Allen Jackson - Expressions of Spiritual Authority - Part 1
I want to begin a new topic for two or three sessions, either way, under the general heading of «Who’s The Boss»? Thank you for that enthusiastic response. You know, it’s a very relevant question. I mean, the byline is «Expressions of Spiritual Authority» and ultimately that’s what we’re talking about, but the real fundamentals of this is «Who’s the Boss»? and it occurs to me, just with a casual review of recent history that we’re very reluctant, any of us, to submit to authority. And just about any way you dissect our culture into any subgroup, whether you do it by age, or biology, or our appearance, none of us want to be under authority. You know, all of the language around inclusivity and the changing of language is, I mean, from almost every aspect is a determined effort to say, «I’ll not be under the authority of anyone or anything».
And we have sown the wind and we’ve reaped the whirlwind. And it’s as rampant within the church as it is in secular culture. It’s as rampant within Christian universities as it is in secular places. So there is a biblical perspective on this, and I wanna look at it because I believe it has tremendous benefits for us, but the real root of this question is «who’s the boss»? Who’s the authority in our lives? See, the message that has been largely embraced by the church is, «Our faith is about eternity. It’s about our destiny, heaven or hell, good or evil,» and we wanna get that straight, and there’s certainly a value in that. I’m not trying to diminish that, but the real essence of our faith is who the authority in our life today. And that discussion is one that we’re not nearly as excited about, and it has great implications not simply for our destiny, but it has implications for the world in which we will live.
You see, our faith is intended to impact culture. It’s intended to impact our children, and where they go to school, and what those schools feel like; not a theoretical faith, not a faith that’s like, «Well, doesn’t really matter, it doesn’t», you know, my sense when I read our Bibles, you know, we’re into the Old Testament now in the book of Exodus, and you’re gonna get the sense that when God says «No,» he didn’t mean, «Well, just whatever». And we’ve arrived at kind of a squishy, sloppy faith, and this has such significant implications for the world in which we live, and the world in which we’re going to hand our children and our grandchildren, who’s the boss? See, I think we need to understand with some clarity that the church with its principles of a sovereign God who’s involved in the affairs of people, because that’s the essence of the church.
There is a God, a creator God, an Almighty God, not just that started this whole thing and stepped back, but he’s actually engaged in the affairs of people. Well, that notion is a tremendously significant barrier to the ideals that are pushing towards globalism, which is a powerful force in our world, and the result of that realization is a very significant hatred for the church. It’s cultivated, it’s maintained. It demands that our faith be eliminated from the public square, and those demands are persistent and unrelenting because they understand appropriately and rightly that Jesus of Nazareth is Lord, Christ, and King who will elevate a dignity to every human being that they don’t intend to ascribe. And at least in my opinion, too often the people of faith have been retreated to a quiet, private, spiritual life disengaged from public discourse.
I believe that that kind of a segmented approach to faith is misguided both theologically and pragmatically, and I think this question of «who’s the boss»? is relevant. See, if the church is diminished, there’s some very measurable outcomes that you can see, and they’ll be reflected, they will grow. Personal expression and fulfillment are given a higher priority than things like duty and honor. Gee, we don’t see any of that. Truth will become an increasingly fluid concept, because there’s no authority that’s established to establish objective truth, so truth will become personal. It’ll widely vary, be based upon interpretation. Each individual will be suggested to determine what the truth for themselves is, whether it’s about their biology, whether it’s personal definitions of moral or immoral, or a definition of family; and the outcome of that, you don’t have to look very far to see it becomes the theater of the absurd.
Spiritual forces of darkness are expressed, and things like lawlessness increase. Jesus told us it would happen. Oppression, oppression of people, oppression of free speech, oppression of truth, oppression of opportunity: all of those things will increase if the church continues to decrease. We have mistakenly thought that the church was simply about telling people how to go to heaven. We are light in the darkness. We are a voice for the truth. The great liberator of humanity is Jesus of Nazareth, not a political idea, not a party, not a nation. We’ve been given something that transcends all of those things. As godliness is restored and increases, human dignity increases. We’re image bearers of Almighty God. It’s a fundamental tenet of our faith, not because of our appearance or our ability, but because we bear the image of the Creator.
And the things that we say we value the most: freedom, truth, justice, hope, all of those things will grow again. We cannot afford to be timid, or frightened, or reluctant, or hesitant. And we should understand everyone won’t cheer. Who’s the boss? Proverbs 14 in verse 34 says, «Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people». I checked, that’s in the Old Testament, it’s written in Hebrew. I went back, I did all the language studies. It does not in the original language say that «Republicans or Democrats exalt the nation». It says righteousness will do that, so here’s our goal. We won’t have a choice to choose between leaders no matter what label they wear that will stand as advocates for righteousness. That’s the goal. Righteousness will exalt our nation more than good economic policy. More than anything else, we’ve been so idolatrous we thought, «Well, if we could just get some better economic policy, maybe we can figure out a way to slip our faith into the side door». Righteousness exalts the nation.
Proverbs 29: «Where there is no revelation, the people will cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law». Where there’s no insider understanding of the principles of the kingdom of God, people will not accept any restraint. Self-expression will be what predominates every conversation. Judges 17 in verse 6 says, «In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit». Those are not the best seasons of the story. In Isaiah chapter 5, there’s a passage that’s a little longer than I would typically read, but it’s a precursor to a very significant message that Jesus delivered in Jerusalem. Some of you may recognize the pattern. You’ve probably more familiar with Jesus’s message, it’s in Matthew 23. He delivered to the leaders in Jerusalem a scathing rebuke that included seven statements of woe, W-O-E, which means you better stop that. W-O-E is a caution of impending judgment.
And Jesus, in a very harsh rebuke of the attitude that predominated the leaders in Jerusalem, gave them seven separate perspectives that were going to bring judgment to them. Well, it’s a pattern, and we’re introduced to it in Isaiah chapter 5, where the prophet is speaking to his generation several hundred years before the birth of Jesus. He said, «Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit, and wickedness as with cart ropes, to those who say, 'Let God hurry, let him hasten his work so that we may see it. Let it approach, let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come, so we may know it.'» Isaiah is challenging him. He said there are those amongst the covenant people of God, the people who offer sacrifices and go to temple and do all the things, there are those amongst us «who draw sin along with cords of deceit, and wickedness as with a cart».
Then in verse 20, «Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter». That seems like that is a reflection on our headlines today. If you’ll be public with your immorality and casting off any semblance of a biblical worldview, you’ll be heralded as courageous, and if you’re an advocate for biblical values like purity or abstinence or the sanctity of human life, we’re told you’re out of date and out of step, you’re archaic. If being out of step means I’m aligned with God, I’ll just be happy to stay out of step. Verse 21: «Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight». Again, we’ve cast off restraint. We imagine that we establish truth because we imagine we’re the boss. We’re the captain of our faith, and we’re the master of our soul. What a bunch of blather.
Verse 23: «Who acquit the guilty», well, verse 22: «Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent. Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel». What’s the cause of those statements of warning? What’s bringing, what’s inviting the judgment of God, thus those statements of woe? It’s the attitude of rejecting the law of the Lord Almighty and spurning the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Folks, we’re guilty, we’re guilty. We’ve tolerated redefining things that we’re not given the privilege of redefining. They weren’t initiatives that started with us, they were something God handed to us. They’re a part of the design manual, they’re a part of what God intended, and our assignment is to stand for those values and to stand for those principles, not to be a bridge for their modification. And if we indoctrinate the children with those godless principles, Jesus told us with clarity that the best day we could imagine would be a big rock, a short rope, and deep water. This is serious discussion, who’s the boss? Who do we imagine the boss to be? You see, that has to do with allegiance. It has to do with many things, and we’ll unpack a bit.
Verse 25, we’ve been given the underlying cause of the seriousness, and in verse 25, says, «Therefore,» because of these things, «the Lord’s anger burns against his people». Not against the pagan nations, not against the godless nations, the Lord’s anger burns against his people. «His hand is raised and he strikes them down. The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets. Yet for all of this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised». I want to establish at this point is it’s not a small thing to tell God you don’t think he’s the boss. We can chafe under God’s direction. We can be uncomfortable with it, we may not understand it, we may think it’s intrusive. There’s many things, but we do not have the luxury of rejecting it. I mean, you do have that privilege, he’s given you a free choice, but we should understand there is a tremendous consequence. We’ve been given much: tremendous blessings, unprecedented liberties and freedoms and opportunities in abundance, and to whom much is given, much is required… not just much is expected, much is required.
I want to take a minute or two and see if we can glean from Scripture the degree to which Jesus led his life under authority. The one who walked on the water and could turn water into wine, he could raise the dead or open a blind eye. If you listen to what he had to say, it’s very clear: he was not a self-governing initiative, but he understood himself to be under authority. Look at Matthew chapter 20 in verse 23: «Jesus said to them, 'You will indeed'», they’ve come, two of the disciples have approached Jesus, they want privileged positions when his kingdom comes in its fullness. Did you get that, disciples trying to elbow one another out of the way for better opportunities? We haven’t changed that much, folks. That’s my seat. Never mind, we would never park illegally.
Matthew 20:23: «Jesus said to them, 'You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right hand or my left is not for me to grant.'» «I don’t have that authority,» he said. «These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father». Jesus said, «That’s beyond the scope of my authority. I can’t do that. I can tell you that you’ll pay the price that you said you’re willing to pay. I’ve got that block of authority, but I don’t have that authority». Do you live with the imagination that Jesus was under authority? If you do, then you and I both need to understand we cannot imagine that we could fulfill his assignment for our lives unless we willingly place ourselves under authority. You know the word for that. It’s the word that is anathema in our culture: submit. That’s not just for wives and husbands. That has application in every one of our lives, and our spiritual formation, and the fulfillment of our assignments. Jesus had submitted to the authority of the Father.
Look at Luke 22. He’s in Gethsemane, his suffering is just about to be initiated, and he said, «Father, if you’re willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done». I would suggest to you there’s a humility expressed in that, that is a reflection of being under the authority of the Father. Jesus could have done many things. He could have caused those who come to arrest him, I mean, they’re all knocked backwards when they come to arrest him. He could have caused them to be struck with blindness, or melted, or whatever, called fire out of heaven. He is willingly submitting to a pathway that is extraordinarily difficult, and you hear the struggle. He has the humility to say to God, «Listen, that’s really not my first choice, but I’ll do whatever you ask».
Can you process that you and I will have to come to places in our lives where we’ll say to the Lord, «That’s really not my first choice, but I will willingly volunteer to walk a difficult path if you’re asking me to do that». See, this is more than about eternity. Oh, it’ll have implications for eternity, but do we have the humility to submit ourselves to the authority of God? That has implications for how we conduct our lives every day. In John 6 in verse 38, Jesus said, «I’ve come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me». He said, «Listen, I didn’t come down to heaven to show you all my tricks».
That would be as backwards as thinking that once Moses realized he could throw his staff down and it would become a snake or that he could put his hand in his coat and when he brought it out, it would be one way, and he’d put it back and he’d be healthy again, that he was so anxious to go see Pharaoh and show him his parlor tricks. Moses wanted nothing to do with the assignment because he understood perhaps better than anybody else could have understood the power that Pharaoh wielded, the stubbornness that he would have along the assignment. I assure you Jesus understood the difficulty of the assignment that he was engaged in. He’d been engaged in this unfolding narrative of human beings from the opening chapters of Genesis from before the world began. He knew the story, so he knew when he agreed to the incarnation to accept the assignment to an Earth suit, he was coming to do the will of his Father.
You know how dramatically our lives would change if we got up in the morning and said, «My goal today is to do your will». Most days, our goal is to figure out how to get God to do my will. «What verse could I quote that would cause God…»? «Who can I get to agree with me in prayer, because if two or three of us agree is touching anything, we’ll get what we want». Well, not exactly. Not my will, but your done obedience. «Well, you know, I didn’t think obedience was that big a deal. Can’t we just say we’re sorry? What about an abundance of grace and mercy»? Well, I believe in grace and mercy, but their objective is to bring you to repentance, not to extend your license. Obedience.
You know, if you’re in the workplace and you’re shown mercy or grace, it’s not so you can get sloppier. It’s so you can correct whatever it was that brought the need for an expression of grace or mercy, right? And yet, when it comes to the kingdom of God, we’ve inverted that with, «Oh, there’s so much grace. We’re gonna do anything we want to do. We’re gonna act any way, it doesn’t matter,» no. Obedience, look at John 7:16. «Jesus answered, 'My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.'»
It’s very clear, and I can give you many more texts if it would be helpful, that Jesus understood himself to be under authority. Submission is not evil, submission is not humiliating. This is gonna take a bit of time to reflect upon, because those things have been hammered into us for decades. They have washed over us. We’ve changed our language because language was oppressive. We’ve rewritten the rules of grammar because even our words were oppressive. Our history’s been rewritten because it was oppressive. We’ve done all of these things because we don’t intend for anybody to have authority over us, and that has deeply, deeply, deeply affected the church.
In 1 Peter chapter 2 in verse 23, Peter is speaking of Jesus, who was his friend. He says, «When they hurled their insults at him, he didn’t retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly». That’s a staggering statement. Jesus made no attempt to retaliate. He didn’t threaten those who were abusing him. The choice he made was to entrust his future to a just judge. He trusted the retribution of God would be more severe than anything he could initiate, and he could initiate some stuff. He could speak to the wind and the waves. He could raise the dead.
I think if you could raise the dead, you could make the dead, right? Equal opposite reactions, that’s just a logical extension of the facts in record, and yet Jesus’s choice was to entrust himself to the one who judges justly. Do you understand there’s a submission in that? I will submit myself to an authority other than my own. You know, the words come pretty easily to me. I can grasp the concepts, but I have to tell you the truth: to live this out is not simple. There are many voices in our culture right now that suggest to us, and they’re just as alive within the church as they are without, that no one has a right to judge me.
That idea has flourished now for many years, even in the midst of the people of faith. Often we’re offended when a behavior is deemed inappropriate. Well, who says? Well, in many instances, God has said. Well, we will reject God’s authority and embrace secular values, imagining we can avoid God’s judgment, and we’ll cling to our favorite verse or our favorite perspective, or we’ll shift the conversation to a conversation about eternity and eternal destinies, and I know one thing for certain: I’ve taken care of that. Well, I appreciate that, but Jesus also said we’d be known by the fruit of our lives. My goal isn’t to introduce threat, my goal is to introduce truth. We have to understand who the boss is.