Purpose And Power Of Authority (8 page)

Again, true authority is always a trust that we are given. It isn’t ours; we don’t own it. Any attempt to misuse or discard it is a betrayal of that trust. Whenever a person is given authority, he must always be aware that it is not his personal property. It is not for sale; it is never be to be gambled, sold, or used for personal gain. This is the behavior we examined in chapter 2 among those who wield false authority—the one who “rules” through overpowering force, the one with the “boss spirit,” the dictator, and so forth. Instead, entrusted authority must always be used for the purpose for which it was given. And because it is never owned by the one who receives it, it can always be recalled if necessary.

Instead of regarding the trust they had been given, Adam and Eve handed over their authority—and the authority of the whole human race—to an illegitimate ruler. Their action was the equivalent of treason because they betrayed their trust and broke their allegiance to their Creator and Sovereign.

The fundamental source of all of mankind’s deficiencies and problems, therefore, was the original violation of the Creator’s ultimate authority—it was a betrayal of devotion and trust toward the Creator by His creation. This violation is what the Scriptures call “sin.” Everything that is wrong in the world today is a consequence of the abandonment of authority.

Have you ever bought an imitation brand of a product that you thought you’d like? Sometimes, we think we are saving money when we do this. Yet, often, we get what we pay for. The knockoff product wears out, breaks down, or fades much more quickly or doesn’t function as effectively because it is made of cheaper materials. Then, we have to buy another one to replace it. Going for the imitation can end up being costlier than buying the brand-name or designer version in the first place.

Adam and Eve were taken in by imitation authority—a cheap version of authority—when they played into the hands of the imitation-authority salesman, Satan. The results were disastrous and far costlier than being true to the life the Master Designer had given them:

The Forfeit of Authority. When human beings abandoned God’s authority, they forfeited their shared authority of the earth; they gave it over to God’s enemy, and that is why Satan is called “the god of this age [“world” kjv]” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Through Adam and Eve’s disobedience, Satan seized power on the earth and could now wreak havoc on it. From that point on, humanity has had to live under a false and usurped authority that is bent on its complete ruin.

The Shock of the Unauthentic. Under false authority, life is hard, complicated, disappointing, and burdensome. “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you” (Genesis 3:17–18). There is a high cost to living in a shadow of the original authority humanity once had. Yet, human beings brought all these things on themselves as the natural result of choosing to live outside of their true authority. An unnatural action led to an unnatural existence.

Ultimate Self-destruction. Anyone who forfeits true authority will ultimately self-destruct because he is no longer under the protection and safeguard of that authority. This is why Adam and Eve—and all subsequent human beings—had to die. It was the very thing that God had warned them of: “And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die’” (Genesis 2:16–17). It is what the false authority said would not happen: “’You will not surely die,’ the serpent said” (Genesis 3:4). And it is exactly what did happen: “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:19).

The above three fundamental results of the betrayal led to these additional consequences:

Humanity Lost Its True Home

An additional outcome of the relinquishment of authority was that humanity lost its true home. The author of the book of Jude gave us insight into this sobering consequence. He wrote about how God gave authority to certain angels, who subsequently discarded it. Let us look at Jude 1:6 using several translations so that we get the full impact of his insight:

And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.(niv, emphasis added)

And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day. (nasb, emphasis added)

And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. (kjv, emphasis added)

God had given positions of authority to these angels—authority for various assignments—but the angels left these assignments when they rebelled against His ultimate authority as Creator. From this verse in Jude, we can conclude that the angels’ authority was not just something they had; it was integral to who they were—to their very nature and existence. It gave them their place in God’s reign. When they forfeited their authority, therefore, their existence was fundamentally changed.

Note in the above Scriptures that the words position, domain, and estate are linked with the words home, abode, and habitation. When the angels abandoned their authority, it was the equivalent of a person abandoning his home and family. Once again, it was a betrayal of trust—and the loss was incalculable.

Jude went on to talk about “godless men” who act in the same way as these angels did and who “reject authority” (Jude 1:4, 8). When Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s word, humanity fell from its place of authority, and life on earth was fundamentally altered. Consequently, human beings lost their place in life.

Our true “home” as human beings is the place where we were created to live out our personal authority. Your domain of authority is not a literal building but a place of being, a position. It is where you belong and where you will find all you need to experience fulfillment, refreshment, and renewal. When you discover your inherent authority, you find your true place. You feel at home, you feel comfortable functioning from that position. Why? Again, because true authority is natural. The angels who rebelled and left their true home chose darkness over the light of God. Likewise, when you don’t know who you are, where you’re supposed to be, and what your authority is, then you are ignorant or “in the dark.” You stumble along in life rather than walk purposefully in it.

These angels voluntarily left their positions of authority. Demons are therefore angels who are out of position. They are still angels, but they are out of order and separated from their former authority. A human who is out of order is still human, of course, but is out of his domain or realm of authority; his life isn’t what it was meant to be.

Similar to the angels who abandoned their authority, people who are not exercising their authority and using their inherent gifts are often emotionally and mentally “tormented.” They can tend to be irritable, start fights with others, and suffer from anxiety because they’re not doing what they’re supposed to be doing, and it’s unsettling, disheartening, and frustrating to them. They’re not “demons,” but the word demonic seems to define their experience. And because they are out of order, they also have the tendency to torment those around them.

The difference between the angels who abandoned their authority and human beings, as we will see, is that human beings don’t have to remain in darkness. They can be restored to their former authority.

The Perpetuation of False Authority on the Earth

Without genuine, absolute authority, there is only false, transitory authority—an “authority” based on circumstances, mere speculation, opinion, tradition, whim, and so forth, even in religious matters. This has been a characteristic of the world since the betrayal.

As part of His restoration plan, the Creator gave to humanity the Scriptures to guide them back to Him and to their original authority. Again, the Scriptures are the “user’s manual” for humanity. They are reliable, in contrast to the fickleness of human beings. This is why Jesus taught the people to listen to the teachers of the law when they quoted the “manual,” or the law, but not to act in the ways they did, because the teachers’ lives didn’t reflect what they taught. He said,

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.(Matthew 23:2–4)

These religious leaders were not living according to the principles and standards established by the Creator, even though they knew what these principles and standards were. At another time, Jesus said directly to the religious leaders, “You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men” (Mark 7:8). Again, we see human beings giving more credence to opinion and tradition than to the truth from their Creator.

Jesus also warned His disciples about another aspect of false authority—a method of ruling over people that was practiced by those who were outside of Israel, who were generally referred to as “the Gentiles,” a word that means “the nations.”

Jesus called [His disciples] together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a
ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42–45)

The term “lord it over” in this passage has the connotation of “control” or “subjugate,” and the phrase “exercise authority” denotes “wielding full privilege over.” As Jesus moved His disciples toward restored relationships with God and renewed authority, He showed them that the nature of true authority is not about having total control by “lording” it over others but about using the gifts you have been given to serve others.

As we can see, the whole human race was thrown off course because our first human parents, Adam and Eve, abandoned their authority. Because of their rebellion against the Creator, the nature of humanity was altered so that all human beings who were born from them were also corrupt and prone to seeking their own false authority—collectively and individually.

The conflict and abuse we see in our world today on a wide scale is what happens when authority is misconceived and misused. And, again, this is what has led many people to misunderstand and fear authority in general.

The good news is that the Creator had no plans to leave humanity in this state. He provided a way of reconciliation and restoration.

Let’s consider how the Creator went about this reconciliation and restoration through the analogy of an authorized dealer versus an unauthorized dealer, which is similar to the designer versus imitation concept.

Few people are more dangerous than an unauthorized dealer. Many of us have had the experience of taking a piece of equipment, an appliance, or a car to someone who didn’t know what he was doing. He claimed he could fix it, but we found out afterward that he was “experimenting” with our valuable possession. Why? He was unauthorized to deal with that specific device. He didn’t have either the authority as one connected with the company that made it or the innate ability to fix it.

The Unauthorized Merely Experiment

The unauthorized must experiment because they don’t have access to the original plans. They can have only a trial-and-error approach to repair. This is why, when they take apart your equipment, they can’t always put it back together again—or back the same way. Therefore, whenever you take a malfunctioning piece of equipment to someone who is not authorized, you walk away just hoping that everything will be fine. And if you’ve had a bad experience with a similar situation, your confidence level in the unauthorized can be even lower. Where there is no sense of authority, there is no confidence. In fact, an absence of authority produces confusion and even chaos.

The effects of the unauthorized can be seen in a variety of realms of life. For example, have you ever been in a restaurant that is so well run that you never have to ask for refills on your water or coffee, your food comes in a timely manner, and the atmosphere is peaceful? The opposite experience is being in a restaurant where the serving staff seemed agitated and confused, your order isn’t taken correctly, other patrons are fidgeting around the hostess stand because they have been waiting for a long time to be seated, and the atmosphere is generally uneasy. That is the difference between an environment governed by authority—an authorized environment—and an environment where authority is absent—an unauthorized one.

The value something holds for you often determines whether you will pay the cost to have an authorized dealer fix it. The dealer always seems to be more expensive, but it can also often be more secure. Why? The dealer is not experimenting. He has been authorized by the company to work on the product, and he has access to the company’s knowledge and experience in relation to it.

The authorized can provide maximum performance, or function, while the unauthorized may only misuse and abuse valuable things. After sending something to be repaired and getting it back, have you ever said, “It was better before I sent it to be fixed”? It was bad, but it wasn’t as bad as it is now. What you had sent was at least working somewhat until an unauthorized person began to deal with it.