Love builds up

Sermon planned for Sunday, January 29th, 2012

Texts: Mark 1:21-28; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

A few months ago, at the end of September, we looked at scripture passages that focused on the authority and the identity of Jesus. The scribes and teachers wanted to know who gave Jesus the right to do his ministry; they failed to recognize his authority. In our passage this morning, it is the unclean spirit that recognizes the source of Jesus’ authority. The question we’re facing this morning is: what does it look like to submit to Christ’s authority? What are the dynamics of Jesus authority? And finally, what does it mean for us to claim the authority Jesus gives to us: the authority?

In the gospels we read that Jesus gave his disciples the authority to bless, heal, forgive, liberate, to cast out darkness, and to build one another up in love. Today we’re going to look at two passages that connect at this specific point: what does it mean to have authority? This morning we’re moved to celebrate that Jesus has given us authority – the authority to bless others, to forgive others, to heal them, to liberate them and cast out the darkness, the authority to build each other up in love.

Let’s begin by taking a closer look at our passage from Mark (and I invite you to follow along in your bibles) – we’ll get to the passage from Corinthians later. The passage from Mark includes four main parts: First of all, verse twenty-one describes the context of the story. Secondly, in verse twenty-two, we read about the people’s amazement at Jesus’ “teachings with authority”. Thirdly, in verses 23-26, Jesus deals with a man who has an unclean spirit. And, finally, in verses 27-28, the people are amazed, once again, at Jesus’ authority and power; and we read that his popularity spread quickly all over Galilee.

Just a bit of background on the city of Capernaum. It was a wealthy city in Galilee, and is frequently mentioned in the gospels, but not at all in the Old Testament. After Jesus was kicked-out of Nazareth, Capernaum became Jesus’ "home city." The city stood on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. The area surrounding Capernaum was one of the most prosperous and crowded districts of Palestine. This was most likely because the city lay on the great highway from Damascus to Tyre. The people here were well off. They had power. They had influence. They had authority! They must have had numerous traveling preachers and prophets come through, along that road from Damascus. Yet there was something different about Jesus. Unlike the other teachers of the law, Jesus taught the people with authority. Jesus taught them – and the authority of his teachings confronted their own power and authority – their self-sufficiency. Where did Jesus get this authority?

In September we learned that Jesus’ teaching authority stemmed from his identity. Jesus taught with authority because he was who he said he was – he was from the Father. In Philippians 2:5 we read,
“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness...”

Jesus is God incarnate – the Word made Flesh. His teaching had authority because he is the Author. His teachings had power over the unclean spirits because He is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega – all things have their being from him and through him.

There’s this story about Henry Ford and his friend being on a fishing trip. These two encountered a man whose car was Found On the Road Dead, it was an early Ford. Mr. Ford told the man he thought he might be able to help fix the car. But the man with the car didn’t recognize Henry Ford, and didn’t believe he’d be of any help. In just a few minutes, Mr. Ford and his friend had the car running better than it had been before; this was because he knew the car inside and out. After all, he designed it. He was the Authority of all Ford automobiles. Jesus is the authority because, as we read in John, the Word was God and the Word was with God. The authority was a committee of one: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Again, John puts it this way, “all things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”

But that was precisely the problem, it seemed like darkness was winning the day in the city of Capernaum. Even in a place as enlightened as the Jewish synagogue, the darkness was growing. It had infected a man in the synagogue – an unclean spirit tormented him and held him captive. For those of you familiar with the gospels, the outcome of this story is a no-brainer… but for the folks in Capernaum things were up in the air. With all the power and wealth that these people had – they didn’t have the right kind of power, the right kind of authority – a man in their community was completely enslaved and there was nothing that these rich Jewish folks could do about it. But the spirit knew that, with Jesus in the room, something was very different. It cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

Why this question? Why did the spirit think Jesus would destroy it? I’m guessing that it had everything to do with the fact of who Jesus was. Jesus was the light. And Jesus was on a very clear and specific mission – and the oppressive spirit was right in the middle of Jesus’ path. What was Jesus’ mission? He identified it in a synagogue, when Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah, “(Luk 4:18-19 NRS) "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free..." Jesus’ mission was to let this demon possessed man go free. This is God’s nature, revealed to us in Jesus Christ. This is who Jesus is. This is what his authority looks like. Jesus doesn’t receive his authority because he does these things – because he sets the possessed free. Rather, Jesus has authority, because he is the Author; the result of his life among us is that people are freed, the blind receive sight, God’s economy becomes a reality among us – debts are forgiven, because God forgives us our debts!

And, of course, the people of Capernaum were amazed when this man was set free from his oppressive spirit. Jesus brought healing and wholeness to this man and his community. It seems that wherever Jesus exercised his authority, people were being blessed, people were being healed, set free from oppression, and they were given a second chance. It seems that Jesus’ use of authority looked a lot different from what we might think of as authority.

What comes to mind when you think of the word “authority”? Is it protests and the 99%? Perhaps you have some suspicion of authority and its claims. Maybe you think that our culture suffers from a lack of respect for authority. For many of you, “authority” is a positive concept – unless they’re charging you too many taxes. For others, you’re concerned with the power that gets to their heads – the abuse of authority.

Jesus knew about these kinds of abuses. He knew of the Herods of his day. And he called his followers to exercise power in a different way. In Matthew 20:`25-28 we read:
But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 26 It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."
Disciples of Jesus are involved in a different kind of authority and power than what we see exercised in the world.

What do I mean when I say that we’re involved in authority? Well, Jesus gave authority to his disciples. In Matthew 10:1, Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. In Mark 6:7, Jesus gives his disciples authority over unclean spirits. We read the same thing again in Luke 9:1. A chapter later, Jesus gave his disciples authority to ‘tread on snakes and scorpions’ – not sure how useful that one is in Canada, but cool nonetheless. He gave his disciples authority over all the power of the enemy – that nothing would hurt the disciples. In two separate places, in Matthew, we read that Jesus gave his disciples the authority to ‘bind and loose’ – to make decisions in His name, to set people free from burdens, but also to restrict certain behavior.

The disciples were given authority for these kinds of tasks: to set the oppressed free, to cure and heal, to forgive, and to hold each other accountable to their discipleship calling. I’m going to put these things under the heading: building up the body of Christ. Jesus gave his disciples the authority, and the power, to build up the body of Christ; to set people free from the oppressive spirits that tear the body apart; to forgive one another when the body wounds itself, or when it falls into sin. Jesus gave his disciples the authority, and the Spirit’s guidance, to discern what faithful discipleship looks like in every age – to ‘bind and to loose’.

How have we, in our time, taken up this calling? How have we exercised this authority? To heal? Some of you work in the healing profession, or you know people who do – people who spend their entire day healing the sick. We’ve been given the authority to set the captives free? What are the prisons of our time? The addictions? The spiritual and mental illnesses that trap our hearts and minds? Some of you have counseled people and partnered with God in setting them free. Some of you have received freedom through the help of physicians, or counselors, mentors or just good Christian friends. How are u exercising the authority Jesus has given you to be an agent of healing?

I invite you to join me in turning to 1 Corinthians 8:1-13. In this passage, Paul is talking about food that’s sacrificed to idols, and how the believers in Corinth should relate to each other on this issue – they are practicing the authority to bind and loose. But the ‘food issue’ is really just the surface issue, what’s really at stake here is how the people in that church were relating to each other in love. It seems like they were using their authority and their knowledge to abuse each other and to trip each other up. Instead of being sensitive to their fellow brothers and sisters, some were exercising their authority – their freedom from superstitious belief – but they were using their authority in a way that completely contradicted Christ. They weren’t building each other up. They were tearing each other apart.

Paul writes that “all of us possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” Here we can interchange knowledge with authority. Those who are ‘in the know’ are the ones with authority. But what Paul says is that having knowledge is not enough! Having just any kind of authority is not enough! Without love, it’s like a bloated corpse – all puffed up. What’s needed is “love”. That’s the difference between knowledge and wisdom. That’s the difference between the authority of the nations, and the authority given to us in Jesus Christ. It’s love. It is the authority to build one another up in love – that’s the authority that we’ve been given.

When Henry Ford built his automobiles, he trained a team of technicians. They became experts in repairing these cars, over and over and over and over again. In a sense, he had given them authority to do his work. Jesus taught others about God’s in-breaking Kingdom. He healed people, set them free from oppressive spirits, he gave sight to the blind – and then he gave his disciples the authority to do the same; to build one another up in love. Question is, what part of the assembly line are you? What piece of the body of Christ has Jesus given you to take care of? In what area of ‘building each other up’ are you the authority?

I know some of you are great encouragers. On a bad day, I’ll hunt you down and talk with you, because you have a way of making everything seem brighter. You help me realize the ways in which God is using me to do His work. Some of you are unbelievably generous. I’ll know of a need in the community, make one phone call… and done! The money shows up. The person has what they need. (If there’s more of you out there… don’t hesitate to let me know) Some of you pray without ceasing; you’re constantly holding the concerns of the Kingdom in your prayers – what would we do without you? Some of you are so forgiving – and so quick to forgive – that I’m reminded of the response to the Amish school shooting a few years back; as though, somehow, the grace of God has wiggled its way into every corner of your being. What a testimony to the rest of Christ’s body!

You all have received authority, from Jesus, to heal, to forgive, to set people free from oppression, to build one another up in love. Receive this authority! Practice it! Celebrate it! Like the Ford automobile, we may not be a perfect people… but let’s be diligent mechanics, building each other up in love, knowing that Jesus has made us members of His body – a witness to God’s Kingdom before the watching world. Amen.