Don't Tell Me What to Do!!

The skinny on Authority. Are we drowning without it?  Authority - The power of or right to give orders, make decisions or give orders.  What is missing in the modern day church.  It could be authority.  In the course of an apathetic world that is spinning out of control, authority is just another symptom of a deep, deep problematic mindset.  In the core teachings of the Bible we as Christians have to bow to an authority to truly follow and be prepared for true, Holy Spirit filled living.  That authority is our Heavenly Father and He is a jealous God who wants our all and nothing less.  Ooops....That's where our world's beliefs and God's Word clash big time as we see on a daily basis.  Remember, when we admit, believe, and confess and become a follower of Jesus there is something huge that happens and that huge thing is CONTROL!!   Control- we give it up when we accept Jesus and surrender our life to His will and way, and receive eternal life in heaven.  Some may think this sounds like a robotic type of life, but it isn't at all.  We just surrender all our wants over to His way and truly give all our life over to His authority.  We are no longer free, but chained to his way of living.  It's all His. Paul wrote the church in Ephesus about his position as a disciple and it is very telling for all  who call on the name of Jesus.  Ephesians 6:18 [g]With all prayer and petition [h]pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view,[i]be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in [j]chains; that [k]in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.  EEarlier Paul writes about the "Armor of God" and the importance of having it on and using it. Even earlier in the chapter Paul addresses that children should follow their parents instruction, Fathers should not provoke their children to anger and bring them up in the discipline of the Lord, and then he even says slaves be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ, not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.  Hmmm, the heart.  I guess that's the same heart that Jesus is changing through our daily walk, and that heart is to become more like Jesus every day.  So authority is to be a way of life, and the one in authority is to be Christ-like in their implementation of that authority.  The one under the authority is to find their place in their submission and grow in that protection and direction.  But as with almost everything else, we are living in opposite world when it comes to authority.   If a man of God exerts his God given authority in most cases he will be asked "who do you think you are?"  If a husband tries to lead his wife and children as a person in authority, he will be burned at the stake,  Only if those who under his authority are not following the teachings of God's word.  The authority thing is a problem at the core of everything we know and do.  Parents try to get their children to follow their instruction and after the third try give up.  This should not be.  Husbands try to protect and lead their families in the right directions and they are accused of being abusive and mean.   This should not be.  Pastors and church leaders are ignored when they say "you committed to this, now please do it." This should not be.  BUT IT IS!!  In 2 Corinthians 10 Paul is writing to the church to address a problem that he has heard about.  The church there says he is bold in his writing and weak in his presentation when he is with them face to face.  He explains his attitude in being this way like this in 2 Cor. 10: Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent! 2 I ask that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, 6 and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.  Paul wanted them to just listen and do, don't fight the messenger, which really means they are fighting the message, but obey and move on.  I don't think leaders want to lord over others, so they don't follow through with their full authority.  We get more worried with people's impressions of us being servant-leaders and that we are not tre harsh in our efforts to get followers to do the right thing, so we come across as too passive when we should be firm and forthright.  Like Paul, it is easy for me to write this blog and not follow through face to face with people who may or may not even heed my words of leadership, but it doesn't lessen my authority because, whether I like it or not, that is given by God. Yes, by God!!  That's scary isn't it?  You should be on this side of it.  I relate to Paul's problem of being meek face to face in verse 1, but I can't relate to his standing strong and firm in telling those early Christians what to do and how to do it.  In today's world no one is listening, so there is very little following.  And the following is temporary and based on having the perfect conditions for doing it....which is impossible.  Marriages would not fall apart if Biblical authority was followed by both people.  In Ephesians 5:23 Paul wrote  For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the Body. I always explain away this verse by saying,   Well, Christ gave himself up for the church, so I should give my life for my wife.  All of that is true, but the authority doesn't lessen at all so it doesn't get me off the hook, or my wife.  Biblical authority is just that Biblical authority.  It either is or it isn't.  

So whatever authority you have been placed in that is Biblical authority should be exercised or you will lose it.  Then it is the choice of those who are to follow and those who are under that authority as to whether they will follow or not.  End of story.  In other words, someone stand up somewhere and do something because we are drowning here and there is no reason to be drowning.  The Lord has put everything in order and we are the ones putting the pieces in the wrong places, so the puzzle picture looks different than God intended.  How difficult will it be to assert this authority?  It will depend on the servant attitude and the Bible following attitude of those you are over.  And whoever you are under in authority.  Make this task easier by being more Godly in your approach to following.  All will go much better if you are living your life that way.

Hebrews 13:17 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 Pilgrimage continues...

David Warren

Time to Leave the Mountain

In the movie "The Hobbit, The Battle of the Five Armies" a key figure by the name of Thorin Oakenshield had reclaimed the mountain from the dragon Smaug.  The dragon had long held the mountain riches as his own.  ( and how was a dragon going to spend the gold?)  Anyway, as the dwarf king and his men took over the mountain, Thorin came down with a terrible sickness, Gold fever, resulting from greed.  It caused him to become very possessive of the gold in the mountain and selfishness followed close behind and changed him from who he was to this new sickening person.  The very thing he wanted to get back as his own took control of his life to the point that he wouldn't leave the mountain for fear someone would take control of it.  Soon after the dragon Smaug was defeated word got out and others came to the mountain hoping to get their riches from the depths of the mountain.  It's lure on their lives was like a huge magnet drawing them to go to battle for what was inside.  One such group, the elves, brought a great army to get their precious white stones from the mountain lair, but Thorin was so "eat up" with his sickness that he was determined to protect the treasure at all costs.  All the while the Orc army was gathering to defeat the dwarfs, and the elves, and the humans while they were arguing over the treasure in the mountain.  The deep desire to get the treasure inside the mountain distracted all the other armies and the Orcs caught them unaware and almost defeated them while they were transfixed by the lure of the mountain treasure.  Thankfully Thorin had a vision of the gold destroying him and he woke up and led his dwarf brothers to victory, along with the other armies.

What can we learn from this great story of the battle of good and evil?  First, Christians get distracted by shiny things.  You know we do!!  The next best, greatest thing comes down the road and we sacrifice all to get it.  And when we pursue it, we think we deserve it.  It's the shiny things in life that lead to the sickness of pride and selfishness.  We use statements like:  Have you heard the latest this, that, or the other?  If we haven't, we feel left out.....PRIDE.  Secondly, the sickness causes us to feel comfortable in our church and we don't want to let anyone else in.  We are so proud of our church "family" and "fellowship" and we will do anything we can to protect our community. SELFISHNESS The early church had a wonderful fellowship, but God allowed persecution on them to scatter them to other places so the Gospel would continue to be shared in all areas.  He wouldn't allow them to just live in the mountain and enjoy the riches of a closed fellowship. He broke down the barriers that kept them from sharing the Gospel.  We build walls to keep others out, even though we say we are reaching out to others.  We will never admit that the reason we don't  reach out is because we don't want others in.  The sickness of selfishness has caused us to exclude the field of souls and not include the field of souls.  Those walls are built as a defense against any who might come and take away my "position" in the church.  Thirdly, we are so busy trying to get "our" way and not consider others first, that the enemy, satan, comes in behind us and starts tearing us apart while we are distracted.  He is defeated, but we allow him entrance into our flank without watching out for him, and he is winning little battles against the church while we fight among ourselves.  All the while, those in the mountain, the church, are trying to protect it from outsiders who we think might upset our way of life and take away our precious standing.

It's time for all who have acquired the gold mountain sickness to look at the effect of that sickness on their life and wake up to the fact that we are losing too many battles because of distraction. We are no longer a place that is open to all to come in, but a place that has erected high walls of protection to keep a  lost and dying world at bay.  It's time to awaken from our sickened, selfish, prideful, attitudes and come out of the mountain (church building) and move forward in battle to defeat evil where it is.  The Orc leader orchestrated their attack from a high vantage point and he knew if they would just keep fighting among themselves he could defeat them, so he kept attacking at their weakness.  It wasn't until Thorin overcame his sickness and charged the hill that the Orc's started to fall.  It's time to leave the sanctuary of the mountain and charge the hill of the enemy and open the mountain (church) up for all who may want to enter in and allow the riches of God's grace and mercy to be experienced by all who come seeking.  When we do that our armies will be united in one purpose, living in peace and enjoying the victory that has already been won by Jesus Christ.  He is the warrior king and He has defeated all evil.  Our strength and power is found in Him alone, but we must advance forward in that power to win many more victories in people's lives.  We don't have five armies, we have one united army of saints who know what it takes to win battles.  Put on your battle raiment and we will see victory after victory.

The Pilgrimage continues...

David Warren