Insightful Musings on theScriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Good foggy morning.
I need to get out and work with Kash to gather stuff and get the mill hooked up to the truck so we can head out to do a portable mill job. At least it isn’t far away…about 4 miles.
Let me remind you that I’m wanting to rebuild my recipient list and have slated tomorrow (Jan. 10) for putting it into effect. So if you want to stay on the list, give me a quick response to that effect right away. Thanks.
May your day go well as you serve and seek to please a very big LORD. Love, Dad/Ray.
9 January
Passage: Matthew 7:7-29
Focus: “…the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.” Matthew 7:28-29.
Did Jesus really have authority?—or did He just sound like He had authority? I know some preaching sounds very authoritative, but it plays out to be little more than a bunch of noise. If Jesus had authority, how much did He have? Following the resurrection, Jesus emphatically makes this claim: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18). Wow! You have to admit, ALL is a lot! An awful lot! And “heaven and earth” is a pretty big all-encompassing territory!
The measure of Jesus’ authority is profoundly described by Paul in Colossians 1:15-20. Let’s review it again. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
I believe that the Jesus of the Bible is anything but short on authority. And I choose to be long on submitting to His authority.
"The humble carpenter of Nazareth was also the mighty Architect of the Universe.