A church is fundamentally a covenantal community, founded on the belief that promises power passion, and not the other way around. This is the second in our series on the promises that we make to one another as we join the church. See others in the series here.
“Q: Do you accept the Bible, comprised of the Old and New Testaments, as the written Word of God; and that is is the only perfect rule of faith and how to live?
Q: Do you promise to trust in the guidance and strength of the Holy Spirit so that you can live all of life as a Christian, following the example set by Jesus Christ?
Q: Do you promise to exercise faithful stewardship of God’s resources entrusted to you for the furtherance of God’s Kingdom and purposes?
”
“Authority” can be a scary word, in part because everyone has suffered under bad authority. Bad bosses, corrupt governments, angry parents… the authorities in our lives so often use the power they have for their own ends and glory, instead of the people under them. As a result, it can be tempting to say that the best thing to do with authority is to get rid of it, all of it, and free the individual person to live their life the way they see fit, with no external constraints or guides. This sounds great, and much of our cultural and personal energy is devoted to casting off the constraints of authority. There are only two small problems with the constant revolution against authority: we are never successful in dethroning all authority in our lives, and if we were to be successful, it would kill us.
The revolt against authority is, in some ways, a relatively new feature in human life. Prior to the time in Western European history known as the Enlightenment, most human cultures saw submission to the rightful authorities of tribe, family and nation as an honorable thing. In the privileged and affluent West, however, submission to authority came to be seen as a sign of weakness. The fact is, submission to authority can be either a strength or a weakness, depending on the goodness of the authority. In some ways, our struggle to trust good authority is not new, but is in fact as old as the human race (Genesis 3). These vows invite us to see that our Creator is our rightful authority, and that we submit our lives to him and to his will as he expresses it in the Bible. And not just our lives during worship… all of our lives, all of our life.
The good news is this: we all know, deep down inside, that life is only possible if we trust good authorities. None of us ever proved to ourselves that food would nourish and sustain us; instead, we took it on our mother’s authority, and we ate. And we lived. The old saying is true: “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4).
The implications of our view of authority are these:
1. The Bible, as God’s Word, is the good rule which keeps us alive. It is the operating instructions for the human machine. Any other operating instructions will misuse and ultimately destroy that machine.
2. The Bible is God’s rule, not just for our Sunday worship, but for all of life.
3. Everything we have (our time, relationships, money, etc.) is God’s.
4. The best way to be a human being is to follow the example of the Word of God in the flesh, Jesus Christ.