Sharon Reformed Presbyterian Church · Sermon study sheet

The Authority of Jesus

Bryan Schneider · September 2, 2023

Mark 11:27-33

sharonrpc.org/sermons/the-authority-of-jesus

Summary

Jesus returns to the Jerusalem temple after cleansing it and is confronted by the chief priests, scribes, and elders, who demand to know the source of his authority.
The leaders possess legitimate offices but have turned service to God and his people into a struggle to preserve their own influence and control.
Jesus answers with a question about John's baptism, exposing that the leaders are calculating which answer is safest rather than seeking what is true.
John's ministry prepared the way for Jesus, while the Father's testimony at Jesus' baptism and transfiguration identifies Jesus as the beloved Son who speaks with heaven's authority.
The leaders' refusal to answer is not honest uncertainty but cowardly evasion: they fear both admitting their unbelief and provoking the crowd.
Mark's account presses every hearer to decide whether Jesus is merely of human origin or truly the Son sent by God.
Faith cannot be manufactured by human effort; the Holy Spirit grants faith and unites believers to Christ, the King who has authority to forgive sins and give everlasting life.

Why do the chief priests, scribes, and elders challenge Jesus in the temple?
How had legitimate religious offices become instruments of pride and self-preservation?
Why does Jesus ask whether John's baptism was from heaven or from men?
What does the leaders' private deliberation reveal about their motives?
How do Jesus' baptism and transfiguration establish the source of his authority?
What would an honest response to Jesus require from the leaders?
Why does Mark's account leave every hearer with a decision about Jesus' identity?
How does the Holy Spirit enable a sinner to receive and rest upon Christ?

Authority: The rightful power to command, judge, teach, and act; Jesus' authority comes from heaven because he is God's beloved Son.
Sanhedrin: The Jerusalem council represented in the passage by chief priests, scribes, and elders who exercised religious and judicial leadership.
John's baptism: John the Baptist's heaven-sent ministry calling Israel to repentance and preparing the way for Jesus.
Messiah: God's anointed King, whom the sermon identifies as Jesus standing before leaders too concerned with their own rule to receive him.
Disingenuousness: Pretending to seek an answer while avoiding truth because it threatens one's interests, as the leaders do in their questioning.
Saving faith: The Spirit-given reception of Jesus as God's true Son and King, resting upon him for forgiveness and everlasting life.