Authority

Jesus Christ has all authority in heaven and earth given to him by God the Father as his eternal gift as God the Son. There has never been a time when God the Son did not possess all authority. Since his ascension and session, there will never again be a time when the incarnate Christ will cease to be seated in the seat of authority at the right hand of the Father. This is all lofty language that Christians are generally happy to affirm. God’s authority is an absolute, but what about human authority?

When we begin to think about human authority, we tend to get a bit edgy. We are wary of misused authority. However, as Christians we must resist this particular cultural wind. We must insist that the proper answer to misused authority is submitted authority. There is everything right about remembering that absolute power corrupts absolutely, but there is everything wrong about making the disastrous converse assertion that all power corrupts all who hold it. Instead, we must insist on submitted authority. In the book Membership by Jonathan Leeman, he points out that all human authority is derivative and therefore should be submitted to the ultimate divine authority giver. The Bible affirms over and over that all authority is given by God. So, Leeman reasons that the authority of the government to wield the sword is supposed to be a submitted authority under Christ and his Word.

On Sunday, we read in Ephesians 2 that we who are in Christ have been seated with him at the right hand of the Father. This verse reflects the basis of church authority. The Church has authority, and, like the government, it is to be a submitted authority. We are seated with Christ not instead of Christ. Leeman puts it this way, “What is the local church?… the local church is the authority on earth that Jesus has instituted to officially affirm and give shape to my Christian life and yours.” (Leeman, 24)

This is why we have formal membership at The Road that requires a vote. The authority that Christ has given to the church is given to the gathered body. That is, individual members do not hold the authority of the church in themselves. The church is the gathered body, not the members individually. We gather as The Road Church. As a body we bear a responsibility instituted by Christ to declare who is and who is not a part of the church. (Matt. 16:19) Note carefully that we do not make people members of the body of Christ. Only the Holy Spirit has the power to do that. Rather, the gathered body recognizes and declares to the watching world what the Holy Spirit has done.

As we look forward to welcoming new members into covenant membership in April, remember that we do not vote because we are Americans who believe in a democratic form of government. We vote because we have been seated with Christ at the right hand of the Father, and therefore bear the weighty responsibility to recognize and declare those who are members of the body of Christ.

In Christ Alone,

Pastor Charles