Some people admire him for being spiritually enlightened. Some people admire him for being a good person. Some people admire him for his teachings. It’s rare to find someone who doesn’t like Jesus. Almost anyone who knows about Jesus will pay some sort of respect to him. Lewis and he has another great one that gets at the heart of tonight’s question. Last week I shared a quote by Christian author C.S. Maybe you know passages that tell you why we believe Jesus is God but you don’t know why it’s important. This evening we are continuing to Explore God by tackling the question “Is Jesus really God?” Now, if you have grown up in church, this can feel like one of those questions where you know the answer you are supposed to give but you don’t why. That’s because what someone is able to do is determined by who they are. The words “I’m placing you under arrest” are meaningless unless I actually have the authority to do so. Haven’t you ever seen someone doing something wrong and you wished you could arrest them? But what do we do? We call the police. But just because I am with the officer, doesn’t mean I can walk up to someone and say: “Don’t do that or I am placing you under arrest.” They would probably just say, “And who are you? Are you a police officer?” I don’t have the authority to place someone under arrest because I am not a police officer. I’m also a chaplain for our police department so I frequently go on ride alongs with the officers. It’s because I am a licensed minister that I do have the authority. Because at a certain point in the wedding ceremony I am going to say: “By the authority vested in me as a minister of the gospel and by the state, I now pronounce you husband and wife.” I can’t make that pronouncement if I don’t actually have the authority to do so. Since I was still in school, I wasn’t licensed or ordained as a minister yet so I had to check into whether I was actually able to officiate the wedding. The first one I was asked to officiate was while I was still in seminary. Thus far in my life, I have had the privilege of officiating several weddings.
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