Submission to Authority

Rom 13:1-2 "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves."

Not a popular subject, this one; submission to authority. Ever since Adam there is something inside of us that tells us that we know better. Rebellion is nothing more than thinking ourselves more highly than we ought. We rebel because we believe that those in authority over us have their own interests in mind.

John Wimber used to say that "to be in authority you have to be under authority". Submission is at the core of the Christian walk. Paul has taken great pains to show example after example of this. Ultimately we are to follow Christ's example who humbled Himself and was obedient to the Father, even unto death.

Phil 2:5-8 "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!"

The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus, as the Word, was the force behind all of creation. He is the Alpha and the Omega  yet He came under submission to the Father and yielded to His will.

That is what God calls us to. And yet, the thoughts still come. "I would do it this way if I was in charge" or "I know that I could do a better job". Countless churches and small groups have been started on this premise. Just as many struggle to survive because they are built on a foundation of rebellion. I know this firsthand. We all do.

I marvel when I listen to Bill Hybels and his staff and they talk of the longevity that they have together. There is submission there. Perhaps that is part of the reason why Willow Creek is not only a successful church, they also have grown internationally in teaching leaders how to lead. If that were not enough they are challenging the local church to get involved in missions, both foreign and domestic, and in giving aid to the poor and hungry throughout the world. You can't don't that if there isn't mutual submission.

Why is there submission at the core of the Willow Creek leadership team? They have learned to trust one another. The leaders trust Bill will hear and obey the Lord and Bill trust that His leaders will do the same. It's not all about Bill; it's not all about the leaders. Submission comes from trusting the Lord and believing that each person on the team is a team player that is seeking to serve the Lord.

I confess that I have the kind of thoughts that wonder why God hasn't used my leadership abilities more. Of course, if I am honest I realize that my particular skill set is best used under the leadership of someone else.  As painful as that is to admit I know that while God has blessed me and given me a lot of gifts, being the A leader is not one of them.

One of the enemy's favorite schemes is to get us to compare ourselves against those that we consider to be peers. His scheme is so devious that he plays both sides of the argument. At any given time he discourages us because we haven't achieved as much as our peers and therefore we must be failures. At other times he shows us that we are better that our peers and tells us we been robbed of opportunities to show it; giving birth to jealousy and rebellion.

2 Cor 10:5 "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

Don't think that Paul, this educated man who was being groomed to be top dog in Judaism didn't struggle with his own thoughts of grandeur. He knew what He gave up to follow Christ. The difference is that Paul didn't entertain these thoughts, he recognized them for what they were, pretentious thoughts designed to puff him up. Instead, he took every thought captive and compared it against the will of God and found them lacking.

1 Cor 8:1-2 "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know."

Love puts others before ourselves. Submission to God's Agape love humbles us and compels us to submit to one another.

We are never going to like or agree with all the decisions that those in authority make over us. That is not a requirement for submission. Trusting God is.