Matthew 7:29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Oh Friends, Jesus could have been talking about the state of our weather yesterday, the rain and the winds, in His parable on the two foundations for building life, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Why? Because after the long deluge of blessed water, the exceedingly high winds blew for most of the day. In fact they haven’t quite settled down as yet, though they’re not nearly as bad as during the day, when it was a combination of brilliant sunshine with highly mobilized winds. The good news though Friends, is that like Christ’s Church, built on the solid rock, I haven’t heard of any serious misfortune caused by the inclement weather. Everything apparently stood strong and steadfast because they were rooted in sure, solid foundations; just like we Christians are supposed to be solidly rooted in the bedrock foundation of Christ. And I have a quote for us from Marie Sklodowska Curie (1867-1934) the Polish born woman that turned France and the world on its ear with her discovery of radium that led to all the radioactive stuff we have today. She was also the first woman to ever receive a doctorate degree in Science in France. So ladies, don’t believe it when they say that females are not science minded. Marie Curie proved them wrong long ago. Anyway, her quote says: ‘Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.’ Oh Friends, if we follow that sound advice on all matters of life, we will be well served by it at the end, for there’s much truth to it. In many cases we fear things, places and people because we don’t understand them. Likewise, we often find that once we understand those things, places or people, there was really no reason to be afraid of them in the first place. Unfortunately though, it’s a known fact of life that we generally fear what we don’t understand. That’s one of the reasons why Jesus’ message instilled fear into some of His listeners; they simply did not understand what He was talking about. And if you were unschooled, uneducated and steeped in Jewish law and tradition, Jesus’ teaching would have caused you some concern, for it was quite wide ranging and required many people to change their basic way of life. And none of us likes change, especially when it moves us from a comfortable cocoon to an unknown, most likely uncomfortable situation. That’s how it was with Jesus’ listeners, especially the Pharisees and elite Jews. They would have had to give up their exalted social status and hypocritical ways which were very profitable in worldly terms, if they accepted Jesus as the Messiah. It was much easier and more profitable to defame Him and derail His fledgling organization. But Friends, the wonderful thing about our Saviour is that He knew who He was; the living Son of Almighty God, His sinless spiritual Being merely clothed in flesh so He could comfortably interact with His Father’s rebellious and disobedient fleshly creation. He was confident, but not arrogant, self-assured but not proud, with great conviction on what He taught because all His teaching was based on Himself and the church, the kingdom He intended to establish. Here’s an extended quote from the scholars on the topic. ‘The entire Sermon on the Mount is addressed to believers and presupposes faith in Jesus as the Messiah. The works done by the believer are not based on himself but on the ‘rock’, who ultimately is Christ Himself. He is the personal embodiment of all His teachings. Thus, when He finished the discourse, the people were astonished. Amazement engulfed the audience.’ And so it should Friends, if God became man and spoke to us from the depths of His soul like Jesus did! That’s why the Good Book declares: ‘For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.’ Oh mih people, I might as well give us the scholars take on this verbatim too, since they’ve done a fine job of explaining it. ‘The outstanding feature of His teaching was His authority, meaning the divine approval and authoritative constraint with which He delivered His message. Such straightforward preaching, based on the depths of one’s own life, was in direct contrast to that of the scribes, who were the copyists of the Law and the theologians of their day. They had to rely on tradition for their authority, whereas Christ was His own authority.’ Bravo scholars! Yes Friends, when we’re truly doing something that comes from our hearts, that we’re truly confident of and in, we usually come across more authoritatively than if we’re relying on not so sure, second-hand info. Here, Jesus though in the flesh of man, was talking authoritatively like God. And as we showed in a couple instances yesterday, everywhere Jesus spoke, people were astonished by both the high level of His teaching, and also the authoritative way He put it forth. We’ll end today with one more of those instances. This was after he preached in the synagogue on the Sabbath in His hometown of Nazareth. Luke gives a more detailed account of that unfortunate, infamous occasion than Mark. ‘And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?’ (Luke 4:22) Ah my people, we all know that those closest to us are the ones who usually make light of our achievements, but let’s do like Jesus nuh; suffer and swallow the hurt that their rejection must bring, gracefully now, while moving on with what ever tasks the Lord has assigned us. We can’t afford to pay the detractors and doubters too much mind, else they’ll just put more negative strain on our programme. Friends, I know that we can’t be as perfect and authoritative as Jesus, but we certainly can, and should aspire to attain as close a level as possible. So with that in mind, I’m imploring us to plant deep in our hearts, minds and souls, the philosophy of Jesus, the basic ideas outlined in the Sermon on the Mount. Let it, them, take solid root in us, so that it can then generate the confidence and authority we need to go fearlessly into the evil world to spread His Word and further His kingdom. That is our bounden duty. Much LOVE!…our confidence and authoritativeness in sharing God’s Word…is directly proportional…to how deeply rooted it is in our souls…
Oh Friends, Jesus could have been talking about the state of our weather yesterday, the rain and the winds, in His parable on the two foundations for building life, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Why? Because after the long deluge of blessed water, the exceedingly high winds blew for most of the day. In fact they haven’t quite settled down as yet, though they’re not nearly as bad as during the day, when it was a combination of brilliant sunshine with highly mobilized winds. The good news though Friends, is that like Christ’s Church, built on the solid rock, I haven’t heard of any serious misfortune caused by the inclement weather. Everything apparently stood strong and steadfast because they were rooted in sure, solid foundations; just like we Christians are supposed to be solidly rooted in the bedrock foundation of Christ. And I have a quote for us from Marie Sklodowska Curie (1867-1934) the Polish born woman that turned France and the world on its ear with her discovery of radium that led to all the radioactive stuff we have today. She was also the first woman to ever receive a doctorate degree in Science in France. So ladies, don’t believe it when they say that females are not science minded. Marie Curie proved them wrong long ago. Anyway, her quote says: ‘Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.’ Oh Friends, if we follow that sound advice on all matters of life, we will be well served by it at the end, for there’s much truth to it. In many cases we fear things, places and people because we don’t understand them. Likewise, we often find that once we understand those things, places or people, there was really no reason to be afraid of them in the first place. Unfortunately though, it’s a known fact of life that we generally fear what we don’t understand. That’s one of the reasons why Jesus’ message instilled fear into some of His listeners; they simply did not understand what He was talking about. And if you were unschooled, uneducated and steeped in Jewish law and tradition, Jesus’ teaching would have caused you some concern, for it was quite wide ranging and required many people to change their basic way of life. And none of us likes change, especially when it moves us from a comfortable cocoon to an unknown, most likely uncomfortable situation. That’s how it was with Jesus’ listeners, especially the Pharisees and elite Jews. They would have had to give up their exalted social status and hypocritical ways which were very profitable in worldly terms, if they accepted Jesus as the Messiah. It was much easier and more profitable to defame Him and derail His fledgling organization. But Friends, the wonderful thing about our Saviour is that He knew who He was; the living Son of Almighty God, His sinless spiritual Being merely clothed in flesh so He could comfortably interact with His Father’s rebellious and disobedient fleshly creation. He was confident, but not arrogant, self-assured but not proud, with great conviction on what He taught because all His teaching was based on Himself and the church, the kingdom He intended to establish. Here’s an extended quote from the scholars on the topic. ‘The entire Sermon on the Mount is addressed to believers and presupposes faith in Jesus as the Messiah. The works done by the believer are not based on himself but on the ‘rock’, who ultimately is Christ Himself. He is the personal embodiment of all His teachings. Thus, when He finished the discourse, the people were astonished. Amazement engulfed the audience.’ And so it should Friends, if God became man and spoke to us from the depths of His soul like Jesus did! That’s why the Good Book declares: ‘For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.’ Oh mih people, I might as well give us the scholars take on this verbatim too, since they’ve done a fine job of explaining it. ‘The outstanding feature of His teaching was His authority, meaning the divine approval and authoritative constraint with which He delivered His message. Such straightforward preaching, based on the depths of one’s own life, was in direct contrast to that of the scribes, who were the copyists of the Law and the theologians of their day. They had to rely on tradition for their authority, whereas Christ was His own authority.’ Bravo scholars! Yes Friends, when we’re truly doing something that comes from our hearts, that we’re truly confident of and in, we usually come across more authoritatively than if we’re relying on not so sure, second-hand info. Here, Jesus though in the flesh of man, was talking authoritatively like God. And as we showed in a couple instances yesterday, everywhere Jesus spoke, people were astonished by both the high level of His teaching, and also the authoritative way He put it forth. We’ll end today with one more of those instances. This was after he preached in the synagogue on the Sabbath in His hometown of Nazareth. Luke gives a more detailed account of that unfortunate, infamous occasion than Mark. ‘And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?’ (Luke 4:22) Ah my people, we all know that those closest to us are the ones who usually make light of our achievements, but let’s do like Jesus nuh; suffer and swallow the hurt that their rejection must bring, gracefully now, while moving on with what ever tasks the Lord has assigned us. We can’t afford to pay the detractors and doubters too much mind, else they’ll just put more negative strain on our programme. Friends, I know that we can’t be as perfect and authoritative as Jesus, but we certainly can, and should aspire to attain as close a level as possible. So with that in mind, I’m imploring us to plant deep in our hearts, minds and souls, the philosophy of Jesus, the basic ideas outlined in the Sermon on the Mount. Let it, them, take solid root in us, so that it can then generate the confidence and authority we need to go fearlessly into the evil world to spread His Word and further His kingdom. That is our bounden duty. Much LOVE!…our confidence and authoritativeness in sharing God’s Word…is directly proportional…to how deeply rooted it is in our souls…
SCRIP-BITS 