" AUTHORITY IS GOD’S GIFT IN CARING FOR HIS PEOPLE."

104. Q. What does God require in the fifth commandment?
A. That I show all honour, love, and faithfulness to my father and mother and to all those in authority over me, submit myself with due obedience to their good instruction and discipline,[1] and also have patience with their weaknesses and shortcomings,[2] since it is God's will to govern us by their hand.[3]
[1] Ex. 21:17; Prov. 1:8; 4:1; Rom. 13:1, 2; Eph. 5:21, 22; 6:1-9; Col. 3:18-4:1. [2] Prov. 20:20; 23:22; I Pet.2:18. [3] Matt. 22:21, Rom. 13:1-8; Eph. 6:1-9; Col. 3:18-21.

Scripture Reading:
Romans 13:1-7
Ephesians 5:22-6:9

Singing:  (Psalms and Hymns are from the "Book of Praise" Anglo Genevan Psalter)
Psalm 99:1,2
Psalm 115:6
Psalm 77:5,7
Psalm 34:5,6,7
Psalm 78:3,4

Beloved Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ!

God’s fifth commandment to His covenant people revolves around the notion of authority. We understand the term ‘authority’ to mean that someone else can tell us what to do, and we’re meant to listen. That’s why we don’t like the notion of ‘authority’; it’s deeply ingrained in our fallen human natures that we don’t want to be under another. We prefer to be free, make up our own minds – and if there has to be authority we want to be on top of the pile giving the instructions to another, and not on the bottom of the pile receiving them.

The society in which we live shares this aversion to authority. The older among us will remember the songs the Beattles sang in the 1960’s, how they railed against authority and encouraged the youth of the western world to do their own thing. The seeds of rebellion the Beattles sowed ripened some years later; in the late ’60’s and early ’70’s America witnessed a number of rebellions by university students. The American government conscripted young men into the army to fight in Vietnam, but various young people dodged the draft, refused to obey. Among them was none other than Bill Clinton. Yet he became President of the United States – though he never expressed regret for disobeying the law and being a draft dodger. My point is: what the Beattles sang in the ’60’s has been embraced by the American people as a whole; many people today do not respect authority. And Australia is no different on the point; we import American thinking and follow suit. In that culture we live today, and in that culture we confess in our Lord’s Day that God wants us to "show all honor, love and faithfulness to … all those in authority over me, submit myself with due obedience to their good instruction and discipline…." By insisting on authority, congregation, we row against the common stream. That’s hard, for older and younger amongst us alike, because our fallen human nature prefers no authority.

God, though, has spoken to us about authority, and that is why we repeat after God in our Lord’s Day what He has said on the matter in His Word. With humility we bow before His Word, and seek to be taught, instructed, in His way.

I summarize the sermon with this theme:

1. The origin of authority
2. The style of authority
3. The response to authority

We speak first, then, about the origin of authority. It needs to be said upfront, brothers and sisters, that we are busy here with an element of faith. Where does authority come from? The Lord God tells us that authority comes from Him. That is, He is the Creator of heaven and earth, and therefore He is the One who gives the rules. He fashioned Adam and Eve, then put them in the Garden, and told them that they could eat of every tree in the garden – except that one over there. He could give that instruction by virtue of His being God, Creator. Similarly, God is the One who upholds the world He made, and therefore is the One who may continue to give the rules. We remain dependent on Him for life itself, and therefore He may tell us what to do and what not to do.

I said: this is an element of faith. Suppose we were to reject the fact that God is there. We insist there is no God, insist that the world came into being through a process of evolution – just as our world does. If you insist there is no God, how would you answer the question of where authority comes from? The world around us answers the question in two ways. The first is: Johnny is bigger than Peter, and that’s why Johnny can impose his will upon Peter; Peter better listen lest Johnny beat him up. It’s said: that’s how authority works in the family; parents are bigger than their children and therefore can impose their will on the little ones. But that doesn’t explain how there’s government in a country, and so our society has a second answer to the question of where authority comes from. It’s this: people agree together to appoint a leader, and promise to obey this leader as long as he gives instructions the majority like. So: next Saturday we go to the polls, and Australians together will decide who should be our Prime Minister. The elected man will have his authority from the people, and is obliged to do what the people want. It’s called democracy, the rule of the people.

Notice: in both these explanations, authority comes not from outside this world, from its Creator; authority comes instead from within this universe, from man himself. The result of this line of thought is that if I’m not happy with what the authorities require of me, I may resist, may rebel – as the Beattles encouraged us to do so many years ago (and today’s singers still repeat that message). This man-centered notion of authority doesn’t have room for honoring, loving those in authority over us, doesn’t have room for cheerful submission. That the average member of society has embraced this message is pointed up by the way young people are today allowed to speak to their parents. Mom has a question about how come your trousers are dirty. A God-pleasing answer sounds like this: "I’m sorry, Mom, but I got my trousers caught in the bicycle chain." But what’s the standard answer today: "I couldn’t help it; trousers got stuck in the chain." That is: the answer comes with a tone of insolence; that’s disrespect for authority, cheekiness.

As it is, though, congregation, older and younger, God is there, the Creator and Sustainer of the world. As Creator He’s the One who may tell us what He wants us to do; as creatures we are by definition under His authority. That is why the apostle Paul says in Rom 13 that "there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God" (vs 1). Solomon says the same: "By me" –and "me" refers here to God- "by me kings reign, And rulers decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, All the judges of the earth" (Prov 8:15f). Granted: in the texts quoted the reference is to government, to kings and prime ministers and presidents; God appoints these authorities, so that we need to see God behind Premier Geoff Gallop. But the point is true of every sphere of authority, be it in the country or in the church or in the home. "There is no authority" on the face of the earth "except from God." That is why in our Lord’s Day we ask, "What does God require in the fifth commandment?"

All authority, then, comes from God. That raises the next question: why has God ordained authority? To put the question into proper focus, I need to take you back for a moment to Paradise. How did Adam and Eve know what God’s will for them was? They knew: God created them, God gave them instructions, they were under God’s authority. But how did they know what God wanted of them? We learn from Gen 3 that the Lord God came to Adam and Eve in the cool of the day (vs 8). There’s the answer, congregation: God Himself came down from heaven to earth to speak with Adam and Eve and tell them what He wanted of them. That is, His instructions to them came directly from the mouth of God. Today there are some five billion people on the face of the earth. Is God able to come to each person, say, on a daily basis, and explain to each what God’s will for each person is? Certainly, He is able, for He is God almighty. But see: God is pleased to tell people His will for them not via His direct coming to each person; He is pleased to tell people His will by means of authorities. That is, God sovereignly appoints certain persons to a place over other persons so that through these authorities God may lead those whom He is pleased to place under authority. We need to understand that the existence of authority is a matter of God’s care for people. Setting persons in positions of authority over other persons is the means God has chosen to make clear to the persons under authority what His will for them is. We echo this reality in our Catechism by confessing: "it is God’s will to govern us by their hand."

If authority is there, then, because "it is God’s will to govern us by their hand", two consequences follow. The first is that anyone in a position of authority needs always to bear in mind that he himself is also under authority – all authorities are themselves under God’s authority. As a person under God’s authority, he may never, ever impose his own will on those under him. Always he has to speak on God’s behalf, has to speak according to the revealed Word of God. In fact, anyone in a position of authority has to give account to God for how he has used the position God has given to him. Where he abuses that authority, that is, when he uses his position to impose his own will on those under him (instead of God’s will), he has a severe penalty to pay; God will require him to give account. It may be human nature, beloved, to desire to be in authority instead of under authority, but the responsibility that God has laid upon those whom he places in authority is enormous. What James writes about teachers receiving "stricter judgment" (3:1) is true not just for teachers in the professional sense of the word, but true for all those in authority. That is also why it is so important that all those to whom God has entrusted authority know God’s word well!

There is a second consequence that follows from the fact that authorities are given by God as means through whom He would care for and rule over certain persons. The second consequence is that persons under authority need to be deliberate in honoring authorities. To disregard the authorities, to flatly disobey, to speak to authorities in insolent tones, is displeasing to the Lord God simply because –Rom 13- the authority "is God’s servant to you for good" (vs 4). When you snub the authority, you don’t snub simply the person in authority, but you snub the God who appointed that person to the position of authority. God says in the fifth commandment that people must "honor your father and your mother," and refusing to give that honor is to sin against the God who gave you parents, is to sin against the God who is pleased to govern you through particular authorities.

I move on now to our second point:

We’ve heard so far that authority comes from God, and is the means God is pleased to use to make clear His will for the persons He has placed under authority. So far I’ve kept it general, without mentioning various spheres of authority, simply because what I’ve said about authority so far is true for all authority. As it is, though, commentators tend to speak about three spheres of authority, viz, authority in the home, authority in the church, and authority in the state. In our second point I need to expand upon these three, and in doing so I want to show you what the Bible says about the style of authority.

The point here is: how is one in authority to exercise his authority? How do you encourage those under authority to show honor, love and faithfulness to those in authority, to submit obediently to their good instruction and discipline? In answer to the question, I ask your attention for our Lord Jesus Christ. There came the day when the twelve disciples argued over who would have the position of greatest authority in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus’ reply was this:

"You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Mk 10:42ff).

That is: Jesus drew attention to His own example. He didn’t come to be on top of the pile, with everybody obedient to Him; He came instead "to serve", to go to the cross so that His death might ransom many from eternal damnation. That, says the Lord, is the example you need to follow. "Whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all." So Jesus on another occasion washed the feet of the disciples –and that’s the work of a slave!- and then said: "I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you" (Jn 13:15). There you have, congregation, what I mean with the phrase "style of authority". Those to whom God entrusts a position of authority are not to be dictatorial, and impose their own will on those under them. Instead, those in authority are to serve those under them.

The apostle Paul works this out in the passage we read from Ephesians 5. I said earlier that folk commonly speak of three spheres of authority, viz, the family, the church and the state. For our part, when we think about authority in the family, we think of the relation between parents and children. Yet when the apostle speaks of authority and submission, he doesn’t speak first of the authority parents have to their children and the obedience children must give to their parents. He speaks first of marriage. He says in 5:22:

"Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything."

The wife, he says, is to "submit". The husband, he adds, is the "head of the wife." In the Bible the notion of ‘headship’ captures the concept of having authority. That is the point: the husband has authority over the wife (cf I Peter 3). I know that this thought is anathema in today’s society; feminism would have the woman to be free. But this, beloved, is the will of God in marriage; you wives in the congregation are to submit to the husband God in wisdom has given you. That’s to say: it is God’s good pleasure to govern you, to make known His will to you, through the husband He’s given. And: you cannot expect your children in the home to obey you if you will not obey your husband.

But now notice: this isn’t all that Paul says on the point. For scarcely has Paul told the wives in Ephesus to submit to their husbands, when he straightaway addresses the husbands on the matter of "style of authority". Listen:

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself."

You hear it: Paul picks up on what Jesus said in Mk 10 and Jn 13. Jesus’ style of authority was to empty Himself for the sake of His bride, the church. Undeserving though God’s people were, unclean and repulsive on account of their own sins, yet the Lord Jesus Christ did not come with a heavy hand and a dictatorial arm to lay down the law upon those under Him. That is why husbands may not rule their wives in that fashion; the husband leads his wife by emptying himself for her benefit. And we realize: when the husband exercises his authority over his wife in this self-emptying manner, seeking to serve her so that she flourishes, it is much easier for the wife to submit. Sure, it still requires self-denial on her part since nobody by nature likes to be under authority. And she will have to act from out of the faith that God is pleased to govern her through her husband. But when the husband shows this kind of service to his wife, he makes it pleasant for her to show him "all honor, love, and faithfulness", makes it pleasant for her to "submit [herself] with due obedience to [his] good instruction."

This same matter of style of authority comes up in the next section of Paul’s letter. He instructs children in 6:1 to "obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." Here is the immediate material of the fifth commandment itself: children must honor father and mother, and you show honor by obeying them. It is a message found time and again in Scripture. Moses tells Israel that "Everyone of you shall revere his mother and his father" (Lev 19:3). Solomon calls his children to him and tells them repeatedly, "Hear, my children, the instruction of a father" (Prov 4:1; cf 1:8, 10, 15; 2:1; 3:1, 21; 4:10, 20; etc). The Lord’s standard is that children are to obey their parents.

But look, boys and girls, fathers and mothers, at what Paul adds in Eph 6:4. "Fathers," he writes, "do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord." Paul says two things here. On the one hand fathers are not to provoke the child to wrath. That is: they’re not to frustrate their children, exasperate them, make them angry. How that’s done? For example, by being heavy fisted, laying down the law unfeelingly. Here’s where the second thing Paul says dovetails with the first. For Paul adds: "but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord." That is: bring them up in the way in which the Lord brings up His people. There’s again the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. He wasn’t heavy-fisted in the way He treated His people. He instead sacrificed Himself for their sake! So too the fathers, in denial of self, are to teach the children the way of the Lord. You see, when fathers (and mothers) in their style of authority follow the example of the Lord, they make it much easier for the children to "show all honor, love and faithfulness to … father and mother." Sure, the children still need to act out of faith, still need to fight the inner urge to be one’s own boss. But with such a style of authority parents are making it pleasant for the children to obey, instead of placing obstacles on the path of the children.

Again, congregation, the same matter comes up in the vss 5-9. In the sphere of the state there is an authority relationship between government and citizens, and there’s an authority relationship also between employers and employees. Paul addresses here the servants, the employees. They are, says Paul, to "be obedient to those who are your masters" – or, as we’d say today, your employers. Paul expands upon that: employees are to do service with goodwill, "as to the Lord, and not to men." But Paul straightaway adds: "you Masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening." There’s the style of authority again, a style wherein masters serve their servants, seeking what is good for them. That’s how employers need to treat their employees, and where that occurs the employees will be pleased to do their best for the boss.

Family (be it husband/wife relations, be it parent/child relations) and the workplace are the institutions Paul mentions in Eph 5 and 6. Yet we understand that the topic of authority extends beyond these institutions. Also in church there is authority. That’s why Paul tells Timothy, for example, to "preach the Word" (II Tim 4:2). And Jesus tells the first office-bearers, the apostles, that "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Mt 18:18). That’s why the Holy Spirit tells the Hebrews to "obey those who rule over you, and be submissive" (Heb 13:17).

But at the same time as the Scriptures emphasize the need to submit to authorities in the church, the Bible also emphasizes that office-bearers need to exercise their authority with a style pleasing to the Lord. If the Head of the church served His people so totally that He laid down His life for His own, it follows without discussion that those in the church who have received a position of authority must do the same. It is as Jesus said to the first office-bearers of the New Testament church:

"You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant" (Mk 10:42f).

Here is the responsibility for office-bearers: serve the sheep that Christ bought with His blood. Serve, in denial of self. Heal the broken-hearted, set the broken legs, bind up the wounds. In denial of self, serve – and so show how Christ has emptied Himself for the salvation of those under Him.

Then, brs office-bearers, you make it easier for congregation members to submit. True, the sheep of the flock still need to exercise so much self-denial. After all, sinful human nature wants to be free, doesn’t want to submit to another. But exercising authority according to the style of Christ takes away obstacles that can hinder the sheep from submitting to those whom God has placed in authority in His church.

Now yet our final point:

Suppose, now, that in your marriage your husband does not display the style of authority commanded by the apostle. Does the fact that your husband fails to comply with God’s standard for him permit you to dishonor him, disobey him? Suppose, children, that your father or mother do not display the style of authority the Lord requires. Does that failure on Dad’s or Mom’s part permit you to dishonor your parents, to big-mouth them, to disobey them? Does the boss’ failure to display the style of Christ mean that you employees don’t have to submit to the boss, work hard for him? Does an office-bearers’ failure to measure up to the standards that Christ has set free you from the command of the Lord to submit with due obedience to their good instruction and discipline?

Here, my brothers and sisters, we need to keep in mind what we said about the origin of authority. It is God who has chosen the notion of authority as the means by which He would govern His people. God is almighty; He could rule over us without using persons in authority over us. Similarly, God is almighty and so could have given us a different spouse, different parents, a different boss, different office-bearers. He is almighty, and therefore could certainly have given us Buddhist parents living in Mongolia. You’d still be you, with your character and eye-color and mental gifts, etc, but having different parents, be raised in a different faith, etc. But God didn’t do that –why not?- God instead gave you the parents you have –why?- because He is pleased to look after you by means of those particular parents. Certainly He knew, long before you were born, that the parents to whom He would give authority over you would be sinful people, persons who battle with the sin that remains in us all. Yet God mandated your particular parents to look after you. More, God instructed you to obey them. My point is: the sinfulness of the parents does not let the children off the hook so that they need not obey Dad and Mom anymore.

The same is true in relation to marriage. God is almighty, and very able to give to the wives of the congregation a different husband. He knew before He gave wife to husband that both husband and wife would continue to struggle with the weaknesses of sin. Yet God commands the wife to submit to her husband. Certainly, the husband is instructed to display a certain style of authority. But the abiding sinfulness of the husband does not excuse the wife from God’s command to submit to the authority that God in wisdom has placed over her.

Again, the same is true in relation to the state. Paul is emphatic in Rom 13 that "every soul" is to "be subject to the governing authorities." How amazing, for the governing authorities in Paul’s days were anything but Christian! The emperors were godless men, the governors were folk like Herod and Pontius Pilate. But their godlessness in no way let the people off the hook; God’s command remained that "every soul" must "be subject to the governing authorities." In fact, "whoever resists the authorities resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment upon themselves" (vs 2).

That, my brothers and sisters, is the ordinance of God: I am to "show all honor, love, and faithfulness to my father and mother and to all those in authority over me, submit myself with due obedience to their good instruction and discipline, and also have patience with their weaknesses and shortcomings." The reason is simple: "it is God’s will to govern us by their hand." The fact that their style of authority does not conform satisfactorily to God’s model in Jesus Christ does not free anyone from the obligation to submit to the authority God has placed over us.

There is one exception. When the authorities in the Sanhedrin forbade Peter and John from speaking in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Peter replied: "We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). The Lord wants obedience to all authority, except where those in authority require those under authority to do what is contrary to God’s revealed will. Authorities are God’s servants, and therefore may require only what God requires. Where commands from authorities go contrary to God’s commands, the authorities abuse the authority God has given – and those under authority are to disobey. That is not easy for citizens to do in a country, for it can bring persecution upon oneself. It is not easy for employees to do in relation to a boss (if, for example, he demands that you work on Sunday), for it can cost you your job. It’s not easy for children in a family either, for persons in authority can threaten the children so cruelly if they speak out about the sins they’re required to perform. But we must obey God rather than man, and therefore must disobey when those over us demand actions from us that God forbids. Especially children do well to seek help from others, others in authority, so that abuse of authority can be snuffed out and those abusing authority be brought to justice.

Our society spurns authority, and our sinful nature finds that attractive. The Lord has told us that authority comes from Him, that authority is His gift for the protection and care of His people. Let us humbly acknowledge that care –how?- through those in our midst in authority making it their business, in the strength of the Holy Spirit, to exercise that authority in the style Christ has displayed. And those under authority may acknowledge that same care –how?- by submitting, also in the strength of the Holy Spirit, to the authority God placed over us.

Blessed are they who acknowledge God as Lord – and He governs us through authorities of His choosing.  Amen.