Video Transcript: The Relationship Engine of Authority

What do you think about when I say the word authority?  Many people view authority with a negative connotation.  In this session, we're going to talk about the relationship engine of authority. 

In many contexts, people see authority like this picture.  Someone controlling, telling them what to do, exercising power.  Well, authority is a power.  All authority comes from God.  In Romans 13:1, the Apostle Paul wrote, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.  The authorities that exist have been established by God.”

So authority is a power that is delegated or given.  Consider that every team member in your organization has been given authority.  Authority is a Holy assignment.  It's an assignment that's set apart and is given to an individual.  So authority is not only a power that's given and delegated, but it is also has an under-over aspect to it. 

The person who gives authority has authority over the person that receives that authority that's given.  The person that receives that authority is under the authority of the person that gave the authority to them.  In most of our life relationships, there is some authority dynamic going on.  

We have a negative connotation of authority because authority has been abused.  And we'll talk about the dynamic of the abuse of authority, but first I want to talk about Jesus being a man who was under authority.  

During His earthly ministry He made these following statements and Jesus said in Matthew 28:18, Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

In John 5:30, He said, “By myself, I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me.”

Jesus was a man who was under the Father's authority.  He submitted Himself to the Father's authority, and after His resurrection, made the statement that all authority had been given to Him. 

In John 12, He said, “For I did not speak on my own, but my Father who sent Me commanded me to say all that I've spoken.  I know that His command leads to eternal life.  So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” 

And in John 14:10, He said, “Don't you believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in Me?  The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority.  Rather, it is the Father living in me who is doing His work.”

The relationship between Jesus Christ and the Father was a relationship of authority.  The son submitted to the Father. 

Marriage, as we've talked about in other sessions, is a reflection of the mystery of the relationship between Jesus Christ and the church, a relationship of authority and submission.  The parent-child relationship, relationship of authority.  The employment relationship, a relationship of authority.  Even the education relationship, the relationship between an instructor, a professor, a teacher and the student has a relationship with authority. 

Jesus taught something in Matthew Chapter 8 that shows that there's an area of understanding in a relationship between authority and faith that’s very important. Remember that without faith, it's impossible to please God. 

And in Matthew Chapter 8, there's the story of the centurion who came to Jesus to ask Him to heal His servant who was paralyzed.  When Jesus had entered Capernaum, the centurion came to Him asking for help.  He said, “Lord, my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”  Jesus said him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof, but just say the word and my servant will be healed.  For I, myself and my man under authority with soldiers under me.  I tell this one ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one ‘Come,’ and he comes.  I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, He was amazed and said to those following Him, truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.” 

That roman centurion understood authority.  And he understood that Jesus had authority over sickness and disease, and that He could heal his servant just by saying so, by taking authority over the situation.  And Jesus’ response to him was that He had never seen such great faith.  There's some relationship between authority and faith.  That's worth exploring. 

Authority is not the power to control.  You see, the Centurion said, “I'm a man under authority, and I have soldiers under me,” and he came to Jesus because Jesus had authority to heal his servant.  And he was coming to Jesus, he was exercising his authority over the servant on the servant’s behalf, that his servant might be healed. 

He comes to Jesus to ask for the servant’s healing.  This is not the power of authority. The power of authority is not the power to dictate, the power to control.  Authority is the power to serve. 

In Matthew 20:25-28, Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.  Not so with you.  Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.  And whoever wants to be first must be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Now, the power of authority is not the power to control, not the power to dictate; the power of authority is the power to serve.  

The fuel for the authority engine is respect and responsibility.  When we handle our authority with treating others with respect and handling our authority responsibly, we're going to maintain a focus on serving others.  But when that engine is filled with disrespect for irresponsibility, we abuse our authority; we will encourage dysfunction, and instead of serving others, we will serve our self.  And that's what the abuse of authority is; when someone uses their authority to serve themselves rather than to serve others, to pursue their own purpose rather than the Lord's purpose, or the purpose that's been assigned to them in their position of authority. 

One temptation we have in authority relationships when someone is abusing their authority is to then think that we are justified in abusing ours.  Have you ever been treated by someone who uses their power, their authority to control and to dictate, how that makes you feel toward them?  That it doesn't create a desire to serve them.  It probably triggers a more fleshly response. When someone abuses their authority over you, don't let that distract you from the power to serve. 

So what is your position of authority?  What positions of authority do you have right now in your life?  What is your position of authority in the home?  What is your position of authority at work, where you work if you work?  What about a church?  Every position that you're in, in those various situations, you have a position of authority, and you have the power to serve those around you. 

If you're an employee, you have the authority to serve the person who is over you.  You have the opportunity to serve and the power to serve those people who are under you. And if you don't have people under you, you have responsibilities under you and how you handle that authority, reflects your opportunities, your ability to serve. 

And when you serve well, when you handle your authority with respect of others, and responsibility in handling your obligations and the duties that have been assigned to you, you will receive promotion.  You show yourself capable and worthy of handling more authority.  And it’s the Lord who gives promotion, not man. 

And so I encourage you to handle your authority as a power to serve not the power to control.  Submit your authority to the Lord's authority and what He has invested in you, and what He has given to you, the authority to serve others, use it to serve others and watch what He does.  Watch what He does on your team, watch what He does in your life, and watch what He does in the relationships between you and the people you serve. 

Sometimes we're tempted in an abusive situation to harbor ill will or to gossip about the people who abuse authority on our team.  That creates dysfunction.  The focus on serving, the focus on handling your authority responsibly, and when others abuse theirs to step up your level of service, and to step up for the team, and to keep the team moving forward, will bring blessing to your organization. 

There will always be moments of conflict and always be moments of abuse of authority, where someone is just more interested in the moment than they are about the team.  When those moments happen, it's not unlike someone taking offense.  The heat of competition often ignites around authority relationships, because one member, either the person in authority or the person under authority, is not happy with the situation.  And they're tempted to despise that other individual.  They're tempted to exercise their authority out of self-interest rather than out of the interest of serving. 

And when that happens recognize it for what it is and the opportunity that exists to bring that matter before the Lord, to ask Him for wisdom and understanding and how to serve in those situations, and how to bring glory to Jesus Christ, because the Lord is at work in those situations, exposing something that He wants to change.  And there's opportunity for change in the organization, in your life, and the life of the person or people that you're dealing with. 

Rabbi Daniel Lapin tells a story of a young woman who came to one of his presentations about service.  The power to serve is a great, tremendous power and opportunity that we all have and we can all serve every day of our lives when we choose to.  

Rabbi Lapin was talking about service in one of his presentations and He encouraged the people that were at that presentation to think about their life as a business.  And He challenged them to think about the people that they interact with every day as their customers.  Not just the customers they dealt with, but their co-workers, their boss, people under them, their family.  

And He challenged them to consider that as a business, you're serving these customers every day and they're doing business with you.  And the challenge He laid out for them, are they doing business with you because they want to, because you provide excellent level of service to them, or are they doing business with you because they have to? 

Well, this woman took this message to heart and she went back to her job; she was a checkout clerk at a grocery store.  She began serving not just the people that came through her checkout line, she had always done that well, but she began to serve her boss with an attitude of service.  She began in her relationship with her co-workers to adopt an attitude of service.  And one day a gentleman came through her checkout line, who handed her his business card and asked if he could talk with her when her shift was over. 

She thought he was going to ask her out on a date and she declined his invitation and said she wasn't interested.  And he said, “No, I want to talk to you about offering you a job.”  He said, “I've been watching you as I've come through your checkout line these last several weeks and I need a new receptionist at my real estate office.  And you are such a service-minded individual, I wanted to offer the job to you.”  

Well, she accepted that job.  And when Rabbi Lapin came back to that city some months later, she showed up at his presentation dressed entirely differently.  She had tripled her income.  And she told him, “I had never thought about treating my boss like a customer, but I applied what you said and the Lord has blessed me for serving.” 

That's the power of authority. And so I encourage you in your authority relationships, look at your authority as the power to serve and ask the Lord to show you how you can serve those around you and bring blessing wherever you go. 

God bless you. We'll see you next time.