A Little Rebellion May Be a Good Thing
One of the more difficult aspects of American Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity is its chain-of-command call for indefatigable obedience to “spiritual leadership.” “Laymen,” as they’re deemed and defined (sometimes I think “lackey” may be the more appropriate word) are supposed to dutifully obey the “spiritual powers that be” in church attendance, tithing, church service, volunteerism, and any other duty doled out to bring to fruition the leader’s “vision” (or whim). Here is how one nationally-known preacher teaches on the subject:
The authority of the kingdom flows down through the offices, not the gifts, as all authority was given to Jesus by the Father after His resurrection. (Matthew 28:18) Jesus in turn gave the fivefold ministries as designated from the passage in Ephesians. Therefore, His authority flows through appointed offices. We must keep before us the fact that a person can be more gifted than his pastor, yet the pastor who stands in the office of authority is over the gifted person.
The only time - and I want to emphasize the only exception in which we are not to obey authorities - is when they tell us to do something that directly contradicts what God has stated in His Word. In other words, we are released from obedience only when leaders tell us to sin.
By resisting authority, we bring judgment upon ourselves.
Judgment comes to those who resist authority. Touch authority, and you touch God.
According to this preacher, God Almighty has put everyone (except the leaders themselves I imagine) under some spiritual leader and peace be upon your children if you decide to disobey.
Besides the outright dangerousness of this teaching (Jim Jones comes to mind), it breeds ignorance of the worst kind (compare Apple’s 1984 ad). Laymen, instead of becoming energized beyond the boundaries of their own self-imposed limitations (see Ephesians 3.20) or even singing spiritual songs and making melody in their hearts to the Lord, are consigned to a little piece of the minister’s big pie. Indeed, instead of maturing unto the full measure of the statute which belongs to them in Christ, they are more or less absorbed into the collective Borgian machine called “ministry” - very much alive but very much unconscious.
Fortunately, this preacher’s premise is not supported in scripture. For instance, in Galatians we read of Paul’s “rebellion” against Peter:
But when Cephas [Peter] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel Gentiles to live like Jews?” (Galatians 2.11-14, NASB)
According to this preacher, Paul brought about judgment upon himself because he resisted Peter, the recognized spiritual authority at that day (look to Acts 2 and the Day of Pentecost). According to this spiritual covering teaching, Paul should not have confronted Peter’s error at all, but rather should have let God deal with him (Peter’s misdeeds could not have contradicted what God had stated in His Word because the Gospels, Acts, and the Epistles were yet to be written).
In the Gospels, Jesus denounced the kind of one-up/one-down spiritual authority teaching taught by this preacher:
and Jesus having called them near, said, ‘Ye have known that the rulers of the nations do exercise lordship over them, and those great do exercise authority over them, but not so shall it be among you, but whoever may will among you to become great, let him be your ministrant; and whoever may will among you to be first, let him be your servant; even as the Son of Man did not come to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.’ (Matthew 20.25-28, Young’s Literal Translation) (emphasis supplied)
Notice here that Jesus speaks of the rulers of the nations “exercising lordship” and “exercising authority.” As should be self-evident, the nations operate on the one-up/one-down hierarchical system - those on top rule over those below. That kind of system is found everywhere - from the halls of Microsoft to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. But Jesus, speaking to his disciples, says plainly “but not so shall it be among you.” In other words, the church - the assembly of saints - would not have the same kind of organizational structure as the world system. It would not be Ministry, Inc., but something quite different.
And ye — ye may not be called Rabbi, for one is your director — the Christ, and all ye are brethren; and ye may not call [any] your father on the earth, for one is your Father, who is in the heavens, nor may ye be called directors [“leaders” in NASB], for one is your director — the Christ. And the greater of you shall be your ministrant, and whoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled, and whoever shall humble himself shall be exalted. (Matthew 23.8-12, Young’s Literal Translation)
“leaders” - καθηγυται - leader or master
According to Jesus, there is no “over” in the Body of Christ. Why not? Because the Body of Christ is not a corporation with its corner offices and goodie-two-shoe-wannabe CEOs. It is a family with one Head who is directly involved in the thick of things (see Revelation 3 and 4), including my spiritual maturity.
Peter, I’m surprised you didn’t get more bites on this one. There is much in what you have said that rings true. I also believe in the “wisdom of a multitude of counselors”, as well as submitting to each other whether in the marriage or preferring/esteeming the brethren more highly than ourselves. Jesus had some semblance of a leadership heirarchy with the seventy and then his “inner circle.” But I am with you in that it is often carried to the extreme…no balance….very lopsided. I’ve also heard, “The church is not a democracy but a theocracy.”
The flipside of this is those individuals who grew up with issues of authority in their lives, whether with Mom and Dad, teachers, employer, etc. and come into the church and raise their own havoc with an independent spirit that says, “I’ll do it my way.” Forget someone who has been there, done that, and seasoned with experience. All unity of the brethren and respect for each other is thrown out the window. Or, someone who comes into a home Bible study/fellowship and completely disrupts the meeting because they have a “word from the Lord,” that will set everybody straight.