Open—Bill Prost
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Perhaps we can take a few minutes, and I trust I have the mind of the Lord in this.
In talking a little about the subject of authority.
For those that were at Morningstar camp, at least during this past week, the question was raised in one of the evening meetings.
And we did our best to go over some scriptures that bear on it, but I'd like to look at it from perhaps a little different point of view. Not that we didn't cover it, I feel like. Well, let me rephrase that. Not that we didn't cover it reasonably well at camp, but we didn't really have time to say everything that perhaps could have been said. Turn with me, please, to the book, just as there are other scriptures we could turn to. But.
Turn with me, please, first of all to the book of Romans.
Book of Romans, chapter 13.
Romans chapter 13 and verse one.
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.
For there is no power but of God.
The powers that be are ordained of God.
Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God.
And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
Just point out briefly here that although the general context in which this scripture is written refers to the authorities in this world, that is, those in government, I believe what we have here is a general statement in verse one.
There is no power but of God, and that in verse 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God.
If I were to ask for a show of hands here as to how many particularly very much enjoy submitting to authority, I don't think there would be too many hands go up. Yes, sometimes we look up to a good leader. Sometimes we look up to someone who seems to be much smarter and much more able to point the right way than we. But to submit to that kind of a person all the time.
And especially when it goes against what we would like to do, that's not easy to do, is it? Not very easy to do. And perhaps, and I guess some of us are old enough to see this. In the last 40 or 50 years, we have seen a tremendous throwing off of authority in the world, at least in the West. It's not quite true in some countries of this world, but in Western Europe and North America.
Particularly we've seen in the world at large a throwing off of authority.
And it rubs off on us, doesn't it? It rubs off on us as believers. Because whatever the sin is that is prevalent in the world is what generally surfaces among the people of God. And so we need to be reminded of this, that ultimately all authority, whether it is the government over us, whether it is parental authority, whether it is the authority in the workplace, whether it is the headship that God gives the husband in the home.
Whatever it might be.
It's derived authority, isn't it? But all authority ultimately stems from God, and so we want to make that point right at the beginning. Because if I am going to obey authority, I have to recognize that it is derived from God.
Let's turn over now to the Book of Colossians. And there are other scriptures that would serve us in this capacity. But let's turn over to the Book of Colossians.
And we'll read there toward the end of chapter 3, verse 18.
Excuse me?
Colossians 18.
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Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. Now skip to verse 20.
Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
Verse 22 Servants, obey in all things your masters, according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God, and whatsoever ye do. And brother Jim brought some of this before us, do it heartily as unto the as to the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord. You shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ.
Now we skipped for the moment the exhortations to those in a position of leadership and authority.
And read only the verses that talk to those who are in a position in a position to submit to authority.
Why is it that Scripture invariably. Well, maybe that's too strong a word because we're going to see another place where perhaps that.
Principle that general rule is broken, but for the most part, when Scripture addresses those in authority and those in positions of submission, it addresses those in submission first.
Why do you think that is? I suggest the thought.
That God would call upon you and me to submit to authority over us.
Without necessarily trying to judge as to whether that authority is being exercised totally in a proper way.
Very important to remember.
Again, I repeat it God calls upon you and me to submit to authority, even if it is not always exercised in the proper way.
If I'm going to be the judge of whether the authority over me is acting in a right way, you can easily see where that would end. I would soon find an excuse for disobeying that authority if I didn't like what I was being told to do.
Isn't that right? I don't like submitting to authority either. It rubs me the wrong way. It always did.
Even when I was a small boy I didn't like, it bothered me.
But ultimately, that authority comes from God.
And there is a verse, I believe that.
Brings this very clearly before us. Let's turn back.
Well, let me let me let me talk about something else just for a moment before we go to that verse.
Suppose the authority is exercised in the wrong way.
Does that happen?
You know it does. Indeed it does. And I have been guilty of it, both as a husband and as a father, and probably as a master, because I ran a medical practice and had employees and I have no doubt.
That I exercised it sometimes in the wrong way.
I can remember, and it was a bit of a joke between me and my employees for a long time. But one time there was a bookmark placed on my desk that one of the girls had picked up somewhere, and on that bookmark was it was a bookmark that had been professionally made. They didn't make it themselves, but they saw it and bought it and put it on my desk.
And it simply said on that bookmark. Be reasonable, do it my way.
Ouch.
I knew what they meant.
And I don't mind admitting to you that it resulted in some changes. It resulted in monthly staff meetings where I provided the lunch and where anybody who worked there was free to bring up something that they didn't like or that they thought could be done differently, even if it included something that I was responsible for.
Of course there were some parameters put in place.
If you were going to bring up something that was being done the wrong way, you were.
Supposed to have a constructive idea about how to do it better. You weren't allowed just to gripe and say I don't know the solution to this, but I don't like it. There had to be a positive solution and it worked very well. It was very good and we didn't have nearly so many bookmarks put on the desk after that. The point is.
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Authority.
Is not always exercised in the right way. What do we do if it is exercised in the wrong way? And I would suggest two things. And if I may be allowed, I speak perhaps more particularly to the younger ones here, and I can honestly tell you I have not forgotten what it was like to be young. I really don't think I have and.
Sometimes the matter of authority becomes a huge problem.
In the home, in the assembly, in the workplace, perhaps even in the world at large. I don't mean to pick on young people. As Jim said, I love your energy, I love your devotedness to the Lord. And 1 old brother used to say if he really wanted something to happen quickly, he'd ask some young people to pray for it. Why did he say that? Because they didn't look at all the if ands, buts or maybes. They just prayed simply and the Lord answered.
Because he heard that simple prayer. And there it was. And so.
Let us never look down on our young people.
But at the same time.
As I say again, the world has become a place where authority is being challenged and I can well remember speaking to a young man and he wasn't, I don't believe, even saved. But I had occasion to be talking to him and pointing out the importance of doing something that he was being told to do.
And his reply stonkered. Me because I guess I wasn't raised that way, he said, without any hesitation, without any conviction at all, he said.
But what if I don't want to do it as if that was all the reason there had there needed to be not to do it?
Two things we need to remember.
Let's notice what we had here in Colossians chapter 3.
Verse 18.
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit.
In the Lord.
Now turn back to a verse about children in Ephesians 6.
Ephesians 6.
Children, obey your parents.
In the Lord, for this is right.
We could go to other scriptures and refer to the Old Testament where there were three young men in the book of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who refused a command from the king Nebuchadnezzar.
Why did they? Because what they were being commanded to do would have been disobedience to the Lord.
What they were being commanded to do would have been dishonouring to the Lord.
And if you and I are thinking that we cannot obey an authority over us.
First of all, let us ask ourselves.
Will obeying this authority.
Dishonor the Lord.
That would settle a lot of problems, wouldn't it? Not whether it will be distasteful to me, not whether the authority is being wrongly used. Not whether perhaps the authority isn't walking with the Lord. Because in the case of an unbelieving master that may well be of course the case. It always is the case if he's an unbeliever.
Will, obeying what I am being told to do dishonor the Lord?
Let's bring it down to some nitty gritty.
Assembly Authority.
The Lord has put authority in the assembly, no question about it.
Do ye not judge them that are within First Corinthians? 5 says very definitely, and we are told to obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves? No question. But God has put authority there.
Is that authority always exercised in the right way?
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Sadly not. Sadly not.
And I speak to those in positions of responsibility.
And some of us were talking about this earlier.
Consists of three Rs in the English language and it applies to every sphere of authority.
Rules without a relationship.
Equals what?
Rebellion.
Now, does that make any excuse for the rebellion? Of course not, and that is why those in a position of responsible, or rather a position of submission, are addressed first. Because even if there are rules without a relationship, God doesn't say that's a good excuse for rebellion. But the fact is, it happens.
But I have to ask myself.
Will submitting to that authority of the local assembly.
Whether it is in a decision that has been made relative to me or a broader decision relative to which way the assembly is going to go, will it dishonour the Lord so that I feel I cannot go along with it. That is a good test.
But there's something else that goes, if I could suggest, and that's very great importance, but let's go one step beyond that.
Turn back to the book of Romans and this was the scripture I was going to turn to a couple of minutes ago. Romans chapter 12.
Romans, chapter 12.
The last verse verse 21.
Be not overcome of evil.
But overcome evil with good.
If an authority is being exercised, perhaps in the wrong way.
What do you and I do? Let us suppose that we've answered the question and we have said to ourselves in the Lords presence, no.
Submitting to this authority and doing what is being asked of me will not ultimately dishonour the Lord.
But what am I going to do?
Am I going to?
Get my back up about that authority. Am I going?
Grudgingly to submit to it.
Am I going to submit to it while I boil inside?
Maybe others haven't had that problem, but I sure have.
Where I submitted to authority, but I was just seething and burning up inside, thinking my Oh my.
And hoping somehow that somebody would set them straight and bring them down a peg or two, as we would say, and we're talking straight language.
Sometimes I suggest that our old sinful self can feel that way. What does the Lord tell us to do? And this chapter has already been referred to in the previous address, but notice what it says in verse 21.
Be not overcome of evil.
But that's only a half tooth.
Overcome evil with good.
I've talked to people in various positions of submission to authority, all the way from young people up to people in my own age bracket.
And sometimes they have wrung their hands and said, but I can't do anything about the situation, it's just a mess.
They're not treating me very well. The boss isn't very good, my husband doesn't treat me well, my parents don't understand me and all the rest of it.
I suggest that this 21St verse does not have any.
Age qualifications.
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
I wasn't even thinking about getting up this afternoon, so I trust this is of the Lord and you'll pardon me if you if I tell a story that I have told at Morningstar camp. Just.
A week? Or maybe it was the week before last, I don't remember.
It's a secular story, but I read it some time ago and I thought it was good.
About two girls in junior high.
Who played basketball?
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And both were good.
And they were good friends too, Personally with one another. Very good friends.
But if they were both good, one was very good.
There was just an uncanny way that she had of getting that ball, and she had a nice long shot that she could do and sink a basket almost every time. She was really good.
Excuse me?
And she could.
Score probably more points than any other player in the game.
Can you guess what happened?
Her good friend started to get envious.
And I may just mention that in Scripture, jealousy is usually used in a positive sense because jealousy is wanting what is rightfully mine.
But envious, wanting something that the Lord hasn't given me.
Difference between the two?
And this other girl, who wasn't quite as good, began to be envious. She's getting all the praise. She's scoring all the baskets. And so whenever this other girl got the ball, she'd never throw it to her friend who was better than she.
Even if there was a wide open.
Area and every reasonable way that she could pass the ball to her, she never did.
She would play it, she would bounce it. She would look for someone else, never passed it to.
Her friend.
And of course, it drove a wedge between them. Pretty soon their friendship started to sour and finally the girl that was the better player laid the whole issue before her dad.
Dad, what do I do? It's ruining the team. It's ruining our friendship, causing problems. How do I handle this?
Coach doesn't seem to notice. Coach doesn't seem to be any help. What do I do?
I don't know whether her dad was a Christian, but he gave her good advice, said. You know what you do?
He said. Every time you get a chance, you pass the ball to her.
Oh my. But dad, she won't pass it to me at all. She doesn't like me. Never mind. Whenever you have an opportunity, pass the ball to her.
Well, the next game came around and of course things started going.
And the girl who was not the better player, of course, started off in the same theme and didn't pass the ball to her friend, who was the better player. But then the better player got the ball and there was her friend right there, wide open.
Perfect opportunity to pass it to her.
But she hesitated. Can you relate to that? She did. She hesitated.
And she hesitated a bit more.
But her dad was in the stands and he was a big man and he had a loud voice.
And above all, the other cheering of the crowd, he shouted out. And I'm not going to blast the mic here, But he shouted out. Pass her the ball.
She passed and the other girl scored.
What's easier, the next time, she did it again. And she did it again. And she did it again.
I think you can guess what happened after a while. The other girl, who was the lesser player, decided that maybe it wasn't so bad after all to pass the ball to her good friend because after all, she was scoring points too.
Their friendship came back together again.
They won their games. The team functioned well.
Because one girl who didn't need to and who was being wronged.
She didn't realize, perhaps, and I have no idea whether there was any Christianity involved in it at all. It was in a secular book. I read it, but.
They were. Whether they knew it or not, they were operating on a scriptural principle.
Be not overcome of evil, but.
Overcome evil with good.
We all have the opportunity to do that.
If things in the sphere in which you are.
In a position of submitting are not very good.
On the other hand, or on the one hand don't be overcome of evil, but on the other hand ask the Lord how to overcome evil with good. Is it easy to do?
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It can be.
Do we sometimes need and all?
Be with all reverence here.
Don't take this the wrong way.
But do you and I sometimes need the Lord in the stands shouting pass through the ball? We do, don't we? We need the Lord sometimes, and He may have to shout it because it's hard to do.
Do something good. Do something right, Carry on.
Be a help to that other person. Be a help to that authority.
And it's wonderful what the Lord can do, because that's the Spirit of Christ.
Our time is going and there may be someone else has something but one final point.
And to see that, let's turn first of all to first Peter 5.
First Peter 5.
And verse one.
Now we said that the Lord usually addressed the one in submission first.
Here's an exception.
The elders which are among you, I exhort, who I am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.
Feed the flock of God which is among you. Take in the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy looker, but of a ready mind.
Neither as being Lords over God's heritage, but being in samples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
And then it says likewise, Ye younger, submit yourselves under the elder, Yeah, all of you be subject 1 to another, and be clothed with humility. For God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
Now let's turn back to Ephesians 5, our chapter which the Lord leaves us here we perhaps will take up again tomorrow, and I don't want to trespass on what we may have in the readings, but notice this.
In verse 22, once again we have the one in submission addressed first.
Wives, submit yourselves under your own husbands, as unto the Lord, and so on.
And then in verse 25, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, the one in submission first, the one in leadership or authority second.
But look at the last verse in the chapter.
Again, a reversal.
Nevertheless, let everyone of you in particular so love his wife even as himself.
And the wife see that she reverence her husband.
Why the difference?
Oh, because when there is disorder and confusion within a severe of authority which God has set up.
God does not look first of all to those in submission as to the reason for it. He looks to those in headship, leadership, and authority.
If there's disorder and confusion in the workplace, God looks to the master and says what kind of atmosphere did you foster within that sphere of your authority?
I've often enjoyed reading about Boaz in the Old Testament.
How the servants reacted when Boaz spoke to those Reapers. What did they say? They said the Lord bless thee, Isn't that beautiful?
Boaz was a wealthy man. They were servants, reapers working for. And yet there obviously was such an atmosphere of trust and pleasure in working for him that their immediate reaction was the Lord bless thee.
Let's remember that. And so the husband is addressed first here, because God puts the responsibility on the man first of all.
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Very, very important. And if there's disorder and confusion in a marriage, God first of all says to the husband, have you done your part in the right way?
There are exceptions, of course, but how balanced the word of God is. But I say, and this is if anyone wants the reference, I'll give it to you afterward. This is quoting Mr. Wigram from his ministry back in the 1800s, but he says.
Particularly referring to marriage, he says generally if there is disorder and difficulty in a marriage, it is the higher partner that has failed first.
Generally speaking, I found that to be true in my own observation.
In Peter, the elders are exhorted first. Why? Because Peter's ministry takes up the House of God.
Responsibility in the house. It looks at believers not so much as the church. That's Paul's ministry, not so much as the family. That's John's ministry. He looks at the House of God.
Where responsibility and walk is in question.
And Peter says you elders, are you acting as real shepherds?
Real shepherds.
Oh, how much we need good shepherds today.
One of our old brethren in the 1800s says that gift is rare and so much needed. Shepherds, those who can relate to souls where they are not where they should be, That's easy. But where they are, and I don't say we should tolerate evil. We know that. And I don't say that we should accommodate evil. No, Sir, that's wrong. And sad to say, there is too much of an element in the world today that says, oh, you have to be tolerant. You have to let these things go, after all.
Look at the way the world is and God is love and love triumphs and all this.
You know that is asking God to sacrifice His Holiness in favor of His love.
God doesn't.
Abrogate any part of his character, either his love or his light, His Holiness. Both run parallel to one another.
But equally true, one doesn't replace the other. And so we have in Peter here, and we'll just turn back to it in closing. First Peter, Chapter one, there is a great deal said about how the elders conduct themselves. I don't believe we have official elders today. We have no one to appoint them because we never see in Scripture an assembly appointing its own elders. They were always appointed by either an apostle or an Apostolic delegate like Titus or Timothy.
And I don't believe we have the authority to label someone as an elder. But there is no question that God raises up those who act in that capacity. Why? Because of their spiritual weight and their godly walk and moral weight. And that's what counts. Not whether I have a label pasted on me, but whether there's a walk that commends it.
But here in.
Peter Five, We have a list of things that ought to characterize those in authority and responsibility.
And above all, there is the thought of shepherding care. And if that is in place, I believe we will generally find that it will not be that difficult for the younger to submit themselves unto the elder, because the elder will be sensitive to the needs of the younger listening to them, relating to them.
That's not always easy, and I'll confess that.
With people in my age bracket, it takes a little bit of effort.
And I can still remember. And there are those that are plenty old enough here to remember my late father-in-law, Albert Hayhoe. And he used to talk about how, and we don't have time to refer to it, how when the Shunamite woman came to Elisha and told him that her son was dead.
Elisha told Gehazi to go ahead with the license staff and lay his staff upon the face of the child.
Did it work?
Nothing happened, did it? A staff is rigid.
No, I don't see Elisha was wrong to do that. But it's a picture of something, isn't it? A staff is rigid. It doesn't bend at all.
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And it didn't do anything.
But what happened when Elisha came?
He stretched himself upon the child.
That must have been quite a job for a grown man. I don't know how old the child was, but he had to put his lips on his lips and so on. He had to accommodate himself to where that child was. The child was a picture of spiritual death and he had to accommodate himself to that child, and everything didn't happen at once.
Elisha had to pray. Then you had to go away again, come back again, showing us that we don't expect instant results.
And finally, what happens? Something kind of unusual. The child sneezed 7 times.
Sneezing.
You'd say why sneezing?
Sometimes signs of spiritual revival in life are a little different to what we would expect. Sometimes signs of recovery in a believer are a little different.
We may not think it should happen that way. Why didn't you get up off the bed? Why didn't he say something? Why did he just sneeze?
But it's an unmistakable sign that life is coming back, isn't it? No question about it. Dead people never sneeze.
And I say to my own heart.
Let me be careful that I don't just lay a staff on somebody and expect them to revive.
There needs to be that adaptation to where they are, not in the sinful way. Let me make that clear. But realizing where they are, that takes exercise before the Lord, that takes prayer, that takes.
Leading and guiding by the Lord.
But then we will find that.
There's revival. There's a bringing back. There is life. Whether it's relating to an unbeliever, sometimes it takes a long time.
Or somebody who is a believer but who has fallen into moral death, as it were.
There's always a way back, and the Lord looks for those who can accommodate themselves to that situation and give that which is needed. And so, just to repeat, in summary, we have a perfect balance in Scripture, those who are in a position of submission. Let us submit in every case, unless it is absolutely clear and definite that to submit and to obey that authority would be such a dishonor to the Lord that we could not possibly do it.
On the other hand, if we're in positions of responsibility and authority, let us remember that God looks to us as to the atmosphere and character that we foster within the sphere of that leadership and authority, and that God looks to us likewise for that needed grace and shepherding for each one within that sphere.