Luke 20:1-8
The question that is at the heart of today's devotional is "by what authority?" There is not a day in any of our lives that we don't come into contact with some form of authority. Our Lord, like all those who preach His gospel after Him, faced much confrontation. Christ, in this story, went into the temple to teach the people. There He was confronted by the chief priests, scribes, and elders. Jesus is confronted by these leaders with the question, by what authority is He under? They are trying to get Him to say He is under God's authority, and charge Him with blasphemy. But Christ, knowing their plan, asked them a question of His own, first. That question was whether John's baptism was from heaven or man. In other words, was John doing God's work or his own? Whether they knew the answer or not, although I think they did, it did not matter. They did not care about the truth; all they cared about was how this answer was going to best serve their purpose.
As I write this, we are in the midst of an election season. At these times, both sides, and even the voting public, seem to set truth aside. Politician after politician makes statement after statement, which many times, contradict statements made before, and nobody cares. The campaign goes on, and the money flows in, and the votes are cast, and the truth is nowhere to be found. And it is not just them out there. As I said in my opening statement, every day we are confronted with authority. Are we the ones confronting Christ with our own answers as to how they will best affect us? Are we honest in our dealings, paying taxes, treating our spouse properly or our children? There is an authority over all these things. How many of these things in our society are in great conflict with God's authority. He calls us to be holy; are we? (1 Peter 1:13-16) He says to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's; do we? (Matthew 22:21) He says, "Husbands love your wives, even as Christ loves the Church;" do we? (Ephesians 5:25) He says, "Wives, submit to your own husband as unto the Lord;" do you? (1 Peter 3:1-2) He says, "Parents bring up your children in the admonition of the Lord;" are we? (Ephesians 6:4) He says not to forsake the gathering together; are we? (Hebrews 10:24) He says that homosexuality is a sin, along with adultery and fornication; do we believe that? (Romans 1:28-32) God says that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever; do we submit to His authority? (Hebrews 13:8)
Matthew Henry, in his commentary on these Scriptures, concludes, "those who imprison the truth they know, in unrighteousness are justly denied the further truth they inquire after. That stops all forms of growth in our spiritual lives." Let's submit to God's authority, and go forth in His truth.
~ Jim Frantz
