There’s a common thread running through the headlines recently. Policemen have been targeted for murder. High school football officials have been the recipients of physical retaliations after calls players found questionable. A senator and presidential candidate got run off the stage at his own rally by protestors.
It’s clear that our culture has an authority problem. A really big authority problem that’s just going to keep growing.
But where does the problem come from? Why does it seem like all of a sudden there is a total disregard for authority rising up in our society? Well, that’s what happens when you tell people there is no God. People can be atheists in theory, but no one is ever an atheist in practice. By that I mean their lives will always show that they have chosen a god, whether the God of the Bible, a false god, or themselves. When a society ignores God, you have millions of people who live as their own gods, denying authority and living as if there are no standards or boundaries by which they should abide.
Before we say “Amen, people need God in their lives,” though, we have to look in the mirror. What kind of example are we setting for them? Do we as Christians always live in submission to authority? Because the Scripture is clear in multiple instances that God has set a number of authorities over us, and to submit to them is to submit to Him. If we’re not submitting ourselves to the authorities placed over us, why should people who don’t care about God at all? When we pick and choose which rulers and which rules we feel like following, we place ourselves over God just as much as they do.
But each of the commandments to follow authority in the Bible come with the reassurance that such submission isn’t just to that person or group of people – it’s submission to God as well. He puts these people over us, and to submit to them is to trust in His guidance. So what are some areas in which we can fail to respect God-given authority?
What about the government?
Because of our system of government where we get to attempt to affect change, we can be particularly vocal about the officials we do and do not like. But, even though we can disagree with someone’s policies and try to remove them from office, that doesn’t mean we’re off the hook with regard to the Bible’s commandments about respecting those who rule over us. There’s a reason why Barack Obama is in power, and that’s because God put Him there (Romans 13:1). We can disagree with his policies (such as his support of abortion or gay marriage), but calling him and various representatives and senators names and bashing them on Facebook isn’t what God wants from us. We’re supposed to pray for them and show them the respect due as people appointed by God (1 Timothy 2:1-3). I certainly realize how difficult this one can be, and I don’t follow it perfectly, but to ignore it or make excuses as to why we don’t have to show certain officials respect is to reject God’s authority.
What about elders?
Church hopping has almost become a hobby for some. Whenever a slight disagreement arises or a personal conflict comes up, their answer is to turn and run to the next church down the road. That’s a luxury that we’ve been afforded in our day and age of multiple congregations within a given radius and easy transportation, but there are places where Christians have to stick together and work things out, because their church family is all the support they have in the face of persecution. When you submit yourself to an eldership, you’re placing your soul under their care. That’s not something we can just take lightly, and it’s not something we can revoke and take from church to church as though that oversight has no value to us. Hebrews 13:17 reminds us that our church leaders will give an account for our souls, and so we should obey them and submit to them in a way that makes their role joyful rather than filled with grief.
What about in your home?
So much of the disrespect we’re seeing in society has come from two primary sources – spouses who don’t respect each other, and parents who don’t expect their children to respect and obey them. Despite what the feminists say, the family works best when wives submit to their husbands as to the Lord (Ephesians 5:22) and when husbands surrender their affection, preferences, and attention to their wives (5:25).
Paul followed those instructions by telling children to obey their parents (Ephesians 6:1). I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard parents say things like, “Well, she’s a teenager now. I can’t get her to do anything.” Or, “He wouldn’t leave the house unless we let him bring this toy.” Who’s in charge here? Who is the Bible telling to submit to whom? In a society where parents treat their children as completely unmanageable and out of their control, it’s no wonder why so many people grow up with no respect for employers, elders, the government, or anyone else. It’s time for husbands and wives to take their homes back by fulfilling their duties to each other and by expecting obedience and respect from their children.
In a society where respect for authority is drying up everywhere we look, Christians have to set the example. We have to show the world that we have a God who is truly the King of Kings, and that we trust Him to carry out His will through whoever He puts in charge of our lives.
By Jack Wilkie