Authority and Power in the Kingdom of God
Authority and Power in the Kingdom of God
Introduction
John 10:2-5 – “But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”
Submission and Obedience
Note this is the Master talking here. He leads by calling those to Him and seeing who is following. There are no authoritarian demands here. He leaves us perfectly free to choose.
This does change if we have declare ourselves as being His sons and daughters and that His life defines us. At this point, we bring Him into every aspect of our life and voluntarily submit to His leadership and authority in all things. It comes from a cry from our heart that is expressed so well in Revelation 4:11, which says, “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honour and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they
existed and were created.”
Here we acknowledge that He is worthy to rule and reign over our lives
and that it is our honour and privilege to submit to that. If Jesus insisted on obedience, He would simply be a taskmaster, committing His followers to a Master/Slave relationship. This is totally contrary to His way. He never insists on obedience, but when we see who He is and what He is seeking, we desire to obey Him. At that point He will become a Father to us – and of course that does mean that, at times, He bring discipline to us.
Sonship
If we don’t understand the heart of God as a Father, we will never
understand how to serve Him in the way He desires and what it is that
He expects from us as we journey with Him.
The Kingdom of God is not a Kingdom of a dominating King ruling over
or treating His subjects like slaves. This has significant implications on
the way we use or exercise any power or authority we are given. If God – the King of kings and Lord of lords – does not use His position to be authoritarian and dominant with us – how much more should we reflect the same heart with those we have power over or are in authority over?
The use of authority in the Kingdom of God is valid. There is order and structure in the Kingdom of God, that sometimes needs to be enforced. That in itself is not a problem. However, if we ever express this power in a way that is heavy-handed, self-serving, or grievous to others we can ultimately expect to come up against the same thing – or worse – from God.
Matthew 20:25-28 – “But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
In John 13 reveals the King of kings and Lord of lords – the one who has all power and authority, expressing this power through foot washing. Jesus – the Sovereign Lord who had been given all things, takes on the form of a humble servant. He is symbolising His power to save, through service. In verse 15 Jesus tells His disciples that He did this as an example for them to follow. He expected them (and us) to carry the same attitude and expression in our own lives.
Our Authority
Almost all of us have some power or authority over someone – parenting; workplace; school; younger siblings; leadership roles; etc. What is it like for the people we lead? Do they live in fear of us, caused by our actions at times, or do they look in amazement, as Jesus’ disciples did – at our humility and the way we are constantly trying to improve and enhance their life?
This does not mean we don’t have times when it is necessary for us to reprimand or discipline – or to point out bad attitudes or substandard performance. That is definitely a part of the role.
The question is though – what is behind our actions when we do carry them out – Isaiah 28:21 says it is an unusual task for God to be provoked to anger and discipline – He always leads with mercy and grace. Are we doing the same?
In the Western World anyway, it has become less and less acceptable in the business community to be an authoritarian leader – those in the team want at least some consultation in decisions that are made – and they want to know that they at least have been heard. This is good as long as it is not taken too far.
Leadership is Biblical
The issue is both about how it is carried out and how it is received. 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. It is not a one-sided coin, so be careful whether you are leading or being led.
Marriage
Male headship in marriage is a God-given principle (Ephesians 5:22-23). It will never be despised in marriage if it is expressed in the way Christ demonstrated in John 13, by foot washing. It certainly is a terrible violation of the heart of Ephesians 5 to say, “I am the husband so I have the last say and you do what I tell you.”
This has no support Biblically at all. In fact – according to 1 Timothy 2:5 it is very dangerous because it puts the wife in a position of idolatry. Listen to it. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
Let’s take this back to Ephesians 5.
Ephesians 5:22 – “Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” This Scripture is not written to men! Husbands – you cannot quote it
to your wives. God wrote it personally to wives, not husbands. God can tell my wife to submit to me – but I can’t and nor can anyone else. My wife, Linda, is forbidden to submit to me if she is convicted that it will put her/us out of God’s will or be harmful or detrimental to her, us or others. Why? Because the Bible teaches in Romans 14:23 that anything done without faith is sin.Wives, you must have your own conviction before the Lord for any major decision you submit to, or it is sin and you have placed your husband between you and Jesus.
Ephesians 5:23-26 “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. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,”
If you claim to be head of the home you get to wash the feet and you get to apologise first in the case of a disagreement. Your role is to serve your wife and family in whatever way you can.
Any wife will submit to that style of leadership any day of the week. But more needs to be said here. Wives if you now think you can do your own thing, not submit to your husband, not work in with him or serve him, you also have missed the whole point of what Christ demonstrated and your marriage is going to be miserable for you and your husband. God certainly won’t bless such
an attitude.
Ephesians 5:21 tells us to submit to one another – which is the essence of any good marriage. We are meant to seek the leading of the Holy Spirit in each situation and act in a way that seems right – not in a way that best serves our self-interests.
The incredible act of humility that Christ demonstrated is an example to all of us – male, female, married, single, employer or employee – whatever. It is an attitude that we are each meant to take into every situation.
The Politics of Oppression
Exodus 5 is about God getting ready to bring Israel out of Egypt. God totally devastated the whole Egyptian empire, because of their oppressive rule. This will ultimately apply to any form of authoritarian leader or form of leadership or regime that violates His principles.
Moses asked Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out and celebrate God with a feast. Pharaoh gets angry and expresses a very aggressive form of leadership.
Exodus 5:9 – “Let the labour be heavier on the men, and let them work at
it so that they will pay no attention to false words.”
Note the cruel and self-serving manner that these orders are expressed. Such a spirit, especially when laid upon God’s people, will always result ultimately in the leader being brought to justice. In the case of Egypt, it resulted in the whole Egyptian army being drowned (Exodus 14).
God always ultimately hears the cry of His people and comes to the rescue.
Psalm 10:17-18 – “O LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You
will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear to vindicate the orphan and the oppressed, So that man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror.”
The politics of oppression will always fail. God will not allow His people to be dominated, manipulated, bullied or controlled indefinitely. He doesn’t lead them that way and nor will He allow anyone else to. The cries of oppressed people always ascend to God and will ultimately provoke Him to come to their rescue. God’s people are sacred and He is very definite about how any leadership that is put over them, should act.
This applies to all of us in authority – Husbands; parents business leaders; managers; School teachers; Politicians; Governments; whatever. We should take heed of this principle.
Any form of leadership and authority in the Kingdom of God should bring empowering, equipping and developmental maturity to those who are under it. It is here the blessing of God will truly flow and folk will take much joy in it and greatly flourish under that type of leadership.
God bless you.
Bruce Billington