Lindsey Gardner
Grace SensingTHE TEXT:
Matthew 27:52-28:15 KJV
True Authority (King’s Cross)
INTRODUCTION
Our modern world pits authority against friendship, falsely insisting that friendship can only exist be- tween complete equals. But in that case, a complete equal has nothing to offer, nothing to contribute. True friendship exists in relations of inequality and hierarchy, where different parties have different skills and responsibilities.
Ultimately, this heresy of egalitarianism seethes with pride that hates the authority and friendship of God over sinful creatures – that we are completely dependent on Him, that He has made us and not we ourselves, and that true blessing only exists in bowing before Him. But that is what we celebrate on Palm Sunday and every Sunday. God made us, and God saves sinners. He has true authority, and He is good and therefore He defines what is good.
The Text: “And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you…” (Mt. 21:1-16)
SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
Jesus exercises His lordship by directing two disciples to a donkey in a village (Mt. 21:1-3). This was a fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah that Israel’s Messiah-King would come riding on a donkey with its foal (Mt. 21:4-6, cf. Zech. 9:9). The disciples laid their clothes on the beasts, and Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem while crowds spread their garments on the path, along with branches from the trees, shouting “Hosanna [“Save please!’] to the Son of David!” and blessing Him as the King of Israel (Mt. 21:7-9, cf. Psalm 118:25-26).
Most of the city noticed the procession and learned the name Jesus of Nazareth (Mt. 21:10-11). In- stead of going to some political building or royal palace, Jesus went into the temple, and drove out the money changers who had filled the court where the gentiles could pray (Mt. 21:12-13). While the chief priests and scribes were no doubt displeased with the whole event, they were particularly upset with the kids shouting his praises, as He healed the blind and the lame in the temple, but Jesus de- fended them (Mt. 21:14-16).
TRUE LORDSHIP
Clearly Jesus acts the part of a true Jewish King as He comes into Jerusalem. He commandeered the donkey and foal, and openly embraced the prophecy of Zechariah. But unlike many with this kind of authority, He immediately used it to disrupt a particular kind of corruption and reestablish prayer. Hisfirst act as King is to restore worship.This is how true lordship serves – not as the Gentiles who merely sit on their lofty thrones and issue political decrees (Mk. 10:42). Jesus of Nazareth claims His rightful authority and walks into “His” house and clears out the bandits and robbers. This is clearly a claim to deity, and the thing He is most concerned to use His power for is making room for the pagan nations to pray to the true God. And then He heals the sick and defends the children shouting His praises. The restoration of true worship is the center of true Reformation.
BLOOD OF THE COVENANT
But true worship drives true Reformation into every sphere. In Zechariah, the prophecy says that when the King comes riding in on a donkey, He will come to bring peace to Israel, and His dominion will include all the nations: from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth (Zech. 9:10). And then it says, “As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water” (Zech. 9:11) – these are likely the prisoners from the Jewish exile, scattered among the nations, but it indicates how all sinners may be set free from God’s judgment.
It says God will free the prisoners “by the blood of thy covenant.”The phrase “blood of thy covenant” echoes the covenant God made at Sinai (cf. Ex. 24:8). When God made that covenant, He had given Israel the Passover Feast and delivered His people out of Egypt through the blood of a lamb and through the Red Sea. By fulfilling this prophecy, Jesus is in effect saying that He is coming to perform a new Exodus and establish a new covenant. He is coming to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, but this time, He will designate His own blood as the “new covenant in His blood” (Mt. 26:28). This time He will be the Passover lamb, to bring peace to the world and set free all the prisoners. The center of this peace is personal salvation, but this is a peace for all the nations.
APPLICATIONS
True authority serves others by rightly ordering priorities so others flourish, first before God and second in all of life. Jesus’ first act as king is making room for pagans to pray, healing the sick, and defending the kids shouting praises. Jesus restores good order for the healing and joy of the world. When Jesus restores men, they serve their families by dealing with sin quickly, restoring fellowship and providing for the health and education of their people. When Jesus restores parents, they serve their children by dealing with sin quickly and restoring fellowship. Companies provide honest goods and services, and employers provide work. Civil servants protect life and property without partiality. And all Christians are called by God to make room for the pagans to come in and pray with us. They are all invited. Until worship is restored, there will continue to be fighting in our lands.
True authority is true friendship. Our sins are the weapons we use to try to fight God and one another. Our sins are our personal prisons. Often the sins of religious types are like the tables and seats of the moneychangers in the temple. We call our harshness being strict. We call our laziness being laidback. We call our critical spirit being discerning, and we call our cowardice being kind. We call our idols necessary for living in our world. We ask God to save us and we’re often only thinking about one kind of enemy (e.g. political, familial, etc.), but Jesus is the true friend of sinners who comes into our pomp- ous habits and knocks over the tables in our temples. Remember, they had verses for selling doves and changing money (Dt. 14:24-26). But sometimes our sins are misplaced/disordered virtues. He came to truly save us, and only He really knows what we need. But He is our true Lord and friend.
Reformed Politics (What is Reformed Anyway #6) (King’s Cross)
INTRODUCTION
One of the marks of the Reformed faith was a great political reformation. This is why it is sometimes called the “Magisterial Reformation.” The Pope and Roman church had slowly claimed political power, but the Reformers insisted that Scripture clearly taught that all power was given to Jesus Christ and therefore, directly and delegated to magistrates, pastors, and parents for particular tasks by Him.
The Text: “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world’” (Mt. 28:18-20).
SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
This text at the end of Matthew’s gospel is called the Great Commission because it was the final charge that Jesus gave the disciples before ascending into heaven. There is an indicative statement of fact which drives the command, followed by a final promise. The indicative statement is “all authority/power is given” to Jesus in heaven and on earth (Mt. 28:18). The same word for “power/authority” is used in Romans 13:1-2 to refer to political rulers and magistrates and again in Titus 3:1. His disciples are to “therefore” go (Mt. 28:19). The disciples of Christ are to go and disciple the “nations” because Christ has been given all authority in heaven and earth. Some point out that “nations” (ethne) can simply refer to Gentiles/non-Jews and therefore dispute the political ramifications of this Great Commission, but it certainly also refers to specific nations (e.g. Acts 2:5, 10:35, 13:19, 17:26). When the apostles were persecuted by the Jewish authorities, they quoted Psalm 2 which describes the nations and their kings gathered against the Lord and His Christ, and they refer to Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel (Acts 4:25-27). The disciples were commanded to go and disciple those nations by two means: baptizing in the triune name and teaching everything Jesus has commanded (Mt. 28:20).
THE REGULATIVE PRINCIPLE OF POWER & LIMITED GOVERNMENT
Since all authority has been given to Jesus Christ, all earthly authority is delegated authority from Jesus Christ. This is why wherever Christians are urged to submit to and obey earthly authorities, it is always “in the Lord” or “as to Christ” (Eph. 5:22, 6:1, 6:6-9, 1 Pet. 2:13, Heb. 13:17). No earthly authority is absolute (e.g. Acts 5:29, Dan. 3, 6). This means that all righteous government is limited by God’s Word, which is the foundational argument for Lex Rex. Since the primary task God has given to the civil magistrate is a ministry of violence: the sword of justice to punish evildoers (Rom. 13:4), it is especially important that civil government be limited. Political rulers who reject the limits of God’s Word are arrogant and act like beasts and monsters (Dan. 4, 7). This is what happens when civil governments begin meddling for example in markets, healthcare, and education. A righteous ruler really is like rain coming down upon mown grass and delivers the poor and needy, but he does this by establishing equal weights and measures and punishing true criminals (Ps. 72).
COVENANT THEOLOGY & CIVIL GOVERNMENT
The Reformers noticed that in addition to the great Covenants of Grace, there were also political covenants in Scripture: Abraham made a “covenant” with Abimelech (Gen. 21:27), Isaac did the same (Gen. 26:28), and Jacob made a covenant with Laban (Gen. 31:44). Later, Jonathan and David made a covenant (1 Sam. 20:16, 23:18), as did Ben-Hadad and King Ahab (1 Kgs. 20:34). Therefore, the Reformers reasoned that nations exist as covenant entities before God, established on particular constitutions or customs between rulers and people. It was on this basis that Christians generally teach submission and honor to civil authorities, and at the same time, as may occasionally happen in a marriage covenant, certain high-handed abuses may warrant the people dissolving the covenant and forming a new one. The rudimentary elements of this system of government were worked out in the feudal arrangements of the Middle Ages, with increasing formality, as seen in the signing of the Magna Charta in 1215 and the Scottish Declaration of Arbroath in 1320, claiming independence from England. The Scottish Presbyterians under John Knox worked this covenant theology out in the 16th ad 17th centuries to the point of being called “covenanters.” It was many of these Scots-Irish who colonized America, and took issue with King George breaking his covenant-charters with the colonies, resulting in the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the Constitution of 1789.
CONCLUSIONS
America was founded as a distinctly Protestant Christian Republic. When the War for Independence broke out, King George referred to it as the “presbyterian revolt.” A republic is a representative form of government with constitutional checks and balances. This goes back to the nation of Israel which chose rulers over 1000s, 100s, 50s, and 10s (Ex. 18:21), as well as Greece and Rome which attempted various forms of “mixed government,” seeking to balance the tendency to veer between anarchy and tyranny.
Our mission remains the same as when Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven: disciple all of the nations, teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded. While we have fallen a long way from the broad Protestant consensus of early America, and we might wish for a more explicit acknowledgment of the Lordship of Jesus in our land, our Constitution is not “godless” as many claim, since it does acknowledge Sunday as the Christian Sabbath and the birth of Jesus Christ, the “Lord” of these United States and all nations.
State of the Church 2024 – On Hard Work & Holy Ambition (King’s Cross)
INTRODUCTION
In our day, it is commonplace to hear messages on the need for work/life balance, the need for “me time,” and the dangers of workaholics, ambition, and stress. And I am convinced that 99% of it is a siren song for laziness, apathy, selfishness, and cowardice.
The Lord created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day, and our Lord Jesus remade the world in three days and rested on the first day, re-affirming the Sabbath principle and transforming the first day into the Christian Sabbath (cf. Heb. 4:9-10). But the Kingdom of God is taken by a kind of holy violence, that is, great struggle and ambition (Mt. 11:12).
The Text: “Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom…” (Mt. 20:20-28).
SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
One time Mrs. Zebedee and her two sons came to worship Christ, and she asked for her sons to be given places of honor at His right and left hand (Mt. 20:20-21). Jesus gently corrected her, insisting that she didn’t quite know what she was asking for (Mt. 20:22), but His question in return did not utterly reject the request. He asked whether James and John would be able to endure the suffering that would be required for that kind of glory and authority (Mt. 20:22). When they replied in the affirmative, Jesus granted at least that – they would drink His cup and endure His baptism, but those places of authority were prepared by His Father (Mt. 20:22-23).
While the other ten were upset with James and John for even making the request (probably envious that they had not asked first), Jesus did not rebuke the brothers but exhorted them all to give up every semblance of Gentile power-grabbing (Mt. 20:24-25). Instead, His disciples must be committed to the greatness that comes through long service and suffering (Mt. 20:26-27). This greatness is principally illustrated and accomplished by the suffering service of Christ Himself, who gave His life as a ransom for many (Mt. 20:28).
HOLY AMBITION
Jesus does not say that desiring greatness and authority is wrong or foolish. Instead, He simply insists on two things: first, the only path to greatness is faithful suffering, and second, the results are in God’s hands. But if Jesus is the prime example, this does not mean that Christians should hope for minimal earthly impact or influence. Rather, if Jesus has been given the name that is above all other names through His obedient suffering, all Christians should seek to emulate that obedience to gain greatness under His name. For example, Paul says that he outpaced all the other apostles in his zeal for the kingdom, but it was God’s grace that enabled him (1 Cor. 15:10). It’s true that we ought rather be janitors in the Kingdom of God than dwell in tents of wickedness (Ps. 84:10), but that doesn’t mean our goal should be mediocre. Our goal should be to work hard for the King, enduring all trouble and difficulty gladly for His sake, and let Him use us where He will.
FAITHFUL WITH LITTLE
In Matthew 25, Jesus tells the parable of the talents, praising the servants who invested what was given to them and doubled the master’s money: “well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Mt. 25:21, 23). But the servant who buried his talent in the ground and merely returned what was given is called wicked and slothful, his one talent is stripped from him, and he is cast into outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt. 25:26-30). And his most heinous sin is his view of the master as a hard and greedy man, which is why he is cast into Hell. But God is not hard and greedy; He is generous and bountiful.
APPLICATIONS
We need Christians who know that their Father is a generous God who will give abundantly more than we ask or think – because He has already given us His son – and therefore, they study, work, and build with a holy ambition and deep, joyful expectation.
The way God made the world requires the necessity of study and service first. There is a caricature of some of the younger generations (e.g. “Gen Z”) of a sort of entitlement mentality, insisting on easy, high paying jobs without proving your wisdom or worth. These are people who quit jobs after a few days or weeks because they are “hard” and they don’t feel very “appreciated.” This should be a completely foreign notion for Christians. We need young men hungry for vocations of leadership in politics and the corporate world. This is call for Daniels and Josephs, which is to say, these are paths of suffering, persecution, hardship, often with real leadership and authority, though only rarely with much temporal glory.
This is why we have put such a premium on Christian education. But it is not enough to merely remove our kids from the public schools. We really do want our sons and daughters to be full of knowledge and wisdom, and this requires wisdom to know how to raise the bar while remember their frame. Related, while our sons and daughters are called to different vocations, this does not mean that our daughters need be less educated. Let us have wives and daughters as ambitious as Mrs. Zebedee and sons like her sons.
We need young men hungry for pastoral ministry and missionary work. Jesus said that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few (Mt. 9:37-38). It has always been the case, since at least the time of Jesus, that unbelievers are more eager to come into the kingdom than believers are to welcome them in. But there is a particular glory in the sacrifices of those who give their lives to proclaim the gospel because it imitates the life of the One who has received all glory and honor.
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