The Meeting on the Mountain
Easter Messages Part 14
Matthew 28:16-18	3-31-2013
Summary: The meeting on the mountain in Galilee was extremely important to Jesus. He made sure the whole Church would be there, and Scripture points to this meeting as being very important. There some doubted, but generally there was worship. Jesus’ message was only three sentences, the first of which was the Great Claim (all authority). Authority is freedom to decide and act, power to act, the jurisdiction/domain in which one can act, and the right to be obeyed. Jesus’ authority is absolute in all four categories, but that is not oppressive because His commands are like doctor’s prescription rather than a job description. To the eyes of faith, His commands are a delight, and Him receiving all power is worthy of great celebration because nothing is better than having someone like Him in charge.
Introduction: Meet Me on the Mountain
Jesus’ Numerous Reminders
The Importance of the Meeting
Climactic Placement in Matthew
Attendance
Turning Point
The Events of the Meeting
Some Doubted
Reliability of the Accounts
Imagine This!
The Message of the Meeting
The Great Comfort
The Great Commission
Like Moses
The Great Claim
The Historical Jesus
1) Freedom
2) Power
3) Domain/Jurisdiction
4) Worthiness to be Obeyed
Oppressive?
What if I Don’t Feel That Joy?
1:25 Questions

Introduction: Meet Me on the Mountain 
Jesus’ Numerous Reminders
Here is a Resurrection Day trivia question for you: Before Jesus died, what instructions did He give His disciples for immediately after His resurrection? Specifically - where were they supposed to meet up with Him after He came back from the dead? If you don’t know the answer, don’t feel bad because the disciples didn’t either. They missed it because they were distracted.
Mark 14:27 Jesus told them, "You will all fall away, for it is written: "'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.' 28 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee." 29 Peter declared, "Even if all fall away, I will not."
They were so distracted with the part about all of them falling away that they missed the main point, which was, “After you regroup, meet Me in Galilee.” And Matthew 28:16 tells us that Jesus gave them a specific place they were to meet Him - on a mountain. And by the way - any time you see a reference to a mountain in the book of Matthew it is always very significant. In Matthew, only super-important things happen on mountains. So Jesus says, “After My resurrection, meet me at that mountain in Galilee.” Not, “Meet Me here in Jerusalem.” Not, “Meet Me in the garden,” or, “Meet Me in the upper room.” He wants them to meet Him at this particular mountain in Galilee. 
And if you want to know how important this was to Jesus, take a look at the very first thing that is said to His followers after He rises. Sunday morning the women show up to the tomb to tend to Jesus’ body, the entrance to the tomb is open, so they go inside. And they find that the tomb is not empty - it has two angels in it. What is their message?
Mark 16:7 “Go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'"
Jesus knew they were not listening before, so He sends these angels to remind them - “meet Me in Galilee.” So the women start running back into town to tell the disciples. But before they get there, guess who they bump into - Jesus! This is Jesus’ first appearance after the resurrection. What do you think the very first words out of Jesus’ mouth after coming back from the dead were? It wasn’t, “I told you so!” It wasn’t a rebuke. It wasn’t a sermon. It wasn’t anything about the cross or salvation or the kingdom. What was the very first thing Jesus said?
Matthew 28:9 Suddenly Jesus met them. ...10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me." 
Are you getting the sense that this is important to Jesus? 
The Importance of the Meeting
You would think by now the disciples would be making a beeline to Galilee to meet Jesus. But the next thing we read is that a couple of Jesus’ followers were headed off not to Galilee, but to Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. Jesus said, “After I rise, meet Me in Galilee,” then He sent an angel to tell the women, “Remind everyone to meet Me in Galilee,” then He appeared to them personally and said, “Don’t forget about Galilee.” And these guys decide to go to Emmaus.
So Jesus then appears to those two. And when they realize it is Him they go running right back to Jerusalem. Seven miles, in the dark, back where they just came from so they can tell the others. They come bursting in the door.
“Hey, you’re not going to believe this, but (breathing hard), we just got back from Emmaus - and Jesus is there! We spoke to Him and ate with Him! He’s in Emmaus!” 
“Um, no He’s not” 
Suddenly Jesus is standing there in the room.
Luke 24:37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." 40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 
At that point they are all convinced and they believe - all except Thomas, who wasn’t there. So they go off and tell Thomas, and Thomas didn’t buy it. He says, “Unless I touch the wounds in His hands and feet, I am not going to be convinced.”
Well, the following Sunday the disciples all gathered again, and this time Thomas is there. And once again Jesus appears in their midst (which startled them, since the doors were locked).
John 20:27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." 28 Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" 
Jesus never calls for blind faith. He invites them to a scientific investigation. He eats food with them, invites them to touch Him - gives all kinds of proofs that it is really Him and He is alive in the flesh. And only then does doubt turn to worship.
After that the Disciples go back to their old job – their fishing business. And Jesus appears again and makes it clear He wants them doing His work, not fishing.
Climactic Placement in Matthew
Then, finally, in the closing verses in Matthew, they go to the mountain.
Matthew 28:16 Then the eleven disciples went ... to the mountain in Galilee where Jesus had told them to go.
Finally - the big meeting on the mountain in Galilee where He had been telling them to meet Him and that He had been so adamant about. You can see how important this meeting was to Jesus by all the efforts He went through to make sure everyone would be there. And you can also see the importance of it by the fact that Matthew makes it the climax of his entire Gospel. The Gospel of Matthew ends, not with the resurrection, not with the ascension, but with this meeting on the mountain.
Attendance
So the day finally arrives, and everyone is there. This is the first time Jesus appears to the whole church. 1 Corinthians 15:6 says over five hundred brothers were there.  If that is just the men then with all the women and children it may have been a couple thousand. But we know for sure there were at least five hundred, which is a number that is easy for us to imagine this morning because that’s how many are here in this room right now.
Turning Point
Luke connects this event with the Day of Pentecost, because the combination of those events mark a major transition in the life of the Church. Prior to this, the Church was really nothing but a small, inwardly-focused band of disciples following Jesus around the tiny little region of Israel. Even after the resurrection, you don’t see any outward emphasis – the disciples are alone in a house, or fishing, etc. But after this event, the Church explodes like a bomb – the gospel goes out to the ends of the earth. 
Scripture tells us about ten different appearances Jesus made to various people after His resurrection. Out of the ten, the most important is #8 - this meeting on the mountain. I say that because of how adamant Jesus was about it, and because it was to the whole church in Galilee, and because of the placement of it in the book of Matthew, and because of the impact it had on the life of the Church.
The Events of the Meeting
So what took place at this ultra-important meeting?
Some Doubted
Look at the end of verse 17- some doubted.
Reliability of the Accounts
That is so honest. If this were legend or myth, you would not have statements like that included. Matthew is trying to tell us that Jesus rose from the dead and is the King of kings. Including details like this does not seem to help his case. But it happened, so he writes it down. That kind of honesty is one of the reasons why even the critics – scholars who do not believe Jesus rose from the dead –admit that the gospel writers are extraordinarily honest and reliable witnesses. 
And that adds credibility for another reason. Not only does it show that Matthew was honest, but it also shows us that the followers of Jesus were not a group of people fully expecting a resurrection, so they were easily convinced with a little hype. They did not expect it, and, at first, did not even believe it when they saw it. They required significant proof – just as you would. So the fact that they finally did become convinced – so convinced that they would die for that belief – shows how compelling the evidence really was.
Worship
And so in verse 17 it says they worshipped Him. How do you go from doubt to worship? The same way it happened with Thomas back in Jerusalem.
18 Then Jesus came to them (Lit. “Jesus approached.”)
It sounds like Jesus began moving through the crowd at this point to get close to those who had doubts. All through this crowd, Jesus is presenting His many convincing proofs, and one after another people are convinced. Minds and hearts were racing, thinking through the ramifications.
Imagine This!
Imagine yourself there on the mountain that day. You have heard rumors that Jesus has supposedly risen from the dead and is going to meet up with His followers for some special event on this mountain. You debated about whether you would even go. Whoever this is, going around claiming to be Jesus – he is probably just some opportunistic imposter who is trying to take advantage of everyone’s disappointment. And you are just not sure you want to participate in that.
But, your friends are going, and there is a part of you that ... wonders. Jesus did do some pretty amazing things. So reluctantly, you show up. You are one of the last to show, so you are near the back. Looking around, “Where is this guy claiming to be Jesus? And what is he going to do?”
“Man, there are a lot of people here. There’s just an energy in this crowd that’s ...” 
You notice little stirrings in the crowd – something is going on over there, now there is a group over there doing something - it’s hard to see what is going on exactly.
“Where is this guy who...”
Suddenly you hear your name - from behind you.
“That voice! No way...”
And you turn around, and it’s Him!
“Is that Him? It looks exactly like Him! And His voice is just like Jesus - the way He says my name...”
And then He smiles and just asks you, point blank, “Why are you still doubting?”
“There’s no question this is Jesus - just like before He always knows exactly what I’m thinking.”
At this point you are convinced - but Jesus is not done. He holds out His wrists - and it is actually kind of disturbing to look at - fresh crucifixion scars. He invites you to touch them. You don’t really want to. You have insulted Him enough by doubting this long, and now you are convinced, so you just want to do what Thomas did and drop to the ground and worship. But somehow you also feel like maybe you should touch Him. He offered, so it must be OK. So you do - you reach out your hand, and you run your fingers over those fresh wounds in His wrists. Clearly they are just weeks old. And yet He does not look like He is recovering from any recent trauma. He is strong and healthy and happy - no limp, no problem walking on those huge wounds in His feet.
Finally your knees just give out, and down you go. Now you are on the ground right in front of those feet, and honestly, you are glad to be there. This is right. This is good. Now you can see it - this man is not just my King and my Messiah, He is just what He claimed to be - Almighty God Himself. It is impossible to continue to doubt. All the miracles you have witnessed, all the fulfilled prophecies, the words He has spoken, the life He lived - and now raised from the dead exactly as He said it would happen - the proof is beyond any reasonable doubt, and you know now that your life will never be the same. There is no way you can continue to live a life that ignores the reality of who this Man is. From this moment forward, Jesus Christ is going to be the central focus of everything about your life. You can see now that this kingdom He has been talking about – it is the only thing that matters. And your place in this universe is a function only of where you fit into that kingdom - nothing else.
As you are lost in all these thoughts you snap out of it when you hear that powerful, commanding voice from up there at the top of the ridge. You did not even notice when He stepped away, but now He is up there where everyone can hear Him, and everyone starts pressing in close so they don’t miss a word. Is this going to be another sermon on a mount?
The Message of the Meeting
It turns out not to be much of a sermon - three sentences. All these reminders - the angels, the announcements - all Jesus’ efforts to spread the word and make sure everyone is here. The most important meeting ever, and when Jesus gets up to speak He says three sentences. Three sentences - a great claim, a great commission, and a great promise - or comfort.
The Great Comfort
Sentence #3 is the great comfort: 20 ...Behold, I will be with you until the end of the age.
The Great Commission 
Sentence #2 is the Great Commission - the marching orders for the Church for the next 2000 years and beyond condensed into one sentence. 
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. 
Make disciples of all nations. A disciple is someone who trusts Jesus with his or her life, and so they devote their lives to following His way. “Win the whole world to Me.”
Like Moses 
As you look at Jesus standing up there, all you can think about is Moses, up on Mount Nebo. Every Jew knew that story like the back of his hand. When the people of Israel had wandered forty years in the wilderness, and now they come to the edge of the Promised Land and Moses stands up there on Mount Nebo and commissions the people to go take the land. And now the Prophet greater than Moses stands on the mountain and commissions His Church to take the world.
The Great Claim
How can Jesus make such an audacious command? He tells us to go to all nations and do the very thing they cannot stand - proselytize. Demand that people give up their religion, their ancient traditions, their family teachings – all that they have based their lives on for centuries , command them to trash all that, give up everything and bow at the feet of Christ. And if they are in a place where it is going to cost them their lives to be baptized as a Christian, demand it anyway. People do not mind if you worship Jesus, but when you start saying they have to, and that Jesus is the only way to salvation - that really gets people upset. How can anyone claim there is only one way, and everyone who does not follow that one way is going to hell? Who is Jesus to claim that? That brings us to sentence #1 - the great claim. Did you ever notice that the first word in the Great Commission is Therefore? The Great Commission is the conclusion Jesus draws from the great claim.
18 All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Jesus can command this because He has ultimate authority. If He didn’t, this commission would be absurd. 
“Go require everyone in the world to bow the knee to Me”?
Only a supreme authority could require that.
The Historical Jesus
These people who come up with this idea that Jesus was a good teacher but never really claimed to be God - where do they get that? You can get a scissors and cut anything you want out of the Bible –  whatever you think may have been added later by church tradition and legend, just cut it out. Whatever you are left with – it is still this same Jesus who makes these same, universal claims. The Jesus that people try to say is the true, historical Jesus who never made any claims to be God - you cannot find that Jesus anywhere. There is no trace of him in the Bible or anywhere in any other source. It is a figment of their imagination. No matter how many layers of the onion you try to peel away, you still end up with a Jesus who claims universal authority. This Jesus IS the historical Jesus.
So Jesus claims all authority. But what does that mean exactly? What is authority? The Greek word here is exousia. And if you study how that word is used in the New Testament, you find there are four components to authority. 
1) Freedom
First, authority means freedom to decide and act.
John 10:18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. 
So if you have authority in an area, that means you are free to act in that area without anyone else having to sign off on it. When Jesus says, “All authority belongs to Me,” it means He has total, absolute freedom to do whatever He wants. People make much of the importance of human free will, but very often forget about divine free will. Jesus does graciously grant us freedom of choice in some areas. But first of all, He does not have to do that. He graciously chooses to do it. And secondly, He does not do it in every area. He gives us freedom of choice in some areas, but in other areas we do not have freedom. Take for example, Ananias in Acts 5. It says he was free to keep the money from the sale of his property for himself if he wanted, however he was not free to lie about it. So God put Ananias and his wife to death for lying. So yes, God has given us freedom to make choices within certain boundaries, but outside those boundaries we do not have freedom.
Jesus, on the other hand, is not constrained by any boundaries set by anyone other than Himself. No one can ever tell Him He cannot do something that He decides to do. If He chooses to take away your job or your health, or if He takes a loved one away from you - He has that right. And if we have an attitude that says, “God, You should not have done that,” we are out of line. We are never in a position to tell Him what He should or should not do, because He has all authority. Whenever someone passes judgment on God, “God is cruel to send people to hell,” or, “God was wrong to allow me to be abused,” or, “God should have done this or that,” when we think that way we are imagining that God is constrained by some other authority that limits what He is free to do. We are imagining that God is answerable to us. He is not.
Daniel 4:35 He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: "What have you done?"
2) Power
 So having all authority means having complete, unstrained, unrestricted, unhindered freedom to choose and to act in any way He pleases. Second, this word exousia also refers to the power to carry out what He decides. I am free to make the decision that I am going to jump over the moon. And I am free to act on that decision. But I lack the power to actually succeed at it. So the Bible would not use this word exousia to refer to my situation with jumping over the moon. I do not have the power to actually pull it off, and therefore it is not within the realm of my authority.
Matthew 9:6 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home." 7 And the man got up and went home. 8 When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.
Anyone can decide, “Oh, that person’s sins are all forgiven and he is going to go to heaven” - but it is not actually going to be true unless that person has the power to make it happen. And Jesus proved He had the power by healing the man. So when Jesus claimed to have all authority, He was claiming not only unlimited freedom, but also complete power.
3) Domain/Jurisdiction
Colossians 1:13 For he has rescued us from the domain (exousia) of darkness 
This aspect of the term refers to the realm in which authority exists. A father might have authority in his home over his children, but he does not have that same authority over my children in my home. A general in the Army is saluted and obeyed by everyone he sees all day long in the Army. He can order men to run into a hail of gunfire. But if he goes into a WalMart, he is just another customer and he has no special authority at all. So authority is limited by certain boundaries, and the range of those boundaries is called one’s domain (exousia).
When Jesus claimed all exousia, He was claiming that not only does He have total freedom of choice and total, unrestricted freedom to act, and not only does He have complete, unhindered power to carry out what He decides, but there are also no boundaries of His jurisdiction. His domain is everywhere. That is why He says, all exousia in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Jesus Christ is the Boss in every place, every context, every institution, every realm, every location, every level. As Kuyper said, “there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!’” Angels, authorities in the heavenly realms, powers, thrones, rulers, living creatures, cherubim, seraphim, demons - all bow the knee and answer to Jesus Christ. He is the final, ultimate authority over everything and everyone, including you.
People have various opinions about what is ethical and what is unethical. In some cultures they think it is OK to own slaves, our culture says no, it is not. Some cultures say it is OK to have multiple wives. Others say, “No, only one.”
Some cultures say that whipping or caning is an appropriate way to punish criminals; other cultures think that is inhumane. Whatever your opinion about those kinds of things is, that is all it is - just an opinion. It carries no imperative force on others. Other people are not obligated to conform to your opinions, because you do not have exousia in the area of morality. But Jesus does, which means whatever He says is good is required by everyone, and whatever He says is evil is forbidden for everyone - universally. Every desire He has is morally binding on us. And they are binding on the Chinese, and they are binding on Europeans and Russians and Africans and Indians and Jews and atheists - everyone everywhere.
4) Worthiness to be Obeyed
And that brings us to the fourth aspect of authority - worthiness to be obeyed. If someone has authority over you, that means you are obligated and required to obey that person in any area where that authority extends. If their authority over you is real authority then you do not have the option of choosing whether you will obey. If you get married and have a child, you do not go to that child and say, “We would like to know if you are interested in obeying us for the next several years while you are growing up.” Just by being born into your house places that child in a position of having to obey. And just having been created by God places every person in this room in a position of having to obey Him. And any decision to disobey, then, makes a person deserving of punishment.
And remember, there are no limits to the domain of His authority. The Lord Jesus Christ has authority over your money, over your eating habits, over your sex life, over your language - all the words that come out of your mouth, over your thoughts, He has authority over your sleeping habits, hygiene practices, career decisions, purchases, schooling, even over your desires. You are answerable to Him about everything.
Matthew 12:36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.
Even idle chit-chat, ordering a burger at MacDonald’s - words you give no thought to - even those words must conform to Jesus’ demands.
We are answerable to the Lord Jesus Christ for everything. If you are on your computer and a provocative image comes up, your flesh will say, “It’s up to me whether I look at that.” But Jesus says, “No, it’s not up to you. I have authority over your eyes, and you are required to obey Me.”
You get depressed and you want to buy something to cheer yourself up, looking to material things for your joy, your flesh says, “It’s my choice.” And Jesus says, “No, it’s My choice, and I have commanded no materialism. You do not have the right to buy that thing or to look at that image or to think that angry thought or to speak those words of complaining or gossip  any more than you have the right to steal money from a bank.”
Jesus Christ possesses all authority. He has the right to tell every man, woman and child on this planet what to do, what to think, what to say, how to feel. He can demand anything from anyone at any time, and it is fitting and right. Whatever happens in my life – that is His choice. What a glorious truth that we worship the one who has been given all authority! He has every right – every prerogative. Nothing outranks Him, He is subject to no one, answers to no one, follows no one. And bowing to His authority is not optional. Everyone will do it; it is just a matter of when and under what circumstances. You can bow to Him in worship now, and receive eternal reward when He returns. Or you can resist His authority now, and be judged by Him when He returns.
Oppressive?
Is this starting to sound kind of oppressive? I mean, authority is one thing, but this sounds like tyranny!
“Do you mean that being a Christian is just doing nothing but following orders all day every day? Who in his right mind would want to do that?”
Lots of people. In fact, everybody - including you. Isn’t it true that sometimes you actually pay large sums of money to follow orders - orders that are very unpleasant and sometimes extremely painful to follow? (Doctor’s orders.) People pay thousands of dollars for the opportunity to have a doctor order them to take some disgusting medicine or go through some painful procedure. Why? Why do we pay money to follow those kinds of orders, and other orders we find oppressive and burdensome? It is because doctors’ orders are for our good.
The commands feel oppressive to us when we read them like a job description rather than as a doctor’s prescription. Every command in the Bible - every last one, is a doctor’s prescription. If you read the commands in Scripture like a job description, they will feel burdensome. But if you read them as a doctor’s prescription for your wellbeing, they become precious gifts, because unlike your medical doctor, these prescriptions we do not have to pay for. And they do you a whole lot more good than any doctor’s prescription.
Unbelievers look at Christians and scratch their head: “Why do they take such delight in following Jesus’ commands? It’s one thing to be willing to obey so you can avoid punishment, but what makes the followers of Christ so enthusiastic about obeying?”
It is not unusual for a Christian to call up a friend and be all excited, “I finally understand what this passage of Scripture is saying. And I can see now how it applies to my life! Finally, I know exactly what it is that the Lord wants me to do in this area. I know for sure what His will is!”
Why do we get so excited about discovering something God is requiring of us? We do not do that with the IRS (“I’m so excited - I found another tax law that I have to obey!”). So why do people come by the millions every Sunday to church and sit and listen to a preacher help them discover more and more detail about the laws of God?
Psalms 119:97 Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.
Psalms 119:72 The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.
How could someone love laws that much? Because they know the Lawgiver. If you know Jesus personally - you know what He is like, then you understand this. If you have experienced firsthand how kind He is, and how wise, and how merciful, and how powerful and gentle and caring and compassionate He is, then any instructions out of His mouth for you are more valuable than diamonds.
That day on the mountain when Jesus said, All authority has been given to me, His followers didn’t say, “Uh oh.” You say that when someone bad gains power. The morning after Barak Obama was elected there were millions of people who got up and saw the election results and said, “Uh oh - we’re in trouble.” And the morning after George Bush was elected there were millions who said the same thing, “Uh oh.” No matter who is elected president, there are millions who say, “Oh boy, this isn’t going to be good.” And there are millions of others who celebrate. If it is someone you think is going to do a lot of harm, you cringe when they come into power. But when it is someone you are sure will do lots of good, you are glad.
That day on the mountain in Galilee when Jesus said these words, those people knew Jesus. They knew what He was like. And now that it was sinking in that He really did rise from the dead, and what the implications were for that, when He stood up and said, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth...” my guess is the rest of His words were drowned out by the cheers that went up. You cannot even hear the end of the sentence - where He says, “...in heaven and on earth,” because of the roar, so He has to repeat that part once it quiets down. Nothing is better than to have someone like Jesus in charge. That is the best news there can possibly be, amen?
You know, we just happen to have about the same number of people here as were gathered there. So if we wanted, we could re-enact this. Someone could repeat the words of Jesus - all authority has been given to Me…, and everyone in the room could let out a cheer like you would hear for the winning touchdown at the Superbowl - with shouts and whistles and cheers at the top of your lungs. Scripture speaks often about shouting for joy in the Lord. What better occasion to literally shout for joy than at the announcement that Jesus has received all authority in the universe? Shall we do it? That’s not too undignified for you, is it? I hope not, because I don’t want this cheer to be lame - it would spoil the whole point God’s Word is making in passages like Psalms 19 and 119 about the delight God’s people take in His being in power. OK, I’ll read Jesus’ words, and we can respond with an appropriate celebration. You are there at the mountain. Jesus finishes going through the crowd, doubts are dispelled, I’m sure a bunch of people are healed, and it is dawning on us that God has placed His full stamp of approval on everything Jesus ever taught or said or did by raising Him from the dead, we have experienced Jesus’ compassion firsthand, we have seen His awesome power, we have been blown away at His amazing wisdom, we have delighted in His joy and His mercy, we have been moved to tears by His forgiveness, we saw the death He died in our place six weeks ago - we know what He is like, and now He has made his way up on the ridge, and He turns, and with exuberant joy in the Father announces the greatest news ever declared on planet earth: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth!”
What if I Don’t Feel That Joy?
For some of you that cheer was as genuine and heartfelt as anything you have ever said or done. For others, it is just something you got dragged into totally against your will. You either didn’t participate, or you did, but just to humor me and not because you felt any special joy over the idea that Jesus Christ is in charge of everything. For some of you the law of God is far from being a joy. Instead of filling you with happiness, it feels to you like a crushing burden. You try not to think about the laws of God or Judgment Day much because you are already weighed down with so much guilt and shame that it is more than you can bear. You do not even like coming to church because all it does is pile guilt even higher, so the only thing you feel toward God is a mix of fear and resentment. Sometimes you resent Him for piling all these rules on you, and other times you are scared to death to think about Judgment Day. And when God makes His demands on your behavior, your sex life, your words and thoughts, and He requires that you repent of sin, humble yourself, and all the rest - it all just seems so impossible and so far out of your reach, and nothing about it seems desirable. It feels to you like following those laws would take away any last bit of pleasure that you have in this world, and it would ruin your life. Sometimes the medicine the doctor prescribes tastes so horrible that you would really just rather be sick.
But deep down you know that the way things are in your life is not how they should be. It is not a good thing for you to be out of sync with your Creator - living in rebellion against Him. And calling all your own shots in life - where has that gotten you? Where will it get you in the next life? People who do not take the medicine because they would rather be sick usually are not convinced the medicine will even work. Would this medicine really work? Finally giving up running your own life and bowing the knee to Jesus and following Him 100% - would that really lead to a life of joy? Would it be worth all the earthly pleasures you might have to give up?
God knew you would be asking that question. And He knew you would require some extremely compelling proof that this medicine will work. That is why He raised Jesus from the dead, and provided incontrovertible historical proof that it happened.
When you don’t really trust Jesus to lead you in the best direction - the direction that leads to the greatest joy - then His commands come down on you like a crushing, oppressive, tyranny.
Romans 7:9 Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
That is how a person comes to faith. The Law of God makes all these demands that are impossible for me to fulfill; I try, only to fail so miserably that I am crushed under the weight of the guilt, and at that point I can do nothing but just cry out to God for mercy. And faith begins to germinate in my heart. I say, “God, I can’t save myself by following Your law. All I can do is repent of my sin, and trust You to forgive me and save me.” And at that moment your heart is transformed. God makes you a new person. And this new you is capable of seeing God’s commands for what they are - priceless doctor’s prescriptions that are guaranteed to work. And following them becomes a joy rather than a burden. They are a delight, and the more you trust Jesus and follow His way, the greater the joy. Does our faith in Him falter, and our joy get damaged? Yes, every day. But still, the trajectory of our life is in the direction of trusting Him, and the more we get to know what He is really like, the more the news that He is in charge of all things is the greatest news we can ever hear.
My prayer is that in some of you, that supernatural action of faith germinating in your heart is actually taking place right now. You are actually passing from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light right here and now as you listen. If that is you, or if you have some further questions about this - please, either catch me or one of the other leaders before you go so we can talk with you about it, or at the very least jot a note on your prayer card and we can set up a time to talk with you about it when you have more time.
And for those of you who already believe - let me leave you with this: The great pursuit of your life is to experience the presence of God in greater ways, right? Experiencing God’s presence is not some strange, mystical event. You experience His presence whenever you experience one of His attributes and take delight in it. His authority is one of His attributes. So you can experience nearness to the presence of God every single time you obey anything He has said – even if it is something that is really easy to obey. Every single thing He called us to do in His Word, if you do it because He said to do it, at that moment you are experiencing what it is like to be reigned over by this glorious King, and you are experiencing that attribute, which means you are in His presence.
Don’t spend all your energy beating yourself up over failures to obey. We need to take those seriously, but let’s be just as serious about celebrating the countless times every day that you submit to Him, and enjoy being reigned over by the One who conquered the grave, rose from the dead, was exalted to the right hand of the Father, and who said, “All authority has been given to me ... and behold, I am with you even to the end of the age.”

Benediction: Psalms 9:7 The Lord reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment. 8 He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice. 9 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. 10 Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.
1:25 Questions
1.	Can you identify some areas in your life where your soul seems to have forgotten that Jesus has authority over that area? (That is, in moments of temptation you don’t seem to be alert to Jesus’ authority in that area?)
2.	Are Jesus’ commands mainly a delight to you, or a burden? Do some of His commands feel more like job descriptions than doctor’s prescriptions? Which of His commands are hardest for you to see as priceless doctor’s prescriptions?