Man's Desire to be Ruled
Before we discuss in detail the subject of Authority in the Church, it is appropriate to take a quick look at mankind's desire to come under authority and see what God thinks about it.
For some strange reason God's people are often not satisfied with God's way. Many have a different longing within their breasts. They desire a human, tangible authority. They yearn for someone they can see and hear and feel. They feel much more comfortable with something natural. Whether they realize it or not, what they are really looking for is a kind of king just like the Children of Israel did so many years ago. Being dissatisfied with his spiritual authority, they came to Samuel and insisted that he set up for them an earthly ruler (I Sam 8:5-20). Perhaps we can identify some reasons for this puzzling desire. First of all, having such a king would relieve them of their personal responsibility to seek God for themselves. Now their "leader" could do this for them. Next, he could bear all the responsibility, take care of all the problems, decide upon the directions they should take and fight their battles. All they would have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride.
When Samuel heard this request he became very angry. He knew something about what God's intentions were and he understood that God was using him to transmit Divine direction to His people. He was grieved that the nation whom God had chosen as His own would go the wrong way. However, the Lord reminded him that they were not rejecting him but were in fact rejecting Himself. They were not turning away from a man but were refusing God's kingship in their lives (I Sam 8:7,8).
It is evidence of God's great love for men and His abundant grace that He did not forsake the Israelites even though they were abandoning Him. He let them have their own way, but first He explained that this request would only be bad for them. Earthly, human authority would harm them in three ways: 1). It would take away their sons and daughters, 2). It would demand a share of their possessions and 3). It would bring them into a bondage from that God would not deliver them (I Sam 8:9-18). He allowed them to have their way because He perceived that their hearts had already turned away from Him. But it is quite clear that this was not His will.
Let us not forget that all these Old Testament examples are not just interesting stories. Instead, they were recorded for a specific intention: so that we could understand spiritual truths from them. Just as it was then, so today we too have some choices to make concerning authority. Of course as inhabitants of this world we must subject ourselves to the earthly authorities (I Pet 2:13). Concerning our interaction with this world, it is very clear that their delegated authority applies to us. But concerning our functioning in the church, these same two varieties of leadership are also available; human authority and spiritual authority. One kind of authority is set up by man and supported by all the usual props of title, position, vestments, etc. The other is established by God and is confirmed by His Spirit. In the body of Christ, we do have a choice. On one hand, we can learn to recognize and submit ourselves to God's authority, both when He speaks to us personally and when His will is being transmitted through His chosen vessels. On the other hand, we can subject ourselves to some sort of human, delegated authority that is established and recognized by man. We have before us today both the earthly and the heavenly way.
It is true that God allowed His people to have their own way and appointed a king for them. Even though He did not want it, He continued to work through this erroneous system as much as possible to bring His people into an intimacy with Himself. But there was a price to pay. In the same way today He tolerates our disobedient behaviour when we establish for ourselves earthly authority in His Church. In His abundant mercy and grace, He even works through our "king systems" as much as He can to accomplish His purposes. But it is not His perfect will and it can never fulfil His highest desires. Instead, the Bible makes it very clear that establishing such authority is a rejection of His own and is a serious mistake.
The three consequences of this error that Samuel so clearly predicted are as follows:
1). It paralyses the body of Christ by substituting its own directions and plans in place of the Holy Spirit. While this authority may be well intentioned and even have many programs such as "evangelistic outreaches," the awesome power of the gospel is diminished when this substitution is made. A related adverse effect is that the believers naturally tend to begin looking to the human authority for direction and approval instead of being continually led by their true Head. Consequently, those under this kind of authority become hesitant to initiate anything themselves lest it be seen as a challenge to the leader's position. Increasingly they become unable to be led directly by the Holy Spirit. This robs the believers of spiritual power. As the living intimacy with the true Authority is replaced with something weak and human, the fruit bearing capacity of every facet of spiritual life is constricted.
2) It demands from people their money (possessions). It is without question that the importance of any earthly position is judged by its sphere of influence and by its extravagance. The more people a leader has under his authority, the more important he is. The greater the territory he rules, the more prestige he has. Usually accompanying this elevation in the eyes of men are fancier clothes, more expensive means of transportation and more elaborate dwelling places. In the church today it is no different. Almost invariably, as the influence of a leader grows, so does his desire for larger, more impressive meeting places, a wardrobe more fitting to his position and in general an increase in salary. This inevitably costs money and this money comes from those who have placed themselves under the influence of this earthly authority. Stop a moment and compare this with the example of our Lord Jesus. He had no place to lay His head and probably did not even have a change of clothes. He never constructed any palaces or temples. He steadfastly refused to be given any earthly position of authority. His wages were only what the Father prompted others to give. How does what we are doing compare with this?
It is true that the Scriptures exhort us to give our money to the work and the workers of God. But if we use our funds to support merely human endeavours and authorities we will not be rewarded. When the fire of God descends, anything that has been constructed of natural materials (wood, hay and stubble) will be consumed and our hard-earned money will go up in smoke with them. On the other hand, if we are careful to invest our money in those things that are truly spiritual, our investment will bear fruit for eternity. When we use our finances to support genuinely spiritual works and leaders, we will never lose our reward.
3) It brings God's people into bondage to the will of man by using their time, energy and talents to build up an earthly organization instead of a spiritual body. Natural authority with all of its plans and programs needs people to do the work. So when you place yourself under such authority, you begin to allow yourself to become the tool of such endeavours. Additionally, to the degree that you submit to human authority to rule your life, you proportionately wall out the authority of the Spirit. You cannot serve two masters. It is inevitable that there will be a conflict between the two. Your heavenly Master wishes to direct every aspect of your existence and any other authority will only prove to be competition and a frustration. When you choose the earthly way as the Israelites did, you become a slave to the will and whims of man, instead of experiencing the true liberty of submission to God.
This is a bondage from that God will not deliver us (I Sam 8:18). God will never violate our will. When we choose something, He will not forcibly change that decision. He may work in many different ways to help us realize our error. We may discover our sense of His presence in our life waning. We may begin to find that problems that seemed small when we were walking in intimacy with Jesus now seem insurmountable. He may even allow us to become very miserable in the path that we have chosen. But when we voluntarily subject ourselves to human authority, He will not deliver us from it. Our only alternative is to reverse our choice. We must exercise our own will and choose to remove ourselves from the control of any authorities in the church that are a substitution for His own authority.
This may come as a surprise to many people, but it is nevertheless true. When we subject ourselves to earthly authority, we actually bring ourselves under a curse. The scripture reads: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land that is not inhabited" (Jer 17:5,6). Notice here how relying upon man and departing from God are linked. The reason God tells us to go straight to Him is because He knows that when you look to human beings, we cannot help but look away from God.
Another verse warns us: "Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; in that very day his plans perish." Then it continues: "Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God" (Ps 146:3-5). We like to believe that, since our church leaders are being led by God, by following them we are still being led by God. If we could guarantee that our leaders said every word they said and made every decision they made only at the Lord's direction, and that the things they said and did were never coloured by their own feelings, viewpoint or intellect, then it would be safe to follow them, and it would be safe to substitute God's leadership for theirs. But as we have no guarantee that they are being led by God in everything they say and do, why take the risk, especially since we can all go direct to God and hear it straight from the horse's mouth, which is how God says we should hear it anyway.
From the foregoing discussion it should be evident that there are two basic kinds of authority in the world today. There is the superficial, earthly kind called "delegated authority" that God uses to exercise some control over those who do not know and follow Him. And there is the spiritual, transmitted authority that has always been God's choice for governing His people. One is for the world; the other is for what today is called His Church. One functions somewhat independently of God while the other does not, and in fact cannot function, unless God is speaking and moving.
Authority in the Church
Today in Christ's church, both of these two kinds of authority are being exercised. Therefore, as members of the Church each one of us is confronted with an important choice. If we submit ourselves to the human, positional variety, it will crowd out and eventually replace the spiritual. Conversely, if we yield ourselves to the heavenly authority, it will inevitably come into conflict with the earthly. As we have seen, this decision is extremely important, in fact it is crucial. If we elect to walk down the broad, easy way we will no doubt find plenty of company and may even enjoy a good degree of popularity, but the effects about that God has so clearly warned will come upon us. If on the other hand we choose the more difficult, narrow path, no doubt there will be times we will feel quite lonely and, whether we want to or not, we will become embroiled in the conflict between these two kinds of authority.
The first apostles, and in fact Jesus Himself, found themselves in this kind of situation. Although they did not seek it, they continually encountered opposition from those who held "positions" in the established religious organization of their day. The traditional authorities saw one thing very clearly: if they allowed this manifestation of spiritual authority to go unchecked it would eventually replace their own. Somehow, they were able to recognize that it was in essence a superior kind of authority that was destined to supplant their lower, earthly variety. Their hearts were not in touch with the heart of God and so they fought to maintain their "place" that they so much enjoyed (Jn 11:48). In the process they did everything they could to suppress the higher authority. At last, when they had exhausted all other options, they resorted to killing God's representatives.
How easy it is for us to want to avoid trouble. It is certainly the natural tendency for us to just go along with the status quo and "be like everyone else" (I Sam 8:5). Yet we are not in any different position from our predecessors or our Lord. If we are to truly follow Jesus, His conflicts will become ours. So again, we have these two choices. We can either preserve our personal happiness and peace or we can prepare ourselves to share in the sufferings of Christ. We can submit ourselves to man or humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God (I Pet 5:6).
Unfortunately, the choice before us is not always just black or white. In the church today there is often a mixture of these two different kinds of authority. Some men who possess some measure of spiritual authority have allowed other men to put them in earthly positions. Possibly others have even taken these positions for themselves. This then puts these leaders in a situation where they can and probably do exercise both kinds of authority. Many times, these leaders themselves are unable to distinguish between these two varieties. They have not been taught or are not mature enough to understand the implications of exercising each kind. Therefore, it is up to each individual to know, according to the revelation of the Holy Spirit, to that directives and leadership he or she should submit themselves and that should be refused.
In this extremely important decision, we must be very careful. There are two ways in that we can seriously err. On the one hand, fleshly rebellion against earthly authority is not God's way. When we discern that natural authority is being substituted for God's in the church, if our reaction to this is not characterized by meekness, humility and love, it is not the response of the Spirit. When we manifest hatred and anger, it does not accomplish the work of God. We must not allow our flesh to react to what we see but rather be led in every way by the Higher Authority. In general, His response while on the earth was not to confront and condemn but to go on about the real work of God. We are not called to overt rebellion against any positional authorities but simply to submit ourselves to the Superior will. On the other hand, we do not wish to and in fact we must not miss God's supernatural direction, especially when this direction comes through other human vessels. We cannot simply reject any and all authority that is expressed through men. It is essential that we humble ourselves in this matter before our Maker and be certain that we are willing to obey His voice wherever it is heard. We must be willing to follow Him in whatever He says.
If we do not have this heart attitude, we will certainly end up not only rejecting human authority but in fact all authority. Our condition will be that of independent rebels who are of little use to God. The truth is that if we cannot submit to the Lord when He is actually speaking through our brothers and sisters, we are not really submitted to Him at all. It must also be realised that we are not talking about organizational authority. Someone has to choose the venue we worship at, pay the church's electricity bills, choose the songs that are sung in a service etc. It is not the day-to-day administrative functions of a church that are being discussed here. It is the authority of how we conduct our lives, raise our children, spend our money, minister within the body of Christ. God is our authority and the church's authority in these matters, not man.
The obvious question that arises from all this discussion is: "How can we know the difference between the authority that is spiritual and that that is of the earth?" The answer is very simple but not at all easy. The only way to distinguish between these two kinds of authority is to have spiritual discernment. Outside of the revelation of the Holy Spirit, it is hard to tell. The natural man is not always able to differentiate between the two. Only those with spiritual sight will be able to always know what is from God and what is not. It is a something that must be discerned. Therefore, it is essential that every child of God cultivate an intimacy with Him. Each one of us is responsible to develop and maintain a spiritual relationship with our Lord. No one else is going to do it for us. We cannot rely upon some kind of "king" to carry the burden. Just as it was with the Children of Israel, so today God's desire is still the same. In His heart, He yearns for us to allow ourselves to be drawn into a deep love relationship with Himself. From this position, leaning on Jesus' breast (Jn 13:23), we will understand all that He deems it necessary for us to know.
How God Bestows His Authority
Our God is infinite and eternal. He knows all of the future as well as the past. Not only does He comprehend the beginning and end of everything, the Bible teaches us that He is the beginning and end. God exists beyond and above what we know as "time." Time is simply a part of His creation. Since we are finite beings and are therefore limited by "time," this concept of the Eternal One existing outside of time may be difficult for us to fathom. Nevertheless it is true. God simply "is." And His existence transcends both time and space. As a consequence of this, nothing that God does is accidental. His work has not been done and is not being done on the spur of moment, according to some sudden idea that enters His mind. Instead everything that God is doing has been planned "long ago" from a human standpoint. All His activities are directed toward accomplishing the objectives that He determined from the beginning. Nothing that has transpired, either to hinder His purposes or to further them has been a surprise to Him. Every circumstance has been foreknown, and God in His infinite wisdom, has planned a way to accomplish His will through it. With this in mind, let us take a further look together at the life of a very special man of God. No doubt, long before he was born, Moses was chosen by God as a vessel to accomplish a great and mighty work for His name. He was not selected hastily just because he happened to be in the right place at the right time, rather he was a part of an unfathomable, eternal design. Not only did the Almighty foreknow and choose Moses, but He also planned a way to prepare him for his future assignment. Shortly after his birth (I trust that you all have read the story) Moses was taken from his hiding place in the river, right into the household of Pharaoh. There he received education and training about the ways and customs of the royal court (Acts 7:22). All this was part of God's design to prepare Moses for the work that lay ahead.
I suppose it is theoretically possible for some shepherd who has spent his entire life in the desert to walk into Pharaoh's presence and deal with him in the way in that Moses did. But Moses was not just an ordinary shepherd. He was a man prepared by God for an extraordinary task. In preparation for his calling, our Lord arranged a very unusual education. Consequently, when the time came he was qualified to move with confidence in the courts of Pharaoh among the mighty of the land and carry out the assignment of the Most High.
Not only was Moses prepared by God, He was also called by God to the work for that he was predestined. We do not know exactly when in his life Moses began to understand this calling, but it is clear that by the age of 40, he knew something about it. It is probable that he had not yet begun to suspect the fullness of God's plan, but he did seem to comprehend that he had been chosen by the Lord to deliver His people. In Acts 7:25 we read: "For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand." Evidently, because he was aware of this fact he erroneously presumed that they too had realized it. However, they did not. It was not yet God's time and all His work of preparation had not yet been finished. Since Moses' comprehension of God's way was incomplete, his behaviour reflected this deficiency. He must have looked with natural eyes at the situation. To see his own brethren so abused and in bondage probably stirred many passionate feelings within him.
Their continual, severe, oppression must have had a great impact upon him. He must have been consumed with the idea of getting on with the job that God had given him to do. The position of power and authority to that he had come, his own strength and wisdom, the innate leadership abilities that he possessed; all of these things convinced him that he could and should begin to take some steps to carry out the calling of God. So when the opportunity presented itself he took it, killing the single Egyptian and hiding him in the sand.
What a mighty deliverance he accomplished! One oppressor dead and one Israelite temporarily delivered. With all his training and natural talents, this was all he could do. Moses was undoubtedly burning inside with the desire to see God's people free. He was trying his best to do the work that he had been called to do. Yet the results were so pitiful. Not only were the Lord's people not delivered, not only did they not understand what he was trying to do, but he himself had to flee for his life into the wilderness. Even though he was called by God to do this work, what he could produce with his own energy was only failure.
The next 40 years of Moses' life were spent tending sheep. Although he could not have known it, this also was a time of God's preparation. After so long a time, he had given up the idea of executing any kind of deliverance. The burning desire he once possessed to save his own people was now just a faint memory. He had grown older and wiser. The natural strength that once surged through his being had abated and the gifts and talents that he had acquired in Egypt had not been used in years. This too was God's doing. It was an essential part of the making of a servant of the Most High. It was the breaking down of that that was natural in Moses; the bringing down into the dust of his human strength and abilities; so that God could be the One that was manifested through him. As far as Moses could see, he was finished, but in God's eyes, it was just the beginning.
When Moses was about 80 years of age, God appeared to him in a most unusual way. As he was going about with his sheep, he noticed a bush that was burning. But there was something strange about the fire in this bush. Although it burned intensely, the bush was not consumed. There was nothing natural about this fire. It was not using any of the earthly elements of the bush. It is quite possible that the leaves of the bush remained green. This fire was fueled by something supernatural. It was the fire of God! As Moses turned aside to see this wonder, a voice spoke to him. The Voice sternly informed him that this heavenly fire had made this place holy and that there was no room for spectators. As a reaction to this, Moses hid his face. The fear of God was upon him and he could not even satisfy his normal curiosity. Something had been broken within him and he was no longer able or willing to act in a natural, human way. Moses had become "very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth" (Num 12:3).
This was the manner in that the Most High God finalized His calling upon Moses' life; through the burning bush. Through it he received the most important revelation. He indeed was to burn for God, but not with his own energy. He was to have a great zeal for the liberation of God's people, yet a zeal that was not his own. He was to execute a great deliverance, but it was not to be one that he engineered. God was going to use him in a way no human being had ever been used before, however it was not going to be his doing at all but the heavenly fire working through him.
About The Author
David Dyer is a missionary to Brazil where the Spirit of God has been gathering in a great harvest on the very ground where Romanism has for centuries been exercising illegitimate spiritual authority. These articles by David Dyer to be among the most helpful and refreshing teachings on biblical authority available today and they are most timely in view of the current worldwide great awakening in that God is gloriously restoring all things to His church, including an understanding of biblical authority.
For too long the church has held to the Gentile system of authority that she inherited from Romanism. But all this is changing, as the Lord raises up a beautiful wineskin to contain the new wine. Sadly, the old order will resist, despise and even persecute the new order, in the name of sound doctrine, but there is no stopping this restoration movement of the Lord. He is asserting HIS lordship and HIS authority in HIS church, and if necessary He will dethrone men and establish HIMSELF as Prophet, High Priest, King and Chief Shepherd (= Senior Pastor, a title He has reserved for HIMSELF, but men have stolen). With thanksgiving we see that He is doing this gently at present, as evidenced by the voluntary submission and repentance of those who have been awakened to the fact that they have usurped HIS authority, but that will ultimately change. The LORD JESUS CHRIST will ultimately be the one and ONLY head of HIS church. Human control will not be tolerated.
Many have said that this is the single greatest issue in this renewal (such as Mike Bickle, Bob Birch and Moishen Demian, John Arnott, Randy Clark, etc.). David Dyer is not an isolated voice, there are literally thousands of leaders coming to this understanding of truth and abandoning erroneous teachings on authority. I have several books dealing with this area of truth. But, David has expressed it as good as anyone else.