House
Part 2 – Authority Figures”
I. Introduction
I mentioned last week that we use all kinds of terms to try to understand the concept of church. The one term that we are focusing in on is the idea of God building a house. And so, I reminded you that the material He is using to build this house is us. It is not actual concrete and steel. That is why we aren’t hung up on this physical building. We want to steward this building. We want to utilize this building, but if you aren’t being built up and established as the dwelling place of God then as nice as this building may be God is homeless! I also began talking to you about the systems of structure, order and the principles upon which God’s house operates. You will remember I cursed last week in church. I said that the house rule is authority. God’s house is established and built on the idea that whatever He says goes! There is no room for negotiations or debate. He says jump we say how high. Yes sir should be the most common response heard from us. Now I also told you that we resist authority because we have seen it abused and that causes us to mistrust leaders. I also told you that as great as being an American is it also presents us a challenge because we are taught to do our own thing, demand our own way, and relinquish authority to no one. This is great for government, but will cause you to live an unblessed, uncovered, and ultimately a cursed life even if you sit on a chair in this house! We need to stop thinking like an American for a moment and start thinking like a member of the house!
Authority is the key component of accessing a blessed life!
So this morning I want us to delve a little deeper in the idea of authority because in order for us to live blessed we have to learn to submit. However, God doesn’t want us to check our brains at the door and just submit to anything or anyone. So, God has chosen to wield or exert His authority through 3 avenues or vehicles. We need to understand these 3 things so that we can respond accordingly. I am going to deal with the first two authority figures that we must learn to submit to and then next week we will deal with the third.
TEXT: Psalms 138:2
2I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
I. Authority Figure #1 – God’s Word
Think about that statement for just a moment. He has exalted His Word above His own name. How powerful is God’s name? It is so powerful that the Jews wouldn’t even speak His name in public. It so powerful that the Bible declares that at the very mention of His name demons tremble, everyone and everything is forced to their knees in worship, and out of their mouths will come a confession that He is Lord. And yet, as powerful as His name is the Psalmist declares that He has exalted His word above even His name! God’s Word is powerful! God’s Word is authority! Even Jesus himself knew how powerful the Word is.
Where did Jesus turn when facing off against the devil? The Word! God used God’s Word to take authority! Any Word that Jesus would have spoken would be carried out. He says about himself in Matthew 28:18 that all authority has been given to Him. I mean He is God. He could have looked at the devil and said “boo” and victory was sure. And yet, He uses the written Word of God to wield authority!
God’s Word is the authority figure that we must submit to!
Now most of us will quickly give lip service to submission to His Word! However, I believe that most of us really don’t live our lives submitted to His Word. Oh, yeah it is God’s Word, I believe this, and I live by this as we blow the dust off of it.
I don’t think we really understand the power we have free access to or the place of prominence this book should have in our lives!
Think just a moment about what you miss if you don’t have Word in your life or if you aren’t submitted to the power & authority of the Word in your life. The Word
1. Increases our faith (Romans 10:17)
2. Sanctifies us for His use. (Ephesians 5:26-27)
3. Keeps us from sin (Ps. 119:11) and guides us (Ps. 119:130).
If you don’t know where to go or what to do could it be that you haven’t submitted to His word?
4. It sustains us! (Duet. 8:3) We live on His word!
5. It is a weapon (Eph. 6:17).
6. Gives us light (Ps. 119:105).
7. It cleanses us (John 15:3).
8. Convicts us (Acts 18:28).
9. It teaches us in all matters pertaining to life (2 Peter 1:3).
10. It reveals intents of heart (Heb. 4:12).
Now here is the kicker. How can you have all of those things if we don’t know or don’t read His Word? A life without conviction, wisdom, sustaining, faith, and light is a messed up life!
All of that to say to you that we must learn to submit to the authority of God’s Word in our lives!
Have you ever had an instance growing up where you ask your parent why you should do something and they come back with the dreaded “Cause I said so”? That is what I am talking about today!
Why should we tithe? Cause He said!
Why should we attend church? Cause He said!
Why should we forgive those that hurt us? Cause He said!
Why should we take care of the less fortunate? Cause He said!
Why should we live differently than everyone else? Cause He said!
Why should we talk differently than everyone else? Cause He said!
Why should we not laugh at what everyone else laughs at? Cause He said!
The problem is that most of us can’t submit to the Word because most of us don’t know what He said.
There are 2 kinds of folks in the house today!
a. The first kind of person is the person whose only exposure to the Word each week is what I give you here! There is no daily interaction with Word. There is no bread of life being ingested so you are weak and malnourished! How can you live off of every Word if you don’t know every Word? I declare to you today that (Slide 5) Absence of Word equates to absence of authority!
b. The second kind of person is the person who is chasing a word. They are the ones always wanting a word. Give me a word. They will chase a word. We want a word and yet won’t read the one that we have already been given. We are just too lazy to open it and read it for ourselves! This is God’s voice. This is God’s Word to us now!
But only if known! We are communicated to by God through His Word. A rhema word must be based in and judged against logos Word. How can you know, judge correctly, and discern correctness of rhema word if you haven’t first submitted to the logos word?
I am concerned that too often we run from house to house looking for a fresh word and all the while we are educated beyond our level of obedience. Look you don’t go to algebra until you first learn the laws of addition and subtraction! We don’t need a fresh word until we learn to obey the word we already have!
We have got to move past scripture heard to scripture adhered to!
We must apply this Word as authority in our lives! Why bother coming and hearing the rules if we have no intention of playing by them?
There are some things you don’t even need to keep praying about because you have already been given a Word! Do I shack up? Do I marry so and so? Should I tithe? Should I live off my credit card? Do I hold a grudge? Do I hate a certain color people? Those things have already been answered! The Bible very clearly states that His ways are higher than my ways and His thoughts are higher than my thoughts! Have you ever tried to convince an umpire or referee to change his call? It doesn’t happen. Argue all you want, rant, rave, stomp, shout, and curse and they won’t do it! There are some things God has already ruled out and He ain’t changing the call!
We have to know and submit to His exalted Word! His Word trumps everything else. It trumps a pastor’s word, a neighbor’s word, a prophet’s word, our feelings, our desires, our likes and dislikes, and our government! If it is in His Word it is authoritative to us and we march according to His Word!
So hear me as your pastor state this loud and clear! The house rules that He is establishing here is His Word! We will line up with His Word. If His word says dancing before Him is OK then we will allow it. If His Word says that being generous is how we should conduct business then we will be generous. If His Word says something is a sin then we will not override His Word to make us or anyone else feel OK about it! His Word is prominent and preeminent! We are not gonna talk back to Daddy! Why will we not allow our children to talk back and yet we expect God, our father, to allow us to talk back and get away with it?
No way, we are going to operate according to Colossians 3:16 which says, “Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house.”
Henry Blackaby’s says ‘this is the least discipled and most biblically illiterate generation we have ever seen!” We have to change this!
One man said, “That the great revolutions in the history of Christianity do not occur by discovering something new. Great revolutions happen, said Niebuhr, when someone takes radically something that has always been there.”
That is why at beginning of year I am going to challenge you to regain your Passion4Word. In 4 minutes a day you can read the NT through in 1 year! We need to know His Word so we can submit to His Word!
II. Authority Figure #2 – Our Conscience
Text: Colossians 3:15
15And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
The second authority figure that we must submit to is our God-given conscience! Built in us is an internal referee that shouts foul when we are about to step over the line! God has placed inside of us a conscience that is a voice of authority for us.
There are some grey areas of life that we often walk into. There are days when your life will march you off the map of what God’s Word addresses and you will have to listen to your conscience.
Let me help you this morning! How do we submit to the authority of our conscience? We check our peace level! Let the peace of God rule in your hearts! If the peace is gone the right to keep moving forward is gone! That is the authority speaking to us saying no further!
When you face a situation and you can’t find direction in the written Word of God then you must rely on the authority if your conscience. You need to ask yourself the question, “Do I have the peace of God in my heart?” If there is no peace, then the answer has been given!
John says our conscience can and will convict us! Romans says, “that the law of God has been written in our hearts” and our conscience will refer back to that law when we are in uncertain waters!
Again I want to reiterate that the written Word trumps the authority of your conscience. Otherwise we would say I feel good about this because we can sear our conscience. What used to or what should bother you no longer does because we have overridden it for so long. We have this ability to justify what we want to do! So if it goes against the #1 authority figure then it doesn’t matter how good you feel about it the discussion is over! That is why knowing His Word is so important because the conscience can’t speak to a law you don’t know!
I am convinced that we e don’t pay enough attention to the voice inside of us. Most of us live our daily life in an un-conscience state and that is dangerous. If we would just be honest with ourselves a lot of the trouble we get into we had an internal check before we ever started! That is authority being exerted! That is the Holy Spirit trying to get your attention. If there is no peace then you should have no piece of that situation. Back out and follow the peace! If you will follow the peace you will find yourself blessed.
III. Close
So this morning I want to challenge you to deal with the authority figures in the house. I am going to help us rekindle a passion for God’s Word. We can only be governed by it if we know it! I want you to honestly examine your life. Do you make time to read His Word for yourself? I know that I could use more Word in my life. I need it to live, to be guarded, guided, cleansed, sanctified, and convicted!
I also want to challenge you to retune your ear to your conscience and to the peace of God in your heart. What decisions are you faced with right now? What situation do you need direction in right now? What relationship are you about to enter or have you entered that has driven peace out? We need to ask God to turn up our conscience. And in some cases we need to ask God to repair our conscience. To sharpen it again.
