December 20, 2021 -- Luke 20:1-2 -- Questions about Jesus' authority

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up 2 and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.”
Luke 20:1-2 ESV

Over the past 20 centuries, what has really changed? People today still question the authority of Jesus, people within the church and those outside its walls. Gretta Vosper is a minister in the United Church of Canada, and she is an atheist (reference included as a footnote below). She denies the authority of Jesus and is challenging God for proof.
While it is easy to bash against such people, the question this text poses today is far more personal: "Jesus, tell me, by what authority You do these things, Who gave You this authority?" When we know the good we should do and do not do it, we rail against the authority of Jesus in our own lives. When the Bible sits there on the desk unopened, we are saying I know enough I don't need You, Jesus, or Your authority. When we nurse anger against others in our minds and hearts we are saying to Jesus, I know what you teach, but I am going to follow my own authority on this one.
Someone asked me recently: "Does it really make a difference being a Christian? Can't I just acknowledge what I've done wrong and do better?"
My response: "How has that worked out for you?"
We both, nodding, grimaced. We know how our own willful and stubborn hearts lead us further and further away from God and deeper into self-destruction. The only path of healing is full surrender to the authority of Jesus Christ, in Whom we are reconciled to God by the shedding of Jesus' blood. The Spirit, poured out on us by the Father and the Son, He is the power we need in order to be fully submitted and held near the spout where the healing of God comes out and this same Spirit brings the Kingdom of Jesus to fruition in our lives.

O Lord of grace,
I have been hasty and short in private prayer,
O quicken my conscience to feel this folly,
to bewail this ingratitude;
My first sin of the day leads into others,
and it is just that thou shouldst withdraw thy presence
from one who waited carelessly on thee.
Keep me at all times from robbing thee
and from depriving my soul of thy due worship;
Let me never forget
that I have an eternal duty to love, honour and obey thee,
that thou art infinitely worthy of such;
that if I fail to glorify thee I am guilty of infinite evil that merits infinite punishment,
for sin is the violation of an infinite obligation.
O forgive me if I have dishonoured thee,
Melt my heart, heal my backslidings,
and open an intercourse of love.
When the fire of thy compassion warms
my inward man,
and the outpourings of thy Spirit fill my soul,
then I feelingly wonder at my own depravity,
and deeply abhor myself;
then thy grace is a powerful incentive to repentance,
and an irresistible motive to inward holiness.
May I never forget that thou hast my heart in thy hands.
Apply to it the merits of Christ’s atoning blood
whenever I sin.
Let thy mercies draw me to thyself.
Wean me from
all evil, mortify me to the world,
and make me ready for my departure hence
animated by the humiliations of penitential love.
My soul is often a chariot without wheels,
clogged and hindered in sin’s miry clay;
Mount it on eagle’s wings
and cause it to soar upward to thyself.
"Penitence." The Valley of Vision: Puritan Prayers and Devotions. Ed. Arthur Bennett, Carlisle, PA: THE BANNER OF TRUTH, 2020, page 164.

https://youtu.be/eyZsVxUz7aA

The United Church of Canada Decides to Retain Atheist Pastor Gretta Vosper - The Gospel Coalition | Canada

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