Have you ever felt that there may be
Have you ever felt that there may be something missing from your Christian life? Perhaps a missing spiritual truth that you have overlooked or never really understood? Something that if understood could radically change everything? Our new study just may be that missing link.
God’s Right of Rule in My Life A Study in Spiritual Authority
Meaning of Spiritual Authority… God’s right and power to be in charge of everything and my lawful duty to submit to His charge over my life. God then delegates this right and power to certain others in my life. Much of the success or failure, joy or dissatisfaction, contentment or discontentment of my Christian life is wrapped up in how much I submit to God’s right of rule over my life.
Legitimate and Illegitimate Authority • • • Some have the right of authority but no power to enforce their right – Example: Parents who can’t control their children Some have the power of authority but no legitimate right over others – Example: Hitler when he invaded France Spiritual authority is based on both the right and power as with God Who possesses both
Part I Four Biblical Characters who Teach Us Significant Truth on Spiritual Authority
A. First Person Mr. Clay Isaiah 45: 9 -12
The Lord illustrates the Biblical truth of spiritual authority with a word picture of the potter and the clay in Isaiah 45: 9 -12
The Potter and the Clay… "Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker-- An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, 'What are you doing? ' Or the thing you are making say, 'He has no hands'? "Woe to him who says to a father, 'What are you begetting? ' Or to a woman, 'To what are you giving birth? '" Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: "Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons, And you shall commit to Me the work of My hands. "It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands, And I ordained all their host. Isaiah 45: 9 -12 NASB
Context… Imagine that God delivered a prophetic message through Billy Graham to Christians in Southern California. The message: Because of America’s sin, America is to be punished and brought low. Much of America had already been destroyed and terrorists groups surround Southern California to destroy it also. You and your family will lose your wealth, family members will be killed, and others will enslave you. Now you have the setting for the potter and clay analogy.
I, God, generate all this. But doom to you who fight your Maker— you’re a pot at odds with the potter! Does clay talk back to the potter: ‘What are you doing? What clumsy fingers!’ Would a sperm say to a father, ‘Who gave you permission to use me to make a baby? ’ Or a fetus to a mother, ‘Why have you cooped me up in this belly? ’ ” Thus God, The Holy of Israel, Israel’s Maker, says: “Do you question who or what I’m making? Are you telling me what I can or cannot do? I made earth, and I created man and woman to live on it. I handcrafted the skies and direct all the constellations in their turnings. Isaiah 45: 9 -12 The Message
Isaiah and God’s elect get it… But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father, We are the clay, and Thou our potter; And all of us are the work of Thy hand. Isaiah 64: 8
Mega Lesson… God is sovereign and does as He chooses. To argue with one’s Creator is ludicrous.
B. Second Person Mr. Job 38: 1 -12
Background… For thirty-seven chapters Job is angry with God and demands an explanation of why he has gotten the shaft. This after Job had been faithful and a good guy. Job says in chapter 31… "Oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature; Let the Almighty answer me! And the indictment which my adversary has written, Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it to myself like a crown. "I would declare to Him the number of my steps; Like a prince I would approach Him. Job 31: 35 -37 Job gets his wish, for four chapters (38 -41) God answers Job and gets really humbled
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, Job 38: 1 "Who is that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? "Now gird up your loins like a man, And I will ask you, and you instruct Me! Job 38: 2 -3
"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, Who set its measurements, since you know? Or who stretched the line on it? "On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy? vss: 4 -7
"Or who enclosed the sea with doors, When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb; vs: 8
When I made a cloud its garment, And thick darkness its swaddling band, And I placed boundaries on it, And I set a bolt and doors, And I said, ' Thus far you shall come, but no farther; And here shall your proud waves stop'? vss: 9 -11
"Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, And caused the dawn to know its place; That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, And the wicked be shaken out of it? "It is changed like clay under the seal; And they stand forth like a garment. "And from the wicked their light is withheld, And the uplifted arm is broken. vss: 12 -15
When your world falls apart, do you blame God? • • When a spouse or child is suddenly taken When your spouse serves you with divorce papers When cancer infects your body When you lose your financial security When a dark depression overtakes you When you are betrayed by a friend When you are falsely accused and imprisoned When you are sued
Mega Lesson… God doesn’t have to explain to you what He is doing in your life. Get it? He is God and you are not! Here is the flipside however, because of His grace God will enlighten you as to the purpose of the trials in your life but it is always in His time… But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. James 1: 5
C. Third Person Mr. Centurion Matthew 8: 5 -13
And when He had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, entreating Him, and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering great pain. " And He said to him, "I will come and heal him. ” But the centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. "For I, too, am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, 'Go!' and he goes, and to another, 'Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this!' and he does it. ” Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled, and said to those who were following, "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. "And I say to you, that many shall come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ” And Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way; let it be done to you as you have believed. " And the servant was healed that very hour. Matthew 8: 5 -13
Some background… • • • Centurions were in charge of a hundred soldiers and were the backbone of the Roman military Centurions curiously enough are regarded in favorable terms in the New Testament In Luke’s account, delegates are sent to Jesus in on behalf of the Centurion The Centurion loved Israel and build the town’s synagogue. The Centurion had compassion on a slave who others masters would have cared nothing for
Spiritual dimension The Centurion makes comments that give us insight into his spiritual character… • I am not worthy – vs: 8 • I am a man under authority – vs: 9 The Centurion grew up in an environment where the structure of authority was everything. When he evaluated the person of Christ, he saw Him as where the buck stopped. That is, Christ was the very authority of God, the very top of the chain of command.
Mega Lesson… Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled, and said to those who were following, "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. Matthew 8: 10 Living faith is equated with submission to spiritual authority.
D. Fourth Person Mr. Saul Acts 26: 14
Before King Agrippa, Paul says… "And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, 'Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. ' Acts 26: 14
The Good News Paraphrase says… All of us fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, ‘Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting me? You are hurting yourself by hitting back, like an ox kicking against its owner’s stick. ’ American Bible Society. (1992). The Holy Bible : The Good news Translation (2 nd ed. ) (Ac 26: 14). New York: American Bible Society.
Mega Lessons… • • Prior to Paul’s salvation experience, the Lord had been actively prodding him to receive Christ and stop persecuting Christians. God must have stung his conscience, perhaps encounters with Christians that God was using to convict him and show him that Jesus was Messiah. Perhaps at Steven’s murder, Paul fought God that night in his heart and mind. Bottom line: Paul was fighting submission to God and hence was rejecting God’s right of rule in his life.
Closing question: If God prods the unbeliever to submit to His authority as in the case of Paul, does God actively goad you and I also to submit to His rule in our lives?
- Slides: 32