Resurrection Authority

Have you ever stopped to think that if the story of Jesus’ resurrection is true, then everything changes in life?

Jesus’ followers meet Him on a mountaintop in Galilee in Matthew 28. Some worshipped Him, some doubted. Some were ready to believe and worship Jesus as the Risen King, others weren’t so sure.

Jesus tells them “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” He just helped eliminate the doubts of the doubters. He is risen, they can touch Him, talk to Him, hear Him, eat with Him and walk with Him among who knows what else. He is alive.

Because He is alive, all authority has been given to Him to rule over this universe. He conquers sin and death by rising from the dead. He is handed authority over the spiritual realm of the universe as He defeats Satan’s plan at the Cross and in the Resurrection. By rising to life, He asserts His authority over the physical universe so that death is shown to be powerless in front of Him.

With that authority He demands our allegiance. He tells His followers to go make other followers by baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Baptism is the act of initiation into the kingdom of God that Jesus is establishing. It is the first act of obedience for those who wish to follow Jesus.

But being baptized is not enough. Jesus commands His followers to teach the following generations of Jesus followers everything that He has taught them. This teaching is more than information, it is a lifestyle that matches Jesus’ lifestyle. Too often Christians have reduced what it means to follow Jesus down to mere assent to a basic level of information. But this is not enough. If we would be followers of Jesus we need more than information, we need to live out and obey His commands.

Jesus taught His followers information, but then He demonstrated it in action. Sometimes He did the reverse, by demonstrating the lifestyle and then teaching the information that made sense of His actions. To obey Jesus means we are commanded to match His teaching in both doctrine and practice; information and lifestyle. The words of Jesus must be seen in our lives not just heard from our lips.

This requires transparency as we let others see what God is doing in our lives as we seek to follow Jesus. It requires a willingness to go wherever in the world Jesus would send us. It requires a confidence that He is risen from the dead and is with us wherever we go and whatever we do just as He said in Matthew 28, “I will be with you to the very end of the age.”

Jesus has been granted all authority in heaven and earth. He sends His followers to the ends of the world because He has authority there. He commands His followers to baptize in His Name and teach His commands because He has authority granted to Him by the Father, authority that is demonstrated by His rising from the dead.

Will we believe the facts that the tomb is empty? Will we have confidence in Jesus’ authority? Will we obey Him, by going where He sends us, introducing others to Him and seeing them baptized in His Name? Will we obey Him by living and teaching the things that He teaches in the way that He lives?

These are the questions that smack us between the eyes as we consider the implications of Jesus’ resurrection. What will we do with that information? How will Jesus resurrection and authority apply to our lives?