In the midst of the global chaos and confusion brought about by Covid have we as Christians become so preoccupied by the happenings around us? Have we been caught up with all this to the point we have neglected our role as followers of Christ? Have our thoughts, our words, our actions been consumed by daily announcements on numbers infected, restrictions on contact tracing and debates around incursions on our individual rights and freedoms. We wonder how long will our movements be restricted? When will the borders reopen? What will Christmas look like?
As Christians we are carrying a mandate given to us by our Commander in Chief – Jesus Christ. We have been given a mission and we are responsible to fulfil that mission in our generation. Failure to fulfil our mission will have eternal consequences for our generation more devastating than Covid will ever be. I’m talking about the Great Commission. I’m talking about Jesus’ last words on earth recorded in the Gospels. I’m suggesting that we as a global church may have got distracted with what’s going on around us, that we are neglecting the most important responsibility we have been assigned to do – the Great Commission. Let’s look at what Jesus said in Matthew 28.
Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV) And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “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 of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
For the next few entries, I want to look at this passage in light of the importance and place these verses have in the mission of the church and the life of the individual christian.
Today I want to look at the first part of Jesus statement: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”
The most important truth every christian must embrace – the ultimate authority of Jesus Christ.
The starting point of being a disciple of Jesus Christ is to believe that Jesus Christ is the ultimate authority over all that is visible and invisible. Dare I say, more important than the doctrine of sin or the doctrine of salvation, or the doctrine of the church, or the doctrine of end times – these are all important truths we need to know, understand and believe in. But all these foundational beliefs will be built on shifting sand if we do not fully understand who Jesus is.
He is not the baby Jesus lying on a manger; not the carpenter Jesus of Nazareth; not the brilliant Rabbi Jesus who taught the Scriptures with such conviction; not the miracle working Jesus who healed the sick and raised the dead; not even the Savior Jesus who was crucified, died, buried, and rose again after three days. All these are fundamental truths we hold as Christians. These truths however must be built on the bedrock of believing that Jesus Christ has ascended to heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father and is now appointed as the supreme authority over all that is in heaven and on earth. To be a disciple of Jesus is to repent (change of mind and heart) of the mindset that caused us to pay allegiance to another, and to embrace Jesus as the sovereign, supreme ruler – the ultimate authority over all things. Until and unless we are truly convinced of this, we will never truly be submitted to His lordship in our lives.
Do we get that? All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him.
All authority means all authority
The significance of Jesus opening statement prior to commissioning his disciples cannot be overstated. If we truly understand what it means – nothing can shake our confidence in God and His promises. Nothing anyone does, no temporal powers – human or demonic, no happenings around us – can or will ever shake that confidence we have in our Lord and Christ.
All authority means exactly that – all authority. Jesus is saying – “I AM”. Remember Moses? He asked God, “who should I say sent me.” “I AM” was the response. And we know how that story ended – not so good for temporal powers who stood against the purposes of God. Here again, Jesus addresses His person before He commissions the disciples. The I AM – the ultimate supreme Being of all in heaven and on earth, sends you. The church has a mandate – “go and make disciples of all nations”. It is not a mandate from a human authority. It is a command from the great I am. It is the supreme, ultimate, all powerful Being who sends us with one and only one task – to go and make disciples. If we know He is the I AM, then we should know how our story ends.
The problem is we have a poor understanding of what it means to have ultimate authority. We are used to the freedom to choose our leaders. Here in New Zealand we elect our leaders every 3 years at a national election. If they do what we want we give them another 3 years to please us. If they do not do what we want them to do – we punish them in 3 years at the next election. We bring that kind of thinking into our relationship with Christ. We would like to negotiate terms and conditions with Him. We would like Him to know our preferences, so that he can customise our individual blue print. And we wonder why the christian life is not working out for us.
I suggest that a lack of understanding of Christ’s authority is why the church of our generation is so impotent and the believer so ineffective. Not fully understanding Christ’s ultimate authority, is why Christians are responding with fear instead of faith when faced with what’s going on around them. We have an inflated view of temporal powers – whether human or demonic – and confuse their display of powers as ultimate authority. On the other hand, we see Christ’s seeming lack of power display in the affairs of the world and assume we need to lend Him a hand, ending up getting entangled with temporal things which have absolutely no eternal value.
Power and authority – there is a difference
There is a difference between power and authority. The Pharaoh of Egypt learnt it the hard way. He confused the power he had over the Israelites as ultimate authority. Having a history of victories over nations around him, control over the magicians who could conjure up demonic events, he made a fatal assumption he had ultimate authority over heaven and earth. He would find out tragically that there was one who was truly the ultimate supreme Being, the I AM, who was not only all powerful but also who had all authority.
The New Testament clearly separates the concept of power and authority. Two Greek words represent the two concepts and we find both used in this New Testament verse:
Luke 9:1 (NKJV) Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.
Here in this passage we see two different greek words translated as power and authority.
The word translated as power – δύναμις (dunamis) – means inherent power, power residing in a thing or person by virtue of their nature.
In the New Testament this word dunamis is frequently used in the context of supernatural miraculous power exerted by a human being which can only be attributed to God.
The word authority is the greek word – ἐξουσία (exousia). It is a loaded word that carries these meanings – privilege, capacity, authority, jurisdiction.
– a person with exousia has been extended privilege to function in a certain position
– a person with exousia has the potential or capacity to function a certain way
– a person with exousia has the freedom, the legal right and jurisdiction to access and use power that has been made available
In other words a person functioning under (exousia) authority is one who has the full capacity and legal right to access and use all the dunamis power that is available based on the privileged position that has been accorded to them.
So when Jesus said “ALL AUTHORITY (exousia) IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH HAS BEEN GIVEN TO ME” – He was essentially saying, “I AM in the highest privileged position both in the heavenly realm and in the earthly realm.
I AM above all powers in heaven – whether divine beings or demonic beings – I have jurisdiction over them.
I AM above all powers on earth – any organised humanly constructed ideologies, institutions and social structures that exert power over individuals – I have jurisdiction over them.
If we understand this concept of exousia or authority – we will stop being distracted by the display of power on earth – demonic or human. Their powers might be frighteningly potent and seemingly far reaching but the reality is all demonic and human powers are limited. Jesus reminded us of this:
Matthew 10:28 (NLT) “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Your understanding or lack of it in the area of authority will cause you to focus on temporal powers and live your life in fear of these temporal authorities. The moment you get a right understanding of the authority of Jesus – your Lord and your Christ; if you grasp hold of what it means that all authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to Him – you will live a life free of fear and full of faith.
WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE? Let me take you to an event in the Gospels that shows this clearly in a practical way. Turn to Matthew 8 – The story of Jesus and the Centurion.
Matthew 8:5-13 (NKJV) Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.
First I want you to note the phrase “Jesus marveled”. Only twice you will see this phrase. Here and in another instance in Mark when Jesus marveled at the unbelief of the people of Nazareth. In Nazareth he could not do many miracles because of their unbelief. In this instance however, Jesus marvels at the centurion’s faith.
“I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel”
Why did Jesus marvel at the centurion’s faith? What was it about his faith that was so unique? The context of this passage would suggest that it is because the centurion understood the concept of exousia – authority.
He as a centurion had power that came because of his authority. He was just a centurion – not of noble birth – he would have been a commoner. A centurion had to rise from rank and file. It was not a very high rank in the Roman army – in charge of 100 soldiers. A centurion’s main task was to enforce discipline and public order. The centurion knew through experience that he had power to command anyone to do anything. But when he spoke – it wasn’t his voice that the soldiers heard. By virtue of his position as Centurion, he was privileged with authority to access such power. His command was as good as if the Roman Emperor himself was speaking. Even though he was only a centurion – a lower ranking officer – when he spoke he knew he had the full capacity and legal right to access and use all the power that was available to him because of his position as a centurion in the Roman army.
He realises that if he a mere centurion – under a limited human authority – had such powers, how much more would Jesus have? He would have heard, maybe even been an eyewitness of the miracles Jesus did in Capernaum. This is not from human hands or ability – this is beyond the natural – this is supernatural. This Jesus was operating from an authority far greater than what he as a centurion was under. It didn’t take him much to make that leap of faith when he understood the authority Jesus had – “ONLY SPEAK A WORD, AND MY SERVANT WILL BE HEALED.”
When you understand that Jesus has “all authority”, you will realise the power behind such authority.
Access to power is dependent on what you believe
Look at what Jesus says to the centurion.
Matthew 8:13 (NKJV) Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.
“as you have believed, so let it be done”. The statement from Jesus suggests that access to power for a miracle is determined by what a person believes. The faith this man had that amazed Jesus was – the centurion didn’t just believe Jesus had the power to heal his servant. He understood that such power was derived from unrestricted and unlimited divine authority. With such a conviction, he knew that Jesus merely had to speak and the miracle would happen.The centurion knew Jesus not only had the power to do all things, he also had the authority to approve/authorise all things.
The significance of being under Christ’s authority
Now apply the centurion’s understanding to our text – ALL AUTHORITY IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH HAS BEEN GIVEN TO ME. Jesus is saying – before you go out and do your assignment – understand this: “I now possess all authority. I am positioned as the supreme and ultimate authority over all things in heaven and on earth. Because of this privileged position, I have the full capacity and jurisdiction over heaven and earth – and can use all the power that is available to do whatever I see fit to do.”
Do we fully comprehend what this means? If we do then we will understand what a mere human being who is submitted to Christ and His authority has the potential to be and to do. Do we understand the significance of Jesus authority? If we do This is what that potential will look like.
Mark 11:22-24 (NKJV) So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Whatever things you ask – believe – and you will have them. For too long we as christians have been paying lip service to this particular passage. It’s because it is too far reaching for us to have such lofty ideas about prayer. When something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So we explain it away as a metaphor. These are mountains we face in our lives. If we trust God we will eventually see the challenges we have in life disappear. Maybe God will give us the strength to climb some mountains so that they don’t have to be removed. How easily we bring the Divine down to our realm and our capacity to believe.
Can God move a mountain? Of course He can. No one will doubt that. Can you as a human being move a mountain? Of course not. Does Jesus have all authority? Of course He has? Can one under Christ’s authority, responding to His mandate to go – can that person move a mountain? According to this passage they can. In fact according to this passage, the ultimate, supreme authority over heaven and earth has assured the one who believes that “whatever he says will be done” and “whatever he asks in prayer, he will receive”.
Our problem is not one of faith that Jesus can do it. Our problem is that we do not fully understand that Jesus has the authority to give us access to such powers. Not only does He have authority to give us access to such powers, he has already pre-approved access to such powers. We are just not accessing it. Instead we are busying ourselves engaging with the authorities of the earth, hoping to derive power from such temporal authorities.
My invitation to both you and me is to relook at this statement Jesus made:
ALL AUTHORITY IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH HAS BEEN GIVEN TO ME
Jesus the sovereign, the supreme ruler, the ultimate authority over all things in heaven and on earth – this Jesus whom we call Lord, Lord – he has commissioned us to go. With that commissioning comes the pre-approval to function under His authority and access all power available in heaven and earth to complete our mission.
IF WE TRULY BELIEVE THIS – IMAGINE WHAT OUR PRAYER LIFE WILL LOOK LIKE.
IF WE TRULY BELIEVE THIS – IMAGINE WHAT KIND OF DISCIPLES WE WILL BE.
IF WE TRULY BELIEVE THIS – IMAGINE WHAT KIND OF CHURCH WE WILL SEE.