Jesus’ Authority: Your Authority is Nothing without His!

Jesus’ Authority: Your Authority is Nothing without His!       By Kelly Durant 

 

Luke 22:24-30

 

24 Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. 25 Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26 But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. 28 You are those who have stood by me in my trials. 29 And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, 30 so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 

 

2. Have you ever had a problem with a bill or service and you call the company and the person on the other line of the phone keeps running you around in circles? In frustration, what do you do? You say, “Can I speak to the manager?!” It’s obvious that some people cannot resolve certain issues, right?

 

The story of the life of Jesus covers so many subjects before His arrest, trail and crucifixion! If you want to know more, He covers everything from the coming of the Holy Spirit, to the hypocrisy in the fake people of God, to the Signs of the final days of earth.

You can read all of these things between John chapters 12 to 18, or in Matthew 23 to 26.

 

Today, however we are going to focus in on something in Luke. Jesus made it clear He only acted upon the authority of is Father and today we will examine the problem all of us have with authority. Imagine, Jesus knows He will be crucified in a very cruel way in the next few days, and the disciples are not perceiving this by all that He is teaching them, they re too worried about who will be first in the kingdom of God! 

 

3. My wife and I had meetings before with the coaches of the soccer leagues we did programs with and do you know what the biggest problem was with the leagues? It was not the kids getting hurt, or the lack of no money for uniform needs, it was a problem with authority, of who is in charge! Who obeyed who was always an issue.

 

Apart from coaches not respecting one another, a coach may say to some by standers, “Hey, you are too close to the field”; and the people instead of replying, “Okay, sorry,” and move their reply was, “Who are you to tell us anything? I will stand where I want!” 

 

Not respecting authority also included the people using the other fields in the park that they do not have permission to, and then we had the problem of losing the city park’s permission due to the disrespect of these people. 

 

In today’s world a lack of respect towards authority is creating a lot of repercussions in society and in the church! Authority is not about who is the most arrogant bully to just appropriate it, it is about leadership as Jesus modeled it.

 

4. You may be aware that some Anglo Americans complain that certain immigrants do not respect their culture, that they do not respect our laws, and they do not even try to learn English. This is true for certain ones, but not all. I wish for you to see after this message today how a person can earn respect as a leader no matter the culture since we are covering leadership, and the way Jesus did it.   

 

To begin with, as we see with these passages, a leader and his authority is not determined by himself or herself, arguing amongst others as to who should have it. It is determined by God, by functional systems, and by their merits of how one serves others. 

 

Let’s look here again in verse 26 that says that the leader is the one who serves, not just the one who sits at the table and expects to be served. Jesus says it clear in verse 27 that He wants us to follow His example by serving as He served. 

 

5. There are plenty of unprepared people today who want to be in charge because of some idea they have that their race deserves it, that their money should buy it, or that their position should just be because they want it?! Even people in the church, amongst some church leaders today, want to be the big leaders so they have others serving and obeying them. This is what is wrong with politics today, people who assume power, but they are people full of greed and self-interests not qualified and then everything falls apart! 

 

Those that know Regina and I well know that we are the first to arrive and the last to go and real leaders carry out responsively their duties. Leaders are usually doing humble tasks that others could do but often don’t do so a real leader must step up and do them.

 

I want you to know as servant leaders, as appointed commissioned Majors, we are not too proud to load and unload trucks, to cook and wash dishes, to vacuum the floors, to clean the bathrooms, and to sit and listen to people a long time when they want our ear.

 

6. I know dozens of you respect us and you have caught the same vision to serve and you are humble not concerned over what you need to do to help and Regina and I are proud of you. Jesus even says right here that we will be judges in the Kingdom of God if we show the fruits of serving Jesus in a way that wins others to the Kingdom of God.

 

In the Salvation Army we teach others to serve Jesus by example and working hard, not being concerned if you are the leader or not, and it is the best way to follow Jesus. What is it we say? “Saved to Serve, and also Saved to Save”! Actually, we see by the verses of today that Jesus expects every Christian to be so thankful to have His truth, love and Salvation which came from the cross, that he or she is willing to do anything at any time for Him and others. 

We must be willing to take up our cross and follow God, serving others in love. 

 

A leader is one who is serving so well that he or she has experienced blood, sweat, and tears on their own body, as Jesus had, to prove that they love God.

 

7. I will tell you that even amongst ourselves, in all church Corps, there has been these conversations of who is the greatest. It happens everywhere in all circles. It is just the dynamic of fallen creatures and our corrupt human nature. But respect from God, and from a handful of others, will only come with hard work. A title, or a piece of paper means nothing if the people do not see you sacrificing yourself, truly loving them by being concerned for them. 

 

Do you pray for another when you see they need it? Do you pray when you see another being out of place? In the end it is God wo corrects us! Consider this verse, Hebrews 5:8

though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. If Jesus learned like that, we too will need to learn by suffering as well!

 

If you want to know how to make Jesus happy with you, look at the good examples we know. Observe the people who have served in the body of Christ not even wanting a title of leadership. Some people have served hundred hours for years, faithfully being here without pay and you and I know their reward is in heaven. 

Most of you know in your heart if you are serving God as He wants you to or not. 

 

8. Many of you give all of your free time to the Lord and you come very often to help and serve in many ways and this makes you be a leader by merit. Regina and I, and many people are very thankful for you, and you will be the ones who will have rewards in heaven!

 

Matthew 25: 44 “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” 

 

So, with us and with the Lord, anyone who wishes to be a leader and does not serve as Jesus did, will not be considered as one in this life nor the next. The proud will be abased, and the humble will be exalted.

Those that sit and want others to serve them at their table had better realize that Jesus expects them to be serving the table too! Who has authority in the eyes of Jesus? Only the ones who are obedient to submit and obey the rules, to do Jesus’ commands, serving others in love! Good followers make good leaders! 

Are you serving Jesus in love as we must do in The Salvation Army? Do you take up your cross daily and obey Jesus? Lead as Jesus led!

Comfort: Give it...& take it!

Comfort:  Give It & Take It!                                        By Kelly Durant 8-10-14 Re 5-24-26

Romans 1:11-12 For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; 12 That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

2. How many of you have ever heard the story about the person in the mental hospital that bangs their head on the wall and they do it off and on all day? The professionals and doctors decided to go into the padded cell and interview the crazy man, “Why do you bang your head on the wall every day?” The man looks at them dumbfounded and answered, “Don’t you know? Because it feels so good when I stop!”

Believe it or not, this pattern of seeking pain, then relief, is a reality for many people in this life who live without a connection to the Lord! People live on a treadmill of up and down because they have never known real love, healing, and comfort from God! I have known people who seem to thrive in life, not on encouragement and comfort, but thrive on discouragement and preventable pain! They seem to be energized running from one crisis to the next just to get attention!

Real life examples: I have dealt with a dozen or more people in my past who from week to week always have a life and death emergency crisis and they say, “Oh, pastor you must help me right now! I don’t have my rent money this week!” Then next week they’ll tell me someone robbed them, then the next week a car hit them, then after that they have to move and no one is there to help them, so I am expected to answer the call! My stomach use to churn when I would hear these opening words on the phone, “Oh pastor, you don’t know what happened to me now!” That phrase meant I was going to be interrupted and busy doing something unplanned for. I am not complaining about serving others, this is what I am here for, but my concern is how do we fix this situation that certain people have so many problems non-stop and seem energized living in the crisis mode? They need an extra supernatural dosage of comfort!

3. All of us confront problems in life, but it is how one handles them that matters! Crisis situations are not the whole problem, how one reacts and handles them determines if matters will calm down or if they will get worse! The reaction of most Christians is to ask for prayer and help from a brother or sister, and this is the way it is supposed to be.  We are supposed to help one another. Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.  In other words, don’t abuse, but serve, or be served, and with love. Don’t be abusive in your flesh bringing on sin and pain.

The issue is many people without the Lord in their lives are weak and obsess over the things in this world. There are many TV shows on people’s addictions such as drugs or alcohol, or an addiction to hoarding things which is idolatry and materialism, or to eating, or politicians addicted to power and fraud of our tax money, or to Botox, or obsessed with music. Actually anything actually can become an obsession! People become extreme and crazy to lust and want and get, and to get attention, and why? It is because God’s love and Jesus does not fill their empty hearts so they get crazy trying to get satisfied with something, or just anything! They crave one more bite, one more drink, one more relationship, one more person helping them as a victim and yet nothing soothes the soul! They create wrecks and disasters over and over!

It is like that old song by the Rolling Stones (a song deemed #1 of the century?!) ‘I Can’t Get No Satisfaction’. When I was about 10 years old, I played that miserable song over and over non-stop for hours on a 45 record (making my mother crazy!) and I thought to myself, you mean he is a rich and famous rock star and he is not happy? No satisfaction in life?! Well, it is true, people without God, whether rich or poor, are never content, they are always obsessing, stressing, and creating drama if no drama is coming to them! It is a lifestyle! And a stressful one at that! There is no rest for the wicked!

4. So, if we look at the scripture today, Paul in Romans 1 is expressing that no matter how dark this world is, no matter how many horrible sins are taking place around you (see the rest of the chapter!), our comfort is in the encouragement and comfort we can give each other and get from God through the Holy Spirit!  Paul mentions “impart a spiritual gift” and what does that mean? Paul wants to empower every believer against the evil ones, problems, and hardships that attack each one of us as a Christian.  

The gifts of the spirit we have learned are in I Corinthians 12:8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:1 1 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

So basically, the Word of God encourages and comforts us, it tells us to seek the Spirit and no matter the problem we face, God will make a way for us to get by without us worrying, obsessing, or becoming crazy!  If we are ignorant on matters, God increases our knowledge, if we doubt the faith or need faith for our needs, God will supply it. When we are sick, God will often heal us and even do miracles! God’s Spirit can help us to discern between the true and false, and even help us to learn languages, or understand people speaking in the Spirit.  These are all Spirit gifts we share and they are all done within the context of us helping one another by praying and sharing them, practicing them within our community of brothers & sisters.

5. So why do we have such an abundance of craziness, obsessiveness, and drama in the world today? It is in great part because of the lack of (or rejection of) the knowledge of God (which Romans 1 makes clear), but also according to the verses today, we could conclude it is a lack of us comforting one another in hard times as we should be.  Paul says, “that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me”. Let’s look at comfort a bit deeper.

Paul is clearly saying here that it is our faith in Jesus that brings us comfort and we must comfort one another, he wants to give comfort and he wants us to receive it. How do you comfort another person? That depends, right? Comfort is a personal thing, you have to be with the person, you must communicate and share the faith together which implies praying, studying, and listening to what that person’s needs are. You may not have the answers to all their needs, but when you pray for them, God will answer somehow, right? The biggest problem is many people do not know how to express what their needs are because their life is comprised of carnal things, and not spiritual things. The people ask for the carnal things, rent or bill money, but the greater need they have is spiritual. People do not see that it is their way of life and habits that are impoverishing them. The wounded person must first be healed; soup, soap, and then salvation!

6. God comforts us to be encouraged and consoled but not for us to get comfortable! In carnal people’s ways (Romans 1 describes quite a few!) there is the selfishness factor of some people that they start wanting all your time and attention, or too much comfort. To the contrary, I think none of us get tired of serving a Christian brother or sister because if they are true, they will always appreciate it, and they serve you back when you need it! I personally have had to learn a balance to spend the more time with our leaders, planning and doing, instead of too much of my time with people who are always going to keep having one crisis after another!  If I help a person 5 times, then maybe it’s time that I choose a different person to help. But what can we do for the poor, old, single ones with no relatives in this country, and no welfare check?

The frustration is one is always trying to win someone to Christ and you serve them in their crisis, but then they may not even appreciate it! Often people want more and more and are abusive! I have had my kindness interpreted as stupidity a few times! Imagine a person almost homeless, you help them, and then they judge you as a dumb person to invest in them?! As I mentioned before, my commitment is to serve people with love and this implies doing things not very pleasant at times like going to represent them in the courts, helping pay late bills, visiting them in the hospitals, taking them to apply for jobs, and on and on. The factor is, neither you nor I can afford to get discouraged from dealing with the sufferings brought on by someone’s sin! Sin brings pain and when in pain, it’s an emergency! Life is like a battlefield and as Christians we are the only soldiers still well enough to go out and rescue the fallen ones!

Remember the 10 lepers that Jesus healed, and only 1 came back to thank Him! The general mission of all of us in life is to preach the gospel and do good matter what and that includes showing God’s love by comforting, healing and helping! We cannot focus on ourselves and any reward in this life, we just must simply comfort each other however needed whenever needed! 2 Corinthians 1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 

7. All of this to get you to think about the following, do you know what the greatest human need is? It is to be loved! Everyone is hungry for love, each one of us wants comfort, we all want connectedness and a feeling of belonging! As Christians we have a lot of work to do to be able to have confidence amongst ourselves to build up trust and feel free to confess our weaknesses and needs to one another. Can we trust that the other person will listen, care, pray, and comfort us? We all need comfort in our pain and we should be able to get it!

The problem is the following, those immature in the faith are like little children, they are selfish, they have no consciousness of the needs of others, and they are not aware of their own carnality and abusiveness of what they expect from others. They want to get help and comfort, but they do not give any! They obsess only over their own self! With some you may help them 2 dozen times, but that one day you cannot help them then you suddenly become the bad guy! In the end, our help is for the needy, not the greedy! But we focus on the good ones, some people really do change, and this is our comfort to keep on ministering! The thankful make our day!

Love, which entails comfort should work like this: we as Christians are tapped into God’s system, like a water system that never runs dry and the Holy Spirit fills us and refills us again so we just keep pouring out on others. Those that are empty and receive God’s love get filled up, and if they allow God’s healing, then they become whole, and instead of remaining broken and leaking out the love given them, they retain it, appreciate it, and then after getting full, they too start overflowing on others as well. This is also a way of observing how holiness works, God’s Spirit of purity fills us up until there is no more emptiness and then we overflow on everyone!

8. Referring to whom to comfort, as a pastor I always try to focus in on the neediest persons in the group, the weakest and most vulnerable, the ones suffering the most.  A church should be a place where people arrive for love, comfort, and mercy! The mature are here to guide the immature; the strong are here to help the weak without a judgmental attitude. As believers we have all things common and we share with each other so that no one is suffering from a dire need. (Acts 2:44,45) It is the job of all Christians to know how everyone is doing spiritually and materially, and everyone should serve to show love and this brings comfort knowing that all areas are covered in our fellowship! 

Comfort is an expression of love and it is shown in many ways: it is a human need! Without natural affection babies have been known to die, so what about people?  Ask yourself right now, do I have the confidence to seek advice and comfort with a brother or sister near me? When is the last time you comforted another person who had a problem, something secret no one could know about?  Seriously, how do you serve others if you are not alleviating their distresses? It should be with acts of service and that is love in action! We need to establish closer relationships amongst ourselves so we have more love and confidence and God gives us our talents and the Holy Spirit to be used and shared.

All of us should do a better job of listening, understanding, and comforting others!  John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.  This love implies that your whole life is wrapped around others!

9. Do you know of anyone suffering or of anyone who gets into crisis often? Do you know of anyone who obsesses over things because they don’t have the peace of God in their heart and they are trying to fill a void?  Someone with no satisfaction with anything?  There is a cure!

Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” And this next verse is a promise I have claimed often…

Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you”.  Also, with the Holy Spirit anyone can access the gift of having a comforter or obtain the power needed to get through a trial… John 14:16 “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever;”

10. Despite God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit comforting us we still need each other for comfort! We love God but equally as important, we must love our neighbor as ourselves! Comfort may be expressed with encouragement from sharing God’s word, through prayer, through serving or giving or providing in the time of need, through hugging someone who needs it, through loving care and concern, and even just by your presence by being there for them when they need you most! Do you allow yourself to be available? Break down your defensive walls, and connect with people on a human level! 

Jesus warned us how it would be in the last days. Matthew 24:12 “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Ask yourself, am I an indifferent, a self-protecting ‘stagnant water’ type of Christian? Or do I overflow the Spirit on to others? Do I obsess and worry too much and live in the crisis mode? Or am I one that pours out the love and comfort of the Holy Spirit freely onto others? The formula of God has always been that to receive you must give! People are dying for a lack of love and comfort, so do something! 

Do you know of anyone who really does have a need to be comforted? If you do, then just act! Call them, visit them, spend time with them! Don’t worry about how much Bible you know to share; people are comforted just by knowing you care! You are a living Bible representing the Holy Spirit and Jesus to them! Break your old habits, learn to comfort or you will suffer and many others will continue to suffer as well! 

Hypocrisy! The Plague we suffer in our Society

 

Hypocrisy!  The New/Old Plague in Our Society                         by Kelly Durant   

Matthew 15 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,² Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.³ But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?⁴ For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.⁵ But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;⁶ And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.⁷ Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,⁸ This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.⁹ But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.¹⁰ And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand¹¹ Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.¹² Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?¹³ But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.¹⁴ Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

   You have been around little kids when they fight, right? I recall a when my kids were little I don’t’ recall whose kids we were with but a big fight started up with tears and anger and screaming. We were discussing the move to Miami. One of the kids, jealous of the other, said, “No, it’s mine! It is not your “ami”, it is “my” “ami”, you shut up it is not yours, it is mine! LOL! The boy did not even know what they were talking about, he just wanted to be sure no one could have it but him! You can’t say “my” because it is mine!

Human nature is terrible! Everyone lives out the injustices of selfishness and hypocrisy repeated over and over in all societies throughout history. Everyone is so fast to attack and defend their miserable little piece of the world and so ready to fight anyone who threatens to take anything away. We must open our eyes to the fact we have an increased hypocrisy affecting our world. Hypocrisy is calling another person evil, selfish, and abusive when the real evil one is the one accusing!

In society all of us observe the hypocritical politicians, abusive bosses, disobedient children, unloving spouses, and compromised preachers. These are people who will suddenly explode and go on a verbal attack on others when they perceive that someone is discovering their schemes. They use their own convincing words to try to win you and anyone over to their way, (and it is their way or the highway) but once you see through them, you then feel taken advantage of, violated, dirty, defiled, and cheated!

How many of you have ever been used or taken advantage of? 

Let’s get into the scripture in Matt. 15. The Pharisees were a religious sect of the Jews, an authority that had set their selves up as the ones who could determine who had sin and who didn’t according to their interpretation of God’s word. They could with the law of God, justify an guilty person, or condemn an innocent one, like the lawyers of today can.  

In this case, Jesus and the disciples are gaining too much attention and admiration for their comfort. They decided they would attack the disciples in front of everyone and show once and for all that Jesus and his dirty band of followers were sinners and nor worthy of anyone’s respect. They wanted to prove how they were violating tradition; something they exalted was as sacred as the law. Their scheme backfired.

What did Jesus prove with his comments about honoring father and mother? He exposed how not washing your hands is not near as bad as the things they practiced! Let’s travel back to the conditions of his time. Back then there is no such thing as a social security check! There is no welfare from the government, there are no Salvation Army shelters caring for the homeless or elderly, it is a survival of the fittest type society. When you got old, sick, or disabled the only solution for you was starvation since you could not work!

The law of God was originally intended to be a solution to man’s injustice to man and there was a provision to help the elderly, it was that of honoring your father and mother. This law implied you would financially take care of them until they passed on. So what were the Pharisees teaching by tradition? That if you wanted to give a one-time gift you could be absolved from this law and be free. Be free from your responsibility for your parents?! How selfish is that!

 It basically was a provision that totally violated the original intent of the law. The law was strict demanding honor. As a matter of fact, anyone caught cursing his parents were put to the death, a penalty by stoning. So, let’s understand it; their traditions allowed for you to go to them, the Pharisees, and declare your gift and then abandon your parents knowing that they might starve to death?  Do you see how this is a thousand times worse than eating without washed hands?

Jesus then reminds them of the hypocrisy in the time of Isaiah, how the ones who should be loving God and others, defending the poor, and providing justice for the people were instead hypocrites providing for their own selfish ambitions of power and goods.