Authority

I recently finished reading a book on authority called "Under Cover" by John Bevere. Now his theology is basic and yet quite clearly bang on despite its simplicity. How he hears the voice of God and the consequences of his interpretation of such hearing is open to critique. Yet when he does listen to the Spirit's voice it is usually for the better. So I will not be too harsh on what he believes he hears. In fact, I have had those promptings myself and am only jealous that I don't hear them more often.

Bevere writes on authority in the church, in leadership, in the home and in the marriage. Since reading his book I have found that I am more sensitive to the references on authority in the Bible. It is quite remarkable and also quite shameful in how we have lost the essence of authority in our lives. Several biblical examples of respecting authority come to mind: One is the story of Saul and David where while Saul was king, David was the anointed successor. Even though David had every right to the throne and could have killed Saul several times, David refused to harm the Lord's anointed and current king. He had a deep respect for what God had instituted and would wait upon the Lord to have this worked out. Another example of respecting authority was when Paul in Acts was struck in the face and he retorted by calling the person a "white-washed wall", a great insult at the time. When he discovered that the person was the high priest, he repented of his insult recognizing that God had given this person a position of authority. Without going into great detail about these stories it is obvious that godly people respected the authorities of their time even though they were acting in evil ways.

Today we have broken down the authority of every sphere of life for our own pleasure. We think it our right to criticize the government. We think it our right to challenge policemen when they scold us for bending the law. We think it our right to claim equality with those in leadership so that we don't have to do what they say. We claim equality of the sexes so that no one's feelings get hurt and thereby ignore the unique and functional differences between men and women. we think it our right to discuss the preacher's sermon as if it were up for debate about how he spoke, what he wore, the illustrations he used and so on. We ignore the content and theology of his sermon to pick at his demeanor or what he failed to do the week before. We ignore the authority of our leaders because it suits us better. Yet we also deny ourselves the blessing of God who wants to see us respect the authority of our leaders which he has given them. That is the key: God gave them authority and therefore we resist God when we resist authority.

This is nothing new. From the rebellion in the Garden to the American Revolution to the Freedom marches of the 60s we have always been a rebellious people thumbing our noses to authority. Godly people don't live this way.