Walk

311. Authority

 

One of Satan’s most invisible and successful schemes is to convince you that you can be independent from authority.

Watchman Nee said, “Wherever there is a person [or a church] on earth that truly obeys authority, there is the testimony of the Kingdom, and there Satan is defeated!”

Obedience to authority is what is taking you to Heaven.  Romans 5:19 (KJV) says, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous.”


 


 

 

Have you ever felt like saying “Quit telling me what to do”? 

What does God think about this attitude?

We may have the great assurance that your life is in the hands of your loving God during your journey on this earth.  However, that assurance is conditioned upon making Jesus Lord, making Him your Shepherd, making Him your “boss.” That means totally and completely submitting to Him, to His Word and to His Spirit, as your authority, as well as submitting to the authorities He appoints over you. 

 “And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 28:2).

 

Blessings for obedience. 

There are many Christians who are going to Heaven, but are not living under a full protection while they are here on earth.  If we hang on to any selfish or rebellious attitudes, we are open game for the enemy.

Jesus warned us that in these “end times” life would be harder.  Satan will attack any little bit of rebellion.  He is running an all-out campaign to look for people who have not forsaken all to follow Jesus.  In the last days, people will be lovers of self.  2 Timothy 3:2 says, “For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy.”

Even the elect will be deceived.  Mark 13:22 says, “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”  The Bible foresees that even believers in Jesus would be deceived and backslide and get into trouble.

“Adam, where are you?” Why do you think God asked this question of Adam, right after Adam’s rebellion?  Is there some significance in this that we can learn from?  Do you think that Adam was in the habit of running to meet God?  Do you think that his morning started with, “Hey Eve, lets go check out the Tree of Life (Word of God) to see what the Boss wants?”  Do you suppose that part of Adam’s rebellion was not running to God to find out what He needed that day? 

 

Spiritual light is equal to your obedience. 

Perhaps you would desire to have more personal revelation from God as you read the Word and fellowship with the Holy Spirit.  “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority” (John 7:17).  If you are having difficulty hearing from God, go back to the last prompting of obedience He gave to you.  Obey that quickly and you will see the windows of Heaven open.  Be willing to “do His will,” or in other words, obey Him.  Likewise, you must obey your delegated earthly authorities in order to have light from God.  God alone deserves our unqualified obedience.  Submission to delegated authority is always qualified.

 

Why is this so?

If your earthly father (provided he is godly) asks you do to something, and you quickly obey him, his first reaction is to provide for you, to take care of your needs.  It is the same with our Heavenly Father.  However, the way He provides for your needs is different.  He provides by giving you ‘rhema,’ or revelation knowledge in His Word.  That plants the seed in your heart that gives you all that you need in every area of life.

Jesus often delegates people to represent Him with His authority.  This can be our business leaders, employers, pastors, and even government authorities.  We are to obey the laws of the land as long as these laws do not violate the Word of the Lord.  See Acts 5:29 for the “Peter Principle.”  “But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: ‘We ought to obey God rather than men’” (Acts 5:29).

 

There is a principle of authority in Matthew 20.

There is a false concept that to be in submission means to be inferior.

What is authority?  It is so misunderstood.  The world says that authority is controlling someone.  Jesus says that authority is becoming obligated to take care of someone. 

Matthew 20:25-28 says, “But Jesus called them to Himself and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.’”

The Law of Authority.  Like the law of gravity or lift are natural laws, or like the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus is a spiritual law, there is a spiritual law that has to do with authority.  Briefly if goes like this: The one who submits to an authority figure will receive his blessings and curses.  That includes care, support, or lack of it, depending upon the personality of the one submitted to.  The flip side of this is that the authority figure cannot care for a person if they are not submitted to him.  If one tries to care for another without that other person being submitted, the authority figure will ultimately be destroyed.  I have personal experience with both sides and I can testify that this law works!

 

In Matthew 8, the Centurion was under authority. 

Why did Jesus get so excited with the Centurion in Matthew chapter 8 when he said, “Just say the Word and my servant shall be healed?  I am a man under authority and I have authority over others” (Matthew 8:8-10).  The Word says that Jesus marveled and said to His disciples that He had never seen so great faith, not even in the covenant people of Israel.  His servant was healed in the same hour.  What do faith and authority have in common; are they connected?  Faith cannot exist without authority.  Faith without works is dead.

These people were blessed by obeying authority.

2 Kings 5:1 - The Syrian General’s healing.  The Syrian General tried to use his authority over Elisha to get his needs met (2 Kings 4).  He wanted to be the boss and call the shots.  But when he submitted to authority he got healed from a fatal disease, leprosy.

In 1 Kings 17:9, the widow submitted to Elijah, and instead of starving they were both fed supernaturally for a year.  Later, when her son died, he was raised back to life.  She got blessings for obedience.

I have personally been blessed beyond measure in the business world by “graduating God’s school of authority” after eight long years.  I had not been raised as a child with clear authority ideas.  Therefore, after I met Jesus, He saw fit to enroll me in His own “authority school.”  I can tell you that prompt and dedicated obedience to delegated authority will bring blessings that no human can reproduce!

 

When we obey God, we receive authority. 

In the parable of the minas (pounds) in Luke 19, the master came back to see if they had been obedient. He gave the obedient servants more authority.

 

There is bad authority. 

Satan dominates and exercises his own will.  In Isaiah 14, it describes Satan as saying, “I will ascend to heaven.  I will exalt myself and my throne.  I will make myself like God” (Isaiah 14:13-14).

You will automatically come under bad or evil authority if you do not submit to godly authority.  This is a fact and part of the law.  I have experienced this myself prior to meeting the Lord, and I have seen multitudes of people reap this bad fruit.  I have seen so many young men who did not submit to God and godly authorities and have gotten totally under the control of a controlling and manipulative woman.  I have seen the same with rebellious women.

The opposite of good authority is witchcraft. 

Exercising your own will leads to dominating others.  Where people take control over other people, or where demons take control of people, is considered witchcraft and it leads to demonic control.

Rebellion is witchcraft.  God, through Samuel, told King Saul to completely wipe out the enemy.  He did not.  Instead he allowed his people to take some of the good things, the oxen and sheep.  Read the story in I Samuel 15:3, 8-23.

God became angry. “So Samuel said: ‘Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king’” (1 Samuel 15:22-23).

Saul had not been a “bad guy.”  David was a “bad guy.”  He had been in real trouble with adultery and murder.  But David knew about authority and obedience.  When David repented, he was quick to obey.  Before David became king, Saul was still king, but David had already been chosen by God to succeed him.  Saul was jealous and tried to kill David.  Not one time did David try to exercise his authority, but instead he recognized Saul as his authority, his king.  He kept this position until God was ready to raise him to be a king.

 

There was a King who completely obeyed the voice of God. 

If anybody had the right to be His own boss it was Jesus, yet He dared not make a move independent of His Father.

Jesus – our King.  Hebrews 5:8 says, “…though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.”  Hebrews 2:18 says, “For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.” John 5:19 says, “Then Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.”

And finally, in the Garden of Gethsemane just before Jesus’ crucifixion Matthew 26:42 says, “Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.”

 

Delegated authorities.

God appoints authorities to take His place in our lives from time to time.  Failure to recognize God’s authority in another person is one of man’s biggest failures and one of Satan’s best weapons.  You should not expect to enjoy God’s blessings if you have not done all you can do to submit to Him and His delegated authorities.

Your job is not to sit back and wait for Him to grab you, but your job is to pursue Him as hard as you can to find out what you can do.  This is the only safe way to live.

This is a principal of authority and submission to God, to His Word, to the Lordship of Jesus.  We must pursue Him.  The centurion pursued, the general pursued.  James 4:7 tells us to “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

If you send an older son down to the neighbor’s house after the younger son, you would say to him,  “Go tell your younger brother that I said for him to come home right now.”  You have made the older son a delegated authority.  You have sent him in your name.  He carries all the authority that is yours, in your name.  For the younger son to not obey would be rebellion against you, not his older brother.

In the same way, God appoints delegated authorities in our lives, and when we do not recognize and obey them, we are not rebelling against them but against God!  This is a serious matter, as rebellion is the most serious sin!  We need to develop a fear of God in this issue.

Some examples of delegated authorities are parents (for children), husbands (if they are submitted to God), pastors, teachers, police, civil authorities, employers, and others.

For churches it is their denomination.  If a church speaks against its denomination, it is under a curse.  It should either get lined up with its authority or leave it. 

Some examples.

Miriam and Aaron.

One of the Old Testament examples is a story described in Numbers 12, when Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses.  Numbers 12:1-3 says, “Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian (Cushitic) woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman.  So they said, ‘Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?’  And the LORD heard it.  (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth).” 

Notice, they spoke words of rebellion against God’s appointed leader. Moses did not defend his authority but allowed God to deal with it.

“Then the LORD came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both went forward. Then He said, ‘Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?’ So the anger of the LORD was aroused against them, and He departed” (Numbers 12:5-9).

The statement to be observed is, “‘Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?’ So the anger of the LORD was aroused against them, and He departed. And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper” (Numbers 12:8b-10).  The penalty was serious!

Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

Again, in Numbers 16, we read the story about the rebellion of Korah with Dathan and Abiram and the 250 leaders (well known men of distinction) against Moses.  The earth opened up and swallowed them alive, them and their households. 

Numbers 16:30-33 says, “‘But if the LORD creates a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the LORD.’  Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods.  So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly.”

Rebellion against delegated authority is a serious matter with God.  On the other hand, we should make sure that the person is indeed a God appointed authority and not simply a self-appointed authority who is trying to manipulate us.  Only close fellowship with God and an honest heart can keep us safe on this issue.

 

An Authority Check-up.

Making a promise, or giving your word to someone.  When you promise something, you are giving authority to that person.  They have a right to expect you do what you said.  People who do not live up to their word usually cannot believe God’s Word.

Telling someone else all about yourself.  In John 2:24 it says that Jesus did not commit himself to them because he knew all men.  When we tell someone all about ourselves, we give them a form of authority over us.  That is why Jesus desires us to pour our hearts out to Him.  Who are you pouring your heart out to?  We need to be careful.  We need to pour our hearts out to our proper authority and hold back from improper authority.  When you pour your heart out, you are giving authority to someone.

Many people who are rebellious and do not want God as their authority end up pouring their heart out to people of the world, or even worse, people who are influenced by demons, and they become slaves and captives.

Going out of your way to find out what is expected of you.  This can be at home or work.  With God it means picking up the Word and pressing into His presence; going to church and staying around Christian fellowship.

Do you respect other’s rights and freedom?  Trying to control others is a misuse of authority.  How about misusing other people’s property?

Do you obey the civil laws?  How about rules at school, work and home, even when no one is looking?  What about cheating? 

What about avoiding responsibilities at home or work? 

How about performing the vows to your spouse, and respecting their authority?

Do you properly use the authority that God has entrusted to you?

Do you take care of your possessions, your children, and your wife/husband?  Do you bully them around, waste things, or do you care for that which God has given to you?

What about the people God has used in your life as providers for you? Like parents, employers, teachers, relatives, husbands?  Do you honor and respect them?  If they have provided for you in some way, chances are they are or have been God appointed authorities.  The greatest thing an authority figure can do for you is to provide for you.

 

Do you want God to be real to you? 

He promised to be real if you obey Him. 

John 14:21-24 (Amplified Bible) says, “The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me, and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him. [I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him].  Judas, not Iscariot, asked Him,  ‘Lord, how is it that You will reveal Yourself [make Yourself real] to us and not to the world?’  Jesus answered, ‘If a person [really] loves Me, he will keep My word [obey My teaching]; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home (abode, special dwelling place) with him.  Anyone who does not [really] love Me does not observe and obey My teaching.  And the teaching which you hear and heed is not Mine, but [comes] from the Father Who sent Me.’”

And finally, Matthew 7:21 says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”

 

Some New Testament Scriptures to study.

 

Romans 1:5 says,

“Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name.”

 

Romans 5:19 says,

“For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”

 

Romans 6:16 says,

“Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?”

 

Romans 16:19 says,

“For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil.”

 

Romans 16:26 says,

“but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith.”

 

2 Corinthians 7:15 says,

“And his affections are greater for you as he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him.”

 

2 Corinthians 9:13 says,

“while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men.”

 

2 Corinthians 10:5 says,

“casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

 

2 Corinthians 10:6 says,

“and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.”

 

Philemon 1:21 says,

“Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.”

 

Hebrews 5:8 says,

“though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.”

 

1 Peter 1:2 says,

“elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.”

 

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