As Americans we understand the term politically correct. It is when an idea whether wrong or right has the masses behind it and thus it becomes popular to speak about it to gain their support.
It comes from the desire to be popular, to appeal to the masses. Having a record of acting on it isn’t as important as speaking about it. But this is not isolated to only politically driven issues.
It is possible to fall into being religiously correct. A person can say the right things, like things heard in church, and have no actions to prove they truly believe what they are saying.
Matthew 21:23 ¶ Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?"
Unlike the religiously correct chief priests and elders Jesus is a doer of the word. Doers of the word create problems for the religiously correct.
Obedient people intimidate those who live in theory. These big talking leaders aren’t happy with the obedient teacher in their territory. So they decide to confront him.
"By what authority, are you doing these things?" You should underline doing these things in your Bible. They acknowledge Jesus is walking the talk.
I love the wisdom in how Jesus handled this.
Matthew 21:24 But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things:
Jesus sets up a situation that will reveal the hearts of these leaders who are challenging His teaching and work. His question will is meant to respectfully expose their religiously correct ways and disarm their opposition to Him.
In our next post we will see how He handles their deception.
About The Author
- Tim Atchley
- Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
- I currently serve as Senior Pastor of Harvest Church in Knoxville, Tn. I was sent out from Trinity Chapel of Knoxville in 1993 accompanied by my wife Sheila our four children Sarah, Hannah, Josiah & Isaac and a handful of bold, brave and committed believers determined to plant our first church. Pioneering is hard work but well worth the journey. That is why we desire to make disciples of Christ who will, like us, also embrace the call to plant churches.
