The Principle of Authority
Tom Shrader explores the biblical principle of authority through the story of Korah's rebellion in Numbers 16 and Paul's teaching in Romans 13. He demonstrates that God has established four spheres of authority - government, family, church, and work - and that rebellion against these divinely appointed authorities constitutes rebellion against God Himself. Shrader challenges listeners to submit to authority not based on the worthiness of leaders, but in obedience to God's design.
“If I am down here and I'm rebelling in my role at government or work or family or church, I'm disobedient not just to that authority figure, but to God.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Recovering Our Lost Legacy
Recorded: June 09, 2005
Duration: 38 min
Themes: authority, submission, rebellion, obedience, leadership, legacy, government, family, struggling with authority, parent teaching children, workplace conflict, church leadership, young adult, rebellious teenager, new believer, family dysfunction
Scripture: Numbers 16, Numbers 16:11, Numbers 16:28-32, Romans 13:1-2, 1 Peter 2, James 1, Ephesians 5:22, Ephesians 6:9, Hebrews 13:17, Genesis 1-4
Theological Themes: biblical authority, divine authority, romans thirteen, numbers sixteen, ecclesiology, church authority, submission to authority, god's sovereignty
Full Transcript
Recovering Our Lost Legacy - The Principle of Authority
All right, week two of what will be an eight-week series, and the title is Recovering Our Lost Legacy. I mentioned it last week, but it really drove home this week in preparation that this is almost a retro series. When you think about when you were a young guy or gal, these are the things that were communicated to you. You may not have listened, but by your parents, by school, by the culture, really.
The premise of this series is this: a legacy is not optional and it's not mandatory, it's inevitable. So you have a legacy. It may be lousy. We showed up at the ballpark the other day, we parked on the wrong side of the park, and there was a guy, a security guy, and I said, "Hey, I'm trying to get to Centerfield-Wilcoll," and he said, "I'm sorry, but that's all the way around the building." So I'm limping along and I've got the boys, and he said, "Let me do you a favor, let me get you security." And they walked us around the edge and cut everything in half.
The boys were saying thank you to this guy. I don't know that he'd ever seen kids respond this way. They were talking as we're walking along, and the nine-year-old is saying, "Where are you from, sir? Are you a Rockies fan?" It was just that conversation. Those boys, I know, had a legacy. They may never put it together, but you're building a legacy all the way along.
More Than Stuff
When we talk about legacy, we're talking about more than stuff. It's estimated about $73 trillion are going to be inherited by baby boomers. So it'll take us like a month and a half to get through that. I'm talking about passing on something more than stuff. This is to kids or grandkids.
What I've learned is the generation under you is craving your input. They may not say it, but you can tell when you talk to them. What we're giving you are things you probably know. They should be things that you go, "Yeah, that makes sense." But this will give you something concrete to talk about.
We talked last week about the principle of consequence, that what you do today affects tomorrow. You reap what you sow. Today, and I will confess to you, this is the toughest of the lessons for me, is the principle of authority.
The Universal Tendency to Rebel
I think, not just me, everyone has a tendency to rebel. When somebody says, "Don't do it," you want to do it. "Don't cut through here," you want to go through there. The reason I say everybody, it goes back to the garden.
If you read Genesis 1 and 2, skip Genesis 3, read Genesis 4. Genesis 2 ends with Adam and Eve in the garden, naked, innocent. Genesis 4 has murder, strife, betrayal. You want to go, "What happened?" Well, what happened was Genesis 3. Genesis 3 is Adam and Eve. It wasn't about the fruit that was eaten, it was about who was in charge. God or man. There was rebellion. That's your spiritual DNA. That's my spiritual DNA.
The Breakdown of Authority in Society
So we're going to talk about authority. I don't think it's just me, but there's a general kind of breakdown of society, it feels like, everywhere. Maybe we can kind of get a little bit toward its origin.
In 1930, and I'll just give you these percentages, parents acknowledged that their child-rearing goals were: 45% said strict obedience, 58% said loyalty to church (to me this is fascinating), 25% said independence, and 6% said tolerance. When they sat down and said, "Here's what I want to communicate to my kids," it was obedience, loyalty to church, independence, and tolerance.
Fifty years later, the numbers had shifted. Strict obedience went from 45% to 17%. Loyalty to church went from 58% to 22%. These next two may be telling. Independence went from 25% to 76%. Tolerance went from 6% to 47%.
The Culture of Independence
All of a sudden, rather than hoping and raising kids who are obedient, loyal to an institution like church, the emphasis shifted to independence, tolerance. By tolerance, because that can be a very good thing, it's not just tolerant of different types of people, it's tolerance of different types of belief and behavior.
Thirty years ago, I've raised a group of people who are standing up for their independence and their rights, who are obliterating anything that speaks of definitive truth, and that's what you have around you. You begin to see a culture, this has long been our premise in here, that we don't necessarily have bad leaders, though we have some, we have terrible followers. Nobody's going to tell me what to do. 350 million independent special interest groups. I want what's for me.
In 1960, when John Kennedy's running for the nomination, he picked up a theme that got picked up in the inaugural address when he said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." We'll actually talk about that next week, a sense of duty. In 2000, I think W was running against Gore, and the first question in a town hall meeting was, "What, as president, what are you going to do for me?" Well, you can't survive in that environment.
Salute the Position, If Not the Person
The essential principle is, salute the position, if not the person. When I was in college, my dad and I, my dad was in Melrose, Iowa, and they said, "We need you." He'd never been further than Des Moines. They put him on a ship, they sent him to Europe, and he got shot and came home.
Vietnam was sticky for us. My view was almost Ali's. "I ain't got no quarrel with no Viet Cong. What are we doing there?" I don't want to debate the issue, I just want to show here's two generations colliding on this. My dad would say this to me: "Listen, you punk, I don't care if you want to rip apart Richard Nixon, you might disrespect him, but you respect the institution, right?" Well, for me, and I confess this to you, and I don't want
This to be a divider, I don't want this to alienate you, I just want you to understand my problem. When I got to 1992, I got a deal with Clinton. I had my first encounter with that the other day on the TV when Sandy was there, and she said, "I'm not going to survive this. You got to fix this. You got a problem." And I said, "I really do." And I had to preach to myself: I may not like the guy, but I got to respect the authority. So that's the premise of this.
You've got next to you an organizational chart. Now there are three views, really. One is that man's just independent—man does what he wants to do. There's no external forces other than nature to deal with. The other idea is, well, there's God and man. I remember Larry's view prior to being a believer. Larry's view was this: with God, you do your thing, I'll do my thing, let's not bother each other.
The Divine Chain of Authority
What you have in front of you is a chart—a Romans 13:1 chart. In the top box is God. In the bottom box is man. So here for me, filling this out, was the huge takeaway point: that in those middle boxes are divinely appointed authorities. And there's four of them.
Those of you that have been around, this is going to be my finest hour. You're going to tell me what those four boxes are—those divinely appointed authorities in our life that God's placed. They are what? Government. Family. Church. Number four? Work.
Now, here's the big point. If I am down here and I'm rebelling in my role at government or work or family or church, I'm disobedient not just to that authority figure, but to God. So on a Sunday morning, you're walking around church and you've got your big old ESV study Bible, which means you're in good shape if you can carry that around campus. And so you've got your ESV study Bible and you're walking around and you're singing "to God be the glory" and all this stuff, and "I just want to be the man or the woman that God called me to be." You aren't that if you aren't in your proper role in government, work, family, or church. See that? That's the big point of the day: that God has these authorities, and if I'm in rebellion there, I'm in rebellion to Him.
Five Characteristics of Those Who Don't Understand Authority
We said an outline is going to look very similar every week under introduction: characteristics of a person who doesn't understand the principles of authority. Five of them.
Number one: speaks disparaging of leaders. Constantly ripping at leaders. Not constructive criticism—criticism. So it gets to politics: two Latin words, "poly" (many), "ticks" (bloodsuckers)—politics. And so that becomes everything. I'm coming at everything.
Here's the second thing: they argue with direct commands. It's the kid who needs an explanation for everything. "Why do I have to be home at midnight? Anything we're going to do before midnight or after midnight, we can do anyway." And I'd say, "Well, maybe you shouldn't go out then. Maybe you aren't responsible enough to leave the house." Whatever order comes down, some of you are in management, ownership—it's like every memo or email you send out, everybody wants to argue with it. "What about this? Why are they telling me this?"
And it dovetails into the third thing: they delay obedience until it's absolutely unavoidable. They'll put it off and put it off and put it off. They'll debate and argue. "Everybody in the home office is an idiot. I don't know how these people ever got to run this office. They must have just been born to rich families who had all sorts of money to get them there and networked them in because it doesn't make sense."
The Importance of Structure in the Home
I'm going to teach at Arcadia campus on Sunday, and my topic is "11 Things You Can Do to Ruin Your Kids." I'm going to make a pitch to these young parents in particular. There's two times a day you've got to control: you've got to control dinner time and bed time. You've got to control those.
And dinner time is not just about nutrition. It's where you learn to dialogue and converse and civility. And bed time—in our house, and there were some battles along the way, but in our house, dinner time, we sat down and talked. And I know this sounds—and if you didn't like what was there, you didn't go and rummage through the shelf. You just waited for breakfast. And we talked, and you didn't interrupt. "Haley's speaking." And at bed time, it was not a war. Most nights, Sarah would come in and say, "Can I go to bed now? I know it's early, but I'm tired." And you went to bed.
I'm going to make a pitch for another thing. You grandparents and parents, I don't think this is going to work, but I would suggest not using the dishwasher every night—washing dishes. My mom, four boys, so somebody had to dry every night. And whoever wasn't working, they got out of there. And I remember doing dishes—it was a special time that you got to talk to your mom, and she got to talk to you. And I probably shouldn't even share this, but it was doing dishes where my mom decided to awkwardly share with me the facts of life. Now, probably because I was home from college. No, I'm teasing. Why my dad—probably she was teaching it to my dad at the same time. I don't know why my mom, but I'll never forget drying dishes and going to myself, "Wow, this feels weird. Dan, do you want to do this? Jim? John?" But those times—you see somebody in rebellion, they just put off delayed obedience: disobedience.
The Final Two Characteristics
Here's number four: they view themselves as superior to their superiors. They have what I call a chump complex. Better than everybody else. "I may not know anything about it, but within five minutes, I can tell you everything there is to know about your life." It was me at Motorola after two weeks when I wrote a memo basically on how to run the company. I didn't know who to address it to.
Number five: they avoid commitment to serve. They don't want to be in that subservient role. They have a hard time saying, "I—"
want to get married. There's some data out now that says the typical churchgoer attends about four churches. Depending on who's teaching, what they're teaching, how they feel. At that point, I don't belong to four churches. I don't belong to any church.
If you're in that field, you need to be in a church body where not that they can meet your needs, but you can plug in and serve others. If you have a hard time sorting this out, I can nail it in one question. If you had a crisis in your life, which one of these churches would you call? Whatever the answer to that is, that's your church. You get a picture here. That's the world you live in. Authority begins to break down. Everybody's questioning everybody. A total absence of trust.
God Created a Chain of Command
Here's the biblical foundation. You see the passage there. It's Numbers chapter 16. It's a story about a guy by the name of Korah, who is Levi's great-grandson. It's an amazing story. He rallies 250 Israelites. The NIV says this: "with 250 Israelite men known as community leaders who had been appointed as members of the council, they came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron."
Understand what's gone on at this point. We parted the Red Sea. We've had manna from heaven. We've touched the rocks. Gallons of water have come out. And they come in Numbers chapter 16. We see that God created a chain of command.
They come to Moses and Aaron and they say, "You've gone too far. The whole community is holy. Every one of them, the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourself above the Lord's assembly?" Well, God has a chain of command. And here's what they're saying: Who made you special? That's what wells up in us. It's a fundamental thing.
We can put it in the language of today. When we look at culture, when we look at God's chain of command, is that everyone is created equal. Equal in status, but different in role. They're coming and saying, why are you better than us? Aren't we holy? Aren't we all children of God? And the answer is going to be yes, but we have a different role.
The Football Team Illustration
Imagine a football team. A little older in here. So let's go back to the old Colts. So Johnny Unitas is in the huddle and he said, "Alright, here's what we're going to do. You're going to look at Raymond Berry. He's going to say, Raymond, I want you to run a post pattern."
And Berry goes, "I've been running post patterns all day. I don't want to run another post pattern. I don't like post patterns. I got one leg shorter than the other and I've been running these post patterns all day and I'm hurting. I'm going to go over, I'm not sure where I'm going to go. I'm going to go down about five yards and then go left to right." You know, if you're the quarterback, they say you ought to be able to see this.
And then he turns to Lenny Moore and he said, "Alright, here's what I want to do. I want to run you up the middle." And Lenny Moore goes, "I don't want to run up the middle. All the big guys are in the middle. I want to go around the side. I'm going to go around the end. That's where I want to hang out. I want to go around the end."
And he said, "Alright, alright, let's not use you. Allen Amici, rather than block Allen, I'm going to give the ball to you real quick. Real quick opener." They're big. They're big up in the middle. I'm tired. And the huddle breaks down and in essence they're saying, we're all wearing blue and white, we're all Colts. And Unitas is going to go, "Yeah, but I'm the chief Colt." You know, and I don't know who was coaching them, Weeb Eubank maybe. Whoever's coaching them, they're going, hey, I made him king.
This is instinctive now. This gets to that. When you begin to rebel, God is the creator of the chain of command.
God Is the Target of Rejection
Here's the second thing: God is the target of rejection. Moses calls in Korah and says, listen, you keep pushing this, pushing this, pushing this. Numbers 16:11: "It's against the Lord that you and all your followers have banded together." So when I'm in a role in government and you rebel against me, you need to understand it's rebellion against God. Husbands, love your wives. If I'm not loving my wife, it's not just that I've sinned against Sandy, I've sinned against God. So those things begin to come together.
The American Dream and True Equality
I got a kick on a kick about five years ago about the American dream. You know, this American dream, we keep hearing about it and what is it and the whole premise of it. And so I started to do a little research and I began where anybody begins nowadays. I simply Googled American dream and about the fifth entry down was a speech given by Martin Luther King Jr. And the title is "A Knock at Midnight."
Listen to how King says this. And then there's little parentheses where the crowd is yelling. So I'm going to do the crowd too: "I want to reiterate the fact that we are challenged more than ever to respect the dignity and the worth of all human potential and personality. We are challenged to really believe that all men are created equal. And don't misunderstand that. It doesn't mean that all men are created equal in terms of native endowment, in terms of intellectual capacity. It doesn't mean that. There are certain bright stars in the human firmament in every field." "Yes, sir!" That was the crowd.
"It doesn't mean that every musician is equal to Beethoven or Handel or Mozart. It doesn't mean that every physicist is equal to Einstein. It doesn't mean that every literary figure is equal to Shakespeare or Chaucer." "Make it plain!" That was the crowd. "It doesn't mean that every philosopher is equal to Plato or Aristotle or Immanuel Kant or Hegel. It doesn't mean that. It means that there are individuals who excel and rise to heights of genius in their areas and fields. What it does mean is that all men are equal in intrinsic worth."
That's what he's saying. And we say this all the time. We're not identical. Just birth. When Shaq and I were born, we weren't born with equal skills to play in the NBA.
God's Opposition to Autonomous Rebellion
Equal value before the law and before God? Yes. But within that, God distributes different talents and different positions. Here's the third point: God is the enemy of the organizers of autonomy. It is another way of saying when I rebel, I'm rebelling against God.
Moses said, "God of the spirits of all mankind, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?" God now is going to pronounce a judgment on these people. I'm going to guess that you're like me. You sin, you get away with it, and you either assume God was kidding or somehow He's going to give you mercy once and therefore He's going to keep going - no big deal, no big deal, no big deal. Well, this is a graphic story.
God Vindicates His Appointed Leaders
It's the fourth point: God is the vindicator of people of leadership. So you get the battle. Korah and the 250 are coming against Moses and Aaron. This is the culmination in Numbers 16:28-32: "This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things, and it's not my idea. If the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up, everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive in the grave, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt."
As soon as he finished saying this, the ground opened and split apart, and the earth swallowed up in its mouth these men and wives and children. Sandy just taught this lesson to four-year-olds at BSF, and she said their eyes were this big. If you ever want to manipulate a kid, it's kind of perfect. "Have you been obedient to your mom? No? Well, I'd watch out for that crack on that sidewalk, because who knows what's going to happen."
But God's not messing around. God has a point and a time of judgment. This is a teachable moment to these people. Imagine if you had that authority. God's ordained this. How are you going to know? Well, if you disobey, the earth is going to swallow you up, and it's going to make your leadership a lot easier from then on, because you're going to be able to say to everybody, "You remember Korah? He and his wife and his kids, they're all down under Gila Bend somewhere. We don't know where."
Wrestling with God's Justice
Now look at what that does. That wells up all sorts of things. That doesn't seem fair to the wives and kids at all. It's like when David took a census and 70,000 people were killed, and we're going, that doesn't seem right. But I know it is right. Why? God did it. He's not unjust.
I had a chance last Saturday to speak to a group of men, primarily guys my age, a little bit older, a little bit younger, many of them former ASU players, though they still feel like they could play if they brought back Frank. The group has actually lost a little bit since I was there last time, because now there's about a half a dozen U of A guys in there.
Kevin organizes it, and I texted him and said, "What do you want me to talk about?" He said, "Talk about finishing strong. These guys are in the fourth quarter." I did the math the other day. If I lived to be 82, I think this is helpful to kind of get a picture. If I lived to be 82 years old, I'm hitting my second shot on 14 right now in life. That gives you a perspective of where that is. It's time to get serious. That was about the time I typically go, "Is this over? We're going to play all 18?"
Studying God's Character in Our Later Years
So I looked for something to talk about, and I found a section in a book by Patrick Morley called *The Rest of Your Life*. He talked about seven things to be doing while we're waiting, and number one was to study the character of God. That's going to tee up everything else, because I can't study the character of God without studying the scripture.
I read this story, so Haley's in BSF with the adult lady studying, and Sandy's got the kids. Haley says, "I'm just reading this story and going, oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. God is serious." The rebellion was against Moses and Aaron, but if you get your chain of command, the rebellion is against God.
Five Practical Applications
Let me give you five practical points on your outline. Number one: forget the defense of your independence. Classic passage, one that volumes has been written on - Romans 13. I'll read it to you, verses one and two, but you really need to wrestle through this. This was a huge passage for me.
"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there's no authority except that which has been established by God. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted."
So here's what He's saying: bad government is better than anarchy. When I drive across Lincoln, and I'm going 41, and they've put it at 40, if they give me a ticket, they are totally justified in doing so. We obviously see different levels of the severity of this, but when I rebel against the town of Paradise Valley, I'm rebelling against God. When I don't love Sandy - see, this theme is like the eighth time, you've got to get it by now - when I don't love Sandy, I'm rebelling against God. When a wife doesn't submit to her husband, she's rebelling against God.
Eliminating Excuses for Disobedience
Here's the second point: eliminate the excuse for your disobedience. Again, an important passage in the discussion. 1 Peter 2: "Slaves," and for sake of illustration, we could say workers, "submit yourself to your masters in all respects, not only to those who are good and considerate."
I'm sitting in my office. I'm in the middle of an appointment with a husband and wife who are having problems with their marriage. That's why they're there. She said, "I didn't want to come to this." I said, "Well, neither did I." So it wasn't the highlight of my week either. She said, "I don't want to come because I know what you're going to say. You're going to tell me to submit to him. And I want you to know - now listen, you've got to hear this - I do. When he's right."
Well, that's not the test.
The Challenge of Conditional Obedience
The test is not easy. Submit yourself to the master in all respects, not only to those who are good or considerate. The challenge to submission is not when he's right. And I don't want to get sidetracked on the idea of submission, but I'll give you this example.
If you said to me, "Is Sandian in submission to you?" I would say yes. If you said "Give me an example," I'd be hard pressed. It's an attitude. It's not like a little kid that says, "Why are we doing this? Why are we doing this? Why are we doing this?" She's going to say, "What do you think about this?" We're going to talk about it. Most of the time, 90% of the time, maybe more, we land on the same place. And if not, I bet the rest of the time or half of it, I'll say I don't care.
"Husbands love your wives" - not when she's just lovable. So let's say you come home tonight and the front door opens and it's backlit and there she is in this little negligee. Some of you are having a hard time even imagining this. This is sad. This is a sad moment for you.
And you go, "I can smell something. What's that smell? That's your favorite dinner." But honey, she says to you, "Honey, you have a decision to make. Do you want to ravage me and then eat or eat and then ravage me?" And I like to say, "Well, there's actually another choice. Let's do both and add television and we'll make it great. Watch a replay from the 1985 Sun Bowl and it'll be perfect." It ain't gonna get any better than this. Anybody can love that, right?
But what if you go home and she says, "What's for dinner?" And she said, "Here's a buck. That'll get you a double cheeseburger at McDonald's. Good luck, buddy." See, this love is not conditional. Are there some exceptions? Yeah, but I don't want to argue about Nazis and Jews and Nazi Germany. You're in Gilbert, which feels like Nazi Germany if you're trying to get a sign out front, by the way, but that's where it is.
Demonstrate Your Personal Beliefs
Number three: demonstrate your personal beliefs. In other words, action does this. "Obey your leaders. Submit to authorities. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be joy, not a burden."
I was in a position of authority at Redemption Church in Gilbert. I was an elder there. I was the founder. I guess I still am in that case. But we just went through, about two years ago, a building campaign. I had rotated out of my job. I had people coming to me and saying, "What are you going to do with a building campaign?" I said, "Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to pray about and think about how much we can give."
"Well, what do you think about their building?" I don't care! That's between them and God. God's not going to judge me on what they build. He's going to judge me on how I participate. I don't care.
Do I think the government has waste in it? Yes, I do. Do I think they make bad decisions sometimes? Yes, I do. Do they make some that I think are even maybe immoral? Yes, I do. But you know what? That's between them and God. God's not going to judge me based on the tax code. He's going to judge me on how I responded to the government ahead of me and over me.
Avoid Abuse of Your Leadership
Two things. Avoid abuse of your leadership. It's James 1 where He said, "You rich people weep and wail because of the misery that's coming upon you. The wages you failed to pay your workmen who mow the field are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of God."
If you're a husband, you love your wife. Not that you're the excuse - it doesn't justify a lack of submission - but you treat her with love and understanding. You make it easy for governors and leaders to govern.
Fulfill the Requirement of Your Divine Appointment
And it's the last thing: fulfill the requirement of your divine appointment, wherever God has placed you. And in this org chart, in some places you'll be up in this chain of command. In other places, you'll be down.
Out of Ephesians 5, verse 22 through 6, verse 9, let me give you roles. And you could be in some of these simultaneously:
Wives, submit to your husbands. Husbands, love your wives. Children, obey your parents. Fathers, do not exasperate your children. Slaves, obey your masters. Masters, treat your slaves with love and kindness.
This is huge in our life. Even now, some of you are feeling angst and you can't wait to get this over to come up and debate with me about the exceptions. That only proves the point of what's inside and our flinches to rebel.
Our Natural Rebellion Against Authority
I heard this with submission. The first time I ever taught submission was "wives submit to your husbands." And we were driving home and I said to Susan, "How do you think that went?" And she said, "Not very well." I said, "Well, it seemed like half the people liked it." And she said, "It wasn't what you said. It was how you said it." And I thought, these ladies just have a problem.
And about two weeks later, I heard Larry teach "citizens submit to the government." And I'm going, "What about this? What about this?" We don't want to submit. That's the whole point of this. We're in rebellion against authority and God-given authority.
Boy, you're going to do your descendants a great favor if you can teach them the principle of authority. Next week, we'll talk about stuff that nobody teaches anymore: the principle of duty. We're going to pass that on.
Father, thank You for this amazing truth. Thank You that You've put authority in our life and done it for our own good. Let us demonstrate a reality in our life that we love You. And we do that by fitting in the role You've placed us in, that we lead with responsibility and care, that we don't abuse our authority, and we obey and submit to the authority You've placed over us. God, that's not natural. That's supernatural. So we ask You to do that work in our life. We ask it of You in Christ's name, amen.