The other night I watched the Miami Heat basketball team. It was a close game and in the final minutes, the coach called a time-out to plan the strategy for the last few seconds of the game. As the players gathered around the coach, the players didn’t talk. No player said what he wanted to do. Only the coach spoke. The coach scripted the final play as the players listened. Then, the players ran the play exactly as the coach designed it. The coach called the shot and the players executed the play and scored at the buzzer, winning the game.
The question is: who has the authority to call the shots in your life? Who is designing your life? Are you telling God what to do or are you listening to him?
I saw a bumper sticker that said, “Question Authority.” In other words, question anyone’s right to tell you what to do: question the authority of your boss, your parents, your teacher and even the government.
The phrase, “Question Authority,” sums up the mood in the country. One writer said, “Americans are angry. Americans don’t want to do what anyone tells them to do and they don’t want to follow any leader.”
Chuck Swindoll said, “We live in a world hell-bent on having its own way. We live in a talk-back, fight-back, get-even world where people are resisting any and every authority.”
Nobody wants someone telling him what to do. It starts when we are very young children, continues in school, surfaces in the market place and raises its ugly head in churches. Authority is one of the sensitive issues of life that we all resist. Authority is a politically incorrect word for many, but it’s necessary if our society is to survive.
1. UNDERSTAND AUTHORITY
Can you imagine the gold medal hockey game of the Olympics being played without a referee? There needs to be a final authority on the ice to settle disputes. Can you imagine the anarchy that would happen if there were no police to enforce the law? In a company, someone must be at the top giving direction and managing the operation. Without authority, nothing would get done. Authority is a good thing. Authority provides an ordered, predictable and safe society.
Without a structure of authority, our world would be in an even greater mess than it is. There would be confusion and chaos. Someone has to be in charge. Someone has to say, “This is the direction we’re going,” and the rest of the people need to follow. We can’t live reasonably without authority. We need authority in our homes, our communities, at work and in the church.
God has established a system of authority that affects every area of life. Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. (Romans 13:1). Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors. (1 Peter 2:13).
All areas of authority are related. When there’s a problem with authority in one area, it will surface in all areas of your life. We all struggle with authority. It surfaces in many areas of life. One teacher said, “The teachers are now afraid of the principals, the principals are afraid of the superintendents, the superintendents are afraid of the school boards, the school boards are afraid of the parents and the parents are afraid of the children. And the children? They aren’t afraid of anybody!”
The authority problem is obvious. There is no one who hasn’t struggled with authority. However, when authority breaks down, there is chaos and a disruption of the social order. Society runs smoothly only when there is a functioning structure of authority.
2. RESPOND POSITIVELY TO AUTHORITY
There are really only two responses to authority: resistance or submission.
How do you respond to authority? Some reject all authority, some are intimidated by anyone in authority and some resist authority. People who resist authority, are seldom happy, frequently have deep emotional problems, usually have a poor self-image, have difficulty building friendships and rarely accomplish anything.
Often hidden behind resistance to authority are experiences that have shaped us. I know a woman who has great difficulty submitting to any male in authority. It’s true in her job, her marriage and it’s true in her church. No man can tell her what to do. I know the background. Her father was a tyrant who was abusive and dictatorial. As a result, she has difficulty with any male authority figure.
Many people rebel against authority. They say, “No one is going to tell me what to do.” Here’s what we need to understand. Just as God is the source of all authority, Satan is the author of all rebellion. The Devil (Lucifer) was cast out of heaven when he led an insurrection against God. Just as all authority is related to other authority, all rebellion is inter-related. If we resist authority in one area, we’ll resist authority in other areas of life.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king. (1 Samuel 15:23).
An evil man is bent only on rebellion. (Proverbs 17:11).
This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. (2 Peter 2:10).
Rebellion is the unwillingness to be ruled by anyone. Rebellion is contempt towards all authority. Rebellion is the core of Satan’s kingdom and it’s at the root of our sinful nature. If we permit rebellion to dominate us, it will infect our attitude toward all authority, including how we view God and the Bible.
Rebelling, at any level, is serious business. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. (Romans 13:2).
Rebelling is one way to respond to authority, but there’s another way, a better way. It’s the way of surrender and submission.
Submitting is one of the toughest things we do. It goes against human nature. One of the first words a child learns is “no.” The word, “no,” stays with us throughout life. Yet, the Bible teaches that submission is necessary in every area of life.
We’re to submit to governmental authorities, even if we don’t agree with them. Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities. (Romans 13:1).
There is to be submission in the home. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:21). Children obey (or, submit to) your parents in the Lord, for this is right. (Ephesians 6:1).
There is to be submission to authority in the workplace. Slaves, obey (or, submit to) your earthly masters with respect and fear and with sincerity of heart. (Ephesians 6:5).
There is to be submission in the church. Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden. (Hebrews 13:17).
We need people in positions of authority and we need to learn to submit to them, for without submission to authority, there’s chaos.
3. SURRENDER TO THE ULTIMATE AUTHORITY
Does God really have ultimate authority? This is a big question. Does God have the right to tell me what to do? Do I have to submit to God’s authority?
Well, the answer is an unquestioning “yes.” We do have to submit to God’s authority. This was Pharaoh’s problem hundreds of years ago in Egypt. Moses confronted Pharaoh and told him that God said, “Let my people go.” Pharaoh asked Moses, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him?” Moses told Pharaoh, “Just wait and God will show you who has the last word!”
Today, people react to God much the same way. They say, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him?” Friend, he’s God and we’re just men and women. He’s the Creator and we’re his creation. He’s the Judge who will have the final say. Some day we’re going to have to answer to him.
Let’s face it. We have an authority problem because we have a problem with God. God is the ultimate authority to whom we must all submit. He’s the key to all other authority. If we truly submit to God, submitting in the home, the market place and the church is easier.
Sin is a refusal to submit to God’s authority. Many years ago, an event took place that helps us understand this question of authority. The event involved a man, his wife and God. God created Adam out of the dust of the earth. Eve came from his rib cage to be his helper. God breathed into them the breath of life. God was the creator and in a position of authority. He had authority because of who he was and what he had done.
God exercised his authority. Adam and Eve were given complete freedom with just one limitation. They were not to eat the fruit of one particular tree and God expected obedience. He expected submission to his authority, but he gave them the freedom to choose.
You know the story. The devil came along and put doubts about God’s authority in the minds of Adam and Eve. The devil made them question God’s right to tell them what to do. Adam and Eve bought the devil’s lies. In effect, they said, “God has no right to tell us what to do. We can do whatever we want.”
Their sin was refusing to submit to God’s authority. They said, we’re going to do it our way; we don’t have to do it God’s way. Their sin was essentially a refusal to bend their wills to God’s will; their sin was a denial of God’s right to tell them what to do.
That’s still what sin is today. Sin is doing our own thing, instead of doing God’s thing. Sin is going our own way, rather than going God’s way. It is saying God doesn’t have the right to call the shots in my life but rather, “I’m going to run my life.” Sin is basically saying, “I refuse to submit to God’s authority.”
In fact, submission is the basic issue of life. It’s the most critical question in our confused world. Who is going to call the shots in my life? Am I going to do it or is God? The world says, “Do your own thing!” God says, “Do it my way!” The world says, “Follow the crowd!” Jesus says, “Follow me!”
Salvation is the choice to accept God’s authority.
The authority question is the issue that has to be answered in order to become a Christian. Becoming a Christian is an act of submitting to God’s authority. This is why Christianity is so tough. Becoming a believer is so much more than believing a statement of teachings. It’s surrender.
Salvation only comes when we submit to God’s authority and not before. When we acknowledge who he is, when we recognize his right over us and when we decide to let him call the shots in our lives, he becomes Lord and Master.
Submission is the only way to salvation. If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. (Mark 8:34-35).
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