Open your Bible to the New Testament Book of James. This morning begins our next Bible book study, and for those who have been hungry for some applicable lessons to connect with all the theology we've been studying for the past year, this is for YOU! This letter, broken down in modern Bibles into five chapters, is all about living out what you believe. And this morning, I'm just hoping to give you a 30,000 foot view of this letter, setting the table (if you will) for the meal to come in the next few months.

Authority. Who gets to say which course gets changed? And where do they get that authority?

“You’re not the boss of me” “You can’t tell me what to do.” Especially in Western culture, where we are used to having the right to do what we want to do, it’s difficult to submit to authority.

But as Christians, the whole idea of Lordship involves submitting with the correct perspective of authority:

Matthew 7:28-29 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority— quite unlike their teachers of religious law.

In other words, there is a kind of authority that is not Tyrannical, but actually beneficial for those who are being led. The kind of authority Jesus talked with was different, obviously different than the religious rulers of the day. And in the next few chapters in Matthew flesh out this idea and show Jesus’ authority over sickness, over nature, and over demons. Then in chapter 8, we get the big picture about authority:

Matthew 8:5-10,13 When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him, “Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.

Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.” But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!... Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” And the young servant was healed that same hour.

Authority matters. The officer understood it. HE had authority over soldiers and could command them to accomplish certain tasks, and so Jesus was able to perform miracles because all things are under his leadership. He is the ultimate authority – not just in this world but in the spiritual world as well.

Reading through Scripture, there is a correct way to embrace authority in our lives…

A 5-year-old girl was sitting at the breakfast table one morning and, in between bites of sugary cereal, she sang with one hand in the air and the other cradling her spoon. Her mom asked her what she was doing. “I’m praising God, Mama.” Then, in a huff of overly dramatized exhaustion, she dropped her hand on the table saying, “But sometimes praising God is hard. My arms get sooooo tired.”

Do you realize how true that statement is? There are definitely times when praising God is easy… Blessings are realized, we feel close to God, there’s so much good things going on.

But then there are times when it is almost exhausting to lift up praises to God. Life wears us down, people are taken away from us, things seem to end up in failure. Maybe you are in a season right now when praise just gets stuck in your throat and, like that little girl, you drop your arms on the table, crying out: “It's too hard!”

We are coming to the conclusion of this amazing letter to the Hebrew believers. And in the midst of the doctrine it teaches, we can see that ultimately what the Author is demonstrating is how the new covenant through the death and resurrection of Jesus is actually designed to lead God’s people into a new way of worship. Previously the Hebrews had been burdened with fulfilling the Mosaic Law, but by his sacrifice and resurrection, Jesus fulfilled those impossible standards and opened the way for the Holy Spirit to indwell believers and write the Divine Law on their hearts.

And if this is a new way of worship, then through that same Holy Spirit at work in our lives to get rid of the old self, the sinful nature, we are led into this lifestyle of worship.