Coffee Date Week 3 (2)
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Authority matters
Authority matters
How would define a person who is in authority?
STORY
Today’s coffee date is going to explore authority and how we are calling to listen to authority.
Introduction: What is authority?
Defined as the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience.
So a person in authority has power . They have the power to make some decisions that oftentimes we don’t have a say in. They demand obedience and respect.
So what do we do with people in authority? First we need to establish that God is the ultimate governing authority.
16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
If God created all things and he is over all things, he is the governing authority and he gives instruction on how we are to respond to authority.
1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
From a strictly governing stand point, God appoints and empowers people to be in authority over us and what he commands that that we submit to the authority that has been set in place by His hand.
This doesn’t mean that everyone that is above you is a great person and that everyone who is in a position of authority has your best interest in mind. It does mean though that we are called to listen and submit to authority.
I will get into how we do that in a second, but first I want to spend some time talking about 3 different types of authority that we all interact with often.
Type of Authority #1: Parental Authority
I recognize that not everyone of us comes from the same background.
Some of you have parents who are divorced, some of you have parents who maybe aren’t the best example of what a marriage should look like. Some of you are being raised by your grandparents or foster parents or aunts and uncles. But we all have parental figures in our lives.
One of the complaints that I hear the most from teenagers is that my parents don’t get me.
They don’t trust me
They don’t care about what I want
They don’t want me to grow up
They don’t explain to me why I have to listen
And this isn’t just unique to your generation, its been true forever.
How many of you have heard your parents say some version of “we just want what’s best for you?”
It used to make me so mad because how do they know what is best for me? Why do they get to decide what is best for me?
Here’s the truth though… do you know what is best for you? If I did all the things I thought were best for me with no insight coming from other people, I wouldn’t be the person I am today because I would’ve just followed whatever I wanted to without any regard for
future consequences.
We established at the beginning that God was the ultimate authority and the command he gives is this…
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise—3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
This used to sound like a cop-out verse to me because it seemed like my parents would use it as a way for me to listen to them, but let’s dissect it a bit.
It doesn’t just say obey your parents… it says obey your parents in the LORD.
I know not all of you live in homes where your parents go to church or believe in God. You’re still called to listen to them… WORK OUT MORE
God calls himself our father and he loves us regardless of the things that we do. The comparison between this command what God asks us to do is one in the same. If God is the ultimate authority and he positions himself as a Father who commands out of love, in the same way we are to honor him, we honor our father and mother.
It took me becoming to a parent to realize that when your parents tell you things like “I just want what’s best for you,” they actually mean it.
Whether you agree with them or not, you still have to obey and honor them.
Type of Authority #2: Educational Authority
The second type pf authority I want to explore is Educational Authority.
I had this teacher names Mrs. Anson. She was the bane of my existence. She would get our classroom in trouble for everything.
When I was a sophomore, she was my home room teacher and she used to start every morning by making us right on the white board three things we were grateful for that day. One of my friends, Ethan, wrote on the board, “I am grateful I am almost done with your class.” She was livid. She had this tiering system where she would give us warnings. If you got a 1, it was a warning, if you got a 2, you had to go stand in the corner of the classroom, if you got a 3 it was detention, if you got a 4 you were suspended.
She say this and immediately looks at him and says “‘That’s a 2” and the class just all starts laughing and she starts dishing out twos like there is no tomorrow. We were all forced to stand against the wall of the classroom while she started praying over us.
Mrs. Anson was crazy. But I will never forget on graduation day 2 years later she wrote us all cards on how proud she was of us and how she always just wanted to push us to be better.
Her methods were weird, but her heart and desire was in the right place.
Believe it or not, your teachers care about you. Even the ones that don’t look or act like they do. Or the ones that you can’t stand because you feel like they always pick on you. Your teachers are about you.
In one his parables in the Gospel of Luke Jesus talks about what it means to be taught…
39 He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.
For us to respect our teachers is an acknowledgment that even if we don’t see it now, they are trying to train us up to grow and be better and do better.
And this extends passed that too. This extends to coaches, or people like your leaders and me who are trying to teach and guide you so that you can live a life that is fulfilling.
Type of Authority #3: Spiritual Authority
Who is our spiritual authority?
The quick answer is God. Or your leaders. your pastors.
But what about for those who don’t yet know God?
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Jesus has all the authority in Heaven then commands that we go and make disciples and bestows on us the power and authority to do so.
For everyone, the answer is Jesus. We look to him for how to live and how to grow. We look to him for how to love others and love God.
But for those who don’t know we play that role. What a responsibility we have to help guide people in their spiritual walk. But that responsibility gets lost if we are not looking at Jesus or the people he has placed in our lives as authoritative figures that we respect.
CONCLUSION
So how to do you do this? How do you submit to authority? How do you come to a place of realizing that the authoritative figures in your life are in place to help guide you and grow you?
It starts with humility. It starts with recognizing that I don’t know everything and that I do have a responsibility to submit to those in power because it will help me grow and learn. When we exit posture of learning, we stunt our ability to grow.
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
First, we must take a posture of humilty
Secondly, we must aim for transformation.
In order for us to accept growth by means of authority, we have to want to grow. Are you aiming to live a life that is transformed by God? Do you want to get to a place where you are thriving? People are there to help through that process.
going back to Luke 6:40
40 The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.
If you want to grow and be better and actually be able to say I might know what is best for you, then you must be willing to change.
We must aim for transformation.
The last thing is to have an attitude of Joy.
17 Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.
Training up; being in authority, all of these should be done in joy. Even when you submit to authority, don’t make it hard on them. Because if you make it hard on them it becomes burdensome and then you start to see how bitterness and anger leads instead of Joy.
FINAL THOUGHTS