Failing to Yield To Authority: The Source of Every Problem in The World and Life

Failing to Yield To Authority

By Thomas Taylor 

The Source of Every Problem in The World and Life

There is a great parable in Luke 19 that teaches us about the source of every problem in life. I’ll be going verse by verse through this parable to pull out the things we can learn from it.  In this parable Jesus explains all problems in the world and how Jesus will solve them. It’s all about authority! Or maybe you could say it this way, God made the rules and our failure to yield to His rules (sin) is the source of every problem in the world and life. Look back at your life and consider every problem’s source was where someone failed to yield to authority.

Luk 19:12 He said therefore, “A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return.

  • To be able to receive a Kingdom, he was authorized by someone that owned the Kingdom and had the power to give it.
  • God the Father is the author of all authority
  • He granted the Kingdom’s authority to be completely given to His Son Jesus

 

Luk 19:13 ESV Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come.’

  • The one with authority can call His servants; they are His. = the authority to call
  • The servant is one that willingly submits to the Master – no one forces them to do it. They can disobey if they choose but there are consequences for disobedience. The servant can choose to disobey and pay the consequences; he still has a free will. = servant hood is an act of the will.
  • The Master, Jesus, has the power to give just like God who owns the Kingdom = the authority to give
  • The Master, Jesus, has the power to instruct. = the authority to instruct what to do

 

Luk 19:14 ESV But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’

  • Jesus is Lord of the earth but there are those who do not want Jesus to rule over them. They are the citizens – not the servants. = those who do not want Jesus are the non-believers
  • Notice they do not want Him to reign over them; it is all about authority!
  • They are no good for the Kingdom that is coming because He will have absolute rule with a rod of iron and if you will not submit to His rule, you will be destroyed. Someone not willing to submit to the authority of God or that which He established is without hope and is destined for severe judgment. When a king has people who do not want him to rule over them, they are called a rebellion. His only choice is to destroy them so that it does not spread. Also, those in the kingdom see the penalty for rebellion as a deterrent for future rebellions. It is severe but necessary to do this.

 

Luk 19:15 ESV When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business.

  • The Master has the authority to order His servants
  • The Master has the authority to judge His servants’ actions whether they obeyed or not. It is all about doing the will of God!:

Mat 7:21 ESV “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Many call Jesus “Lord” but He is not their lord unless they do what He says. They have made up a false Jesus that they follow, which is their belly, and when they meet the real Jesus – they will be rejected!

Mat 7:23 ESV And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

  • He NEVER knew them because they did not follow Him; they followed their own belly!
  • They are called workers of “lawlessness” meaning according to Thayer’s:

1) the condition of without law
1a) because ignorant of it
1b) because of violating it
2) contempt and violation of law, iniquity, wickedness

God’s will is God’s LAW! We are free from the penalty of death from breaking the Law, but we are not free from doing It.

Mat 5:17-19 ESV “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (18) For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (19) Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

  • The Old Law, in the Old Testament, is fulfilled and accomplished by Jesus. So now we are under His New Law, in the New Testament, which can be summed up as Love God and Love Thy Neighbor; to love one another as He loved us.
  • You are great in God’s Kingdom when you teach and do love!

 

Luk 19:16 ESV The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.’

  • He calls the Master Lord and does so rightly because He did what he was instructed to do.
  • He also did it well to double the money.

 

Luk 19:17 ESV And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’

  • The Master acknowledges him as His servant
  • He commends Him for obedience = the authority to reward
  • The First Law of Authority: the one who is faithful to submit to authority in small things will be given authority over great things!
  • Simply put, obey the authority that God places over you now, and you will be rewarded with greater authority; disobey the authority that God places over you and you could be rejected from the Kingdom of God or suffer loss.
  • Notice also, this man is still under his Master’s authority. That never changes. You may stay under the same authorities that God places over you now in His future Kingdom and maybe for a very long time.

 

Luk 19:18-19 ESV And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made five minas.’ (19) And he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’

  • Each was given according to their ability.
  • Be faithful in your ability and don’t compare yours to other’s or worry about other’s.

 

Luk 19:20-21 ESV Then another came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief; (21) for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’

  • This man called the Master “Lord” but he did not obey. Therefore, the Master was not really his lord. This represents the man who is saved but not obeying Jesus.
  • The man cannot lie. His sin will be open and bear before the Master on judgment day. He will try to make what he did look good claiming, “I did not lose what you gave me; I kept it safe.” But that is not what the Master told him to do; Jesus does not want you to keep what He has given you safe, i.e. unused. Put your gifts to work and multiply the salvation He has given you in other people!
  • The wicked servant fears God – he was afraid of God and this Day of Judgment. But he does not change; he does not obey. The characteristics of those that are wicked are that of lawlessness and rebellion. (Do you see any of that in our world today? Any of that in the Church?!)
  • Notice this third man looks like the Master is his Lord. No one would be able to know the difference. He talks and walks just like the other servants. But the things which show the Master is not really his lord are his disobedience and rebellion against authority. He acts just like a citizen who hates God.
  • He notices that the Master takes what He did not deposit and reaps where He did not sow. That is because He authorized others to do it for Him! If they would have just obeyed, it would be like He did it Himself; He is duplicating Himself whenever He gives orders. He is a wise Master! If He did it all Himself, He could not get nowhere near as much done. The Kingdom runs smoothly if everyone would just do as they were told.
  • That’s why God gives us parents – from day one we start learning what it is like to be under authority and to do as we are told; we also are to learn the consequences of not doing so.

 

Luk 19:22-23 ESV He said to him, ‘I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? (23) Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’

  • He is still a servant but he is reprimanded and called a “wicked servant!” The Church will be judged by the Master Jesus. Everything the servants of Jesus did in obedience will reap reward and everything done in rebellion will reap loss and rebuke.
  • He asks the servant “why did you not obey me?” The man had no answer. There is no excuse good enough for not yielding to the authority of the Master.

 

Luk 19:24-26 ESV And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ (25) And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’ (26) ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

  • People get upset that someone gets what they perceive to be too much. That is a socialistic mindset that the world has today; the rich are evil and those lacking are inherently good” but that’s not what this parable teaches! There is a reason the one who has much is rich and the one who has little is poor in this case. The rich is obedient, the poor is disobedient, i.e. all rich are not evil and all poor are not good (neither are all rich good nor all poor evil).
  • The Second Law of Authority: If you have been obedient and gained by it, you will gain even more as reward. If you have been disobedient but gained anyway, what you have will be taken from you and given to the obedient.

 

Luk 19:27 ESV But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.'”

  • This is what it all comes down to; those that hate God disobey because they do not want Him to rule over them.
  • God has no choice but to destroy them to destroy their rebellion.

 

Every problem in the world and life could be summed up as a lack of yielding to authority one way or another. If mankind would obey God, they would not have the problems they are having. If Adam and Eve would have obeyed, then we would not have sin and death. It was a failure to submit to God’s authority. When the demonic attack, it is because they are in rebellion against God’s authority through Jesus Christ. Jesus was given all authority on the earth but they don’t want Him to rule over them and so their activity is a great rebellion. One day, however, every knee will bow and every tongue confess He is Lord” that is after the Day of Judgment when the enemies of God are eternally punished away from the presence of God and all that are left are those who make Jesus their real Lord through OBEDIENCE!