The Authority of Christ, Luke 4:31-37

³¹Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. ³²And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority. ³³Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, ³⁴saying, "Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are--the Holy One of God!" ³⁵But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!" And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him. ³⁶Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, "What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out." ³⁷And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

     There are many religions and concepts pertaining to the spiritual realm in the world today, and just as many different opinions regarding each one-- And Christianity appears to be no different. Even amongst "Christians" there are differing ideas and opinions as to what Christianity truly is and what it means to be a "Christian". (You will understand why I put the word "Christian" in quotes in a bit.) There are Baptists and Lutherans, Methodists and Presbyterians. There are Protestants and Catholics and Non-Denominationalists. There are conservatives and liberals, born-agains and nominals. Why so many different factions? Is the Christian faith so incomprehensible that we have so many differing opinions, even on basic doctrine? Is there no way to find unity and harmony?

     In the beginning, there was one church, one body of Christ. There were those who sought to follow certain church founders such a Apollos or Peter or Paul (see 1 Corinthians), but these were quickly rebuked for their divisive nature. In his epistle to Titus, Paul warns against divisive people and tells Titus that he ought to warn such a person twice, but then after that have nothing to do with them. Such divisions in the body of Christ were resisted and looked down upon with great disdain. Christ Himself even taught of unity and peace amongst believers in His earthly ministry, teaching us to love our neighbors as ourselves and to lay down our lives for them. So how then did we get into our present day situation?
     Somehow from the church we read about in the book of Acts people began to form their own ideas and opinions and mixed them into Christian doctrine. In the early church it was rebuked and corrected, but when the Roman emperor Constantine declared Christianity to be the official religion of the empire, I believe that many people who were not actually Christian came to be known as "Christian". A Christian was first defined as a follower of Christ, one who has been born again of the Spirit of God. To be called a Christian was an insult, although the believers embraced the name emphatically. Those who followed Christ were persecuted and martyred for their beliefs, and the church was kept pure-- There was little chance of anyone who was not a true believer seeking to be called by a name that would cause pain, discomfort, and perhaps even death.
     But when it became the "in thing" to be called a "Christian", that purification was lost, and people who were not followers of Christ began to infiltrate the church. The emperor Constantine instated many religious celebrations such as Christmas and Easter, which were Christian adaptations of Pagan rituals. In so doing, pagan customs began to mix in with Christian beliefs and eventually traditions and opinions regarding such rituals probably began to divide the believers and the nominal (in name only) "Christians". With so many people being called "Christian" and not all of them being actual believers and followers of Christ, Christianity began to lose its impact on society, it began to lost its authority (to the common lay-person who did not know anything of Christ).
     Over the years, Bibles were not commonly read and were hard to come by, and those who were leading the church became hungry for power and began to restrict the reading of the Bible to clergy only, saying that the common person could not understand the scriptures and they needed the clergy to properly interpret them. The clergy, however, was mostly corrupt for they did not truly know Christ and did not in reality follow Christ, but rather developed an intricate religious system weaved with Christian doctrines by which they sought to become rich, powerful, and prestigious. The common person had, for the most part, little to no understanding of the gospel message. These were the dark ages.
     Then came a time when people who truly sought God rose up and rebuked the false doctrines that had crept into the church, seeking reform and a restoration of the first ways of the church: following Christ. Such a reformist was Martin Luther. As a monk having access to the holy scriptures, he translated them into German, the common language of the people in his area. He nailed his contentions with the governing church to the door of the sanctuary, pointing out all of the false, unbiblical doctrines that were being taught. This was the beginning of the Reformation, a time in which the people rose up against the tyranny of a church that no longer served its purpose: to proclaim Christ and worship Him.
     But as time passed, even denominations formed on the beliefs and principles of the reformers began to grow cold, becoming luke-warm and liberal in their beliefs. Such churches are ineffective in spreading the gospel as they are not living it themselves, and those in the world tend to see these churches as hypocritical, saying one thing but doing another. Hence, the church has lost its authority to condemn sin and exalt Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life in the eyes of the world.

     But the church is not supposed to be ineffective and powerless; it is supposed to speak with authority on the things of the Spirit and the things of God. The people in the church (for there is but one church, which is made up of all believers in the world, not a building made by man's hands but the body of Christ) are supposed to be light and salt to the earth: light to show the way and salt to preserve and keep pure. Jesus said, if the salt has lost its saltiness what is it good for but to throw on the ground to be trampled by men? The truth is, as the majority of the church is today (in the United States), it has lost its saltiness and is good for nothing. We need to get back on track and return to our first love, Jesus Christ!
     It is my personal conviction that sometimes a little persecution is good for the church. People try to avoid it, and understandably, because no one wants to be persecuted and made fun of. But if the "church" in America were persecuted I believe it would have an astounding effect of purification and would cause those who are not Christian but call themselves such to step back and admit that they are not what they claim to be (and hopefully come to a saving faith in Christ!), and cause those who are truly Christian, those born again believers who have received Christ as their Lord and Savior, to wake up and stand for their faith, which would thus grow stronger. In cleansing the church of its nominalism and liberalism and apathy we would thus restore the authority of the church as hypocrisy would not be running rampant but people would be living what they believe-- not works, but a relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.