Audio Transcript:

Good morning. Welcome to Mosaic Church. My name's Jan, I'm one of the pastors here at Mosaic. And if you're new, if you're visiting, welcome. We're so glad you're here.

By the way, congratulations for making it out. Whenever it rains, I already know the Navy SEALS are going to show up. It's like that meme, I don't know if you saw this meme going around, where the lady is screaming and then there's the white cat. And the screaming lady goes, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!" And then the cat says, "Well, you can't even show up to church when it rains." And the cat is spot on. So, congratulations. The Lord sees your sacrifice.

We'd love to connect with you if you're new, we do that through the Connection Crowd, the worship guide, if you fill it out legibly, you can either toss it in the offering basket after or redeem it at the Welcome Center for a gift, or you can download the app, the Mosaic Boston app in the App Store or Google Play.

All the announcements are in the worship guide. There's a type in one of the announcements that the members meeting, it's not December 7th, which is a Sunday, it's actually December 6th. So, if you are a member or if you've been notified that you are becoming a member, please plan to come.

With that said, will you please pray with me over the preaching of God's Word? Heavenly Father, we confess that you are a good Father, and that you have given us your Word for our good, for our flourishing, for our shalom, for our peace. And your Word, often, is in the affirmative, yes, you want us to live lives that are glorifying to you and then also beneficial to ourselves and the people around us. And in order to keep shalom, you often tell us no. And Lord, I pray that you, through the power of the Holy Spirit and by the Gospel, show us that our hearts are rebellious to your authority naturally. We viscerally reject your authority, and we repent of that, and we turn to you, and I pray that you give us tender hearts to your loving authority, tender hearts to even tough truth.

And as we submit to your truths, as we submit to your authority, I pray that you show us that your authority, kingdom authority, Godly authority is an upside down authority, that you give authority not for us to be served by those under us, but to serve them. You call us to be servant leaders, sacrificial leaders to mirror you, to image you. And I pray you give us strength to do that. Lord, if anyone is not yet a Christian, if anyone has not yet submitted their lives to you, if someone has not yielded control of their lives to you, I pray today show Jesus how much you've sacrificed, how much you've done in order to redeem them, and I pray, draw their hearts to you. And I pray all this in the beautiful name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

So, we're in a sermon series that we are calling Tough and Tender, Developing a Resilience for Life. This is week 10. Next week we're finishing it with a sermon on living in a way that we leave a Godly legacy. So, that's next week. And after that, we roll into advent. Today, we are talking about tough and tender authority, lion and lamb authority. The Holy Scripture teaches that Jesus Christ is the Lion of Judah who submits like a lamb to the will of God, and he shows us that truth and that authority are upside down, that God gives us authority, gives us truth, in order to transform us, in order to get us to serve others because one of the greatest blessings in the world is to give rather than to receive.

So, as we talk about authority and as we talk about truth, I understand how counter-cultural this topic is, how counter-cultural this idea is. We are a [people who don't like sermons on authority, we don't like authority in general. Fight the power, stick it to the man, it's the Land of the Free. The last time we had a king was King George III, didn't work out for him. And not only do we live in the United States, the Land of the Free, we're also in Boston, Massachusetts. You going to tax us? We're going to get rid of all your tea. We do not like ... Live Free or Die, that's the motto of New England.

So, with that to say, I know you want to hear a sermon on authority like you want to hear a sermon on a root canal. But it's important. Scripture talks about the authority of God, and talks about the authority of God's Word. One of the texts that's really important to understand both authority and truth was Jesus subjugated to the authority to Pilate, standing before Pilate. And Pilate says, "Why are you answering me? Don't you understand that I have authority either to execute you or to release you?" And Jesus says, "You would have no authority over me at all if it were not given to you from above." And then Pilate scoffs at this, and Jesus says, "Those who are of the truth hear my truth." And then Pilate scoffs at it and says, "What is truth?"

And that sentiment is the milieu of our culture. This is the ethos of our culture. What is truth? Presupposition, "Truth is not knowable." Or we can't known truth. And obviously, that is a truth statement that crumbles under its own weight. There is no such thing as absolute truth. Are you absolutely sure? That is a truth statement. We can't know about God. How do you know that? Or, when people like Peter Berger say things like, "Truth isn't objective, it's culturally conditioned. You believe what people around you believe. In particular, when it comes to faith."

Well, that itself is a culturally conditioned truth statement. Agnosticism, we can't know about God. How do you know that you can't know about God? No one should proselytize. At the very moment that you say no one should proselytize, no one should convert, no one should recruit people to their religion, you're actually doing proselytizing. You're converting people to your position of non-proselytization. So you can't get around truth statements. Everyone is making truth statements. What we need to understand is what is truth in order to understand authority.

The other problem that we have in our culture, when people talk about truth, they think it's proud or arrogant to say, "No, this is true." It seems proud and arrogant to say, "This is true." And it seems humble to say there is no truth. We can't know truth. But actually, that's reversed. To say there is no truth, you're putting yourself in a position of arrogance over all truth. On the flip side, Jesus comes in and said, "I am truth, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." It's a tough truth when we tenderly submit to it, that truth frees us to be the people that God has called us to be.

The other problem that we have with authority is that it has been abused so much. So, we talk about getting rid of authority. You can't get rid of authority. As soon as you start talking about getting rid of authority, be very ... Question anyone who says get rid of authority because those people then want to ... They get into authority. This was the historical lesson of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union, the Communists, come to power and they said, "Let's get rid of the king." And everyone is like, "Yes! The workers of the world unite." And as soon as they get rid of the king, who comes into power? It's the communists. That vacuum was always going to be filled so you can't just get rid of authority. We need to redeem authority. And that's what Jesus Christ has come to do.

Today, we're going to look at Matthew 20:20-27, in which Jesus tells his disciples, "You have a worldly understanding of authority. You have a flipped understanding of authority." And Jesus Christ came not just to give us the upside kingdom, but the right side up kingdom, and he wants to turn our understanding of authority right side up.

So, this is Matthew 20:20, "Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. And he said to her, 'What do you want?' She said to him, 'Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.' And Jesus answered, 'You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?' And they said to him, 'We are able.' He said to them, 'You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.'"

"And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, and even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'" This is the reading of God's Holy, inerrant, infallible authoritative Word. May He write these eternal truths upon our hearts.

Four points to frame up our time so you know where we're going. First, authority rejected, then authority corrupted, authority redeemed, and finally authority exercised. First of all, authority rejected. What is authority? It's rightful power. A power that is used rightly and only God has ultimate authority, only God uses authority rightly. He is the rightful owner of authority. He created everything so authority belongs ultimately to the Creator.

And the story of Holy Scripture begins in Genesis, the Book of Beginnings, that God, in authority, creates everything. And His authority is good. It's a blessed authority. It's for our benefit, for our flourishing, for our prosperity. And He gives it to us generously. He gives it to everything, for life, and for spiritual life. And submission to His authority is the place in which we are free to be the people we've been designed to be. We're free to prosper. God has intrinsic authority and He creates us and delegates authority to us. And He tells us, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, create civilization, create culture and have dominion over all things." He creates Adam, puts him in the Garden, to work it and to keep it. There's authority. Work it, there's authority over the world. And then keep it, protect it from the evil and authority over Satan.

God entrusts them with everything, including His Word. He gives His Word to Adam and He says, "Keep it. This is my authority over you, ensconced in my Word. It's within my Word." And then in Genesis 3, Satan comes. And Satan has a conversation with Eve, and the very first thing that he attacks in an attempt to attack God's authority, what does he do? He attacks God's Word. He attacks God's truth. And he says, "Did God really say?"

And Eve says, "God said we can eat of every tree except for the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil." And he says, "No, no, no. You will not die. You will become like Gods, knowing good and evil." And Eve looks at the tree, looks at the forbidden fruit, and says that it was the light to her eyes, the desire to make her wise. She rejects God's authority. Adam rejects God's authority. Because Satan had planted a lie in their minds that God's authority was bad, that God was keeping us from something good. And they eat.

They trust in their feelings over God's Word. Adam doesn't exercise authority in protecting the Garden from evil, and he doesn't exercise authority to protect his wife from the lies, and he doesn't serve by leading and protecting.

Fast forward to today. What is our stance in culture at authority? We live in a culture averse to authority. There's no respect to authority because we have long ago gotten rid of even the idea of truth. Even to talk about objective truth about God is so counter-cultural that we even have a hard time even grasping the idea that when we talk about God, we're talking about facts. We're not talking about preference. We're talking about facts about God, truths about God as true as gravity, as true as life, as death, as the laws of thermodynamics. And we live in a culture where it's we who create truth. The things that we believe become truths instead of taking truths and believing in them.

Scripture begins with the unapologetic truth that God is sovereign, that God rules over the universe. Psalm 115:3 says, "Our God is in the Heavens. He does all that He pleases." Ultimate authority. He's like a potter, we are like the clay. All authority among humans is derived, and it's all from God. Romans 13:1, "For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God."

So, Adam and Even reject God's authority and, in place, they get a corrupted authority under the authority of the enemy. So, when we reject God's authority, we don't destroy authority, we corrupt it. And even the disciples of Jesus Christ, before the Gospel, have this corrupted understanding of authority. It's in their heart. On this point too, authority corrupted, we see in our text that John and James, part of Jesus' inner circle, Jesus had the 12 disciples, then he had the three disciples: John, James, and Peter, Jesus' closest friends.

Now, one of the things that a lot of people don't understand is that James and John, they're brothers, but they're actually Jesus' cousins. They're the sons of Zebedee's. Zebedee is married to Salome. Salome is the sister of Mary, Jesus' mom. So, these are his cousins. So, his cousins, what are they doing? In Matthew 19, Jesus promised that he would give them authority. They will sit on 12 thrones to rule over Israel. And so, they're jockeying for position. They send their mom to Jesus in order for her to ask that they get the thrones closest to Jesus. And they think that Jesus will listen to his aunt, so she comes, she kneels, she asks.

Why are they doing all this? Why are they jockeying? This is politics. Why are they politicking? The reason is because they think in their mind, the closer I am to Jesus on the throne, the higher rank I have, the more authority I have, to rule over people. And that's why Jesus, to correct their thinking, where does he go? This is verse 25, Matthew 20: "Jesus called them to him and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.'" What's he doing? He's canceling their wrong presupposition. Wrong presupposition, get as much power as you can, as much control, as much authority so that people serve you. You rule over, they serve you. Jesus says, "No, that's false." That's an ungodly mentality and that's rooted in selfish ambition. And this is our culture, get as much power as you can. Get the highest rank in your organization. Why? So that people serve you.

And that's why we have abuse of authority in our culture because authority has a corrupting over every single one of us. You've heard that power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, we know this. And that's why in scripture, as people reject God, God then has to come in and control our abuse of power. And you see examples in scripture where employers abuse employees. So, you have texts like Leviticus 25:43, where God says, "You shall not rule over them ruthlessly, but shall fear your God." Or Deuteronomy 24:14, "You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor or needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your town."

Why does God have to give this Word? Because of our corrupt understanding of authority. There's fathers who abuse their authority over children. Ephesians 6:4 tells us, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." There's abuse of power of authority with husbands over wives, that's why Colossians 3:19 says, "Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them." There's abuse of pastors or elders over churches, that's why 1 Peter 5:2-3 says, "Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsions, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock."

You see over and over and over this upside down view of authority, whether it was mistreating foreigners or immigrants. Exodus 23:9, "You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt." Those in power, in terms of finances, taking advantage of the helpless or poor. Zechariah 7:10, "Do not oppose the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart."

James 2:6, "But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?" And then just abuse of power to oppress in general. Jeremiah 22:17, "But you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood and for practicing oppression and violence."

We have a corrupt understanding of authority. So, we can't just reject authority because it gets replaced with corrupt authority. So, what do we need to do? We need redeemed authority. And this is point three. Jesus Christ comes as the God of the universe. And he comes and he shows us a servant leadership. He shows us authority in order to serve instead of authority to get others to serve you. This is Matthew 20:26-27, he says, "It shall not be so among you." Among Christians. "Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

So, from the beginning we said that God has intrinsic authority, He delegates authority to us. Those are the only two kinds of authority. Jesus has both. Jesus has intrinsic authority as co-equal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, and he also has intrinsic authority because he's the co-creator with the Father. But he submits to the Father. Though he has his own authority, he submits to the will of God, and then God delegates an authority to Christ. He has both.

So, Jesus comes and he holds the office of prophet, priest, and king, and wields that authority well. He serves those underneath his authority. He has the authority to forgive sins. He has the authority to exorcize demons. He has the authority to control nature, to raise the dead. He teaches with authority. He could have demanded submission, he could have commanded submission. Instead, he compels our submission through our hearts by pouring himself out for us.

So, how does Jesus lead? How does Jesus wield his authority? By submitting, by suffering, and by serving. By submitting, by suffering, and by serving. I'm going to give you three images right now that show us, that give us a picture of Jesus' authority. It's the yoke. It's the cup and the towel. So, if I lost you somewhere, come back. This is a good part of the sermon. I really enjoyed this part. This is my second time preaching, this is my favorite part. Yoke, cup, towel. Yoke, cup, towel. Submission, suffering, and service.

What's the yoke? Jesus submits to the yoke of God the Father, meaning he submits to His will. Co-equal. Father and the Son, they're co-equal. This is the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity. They're equally God. Three persons in the Holy Trinity. Three persons, one essence, they're equally God. Jesus comes and he submits to the yoke of the Father. Where do I see this in particular? Look at Matthew 11:28-30. "Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

A yoke was a harness to attack a plow to farm animals, to oxen or to horses, and Jesus Christ says, "I have submitted myself to the harness of God's will." And he says, "I've done it gently. I've done it tenderly. I tenderly submit to the tough will of God, the Father." And this is the area, the submission, this is the area where true freedom is found. So, Satan's lie in the very beginning was, "Reject God's authority so that you can live lives of freedom." And Jesus says, "No. We reject God's authority ..." You don't get rid of authority ... Or, submit to corrupted authority, the enemy's authority, and then finally enslaved by sin and selfishness.

He says, "No, true rest is found in submission to the Word of God, to the truth of God." He says, "Join me under this harness. I'm baring most of the weight. Come and take my yoke upon you. You will find rest for your souls." And by the way, this is what Jesus meant when he said, "You will know the truth and the truth will," what? Set you free. It's not freedom when we reject truth, it's freedom when we submit to God's truth. And it's tough to do, but when we do that, it tenderizes our hearts to God and we begin to understand that his authority is actually the best thing for us.

So, Jesus shows us that his authority begins with taking a yoke and then it continues with taking a cup. Yoke and cup. Where did I get the cup? From our text. Jesus answered, "You do not know what you're asking." They asked for influence. He says, "'You don't know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?' And they said to him, 'We are able.' He said to them, 'You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and not my left is not mine to grant but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father."

What is this cup? This is the cup of God's wrath. This is the cup of suffering. And Jesus Christ comes and he knows that he has to drink this cup down to the very last drop. Why is this a cup of suffering? Because in order for God to forgive us, he can't just say, "I forgive." Somebody needs to pay the penalty for our sin. There's always sacrifice. There's always suffering when forgiveness is given. If someone has treated you unjustly, committed egregious sin against you and you've been sinned against, for you to forgive that person, it always takes suffering. It's always painful. The greater the level of sin, the greater the level of suffering. Jesus is looking at this cup, he says, this is the only way that people can be redeemed, that we can be restored in a rightful relationship with us, and Jesus knows exactly how much this cup is going to cost, how painful it will be.

And Matthew 26:39, this is the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is on his face, sweating blood, the capillaries on his face are bursting, he's under such immense pressure. And he prays to the Father, and he says, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." True authority always includes suffering, it always includes a cup. And he tells James and John, do you think you can drink my cup? And they say, "Yeah." And they did. James was the first apostle to be martyred for the faith. We get that in the Book of Acts. John was exiled at the end of his life on Patmos. They suffered partially just because of martyrdom and exile, and then also, because as the closest people in their lives, they were separated in the very beginning of the ministry, they drank the cup. So, when we think about authority it's not getting others to serve and getting others to suffer for me, it's I'm serving people even when I need to suffer to do it.

So, there's the yoke, there's the cup, and then there's the towel. Where do I get this? Jesus, on the Last Supper, he gets up from the table, lays aside his outer garments, takes a towel, ties it to his waist, takes a basin, fills it with water and begins to wash the feet of his disciples. Says, "This is true greatness." God, on his knees, God kneeling to get the grime and the gunk off the feet of his own disciples. This is true leadership. This is servant leadership. This is godly authority. It's the towel.

And then John 13:12-16, Jesus explains to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him."

So, if we are to have a rightful understanding of authority, we'd first go to Christ and repent. And say, "Lord, forgive me for misusing authority. Forgive me for not submitting to your authority. I take that yoke under which I find rest for my soul. Lord, I accept the fact that you suffered for me, you drank that cup. And I accept the foot washing that you give me. I accept the yoke, I accept the cup, and I accept the towel. I accept that Lord. We thank you for grace." That's how we're saved, by grace through faith, and then that begins to redeem and redefine our understanding of authority so now we can begin to exercise authority as designed by God. And that's point four.

Exercise authority. Authority exercised with the yoke, the cup and the towel. So, this is Christ-like authority. It shows us that true greatness doesn't come in being served, but in serving, being blessed but in actually blessing. It's not in getting people ministered to, but actually ministering to others. So, it begins with submitting to the yoke of the Gospel. Repent and believe. What's repentant? It's yielding your will to God. Not my will, but yours be done. You accept grace. You accept God's sacrifice. You accept His love and you accept His Word.

You cannot accept God without accepting His Word, His truth. The thing that separated Jesus when he came, and people took note of this. They said, "You don't teach like the Rabbis do. You teach as someone who has authority." The Rabbis would say, "This is what the scripture say," or "Thus says the Lord." Jesus Christ doesn't appeal to a higher ... He says, "Truly, truly, I say unto you." He's not appealing to a delegated authority, he's appealing to his own intrinsic authority. So, Jesus has both kinds of authority.

You're going to have to use your brain for the next couple minutes. Okay? You with me? This is stake upon stake. Jesus has intrinsic authority and delegated authority. It's in him and it's given to him. Same with the Holy Scriptures. The Holy Scriptures have an intrinsic authority, in and of themselves, an ontological authority, and they're given a delegated authority, a bestowed authority. It's not a borrowed authority, it's a given authority, and it's within, and it's given from without.

How do we know? The theology is that God's Word is an extension of Himself, when God speaks, God is in that Word. And this is really important, because this is what separates us from other flavors of so-called Christianity. People ask me all the time, "What kind of church is Mosaic? What kind of Christianity are you?" And I've got a brand new answer, it came to me this week. I used to say, "Historical Orthodox Christianity," just because no one knows what that means and they're like, "Oh, okay." Now I say "What kind of Christianity?" I go, "The original. From the very beginning. That's who we are. The original."

We believe what the Church has believed about Christ, about God, about God's Word. And this is where we're different from other historic churches that have accepted a liberal theology of God's Word. This camp rejects the intrinsic power of God, the intrinsic authority of God's Word. And they said, "Yeah, when scripture agrees with me, then I'll accept it. But scripture is relegated to my authority, it's relegated to my reason."

And I push back to that and say, "Have you never made any mistakes in your life?" Just look at your high school picture. You are fallible. Every single one is us is fallible. So, you're taking your fallible mind, your fallible reason, and you're standing in judgment over scripture, over God's Word. And then people push back and they say, "Well, how do you know it's God's Word." And then my response is, "God's Word tells me that it's God's Word." And then people are like, "Ha! That's circular reasoning. Got you!" And I always respond and say, "We're all doing circular reasoning." When your reasoning with your mind, how do you know that your mind is being reasonable? That's circular reasoning, number one.

Number two, we are not primarily intellectual beings. How many of our decisions are made because of our desires not because of our minds? And our desires override our minds? So, we need a word from outside, we need a truth from outside, a transcendent truth. And where do we get that? We get that from Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came and he taught the way of God. He taught that the Old Testament was God's Word. He lived a perfect life. He's crucified, dies, is buried, and comes back from the dead. That, right there, the resurrection, validates everything else that he taught. Do we believe that Jesus physically came back from the dead? Yes, we've done sermons on that. You can find them online.

If you want more evidence for the historicity of the resurrection, a couple great resources: N.T. Wright is probably the best one. N.T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God. I think it's over 1,000 pages. If you're like, "I'm not reading 1,000 pages," go to the very end. You know what he says? "Jesus comes back from the dead." There. Spoiler alert. Geza Vermes wrote a book called The Resurrection, V-E-R-M-E-S. Michael Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus, phenomenal work.

But ultimately, we believe in the authority of scripture because we believe in Jesus Christ. How can you accept Jesus Christ as savior if you think you're smarter than him, if you think you're wiser than him? John Stott has this great book called The Authority of the Bible, and he says, "Why should people believe that the Bible is God's Word written, inspired by His Spirit and authoritative over their lives? The overriding reason for accepting the divine inspiration and authority of scripture is plain loyalty to Jesus. Our understanding of everything is conditioned by what Jesus taught, and that includes his teaching about the Bible. We have no liberty to exclude anything from Jesus' teaching and say, 'I believe what he taught about this but not what he taught about that.' What possible right do we have to be selective?"

What did Jesus believe about the Bible? Matthew 5:17-18, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law of the prophets. I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the Law until all is accomplished." He's talking about the Hebrew scriptures. He's says the smallest details of the Hebrew scriptures would all come to pass. John 10:35, "Scripture cannot be broken."

So, Jesus believed in the Old Testament, referred to it as God's Word, then Jesus taught and gives authority, delegated authority, to his apostles who are filled with the Holy Spirit and then the New Testament, the books in the New Testament canon were either written by an apostle or connected to an apostle, every single one of them. And then I get the pushback, "Well, didn't the church give us the New Testament? Didn't they compile the canon? Well, how can we trust them?" And my response is, the church gave us the books of the New Testament as much as Sir Isaac Newton gave us gravity. He did not give us gravity, he recognized gravity.

The spirit in them authenticated the spirit in the books, it was a recognition not a giving. It's like Tom Brady. I've been good. All football season, I have no mentioned the GOAT. Why is Tom Brady the GOAT? And this might connect with you, but it's okay. Why is Tom Brady the GOAT? Because a lot of people said that he's the GOAT? No, he's the GOAT and everyone recognizes that he's the GOAT. If you know, you know. You're welcome.

And then Proverbs 3:5, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding." Why trust in the Lord with all your heart? Why this combination of trust and the heart? Do you trust the Lord whole-heartedly? Well, if you do, do you let the scriptures override your thoughts and feelings? A lot of people think that God wants you to agree with Him. And we agree with the scriptures when our feelings coincide, when our ideas coincide, and then when our ideas don't coincide with scripture, we just get rid of it.

God doesn't say, "Agree with me." God says, "Obey me." Meaning, there are times when God says no. And that, right there, it challenges the most cherished thoughts and feelings that we have. And do you submit to the good will of God, to His good authority? 2 Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness."

Now, scripture talks about different spheres of authority, so I'm going to talk about the different spheres of authority. Authority in the church, authority in marriage, authority with children, and authority with the civil government, and look at every single one of those spheres through the prism of yoke, cup, and towel, and that's how you understand Godly authority. So, authority in the church. Scripture teaches that Jesus is the head of the church and that Jesus rules over the church through his Word, and God sends the Holy Spirit. The Holy Scripture talks about under-shepherds that are given to the church, called by God to teach and care for the flock.

So, if you, and here, I'm speaking to myself, I'm speaking to the leaders in the church. If we are to wield this authority rightly, there is a yoke of submission to God's Word, there's a cup of suffering. If you want to lead in the church, if you want to do ministry, there's always suffering. If you want to minister to people on the soul level, there's always suffering. There's always opposition from Satan and the demonic. And then there's the towel, where you care for the practical needs of your brothers and sisters, that's how Godly authority is to be wielded.

Hebrews 13:17, "Obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you." As a pastor, Pastor Shane Pastor and Andy, we take this seriously. We will stand before God and given an account for how we do ministry. And it's frightening, and that's why we want to do ministry God's way. God's work, God's way.

There's authority in marriage and the family. Scripture talks about God's design for family, God's design for marriage, that husbands are an authority over wives, to love, to honor, to serve, to sacrifice. 1 Corinthians 11:3, God grounds this idea of headship and the Trinity. "But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ and the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God." And this is important because St. Paul doesn't ground this in culture, he grounds this in the Trinity, that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are equal in power. They're equal in divinity. And yet, Jesus submits to the headship of God the Father, and we see that pattern that Jesus is the head of the church, and that Jesus is the head of the man, and then the husband is supposed to be in this godly, sacrificial headship over the wife.

Ephesians 5:22-25, "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." St. Paul grounds it in the Trinity, he grounds it in the church that Jesus is head over the church, and he grounds it in God's created order.

1 Corinthians 11:8-9, "For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man." And I say that the Trinity, the church, and creation are the foundation for the doctrine of headship because a lot of people reject this and they say, "It was cultural." It wasn't cultural. St. Paul wasn't wearing cultural goggles as he was writing this. He was pointing to things that are eternal. So, practically, how does this work itself out practically? Sacrifice. Who should be sacrificing most in a marriage? It's the husband. You lead with sacrifice. Just practically, how does this work out? When you're eating a delicious meal together, husbands and wives, who gets the last piece?

This week, my wife and I, we buy this delicious salami from Trader Joe's. It's wrapped in paper. It's so good. And my wife and I, we wait until our kids are asleep, and we're just downing this thing. It is so good. And out of nowhere, we're on the last piece. We just demolished this thing, just inhaled it. And the last piece, and my wife is eyeing it, and I'm eyeing it. And I was meditating on this text, and I was like ahh, I was like, "Baby, here you go." And she's like, "No, I don't want it." And I know she's lying. And then she takes it and I'm like ... And I thought she was going to take a bite and give the rest back to me. That's the pattern. No! Gone! Gone! Sacrifice, sacrifice.

Parents over children, there's authority to teach, to command, to discipline. Ephesians 6:1-4, "Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother, this is the first commandments with a promise, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land. Fathers, do not provoke your children with anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." So, parents are to be authoritative, not authoritarian. So, not leading in a way that provokes the child, but leading the heart, shepherding the heart. And yes, we are to tell our children yes and no. The fact that he says, "Children obey," means that there is an act of guidance, act of discipleship over our children.

This week, my daughter, Ekaterina, she's four. She's number three in the order. Ekaterina, driving home from preschool with my wife. She says, "Mom, there's a boy at school today who stole chocolate and he put it in his pocket." And they're driving home from the store. And my wife is like, "Huh." Come home, and she's like, "Come here. Let me check your pocket." Chocolate bunny in her pocket. Stole it! What do we do? What do we do? You got to discipline, but it's got to be a loving discipline. So, my wife unwraps it, and being the wise, Godly sage she is, broke off the bunny's head and gave it to her. "Don't do this anymore." And then she ate the rest. So, it was just this incredible mix of ... You're welcome. It's got to be both.

And authority of the civil government. Scripture talks about the fact that we are to honor and pray for those in authority over us. Romans 13:1-2, "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God." Who's he ... He's writing in a culture where Caesar is the emperor. Unrighteous, ungodly leader, and St. Paul says that there needs to be a respect for authorities, and obviously, not when those authorities contradict the Word of God. So, Acts 5:29, Peter gives the example, "We must obey God rather than men." In 1 Timothy 2:1-2 says, "First of all then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, Godly and dignified in every way."

Some Christians sin in their utter disrespect for those in authority. Yet, there's got to be this balance where I don't agree with the person, I don't agree with the policies, but there is a respect for the office, for the authorities. We are told to give unto Caesar what is Caesar's and give unto God what is God's. We will never give to Caesar what is God's, but we are called to honor, to respect, and to pray for.

I'll close with this. Philippians 2:5-11, this is the ancient hymn about Christ coming to serve, showing us true Godly authority: "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Jesus Christ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Every single knee will bow. Either we bow in this life, humbly accepting the Grace of God, or we will bow the knee in the next life under judgment and condemnation. So, we call you, if you're not yet a Christian, bow your knee to Jesus Christ in repentance. Submit to his good authority, and on the day that we humble ourselves, he raises us up. Let's pray.

Lord, we do start with repenting of the fact that our pride gets in the way of submitting to your authority all too often. We all too often think that our way is the right way, that our truth is the ultimate truth. We repent of all that. And I pray Lord that you give us grace to submit ourselves, to yield ourselves, yield our wills to the will of God the Father. We thank you Jesus that you took the yoke, you took the cup, and you took the towel. And I pray that you give us grace to do the same. And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.