Devotional: Authority

I was scheduled to go in 2 hrs earlier than normal this morning, when I got a message from our Worship Leader cancelling the early practice. My first thought was Thank goodness!

I began to think about how I appeared to her. Probably as very willing to work, showing up on time, every time. I'm one of those people who you can count on to be there every time, and I will work tirelessly the whole time, and if you said "can you stay an extra hour?" I would.

But then I thought, if my boss was Jesus, would I do the same? And I realized that it's more because I signed up for this, so I treat it like a job, and the worship leader like my employer. However, if it were Jesus and I were just following Him and He gave people the opportunity to leave after a long hard day of work, if no one took it, I would be loathe to be the first one (I wouldn't speak up, so would stay if everyone else did - peer pressure at its finest!). But, if someone else said "I have to go home", I would too, even if I didn't have something else to do. I imagine I would just be worn out, and need a break. And then I would spend the rest of the night at home relaxing.

There's some sort of ethic about there being an employer vs. being just a friend. There's also a difference between a set event I'm committing for and a spontaneous "let's help people today". I really don't think Jesus had a set schedule, where if you followed Him in the morning, He was going to tell you "okay, we're doing X at 10 AM, this other event at noon, and a third event this evening". He probably just followed things as they came up. In fact, the lack of organization would probably frustrate me to no end, because I like to know where I am going in my day. We all do.

So I felt the urge to look up some verses on authority (figures) in the Bible. Who are we supposed to give our authority to? God, of course. But what does that look like on a day to day basis? Sure, I still give my authority to God. But that says nothing about spontaneity vs. a job.

In the Bible, God does say we're supposed to work hard. We're supposed to work for employers like we're working for God. And I believe we're supposed to work tirelessly on every workday. We are also commanded to take a day of rest every week to combat this (the Sabbath), to give our bodies and minds time to relax. I myself had a GREAT worship day with the Lord two days ago now, and have felt very spiritually refreshed since then.

Bible verses for the day (a lot of these deal with Jesus and his authority):

Ecclesiastes 8:8 No man has the authority to restrain the wind with the wind, or authority over the day of death... but Jesus does. While the disciples were out in the storm, he stopped the wind and waves with a motion of His hand. He Himself also clearly knew when He was going to die, and specifically said "I have authority to lay down my life, and to take it up again"(see John 10:18). So it's clear that no mere man has this authority, so then Jesus must not be a mere man. This is an argument that He is part of the Godhead.

Similarly, this verse speaks to me. I, being a mere man, do not have authority over the things in my life. God does. I need to trust God, and trust in His plan.

Isaiah 22:20-22 Then it will come about in that day that I will summon my servant [] and I will clothe him with your tunic, and tie your sash securely about him. I will entrust him with your authority, and he will become a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the house of Judah. Then I will set the key of the house of David on his shoulder. When he opens, no one will shut. When he shuts, no one will open. This again speaks of the Christ to me. Though a different servant's name is mentioned, the Bible often parallels itself, with different people filling the same roles (or Christ filling other people's roles in metaphor). I believe Jesus himself quotes this passage about "What I shut, no one will open, and what I open, no one will shut". This passage also refers to being a father of the house of Judah, the line from which the Messiah would come. So this passage is Messianic as well, showing that Jesus has authority, tying Him to the house of Judah, and giving Him the absolute unmovable power of God.

Jer 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority. And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it? This passage is preceded by a long explanation of the people worshiping false gods and turning away from God. Clearly, as humans, we are not meant to have our own authority. As Jesus says, "You do not know where you come from, and you do not know where you are going." It's the same thing as not knowing our day or time of death, or what's going to happen in life. Yet people try to claim their own authority, clinging to that and following it.

The problem here is not only do we as individuals do it, but priests (whose sole power comes from the fact that they're supposed to be serving God!) start falling in love with power. And an even bigger problem is that the common people are seeing this evil and embracing it! But the ending line is the clincher. At first I read it as "Everyone else is leaning on their own authority/understanding and following their own will and not God's, and people are willingly embracing evil over good. But what will you do?" As in, the choice is left to you, the individual.

On 2nd reading, after reading it in context (the whole chapter), which has mentioned God's destruction, it's a little more like, But God is coming to destroy at the end of it, and what will you do then? So less of a choice to you the individual and more like, But you're going to get your comeuppance at the end.

The verse I really wanted today was:
Matthew 16: 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven; and whatever you bind on Earth shall have been bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth will have been loosed in Heaven.

That's a lot of power and authority! Kind of like Adam having authority over all the animals in the Garden of Eden. It's a lot of responsibility too (not an excuse to go wild).

So I'm having trouble putting all this together as authority. The Bible says we're supposed to serve our authority figures (bosses, leaders, etc.) with the same devotion as if we're serving God, because God put them in place there. Really, it's just another outlet of serving God, and God likes our devotion.

Yet, He gives us a lot of authority and independence over ourselves too.

The Takeaway
I think the main message is, Don't serve your employer just because you've been taught you ought to. Do it because you serve the Lord, and desire to please Him by serving your employer (who is on earth with us, who we can see) as you would serve the Lord (who we can't see) (a proxy for God). Serving the Lord in general pleases Him, and if we do this, since He's asked it of us, it pleases Him. Be prepared to go with changes as He crafts the plan for our lives for each of us. So put your heart on serving the Lord and working tirelessly for Him, rather than working tirelessly from 9-5 every day.

Also, it's clear from the above passages that Jesus has God's authority. He is the Servant mentioned many times in the Old Testament, and He has the authority of God (or at least beyond a mere man). I, and you, do not, so don't pretend we do.

At the same time, when we're serving God, we're acting with God's authority (I think that's the gist of the Genesis and Matthew passages giving us power over things). So it's impossible to abuse that, as long as we're serving God.

Make sure your head's in the right place today, and that your eyes are on God.

Prayer: Dear Lord, please don't let me fall into serving an earthly employer. I want to serve you. Please help me to set my eyes on you and serve you all my days, and have that fill my heart, rather than fulfilling a social or societal obligatory need. In the precious name of your Son Jesus Christ, I pray I could follow Him today and be willing to work tirelessly for Him whether it's official or spontaneous, that I would have a heart for Him and the work rather than for the schedule, and that I would have faith that He would give me the energy I will need when I get tired. Amen.