What is so important about these 4 little words? Why do they matter? It all comes down to these two questions: Have you exchanged the truth for a lie? And have you replaced God with yourself? The unfortunate bend of our hearts towards sin answers those questions for us. Yes we have.
Every time we ignore God’s calling and commandments for our loving obedience we suppress the truth of His Word in our hearts. By suppressing the truth we open the door for lies to rule, which leads us to replace God as the supreme authority with our very own minds. When questioned, we rationalize these episodes of disobedience by telling ourselves that we are standing firm upon the rock of some principle.
But what is that rock of principle built upon? If you don’t constantly question that and compare your principled foundation to that of the inerrant and infallible Word of God then clearly you are ignoring those 4 little words.
Although by God’s grace He has given us a way to turn from the darkness and towards His light. Our growth in the knowledge of the Lord should be leading to a deeper faith in His Word, in His promises and in His provision for us. A faith firmly implanted in our hearts that permeates all that we do will give us the ability to trust in Him to meet all of our needs, small or large. Nothing goes ignored and all is within His dominion to transform. Trusting so fully in God’s love should daily bring us to our knees in humble submission to His will and ultimately His authority in all aspects of our lives. Imagine the freedom this truth would bring as we are liberated from the darkness and illuminated by His Spirit.
The world teaches us to constantly question authority, so that authority is held accountable. But Scripture teaches if you are unwilling to be held accountable to authority then the truth has been exchanged and God has been replaced. There is no freedom there – only bondage to sin.
Posted by price at May 1, 2006 05:01 PM | TrackBackThank you for your last two blogs. They are great.
You're right about there being no freedom....I think of it as whether I'd rather be a slave to sin or enslaved to God. Sin is so consuming and being in bondage to it is (obviously) the opposite of freedom.
Posted by: Ally at May 1, 2006 11:20 PMSo we should never question authority or hold those who are in authority accountable?
Posted by: unk at May 10, 2006 11:00 AMI didn’t say that we should never hold authority accountable, but that the standard by which we do hold them accountable is truth, is Scripture. Especially when that authority is from the Church.
Posted by: Jeff Price at May 11, 2006 05:08 PMAgreed that God and Scripture are the standard. What should be done with those in authority - especially those within the church - who are dishonest? How should they be held accountable?
Posted by: unk at May 12, 2006 07:06 AMI think that our standard of truth gives us the means by which we are to confront sin; in this case dishonesty. First we must search our hearts and be sure that our own sin is not blinding us from the reality of someone else’s. Second we approach them directly to humbly convey to them the dishonesty that we are seeing to seek acknowledgment and repentance. If this fails, we bring back others to help do the same. Finally, those in church leadership should then become involved. (Matthew 18: 15 – 17)
When this person is in leadership themselves and the extent to which their dishonesty has affected the congregation at large and not just you as an individual then it really should be others in church leadership who begin this process of repentance and reconciliation. Because it is their role to protect and encourage the purity of the church at large; they bear an additional burden in holding one another accountable.
It is unfortunate though that often times our pride gets in the way of reconciliation and unless we view the person as a peer or in authority over us we rarely will listen to what they have to say. Accountability is an imperative part of every Christians walk and I think we need to recognize that we all have a responsibility to be mutually accountable (Ephesians 5: 21). That however; does not abdicate our responsibility to ultimately submit ourselves to the authority of the church to which Christ is the head. Functioning properly – church leadership will be holding itself accountable and reflecting Christ to us all making our submission an easy burden to bear (Matthew 11: 29 – 30).
Posted by: Jeff Price at May 12, 2006 09:42 AM