Purpose And Power Of Authority (27 page)

Human beings were both created and restored with the purpose of authority, which tells us that authority is God’s perfect will for us. I didn’t understand authority for many years, yet as I studied its principles, I began to appreciate that authority was the best thing God ever gave us, for many reasons. I have presented a number of those reasons in this book—authority gives us purpose, protection, fulfillment, motivation, a place in life, order, peace, and much more.

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.(2 Peter 1:3)

The more we learn about our inherent authority and exercise it in our lives, the more we come to understand how important it is in relation to God’s will for us.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.(Romans 12:2)

Each of us must submit to God and allow Him to unfold His purposes for our lives as we exercise personal authority. Focusing on what is happening in another person’s life rather than on what He has given us and how He is leading us will always pull us off track. Jesus’ disciple Peter started to do this, but Jesus’ response to him was, “You must follow me”:

[Jesus] said to [Peter], “Follow me!” Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”(John 21:19–22)

Principle eleven sheds additional light on principles one and two, which are that authority is general and authority is specific. Even though we all have general calls to authority in relation to creation and restoration, each of us must individually follow the Authorized Dealer as we obey the Word of God and follow the leading of the Spirit of God in order to fulfill the Manufacturer’s specific purposes for us.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.(2 Timothy 3:16–17)

[Jesus said,] “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”(John 16:12–15)

King Solomon wrote, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). There is a time for everything, and there will be a time for the mature administration of your personal authority.

The Scriptures say that when Jesus came to earth to fulfill His calling to restore human beings to their Creator, it was at just the right time:

But when the time had fully come [“the fullness of the time had come” nkjv], God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.(Galatians 4:4–5)

The timing of authority is a significant principle for us to keep in mind. We need to be sensitive to the ways in which God is working in our lives. We don’t fully know the amount and type of preparation we may need for the mature administration of our authority, but we do know that the Scriptures teach the importance of our training, testing, and incremental growth, which lead to maturity and usefulness for God. We therefore have to be continually preparing to exercise our authority by developing our character, gifts, and skills so that we will be ready when God opens doors of opportunity for us.

In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.(2 Timothy 2:20–21)

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? (Luke 16:10–12)

When those doors of opportunity open, you may find that you continually operate in your authority, or you may have periods when you pull back and regroup or rest before mobilizing again. But as you prepare yourself and your gifts, and as you stay connected to your Creator, you will know when it is time to get active and administer your authority. It will be for you “the fullness of time.”

Chapter Fourteen

Imagine that you live in a nation ruled by a harsh dictator. The government of your native country has controlled every aspect of your life for as long as you can remember, and you have now been assigned to a forced labor camp. Your soul is crying out for freedom, and, in desperation, you join with several others who have planned an escape from the camp. After successfully escaping, you arrange to be smuggled out of the country. You travel in a small boat across the ocean for weeks with little food and water in search of a better life in a country that gives rights to its citizens and also defends them. Finally, you reach its shores. Now, all you need is someone in a position of authority in that country to grant permission for you to enter and build a better life. You need legal status to live there.

Unexpectedly, you are greeted on the shores of the new country by your older brother! He had traversed the dangerous seas a few years before you, and he had been in contact with those who were smuggling people out of your native country. Knowing you were coming, he had already made arrangements for you to receive asylum in the new land.

Your brother now lives in a community with members of your extended family whom he also enabled to gain freedom, and who now help him free others, as well. You are overjoyed as you enter your new life in the company of a loving, supportive family.

Similarly, people across the world who are living under false authority in its various forms are like citizens of an oppressive nation. Jesus Christ is their “older Brother” who has gone ahead and prepared the way for them to enter a new country, the kingdom of God, which is characterized by peace, order, and freedom, and where every person’s value and significance are recognized. “Those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29).

When we have gained an understanding of genuine authority and have entered into its freedom, we become a part of our older Brother’s community in the kingdom of God on earth and can participate in helping to reestablish legitimate authority in the world. We are responsible for seeking to enable others to enter into a new way of life in which they can be free of the restrictions and abuse of false authority and can exercise their full personal authority in the context of their interactions and interrelationships with others. In this way, we are called to welcome people to a new “country.”

Let us look briefly at the oppressive “nation” that people need to be set free from, and then we will look at twelve keys for helping to release them from false authority.

The false authority that we experience in the world today is both a long-standing issue—stemming from our first parents’ abandonment of authority—and the result of a slow, steady erosion of authority during the twentieth century.

The principles established by the Creator have been recaptured and implemented in societies, to varying degrees, during periods of human history, and a hundred years ago, people had a much clearer understanding of true authority and a corresponding respect for it.

Nations and cultures were certainly not living according to the Creator’s principles in all aspects of life. There were numerous social ills and injustices in the previous hundred years, as there are today. Authority structures were misused by individuals who operated within them, resulting in forms of oppression and the abuse of human dignity through systems that reduced people to subhuman status, forced people into servitude, and robbed them of their freedom. The twentieth century may have been the bloodiest on record, with its wars, ethnic “cleansing,” and the annihilation of millions by dictators and tyrants.

I stand against any and all misuse of authority that abuses, dehumanizes, and destroys people. The purpose of this book is to help rescue authority from this dark history and from potential future abuses. As I wrote earlier, many people throughout the world have abandoned the concept of authority, partly as a result of these outrages and their consequences. Yet genuine authority is still our only hope for this planet. It therefore needs to be our focus and priority in rebuilding the broken lives and struggling nations of our world.

A Recognition of the Essence of Authority in Former Years

Even with the misuse and abuse of authority in the recent past, there was still among many people in various nations a general understanding and acceptance of the essence of true authority and its supporting structures in society, such as the family, the government, the church, and business. Historically, the established role of authority in these realms was much clearer, and there was therefore more order and harmony. For example, there were certain expectations and boundaries in regard to having children in the context of marriage and an agreement that the marital union should be esteemed and protected. People generally showed more respect for their leaders and coworkers on their jobs. Young people were taught to esteem the elderly, and a value was placed on age and wisdom. There was a respect for sacred institutions. More honor was given to those who contributed their lives to the development of society than to celebrities, those who are often just “famous for being famous.”

Community and governing institutions were also more respected. This respect for civic and public offices was held not only by citizens and constituents, but also by the ones who held the positions. For example, one didn’t hear as much about mayors, pastors, and other leaders getting into moral or ethical trouble, because they honored the trust they had been given by their positions.

Of course, there were exceptions to this general attitude toward authority by people who flaunted and abused their positions and got away with it because they were never caught or it was never made public. But as a general rule, people valued and respected the role of authority in their lives.

Dismissal of Authority in Contemporary Society

As we have seen, in today’s world, there is a general confusion about and dismissal of authority, and that ignorance about authority has led to disordered lives. For instance, fathers, mothers, and children aren’t incorporating the principles of authority into family life. As a result, many parents are abdicating their roles as the senior authority in the family, many husbands and wives are not sure who is responsible for what, and many children do not esteem their parents. Another outcome is that few parameters are taught to the children, so that children themselves are having children, and the offspring of these unauthorized parents are not prepared to pass along any clear concept of what authority looks like.

In the realm of government, scores of citizens have little respect for their national leaders or esteem for their national symbols. Self-serving “politicians,” rather than statesmen, are prevalent. Many politicians pursue positions of authority not to empower others by serving their constituencies but rather to use their power to secure and preserve personal advantages.

In the realm of the church, some religious leaders have allowed their physical passions to overrule their responsibilities to the point where certain priests and preachers have used their authority to abuse, manipulate, and, in some cases, destroy the lives of the parishioners entrusted to their oversight.

In the realm of business, a pursuit of greed and speculation rather than honest enterprise has led some executives and their corporations into shaky or illegal practices that have sometimes caused the downfall of both executives and institutions. Some labor union leaders have also abused their positions of authority and the trust their members have placed in them to bring about just and equitable working conditions; they have used members’ dues for their own agendas while weakening legitimate companies—in some cases, putting them out of business and their members out of their jobs.

A Rise in Individualism

One of the factors contributing to the dismissal and erosion of authority throughout the world is the increasing popularity of the idea of individualism, which is often promoted through the political system of democracy. A pursuit of democracy has captured the minds of many people in nations around the world, and this has led to life-affirming freedoms and benefits for peoples who have long suffered under the oppression of false authority under communism, dictatorships, and colonialism.

While there have been many positive results from the spread of democracy, people’s concept of this political system often focuses on the idea of individualism to the point where they feel they are not answerable to anyone for anything, and that no one can tell them what to do. The abandonment of false authority was necessary, but it seems that many people have abandoned all authority along with it. An overemphasis on individualism can cripple people’s potential by causing them to seek power alone rather than genuine authority. At its extreme, an attitude of individualism ignores the reality that human beings are meant to live in community, in the various forms we have been discussing, and to contribute their strengths and gifts to one another. Significantly, it can also write off the necessity of personal responsibility and the give-and-take of established authority and submission that allows life to operate smoothly and brings order and peace in a nation.