Sermon Series:  Come, Meet the Lord of Life
Sermon Date:  April 9, 2000
Title: "The Lord of All"
Text: Mark 1: 21-28
Introduction: Illus.: Authority without Relationship
Author:  Pastor Tim Krupski

Theme: Although lords and masters are foreign concepts to our vocabulary and thinking--for us to have a life which is under control we need to turn to the One who has everything at his command and everything under his control.

Who is this Lord of Life?

• Jesus' WORD carries weight and authority
  • ILLUS.: THE SUPREME COURT'S FINAL WORD
  • Our world gives no credibility to any "truth"--all truth stands/falls on whether it has meaning for me­right now
  • The people where astounded at the conviction and convincing of Jesus' word (new teaching­27)
  • Jesus said, "Even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father." Jn 10:38--THAT IS WHAT HE DID IN LESSON (25-26)
• Jesus' ACTIONS back up his claims
• Authority to command any power in the universe--seen and unseen--they must respond to his command(25-26)
• The casting out of the demon from the man--Satan and his evil spirits cannot act outside his will
• When under direct attack/temptation by Satan--through Jesus' power I can say "no" to sin
  • "Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. . .Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus." Romans 6: 8,10
• When oppressed by government, authority, corporate identity as a child of God, know he has the bigger stick

• Authority to heal any disease--physical or spiritual
  • The healing of the paralyzed man in Matthew 9 shows his authority to forgive and remove sin
  • "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; who pardons all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases." Ps 103: 2-3
  • Many of our illness have at their root cause--sin--Jesus is able to come and take the curse out of sin
• Authority to undo any consequence--in life or death
• "The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life--only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father." John 10: 17-18
• If Jesus has the last word with death, he is able to undue any tragedy­up to and including death
• "Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" John 11: 25-26
• ILLUS.: THE PATH OUT

• Jesus' FREEDOM to act certifies his ability to act on our behalf
  1. Since "all authority in heaven and on earth" belongs to Jesus, he is limited by no one and all respond to Him
  2. Consider the man healed of the evil spirit--beyond the ability of everyone there but Jesus not hindered
  3. "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8: 38-39

Who is the Lord of your life?

• If Jesus is the Lord of your life. . .you will respond to his invitation
  • ILLUS.: Emily Post response: An invitation which automatically cancels other engagements
  • But Jesus is not interested in a hostile take over, but to give you an option for life you previously did not have
    • The demon possessed man could not free himself to a better life, he needed Jesus to do it
    • What are you struggling with right now to be freed from--let Jesus give you the deliverance only he can

• If Jesus is the Lord of your life. . .you will listen to and internalize his word
  • The problem with most of the people of Jesus day was that they were enthralled and amazed and entertained by Jesus' word but were never transformed by it
  • "But prove yourself doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves." James 1: 22

• If Jesus is the Lord of your life. . .you will direct your life to be available to Him and His leading.
• ILLUS.: LORDSHIP OVER ME

Mark 1: 21-28

21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.

22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.

23 Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out,

24 "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!"

25 "Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!"

26 The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.

27 The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching--and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him."

28 News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

AUTHORITY WITHOUT RELATIONSHIP

A young second lieutenant at Fort Bragg discovered that he had no change when he was about to buy a soft drink from a vending machine. He flagged down a passing private and asked him, "Do you have change for a dollar?" The private said cheerfully, "I think so, let me take a look." The lieutenant drew himself up stiffly and said, "Soldier, that is no way to address an officer. We'll start all over again. Do you have change for a dollar?" The private came to attention, saluted smartly, and said, "No, sir!"

James W. Hewitt, Illustrations Unlimited, Wheaton: Tyndale, 1988, p. 42.

THE PATH OUT

The Authority of Jesus

The church in the world is a lot like the story that E. Stanely Jones tells of the missionary in the jungle. He got lost with nothing around him but bush and a few cleared places. He finally found a small village and asked one of the natives if he could lead him out of the jungle. The native said he could. "All right," the missionary said, "Show me the way." They walked for hours through dense brush hacking their way through unmarked jungle. The missionary began to worry and said, "Are you quite sure this is the way? Where is the path?" The native said. "Bwana, in this place there is no path. I am the path.

Our path out of the jungle of this world is God in Christ. We may have some Rabbis, Masters, Father's, Teachers, and Reverends but we are all like the missionary. We rely not upon men but Christ who is our path.

LORDSHIP RESPONSE

Someone once wrote and asked Emily Post, the etiquette expert of another generation, "What is the correct procedure when one is invited to the White House but has a previous engagement?" Replied Post, "An invitation to dine at the White House is a command, and it automatically cancels any other engagement." MBI's Today In The Word, November, 1989, p.7

LORDSHIP OVER ME

One afternoon author Patsy Clairmont found herself on an airplane, sitting next to a young man. She writes, "I had already observed something about this young man when I was being seated. He called me "Ma'am." At the time I thought, 'Either he thinks I'm ancient, or he's from the South where they still teach manners, or he's in the service.' I decided the latter was the most likely, so I asked, "You in the service?" "Yes, Ma'am, I am." "What branchk?" "Marines." "Hey, Marine, where are you coming from?" "Operation desert Storm, Ma'am." "No kidding? Desert Storm! How long were you there?" I asked. "A year and a half. I'm on my way home. My family will be at the airport." I then commented that he must have thought about returning to his family and home many times while he was in the Middle East. "Oh, no, Ma'am," he replied. "We were taught never to think of what might never be, but to be fully available right where we were."