By TONY HOSS
Many in America believe that questioning or defying authority is our unchallengeable constitutional right. If our president begins to act as if he were the king, we rally to throw him out of office. It carries down through our society, all the way to rebellion on the family level. We resist the concept of authority. We don’t like submitting to anyone. However, we should remember the old saying, “Just because we have the right to do something, doesn’t make it right to do that thing.”
The same caution should be followed in religion. Yet many preachers, teachers and evangelists simply do not view church as a place where one should have to submit to the leadership for the purpose of growth, unity and accountability. There are also many religious leaders who themselves refuse to submit to the authority of God and His Word. Each of these see religion as a shop where you go as a consumer and select the product that best fits your desires and lifestyle. For example, if you attend a church and like it because it meets and services your needs and expectations, you’ll probably come back. If another place down the road offers a more pleasant experience, you move your business there. It is for this reason that many religious leaders, “modern day pastors,” try to market their churches to specific groups or ages. These try to avoid any statements or situations that are offensive to any group. In this type of service oriented religion, the customer is always right. They, like many service oriented businesses, are trying without fail to please the customer. But this concept comes with a high price. This type of consumer oriented religion destroys the biblical concept of authority. The proclamation, “Thus saith the Lord,” seems odd and out of place.
Many reject authority because of individuals like Jim Jones. You may recall that he headed the group that cost more than 900 followers their lives in the 1970’s. Many reflect on so called religious groups who demand total authority in all matters of life, such as those who arrange marriages of their members or who demand that all financial assets be turned over to the religious authority. Even in the Lord’s Church there haven those Elderships who lord over the congregation rather than lead scripturally and by example. These individuals oftentimes believe that they are beyond reproach and beyond correction. These are often quick to judge and label anyone who questions their authority one who are contentious and dividers. However, this is not what is meant by biblical authority.
As we consider Titus 2:15, we must avoid these extremes and seek to understand how these words apply: “These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.” Titus was instructed to rehearse repeatedly the Word of God. Men of God must teach God’s Word and lead the church with true biblical authority, and the church must submit to such authority. With this thought in mind consider the following passages from the word of God concerning biblical authority. (1 Thes. 5:12 KJV) – And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; (1 Tim. 5:17 KJV) – Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. (Heb. 13:17 KJV) – Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
Remember that Paul said, “Let no man despise you.” This message was not only to Titus but to the Church. There is no doubt that we should in no way disregard the teaching of the inspired writers of the New Testament. In like manner we should in no way reject properly appointed leaders (Elders) within the Church. An autonomous congregation of the Church wherein its members are submissive to proper leaders within the congregation, is a congregation that is headed in the right direction and is pleasing to God.
(Tony Hoss is minister at Centerview Church of Christ, Elizabethton. He can be contacted at 737-2287 or by email: CenterviewCOC@comcast.net)