Spiritual Authority (Jesus)

I met David when we served together as interns in the children’s ministry at South Coast Community Church.

We shared a love for Christ and for children, striking up a friendship that has lasted to this day—almost forty years. David has served in a variety of church ministry roles and each one of them has been built around David’s giftedness.

David is the quintessential pastor, concerned with the feeding, guidance, and safety of the sheep God has entrusted to him. David loves to teach God’s Word and counsel people in God’s way.

David served on the founding board of Every Generation Ministries (the organization I founded), and throughout his service over the years he has been a pastor to the board members. He has pastored churches where he was beloved by the flock.

Leading Live 180, a ministry serving the Coachella Valley, David is loved by a community that often finds it difficult to enter a church sanctuary. David is a gifted Bible teacher and counselor. He isn’t just this way in the pulpit or in his office, he’s that way all the time.

We meet regularly for lunch, usually halfway between us. Often, I am a little late, and whenever I arrive, David is talking to someone in the restaurant. He will have just met them and will be looking for a way to show and share the love of Christ.

When I travelled with David, he was the same way. The David you get in the pulpit or in a counseling session is the same David elsewhere. While he is certainly not perfect, he does operate with integrity, where his teaching and ministry “persona” are congruent with his entire life.

David seeks to live what he teaches, and this is what has given him spiritual authority in the lives of others, me included. 

This was a quality that Jesus embodied in His life and ministry.

Before we delve in, we should note that Jesus’ commitment to influence people through spiritual authority hardly needs noting as it is so clearly obvious.

He was the persona of spiritual authority acting as Yahweh in the flesh and as such had the commensurate influence.

Jesus' Spiritual Authority

The gospels are replete with comments and questions about Jesus’ speaking with “authority” (Matthew 7:29, 9:6-8, 10:1; Mark 1:22, 2:10, 3:15; Luke 4:32, 10:19, 20:2; John 2:18, 5:27, 10:18, 17:2).

We will only take a glimpse to identify the principle.

Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath, he taught the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority. 33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34 “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are —the Holy One of God!” 35 “Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. 36 All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power, he gives orders to impure spirits, and they come out!” 37 And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area. (Luke 4:31-37)

We are on solid ground when we assert that Jesus’ primary means of influence was His spiritual authority. He did not exert authority through wealth, educational prowess, political power, or military might.

We have noted throughout that Jesus’ leadership was singularly unique in nature and inimitable. However, He exhibited leadership principles worth emulating and, in this passage, we see them clearly.

Jesus’ teaching had authority (vs.32). We noted earlier that effective leaders develop “Word Disciplines”. It was noted that throughout Jesus’ ministry, He regularly referred to the Father giving Him the words to speak.

The teaching referenced in this passage (vv. 31,32) was from the Father. It was perceived to have authority, in turn giving Jesus influence among the listeners.

This bears a striking similarity to Joseph, who also delivered a message entrusted to him by God. It was the content of the teaching that had authority.

Excellence in communication is important. The ability to tell stories, connect with humor, explain difficult concepts all the while communicating with passion and conviction is essential in our increasingly sophisticated world of media and technology.

However, these means of delivery can be overdone at the expense of the actual message communicated. It doesn’t do any good if Amazon next day delivers the wrong package. Jesus is a reminder that what we teach is a fountain from which spiritual authority flows.

The passage continues with Jesus validating His teaching through action. Recent writers have stressed Jesus’ teaching and actions related to bringing a new “exodus.”

This new exodus was to bring freedom from a different kind of bondage—slavery to sin. This appears to be Jesus’ message at the Last Supper when He draws explicit connections with His ensuing death and Passover.

His actions in this passage affirm the authority already recognized before the exorcism (vv. 31-32). He not only taught about freedom to the captives, but He practiced that very principle.

It is not an exaggeration to affirm that, in fact, every action taken by Jesus was in perfect correlation with His teaching.

One of the sources of spiritual authority was the integrity that Jesus exhibited between His lifestyle and His teaching. Living out the spiritual principles you teach creates yet another fountain from which flows spiritual authority.

Jesus’ primary means of influence was the spiritual authority He exercised in His life and ministry.

Effective leaders understand that their primary means of influence isn’t their education, physical appearance, communication skills or ability to cast vision. The primary means of influence is spiritual authority.

No where was this clearer than in my interactions with persecuted Christians in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, India, Lebanon, Poland, Romania, Russia, Uganda and the Ukraine.

When they spoke there was a certain spiritual gravitas that was evident. When they spoke, I listened. Through suffering for Christ, they evinced a spiritual authority that influenced my life.

They were prime examples of effective leaders whose spiritual authority was their primary source of influence. 

Spiritual authority flows not only from our teaching and lifestyle, but also from conflicts. Dealing with conflicts as a leader was evident with leaders throughout the Bible.

When we are leading the children’s ministry this weekend remember that spiritual authority is your primary means of influencing children.

Children hear what we teach, and they see how we live. Boys and girls are quick to pick up on the dissonance that is created when we teach one thing and act another.

And certainly, conflict will emerge in any group of children. How we manage behavior issues and the disruptions that come with children can be a key to establishing spiritual authority. Unruly boys or chatty children can be an opportunity to lead and influence children towards God’s purposes for them. 

Conflict was no stranger to the Apostle Paul. Next week will look at spiritual authority in Paul’s life and ministry. If you have ever faced conflict or opposition, you might find it helpful so please join us! 

My blog will be posted at the same time every week and I hope you can join us next week. The podcast version is available here!