Relationships That Give Life

Authority

Before we deal with the subject of authority we need to have a Christian understanding of the meaning of the word obey. When we use the word obey we usually use it in the context of someone in a superior position ordering someone in a lower position to do something whether they want to or not. The idea being, ‘just do as you are told’. Our understanding of obedience is in the context of obeying a command often without question with the possibility of some form of punishment for disobedience. In the Christian context obedience is more part of a relationship of love and trust than one where a command is just given. Jesus indicated in this in John 14 v 15If you love me, obey my commandments. where He says that our obedience to his word is because of our love for Him. Although God commands us to obey Him He doesn’t boss us around.

Authority

One of the areas in our Christian relationships that causes a lot of disharmony, dysfunction and hurt is the exercise of authority by leaders; those who think they are leaders and those who have a naturally dominant personality and lead whether we have made them a leader or not. This happens because we ignore the words of Jesus in Mk 10:42 where He compares worldly and Godly authority. But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them; Yet it shall not be so among you’ He shows us that there should be a clear discernible difference between the way authority would be exercised in the church by His children and the world around them. To understand and effectively use Godly authority it is essential to use the operating system of the new birth, energised by the Holy Spirit rather than import the ways of the world. Sadly many Christians have given up being involved in churches because of the abusive experiences they have had at the hands of those who have gained a position of authority over them and misused it. So let us ask the question, if we are not meant to exercise authority over each other like the world does how are we supposed to do it? We have to go back to Genesis to find the origin of our authority, what sort of authority it was, how we were supposed to use it and how it went wrong.

The Beginning of Authority

Gen ch1:26-28Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” tells us clearly what sort of authority we were given and the dominion over which it was to be used. It was to be used over the creation both living and material and exercised with love because we have been made in the image of a God who is love. This is demonstrated when Adam was given charge to look after the garden and name the animals. The bible says that whatever Adam called them that was their name. There was however an area left out of this dominion and that was each other. Adam was not under the dominion of Eve and Eve was not under the dominion of Adam. Adam and Eve were to jointly rule the creation in love carefully looking after it so that it would prosper and provide Adam’s race with everything they needed for their natural well-being. A careful study of the creation of Adam and Eve shows us that the relationship that God intended man and woman to have was that they would be equal before God and equal in each other’s eyes. Adam’s position as head of creation did not put Eve into an inferior position. Ruling over the earth was a joint venture. When God made Adam he was originally male and female so when he needed a companion God gave him the perfect partner by making Adam’s female part into a separate being for she was taken out of man. They were created to live in a beautiful supportive harmony with each other in the joint operation of maintaining the earth. Men and women were made to create harmony from their gender differences not conduct a war over them. In the whole Bible there is no evidence that God intended people of any gender to dominate each other. This challenges us to consider how authority can operate without dominating each other and forcing their obedience with threat of punishment.

The Result of Sin

I believe that when man fell into sin the way events happened also became part of the fallen nature that we have inherited from that event. The fall happened because the woman took an initiative that wasn’t hers to take and the man let her when he should have been active in stopping her. Both acted in complete contradiction to the partnership God intended. The result is found in Gen 3:12-15The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”. Man and woman now turned their ability to have dominion onto each other and as we chart man’s history down to the present day we can see that it is all about war. People fighting people to selfishly meet their own needs by supremacy of position, whether individuals or nations has been the cause of most of the misery that has inflicted the human race since that fateful day in the garden.

The Victory of Christ

The promise that God gave in the garden was that He would send someone who would conquer the devil and redeem mankind. Thousands of years later when the time was ripe Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, came and purchased that salvation. His victory was complete and we can avail ourselves of that victory by a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. We have heard a lot of teaching about our dominion over the devil but little about our regained dominion over creation. When Jesus was dealing with the material creation He commanded and it obeyed Him; whether it was a part of a human body, the wind and the waves or a fig tree. If we are willing to receive it we can exercise a measure of authority over the creation once again because of Jesus’ victory. I know someone who was plagued by dogs chasing him when he went jogging. He has realised that his position in Christ has restored his authority over them so when they come snapping round his feet he chases them off. We have heard even less about the restoration of our use of authority in a godly way in our relationships both personal and corporate. We still seem to want to continue to exert dominion over each other just like the world does. It is true that we may not be as extreme as the world but the principles of worldly dominion are still alive and well on planet Christian and many Christians have got the scars to prove it.

Most Christian groups, whether church or para-church organisations have a chain of command little different from their worldly counterparts. As a result non Christain ‘experts’ in business management are brought in to give advice to Christian organisations on how to run their affairs and non-Christian philosophies of leadership are followed because the structures of Christian organisations are not really much different from worldly ones. That might be OK if Jesus had not said the words ‘it shall not be so amongst you’. An example of this is the current philosophy in leadership which says that a leader is a person of influence so if you think you are a leader look behind you and see who is following. We have here something that is true but has got little biblical foundation since several notable biblical leaders were not naturally people of influence. Moses, Gideon to name two obvious ones and Saul who was a natural leader made a complete mess of it. In today’s church there are those who are called into leadership and those who lead, they are not always the same. When He exercised authority, sometimes quite forcefully, we never find Jesus tearing a strip off someone, having a slanging match, losing His temper, having a fit of rage, laying the law down or ever acting the way we often act when we are putting someone in their place or sorting someone out. James clearly says in 1:20Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. that man’s anger does not produce the righteousness of God.

The Contrast of Worldly and Godly Authority

The world uses its authority to control people and keep them down and to say ‘no’ as many times as possible, whereas God uses His authority to say ‘yes’ as many times as He can. The world tells you what you can’t do while God tells you what you can do. You only need to take dominion over people who are rebels and since unsaved people are all self-centered they do not easily do as they are told so right has to be enforced. Military and police authority are good examples of the necessity of taking dominion over people’s natural rebelliousness in order to protect the innocent, which is an acceptable necessity in a sinful world. As Christians we are supposed to have died to that sort of rebelliousness when we were saved so no one should need to be protected from us by dominating authority and law. After the list of the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5:23 it says ‘against such there is no law’ which means that if we are living as Christians should live and manifesting this fruit we do not need our behaviour controlled by law. Since the source of our life is Divine Love we will not do anybody any harm. Love controls our behavior not law and love doesn’t need to be enforced. One of the reasons why Jesus never sinned against anybody was because His behaviour was under the dominion of His love. Having authority without dominion over someone is a concept of authority that is very difficult to comprehend because we are so saturated with the fallen concept of the use of authority.

Biblical Authority

The use of authority in the world is hierarchical, that is, it is from the top down like a chain of command. Unfortunately whenever we see an authority structure in the Bible we lay on it a vertical hierarchy.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit
God, Husband, Wife, Children
God, Elders, Deacon, Members, Non-members

In the Godhead there is no hierarchical authority. The Father does not order the Son to do something and the Holy Spirit is not at the end of the chain of command being ordered around by the Father and the Son. Firstly they are all perfectly equal and secondly they are all in perfect submission to each other so the authority structure within the Godhead is based on mutual submission. Each member is so committed to the others that no ‘ordering around’ is necessary. Each member of the Godhead lives only to fulfill the desires of the other members. Their attitude towards each other is like Isaiah’s response in Isa 6:8Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.”. On hearing the Godhead discussing the need to send someone on a mission to take a message to His people he eagerly offers to go without even being asked so there was no need to order him to go. Godly authority is based on mutual submission and if you study the New Testament you will always find authority described in terms of submission to, not dominion over. Eph 5:20-21[/tootip] and In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”1 Peter 5:5And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. tells us to be submitted to each other. Rom 13:1Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. tells us to live in submission to the authorities God has placed in society. Heb 13:17Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit. tells congregations to be in submission to their God appointed leaders rather than telling the leaders to dominate their flocks. Biblical authority among people is something that is given and received on the basis of respect and honour not enforced by command. The respect and honour is first for God and then for the people God has placed into positions in His church. Eph 4:11-16Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. shows us clearly that it is Jesus who places people in positions of leadership and the criteria is gifting not influence. Their purpose is to produce harmony by the power of mutual submission. Godly authority is something that is given rather than taken so those who have authority over me have it because I have acknowledged the position God has put them in and I willingly give them authority over me out of my submission to Jesus. Lack of a submissive attitude towards God is revealed by a lack of submission to the leaders He has appointed. We start the Christian life by submission when we make Jesus our Lord. By that act we place ourselves in submission to His Word which clearly places us in the corporate submissive structure of His church.

An example of this in my life was when my pastor asked me to do an Alfa course. As the time drew near to start the course other events in the life of the church made it clear to me that it was not the right time to do the course. Instead of just telling the elders and pastor that we shouldn’t do it and if they insisted on going ahead I wouldn’t do it I explained to them why I thought it was the wrong time. However I added that if they insisted it be done I would do it. I left them to make the decision because they had charge over the church. I made it clear that I would abide by their decision whatever it was because they were God’s appointed leaders. I trusted them to be willing to consider my reasons. They came back to me a week later and told me they had accepted that I was right concerning my understanding of the current circumstances so we deferred the course to a later time. My attitude of submission to their leadership made the way for what I believed was the Lord’s will for the church at that time. This is an example of how a member/leadership problem can be solved by mutual submission and the Lord’s will be done. This is also true of our relationship with God; if we want to benefit from God using His absolute sovereignty to order our lives we must willingly agree to be submitted to it. There is only one area where we are encouraged to take full dominion and that is over the devil and his works but even that can only be achieved when we are in submission to God. Jam 4 v 7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

There is a place for taking authority over Christians who are rebellious. Paul gives us an example of this in his letters to the Corinthians concerning the man committing sexual immorality. This sort of dominion is only to be taken by those firmly submitted to God’s authority over them, not from someone who just wants to rule the roost. The sinful use of authority meets out punishment to those who disobey whereas the Godly use of authority releases forgiveness and restoration with discipline to those who disobey. What we have been saying is that our ability to exercise divine authority comes from our mutual submission to each other. Using authority like fallen man uses it is an effective block to developing our harmony. This is because fallen authority is focused on controlling people to force them into becoming who they are meant to be whereas Godly authority is focused on releasing people to be who they are meant to be. This can be seen clearly in the life of Jesus contrasted with the life of the religious leaders of His day. If you want to know how to deal with someone who is misusing their authority over you then let the Holy Spirit show you as you read how David dealt with king Saul. 1 Sam 24. Notice particularly in this passage that although David confronts Saul with the error of his ways he does it showing a deep respect for the position Saul was still occupying. There was no campaign mounted to oust Saul in the way we gang together to remove a leader we have decided should go. David waited patiently many years before the crown that was rightfully his was placed on his head.