Human Relationships

This is the third sermon in a controversial subject. A subject that can create a lot of different responses and a lot of different emotional responses, depending on a lot of times what your experience has been in your life.

And that is the issue of authority. What we looked at in the first sermon is that God has authority over everything. And He doesn't apologize for that authority. He claims it. He is the Creator. And as I said, His authority He has twice. Once because He made us, and secondly because He bought us back when we rebelled. Jesus paid a terrible price to get us back.

So God owns us twice. But even in that, in understanding Him as Creator, and we remain in His image, and then understanding that He bought us back shows us that He uses His authority for us. He uses it because He wants us. He created us. We have a purpose. And it is a great purpose that He has created for us. So when we look at God's authority, over time as we mature in our Christian maturity, we actually begin to appreciate His authority.

And we want to submit to His authority, and we find goodness in His authority. And so even though that's a difficult subject, you know, God has the right to control everything I do. He says, I will control you. I will simply tell you what is good, and you get to choose it. But He does, He then says, but I have the authority then to correct you if you do it wrong. So He gives us the ability to choose, but He doesn't take away His own authority. So He doesn't take our own free will away.

So that's what we covered in the first sermon. The second sermon got a little more complicated then, because we showed that God actually told Adam and Eve, I give you authority over the earth.

It's yours. You're...it's there. I made all this. It's yours. And then He told them that they were to tend it and to keep it. Therefore, humanity has a responsibility to tend and keep the environment. So we have to discuss all the time. We should be aware. What is the abuse of the environment? What is not? I mean, the idea that many people think now is abuse of the environment is not.

And yet others can abuse the environment terribly and feel like God somehow gave them the right to do that. And both of those extremes are wrong. And we covered that a little bit, how every human being has authority over our environment. God gave it to us. But then He tells us, and we start to learn a little bit about all authority that God delegates, because He claims He owns all of it. So any authority He gives, He will give limitations to that authority because nobody owns it. Right?

God owns authority. You and I get to live on the earth for a little bit. We don't really own it. We went through civil government. Civil governments were delegated some authority for specific reasons. There are limitations to any authority given to any human being. Now, God gives that authority. He also says that whomever He delegates authority to, He holds them personally responsible for it. We think, wow, Adolf Hitler got off. No, he did not. He holds people personally responsible for the authority He gives them. And then there are consequences. There are ramifications of authority that is given.

There could be very good and very bad. So we have to really understand there are limitations, but it is given. What it is, is we think the word authority is bad because it is misused. Since it's misused so much, it must be bad. Well, God is the owner of all authority. So then we went through the second sermon, how He's given authority to civil governments. We went back and showed where He did that in Genesis, and it was for very specific reason.

To protect good people and to punish evil. It was very simple. But there hasn't been a single human civil government in history that's done that very well. So once again, that's not God's fault. It's the fact that, well, Satan is the present God of this world, and human beings have corrupt human nature. And between Satan's influence and corrupt human nature, every human government will fail. The United States of America will fail. It's an imperfect government with imperfect people under Satan's influence.

It just happens to be the best there is, but it can't last. And it'll never be totally equitable. There'll never be total real justice. So it'll always be flawed. But we were told, obey the laws of the land. And we went through the scriptures, and I took a whole sermon just on that subject because there are lots of instructions in the New Testament to people living under the rule of the Roman Empire. And Paul's telling them, obey the law of the land, except if it comes in contrast with what God says.

Because remember, all authority is with God. So if God says, thou shalt not, no civil government has the right to say thou shalt.

But in the box that they have, that's why he said, just obey the laws of the land unless they come in contrast with God's laws. This is why Peter and John could obey the Sanhedrin, the Roman or the Jewish government, as long as they told them what to do within God's law. When they told him not to preach about Jesus anymore, they said, we have to obey God rather than men. We have to. So we are to be good citizens to a point. We should be known as the most incredible citizens, except we will not go against God. And remember, I gave the perfect example of what happened in the beginning of the second century, where there's a letter to Trajan, the emperor of Rome, from a governor that says, why am I supposed to capture and kill Christians? They're the best citizens we've got.

They're honest, decent people. They don't commit crimes. Why are we doing this? And Trajan's answer is, just sort of leave them alone. I don't know why we're doing it. We've been doing it for so long, we just do it. But there's no real reason to go after these people. That's how we should be seen. But at the same time, many, many Christians during that same time period suffered martyrdom because they refused to obey certain laws of the Roman government concerning sacrificing the pagan gods. They refused to do it. So we understand the authority of the civil government, and it's very difficult for us. We're always saying, should I do this? Should I not?

Within the purview of what God has given them, we're to do it, even if it's stupid. That's not the criteria. It's because, as we read those scriptures, they were very important, because we want to see other scriptures today that say the same thing. We do it for the glory of God. We do it that people will not criticize God. We do it because it's part of our Christian duty to do so.

So let's talk about other realms of authority that human beings have. Like I said, this is... I don't like to hear about authority. Well, there's so many scriptures about it we have to talk about it. Imperfect authority doesn't mean God didn't say, you guys get this. Now we're going to get to the end how God fixes this. Okay? God fixes it. Until Christ comes back, and actually it's longer than that, until the end of the great white throne judgment, there will always be some form of human authority, and it's never going to be perfect. There's always going to be some form of human authority on this government, even through the millennium. And human government will never be perfect. Even with God's Spirit, it's not perfect. It's part of the limit we have. When Adam and Eve got kicked out of Eden, and God said, okay, here's how you better rule over yourselves, from that point on it was always going to be a mess. So let's look at a realm of authority we don't think about much in Colossians 3. Colossians chapter 3.

Let's go to verse 22. Bond servants. Now that's an interesting word because we don't have bond servants anymore. That was people who would sell themselves purposely to somebody, you know, to pay off a debt or something like that. The word bond servant in the Scripture becomes... it just means it can mean a slave. It can mean a person who has sold themselves. It can mean somebody who works for somebody else and gets paid for it. So the words... this word becomes common in a lot of different uses throughout the New Testament. So today, since, you know, we're not talking anyone here who's a slave, although you may feel like a slave where you work, we are talking about employees. So this is about employees. It says, employees, servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh. Now stop, obey, and do your job. Did you realize that working hard and doing your job is a Christian duty? I fear sometimes that work ethic is being lost, what's being lost in our world, or what's not being lost in the church.

When you go to work, you as a Christian, and we're going to see a minute why, have a duty before God to give more than a day's pay worth of work.

You're just not there putting in your time. You are there to serve your employer according to the flesh. Now that's very important there because that says that all employers, their authority, like all authority given to a human being, is in parameters.

Your boss can't live your life for you, right? Your boss can't tell you to work on the Sabbath. Well, he can, but now you have the right to, by God. In fact, you have the expectation by God not to obey. Your boss can tell you to do something illegal, and you have the expectation of God not to obey. He can tell you to be dishonest, and you have the expectation of God, by God, not to obey. He can tell you, look, for the next week we lost the janitor, so including doing your regular job, I want you to clean the toilets, and you don't have the right to say, that's beneath me. I'm not going to clean toilets. According to the flesh, you're supposed to say, okay, that's what it says. See, this gets very, very practical. Now, we're not going to go into all the practicalities, because it would take me four more sermons. And I really want to stop at three on this, okay?

But this really breaks down into practicalities. So we are to do what they tell us to do in the flesh. And you don't like that, always. I worked for a guy one time, you know, his car would break down. He'd call me at 10 o'clock at night and say, hey, I remember one time my car broke down. I need you to come pick me up. He's like an hour away. I had the car, picked him up, brought him home, you know, no extra pay for it. Now, there's limitations, once again. If your boss gets to the place where he's literally hurting your family, then you have to make a decision, don't you?

He doesn't have the authority to hurt your family. He does have the authority to tell you what to do concerning your job while you work for him. But notice why now, Paul's going to say why we do this. He says, not according to the flesh, or masters according to the flesh, not with eye service, not as man pleasers, not just because you're trying to, you know, butter up your boss to be on his good side, but in sincerity of heart. In other words, you're to give all your energy and work for your boss even if he's a bad boss. Oh, man alive.

And I don't know, that's hard to do. I've worked for a bad boss one time. That's hard, right?

That's hard. He says, fearing God. Now, why would you fear God?

We're back to the same instructions we read in Romans where he said, do what the government tells you to do. Because if not, something bad's going to happen to you. For God's sake, do what's right so people can see these people are good citizens, except when it comes to their God. And you know what your boss should say?

You are a good employee except when it comes to your God.

We should be the best employees in our place of business. And it doesn't matter whether you like the job or not. Liking the job isn't the issue. This is a character trait. It's a character trait. He says, and whatever you do, verse 23, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality. In other words, he says here, remember, you're doing this because you're representing Jesus Christ. So go do it for him.

Work a little harder for him, even if your boss is terrible. Do it for him.

Because it's his authority that's given. Now remember, any time God gives anybody authority and they misuse it, he holds them personally responsible. You want to do an interesting study. Do a study in the Bible about employers in the Old and New Testament. I'll tell you what, employers have an enormous responsibility from God. There's places in the Old Testament, he says, you hold back the wages that you owe your employees. He says, I take it personally. That's a loose translation, but it's a harsh statement. As you hold back the money you owe your people that work for you, and he says, I take it personally, I will deal with you. There are an amazing number of scriptures in the Old and New Testament about employers and the limits to their authority, and the responsibility that comes with their authority, and the ramifications that come with their authority. And then there's instructions to employees that says, you give them everything you have when on the job. Now actually, when this works, you're going to have a really good economy. But I tell you what, there's something else here, too. You have a job you hate. It either drives you crazy, or you go in and you work really hard. You know what's the worst thing? To have a job you hate, you're going through the motions looking at the clock. Eight hours can seem like 20.

It can just go on and on and on. I said, hello, I want this day to be over. I hate this job. But when you come in and you just give all you have, even a bad job seems better.

Even a bad job seems better.

And so there's an issue of character here, and why you give your all at work.

Listen, you go almost any place anymore, and you watch people, especially in retail, they're walking through the motions. They're so bored, they hate what they're doing. And then you see one person that just got their whole self into it.

Instead of standing around with nothing to do, they're over making sure the clothes are hanging upright. Now, they're not getting paid any more or any less, but I guarantee you they go home a whole lot happier. Notice verse 1 in chapter 4. Masters, okay, now here's to the employers. Give your bondservants what is just and fair, knowing that you also have a master in heaven. So here's one of those places that says, by the way, employers, remember you have an employer, so to speak. And how you treat them is going to be judged by God. So we see the same thing that we saw with civil government. We see that God delegates authority, but there's always specific limitations on that authority. There's responsibility towards God. And there are ramifications or consequences for how that's used. You and I suffer a lot of bad consequences because people whom issues authority. Which should teach us about how to use it and how to respond to it. So let's look at a second area here.

That's in 1 Corinthians 3, same chapter. 1 Corinthians 3.

I'm sorry, Colossians 3. I'm taking you faster than I want to get you there. I'm jumping ahead. Colossians 3. We just read from verse 22 on. Let's jump back to verse 20.

Children, obey your parents in all things. Parents have authority. Parents have authority to teach their children about God and His way.

It's a delegated authority. God gives us His children. Right? They're His.

God owns them. God owns our children. He gives them to us and delegates to us to teach them about Him and His way. To not do that is to abuse our authority as parents. That means we will be judged by God by abusing that authority. So I'm not abusing the authority. Yes, if we don't do it, we're abusing it. And the command here is children, is children, obey your parents. They have authority over you.

That's right. When you go back to Deuteronomy 6, we always go back there when we talk about training children. And there's that passage that talks about, you know, you were to teach them when they go to sleep, or before they go to sleep, or when they get up, or when you walk in the field. Whatever you do throughout the day, you're supposed to be teaching your children God's way. That is an authority that is given to parents. Yes, you have the authority to tell your child settle down, and there's consequences if you don't. Yes, you do. You don't have the authority to just beat them black and blue. There are limits to your authority. And you know what's really shown? You think, well, okay, that's limits to my authority as a parent. Where are those limits? What guides those limits? We have an Old Testament example that people really misunderstand. We're going to come back to collagions, but let's go to Deuteronomy 21. Deuteronomy 21.

So as parents, we cannot ignore this authority to say that we are going to let our children make their own decisions.

You know, when they get old enough, they'll make their own decisions. Well, they're going to make their own decisions when they get old enough, no matter what. The question is, are you going to carry out the responsibility God has given to you to train them for those decisions?

We are to train them for their decisions. They may still choose wrong. If we have not trained them, though we've not carried out something that God delegated to us, I just want parents to understand you have been delegated by God the authority to teach and train children. But remember, it's always for their good. You know, when you look through, if you do the study on employers, what you find out is they are to do what is good for their employees, and their employees are supposed to work real hard for them, okay? But they can't abuse them. Employers have just as much responsibility as those employees do. The civil government, no civil government, upheld what God told them to do, and that's why they all fail.

Part of the reason we have a problem in our society is because there are a lot of parents that will not carry through this instruction, even in the church, that we are to teach and train our children for their good. It is for their good, is the motivation. This is really misunderstood. I want you to look at this because it seems so foreign to our world.

But look what it says as we go through this. Hopefully you can see it in a different way. Deuteronomy 21 verse 18, if a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who when they have chastened him, chastened him, will not heed them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him, bring him out to the elders of the city, to the gate of the city. Now at this point, people say, how horrible! I had someone not too long ago say, this is such a horrible thing! But one thing we're going to see in a minute, this isn't a little child.

This is someone who is in what would be adulthood at that time. Remember, adulthood was over the age of 12. But this is someone who is violently opposing his parents and breaking the law.

If parents own their children, they could do whatever they wanted to them, right?

They could beat them, they could kill them. If you owned your kids in the way that God owns, but they do not own their children. The point here is their son has become a criminal, and they do not have the right to punish him in accordance with the law as a criminal.

But they also had a responsibility because of their authority to do something. It says, And they shall say to the elders of his city, The son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, He would not obey her voice, He is a glutton and a drunkard. Okay, let's stop for a minute. This isn't a 10-year-old.

Okay, he's a drunkard, he's a glutton, he won't work, he won't do anything, he's drunk all the time, which he's involved in crimes. I mean, this is a bad guy, and he's still living with his parents. And their parents say, he's a criminal, what am I supposed to do with him? They don't have the right to do anything to him at this point, even though his son, they've had authority over him. Now they have the authority to do something, but it's in accordance with the law. All authority is bound by the law of God.

None of us, anybody, given authority, can't step outside the box.

We don't have authority to go outside the box, okay?

Just like you're supposed to care for your environment. So you can't decide that you're going to do so... You know, you can't decide, okay, the creek runs through my house or through my property, I'm going to dam it up, so all the people with the rest of the properties down here can't get water. I mean, how many cowboy movies were like there like that? And all the cattle die, and they have a range war because he's damming up the water, okay?

Oh, the law of God, you just can't do that. You can't stop the water and keep it from flowing through other people's property. If that's where it went naturally, you just can't do that.

Your authority over your property did have certain stipulations. And all, wherever God delegates authority, there's always stipulations. The parents here can't go outside the law, but they have authority. They take their son and say, okay, you're a drunkard, you're violent, you're a terrible person, you won't listen to us, you've committed crimes. So we're going to just take you to law. We're going to present you to the law.

It says, that all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones, so you shall put away the evil from among you in Israel, shall hear in fear. Now notice that parents did not carry out the sentence. The legal law, the people who were commissioned by the law carried out the sentence. That shows that you do not own your children. God does. And actually, your children are protected by his laws. Children are actually protected from parents by the laws of God. That doesn't take away. And because there are parents who abuse that authority, by treating their children in ways that God hates, doesn't mean that other people don't have authority. See, we can't judge the fact, okay, your care could be no authority because these people are bad. No. It means we have to learn how to do it right. We have to do it in accordance with God. So this is very important. It puts a limitation on parental authority. They are subject and protected by the law. When I look at this, we look at it and say, oh, wow, that's pretty harsh. The discriminable son is turned over by the parents and stoned. I'm looking at it and saying, wow, even kids are subject to the law. That means the kids get the rights of the law. Remember I talked about the beginning, there's rights. Law guarantees rights. That means children have rights under the law of God, too, which meant their parents couldn't kill them. So we have to understand that all these limitations do not separate. They do not take away that we all have authority in one way or another within that box. That we're supposed to, as parents, teach our children. Yes, correct our children. Let's go back to Colossians.

Because we didn't finish this. He says, children obey your parents at all things. Now, you know, when you're two years old or six or eight years old, okay, you've got to obey your parents. You don't have a lot of choice in some ways. I mean, they're bigger than you. But what if you're 16? What if you're 17 and you're becoming conscious of God and you're really starting to understand, you know, that you want to have a relationship with God? And what if your parents aren't perfect? Oh, we all forget that out of the time, don't we? Well, who are you to tell me I shouldn't? Go out and drink with my buddies. I've heard stories about you when you were young, you went out and drank with your buddies. Well, there's an interesting statement in here for older children, okay, because this next statement is only for younger children to understand it. Children obey your parents at all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.

That's very interesting. Obey the civil government and please God. In other words, it's not always going to be easy and the Lord is going to be perfect, as long as it doesn't go against God. Obey your employer in the flesh, as if you're working for Jesus Christ. And children obey mom and dad, even when they're not perfect, do it because it pleases God to do it. So we have to understand, God says, I delegated this, and you're all messed up, so it's never going to work right, but you do it anyways.

Now, the question comes up, you know, what if a parent told a child to disobey God?

Then the child is supposed to obey God.

I don't know how a child figures that out until they get to be at a certain age. You said, I mean, I don't think you can ask an 18-year-old to figure that out. You can ask an 18-year-old to figure that out.

What's very interesting is in Luke 2, let's go to Luke 2. If parents neglect the authority and don't teach their children, their children will suffer.

If you use your authority to try to break a child's spirit, to control them, welcome to it. You're going to have a life of heartache for you and that child. Breaking a child isn't what God wants us to do. Teaching a child is what God wants us to do. Now, that does it. Once again, as authority, there's times there's going to be a there are going to be certain times with your child where there is going to be a contest of wills. And if you're right, you have to win. It's that simple. If you're right before God, you cannot let your child win that test of wills.

So yes, that's what authority is. You can't win this one.

I wish I had a dollar for every time I said to my kids sometime, can't win this one. You just can't. I, you know, there's other times, okay, okay, you got a point, I'll give in. But there's times, no, you can't win this one. This one's too important. Luke 2, 51.

Talking about Jesus here. He's with his parents. He's 12 years old. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them.

But his mother kept all these things in her heart. Why was Jesus subject to them? Just before this, they had lost him. They didn't know where he was because he was in the temple at 12 years old having theological discussions with the greatest minds in Judaism and holding his own, okay. He was bettering them because they were amazed at him. And mom and dad show up.

You know, he could say, not now, dad. I'm having a conversation with the Sanhedrin.

He, at 12 years old, is the Son of God, did exactly what he was supposed to do. He subjected himself to mom and dad. He said, sorry guys, I've got to go home now. Mom's calling.

The Son of God goes off with mom and dad because that's what he's supposed to do.

Submit to their authority. It is exactly what he did. So children are to obey their parents.

Now, once again, we could talk about how this works.

Just like we could talk about how this works between employer and employee. It took me an hour just to go through all the scriptures. I'll talk about employer-employee relationships in the Bible. It took me an hour just to go through all the scriptures about parent-child relationship. What I'm showing is, and that's all I'm trying to do, is that this is not an oppressive concept. It's actually something ordained by God. Authority is something ordained by God, but it's always with limitations, always with a sense of responsibility to the person who has it, and always ramifications. Consequence is good and evil, and God holds the people with the authority responsible. So here I am talking about employees responding to their employers in a positive way as a command from God, but I can't say that without also saying, and employers, you're responsible. Children obey your parents. That's a command. But I can't walk away without reading the next verse, you know, because there's always this statement, too, for those who are responsible, fathers do not provoke your children unless they become discouraged. So he specifically says to fathers here, you've got to be careful, dads. You can't be too hard on them, and you can just... they get discouraged. They just get discouraged. And how many times have, you know, even as adults, you'll hear people say, I just wish my dad was more involved, or I wish my dad was more understanding, or I wish my dad could just care a little more. We expect dad to be a little tougher. In fact, guys, we're supposed to be a little tougher than mom. Okay? But we can't be so tough that we discourage them, because they need our leadership. This comes back to what authority is, is proper leadership.

And that's the real concept it ends up with. How do you lead people, and why do you do it, and how do you do it? It has nothing to do with, I'm superior. It has nothing to do with, I'm superior. Or why would Jesus subject himself to his mom and dad? Why would Jesus, the son of God, submit himself to mom and dad?

Because it's the way God designed things to be. And so that's what he did. He did what was right.

He subjected himself to their leadership, their guidance.

Leadership's a whole other subject. Once again, that's application. We're not going through much of application today. We're just showing that this is what the Bible says. And most of what we're going to cover is in the New Testament. And I'm just scratching the surface of the number of verses that deal with these subjects. The next one is in verse 18 here, back in Colossians 3 again.

Here's the one that is misunderstood and misapplied very often. Wives submit to your own husbands? Wives submit to your own husbands?

Is God being cruel to wives? Or do husbands have a certain authority given by God?

If you as a parent say, I've been given authority as a parent. If you as an employer says, or a boss at work, you know, just not an employer. If you're a boss at work, you have the authority to do certain things. Then we also have to accept that males have been given certain authority in the family. But remember, authority isn't about ownership. We don't own them. They are God's daughters. Just like our children were raising, we don't own them. They're God's. That's a little different viewpoint when you look at that child and say, oh, that's God's, right? That is God's daughter. And yes, they're supposed to submit. Now, the application of that gets very complicated what that actually means. But the authority, if you want to, you know, the authority to the husband to be the leader is there. He says, wives, submit to your own husbands. And then once again, he has to throw this in because they're perfect. No. As is fitting in the Lord.

This isn't always going to be easy because it's not going to be always a good leader. But that's not the issue. The issue is doing your part. The issue is doing your part.

Then he tells husbands in the next verse, okay, guys, oh, good. I'm in charge. Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter towards them. In fact, Paul says in another place, you have to love them the same way Jesus did when he died for the church. You have to be willing to die for her. Okay. That's a little different approach then. I'm in charge. You're my slave. Do what I say because that's not what this means at all. But it does mean that men have a certain authority from God. I want you to remind all of us, though, how we use that authority will be judged by God. How we use it, we will be judged by God. And wives, you have to be very careful not to try to overthrow that.

Because let's face it, guys. If we don't lead, they're quite capable of leading in many ways, right? That's not the point. We're told to do it. And wives, you're told to let us lead. Now, leadership has to do with the team. Once again, we get a concept of leadership. That's a whole new concept. Biblical concept of leadership. You know, one of the greatest examples of this is how does this work? One of the greatest examples of this is Abigail. I mentioned her in a sermon about two years ago in 1 Samuel. Abigail, she's one of my heroes because of her ability to work through a very complex situation. She's married to a man, and this is back in the time of David, she's married to a man who's an absolute rotten guy. There's nothing good about him. Even his name means full. He's one of those guys whose name really applies to him. He's just a foolish man, and he's stubborn, and he's egotistical, and he's selfish. And she's a young, beautiful woman known as a young, beautiful woman, smart woman, married to it. And we know she's smart because she's the one the slaves go to, or the servants, not necessarily slaves, but they're servants. Some might have been slaves, but they go to her for help, for instructions on what to do. Basically, it appears that she's running a lot of stuff, you know, and her husband's getting all the glory for it. And so, Nabal insults David, insults him, and assaults all of his men, because he's got a little army. He's protecting the borders of Israel because Saul's king, and Saul's trying to kill him, and he's running away from Saul. He doesn't want to fight other Israelites, but he's out there fighting off the nomadic tribes that keep invading Israel. So he's out there guarding the borders, and he's protecting Nabal's flocks, and his herds, and his property, and Nabal won't give him any food. He sends some men to Nabal, and he says, hey, can you just send us some food? We're out here. We've protected your land and your crops. And even the servant says, they did. They protected us. And Nabal says, you're nothing but a criminal. Get off my property. And what do the servants do? They run Abigail. She's the smart one in the bunch here, and says, you know what your husband's done?

I can tell you what David's going to do, which is exactly what David did. He's now made to look bad in front of his men. And he says, fine. There's 600 of us. 200 could stay with the camp. The 400 of us together, and we're going to march down to his house, and we're going to kill him and every one of his servants, male servants. We'll just kill him. He's lost his temper. Abigail has the perfect chance to play this out. She can get rid of her husband. And of course, then she owns the property. She is the perfect way just to tell all these servants, run. Run away. When he shows up, there'll be me and Nabal, and he can kill him. There's no love between her and Nabal. You can tell by what she says. Instead, she tells the servants, get out some donkeys, load them up with all the food we have, and she brings out enough food for 600 men, meets David on the highway.

And I always thought this was one of the most tense moments in the Bible. She gets off her donkey and lays down in front of David, stops 400 men. Now, you know, the few servants she has with her, she doesn't have an army. She's just there. He could kill her in a moment and lays down in front of this man and says, don't do this. It's wrong. Now, I want you to understand. She's caught between the authority of her husband and the authority of David, because she said to him, I know God's made you king. Two men, in this case, were acting like idiots. We can do that sometimes. Actually, we're pretty good sometimes. And sometimes we act like idiots. That's okay. You women do too.

Right? So here she is, caught between the authority of these two men. And what she does is exactly right. My husband is a fool, but you have no right to kill him. If you kill him, you'll be known as the man who killed a man out of anger and selfishness. So I brought you the food. So leave my husband alone. It's remarkable. And David says, wow, thank you. I was about to really do something God would have hated. I was about to let that foolish man drive me in my emotions to kill him.

I was about to do something wrong. He didn't say, how dare you, you woman?

How dare you even speak to me? He said, you're right. Took the food, said, you're an amazing person. Thank you so much. And left. So she has honored the king by correcting him. But look how she did it. You talk about an application. Wow. She honored the king. But she did it. She put her life on the line to do it. He could have killed her. No one would have blamed him. He then, she then goes back and sits down with her husband and says, after he gets drunk, he comes out of his drunk and stupor and says, Nabal, I really, I tell you, you were in real trouble. I saved you. I saved you, honey. Here's what I did. He passes out in a coma and dies.

And David says, when he finds out, he says, go get her. I'll marry her. I'll take care of her the rest of her life. That was the reason marrying her. Wasn't he loved her? He didn't know her. It's that woman is so special. I will personally take care of her the rest of her life. And she got the message and said, oh yeah, I'll marry him.

And she was taking care of the rest of her life. I find her so amazing because she submitted to both authorities, kept David from committing a sin and saved a husband she did not love when she could have gotten rid of him. There is where you understand all of us submitting to authority are submitting to the Lord as a perfect example. She submitted to God. She did what was right. Even at what could have been serious cost, I mean David could have killed her. Her husband could have beat her to death. He sounds like a jerk. I mean this guy was horrible. What could he have done to her?

Although I get the feeling he knew that without her he probably wasn't much. So there you go, ladies. You're going to learn how to submit and read Abigail. That's a tough one. But you know, in my life, all of a sudden I have to submit to people. I have to submit to people. Authorities and all different governmental authorities, church authorities. I always think Abigail is my example of how to submit when there's a complicated situation. Whenever there's a complicated situation, she's the one I go to. Okay, how would she handle this?

As you can see, whether you're on either side of authority, God holds us responsible to do what is right in His eyes. We're doing it for Him. So if you're a husband, you're doing it for Him. So remember, you're being judged by how you treat His daughter. That should scare us a little.

As men, that should scare us a little. God is judging you and me because He put us in charge on how we treat His daughter. And ladies, He's treating you as equal spiritually as your husband. You are required to do what is good and what is right, even though He has imperfect leadership.

It's how we're learning all this. So yes, once again, this is a controversial thing. People don't like to hear this. Yes, husbands, you have authority. Be real careful how you use it. And wives, yes, you have to submit to that authority, but always be right before God.

Now the last issue of authority I want to talk about is in Ephesians 4.

See, once again, I could talk for a whole hour just about had husband-wife relationship and what it means to be a team.

And what you didn't notice, once again, it's just like at parents. We don't have we don't own them, but we have very specific reasons why we have that authority.

Ephesians 4, verse 11. It says, he himself, talking about Christ, gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Now this is very important.

God has set up inside the church certain offices. Now remember, why did he set up those offices?

For very specific purposes, just like all the other things we've looked at. When we use these things outside of that guidelines, those purposes, we get in real trouble. As I said before, I will follow the laws of the U.S. government, but if the sheriff shows up and asks for this book, he can't have it. He'll have to break into my house and take it.

He can't have this. God doesn't give him the right to take this.

That's outside their authority. Okay. Well, inside the church, God sets up people and gives them certain authority. We see that in what we call the eldership. You know, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers. But look why we are to do this.

For the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. The purpose of having offices in the church is for the good of the body of Christ.

As an elder, I have to constantly remember that.

I step outside that box, and guess who God holds responsible for that? Me. And I don't want to be outside that box because it scares me.

I have to be inside that box. Inside that box, I'm supposed to do certain things. And this is what I'm supposed to do, and it has to do with helping you. This is what all the elders are supposed to do. We're supposed to help you become closer to God. And, as it says here, to we all, all of us, so this is the purpose of this, comes from the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the cunning craft or deceitful applauding. So, we're supposed to be unified. We're supposed to be loving. We're supposed to be working together. And what elders are supposed to do is make sure other people don't come into the church with either false teaching or dishonest people and hurt the church. We're supposed to protect it.

We're supposed to protect the church.

There have been occasions where I've had to tell somebody, I'm sorry, you can't come to our church. It's a con man or something. You know? I'm sorry, you just can't come. I don't like doing it. But our job isn't just to fill the numbers. It's to make sure that you're protected, too. To make sure you're protected. Some people ask about someone who comes into the church who is a registered sex offender.

Yes, if someone's repented. But we put them under strict guidelines as the pastor. For one thing, there's lots of people who know what that person's past is. And they will be chaperoned.

They will be chaperoned. They're not just allowed to come to any...they're not allowed to come to certain events. We would not let a registered sex offender work at camp. We will not allow that. Now because we don't love them, we have to protect the church. And we love them.

We accept that they've repented. But once again, there'll be guidelines on what they can and cannot do. Because this is part of what we're told to do. He says also, but speaking...this is verse 15. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into him who is the head Christ. He's the head of the church. It's his authority that we all live under the umbrella of. It's his authority that we're all concerned about. You know, many of you have anointed many of you in this room. And a lot of times, when I lay hands on people, I'll say, I've never healed anybody. I've watched them be healed. I've watched lots of people get healing. I've never healed anybody. But what we do is when we lay hands on that person, we show a subjection to the head of the church, which is Jesus Christ.

And God will do healing when we do that. Same way when we had the baptism last week. You know, Mr. Beam and myself, Mr. Kellers, we all laid hands on her.

It didn't come to our hands that she received God's Spirit. She received God's Spirit because God gave her the Spirit. But we did what we were supposed to do. I mean, we still have to do that.

We have to do it. We have the responsibility. We're commanded to do that, and we do it. But we also realize we don't forgive them, and we don't give anybody God's Spirit. God forgives them, and God gives you His Spirit.

It is just a great privilege to participate, and we have the authority to baptize and lay hands on. But we don't give people the Holy Spirit. We don't forgive them. God doesn't.

See, we're under the umbrella of Christ. We always have to remember that.

He says, "...from whom the whole body joined in it together by what every joint..." That's every person. "...every person supplies according to the effective work by which every part does its share and causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself and love." That's a whole sermon right there of application. How are elders in the church, what is their job? It is to help create that environment. And we're not all perfect at it. I think you figured that out by now.

We try, and God makes it work. Just like none of you are perfect husbands or perfect wives or perfect parents or perfect kids or perfect employers or perfect employees or perfect citizens. Right? But we're all trying. How we use authority that is given to us and how we submit to authority, always remembering it is to the Lord, which means that if anybody, if I tell you, I don't know, maybe I go nuts someday and I say, yeah, don't keep the Sabbath and keep Eastern Christmas. I can tell you now because my mind is clear, don't listen to me. I'm probably seen on. I'm probably his Alzheimer's. Because I don't have the authority to do that.

I do have the authority to say, keep the Sabbath, as God says for me to tell you that. You see what I mean? It always has to be in the box. We have to do what we're given, the limitations to do, and we can't do outside of it. That's why a lot of times if you come ask me certain things, I'll say, this is my opinion. If it's from the Bible, I'll tell you. This is what Scripture says.

Don't come ask me. I really suggest don't come ask me about investment things. I can give you a few proverbs. Otherwise, if you sold my investment records, you wouldn't do that.

Actually, I never have enough money to invest, so it doesn't really matter.

I would send you to somebody else and say, here's the person who knows. Go to this person.

That's outside my purview. I can give you proverbs, though. There are lots of proverbs about investing. I can give you those, and I can give you opinions.

We have to understand what the limitations are and live within those limitations, and use authority within those limitations in the way that God wants us to so that we're responsible and accountable for what we do. Unfortunately, there hasn't been a human being, except Jesus Christ, there hasn't been a human being that has been perfect at using authority or submitting to authority. None of us. This is a big subject. I thought, you know, I can't just let this go.

We have to talk about this. We have to at least set up. Here are the principles. Now, the applications get very big, but we have to acknowledge this exists. We can't ignore this.

Our marriages won't get better. Our families are teaching them. Our children won't get better.

Our lives won't get better. Our jobs won't get better. Nothing will get better if we ignore this.

When Jesus comes to establish God's kingdom, it says, you know, He sets up God's kingdom on this earth, and He reigns for a thousand years. And if you look at the millennial scriptures, there are human beings who reign on the earth, too. That help Him, which means that there will be some imperfect authority happening. And you have the great white throne judgment.

What I find interesting is what happens at the end of the great white throne judgment. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 24.

This is after the resurrection, after the resurrection of the first fruits. Then comes the end. Okay, so this would be after the great white throne judgment. Then comes the end when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father. So He's ruled on earth now.

There's no evil people left. The lake of fire has happened, and they're burned up. All evil people refuse to repent, incorrigibles. They're totally destroyed. They're gone. All that's left are people that have been turned into spirit children of God. That's all that's left. And now Christ takes all this family, all these people that have changed, that have been given immortality, because they gave up immorality. Okay, so they've been given immortality.

They're now, what? Delivered to God. Christ brings them to God. It says, He delivers the kingdom of God to the Father when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and all power. It's amazing. At this point, He says, okay, there's no need for human governments.

There's no human beings left. There's no need for husbands to be in charge of wives.

There's no need for parents to be in charge of their children. There's no need to have pastors anymore. And elders. He said, we don't need those things anymore. Here's the family. There's one King. There's one God. Christ the King, the Father, and Father is also known as King.

But all these things we deal with now, there's no need for them anymore. Because we learn through the process of doing these things.

This is all part of the learning process of corrupt human beings is, okay, you could have had just God, but now you've got to have all this other stuff. And once everybody goes back to God, he doesn't need all this other stuff.

He says, He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power, for He must reign to His put all enemies under His feet, the last enemy that will be destroyed His death. For He has put all things under His feet, but when He says all things are put under Him, it is evident that He who put all things under Him is accepted. In other words, Christ doesn't put the Father under Him. Now, when all things are made subject to Him, subject to God, God is the ultimate authority. He takes ownership of everything.

Remember, He owns everything. Complete ownership of God of His family.

Only one authority. When all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him. Jesus says, I give it to you and I'll be subject to you as the Father. But here's why. That God may be all in all. You know why we won't need all these other authorities? Because everyone that has changed is permanently in a relation with God as a spirit being with His Holy Spirit in them. God is all in all. God is in every being that was a human being that's now changed. He's in them with His Spirit.

And in that relationship, all we need is God. And of course, Christ will be there because He'll be honored forever and ever, it says. There's not much need. There's not much need for all these other things. There'll be a personal subjection to God that cannot be broken because His mind and our minds will be dwelling together. But between now and then, how do we learn all this?

We learn all this because we learn now under imperfect human governments that are corrupted. We learn to be good citizens with our loyalty first to Jesus Christ. That's our first loyalty. That's our first loyalty. Whenever it doesn't come into contest with that, we subject ourselves to even if it doesn't make sense. We're good citizens.

We are good parents, and we use our authority to teach our children God's way of life and to love them. And we are good children because we learn to obey. We are good husbands because we lead our wives in the way that we're supposed to, not as inferior but as equals. That's a Scripture we can go to, too. Not as inferior but as equals. But we have a responsibility to lead.

Our wives, you have a responsibility to follow that leadership, to work together.

We learn to be good employers and what that means to have that kind of authority. And we learn to be good employees to give our... You know, your goal is that at the end of the day, your employer says, I've got to fire somebody. I won't fire him. He does his job too well.

Good end? We learn to be good leaders in the church, good followers of the church. That's why everybody in the church has opportunities to follow, and everybody in the church has some opportunities somewhere to lead. Everybody here is going to have opportunities to lead somehow.

You just do. It's what happens when you need to group people together. And all of us follow, too, don't we? We all follow. It's part of this learning process. And all this has a very specific goal. When Jesus Christ returns, it's not that time that we just read about. We're all things. God is in all things. When Jesus Christ returns, He still has humanity to convert. And that is going to be done through a system of people who are being led by spirit beings, who know what it's like to be people, and who know what it's like to have to work within a civil government, who know what it's like to have to work within a family, who know what it's like to have to work within the church. And that's why all those systems continue to be there.

And that's what we're being prepared for.