Last time we noted the difference between Authority and Power.
I defined authority as the legal right delegated to a given person or organization to exercise protection and care over a defined group of people. The entity in authority is given enough power to carry out their role of protection. All authority is delegated, and ultimately comes from God the Father. Stated another way, all authority comes from God, and can be viewed as God’s umbrella of protection and blessing.

Unfortunately, what complicates all this is we live in a fallen world. Every person has been damaged by the effect of sin. Our natural state is to think and act for our own best interests – we are selfish. Therefore we can expect to see the abuse of authority. A person legitimately delegated authority over a group of people to protect and care for them, can become consumed by their own sinful desires. (hence the classic proverb, “power corrupts”) We see the abuse of authority in every area of life: marriage, family, church, business and government. The problem is not with authority or the institution, the problem is the sinfulness of those people in positions of authority.

Authority & Accountability

The solution is not to dismantle or “defund” the entity in authority, the solution is to instill and implement checks and balances to identify and correct those who abuse the sacred trust of authority. There will always be an abusive husband, a parent who provokes their children to anger (Eph 6:4), a church leader who lords it over the flock (1 Pet 5:3), and government officials and politicians who abuse their power for personal gain (Matt 20:25). This is why we must build into our lives personal accountability. This is why God commands us to live in community with other believers. This is why our brilliant founding fathers of our nation built in checks and balances in the function of our government.

But what are we to do personally, when a person in authority over us, oversteps their boundary? One classic example in Scripture is in Acts 4. The government officials commanded Peter and John not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. A clear understanding that all authority is delegated from God the Father helps bring clarity to this difficult situation. Is the person in authority commanding me to do something in direct violation to a command of God? If so, they are operating outside the boundary of their delegated authority, they are abusing their God-given authority. I then must decide “Do I obey God rather than man?” Acts 5:29

We must exercise great caution here. Paul instructed the believers in Rome, living under brutal persecution, to obey their leaders. Another important note, in the rare case we choose to obey God rather than man, we must be ready to accept the judicial consequences of that decision. Peter and Paul spend a lot of time in jail.

Authority is a sacred trust. Every person in a position of authority will answer to God, as to how they exercise that authority. As disciple makers, we operate under the authority of Jesus Christ. Matt 28:18

May the Lord use each of us to be part of a Disciple Making Movement within our sphere of influence.