Contents Page Previous ChapterNext Chapter
If any semblance of order is to be maintained in the world in which we live, it is essential that authorities be established and invested with the power to make and enforce laws, to set up necessary facilities and to provide protection against enemies. Most acknowledge this need.
However, the human race has become very suspicious and wary of those to whom this power has been given. This is not without good reason, for so often in human history and in everyday human affairs, this authority has been misused and, in both large and small ways, has been turned against those it should be used to protect.
This is the world’s authority structure to which Jesus referred when he said:
"You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them." (Mark 10:42)
It is in this structure that laws, regulations and decrees are originated at the top and are passed down through the authority hierarchy until they are given to the people and their application enforced.
History all too clearly shows us how quickly seemingly benign authority can turn against its subjects, using and oppressing them to maintain and extend its own power and control. History also shows us how devastating the effects of such corruption of power can be upon human life.
Jesus clearly taught that the authority structures of the church were to be different from the world. They were not just to be more benign, but were to be based upon an entirely different concept of authority and leadership, the proper exercise of spiritual authority being based upon a completely different set of principles.
Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as 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 slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:42-45)
A large part of the church of this present age does not follow these principles. Rather the church structures that exist are fundamentally the same as the world, except that they are theocratic, in the sense that, at least in theory, God is at the top. Such structures survive by teaching that laws and regulations originating from God are received at the top and passed down through the clerical hierarchy, until they reach the children of God, where they are proclaimed and, in a variety of subtle and not so subtle ways, enforced.
This type of church leadership did not exist in New Testament times, but became evident certainly by the time that Christianity became the state religion. In other words, not only did the world accept the church at that time, but the church accepted the ways of the world in many critical respects including that of the exercise of authority.
Over the centuries, at critical points in church history, there has been a (usually painful) break away from these authoritarian worldly structures, only to form what eventually became a copy of the old, perhaps not as cruel and oppressive, but based upon the same principles nevertheless.
This is simply because, while many things changed as God was restoring lost truth to the church, the basic church authority structure did not. In many cases it was not long before similar clerical hierarchies were set up and the same errors were being perpetrated, different only in scale and severity from that which went before.
Why has Jesus’ concept of church structure been so soundly rejected by church leadership over the centuries? It is for two basic reasons.
Firstly, by adopting such principles the church hierarchy loses "control" of the people. Fundamental to worldly authority structures is the need to control, that is to "lord it over" the people. If it can’t do this it can achieve very little. Thus the church introduces a multitude of (sometimes unspoken) rules and regulations which are enforced by a (sometimes indirect) system of punishment for those who transgress.
The second reason is really a direct result of the first. Because the leadership has not taught or encouraged God’s children to develop a meaningful personal relationship with the Lord, they have not produced any spiritual dynamic in the lives of the believers. This vicious circle has meant that, by and large, if anything of substance is to be accomplished in the church it has to be done by the clergy.
Thus has been produced a body of believers without spiritual initiative and who are spiritually and emotionally dependent upon the clergy, a situation which enables those who wish to "lord it over" God’s people to do as they please.
God has a far higher design for the exercise of spiritual authority. It is based upon two principles, namely:
These concepts turn the current church authority structure on its head. It is the establishment and development of the relationship of the individual members of the body of Christ with their Lord that is of supreme importance. The ministry exists to work with the Holy Spirit to support and foster this process. It is by this that the results of our ministry will be ultimately judged.
It is important to note here that what the Scripture is talking about is not a blueprint for church organisation but a state of heart and mind which is meant to pervade the church. When the church is properly aligned with the eternal purpose of God everything else falls into place.
Jesus left us in no doubt as to the depth of abandonment required of those who would join the Lord of the harvest in the work of the harvest.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. (Matt. 16:24-25)
"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matt. 10:37-39)
"In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:33)
The apostle Paul had a profound understanding of what it was to take the place of a servant.
For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honoured, we are dishonoured! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world. (1 Cor. 4:9-13)
Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. (1 Cor. 9:19)
Thus, the exercise of spiritual authority is based first and foremost upon taking the place of a servant. This is completely and utterly opposed to the way in which authority and power are wielded in the world. It is also opposed to our natural inclination which is to take the path which most gratifies our natural self life. It is only through the inner work of the Holy Spirit in subduing the force of our "natural man" that we can in any way fulfil these roles.
Again the apostle Paul had a profound and practical understanding of these principles.
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. (2 Cor. 4:8-12)
The call to take the place of a servant comes to all who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ whatever may be our place in the body of Christ.
Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 4:10-11)
In the outworking of this principle of taking the place of a servant, we have no greater example than that of the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross! (Phil. 2:5-8)
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45)
It is one of the great truths of the Gospel, that he who created the universe and who rules the worlds by the word of his power, came into this world as a man and took the place of a servant to those he had created. When Jesus washed the disciples feet (John 13:4-10) it was not merely a gesture of kindness but the expression of a fundamental and universal spiritual truth. Those who will take a position of authority and power in the kingdom of God will first take the place of a servant.
Having completed his work as a servant on earth, Jesus ascended into heaven where the greatest of honours awaited him.
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:9-11)
How this name and position which were conferred upon him could be greater than that which he already possessed rather defies the imagination. Nevertheless, the Scripture plainly teaches that, as a result of his ministry upon earth as a servant to the human race, God conferred upon him the greatest of great names and elevated him to the highest of high places in the universe.
That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (Eph. 1:19-23)
In this exalted position, Jesus remains, as incredible as it may seem to us, in the place of a servant.
Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. (Heb. 3:1)
Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. (Heb. 7:25)
But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises. (Heb. 8:6)
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. (1 John 2:1)
Jesus is the Mediator of the New Covenant. He is our High Priest, Intercessor and Advocate. He is seated at the right hand of God the Father exercising these ministries on behalf of the church which is his body. He who is above all is still taking the place of a servant, ministering to the needs of his people.
Contents Page Back to Top Next Chapter Previous Chapter Select Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
