Celebrate the Church of Christ! Respect the Authority of Christ (Heb. 1:1-2)
Celebrate the Church of Christ!
“The Authority of Christ”
Hebrews 1:1-2
INTRODUCTION:
If you are on Facebook, have you seen this sign before? “What I If Told You You Read the Top Line Wrong”
How many of you read the sign wrong the first time? I did. Our brains think that we already know what the line is supposed to read, so our brains read the line correctly - except they didn’t. We think we see what is there but when we look closely, we do not.
When it comes to Christianity, it easy for us to look at the churches in the Yellow Pages and think that what we are looking at is Christianity. Except when we look more closely we see some serious differences.
The elders have asked me to do a series of studies on the characteristics of the NT church, especially as the church is distinguished from the Yellow Pages churches. We began two weeks ago with the most fundamental study of all: the need for each of us to study. We each have an obligation before God to study His word, know His word, live His word, and teach His word.
Today’s lesson is also very foundational to this whole discussion: We must respect the authority of Jesus Christ.
We all recognize the concept of a “chain of command.” It is also known as a “pecking order.” Let me give just two examples. When I was in college, getting trained to be a teacher, I had to do my student teaching. As a student teacher, I answered to my immediate supervisor who was an experienced teacher. She, in turn, answered to the principal, who answered to the local school superintendent, who answered to the state school superintendent, who (in some ways but not all), answers to the Secretary of Education, who answers to the President of the United States.
Perhaps we think of the military most often when we think of a “chain of command.” We have soldiers, then squads, platoons, companies, battalions, brigades, divisions — all the way up to the Secretary of Defense and the President of the United States who is the Commander in Chief.
There is also a “chain of command” in the Bible and we begin at the top - God.
GOD IS THE “AUTHOR” IN THE WORD “AUTHORITY:”
This is God’s right as the Creator of all things. Didn’t you all make something out of clay when you were in school? You probably made a small pitcher or an ash tray. Maybe you made something into an animal. You could make anything you wanted out of that clay because you were in control of that clay. To a certain extent, you were “sovereign” over that clay. When the time came, you may have even thrown that clay away. It no longer fit your broader aims and goals in life so you did not think it was worth keeping any more.
In the same way, God is sovereign over this whole world; in a way that you were not sovereign over that lump of clay. That is, God made the whole world and God is not accountable to anyone or anything relative to how He uses this world. In Romans 9, Paul pictures God as a potter, in an image that reflects the prophet Jeremiah’s teachings. The potter has right over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use (9:21).
Everyone is accountable to God. Even Jesus Christ is accountable to God, which we’ll point out in just a moment.
In Genesis 17:1, God appeared to Abraham and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before Me and be perfect.” The reason God has the authority to command Abraham to “be perfect” was because He is “God Almighty.” He is at the extreme top of the chain of command. Not only is there no person above Jehovah God, there is no principle or law above Jehovah God. All universal principles and laws flow from and are consistent with the nature of Jehovah God.
I want to share one more passage to illustrate this point: Joshua 11:15: “Just as the Lord had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses.”
When Paul writes in Ephesians 4:6, “one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all,” Paul is saying that Jehovah God is the “author” in the word authority.
Now, let’s take a look at our key passage for this morning:
GOD HAS GIVEN ALL AUTHORITY TO HIS SON - Heb. 1:1-2:
“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.”
Because God exists in the “spirit” world, in the unseen, the invisible world, we could not and would not know anything about Him if He did not reveal Himself. Now, He revealed some of His nature through nature; Paul says that in Romans 1:19-20.
But God did not reveal Himself as completely until He revealed Himself in and through His Son, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus, Himself said, “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matt. 11:27).
When Jesus began His ministry, His first sermon is recorded in Matthew 5-7 (the so-called “sermon on the mount”), He set His teachings in contrast both to the Law of Moses and to the traditions of the Pharisees.
He said, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matt. 5:17-18).
When Jesus finished His teaching that specific sermon, Matthew writes that the crowds “were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes” (Matt. 7:28-29).
Here is an important point to consider and remember because it applies to us as well: Jesus taught with authority only because He taught what the Father told Him to teach! Half a dozen times in the Gospel of John, Jesus says something to this effect: “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 5:30). See also: John 8:28, 42; 10:18; 12:49; 14:10.
There is a reason Jesus is called the “Lord.” He has authority in Christianity and He never delegated His authority in His church to any one person nor to any group of people! Listen to the words of Ephesians 1:20-23:
God “raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him 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 age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
That is why, when Jesus returned into heaven, He said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:18-20).
Our preaching and teaching must begin with verse 18: All authority belongs to Jesus Christ. No one has any right to usurp authority that belongs to the Son of God.
He has complete executive authority to implement His commands, legislative authority to write His commands, and judicial authority to interpret His commands. He has all authority.
The next link in the divine “chain of command” is the Spirit of God:
THE HOLY SPIRIT KNOWS THE MIND OF GOD AND REVEALS THAT MIND - 1 Cor. 2:6-13:
“Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.” For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”
First, let us identify the “we” in this context. Who are the “we”(?) because a lot of people today believe that the Holy Spirit guides them and speaks to them but who are the “we” in this context? The Christians in Corinth were suffering from “preacher-itis” - they were trying to put preachers on a pedestal and set one preacher against another. The preachers are mentioned in 1:12: Paul, Apollos, and the apostle Peter. In certain passages in 1 Corinthians, especially here in chapters 2 and 3, Paul is arguing that all these preachers are the same; they’re all revealing the will or wisdom of God. So, when Paul says “we,” he is not talking about all Christians; he is talking about inspired preachers or inspired writers.
Here, Paul is talking about “God’s wisdom” - the hidden mystery which none of the rulers of this age understood. You’ve heard me say this before: in the OT times, God kept His plans secret so Satan could not know that the cross was in God’s plans. Satan would have never crucified Jesus if Satan had known that that was the way by which God was going to take care of the problem of sin.
Verse 9 - the “things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard” - is not referring to heaven. It’s referring to the coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Christian age. In verse 10, Paul says, “To us, God revealed them through the Spirit.” So the Holy Spirit is the next “link” in the divine chain of command.
Look at verse 11: “the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.”
In verse 12, Paul says, “We - Apollos, Paul, Peter, inspired men - have received the Spirit of God so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.”
Verse 13 - “these things we speak in words taught by the Spirit of God, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.”
So the “chain of command” - the revelation of the truths of Jehovah God - pass through the Holy Spirit.
Here are some passages you should have highlighted in your Bibles: “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you” (John 14:25-26).
John 15:26-27 - “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”
And John 16:13 - “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”
So we see the Holy Spirit did not teach on His own initiative. Jesus did not teach on His own initiative nor did the Holy Spirit. God help me that I never teach on my own initiative! If you ask me a Bible question, I better give you a Bible answer! The only way to know if it is a Bible answer is to quote book, chapter, and verse understood and interpreted correctly in its own context.
Now, the Spirit guided the inspired apostles and prophets in revealing the mind of God so that leads us to the last link in the divine “chain of command:”
THE APOSTLES TAUGHT WITH AUTHORITY - 1 Corinthians 14:37:
Let’s look again at those passages from the Gospel of John. First, John 14:25-26 - the Holy Spirit would teach the apostles “all things” and bring to their “remembrance” all that Jesus had said to them. Notice these two things: the apostles were guided by the Holy Spirit in “all” things - there is nothing we need to know or do in Christianity that was not taught the apostles and guided in them by the Holy Spirit. Secondly, they were given an inspired memory so that they did not even have to take notes during the ministry of Jesus! The Holy Spirit revealed to them everything He wanted them to know, preach, and write.
John 15:26-27 - The Holy Spirit would guide the apostles to testify about Jesus. I do not testify about Jesus. The word “testify” means someone was an eyewitness. I am not an eyewitness to Jesus Chist so I cannot testify. But, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were eyewitnesses of things and they could write down what they saw and they did so with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Finally, John 16:13 - The Holy Spirit would guide the apostles into - notice - “all truth.” He would not speak on His own initiative but whatever the Holy Spirit hears, He will speak and disclose to the apostles what was to come. Again, there is nothing we need to know or do in Christianity which is not written in this inspired book of the apostles’ witness. They did not speak on their own initiative and I cannot speak on my own initiative and you cannot speak on your own initiative.
Now, look at John 17:8 - “the words which You gave Me I have given to them.”
As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:37, what he wrote down are the commandments of the Lord. That’s how important it is to know the teachings of the apostles and to obey the teachings of the apostles. That’s why we study Acts, Romans… through Revelation - because these are the teachings of the apostles and prophets, guided by the Holy Spirit of God.
I wish to make one more point before we conclude our study this morning and that is, there is no more room for additional revelations from God, through Jesus, to the Holy Spirit, in the apostles’ and their written words.
First, there can be no apostles today because for a man to be an apostle, he had to: 1) be an eyewitness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ; 2) he had to have been with Jesus throughout His ministry on earth. These two qualifications are mentioned in Acts 1:21-22.
Secondly, the role of the apostle was temporary - Eph. 4:11-13 - and their writings have been written down so we don’t need them any more. And, the role of prophets was temporary - 1 Cor. 13:8-10 - their writings have been written down so we don’t need them any more.
The fundamental distinction between the church in the NT and the “Yellow Pages” churches is that the church in the NT recognizes and honors the authority that Jesus Christ has to regulate His own church. That authority limits what we can do in Christianity. Our next study will begin looking at some of those distinctions.
Take home message: The NT Church recognizes the “divine chain of command:” God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, apostles. We must submit to their commands and not go beyond those commands.