's an authority given to him with purpose.

It's authority given to him to accomplish a concrete thing. You see, there are many more passages we could pull out of scripture. To make the same point as just those three that I read to you rather quickly.

But Jesus' authority was given to him, and we know that God does his acts with purpose. God has something in mind when he does anything, does he not? And the same with this authority is given to him for purpose, for concrete, for real, for substantive purpose.

It is concrete. We think of it in conceptual terms, like a part of someone's personality, but it's not conceptual at all. It is real, it is specific, and the purpose for which it's given is something that will be, that must be accomplished.

The Kingdom Purpose of Christ’s Authority

Christ's authority was given to him by his Father. What is this purpose? I just a moment ago made the case that there is purpose to this authority. There is something that is going to be accomplished by this authority that the Father gave to the Son.

Christ's authority, if you look at the biblical vocabulary surrounding it, it centers really on one thing. The concept of kingdom. The concept of a kingdom, a kingdom that is being built up. Think of the Davidic kingship, King David and all the sons who seceded him.

God has always had a king. He's always had an anointed one, one like David, ruling over his people. Think of God as the eternal king, putting a human co-regent in charge over creation. That would be Adam.

The threats felt by human kings of Jesus' time and our own are something a king is to protect his people from. This idea of a kingdom, a kingdom has a king, a king has subjects. Christ's authority is always in the context of kingdom, of which he will be king or is king, and we the subjects.

His authority on earth, concrete, specific, to build his kingdom on earth. He says his authority also, though, is in heaven. What's his authority in heaven? His authority in heaven is to reign over his people, to reign over his people.

He has conquered the spiritual forces that threaten us, as all the kings of Judah were to do, to protect their people, to watch over their people, to define their borders, to keep them within the sheepfold of John 10, if you will, and as king, to be their shepherd, to be their protector.

Jesus, in a way that the Judaic kings on earth could only begin to picture, he has conquered our ultimate enemies, the spiritual forces that stand against God and his people. And he, as our king, has granted victory, which is what a king would do.

And this takes place in the realm of heaven. This is his authority there. There he is seated at the right hand of the father, something that demonstrates his kingship there in heaven, all of which is subject to him, all heaven to him.

Psalm 91 .11 would say, for he will command his angels concerning you. Revelation 5 .11 says many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. And what are they doing? They're worshiping the king.

Hebrews chapter one and two, comparing him to angels, says he is better than, better than the angels. In Matthew 26, verse 53, when Peter was to draw his sword and Jesus said, no, there are legions of angels waiting for his word, only restrained by the lack of him speaking in that word to bring them.

What is authority in heaven? If his authority in earth is his concrete building up of his kingdom via the church, which he is building on this rock, I will build my church, his authority in heaven. Chapter one, verse three of Hebrew says, he upholds all things from his heavenly throne.

He is now with the authority he has in heaven, holding it all together. Colossians 1 .16, John chapter one, says that everything that was made was made by him and for him and through him and because of him.

And there he rightfully rules over it in heaven where his authority is. Listen to what the angels say when they worship him. They say, worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals. For you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.

He is worthy. In our context this afternoon, he has authority to begin the unfolding of history's ending. Note especially that this is the risen Lord who has given all authority in heaven and on earth.

And from heaven he exercises his authority here on earth. From heaven, exercising authority on earth. You see, it is he exercising the authority he has on earth who made us priests to God. That's first Peter chapter two, verses nine and following.

It is he exercising his authority in heaven who alone in all creation was worthy to be authorized to open the seals by which the rest of history unfolds. Look, if you will, at John chapter 17 and verse two.

I'll start at verse one. 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.

You see, John 17 too is about the subjects of his kingdom, his kingdom on earth. He has authority from heaven to bring subjects into his kingdom on earth. Those whom the father gave to him and then sent him to save, to redeem from the kingdom of this world, which is an usurper of the kingdom of heaven.

So Jesus' authority in heaven is to convert souls, to populate his kingdom on earth. He said our salvation comes to us by authority. Jesus has authority to save. Jesus was sent to save and here it said he has authority to save that you gave him authority over all flesh.

In John chapter five, he has authority to determine who will be raised, resurrected to the resurrection of life and who will be raised or resurrected to the resurrection of condemnation. That's a heavenly authority.

That's the administration of his rule by his given authority in heaven. His authority on earth is simply to establish the church. It's that simple. It is that profound. This is the point of Matthew 16, Peter's confession.

Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah. Of course, this is Jesus speaking to Peter after Peter said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Here in Jesus' response, his authority to make this pronouncement.

Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

God, the father, revealed it to Peter and Jesus immediately exercises his God-given authority to establish his church on the rock of that confession of him as the Christ, the son of the living God. This is what the Lord had been driving at for some time in this gospel.

Matthew 4 .17, he begins after his temptation of the wilderness, his first public words, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matthew 12 .28, but if it is by the spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

There are signs of that authority, sure signals that he had from God the charter, the right, the authority to found the church. You know, this is just what is meant by the closing chapters of the book of Ezekiel.

Have you read that? You know what that, that long, detailed, glorious description of the heavenly Jerusalem coming down from heaven to earth. And it settles here. And what does that represent? It's that perfect correspondence of heaven and earth.

And the one who brings about that perfect correspondence is Jesus, who has all authority given to him in heaven and on earth. Think of what it means when we pray the Lord's prayer. We should learn to recite together at the end of this message.

I'll just give you that little hint or warning. But this is, this is just what it means when, when the Lord teaches us to pray, taught his disciples to pray, and so from then to us, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

This is what is meant, and we need to think carefully on this one, because it goes right to the heart of the matter of exercising our authority. It goes right to the heart. When Jesus says to Peter, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

This was immediately in Matthew 16 when Peter made his great confession, and just a couple chapters later in Matthew 18, speaking of church discipline, speaking of the church exercising its authority, which will be the subject coming another Sunday.

But it's that correspondence between heaven and earth, and who has the authority? To make those two coincide. But Jesus Christ, who has all authority in heaven and on earth. Matthew 16, 19, Peter's confession, the founding authority of the church, Matthew 18, 19, in church discipline, the implementation, the use of that authority.

Heaven and Earth, the Church, and the Restoration of Eden

Another way to say all this is that Jesus' authority in heaven is to bring heaven to earth, to bring heaven to earth, and the church, this church, is that point of reference. Do you remember some months ago when we preached 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 12?

I do not permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over man, and then Paul immediately founds that imperative, that command of the church, that negative command of the church on creation. Why can a woman not have authority to teach a man?

Because man came first. And man did, the woman didn't come. I mixed it all up. Because man came first. In creation order, man came first. And so we made the point from that, excuse me for my little fumble there, but we made the point from that, that because Paul grounds the church order, the church authority, in creation ordinance before, before the fall, because it was grounded in an ordinance that came before the fall, before sin, and it is applicable to the church's authority now, well, the church is a restoration of Eden in a very important way because we hold to the word of God.

And we're told by Paul this word of God before sin came into the world is a mandate to the church. So we have order in things. We have order that comes from the authority granted in the various constituent parts that we populate.

It's our exercise of Adamic authority here in the church. So also with husbands loving and being obeyed by their wife, with children obeying the parents, and all the rest of it. So what is then the gospel of Christ's authority?

What is the gospel of this authority? It brings us back to creation. It brings us back to the first man who was Adam. Adam was vested as king to rule over a realm which was, of course, the garden. And that mandate was meant to be passed on to all his progeny by his rebellion instead of bekeathing to us a world that willingly submitted to our efforts.

Well, everything was corrupted, and that's Genesis chapter 3. Jesus, the one with all authority in heaven and on earth, Jesus is often called the second Adam. He's the one who rectified and rectifies what Adam had destroyed.

If by Adam's headship he passed along to us sin and broken fellowship with God, the second Adam, Jesus, by his perfect obedience, passes to the faithful, perfect righteousness before God, and so intimacy with God restored.

So what does all that have to do with authority in Christ? In Christ, the church is the agent of restoration. In Christ, the church is the agent of this restoration. Our commission to go, therefore, and make disciples is a call to all men to what?

To be forgiven of their sins. And to then take up the first Adam's responsibilities with corresponding authority now rightly administered as we follow our king who is Christ Jesus our Lord. J. I. Packer says of authority, the uniform biblical conviction is that the only rightful power within creation is ultimately the creators.

Such authority as men have is delegated to them by God to whom they must answer for the way they use it. Because all authority is ultimately God's submission to authority in all realms of life is religious duty part of God's service.

You see submission goes hand in hand with authority. Christ said several times in John's gospel, things like in John 14 31, I do as the Father commanded me. The Son of Man with authority over all the earth doing as he was commanded.

Jesus' struggle at Gethsemane was an important way about submission to authority. Not my will, but your will be done. He finally prayed. And with authority comes responsibility to use it in the way the giver of the authority wants it used to accomplish what he wants accomplished.

As Packer's quote says so well, the whole of creation follows divinely established lines of authority to which we must submit if we are to carry out his will, which is what? For us. Providence Bible Church of Sunnyvale in 2019.

What is his will? It's the expansion of his kingdom on earth right here in this place. You know as Christ is our king we must submit to him in everything we do including how we make decisions to carry out his will, his will so clearly given to us in the scriptures.

As we consider how we make these decisions, how we make any decisions as a church, we have to recognize Jesus as the ultimate authority. And so we must make our decisions in the way that he would have.

He said all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore. That therefore empowers the church with a specific authorized charge, which is to expand his kingdom by proclaiming this gospel.

And it's that gospel by which he has promised he would build up this church. Jesus has authority over the kingdom of heaven, which he is preparing to become the kingdom here. In John chapter 1 verse 51, he says to Nathanael, Truly truly I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man.

Jesus is that bridge between heaven and earth authorized in both realms and the bridge that brings them together. More than bridge, he's the one who reconciles the two realms and molds them into a single kingdom.

The praise he receives day and night in heaven is for exactly this. Revelation chapter 11 verse 15, for example,. The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever.

Jesus' authority is a given authority. And we rightly hold Jesus to be God in the flesh. We rightly hold that the second person of the trinity is the eternal son of God in whom is vested all that is it is to be God.

And yet in his incarnation, we find that he is given an authority, an authority which he then bestows upon the church. Which you'll hear about more in a coming Sunday. I want us to think of the way we make decisions in these terms, that we make decisions on behalf of a Lord to whom from God the Father was delegated an authority.

We make decisions on behalf of that Lord Jesus Christ on the basis of the authority he from the Father through him delegated to us. Our authority, like Jesus' authority, has a purpose to it. A concrete, easily defined purpose to which this church must submit itself from the leader to every member as a body, as a unit, we must submit ourselves to this authoritative proclamation of the Lord Jesus Christ to whom all authority in heaven and earth was given.

Go therefore and make disciples and bring about this correspondence under Jesus' authority. This corresponds between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of earth, which is the church. I would have us close with the Lord's Prayer.

I want us to recite it together. And as we recite this, I want you to think in these terms. So this corresponds between heaven and earth and Jesus' authority, which is full and all-encompassing in heaven as it is on earth.

We have nothing delegated to us in terms of authority in heaven, but think as we pray this prayer of the authority that Jesus Christ has given us here, the authority given to him from the Father and through him to us.

So please stand and we will close with the Lord's Prayer and think of it in those terms.