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Comments on Authority
by Carol Balizet
Submission to proper authority is certainly one of the most important consideration in achieving a blessable life. God's word says that He establishes, honors and works through a divine pattern of order, and the most basic is: Christ is the head of the husband, the husband is the head of the wife, parents are the authority over children in the home. |
Something is wrong
It's patently obvious that something serious is wrong in America today. When a society bars Bibles from its schools but welcomes condoms; when nothing is considered illicit except smoking, eating fat and political incorrectness; when a policeman's first statement when arresting a criminal must be "You; have the right" instead of "You; had the responsibility" then we know there's something wrong somewhere! But these aren't the problem; these things are, at least in part, a result of the main problem. They're both symptoms of, and sequelae from, the problem. All those problems, and others, are a natural out-growth of a failure by parents to discipline their children.
Too simplistic? Not really, because undisciplined children grow into undisciplined adults - adults with no restraints, no moral bounds, without even the concept of self-control. They are anarchists, yielding to no authority, totally selfish. And today that's what most Americans are. Without Christ, we are all desperately wicked, and when we're raised without ever hearing the word "No;", never having been disciplined to lay down our own wills simply because it's the right thing to do, never exposed to the Ten Commandments, then there is no concept of right or wrong. We may be full of self-esteem, and we probably fit well into a society which is quick to claim its rights, and to seek compensation for every distressing situation. But there is no inner voice of conscience, saying "No;!"
Of course children aren't the only ones who need submission and discipline. Each one of us has a place in God's arrangement - almost always involving those to whom we submit and those who should submit to us. This is one of the keys to dominion, and it is a path our Lord walked during His incarnation. "Though; he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered..." (Hebrews 5:8) Our conformity to the Christ nature is dependant on, and enhanced by, our willingness to take our proper place in the order God has established. Without Christ, the world is full of lawlessness and chaos; just as it was in Genesis 1:2. This is the condition of the world, and the condition of each one of us individually, without Christ. "And; the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep..." (Genesis 1:2) Tohu and bohue; chaos and anarchy - the very opposite of the Sabbath rest. And this rest begins when we align with the Lord's "chain; of command".;
Authority - an overview
Submission to proper authority is certainly one of the most important consideration in achieving a blessable life. God's word says that He establishes, honors and works through a divine pattern of order, and the most basic is: Christ is the head of the husband, the husband is the head of the wife, parents are the authority over children in the home. No one, not a doctor, not in-laws, not a pastor, no one should supersede the husband's place. (Ephesians 5:23, Colossians 3:18, Ephesians 6:1) When this is not right, God is limited by disorder, and it's an open door for enemy attack.
Also, it robs us of authority with which to pray. Let me paraphrase what the Centurion told Jesus: "I; am a man under authority, and therefore I can exercise authority over those who are under me, telling one to come and one to go." Our ability to pray with effect is enhanced or diminished by our submission, or lack of submission, to proper authority.
In our ministry, we often found that failure to ally ourselves with God's design for order can produce - can actually cause - an improper position for the baby: a breech birth for example. If the husband (the head of the family) doesn't "come; first" (isn't in authority over the family) this can actually cause a breech birth. A breech birth is one in which the baby arrives foot, feet or bottom first. This means it's one in which the "head;", the baby's actual, physical head, doesn't "come; first".; It's a parallel of the authority structure. We check to see how the wife submits, too; these husband/wife roles equate to the relationship of Jesus and His Church, and as such are very important to the Lord. And then the children: in Scripture, they are commanded to obey, not merely submit, and if they're in rebellion, that spirit can work havoc in the delivery. Finally, we sometimes encounter what the Bible calls "a; house divided against itself".; We know from Scripture that this house will come to desolation; it cannot stand. (Matthew 12:25, Luke 11:17) This situation comes when there is actual controversy about who is the authority within that home. The couple is fighting for the reins of control. This is a "deal; breaker". if the situation isn't corrected, we won't attend the birth. Not in condemnation, just using wisdom.
Eliminating wrong authority
There's the other side of this coin of submission to authority. There's submitting to wrong authority, or submitting to proper authority incorrectly. Both are dangerous.
God established three different institutions for our benefit, and He makes it clear who's in dominion in each case. First is the family, which we've already discussed: husband, wife, in that order. (Modern feminism hasn't changed God's mind one whit.) Then there's secular government, with a "king;" in charge. That term might mean a mayor, a governor, a president; and of course it covers all the established "powers; that be" - like policemen. God has made us subject to the laws of man: "Submit; yourselves to every ordinance of man..." We are told to pray for those in authority, to honor them and obey them whenever that obedience does not violate the will of God.
Then there's the church. There are lots of different ways that church bodies establish authority. I don't intend to get into what I personally believe is ideal; for our purposes here, we will deal with what we have found is necessary in this area to be "blessable;".; At the local level, most church bodies - those which don't have an ecclesiastical hierarchy - are governed by a pastor. Some of these men have almost total authority (and this can go so far as to produce what is in reality a Pope - a supreme ruler). In most bodies, this leadership is girded and guarded and assisted by other men. These men are called variously elders, deacons, bishops. (Sometimes the leadership includes females, and that is a hot potato we don't need to touch right now.) And we can't discuss church government, even in a brief outline like this, without mentioning the five-fold ministers who are set within the body for our edification, instruction and correction. These men, in any number of different combinations and ways, are the leaders of the church.
Then there is the family. The primary authority there is the husband, and as I said before, no one supersedes him in authority for his own family. It is perfectly possible - and I think it is the proper balance - for a man to be the final authority in his own home as head of the family, and still be submitted to the leadership of the local church as a member of that body. We also believe he should also be a law-abiding citizen, submitted to governmental regulations in every area where secular law does not conflict with God's commandments. And he should submit to his superiors at work.
Under this reasoning, most of the men we deal with don't consider it necessary to get the "permission;" of the leadership of the church for things which pertain only to the family. While there is wisdom in a multitude of counselors - and certainly older men who are rooted and stable in the Lord are of great benefit to younger men - they are not the anointed head over the individual families. Lots of men are quite content to let the leaders of the church assume the leadership of their families; they may even have been told this is Scriptural. Or they don't want to hear from God for themselves. In Exodus 20:19, a group like this told Moses, "You; hear from God for us. We'll just listen to you." And that is the heart cry of "the; Laity".; They want some man to stand between them and God, always to hear and to interpret His word for them. Not merely to counsel and advise but to determine God's will for their lives. Often the man himself may want to surrender his headship over the family, and sometimes the leaders of the local body attempt to take control.
And either way, this mind set can sometimes present a problem. I don't want this to come across as an indictment of all Christian leaders, because of course that's not my intention. We can see that it's logical for men in leadership to believe that they're the most advanced and mature ones in the body, and often they are. But that doesn't mean that their voices are the only ones the sheep can hear. I call this attitude the "Pinnacle; of the Temple temptation".; It comes from an assumption that they're on the very highest level in the Church. They have arrived and there's nobody above and beyond them. Certainly they feel they have nothing to learn from the laity. They think, "If; God wanted to tell us anything, I'm the one God would talk to."
I don't say this with rancor; it's just the way things are. The guy figures he's the top of the heap for that body, and he is often uncomfortable with a fresh idea. After all, sheep are supposed to follow the shepherds, not follow other sheep to a place out in front of the shepherd, right? Well, we believe a balance is possible. It's right and proper to esteem the leadership of our local body, but that doesn't involve a blind, unquestioning yielding. This is not rebellion; it's recognizing when to, and when not to, yield our own wills to the will of other men. It requires hearing from God, because it can be a real delicately balanced thing. We must be submissive and humble, always teachable and submitted "one; to another", but we must obey God, always, no matter what any man says.
This can be a real dilemma because we can be influenced - and affected in the spirit - by the character and beliefs of those in authority over us. To give a fairly blunt example, if the leaders in your local body don't believe God can heal, your own likelihood of being healed is diminished. If his children are out of control, it may - it can - hinder your efforts to properly train and discipline your own. It is very difficult to grow beyond the authority over you. The Book says: "The disciple is not greater than his master"; he can't be, according to Scripture. (John 13:16) so the result of this can be a hindrance. To continue with the example of healing, this is how it usually is: if the man behind the pulpit doesn't believe in divine healing, it's hard for the man in the pew to get healed directly by God. We don't believe it's ever right to rise up against any lawful authority, but on the other hand if they start throwing javelins at you it's okay to leave.
Reclaiming surrendered authority
This subject is still another facet of the principle of authority and order, but it is so significant, and so seldom taught, that we want to make it a principle by itself. We are supposed to submit to proper authority; we are not to submit to improper authority. And certainly we must not give away the authority which God has put in our hands. Jesus tells us in Luke 10:19: "Behold;, I give you power over all power of the enemy..." and of course that's true, but often it doesn't seem true in experience. Many people find in praying about illness, poverty, unmet needs, enemy attacks - whatever - their prayers are without effect and apparently they have no power. Of course this can be because of sin, lack of faith, praying out of God's will, timing out of sync, lots of that kind of thing. But it can also be because they have given away their authority.
Many years ago, a young friend told me that God had spoken to him as he signed the "Consent; for Treatment" as he admitted his wife into the hospital: "You; have just signed away your priesthood".; I believed that and over the years I've told many young couples about it. It has only been in the past ten or fifteen years that I realized the all-important fact that the yielded authority doesn't just automatically return: you must re-claim it. When that young man signed away his priesthood to another, it remained with that other person, institution, system, group - at least in part - until he reclaimed it. Everything we do has an eternal component, because we are eternal beings. When we make a contract or covenant with another, God holds it in force until we ask Him to change it. (And sometimes even that won't change things. Remember Joshua's agreement with the Gibeonites in Joshua 9? That matter wasn't settled until the time of David. And the price of restoration was horrendous!) This principle is all through the Bible. God holds us to our word.
A family in our ministry had a very clear word from God about this. Their first born is a son, and he was fifteen years old at the time this subject was opened up to them. This boy was born in a hospital under the usual conditions of surrendered authority, drugs, technology and external control. Four years later they had a girl born at home. There seemed such a difference in the spiritual and emotional climates of their two children that they prayed to restore all that had been damaged in their son by the traumas of his birth. They covered the effects of the drugs, the fear and pain, the separation of the family, and each prayer seem to have a beneficial aftermath. Then the Lord told them to re-claim the authority they - specifically the father - had relinquished. They prayed a simple prayer, and it made a tremendous difference in their son. After fifteen years, with a submitted and unworldly child, this simple prayer for restitution of authority made a discernable difference.
Since then we have discovered many other ways we have surrendered our God-given stewardship. To schools, to counselors, to various Christian leaders, to camps, and over and over to the medical system, to day-care institutions and child care workers, to teams and choirs and groups. Each family must hear from God about when and where this surrender of authority is still working in a detrimental way against them.
Here's an example: a couple sent their ten year old daughter to "Asthma; Camp", signing over their child to the authority, decisions, beliefs, drugs, protocols and actions of the people who ran the camp. Then later, when this couple prayed for their daughter to be healed of an asthma attack, they no longer had sufficient power to see an effect. Much of their God-given authority over the enemy - asthma - had been given away. They no longer had "power; over all power of the enemy", because a portion of their power was still with the camp authorities.
In summary, let me state this principle simply: it is just as dangerous to submit to improper authority as it is to refuse to submit to proper authority. And much of what we are conditioned to consider proper, Godly, safe and beneficial authority is none of these things, but actually the exact opposite.
Jesus made it clear all through Scripture that He was totally submitted to the will of the authority over Him. After His encounter with the elders in the temple when He was twelve, He told Mary and Joseph, "I; must be about my Father's business".; But when they didn't release Him, He returned to Nazareth and was submitted to this earthly, human authority for eighteen more years! He was always totally obedient to His Father, and He sought the Father's will. He prayed for direction, He did only what He saw the Father do, and in the Garden of Gethsemane, He accepted that horrendous "cup;" simply because it was what the Father wanted. This is the Pattern Son; He obeyed, submitted and yielded. Our compliance to authority is not a new and strange thing to Him, but He does require it.
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