Authority is Really Faith to Live

Today, I will talk about the exercise of authority. A few weeks ago, we began the conversation about authority. We learned in the Bible that “authority” is the freedom to decide or right to act without hindrance. “Authority” we said, begins with God, without God there is no authority. We then said that because of that truth, how we exercise that freedom is the most important. It comes from conviction, or a belief, that God created us to live under his authority, that we must exercise it. But in talking about how we exercise authority, we will understand how we exercise our authority actually is dictated by what we believe or have faith in. I want to start with the memory verse this morning. 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. (Hebrews 13:17). Let me breakdown the memory verse for you so that it makes sense. The writer of the Hebrews was talking about the people who taught them about God. The writer says that when you have confidence in your leaders, its not that you believe in them, like they’re going to save you; rather, the author is saying that you have confidence in what they are teaching you or taught you, so that Jesus can save you. You submit to what Jesus teaches through the “leaders” because they’re going to be responsible for answering for what you do. Simply put—people who have authority will be responsible for answering how they use their freedom on others. When you mess up, they messed up. When you do something, they do that same thing—not because they actually did it, but because be the transitive flow of authority, all of us end up answering for each other. You see, authority tells us that “we ride together, or we die together.” That is the mentality we need to have when exercising the freedom God gives us. It comes from a belief that God is either looking out for us or He’s not. I know that’s all super crazy and confusing for a lot of you. So let me lay it out there in a simple way so that all of you can understand. Authority is all about faith. Here’s what I mean: if we don’t really believe in God, we don’t believe in what we can do or what can happen when we are in authority. Let’s read this story from the Book of Luke. It’s so interesting because this story, which actually happened, lays out for everybody what happens when we exercise authority with the conviction that God wants us to ride with Him. After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. ² Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him.³ When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. ⁴ And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, ⁵ for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” ⁶ And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. ⁷ Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. ⁸ For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” ⁹ When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” ¹⁰ And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well. (Luke 7:1-10) Submission to authority is about three commands. We’re going to see how those three commands or three types of submission to authority actually implicate us with the type of faith God is asking for. The first command is: we have the authority to go. I think this is a brilliant example of authority that the Centurion uses. I just watched a series called “Band of Brothers.” It was about the 101^st airborne and their time during D-Day through the end of the WWII. It didn’t matter what the mission was, or what they lacked, or what they were afraid of, if the captain told them to go, they would go. The Centurion tells his soldiers to go, and he says they go. When we are in authority, that is both in it and under it, when we are told, “go” we need to go. Look what it says in Isaiah 6. ⁸ And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” ⁹ And he said, “Go…” (Isaiah 6:8-9a). Do you know why Isaiah wanted to go? It was not only because he was standing in the midst of God in a vision. Nope, it was more than that. It was because Isaiah believed and had faith in God’s plan for asking somebody to go for Him. This is what we need to know about authority, both when we’re in it and under it. Exercising the authority to go dictates a belief we hold in God’s plan for us. If you don’t believe in God’s plan for you, then you don’t go. You don’t go anywhere, in fact, the reason you don’t go is because you’re not believing in the plan. When you don’t believe in the plan you’re not living under or in authority, you’re living out of it and you’re a burden to everybody else who is living in it. Have faith in God’s plan for you, it’s time to go when God asks you to go. That may mean that you go and tell your friends about Jesus because God has been nudging you, and nudging you to go in His authority and you haven’t yet. That may mean to go get a job that is more suited for what you were created to do. It may mean giving up on things now for things later. But when we exercise authority to go, we are telling God that we believe in His plan. I want you to write down where you need to go. The second exercise of authority we must engage in, is the authority to come. Let me explain to you what that means. When we go to somebody’s office, we knock and then somebody on the other side of the door says, “come in.” Authority tells us that Jesus is inviting us in. The biggest, number one problem is that we’re not willing to come. We want things to happen. We want to go places. But we don’t want to come to God with them. Some of us need to come with prayer requests that may seem insignificant. Others need to come with a little bit of bravery. God wants you to come. We have the freedom to come, but we only come to God when were forced in His direction. God doesn’t want you to come that way. He wants you to want to come and follow Him. Look, when Jesus says to his first disciples, “Come, and follow me…” do you think he’s saying that as its something they should do after all else fails? Absolutely not. When we exercise our authority, it should be the first thing we do and come to God. What are some things you need to come to God with? Write that down in your notes right now. Jesus is telling you to come and go and it’s all the same. It’s all about whether or not you believe in God. Rather, your exercise of authority depends on what and how you believe in God. Your faith in Him. Where is it at? Lastly, and this is where I’m going to conclude today, we have the authority to do. Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12) What that means is, and the centurion knew this too—when we exercise our authority, we must believe that we can do. There is nothing that we cannot do in the name of Jesus. Some of us doubt we can, those who doubt don’t live in the authority of God. It’s one thing to come and go in the authority of God—that is believing in we are being called to come and go. It’s an entirely different thing for us not to do with authority because God gives us the ability to do. That’s why we have hands and feet. What are some things you need to do in Jesus name?