Purpose And Power Of Authority (9 page)

To repair human authority, we need to return to the Authorized Dealer, not to any substitute. Think about your life as being a product of The Creator, Incorporated. He is our Manufacturer.

If you’ve purchased products that have come with warranties, you may have noticed that manufacturers are very particular about authorization and the need to follow the instructions carefully. Someone gave me an audio device as a gift, and it came with a user’s manual. On the back of the manual was a card that read “Limited Warranty/Guarantee.” Most warranty and guarantee certificates are worded in a similar way. For example, a “Limited Warranty” often covers ninety days for labor and two years for parts. Within the first three months of your owning the product, if anything goes wrong, the manufacturer will fix it free of charge—at no cost for labor. For two years, if anything goes wrong, the manufacturer will replace any faulty or broken parts, but you have to pay for the labor. It doesn’t sound like a bad deal, but you have to look at the fine print, which includes the word “Conditions.” Every manufacturer has conditions: if you do this, we will guarantee or do that. If you keep this, we will perform that.

What is the condition of The Creator, Incorporated? The Manufacturer will replace defective parts at no charge to the original owner. He guarantees free replacement; it is what the Scriptures call grace. There is a grace period for the restoration of our relationship with the Creator and of our original authority, and we are now still within that grace period. If we reconnect with the Creator during this grace period, then the warranty is eternal and unlimited. A manufacturer’s conditions usually say that parts used for replacement are warranted for the remainder of the original, limited warranty period. Therefore, as long as this product exists, parts will exist for it. With The Creator, Incorporated, no matter how old you are, no matter how many mistakes you have made, He still has a warehouse full of “parts” waiting to replace your defective ones anytime you come to Him.

A manufacturer will provide labor for the repair or replacement of defective parts without charge. Similarly, only our Authorized Dealer can do the work of restoration. We have to place our faith in Him alone to do the work that needs to be done.

Let’s look at the even finer print that is usually included in a manufacturer’s manual. The free labor and parts are subject to the following conditions: the owner must provide verification of the date of purchase when requesting limited warranty service. There has to be a point, sometime, when you bought the item or received it as a gift, so that you own it. The company doesn’t want to fix a product that you stole.

Likewise, we can’t just ask the Creator to reestablish authority in us when we have no intention of being restored to Him and following His Manual (the Scriptures) for our lives. The Creator will say, “There has to be a relationship between us.” There has to be a point in your life when you make a specific decision to accept the grace offered to you so that you belong to the Creator once more.

Salvation is a personal thing, just as inherent authority is personal. That means that what we are (which has been given as a trust) belongs to Him, and what we will be is also His.

Another condition of a manufacturer, which I alluded to earlier, is that all repairs must be performed by an authorized dealer or facility connected to the company. The user’s manual provides information on the locations of authorized service agents and how to reach them. The Creator, Incorporated, functions in a similar way. If you want restoration and repair for your life, you must go to His Authorized Dealer. No experimentation with the product is allowed.

The Manufacturer’s Manual is very clear about who the Authorized Dealer is because there is only one: Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Owner of the company. He is the only way, the only truth, the only life. No one can be restored except by Him. (See John 14:6.) If anyone tries to be restored by any other means, he is the equivalent of a robber who climbs through windows or breaks into houses to gain access to what is inside. (See John 10:10.) You can attempt to come to the Manufacturer by another way, but you will have no verification, no certificate of authorization. Jesus said, “My Father will give you whatever you ask in my name” (John 16:23). Many people are not receiving what the Creator desires for them because they are coming in unauthorized ways.

If you live according to the conditions of the warranty, you can expect to receive the benefits of the guarantees, or the promises. People continually try to change the Creator’s warranty. Some people assert that “all roads lead to the same place” when it comes to connecting with God. Yet that is never the case with any other destination. For example, if you wanted to go to the airport, would you drive down every road within one hundred miles of it in order to get there? There has to be a route that will lead where you want to go. That route is the Authorized Dealer, Jesus Christ.

Usually, a manufacturer’s conditions further state, “No person, agent, distributor, dealer, facility, or company is authorized to change, modify, or amend the terms of this warranty.” Similarly, when God has spoken, the warranty is closed. We are not to add to, subtract from, or alter what He has established because that would be unauthorized and unauthentic. Unauthorized ways of thinking and living will prevent us from fulfilling our original authority.

The Scriptures are very clear that we need a new nature in order to be restored to the Creator and to our true authority. Jesus said,

I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, “You must be born again.” (John 3:5–7)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.(verses 16–17)

“Born again” is a term that has been thrown around casually so that its meaning has been lost. But it originated with Jesus Christ, and it means that you have received a new nature, through Him as the Authorized Dealer, that allows you access to the Creator and His full plan for your life.

There is usually a final statement in a manufacturer’s warranty that says, “If you violate any of these specific conditions, this warranty is cancelled.” Again, can it be any clearer than that? We need to operate under the principles and laws of the Creator to reap all the benefits He offers to us.

You may have been trying to receive God’s help for your life without realizing that you’re not under warranty. You know you’re not living right, but you’re asking Him to fix you up. The warranty is activated when we tell God we want to live according to His principles instead of the way we have been living. The Creator, Incorporated, is always available, and you can come under His warranty at any time by receiving the gift offered through the Authorized Dealer.

Jesus is the Authorized Dealer, and He says He will repair our defective authority by giving us a new life according to the nature of the Creator Himself. In this way, He restores what Adam and Eve lost through their abandonment of authority and disobedience of the Creator’s principles. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

The way this restoration occurred was in accordance with the principles of authority: The Ultimate Authority is responsible for His product, and only He can save it.

Why does He want to save you? “To all who received him [Jesus Christ], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). The Greek word translated “right” in this verse is the same word that is sometimes translated as “authority” or “power.” In other words, the authority of the Creator provides you with the authority to be His child, to have a relationship with Him in which you not only can call Him “Creator” but also “Father.”

Why is Jesus the Authorized Dealer who can make this happen? Why is it that those who receive Him obtain this right or authority or power to become children of God?

He is the Authorized Dealer because He is also the Manufacturer. In John 10:30, Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” Jesus’ disciple John also recorded:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1–4, 14)

Jesus is the Manufacturer who came to earth to rescue His broken products. The only way they could be forgiven and restored from their abandonment and rebellion was by someone paying the price on their behalf. Just as the grandson of the founder of Toyota represented both the company and the product before Congress, Jesus Christ, as the Son of God—the Word made flesh—was the only One who could represent both the Creator and His created beings in order to fix the breach between the two and bring about full reconciliation and restoration. The redemptive work of the Creator required the sending of His own Son to earth to secure the reputation of His image in humanity.

When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He paid the price for our fallen human nature, which we inherited from our first human parents. He also paid the price for all the times when we ourselves have acted contrary to the nature and principles of our Creator. Treason is punishable by death, and Jesus Christ took that punishment for us, enabling our restoration.

But His action provides only the warranty. You have to accept the gift of being a brand-new “product” in order to come under the warranty. You have to respond to it by making a personal decision to come under the Manufacturer’s offered warranty in order to receive the necessary forgiveness and restoration.

The book of Hebrews states:

Although he [Jesus Christ] was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.(Hebrews 5:8–9)

“Perfect” in this sense indicates complete maturity, complete submission. The word for “source” refers to an original cause. We obey God because He is the source or cause of our eternal salvation, and it is He who enables us to live according to our original authority, as well.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne
of God.(Hebrews 12:2)

The word translated “author” here also has the meaning of “founder” or “leader.” Jesus Christ was the only One who fulfilled complete obedience to the Creator’s principles and laws. He therefore leads us into and is the model for our complete obedience to them, as well, so that we can live according to our authority.1

Someone might ask, “Why would God send His Son to be a sacrifice for us? Why would God experience punishment for us? Why would God raise Jesus from the dead and establish Him as King of Kings?” He did all of this to redeem us, because the authority we are carrying inside us is so awesome that He considered it worth His death. Do you really understand that the earth needs you? It needs your purpose and your gift. It needs your authority.

There are people who want to be restored to the Creator God but are frightened of Him. They believe that to “fear” the Lord means to be afraid of Him. But to fear in regard to God means to respect Him, to have an awareness of all the power He has on your behalf. He can do great things for you through His power.

If you have developed a fear of authority in relation to God over the years, this fear may have hindered you from receiving the restoration He offers you. In my own life, it took me a long time to understand and accept the truth that God isn’t mad at sinners. Paul of Tarsus, the great first-century theologian, wrote, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God is not angry at you for what you did that was wrong. He is hurt by it. Why? Because He knows that it hinders you from doing what is right. He knows that if He doesn’t help you, you will hurt yourself.

God’s goodness should therefore bring us to Him. He is not a tyrant or a dictator—He is a Savior! He is not a monster and a destroyer—He is a redeemer and a restorer. Remember that “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17). Understanding the truth about God’s love and provision to restore us will eliminate our fear of Him and His
authority.

Jesus functioned by His personal authority, and He is our model of true authority as we are restored to our Creator and begin to live in our delegated authority. Let us look at some of the ways in which He demonstrated these things.

1. Jesus understood His authority. He said, “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man” (John 5:26–27). Most of the confrontations Jesus experienced with the religious leaders of His day were about authority. These leaders were agitated at Him, asking, in effect, “Who authorized You to do and say these things?” Authority seemed to be their major concern about Him, but He knew His own authorization. Jesus was only in His early thirties during His ministry on earth, and most of the Pharisees were older than He, but they didn’t have true authority. Jesus was singled out because He spoke with authority, and the scribes and the Pharisees spoke as those without authority. (See, for example, Matthew 7:28–29.) They only talked about the Scriptures (as well as other teachings), but Jesus was the Word. He spoke as the Source, not in references to the Source.