Understanding Authority and Order
God has called us to be a priest. Every one of us, if we have a relationship with God, is a priest. Intercession is a priestly role. But even those who are not called as an intercessor are still one of God's priests, if Jesus is their Lord and Savior. We know this because the word of God says it in I Peter 2:9: "For you are a chosen people, you are a kingdom of priests, God's holy nation, His very own possession. This is so that you can show others the goodness of God, for He has called you out of darkness into His wonderful light." So, we are a kingdom of priests. Revelation 1:6 affirms the same truth: "But He has made us a kingdom of priests to serve His God and Father. To Jesus Christ be the glory and power forever and ever. Amen." So, you are a priest.
We may have to change some of our concepts of what priests are and what they look like. Priests have a unique job because they stand between God and man, and the priest intercedes on behalf of man to God, but he also represents God to man. As a priest we simply reveal God to the world. So we are this "in between" this "go between" between God and the world. That is what a priest does.
God gives gifts to the church to help us walk out our priestly duties. It says in Ephesians 4:12 that the responsibility of church leaders is to equip God's people to do His work and to build up the Body of Christ. The call God has for our lives will include our priestly duties. Each of us is a priest.
In a previous lesson, we looked at the large things God is doing to give us an idea of what God is up too. When we begin to understand God's call on our lives, we don't start with the very specific things. We want to get down to the specific things, but we always start with the big things. We start with the large purposes of God because we know we have to stay within those parameters and we also look to see if any of these things are in us. Do we want to do any of these more than the other?
The truth is, if we feel God has called us to do something and it isn't within the parameters of those five purposes, then it wasn't God who spoke. So, we used the five purposes to set boundaries for us, but we need to begin to move a little bit closer, a little bit narrower to what God has called us to do. We're going to continue with that thought of the "big picture" and we're going to understand authority in God's order in the church, because as we begin to fulfill God's purpose for our lives there's going to be connection and relationship to the church and we want to have God's authority whenever we do whatever God has called us to do. I'm sure all of us would like to have that authority.
None of us would say we would like to do ministry and have no power and authority; we wouldn't sign up for that one. We'd say, "I want the power of God. I want the authority of God." How can we have God's authority whenever we're walking out the ministry and calling God has for our life?
We need to begin talking about the authority in the church and we need to understand what the church is, the church Christ died for, His bride. First, let's talk about what the church is not. The church is not a building! It's not an organization! Sometimes we think of it that way -- that's what we've been geared to. The church is not a building! It's not a location! The church is an organism. It's a body. It's the knitting together of individual parts to function as a body with Christ as the head. There's one sense in which the church is very universal in scope, but the church is always manifested locally.
The larger picture we'd call the "church universal" and that's simply the redeemed people of God throughout every age, the Body of Christ everywhere. If we traveled to India to meet with some believers there, there's a relationship that we have, a church relationship. But the universal is always manifested in local covenant relationships. The word "church" is used in the New Testament 116 times and two or three of those times it's simply talking about people getting together -- just the word "assembly." About 14 of those times it talks about the church as a whole, the "church universal." But most of the time when the word "church" is used to imply the universal church, it is in Ephesians chapter 5, which talks about the difference between Christ, the church, a husband and a wife. This passage compares the way Christ loves the church and the way a husband should love a wife.
However, most of the time that the word "church" is use in Scripture, it is talking about the local expression of people who are knitted together. So we give a working definition that the church is a body of believers who walk in covenant with each other to fulfill the purposes of God on earth. The characteristics of this church is that they are in covenant relationship with each other and they are different parts in their place fulfilling their function.
Whenever our parts are in their right place, our body works better. If our heart weren't in its place we would be in big trouble. If it decided, "Well I think I would like to take a trip down to the leg for a while," we'd be in major trouble because those arteries just don't stretch like that. So, this is the way the physical body is and this is the way the spiritual body is. So long as we know our part and place, the body functions well. Problems come when we get out of our place, out of that order, the body doesn't work too well and that's what we're talking about, finding our place in God's order, and the benefit of that is having authority.
When we look at the New Testament, we see Jesus has all authority. Matthew 28:18 says Jesus came to His disciples and He said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me." Jesus has all authority. He doesn't get it later. He has it now. All authority in heaven and on earth belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ.
But Christ chooses to give that authority to the church. Ephesians 1:22, 23 says, "He put all things in subjection under His feet and gave Him his head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who filled all and all." So, even though all authority is in Him, Christ manifests His authority to the church, through the people of God. The bible describes this kind of authority in Matthew 16 when Peter made the confession that, "Thou are the Christ, the son of the living God." Jesus said to Peter, "I can guarantee that on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not overpower it. I will give you the keys" (and that is talking about authority) "of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you imprison, God will imprison and whatever you set free, God will set free." That is quite a bit of authority! Whatever we bind is already bound; whatever we loose is already loosed.
Christ is giving that authority to the church. How do we have that authority? How can that authority be released in our lives? We see it laid out in the New Testament, in Acts. They understood New Testament authority. They were an organism, like an amoeba, because it's moving, it's fluid, not confined, it doesn't have a set parameter. Remember amoeba in high school biology? That amoeba still had a nucleus. It still had a head, an order, a system, but it was fluid and was moving and that describes the church. The church still had order, even though it was fluid, even though it was mobile, they had order in the house.
In our next lesson, we will look at how Jesus disperses His authority in His church.
God's Model of Authority In His Church
In Acts 1, Jesus is in His glorified, resurrected gave these final instructions: "That with the help of the Holy Spirit, Jesus told the apostles He had chosen what they should do." He gave them final instructions and He didn't give everyone instructions. He gave just a few people instructions. He didn't tell the entire church, and we know He'd met with more than 500 people after he was resurrected. Yet He met with His apostles, His delegated authority.
Moving on, in Acts 6, we can consider these men the very first deacons. They're not called that there, but they were called to a place of serving and we consider them that. They were chosen as the congregation found people who were servants and filled with the Holy Spirit, but who gave them the authority? In Acts 6:6, they put these men before the apostles who prayed and laid hands on them.
There came some persecution to the church after a little while. The reason? Because God told the church to disperse to spread the good news to the ends of the earth. They weren't doing a very good job of it, so God allowed some persecution and they began to disperse. Philip went up to Samaria and began winning everybody to Jesus. This was a new thing. The Jews had thought Samaritans, who were part Jews, could not be saved. But Acts 8:14 shows that when the apostles back in Jerusalem heard the people of Samaria had accepted God's message, they sent Peter and John there. Whom did they send? Authority! They went to check it out and more power was released when they got there. A minimal amount of power was released until the delegated authority got there.
Paul got saved and Barnabus, it says in Acts 9:27, "brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus." And Barnabus also told them what the Lord had said to Saul and how he boldly preached in the name of Jesus in Damascus. So, when he brought him back into Jerusalem, whom did he bring him to? Who had the say and sanction that it is OK? Who was able to discern whether or not he made a genuine conversion instead of being a wolf in sheep's clothing? Who was able to discern that? Who did they bring him to? They brought him to the authority.
When the Gentiles got saved, the Jews struggled over that. Peter met Cornelius in Acts 10 and 11. And the Jews asked, "Can these Gentiles really become saved?" Peter talked to them and it kept brewing. Sometimes everybody seems to be OK with something and all of a sudden, like a year or two later, it all blows up and we wonder, where did that come from? In a similar manner, the church wasn't settled with these conversions. It had to be settled. Acts 15, "And when they arrived at Jerusalem they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders and they reported all that God had done with them and the apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter." The delegated authority made the decisions and covered it.
When people were sent out, who sent them out? Acts 15:22, "Then it seemed good to all of the apostles and the elders and the whole church to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabus, Judas called Barsabbas and Silas, leading men among the believers." In Acts 15 and in Acts 13 we find that the church sent people out. No one just got a wild idea and jumped out there. Everybody was connected and under authority. Even Paul was always connected and coming back. Silas was connected and coming back. Philip was connected and coming back. Everybody who went out always had a relationship and was submitting to authority. Acts 16:4, "Now while they were passing through the cities they were delivering the decrees that had been decided on by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem for them to observe."
Look at the pattern. God has put authorities in our lives. Some of us don't like the authorities who are there, but it doesn't matter because God put them there. When we submit to these authorities, we're submitting to God. The government is one of these authorities. Romans 13: 1 and 2 says, "All of you must yield to the government rulers." No one rules unless God has given him the power to rule. So those who are against the government are really against what God has commanded and they'll bring punishment on themselves. What government are we talking about? Does the name of this book this came from give any clue? The authority he was talking about was the Roman Government. Now, the Roman government wasn't nice to Christians; it would burn them and kill them. And yet He said to submit to them. I Peter 2:13, "Submit yourselves, for the Lord's sake, to every human institution." Notice the phrase every "human institution" -- some people bypass these words.
"Whether to a king as to one who is in authority." This says when we submit to authority, we're submitting to God. When we rebel against authority, we're rebelling against God. Now, there may come a time that our authority or government may ask us to do something that violates the laws of God. If God gave the authority to the government that means God's authority is always higher than the government's.
Whenever the two are in conflict we always obey God. It's that simple. When Peter and John were before the Sanhedrin and the Sanhedrin said, "No longer are you to preach in the name of Jesus," they were authority. The apostles said, "We'd like to oblige you in every way we can, but we can't do that. We're going to preach in the name of Jesus because He has compelled us to." But the rule is you obey the government when we can unless there's a conflict between what the government tells you to do and what God tells you to do. We always obey God because He's the highest authority.
There's authority in the church. The Bible says, "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you." The weight we bear increases as we move into leadership. Talk to people in leadership and they will say the same thing. Where there's responsibility, there's accountability. James 3:1 says, "Let not many of you become teachers for you will incur a stricter judgment." We have higher accountability. There's a greater accountability before God.
There's authority in the home. In Ephesians 6:1 it says, "Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right." Colossians 3:18 says, "Wives yield to the authority of your husbands because this is the right thing to do in the Lord."
God establishes order. He establishes His order and when His order is intact there's authority released. Why does God do this? What are the purposes of God's order of authority? When we're under authority, we're in the flow of power. Jesus very clearly illustrates this with the talk He had with the centurion. In Matthew 8:5, "when Jesus arrived in Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with Him, 'Lord, my young servant lies in bed paralyzed and wracked with pain.' Jesus said, 'I will come and heal him,' and the officer said, 'Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my house, just say the word from where you are and my servant will be healed. I know because I am under the authority of my superior officers and I have authority over my soldiers. I need only to say go and they go. Come and they come. If I say to my slaves do this or that, they do it,' and when Jesus heard this He was amazed. Turning to the crowd He said, 'I tell you the truth. I haven't seen faith like this in all the land of Israel.' " The man understood authority. He said, "I am under authority when I submit to my leaders." He really had the authority of the Roman Empire -- Caesar. He represented that and he said, "Because I am under authority, I have authority."
So long as we are under authority, there's a flow of power. It's like a piece of pipe that isn't in the flow, but bring it underneath and it's in the flow. Authority is in the flow. When we submit to authority we are in the flow; when we get out of the flow, there's no authority, there's no power. There's a measure of it, but it's not the full measure we could be experiencing. It's very limited.
Being under authority also means we have an umbrella of protection. Romans 13:3 and 4 says whenever we're obeying and submitting to the government there's a protection about us. There's a spiritual covering, a spiritual protection. So long as we're under the umbrella, we're covered. We're protected and whatever is falling won't touch us. But, if we're out from under the umbrella everything is falling upon us. When people get out from under authority they start going away and we're running after them trying to cover them. This is a lot of work, so we don't do a whole lot of it. As much as we like to give covering to everybody, it just doesn't work. So people who submit to authority get covered and protection.
There's covering and there's protection. In the Old Testament, there were elders stationed at the gates. There were watchmen stationed upon the walls. And spiritually, the watchmen were people who prayed and interceded. But those at the gates were the authority. They knew who was in the city and who wasn't in the city. They guarded the city; they protected the city. There was a protection there. There is a protection God wants to give us. But, if we are going to be running from under the umbrella, we are going to get rained on. All of a sudden all of this stuff is going to start falling upon our head and we're going to wonder, "What is going on?" It is because we don't have any covering or it is very limited. A lot of times we are not earnestly submitting to authority and covering and that makes us easy prey. The devil is looking for people who don't have covering, so he can take them out.
Things That Oppose God's Order
God uses authority to give direction. God will use authority to speak into our life and give direction. Now remember, each of us is a priest. That means we can hear from God. We don't have to go through authority to hear God -- that is the good news. We have direct connection. But God will use authority to speak into our life to give direction and to confirm things God has called us to do.
Any time God has called us to do something it always bears witness with two or three people. He will use that covering or protection to affirm that. We must learn how to submit to authority. For a lot of people the word "submit" is a dirty word. Yet, submitting is simply yielding. We're not talking about dictatorship, blind obedience or slavery. God has an established order and we're going to yield to that order. Whenever we yield to God's order then we're putting ourselves in a place to be released in power and authority. When we stand in that place then we're getting released in it.
One of the things that will oppose God's order and authority is the desire to control. The Lord made us with a need or desire to rule. In Genesis 1:26, He gave man a job. He gave him authority over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, the animals of the land. But we want to get out of God's order. We want to rule where God did not call us to rule and because of that we have no authority.
We have to submit to God's order so we can be in God's flow. There is a spirit mentioned in I Kings and Revelation called the spirit of Jezebel. This spirit wants to control. It attaches itself to people, sometimes for a long period of time. It controls and dominates. Jezebel was a queen, but she wasn't a king and yet she ruled because she was married to Ahab, who was a puppet for her. She was the authority -- she controlled, she ruled, even though she did not have the headship.
The reason Jezebel didn't want to be king was because she wanted Ahab to take the hits while she controlled.
The role of the Jezebel spirit is simply to control and dominate and to get people out of order. So long as we are in order there is covering, there is protection and there is a flow of power. The devil is going to try to mess that up. He is going to try to get people out from under their authority. That is why He creates a rebellious spirit in people. Whenever people begin to rebel, they are rebelling against authority and the devil says, "I got them because they are not in a place of authority. They are not in a place of protection. They are out there running alone and they are going to be easy for me to pick off because of that." God did put that desire to rule in us, but it needs to be within God's order.
Another thing that opposes God's order is a "misunderstanding." A misunderstanding that one's place in God's order is equal to importance. The main issue is never significance or value. The issue is always order. In God's order there is no prominence among the brethren. In God's order all are equal when we stand before the cross. Nobody is going to be higher than anybody else. But people begin to associate position and rank with significance, value and importance. In the Army there are generals and privates and most would say a general is more important than a private because there are more demands upon a general and he has to make more decisions.
But in God's Kingdom there is no distinction between generals and privates as far as value. They are different in function, but not in value. We think the more responsibility or the higher a rank a person has, the more important and significant he is, the more value he has. But that is the way of the world, not God. In God's standards the rank, the job or responsibilities do not matter. What matters is order, because in God's eyes everyone is the same. We are equal with anybody else.
In the home, it means, "Wives submit to your husbands." Does that mean wives are less important or have less value than husbands? No! "Children obey your parents." Does that mean children have less value? No! It doesn't mean that at all. That is the world's standard, but we don't live by the world's standards. We have God's standards.
We have to realize that our place and calling is very valuable and if we would just get in our place where God has called us, we will have authority and power. We have a measure of it because we have some things as an inheritance as a child of God, but the full release will not be there because we are not in the flow.
What happens when we are under authority -- in God's place and in God's order?
1. It frees us from the awful burden of always needing to get our own way. There is a lot of work in always getting and maintaining our own way. And there is a lot of work in making sure nobody else gets in the way so we can always have our own way. We are responsible for what God has put us in charge of in His order.
2. It frees us from responsibilities about matters God has placed someone else over. One reason there are church fights and splits is because people are taking charge of areas that God never gave them authority over. The church is a body and God gave people different responsibilities. Struggle comes when we try to take on responsibilities God has not given us.
3. It frees us from the terrible bondage of trying to make decisions without God's answer. God has a way of releasing and revealing His will in what He wants to do. Sometimes we don't have God's answer because God has chosen not to speak to us about that. God spoke to other people and sometimes we feel we also have to have an answer.
4. It provides protection and a covering. James 4:7 says, "Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you." We like the part about the devil fleeing, but we have to do the first part -- submitting to God. We submit to God by submitting to those the Lord has put over us. We get into our place in God's authority and we have authority.
5. The resources of heaven are released to us There are a lot of things God would like to flow in us, but we have to get into the flow. We have to be there and let it come and flow through. There are a lot of resources God would like to release to us, but He can't because we are not in the flow.
6. It releases us in authority. Remember the story of the centurion? We struggle with power. We say we want God's authority, power, protection and covering, but we get it when we line up in the flow. The devil will try to get us out of the flow through being offended, lack of self-esteem or significance -- by buying the devil's lie that rank equals significance and importance. But it does not. God is looking for people who will be obedient and submit. Whenever we submit, we will find we're free and there will be more power released to us than we have ever experienced. Some may say their covering makes a difference, that it isn't of God. But God didn't say our covering has to be holy. He said submit, and as we submit, without disobeying God, we will find protection and covering and God will compensate for it.
There may be some holes in our covering that God may allow the enemy to come through. But if we have a submissive heart, we will not believe how much God will cover and protect us and compensate. None of our coverings will ever be perfect. All of our coverings will fail.
Remember, whenever we submit, we're submitting to God. And when we submit to him, we're in the flow. Pressure is released. We don't have to be something we're not. We don't have to be something God has called somebody else to do. We can be who we are, what God has called us to be and we can walk in the full measure of His authority and power. The full measure is yours. Sometimes a woman will ask how she can submit to an unsaved, ungodly husband. Some of the most godly, powerful women don't have a super covering over them. They learned to submit to what God put over them. They didn't disobey God and God honored that.
Many bosses are not very godly, but we obey them unless it means to disobey God. If they ask us to steal, we don't steal. We still stand true to the things of God, but when we submit and yield we are in a position of authority.
In the church, God has established order so people can be released in authority. Are we in the flow? Do we have holes in our covering? Are we protected? Part of discerning our place in God's order will help us understand His call on our lives and if we want to know God's plan and call, then submit to the authorities God has placed in our lives. It is a place of humility and that God can use. God will trust the humble with power.
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