Mark 1:21-28                                                                                                        Calvary 020109
Title “There is no other”
Last week we heard how Jesus called his first four disciples to follow him. And how immediately, without hesitation, Simon, Andrew, James and John left their families and friends and work – all that was familiar to them – and followed Jesus.
but many have wondered, did the disciples and the people who heard him know fully who was Jesus of Nazareth? And I started to think, even if they didn’t fully realize who he was at first, His message wasn’t a surprise to them or something that they didn’t know of or even expect, after all it had been prophesied about, and looked forward too for hundreds of years.
Moses 1200’s
Isaiah 700’s
Jeremiah 600’s
David 1000 BC
John the Baptist
And so, "Who is Jesus of Nazareth?" He is the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise.
Christ is the face of God among us. Jesus is the incredible Way that God devised to be able to be among humanity while not blinding us with his holiness and awesome wonder and power. Through Jesus, we have communion with God without fear.

The Gospels tell us over and over, how people were astonished and amazed at his teaching. It says, “for He taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”
We see that in Mark 6:2, 7:37, 10:26, 11:18. In Matt 7:28, 13:54 and many other places.
Do you know the difference between power and authority?

    You're sitting at a traffic light, in the middle lane, waiting for the light to change.  On your left is a Dodge Viper, with about a zillion horsepower, just waiting to take off like a bullet.  That is power! 
On your right is the biggest, shiniest eighteen-wheeler you ever saw, with chromium exhaust pipes and a cab that looks two stories tall, and it is rumbling like a thousand lions, waiting for the light to change.  That's power!
    But just before the light begins to change, you see a State Policeman, in shiny boots and spit-and-polish uniform.  His car is parked across the way. He is evidently filling in for the school crossing guard. He walks to the center of the street and holds up his hand. All the traffic comes to a stop.
 You wait. The Viper waits. The eighteen-wheeler waits.  And a tiny little girl with a backpack walks kitty-corner across the busy intersection.
The rumbling engines have power.  He has authority!

I. JESUS SPOKE WITH AUTHORITY

    But what was the difference in the preaching of Jesus and the preaching of the scribes?  I'm sure it was not that the scribes preached untruth. They were versed in the Old Covenant.  That was God's powerful Word. That was the scripture that Jesus came to fulfill. The difference was that the scribes were teaching lessons, and Jesus was teaching LIFE!  They were quoting this or that rabbi and explaining all the meanings of the words. But Jesus was inviting those who heard him to believe that God cared about how they responded to His Word. Jesus spoke and HOPE began to spring up in his hearers' hearts.

    Jesus always spoke with authority. In the storm when the disciples were terrified Jesus said, "Peace! Be still!" and the storm was over!  He said, "Lazarus, come forth!" and the dead man was alive again.  When the authorities sent police to arrest Jesus they came back without him saying, "No one ever spoke like this Man, ever before!".

    Jesus forgave sins. Jesus said the Sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind for the Sabbath. Jesus often said, "You have heard it said, but I say unto you!"  Yes, Jesus spoke with authority!  He still does!

But Jesus Authority is not oppressive,
II. HIS AUTHORITY IS WHOLESOME AND GOOD

    A man with an unclean spirit had come to church that day. The words of Jesus troubled him greatly-- or at least troubled the unclean spirits within him.  They cried out at the pressure of God's AUTHORITY.  A selfish, sinful heart does not like the idea of God telling it what to do. The authority of Jesus sets us free.  God is the author of true freedom.  But true freedom is never finally freedom FROM unless it is also freedom TO!

    Don't get hung up on the unclean spirit part of the story. We are all filled with something or another. There are no true spiritual vacuums. That is why it is so important that we know God, and are being filled with His Presence, His Love, His Spirit.

III. THE AUTHORITY OF JESUS CAN BRING REAL LOVE TO YOUR LIFE

    Jesus could have made us all perfect robots, with no problems, and no doubts and fears. He chose instead to give us freedom to choose which way we shall go: toward the light, or away from it.  Faith tells us that in the end God will sort things out. His Word is powerful. His will is good, and will finally be done on earth as it is in heaven.

    But in the meanwhile, God does not wish to operate without our consent.  We are what theologians call "free moral agents."  God has given us the power to say yes or no to the great choices in life.
    We are heavily weighted on the side of error and sin.  Sin has great power. In fact the Bible says that every one of us has fallen, and not once but many times.  It seems that the power of the Truth escapes us. Still, we are not left without help.

    We are free to choose to call upon the authority of Jesus. We can ask him to meet us where we are and take us to where he wants us to be.

    [The love of Jesus meets us where we are. Billy Graham went to Korea during the conflict there and preached and held services and met with the troops. One thing he did was visit the hospitals, and in one visit he saw a man who was burned badly, and was recovering by being strapped into a bed-frame that was turned periodically. He was lying face down when Billy Graham came through. Billy Graham lay down on the floor and scooted under the bed so he could talk face to face with this wounded soldier. That to me is an image of how God in Christ meets us where we are when we really want to come under his authority.]
When we believe in him and truly desire a relationship with him. Then our faith becomes part of our everyday life. With family, friends and with strangers.

Despite the fact that people heard Jesus message, and were amazed at his authority and teaching yet many still doubted.
Mark 6 says that Jesus was “amazed at their lack of faith.”
A pastor tells a story about going to Washington D.C. and decided to go on a tour of the Library of Congress. He said “up walked a lady shuffling her feet, sloshed over, her hair was messy and she spoke with almost a slur. She said “I’m your tour guide,” Her tour reflected her appearance, as she stumbled through facts and actually quit the tour half way through – telling the group to follow the tour in front of her.
The pastor said, “Here she had a wonderful building to show off - and she gave the worst tour I had ever had - making it boring. That tour guide made him think about how he represented Christ.”

Here we have the most exciting message ever - God becoming human and saving the world! Yet sometimes we give these tours with droopy eyes. We don’t always know our material as well as we could. I wonder what God thinks of our tours of His beautiful message!
What kind of a message do you send to your family? To your friends? About your faith in Christ? Do you come into worship with an eager attitude to listen, or with a look that says, “I hope I can make it through.”

I wonder what God things of us when he looks at us during worship? Here we have the greatest news in the world, Yet we sometimes act like it is boring.
Doesn’t it make you wonder, “why does God put up with us? Why does he allow us to continue on as His tour guides? If it was me I would have said, fine if the message is boring, go listen to someone else.
Thanks be to God that he doesn’t think like we do.
I want to close with this story form the book of acts about a man named Eutychus who fell asleep and fell from a window while Paul was preaching, He plunged to his death.

But God didn’t say, “you deserve it!” But what happened? Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!” 11 Then Paul went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. 12 The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted. (Ac 20:10-12) God raised the young man back to life, and gave him more opportunity to listen to God’s Word.

To me that is a great illustration as to what God does with us every day. We feel guilty about our lack of zeal - lack of attention - we want to pay better attention. But Jesus throws Himself on us and says - “here’s my blood. Here’s my righteousness. Take my forgiveness! Get up - and listen again to my wonderful words of forgiveness and love.” What a gracious God we have! And that is Gods promise for each of us. AMEN.