{"id":3118,"date":"2009-02-01T14:16:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-01T19:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/?p=3118"},"modified":"2020-12-21T14:17:40","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T19:17:40","slug":"acting-on-authority-sermon-talkback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/acting-on-authority-sermon-talkback\/","title":{"rendered":"Acting on Authority Sermon Talkback"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sermon Talkback<\/strong>\u2014February 1, 2009<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acting on Authority<\/a>\u2014Mark 1:21-28<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beginning<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who holds authority in your life? In the end of any issue, what authority would you root your final decision?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus\u2019 Authority<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although it is the exorcism that usually attracts our attention, the authoritative quality of Jesus\u2019 teaching is central to the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            1. Authority over the demon<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            When Jesus rebuked the demon to come out of the man, the people said, \u201cWhat is this? A new teaching\u2014with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.\u201d Jesus expels the demon with only a command, employing no incantations or ritual actions is illustrative that Jesus speaks and acts with authority, signifying that he speaks and acts directly for God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Although there is only one unclean spirit in the man, it speaks of itself in the plural: \u201cWhat have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?\u201d This may represent that Jesus\u2019 ministry is to encounter the whole demonic world. On this first day of his messianic activity, Jesus confronts head-on the forces that oppose him in a life-and-death struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The demon\u2019s identification of Jesus as \u201cthe Holy One of God\u201d suggests that Jesus will have conflicts in cosmic proportions beginning with his own temptation testing in Mark 1:12-13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            2. Authority over the scribes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Verse 22 notes that the people in the synagogue are astounded because \u201che teaches as one with authority and not as the scribes.\u201d The contrast with the teaching of the scribes does not yet issue in an explicit conflict, but it does prepare us for the scribes\u2019 challenge to Jesus\u2019 authority in the story of the healing of the paralytic (2:1-12). In this healing it is precisely Jesus\u2019 acting on God\u2019s behalf that becomes the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Also, by Jesus taking upon himself the role of casting out the demon, he bypasses the Temple centered establishment, of which the scribes are a part that presides over the purity system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            3. Authority over lives<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Jesus\u2019 healings and exorcisms play a crucial role in defining the character of Jesus\u2019 messiahship in Mark. Just as Jesus\u2019 death will function as a ransom (10:45), the healings and exorcisms signify his power to liberate people from all that oppress them. The man with the unclean spirit would have been considered impure and thus forced to the margins of society. To release him from the demon was to restore him to his place in the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thought for the Week<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How might you begin to make decisions in life by acting on the authority of Jesus Christ? How might these decisions look differently when acting on the authority of Christ?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sermon Talkback\u2014February 1, 2009 Acting on Authority\u2014Mark 1:21-28 Beginning Who holds authority in your life? In the end of any issue, what authority would you root your final decision? Jesus\u2019Continue readingActing on Authority Sermon Talkback<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[22],"class_list":["post-3118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donald-ng-sermon-talkbacks","tag-mark"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3119,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3118\/revisions\/3119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}