INTRODUCTION

• All of God’s greatest leaders (Moses-Nehemiah-Stephen-Paul-Jesus) were plagued by rebellion against their authority.
• It continues to this day. The flesh hates authority.
• Child-parent, adolescent-teacher, wife-husband, adult-management.
• Told to: Question authority and admire rebels in our society.
• Yet the Bible holds authority in high regard — to the point of rebellion against God’s established spheres of authority is high treason against Christ, the authoritative head of the cosmos (Eph. 1:10; 5:21).

Authority — the right to exercise power whereby one’s will and commands must be obeyed by others.

"Power" refers to the ability to achieve certain ends, "authority" refers to the legitimacy, justification and right to exercise that power.

• For example while a mob has the power to punish a criminal, such as through lynching, only the courts have the authority to order capital punishment.

THE AUTHORITY OF CHRIST

Christ’s authority.

• Amazed people with His teaching (Mt. 7:28-29).
• Authority not like the Scribes and Pharisees that was based upon tradition, interpretation handed down by noted rabbis (Mt. 15:1-6; Gal. 1:14). Much of what they taught was half-truths (Mt. 5:43; Lev. 19:18). Jesus never credited a certain rabbi with the source of His teaching.
• Validated His message before He spoke, "truly, truly. "
• Christ’s authority questioned: teaching (Mt. 21:23), actions (driving out the moneychangers — Lk. 19:45; 20:2 and forgiving sins — Mt. 9:6-8).
• Jesus has inherent authority in the fact that He is God (Tit. 2:13), but He operated in subjection to the Father (1 Cor. 11:3) and said the authority He wielded was from above (Jn. 7:16-17; 8:28).
• Christ has present authority. "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth" (Mt. 28:19). And that authority has been given to us in the fact that we are to teach others all that He commanded (not "suggested") us (Mt. 28:20).

WHERE IS OUR AUTHORITY FOUND?

Our authority is found in God’s Words and His words are found in His complete and special revelation — the Bible.

There is never any appeal beyond Scriptures to a higher court.

So when we speak the Bible, we speak on behalf of Christ and thus speak with the authority He granted us as His spokesman.

Our authority comes as we remain as under the authority of Christ.

Our authority:

• Not found: Pulpit, title or education.
• Not exercised: In speaking ex cathedra or acting like a CEO (as such an attitude of lordship was denounced by Jesus — Mk. 10:42-45).
• Our authority is found in the accurate communication of God’s Word.

John Piper said, "The source of my authority in this pulpit is not. . . my wisdom; nor is it a private revelation granted to me beyond the revelation of Scripture. My words have authority only insofar as they are the repetition, unfolding and proper application of the words of Scripture. I have authority only when I stand under authority. And our corporate symbol of that truth is the sound of your Bibles opening to the text. My deep conviction about preaching is that a pastor must show the people that what he is saying was already said or implied in the Bible. If it cannot be shown it has no special authority" (The Wisdom of Men and the Power of God, 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, July 13, 1980).

According to Sidney Greidanus, "(I)f preachers wish to preach with divine authority, they must proclaim this message of the inspired Scriptures, for the Scriptures alone have divine authority. If preachers wish to preach with divine authority, they must submit themselves and echo the Word of God. Preachers are literally to be ministers of the Word. "

Illustrations:

• Its been said we are like a waiter; get the food to customer just as the chef prepared it.
• We are like the ancient herald.
• Went forth with the authority his master vested in him.
• He was very careful to communicate his master’s words accurately.
• So when he spoke, others were to hear and obey as if the King himself was present.
• The same applies to us as a herald in our service to king Jesus.
• David Hegg in Appointed to Preach remarked, "Knowing that he has been drafted, fitted for ministry, entrusted with a message, and sent out in the name of the Lord, the minister ought to demonstrate the proper authority in his every action. It is not a proud or arrogant authority, nor a tyranny, nor a selfish domination; all of these would be a singular affront to the One whose commission forms the basis of his ministry. Rather, it is an authority that is displayed in adoration of the Lord, humility before the Lord, boldness for the Lord, and absolute loyalty to the Lord and His truth" (Hegg, Appointed to Preach, p. 48).

Titus 2:15 is one of the clearest statements in Scripture affirming the authority of a pastor.

• "These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you. "

This was spoken primarily to Titus and the other elders (1:5) once they are appointed and now to every minister of the Word.

"These things. "

• Specific — Titus 2:11-14…2:1-14…1:5-2:14…whole book.
• Elsewhere: 1 Tim. 1:6; 3:14; 4:6, 11, 15, 16; 5:7; 6:2, 11; 2 Tim. 2:2; 14: Tit. 3:8.
• General — Word of God.

God’s word is authoritative

• Inherent because of the Author - it came from God (2 Tim. 3:16-17 — "God breathed") who cannot lie (Tit. 1:2).
• Therefore we must present it accurately — 2 Tim. 2:15. For the Holy Spirit will only use the words He inspired.
• Therefore the man of God (progression from 2 Tim. 3:16-17) is called to "preach the Word" (2 Tim. 4:1-2)!Remember there were no chapter breaks in the original text.
• He is called to speak, "Thus saith the Lord. "

John Gerstner remarked, "If preachers insist on competing with psychiatrists as counselors, with physicians as healers, with politicians as statesmen and with philosophers as speculators, then these specialists have every right to tell them how to preach. If a minister’s message is not based on "Thus saith the Lord," then as a sermon it is good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of the specialists in the department with which it deals. "

The call is to "Preach the Word," but what do we see in most pulpits today?

• Entertainers, comedians and story-tellers.
• Men who avoid difficult and controversial passages in fear they might offend someone.
• Teachers the latest fad (shelf-life, the latest came with 40 days) or personal hobbyhorses.
• Preachers more into politics, programs and people pleasing.
• Sharing of platitudes such as insights, suggestions or advice.
• Attempts to speak from God apart from Scripture by sharing dreams, visions or feelings.
• As one author said, "We preach sermons today with the spiritual nourishment of a pixie stick. "
• John MacArthur said, "In our own day, there is no shortage of preachers who are willing to oblige such self-centered hearers. By and large, the most popular preaching is broad-minded, anecdotal, entertaining, ego-building, and, above-all, never confrontational or dogmatic. It offends no pride, disturbs no conscious, and is a clear reflection of the humanistic spirit of the age, in which tolerance and unity at any cost are the supreme virtues" (MacArthur, Titus, p. 130).
• Jesus spoke from the Father- How much more should we do the same.
• We may be amusing people, but are they leaving our churches amazed?That’s how the crowds responded to Christ’s words. If we preach Christ’s words shouldn’t they respond the same way today? Are they hearing us or hearing Christ?
• People come to our church to hear a word from their Shepherd and when we speak on behalf of the Shepherd it comes with the same authority as if the Shepherd was saying it Himself.

According to MacArthur again, "The preacher must put himself out of the way and let God’s Word speak through him unhindered. No matter what his training, experience, or personal abilities, he has spiritual authority only to the extent that what he says conforms to God’s Word. But as with Jesus’ own teaching, when a minister of God does faithfully proclaim that Word, those who reject his teaching reject God’s truth and are as much accountable for the rejection as if the Lord had spoken the truth with His own lips. It is in that way, and only in that way, that a pastor is able to speak with spiritual authority. It is also in that way that he is commanded to speak with spiritual authority" (MacArthur, Titus, p. 128).

J. I. Packer commented, "The Bible is the real preacher, and the role of the man in the pulpit…is simply to let the passages say their piece through him…For the preacher to reach the point where he no longer hinders or obstructs his text from speaking is harder work than sometimes realized. However, there can be no disputing that this is the task" (Packer, Presbyterian and Reformation Journal, Fall 1986, p. 11, 18).

WHAT DO WE DO WITH THIS AUTHORITY?

Three things that must be done with the Word according to Titus 2:15:

• tauta "these things" — object of all three verbs.
• All 3 present (continuous actions) imperatives (commands).

Speak

• Preach, announce, reveal, disclose…used in the sense of teaching
• Tit. 1:10-11- "many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers… upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach. "They were to be "silenced" (1:11). By way of contrast Titus was to (2:1) "speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. "
• Many not speaking the Word (then and now). Prime responsibility for Titus and us is to speak the things found in the Word of God.

Exhort

• Appeal to, urge, beseech, plea, persuade.
• Parakaleo — Used of the Holy Spirit (Parakletos) — "to come alongside. "
• Use the Word for believer’s edification/encouragement. Appeal to live according to the things taught. Move people to action.

Reprove

• Rebuke (cf. 1 Tim. 5:20; 2 Tim. 3:16). To point out what is wrong.
• In Tit. 1:9 the elder is to "refute those who contradict" and in 1:13 we see Titus called to "reprove (the people in Crete) severely. "
• Strong language — A pastor’s need to confront opponents of the Word, whether the sheep or the wolves in sheep’s clothing.
• Not easy (aware of own sin/shortcomings, others reactions — John the Baptist confronted Herod and it cost him his life).
• And if they are factious and don’t listen to this reproof, they are to be rejected (Tit. 3:10).

The call is to speak and exhort and reprove with the Scriptures.

All sounds like 2 Timothy 4:2: "Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction" (cf. 2 Tim. 3:16).

THE CHALLENGE TO OUR AUTHORITY

Fourth command in Titus 2:15: "Let no one disregard you. "

Let no one look down upon, despise or reject.

Charge to Titus but indirect support of his preaching as this letter was to be read to all the Cretan churches

Look at the controversial instruction that 2:15 came on the heels of:

• Need to set the church in order (Tit. 1:5).
• Need to appoint elders (Tit. 1:5).
• Need to exhort in sound doctrine (Tit. 1:9).
• Need to refute those who contradict (Tit. 1:9).
• Need to silence rebellious men (Tit. 1:11).
• Need to reprove people severely (Tit. 1:13).
• Need to teach gender roles (Tit. 2:5).
• Need to teach age-appropriate character traits (Tit. 2:2-8).
• Need to teach workplace responsibilities (Tit. 2:9-10).

No wonder Titus was told, "Let no one disregard you. "

Timothy was told to have no one look down upon him because of his age (1 Tim. 4:12). Here Titus is to have no one disregard him because of his authority.

If we are despised in may be our fault:

• Not holding fast to the faithful word (Tit. 1:9).
• Character issues (Tit. 1:5-8).
• Not showing ourselves to be an example (Tit. 2:7).
• Not speaking the truth in love (Eph. 4:15).

But if we do our job as a faithful herald that imitates the Lord in word and conduct, people don’t have a problem with us — they have a problem with God. (1 Sam. 8:7; Eze. 3:7; 1 Thes. 2:13; 4:8). We are accountable to faithfully preach the Word. They are accountable when we do that to obey it.

People do not want to hear from the authority of God’s Word.

We are told in the latter days "the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths" (2 Tim. 4:3-4).

Natural opposition to authority. The flesh will especially rebel against the authority of God’s Word.

• Preaching uncompromising holiness to sinners.
• Calling sinners to change.
• Hate the Word and hate the messenger.
• They rejected Christ and He warned us they will reject us too (Jn. 15:20).

Preach the Word and you will be considered: judgmental, insensitive, unloving, irrelevant and narrow.

The following teaching should not surprise us in Titus 3:1-2.

But still, we are a mouthpiece for Christ, possibly the only one people will ever hear. Preaching the Word is an act of love. Therefore for their own good they can’t disregard us because in doing so they will be disregarding Christ. Disregarding the faithful preacher of God’s Word also brings dishonor to the Scriptures (Tit. 2:5) and the divine Author.

Stand firm. Don’t seek to please man. Stand the heat that even the healthiest churches can generate on a regular basis. A few nasty e-mails and some in your face criticism and the average preacher folds like a busted flush. Look only for the approval of God. As the Puritans would say, "Preach to an audience of One!"Your calling is from Him!

OUR RESPONSIBILITY WITH THE AUTHORITY

We have a divine charge to give people the very mind of God.

We do that and consequently speak with authority when we preach the Word.

If we fail to preach the Word faithfully we act as a false prophet.

In Jeremiah 5:31 God said, "The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority; and My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?

Likewise in Jeremiah 23:21-22 we read, "I did not send these prophets, But they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied. But if they had stood in My council, then they would have announced My words to My people, and would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds. "

But to God’s true prophetic voice, our Lord said to Jeremiah, "Everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak" (Jer. 1:7).

Our goal is to speak all that God commanded in the Bible.

We must give people confidence in the Word. This is done through accurate preaching, passionate preaching, our willingness to preach the whole counsel of God and our own obedience and example.

I like the way Richard Owen Roberts put it, "Can a self-called man preach with the same authority as a God-called preacher?Can a man whose confidence in the Holy Scriptures is shaken by personal doubts preach with the authority of the man whose whole heart, soul and mind are dominated by conviction concerning the absolute accuracy of the Bible?Can a man whose own conscience rises up in condemnation of him for some secret sin in his life preach with the same authority as the man whose conscience condemns him not (I John 3:21-22)"(Preaching that Hinders Revival, Revival Commentary, v. 2, n. 2).

We must hide behind the cross of Jesus Christ and allow Him to minister through us to His people by the power of the Holy Spirit.

James Denny — "You cannot convey the impression both that you are a great preacher and the Jesus Christ is a great Savior. "

We must decrease as He increases (Jn. 3:30).

David Hegg commented, "You are not your own; you are a man under orders. And the One who has drafted you and signed your orders expects that you will carry them out in a manner worthy of Him, and in such a way that His authority and His kingdom cannot be ignored. Now go, labor, work, and do your duty well knowing that it is the greatest privilege under heaven to be in the personal service of the Almighty" (Hegg, Appointed to Preach, p. 48).

The proclamation of the Bible is what God will use to make a difference in people’s lives (Jer. 23:29; Jn. 15:3; Rom. 10:17; Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12).

When we are done we need to ask ourselves, "Have our people heard from us or a word from the living God?"

We are called to have confidence and courage to stand alone on the authority of Scripture.

We are called to "Preach the Word!"

"Make him a minister of the Word! Fling him into his office, tear the office sign from the door and nail on the sign: Study. Take him off the mailing list, lock him up with his books and his typewriter and his Bible. Slam him down on his knees before texts, broken hearts, the flippant lives of a superficial flock, and the Holy God. Force him to be the one man in our surfeited communities who knows about God. Throw him into the ring to box with God until he learns how short his arms are. Let him come out only when he is bruised and beaten into being a blessing. Set a time clock on him that will imprison him with thought and writing about God for 40 hours a week. Shut his garrulous mouth forever spouting "remarks" and stop his tongue always tripping lightly over everything nonessential. Require him to have something to say before he dare break silence. Bend his knees in the lonesome valley, fire him from the PTA and cancel his country club membership; burn his eyes with weary study, wreck his emotional poise with worry for God, and make him exchange his pious stance for a humble walk before God and man. Make him spend and be spent for the glory of God. Rip out his telephone, burn up his ecclesiastical success sheets, refuse his glad hand, and put water in the gas tank of his community buggy. Give him a Bible and tie him in his pulpit and make him preach the Word of the living God. Test him, quiz him and examine him; humiliate him for his ignorance of things divine, and shame him for his glib comprehension of finances, batting averages, and political in-fighting. Laugh at his frustrated effort to play psychiatrist, scorn his insipid morality, refuse his supine intelligence, and compel him to be a minister of the Word. If he dotes on being pleasing, demand that he please God and not man. Form a choir and raise a chant and haunt him with it night and day: "Sir, we wish to see Jesus. "When at long last, he dares assay the pulpit, ask him if he has a Word from God; if he does not, then dismiss him and tell him you can read the morning paper, digest the television commentaries, think through the day's superficial problems, manage the community's myriad drives, and bless assorted baked potatoes and green beans ad infinitum better than he can. Command him not to come back until he has read and re-read, written and re-written, until he can stand up, worn and forlorn, and say, "Thus saith the Lord. "And when he is burned out by the flaming Word that coursed through him, when he is consumed at last by the fiery Grace blazing through him, and when he who was privileged to translate the truth of God to man is finally translated from earth to heaven, then bear him away gently, blow a muted trumpet and lay him down softly, place a two-edged sword on his coffin and raise a tune triumphant, for he was a brave soldier of the Word and e'er he died he had become a spokesman for his God" (Floyd Shafer).