A Practical Guide to Authority

Before I begin sharing my thinking (and hopefully close to Yahweh's thinking) on authority we need to define a few terms. These are working definitions not necessarily Webster's or Strong's.

Definitions:

Independence: Able to function without the assistance of the other person.

Dependence: Must have the assistance of another to function.

Volition: The innate ability to make choices.

Sovereign: One who is able to and responsible for his choices and answers to Yahweh.

Authority: The power and ability to carry out one's intentions.

Good works: Those works which are conceived, ordered, and empowered by Yahweh and carried out in His time.

Evil works: All works that are not Good works.

Believers: Those who have given themselves to Yeshua and who consistently experience signs following.

In order to discuss authority, we must lay some background first. Mankind was created with the ability to make choices, this is called volition. Mankind was also created as a sovereign individual, that is, he has the right to make choices and he is also responsible to Yahweh, his creator, for the consequences of his choices. These two characteristics of man make him unique amongst all creation. If this were not so then Yahweh could not judge mankind and ultimately send him to heaven or hell. The question that Yahweh will ask man before the Judgment Seat will be; did you know Me and obey Me, that is, carry out His will. He will not ask if we obeyed the pastor, elders, husbands or wives, or government officials or the Law or laws. We could have done all of these things yet not Know Him and Obeyed Him. We have been given volition and sovereignty so that we can consistently and repeatedly choose to seek Him, commune with Him and obey Him by carrying out His will [on earth as it is in Heaven]. We are not responsible for someone else's salvation nor is someone else responsible for ours [..work out your own salvation in fear and trembling..].

We are to be voluntarily dependent upon Him so that we can know and walk with Him and carry out Good works while on this earth. If we are totally dependent on Him then we are totally independent of man. We cannot have it both ways. The degree to which we are dependent on men is the degree that we are independent of Yahweh. There is a simple method of measuring our dependencies. If there is something we need or want who do we ask; Yahweh or man, or both? If we are totally dependent on Yahweh then He will be the only one we ask, privately in our prayer closet without telling a soul and you will have a consistent testimony of answered prayer having seen Yahweh' hand move time and time again. However, if you ask men then all you'll ever gain is greater and greater dependency upon men, and all you'll ever receive is, at best, the best that man has to offer, instead of Yahweh's best and an ever increasing intimacy with Him. We were created specifically to dwell with Yahweh while on earth (as did Adam) and this was the purpose of Yeshua's crucifixion to restore us to Adam's position so that we can once again dwell with Yahweh while we are on earth.

A brief discussion of Good works at this point should be useful. Good works, as defined above, may or may not appear to be good to man, but will certainly be good to Yahweh. In order for a work to be Good, it must fulfill three criteria; it must be Father's will, Yeshua's Word and the happen in the Holy Spirit's timing, thus resulting in His supernatural empowering. Father's will must be discerned, this is the easiest part. We must have the Word of the Lord (Yeshua) that is the Word that He speaks to us. This provides the details of carrying out Father's will. And we must wait upon the Holy Spirit for the proper timing. When all three of these have been accomplished then Yahweh backs up the work supernaturally and it is a Good work. If any one of these components is missing, Yahweh will not respond and the work will be a dead or evil work. Take Pentecost as an example. The disciples knew that Father’s will was to fill them with the Holy Spirit (John the Baptist's ministry [..there is one coming after me who will baptize you with the spirit and fire..]) and they were told specifically by Yeshua (the Word) that they were to [..go to the upper room and wait there until the Holy Spirit came ..] upon them. Those who obeyed and went to the upper room and waited experienced a Good work. They were filled with the Holy Spirit, with the supernatural result of speaking in other languages. We are not told how many were there the first day but we are told how many were there when the Holy Spirit arrived days later, in His time, that is, 120 persons. Now for those who did not believe it was Father's will to fill them or did not believe what Yeshua had said that they should go to the upper room and wait, they never showed up and did not receive. Those who could not wait upon the Holy Spirit for whatever reason and left early did not receive either. All three components are necessary for Yahweh to do a Good work in and through us. I know this seems far from the authority discussion, but it is not, so bear with me.

Every Good work of Yahweh on the earth is carried out by His authority or power and anointing. Yahweh has established an authority line; Yahweh is the Head of Yeshua, Yeshua is the Head of man and man is the head of his wife. (It is implied that the parents are head of their children while they are being raised). We must examine the word of authority (Greek) in order to understand is proper use. Authority is the empowerment by Yahweh to carryout any particular Good work. Authority by definition carries with in a supernatural component. Yeshua arrived on the scene supernaturally demonstrating the Kingdom of God and the people recognized that He operated in authority [..you speak with authority not like our leaders..]. The implications of this observation are immense. That is their leaders even though they demanded respect and obedience did not have true authority and the people recognized it. These men were operating in 'positional' authority, the authority given my men. It was granted to them as a result of the Children of Israel rejecting Yahweh's offer to be their God and for each of them to walk with Him and commune with Him at Mount Sinai. The people instead demanded that Yahweh make Moses a priest to go between them and Yahweh. The result was a positional authority that was never Yahweh's will, nor intention for man. However, because man was afraid of his Father, Yahweh, gave in to their request and gave them priests with a limited authority over men complete with the supernatural component, the atonement of animal sacrifice. This became the Law for Israel. Yahweh's will was to restore them to Adam's position in the Garden at Sinai, where He wanted to walk (commune) with each Israelite without another man in authority over him. This had to wait until Yeshua completed His final atonement, while Israel chose to serve man. Israel went on to demand a king [..like the other countries..] and Yahweh gave them a king and a warning about their servitude as a result, again a type of positional authority this time without the supernatural component. So Israel traded the offer of Sonship as sovereign individuals for being the slaves of other men against Yahweh's will. This was the result of the sin of pride, that is, Israel believed they knew better than Yahweh what they needed and the tragedy is that Yahweh granted them their desire.(Notice that by Him giving this to those who asked did not mean that He endorsed the idea of a human king ruling over them.) This particular positional authority was the result of a contract between man and God, an agreement if you will. As sovereign individuals we have the right to make agreements (contracts or covenants) with anyone we like. Yeshua was sent to remove this contract at the tree. The priesthood of the Levites and the kingdom of man were ended with His resurrection. We came into Sonship and became priests with Yeshua as the High Priest once and for all. Proper authority was restored along with its supernatural component [..these signs will follow those that believe they shall speak with other tongues..]. However, positional authority still remains.

Yeshua had to operate within the positional authority structure while He was here on earth. Because He was born an Israelite, He was required to submit to the Law until He fulfilled the Law. However, He did not submit to man's interpretation of the Law, He instead followed His Father's instructions and thus came into conflict with the rule of leaders of the day. They, the rulers, called Him a blasphemer (heretic) and drunk, He was rebellious and independent. They ultimately exercised their positional authority and crucified Him as a Law breaker. Of course in this case it was Father's will and Yeshua submitted to it because it was Father's will not because of man's positional authority. Had it not been Father's will, there would have been a bloodbath when the angels were unleashed. This is the result of the kingdoms in conflict, that is, the Kingdom of God against the kingdoms of man. Yeshua represented the Kingdom of God and proved it by walking in true authority with its supernatural component. The leaders of the day demonstrated their kingdom by exercising positional authority over men, by crucifying Yeshua and many other believers unjustly. This is a kingdom of [..lording it over men..]. Yeshua expressly forbid exercising this kind of authority [..do not lord it over men..]. This kingdom was an evil kingdom not the Good Kingdom.

This positional authority and the evil kingdom are still with us today. We call it the World or the World's system. It has infiltrated the Church!

The two types of authority are recognized by their fruit. Godly authority will result in people getting free of sin and demons and coming into a relationship with Yahweh and Yeshua. It will have a supernatural component with the demonstration of power over nature and spirits [..and these signs will follow those that believe..]. There will be no exercising of authority over men, instead it is service, out of Yeshua's Love for the individual. This authority is Love and Faith based.

The positional authority operates by exercising power over men using fear or money. Today you can see the way fear operates in the church by the pastors or elders stating that if you do not submit to them then you are in rebellion to God. It is fear or money based, not based in Love and Faith in Yeshua. Usually the supernatural component is missing and much debate and theory is used to convince men to submit to this authority unless there is money or armed men used to force submission. There is always some kind of contract or agreement in place to establish the position of authority. Man, in the form of individuals of groups creates the positions in the authority structure. This should not actually be called authority since it is not from Yahweh. Probably a better name for it is positional power.

The most difficult situation is where there are both types of authority in operation. You must discern which type is being used at the given moment. The obvious situation where this is the case is in the churches and some Christian homes.

One having authority over another sovereign individual is the result of a contract or covenant between the individuals. The simplest to examine is the marriage covenant. In it we can see proper authority at work. When two sovereign individuals decide to marry they make a covenant between themselves and the Yahweh. They give up their individual sovereignty for the sake of the marriage. If they are believers they promise to [..leave his father and join with his wife and the two become one flesh..]. Since Father hates divorce this contract is valid until one of them passes on. The husband promises to Love his wife as Yeshua Loves the Church giving up His life for her and the wife promises to respect and submit to her husband. Essentially they both become Love (agape) slaves to each other. As part of this covenant they each give up the option of making love with anyone other than each other. The husband Loves his wife at the cost of laying down whatever is precious to him if it benefits her. The wife will respect her husband's wishes and follow his lead wherever he goes as he is directed by Yeshua. The husband is to exercise authority over his wife. That is he is to bring to her Yahweh's love, power, healing, deliverance, provision, and direction as the Lord leads, this includes the supernatural component as needed. He is of course not to lord it over her but to Love her. This is a mutually edifying arrangement and a healthy environment for raising children.

If this relationship is operating in positional power, that is it is operating in man's authority instead of God's, it would look a lot different. The relationship would be one of each one vying for position and influence over the other. Loving (agape) one another is desirable but optional. The authority would go to whichever one was on top at the moment. Each would be trying to build their own kingdom while enslaving the other. They are operating in man's power even though they are in a God ordained relationship. In this case since Yeshua is not the head of the relationship, the authority being exercised is sinful and evil as is the authority exercised over their children.

The authority in the church system today is largely positional power. The pastor's position was created by a denominational director, or board or the State by ordination even if the pastor is actually selected by the people. It is a position that is created by men, it is not a Biblical function, and the person in the position must answer to the men that created the position. Yahweh may or may not have called this individual to function as an elder with proper authority. The reward for serving in the position is money, power (over men) and position. Yeshua had none of these rewards for serving the Father; he had instead faith, authority and servant hood.

We as believers have the choice to come under a pastor in his church or not. If we do we are obligated to submit to his rule by contract according to the terms and conditions of the denomination or organization. We voluntarily come into the pastor's jurisdiction. If the church is a non-profit organization or corporation then the terms and conditions of the contract with the US government also apply. If the church is a corporation which the State created then there is a board of directors that operate by the positional power of the State. If the pastor is ordained by the State (he says that by the power vested in me by the State of ______ I now pronounce you man and wife) then the pastor is an agent of the State and you are married by the authority of the State and are bound by the laws of the State in your marriage. Your marriage is a contract between you, your spouse, and the State and Yahweh. You now have two masters the State and Yahweh, and possibly three if you include the denomination. This is a receipt for conflict. Which master will you serve, the pastor, a representative of the State or denomination, or Yahweh?

There are several questions you must ask yourself in this situation. To whom does the pastor owe his allegiance? Who does the pastor represent when he is teaching or ruling, Yahweh or the denomination or the State? If I've come under this authority does Yahweh hold me accountable for all of the rules and laws that apply? Am I supposed to be under this authority? How does this position improve my relationship or intimacy with Yahweh? Who am I really serving? What does Godly authority really look like?

The word in the Ephesians passage translated pastors is actually translated elsewhere in the New Testament as elders (old men actually). This is the only place in the New Testament where the word pastors or pastor appears, so elders is the proper translation here. Elders never appears in the singular, so there is no New Testament precedence for a single elder nor pastor to 'lead' a church. This is the invention of man.

The role of elders in an assembly is historically defined and elaborated on in the New Testament. The elders at the gate of the ancient cities of Israel were the granddads of each family. They knew all of their family members and their fellow granddads. There role was to watch at the village gates for friends and foes, to greet the friends and turn away or sound the alarm for the foes. They loved and wanted to protect their children and grandchildren. If there was some conflict amongst the children or grandchildren they were consulted on how to resolve the conflict if the children could not resolve it themselves. So their role was to watch over their families, the village. Their motivation was their Love for their families. The New Testament picture is very similar. The old men (those who have been believers the longest, tried and true) watched over the younger believers because they Loved them as their own families. (I'm using the definition of believers given above.)

There are two Greek words translated submit in the New Testament; one means be a servant to and the other means defer to. In the text where it says that we as believers are to submit to one another and in the text where it says wives are to submit to their husbands the Greek word means to be a servant of. The text that says the we are to submit to our leaders is the weaker word that is to defer to. In other words we are to make way (defer to) for the old guys (elders). So if one comes into the room and needs a seat give him yours. Remember that we are commanded to be a servant to every believer, as are the elders. So the elders are to be treated as kings and deferred to out of respect for their experience. And the elders are to treat each believer as a king as well, since each person is a sovereign and [..must work out his own salvation with fear and trembling..].

The elders' main role in the assembly is to watch over the activities as every member ministers as the Holy Spirit leads. They should intervene when something goes wrong, that is the flow of the Spirit has stopped. They have the most experience in these areas and so should be able to determine why and get the flow going again. There should be at least prophets, teachers, and evangelist who are not elders operating in the meeting according to the direction of the Holy Spirit. A true elder understands that the Lord has anointed every member in the assembly for flowing in the Spirit and will encourage each one to come forth with what the Holy Spirit has given them. Sometimes the finest gold is hidden in the quietest mouse. He will also be the happiest when the assembly can operate without his input or oversight.

If a man who calls himself an elder or pastor is working alone (one man show) or is not operating this way then he is not operating in Godly authority but operating in positional power. Run away and find a group of believers who are.

This discussion would not get complete without addressing the Romans 13 authority issue. The question in this passage is what constitutes a higher power or authority? Early in the chapter I believe Paul is talking about godly authority not positional power. Rom 13:3 [..rulers are not a terror to good works .. do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise from the same..] obviously did not apply to Caesar or Pilate or Caiaphas since all three rather than blessing good works and praising believers hated good works and put believers to death. Rom 13:6 [..For this cause ye pay tribute also; for they are ministers of God's service, attending continually upon this very thing..] refers to those with positional power over the believers in Israel. The situation in Israel at the time was that the Edomites had gained control over Judea and over the Judaism (both Herod and Caiaphas were Edomites not Israelites) through conquest and Rome had conquered Herod's kingdom so both ruled at Rome's bequest. So Israel paid tribute (the sums due to a conquering nation) to both the Edomites and the Romans because they had been conquered by them both according to Yahweh's will because of their sin. They also had to pay customs for trade to them both. Obviously Caesar did not operate in Godly authority since he claimed to be god. However, he did control by positional power Israel and had his own image stamped on the coins of his kingdom, thus Yeshua said [..give unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's..] referring to the tribute. In the US we have a Constitution not a monarchy. We have not been conquered and thus owe no tribute. The Constitution is the Law of the land and carries with it positional power. The Constitution provides the terms of the contract and anything outside of that contract by the Constitution's own words are to be ignored. If those with positional power are following the Constitution and not conflicting with Yahweh's authority and rule and we are American citizens then they are to be obeyed, otherwise we are to ignore them.

The true Church is to be to be operating in Godly Authority in contrast to positional power. The hierarchical positional power has no place in the Church of Yahweh. We are all priests and have one High Priest, Yeshua. We are all sovereign individuals who are to respect and listen those believers who have walked ahead of us out of love and who ALL approach each other as servants. This positional power over man theology needs to be repented of, abandoned and purged from the Church. Those who lust for leadership and position are NOT qualified and are carnal and immature in need of breaking and purging. Do not go near their leadership if you want to keep your faith in Yeshua intact! No ordination from man will grant the individual true authority. That can only come from Yeshua and it's used to free men from the slavery of sin and demons not put men into slavery by other men. Yeshua gave the disciples authority over sin, demons and disease, when He sent them out, but He never gave them authority over men. In fact He never used the term 'authority over'. This is just like Yahweh's command to Adam to take dominion over the earth (but not men).

Only those who, like Yeshua, Love believers so much that they are happy to lay down their lives, time and money for the believers' freedom and maturity and demonstrate the Kingdom of God with supernatural power are true elders and those that we should pay attention to. If we do so, then Yahweh will be able to restore true Authority to believers and His Bride. He will not allow men to Lord it over His Bride for long. Yahweh cannot entrust true authority and intimacy (LOVE) to those who are carnal, lead by their appetites and lusts. A true leader will be a broken vessel who would rather spend his time in communion with the Lord than throwing his weight around to 'build the kingdom'. He longs to see the younger believers come into greater and greater knowledge of Yeshua and His Kingdom and will consistency do everything in his power to help them along. The younger believers will respect this elder because THEY KNOW THAT HE LOVES THEM because he has come to their aid and spiritual defense many times. Let's just say NO to the world's way in leadership and ask Yahweh to raise up true elders!

shimei