First Baptist Church of Tampa Sermons

S1 E21: Authority

• First Baptist Church of Tampa • Season 1 • Episode 21

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Sermon Overview

Series: Following Jesus

Title: Authority

Text: Mark 11:27-33

Date: June 28th, 2026

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO THRIVE?

We want to help every person make a genuine commitment to follow Jesus and then follow through with that commitment in Connecting People to a Thriving Life in Christ. These Thriving disciples should Dig In to the Bible, Grow Up in Christ, and Branch Outinto the community.

Our Mission: To Connect People to a Thriving Life in Christ. What is a thriving life in Christ? Scripture says that Jesus Christ came “that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Our mission in the city of Tampa is to make disciples who follow the pattern of the believer in Psalm 1 and desire God’s glory above all things.

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Are you looking to get connected or learn more about First Baptist Tampa? We would love to help you find your place in our community.

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Wherever you are in life, you have a purpose. First Baptist Tampa wants to help you find your next step.

Our Student & Young Adult Ministries:

SPEAKER_00

Amen. As you're being seated, if you would take out your copy of God's word, open it up and join me back in the Gospel of Mark this morning. Mark chapter 11. We're gonna finish this chapter today. Going to be on page 909 in the Pew Bible. If you don't have a Bible with you, use that one. And then that is our gift to you. We want you to have a Bible, page 909, Mark chapter 11. I'll be honest, I think I learned some new theological words today between those two skits. There was a lot of theology flying around. You guys did amazing. There's some words that I'm gonna have to look up a little bit later to just make sure I understand exactly what was going on. That was amazing. Appreciate the kids helping us uh this week during worship week. Worship week is a week where we focus our students on what it means to worship. What does it mean to worship? What does it mean to do so in spirit and truth? We we gather together weekly for worship, for corporate worship, but this isn't the totality of what worshiping God is. In fact, this should be an overflow of what worship looks like in our individual lives. God has created us for worship. There is built within all humans a desire to worship something, recognizing that there is something or someone bigger than us. Our heart cries out for worship. I don't care where you travel in the world, you can find unreached people groups, you can find people groups that have no outside contact, they worship something they always have. There is a desire within us to worship. Oftentimes, however, that desire for worship is misdirected to someone that is undeserving of that worship. God alone, our creator, is worthy of our worship. But sometimes the creator, the created, worships the created and not the creation, or not the creator. We worship things that are less than God. God speaks against this in his word. God is a holy God, God is a just God, and God is a jealous God. He alone is worthy of our worship. And when we give worship to something less than him, the Bible calls that idolatry. Placing someone else or something else in the position that God only deserves to be in. When Moses was up on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments from God, the people of Israel became impatient and they said, We want a God that we can see. Form us an idol that we can worship. And so they molded a golden statue that looked like a calf, and they began to worship something that they could see. Anything can be an idol. Anyone can be an idol. Our own passions can be idols, our pursuits can be idols, personalities can be idols, careers can be idols. Anything can be an idol. Anything that you elevate above God in your own life. I would say that the golden calf of our age is personal autonomy. Personal autonomy is a belief that we can self-govern and self-determine outside of any kind of influence outside of ourselves. In other words, who are you to tell me what to do? Personal autonomy is the golden calf of our age. Our children are being raised in a society where they're told that personal autonomy ranks number one above anything else. It rejects authority. What is authority? If we're honest, we don't like authority. We don't like authority because we don't want anybody telling us what we're supposed to do. But authority is just the legitimate power or right to give commands, to make decisions, or to command obedience. There are authorities in our lives. There is one who has ultimate authority in our life, and he is our creator. God has created all things. He created you. He put breath into your lungs. He allows you the oxygen that you breathe every day. He protects you and provides for you. He's created you. He has the right. He has the authority to tell us what is right and what is wrong. The question is, how do we respond to that authority? There is a drift amongst generations away from respecting or submitting to institutions or authorities. Younger generations are far less likely to appreciate long-term institutions than older generations are. There is a great deal of mistrust amongst authorities in people's lives. Some of that is because of abuse of those authorities. And people have experienced authorities not doing what they're supposed to be doing, or they're abusing people in the process, and so they project that behavior on any institution, on any authority, and they reject authority altogether. Some of that is understandable, but most rejection of authority is just simply sinful disobedience. I'm gonna say that again. Most rejection of authority is just simply sinful disobedience. I mean, let's be honest. We have a proclivity of rebellion in our souls. We do not like somebody else telling us what to do. We do not like somebody else making the rules for us. We do not like somebody else getting into our own business. We want everybody to mind their own business. So Darlene and I live in a community that has an HOA. Exactly. If you have never lived in a community with an HOA, you don't know what I'm about to say. If you've lived in a community with a HOA, you feel my pain. Here's what happens. We received notification that we have a tree hanging over one of the roads on our neighborhood that needs to be trimmed. As I look at that tree, there's nothing wrong with that tree. The tree is not impeding traffic. A truck could drive underneath that tree. There's no problem with that tree, but the HOA says I need to trim the tree. And my first response is, I'm not trimming that tree. Now here's the absolute truth. Darlene and I had already contacted a friend who's in the tree trimming business to come to our property to trim some of our trees, including the one that they want me to trim. But you know what I don't want to do? I don't want to trim the tree because they told me I have to trim the tree. We have a natural proclivity to rebel against authority. The question is, do we rebel against God's authority? The one who ultimately has authority in our lives. You don't have to go far into the book of the Bible to find that we have a natural proclivity towards disobeying authority. Genesis chapter 3, God has placed Adam and Eve after he's created them in a perfect garden. He said, You can eat of any tree of this garden. There's only one tree I don't want you to eat from. And it only takes them two chapters to mess the whole thing up and go against God's authority in their lives, and to begin to doubt his goodness in their lives, and begin to eat from that tree. Listen to the word of Psalm chapter 2. Psalm chapter 2, verses 1 through 3 say this. The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us tear the fetters apart and cast away the cords from us. The writer of Psalms is just simply saying, all the people of the world are saying, we don't want God to have authority over us. We want to tear apart anything that ties us to him. We want to be our own self-autonomous people. That's Genesis chapter 3. That's Psalm chapter 2. That's 2026. We do not want God telling us what to do. And yet, we have a small problem. God has the authority to tell us what to do. And he deserves for us to obey him. Someone once told me that last words are lasting words. That the last words that somebody says should be words that mean something, that last a long time. In Matthew chapter 28, we had the last words that Jesus gave to his apostles during his earthly ministry before he ascended into heaven. We've come to call them the Great Commission. Anyone know what the Great Commission starts with? All authority has been given unto me. Therefore, go make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always to the end of the age. That's the great commission. Go make disciples. That great commission was given to his disciples. It stands for the church today. We are to go. But before he gives the great commission, what does he remind them of? His authority. His authority to send them and the authority under which they will go. And when Jesus says, I have the authority to do this, how much authority does he say he has? All authority. I don't share my authority with anyone. I have every right to tell you to do this. I have all authority. Where does he have authority? In heaven and on earth. Jesus has authority. Where did he get that authority? Ephesians chapter 1 says that Jesus has authority far above all rule and authority and power and dominion in every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the ones to come, and God has placed everything in subjection under his feet. Philippians chapter 2. Jesus being found in the appearance of man humbled himself and became obedient, obedient unto death, even death upon a cross. And for this reason also, God exalted him and has bestowed upon him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. Jesus told his disciples, All authority has been given to me. He's been granted all authority because he is God and because he submitted himself to the cross, therefore God has highly exalted him above every authority. And one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. The problem is we don't want to do it. The problem with man is we don't want to submit to Jesus. Because we like our personal autonomy. We don't like somebody telling us what to do. We don't like somebody telling us what we can and can't do with our bodies. We don't want Jesus having authority in our lives because we won't submit our to the authority of Jesus over our lives. Two common reasons. Short message today. That was all introduction. Short message, two points. Two common reasons why people reject Jesus. They refuse to submit, and they're more afraid of men. Two common reasons. Why don't more people submit to Jesus Christ? Because they're not willing to submit their lives to him, and because they're more afraid of men than they are of him. If you will uh join me in reading our text this morning, stand as we read together. Mark chapter 11, verses 27 through 33. Jesus says, Jesus and his disciples came again to Jerusalem, and as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him and began saying to him, By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you authority to do these things? And Jesus said to them, I'll ask you one question, and you answer me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? Answer me. They began reasoning among themselves, saying, If we say from heaven, he will say, Then why did you not believe him? But shall we say from men? They were afraid of the people, for everyone considered John to have been a real prophet. Answering Jesus, they said, We do not know. And Jesus said to them, Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things. Heavenly Father, bless the reading of your word, we pray. Help us to see that you truly do have authority in our lives. It's not a matter of whether you have authority or not, it's a matter of whether we're willing to submit to it or not. Lord, let us not make the same mistakes so many make in being unwilling to submit to you because we're more afraid of men than we are in awe of you. Lord, change our lives. Transform us into the image of Christ we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to show you two reasons why the leaders of the day rejected Jesus, and the same two reasons why people you know today still reject Jesus. They refuse to submit to his authority because they're more fearful of men. Authority is the key to understanding this text. It's mentioned four times in these few verses: the authority. Authority is just, again, the right to give commands, to make decisions, to enforce obedience. Let me just remind you as we get into the last chapters of Mark, we are in the last week of Jesus' earthly life, of his earthly ministry. In the preceding time, we have seen him come into the city of Jerusalem for the last time. This is now Tuesday of his final week. This is now Tuesday of Passion Week. On Sunday, he came in through a triumphal entry and they were celebrating and shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. You'll remember at the end of that parade, he went to the temple and he looked around the temple, but he didn't stay. He just evaluated what was going on. Then he went back over to Bethany to Mary and Martha and Lazarus' house and spent the night there. Monday, the next morning, he got up and on the way towards the temple, he was hungry and he saw a fig tree that had leaves, and he went over there expecting to have some fruit that he could eat for breakfast, but he finding no fruit, he cursed the fig tree. He then went into the temple, and there he found people making it harder for the Gentiles to come to God, not easier for them. He found the religious people of the day manipulating people, taking advantage of situations, making a profit on it, making them buy animals they didn't need to buy, and then making them exchange their money for an upcharge. And Jesus, finally, sick of what he was seeing, overturned the money changers' tables. He prohibited people from coming in and out of the temple courts. He made a mess of the place. He said, You've turned my father's house into a den of robbers. He went home back to Bethany that night. And then on Tuesday, he went back towards Jerusalem. And we read that as they were walking by that fig tree, they noted that the fig tree that he had cursed the day before had been withered from the ground up. And the disciples pointed it out to him, and he wanted them to recognize that the temple, though it had an outward appearance of being fruitful, was dead. It was not providing what it was supposed to be providing, just as this fig tree was not providing what it was supposed to be providing. And now on Tuesday, he's gone back into that same temple. And he's walking through the colonnades teaching his disciples. This was a common practice of rabbis in that time. They would just walk and talk, and people would follow along, and they would see things and they would talk about things, and they would use the opportunity to disciple their students. And Jesus is walking through the temple, the same temple that just the night before he had caused such a ruckus in. I imagine everybody was on edge that morning as they saw Jesus come back into the temple thinking, oh no, here he is again. What's he going to do this time? Jesus was not delusional in thinking that that one time would change everything that had been happening in the temple for years, but he knew it would instigate the Sanhedrin. He knew it would instigate the Pharisees, the chief priests, the rabbis. He knew that they were after him. He knew that they wanted to destroy him, and he was instigating. In fact, by Friday, they will succeed in destroying him. But Jesus knew what was going to take place. In the next few verses, we're going to see five confrontations between the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the rabbis with Jesus. This is the first of the five. And it's a direct response to what Jesus had done in the temple the night before. Having overturned all the money changers, he knew that the religious leaders of the day could not stand by and not respond to that. They had to stay face. Jesus is now back in the temple where he'd just caused so much conflict, and they said, we cannot let this stand. And so, sure enough, a delegation from the Sanhedrin come to him and begin to question his authority. The Sanhedrin was a group of 70 men made up of chief priests, teachers of the law, and elders of Jerusalem. They were the ruling council. They made up the decisions that were judicial and social and religious. They were the court systems. They were the Supreme Court of the day. They were the legislature of the day. They were the ones who made all the decisions for the nation of Israel. And they sent a delegation of some of them to confront Jesus. And if you've been paying attention as we've walked through Mark, this isn't the first time they've done this. They often would send delegations out to find out what Jesus was doing, not to find out if he was teaching truth, not with open hearts or sincere questions, but they went in order to trap him. They went in order to trip him up. They went to trap him into doing something that would go against their customs. They went to trip him up into saying something that would go against the Word of God. And they failed time and time and time again. Here once again they come to trip him up, to trap him, and they think they have a perfect question for it. They've discussed this question. It's a prepared question. It's a pre-approved question. Here's the question: By whose authority do you do these things? Whose authority did you turn over the tables yesterday? By whose authority are you disrupting this? Who do you think you are? And they think they've got him in a spot. Because they know if he says, I do this by my own authority, that their response is going to be, but you don't have the right education for this. You don't have the right credentials for this. You weren't trained by the right teachers for this. You weren't in the right family for this. And we are the ones. Who delegate authority for these kind of things. And we know we didn't give you this authority, so therefore you don't have authority to do this. If he'd have said this, I do this by my own authority, that would have been their response. They also know that if he'd have said, I do this by the authority of God, that they would have cried blasphemy. They would have cried out, he thinks he's equal with God. He thinks he's serving God. They would have cried out blasphemy as they did before. They think they have him trapped. This is not a legitimate question that they ask him. They're not at all interested in the truth that Jesus will provide. They're not at all interested in finding truth from Jesus so that they might adjust their lives to his truth. They simply want to manipulate his answer so that they can continue to have their own authority. That's a very dangerous way to approach the one who has all authority in your life. It's very dangerous to approach the one who has authority and say, I'm not really worried about what your truth is. I'm not really worried about what the actual truth is. I just want you to tell me what I want to hear so I can manipulate it, so I can continue to do what I want to do. Jesus' authority has been demonstrated over and over again. The question was not, does Jesus have authority? Notice they did not ask him, do you have authority to do this? They didn't ask him about if he had authority. They asked him where his authority came from. His authority was abundantly clear. Mark in his gospel has taught us about his authority. Early on, he taught us that Jesus taught like no one else because he taught with authority. People listened to him because he didn't teach like the rabbis and the teachers of his day. He didn't say, This is what my rabbi taught me, this is what this one says, this is what that one says. When Jesus taught, he said, You've heard it said, but I tell you. Jesus taught with authority. Jesus calmed storms. The wind and the waves listened to him. And people asked, Who is this that even the wind and the waves listened to his authority? He healed diseases. He cast out demons. Evil demons came down and bowed before him, acknowledging who he was. He forgave sin. And he was asked, who has authority to forgive sin? But God alone. His authority was not in question. They just wanted to know who gave him the authority. And Jesus turns the situation. The irony is they think they have the authority to ask him the questions. And Jesus says, Here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna ask you one question. If you can answer my question, I'll answer your question. I was raised under the assumption that you don't answer questions with questions. That's exactly what Jesus does here, but it was the common practice amongst rabbis of the day. It was how they debated with one another. Someone would throw a question out, and the one would respond and would say, Okay, I'll tell you what, I'll answer yours, but you answer mine first. And so here's what Jesus does. He says, Here's my question. You answer my question, I'm happy to answer your question. By whose authority did John baptize? Was this baptism of men or was this baptism of God? Go ahead, I'll give you a minute. Go talk. And they huddled together. And they began to discuss. And Jesus has placed them roughly between a rock and a hard place. He's turned the tables on them. They think they've tricked him. He's now given them the problem. Because if they say, they they have this conversation, if we say that John's baptism was from God, we've got a problem. Because John, if he was from God, pointed to Jesus and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John pointed to Jesus and said, I'm not the Messiah, he's the Messiah. If we say he was from God, the question's going to be, then why didn't you believe him that I am the Messiah? But we can't say that. We can't say that. Why couldn't they say that? That was the truth. Why couldn't they say that? Because it wasn't convenient. It wasn't what matched what they wanted. And they said, but we also cannot say it came from men. Because everybody believes that John was a prophet of God. And if we say he wasn't a prophet from God, they're going to turn against us. In fact, Luke's gospel says they're going to stone us to death if we say John wasn't from God. And so here is their brilliant answer. We don't know. It's not an honest answer. They know the answer. It's a convenient answer. They chose convenience over truth. They chose expedience over truth. Because here's the problem evidence was not their problem. They had all the evidence they needed to conclude that Jesus was who he claimed to be. They had all the evidence to come to the conclusion that Jesus is the Messiah. He has authority. He's demonstrated it over and over and over and over again. The evidence is clear. Evidence was not their problem. You know what their problem was? Sinful pride. A desire for self-autonomy. A desire to say, I don't have anybody over me who tells me what I'm supposed to do. We are the authority. Why did they reject Jesus? It's so obvious, right? He's clearly who he claimed to be. He clearly had more authority than anybody that ever seen. It's obvious, but why? Because it was a power struggle. It was a power struggle. Is he going to be in charge or am I going to be in charge? Am I going to submit to him? Or is he going to submit to me? It was a power struggle. I had not seen the skit the kids started off with this morning. McJesus? Honestly, I hadn't seen it, hadn't read it, had no idea what that skit was. But is that not what these Pharisees were coming up to Jesus wanting him to do? You know, I want a little bit of Jesus. I want the good stuff of Jesus, but I don't want this. And so many people come to Jesus that way. And hear me, Christianity is not simply a group of people who believe things. You are not a Christian because you believe something. I recognize salvation comes by grace and grace comes through faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing believing. I understand we have to believe things, but you are not a Christ follower because you believe things. You are a Christ follower because you submitted your life to Jesus Christ. Satan believes that Jesus is the Messiah, and yet he refuses to submit to his authority. Christians are not people who believe things. Christians are people who have submitted their lives in unconditional surrender to Jesus Christ. Jesus doesn't want part of you. Jesus doesn't want Sunday you. Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh. I live according to him who loved me and gave himself up for me. Jesus said, if you want to be my followers, you got to believe. Is that what he said? No, he said, if you want to be my followers, pick up your cross and follow me. It's not Jesus, I want a little bit of this. It's Jesus, I surrender to you. It's an unconditional surrender. And by the way, it's not a struggle to reject Jesus, it's a sin to reject Jesus. Most people refuse Jesus because they refuse to submit to his authority. Don't believe me? Romans chapter 1. God has revealed himself to man. No one can deny that he is in charge, and yet man suppresses that truth so that they can say, He's not in charge of me. We still reject because we don't want somebody in charge of me. But hear me, please hear me. When you recognize who it is that you're submitting to, when you recognize who it is that you're giving unconditional surrender to, the God who created all things, the God who created you, the God who loves you, the God who redeemed you through the blood of his own son, the God who's created you to spend eternity with him, the God who provides for you and protects you and gives you everything you can possibly have, a God who's greater than any earthly father or earthly mother we could ever imagine, when you begin to recognize who it is that you're surrendering to, your perspective changes on the authorities in this earth. Because the second reason why they didn't submit is because they were more afraid of men. Verse 32 says, we can't say this because we're afraid of men. If we admit this, then what will they say? And often people will not submit their lives to Christ because they're worried about what their friends will say, what their families will say, what they will do, how they will be treated as a result of it. And they're more fearful of what people think about them than what God thinks about them. They're more fearful about people's opinions of them than God's opinions of them. But here's the deal: when you begin to understand who it is you're submitting to, all of that perspective changes. You can be like Paul and say, for me to live is Christ, to die is gain. Paul, if you follow Jesus Christ, we're gonna take your life. Okay, that'll be gain for me. Paul, we're gonna take your life. Oh no, I've got a dilemma. It'd be far better for me to go to be with Jesus, but I've still got work to do here. Paul, we're gonna take all your stuff away. If you follow Jesus, you're not gonna have any stuff. That's okay. I've learned to be content no matter what I have. Whether humble or wealthy, as long as I have Jesus, that's all I need. It changes our perspective. Proverbs 29, 25 says, the fear of man is a snake, excuse me, a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted. We have a natural proclivity to reject authority. We don't like somebody telling us what to do. And yet, Jesus said, All authority has been given to me. Therefore, go. The question is not whether Jesus has authority in your life. The question is what you will do with that authority. Will you submit to it or will you reject it? And if you're going to choose to reject it, are you rejecting it because you don't have enough evidence? Jesus will give you more evidence. He'll provide all the evidence you need to prove that he is who he is and that he's worthy of all your praise. He'll give it all you need. But most people won't reject the evidence. They just simply will refuse because it's not convenient for them. And they don't want somebody taking authority in their lives. Some people refuse simply because they're afraid of what they might lose on this earth or what people might say about them. Oh, I pray that you would understand that God is not looking for a halfway commitment. He's not looking for people walking into the golden arches and asking for a McJesus their way. And say, God, I've messed this life up. I am a sinner. I've separated myself from you. I'm worthy of separation. I'm worthy of death. I need Jesus. And not only do I believe he died for me, I want to submit my life to him. He is the authority in my life. He gets to make the rules. He gets to determine what happens. I willfully, joyfully submit myself to him. Don't be like Bob and the HOA. I'm gonna trim my tree. Not because they told me to, but I'm gonna trim my tree. But there was a time when Bob did surrender his life to Jesus Christ, and I don't live it perfectly, but he is the authority in my life. And I gladly submit. Gladly every day. Have not um regretted it for a moment. What will you do with Jesus' authority in your life?