Authority In Religion
Introduction
I. Jesus prayed for unity. Jn. 17:20-21 "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
That they all maybe one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in
us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."
II. When we hear Jesus’ prayer for unity we can’t but help wonder why there are so many who
profess to follow him but are divided doctrinally.
A. I’m here to tell you that it is not because there is a lack of authority – God gives us that.
B. The problem is there is a lack of respect for the proper authority.
III. This lesson is to show what is the proper authority and to show how we are to respect this authority.
A. Our schools, homes, govt. etc. would not long exist if there were not authority and respect for it.
B. A respect for authority binds people together - homes, govt. church etc.
IV. Many do not have the proper respect for authority in religion, consequently we have over 1000 den.
A. People often are content with believing the way their parents believed and to worship the
way they did, or the way that their church does.
B. And, problems that have developed within local churches have occurred simply because of
some introducing things for which they had no divine authority.
C. If there is no standard then there is no basis for agree as to what things a group may or
may not do.
V. Many would like for all to be one as the Lord prayed, but would oneness be pleasing to God if His
teachings were ignored and people did what they want to in religion?
A. The only way that unity can be pleasing to the Lord is iit is in truth (Jn. 4:24). "God is a spirit
and those..."
B. Those who profess to follow him should have the attitude - "let us speak where the Bible
speaks.."
1. All those who would be of this mind must reject all human creeds lest their claim
be meaningless.
2. And, anything that brethren propose to do, as a congregation, must be authorized....
(Col. 3:16) – “And whatsoever you do in word or deed…”
3. If we practice a thing there must be a passage that teaches it.
4. We cannot operate on the silence of scriptures - for there is no authority there.
5. Hope to clearly illustrate this through Bible examples...and to impress this upon
your mind.
Body
I. WE DEFINE AUTHORITY AS:
A. "The right to command or direct and enforce obedience or administer punishment."
"To authorize a thing is to empower to act or direct by authority".
B. In divine affairs all authority inheres in God.
II. CHRIST IS SUPREME AUTHORITY IN RELIGION AND HAS IT ALL.
A. Such is clearly taught in the following passages:
Heb. 1:1,2 "God, who at Various times and in dif. ways spoke in time past to the
fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He
has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;"
Acts 3:22-23 "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your
God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things
whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, [that] every soul, which
will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people."
B. All Authority has been given to Him. Mt. 28:18 "And Jesus came and spake unto them,
saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and earth."
C. Eph. 1:22 teaches us that He is “head of the church;” head over all things to the church.
D. Col. 1:18 - Tells us He has preeminence in all things to the church.
E. We can act in the church only by His authority.
1. This excludes the deacons and the preacher, commonly called "pastors" in denominations.
2. ......any law making body
3. ...... Pope
4. ..... all creeds of men.
5. It excludes any other authority; therefore, we can act in the church only by Christ’s authority.
Col. 3:17 - "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name (authority) of
the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God by Him."
a. We are taught to not think of men above that which is written. I Cor. 4:6
b. Great men cannot be our standard of authority.
1 Cor. 2:5 "That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."
1) Many follow their preachers or elders and don't examine and follow word of God
and in so doing they disobey I Jn. 4:1 "Beloved believe not every spirit..."
2) We are to follow our preachers and elders only to the extent that what
they teach is authorized by Christ.
3) There are examples in both old and N.T., given to warn of the danger
and penalty of being led astray.
c. Men and doctrines of men often change but the gospel remains the same.
I Pet. 1:25 "But the word of the Lord endureth forever."
d. The infallible safe way is to "search the scriptures"
Jn. 5:39 "Search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life."
e. Be like the Berians (Acts 17:11) "These were more noble...searched the scriptures
daily" to see if the what they were being taught was true.
F. We must treat the word with reverence.
1. If we pervert (or change) the gospel we will be accursed of God.
Gal. 1:8 "But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other Gospel...let him be accursed."
2. We learn also form Rev. 22:18-19 that we must not add to or take form his word.
G. Let's look at some O.T. examples to see what importance God places on our doing what
He says exactly the way He says.
1. Nadab and Abihu “And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein,
and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not.
And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord." (Leviticus 10:1-2)
a. God had specified the kind of fire to use, and they were made examples for
their disobedience.
b. We must learn from such examples – realizing that God still expects us to respect
his authority the same as in the examples.
2. Another O.T. example want to mention is found in II Sam. 6.
a. The Ark of the Covenant was to be touched by the high priest only, but even in good
conscience, Uzza took hold of the ark when it was about to fall; the punishment was
death.
b. We can see from these examples that in O.T times God punished severely when His
word was not obeyed exactly as He commanded when it comes to matters of worship.
c. God had these examples written in His book to emphasize to us - to impress on our
minds, how He feels about our worshipping him in the manner he commands.
H. People often try to justify their religious practices by saying, "The Bible doesn't say you can't".
1. Many attempt to justify mechanical music in worship this way, and indeed there is no N.T.
passage that says DON’T USE INSTRUMENTS in worship.
2. But, there are two kinds of Music: VOCAL and MECHANICAL.
3. To the church at Emphasis Paul said, (Eph. 5:19) - "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord."
a. God specified vocal music - He didn't have to say, "you can't use any other kind".
b. He didn't tell Nadab and Abihu not to use other kinds of fire, but He told them
the kind they COULD use.
c. He didn't tell Uzzia he couldn't touch the ark under any circumstances, but He did specify
who was to handle the ark, that excluded....
1) These stories weren't put in here just to fill up space.
2) They were written for, "examples to the intent that we should not lust after
evil things..." (I Cor. 10:6)
3) These things that were written in the O.T. were written "for our learning..." (Rom 15:4)
III. THE N.T., FROM WHICH WE GET ALL AUTHORITY, HAS BEEN WRITTEN MAINLY
BY THE APOSTLES WHOM CHRIST CHOSE TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL BY
TEACHINGS THINGS COMMANDED THEM. (Mtt. 28:18-20)
"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in
earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen."
A. The apostles were led by the Holy Spirit sent by God.
Jn. 14:16 - "But the comforter, which is the H.S., whom the Father Will send in my name,
he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your rememberance, whatsoever I have
said unto you."
B. The apostles were to set on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Mtt. 19:28 "And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed
me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also
shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
1. This had reference to the apostles exercising apostolic authority over Spiritual Israel
(N.T. Church) in the sense that they preached the gospel - planted the churches - then
taught the church by apostolic authority.
2. Acts 2:42 - "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine..."
C. Christ gave binding and loosing authority only to His apostles.
Matt. 16:18-19 "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build
my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys
of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven:
and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
1. We cannot please God except by obeying the teachings of the apostles - for they were
the ambassadors of Christ.
a. All of our obligations and all liberty in the church is prescribed by apostolic authority.
b. And no man has the right to add to or take away.
2. In Acts 15 the problem of circumcision. was settled by the apostles.
a. Likewise, all problems in the church today must be settled by the words of the apostles
in the N.T., because the authority of Christ is exercised completely by the apostles in
the N.T. scriptures.
b. And, "All scripture is given by inspir...." 2 Tim. 3:16.
D. We are instructed to "walk by the same rule" and to "mind the same things". Phi. 3:16
1. How can we walk by the same rule and mind the same things?
a. By doing what Paul told the Philipians to do.
Phi. 4:9 - "Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and
seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you."
b. Also by doing what the Thesilonians did.
1 Thes. 2:13 - "For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you
received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word
of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God"
2. Whether or not we walk by the same rule and mind the same things is often determined
by our attitude toward the scriptures and toward instruction.
a. I say "often" because certainly there are cases where good, honest, truth seeking
people are not walking by the rule.
b. The reason is they simply haven't been taught.
IV. HOW TO ESTABLISH THE AUTHORITY OF CHRIST.
A. The authority of Christ was taught by apostles and practiced by the disciples.
1. Often people have the idea that unless a command is specifically stated by Christ himself
then we have no right to be dogmatic in regard to it.
2. However, all the commands of Christ were not SPECIFICALLY given, for some must be
learned through observing what the apostles taught and what the churches practiced
(Acts 20:35).
B. Three ways of establishing scriptural authority illustrated in the Lord's Supper.
1 Cor. 11:23-24 - "For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That
the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given
thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in
remembrance of me."
1. Express command or direct statement.
a. By this is meant a direct or positive Statement.
b. Example: "This do in remembrance of me..."
i. In this passage we are given the reason for observance.
2. Approved Apostolic Example defined as:
a. "The practice of the N.T. church under the guidance of the apostles".
b. In this passage we learn the Day of observance.
Acts 20:7 - "And upon the first day of the week when the disciples gathered together
to break bread."
3. Necessary Inference (Inescapable conclusion).
a. It is a conclusion that is logical and necessary.
b. Frequency of observance is learned... "The first day of the week..."
1) Necessarily implies that it is to be observed every first day, for there is a first day in
every week.
2) Israelites were commanded to observe Sabbath. They did so every Saturday.
3) No other way of determining how often this memorial supper is to be observed.
C. These three ways of establishing authority teach why we take the Lord's Supper, when, and
how often.
1. Everything that we do in worship or practice as a local church must be authorized by at
least one of these three ways...
2. If a thing is not...we cannot do it and expect to please God.
V. THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF AUTHORITY.
A. Generic and Specific - All authority is either generic or specific.
B. Generic – (definition) - The kind of authority wherein an act is commanded but the thing,
method, or means of obeying the command is not specified - choice.
(Exp. Noah was given command to Build Ark. A generic command, which left choice of tools.)
C. Specific – (definition) The kind of authority wherein an act is commanded and the methods or
means of obeying the command is specified.
(Exp. God told Noah to build the ark our of Gopher wood, which excluded other kinds of wood)
1. Simply stated, Generic authority leaves a choice, specific authority leaves no choice.
2. There is room for differences of opinion when it comes to generic authority, but for matters
on which God has been specific we have no choice but to do it as God said.
D. A local church has the responsibility to preach the gospel to the extent of its ability.
1. Since the church is "the pillar and ground of the truth" it is not scriptural to pay a human
organization to do our preaching for us.
2. The great commission, given by the Lord, was for brethren to GO PREACH the gospel.
a. Both GO and PREACH are generic in nature, as God has left the means and methods
up to us.
b. Regarding the command to go:
1) We can walk; ride; Fly; Ship.
2) Can exercise our opinion -use judgment.
c. Regarding the command to preach we can use: pulpit; personal; Radio, TV; written
material, or internet etc.
1) These are means and methods that the church is authorized to use as we obey....
2) A separate organization does not fall into the category of means and methods.
3) If we send money to a missionary society to do our preaching THEY choose the
means and methods – church is merely left to subsidize the funds.
i. The human organization gets the glory…instead of church of God.
E. Lady once asked me: "Where do we get the authority to build a building?"
1. It is in the general command to assemble. Heb. 10:25
2. This general command leaves a choice as to whether we rent, buy, build etc.
VI. Talk about some practices of churches.
A. What we do as a congregation must be authorized - must be able to put finger on the
passage of scripture that justifies what we do.
1. There are brethren that argue that there is no difference in the church collective and the
church distributed.
a. They argue that the church can do anything an individual can do.
b. But when we think about what a husband and wife can do together as individuals
we can see that this isn't true.
2. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. (Rom. 1:16)
a. The gospel is God's drawing power.
b. We want people to hear the gospel so we try to think up things to do or offer them to get
them to come to our meeting place, and while they are here for this other reason we will
zap them with the gospel.
1) It might sound like a good idea.
c. We might, as a congregation, propose to have a magician, a famous person, a comedian,
etc. come to perform and it might draw crowd.
1) But people can see through these ploys.
d. Christ performed miracles that enabled him to feed numerous people.
1) The thing that he did was primarily to confirm the word - that he was the divine Son
of God.
2) When he stopped feeding them they stopped following him - or at least many did.
3. Anything we do as a congregation must be authorized...
a. I once asked a preacher for authority for the church to sponsor recreation.
1) He said, "It gets people to come".
2) I said, "You mean, the end justifies the means."
3) He replied, "Yes, in this case it does".
b. This matter of the END justifying the MEANS was dealt with by Paul when he was
falsely accused of it.
Rom. 3:8 "And not rather, (as we we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that
we say,) let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just."
1) Applying this teaching to us: shall we do something as a congregation - something for
which we have no authority (which is evil) hoping that good will come?
2) We know the answer.
B. There are many things that we can do as individuals that we cannot do as a church.
1. We can get together and have a ball game.
2. We can engage in business to make money.
3. But whatever we do, if a number of us are doing something
together, we should make it clear to all that the thing is not an
activity of the church but is merely friends or brethren doing
things as individuals.
4. If this is understood, I do not have a problem with brethren getting together and playing ball,
having a pick-nick, or such like.
a. As you are likely aware, there are Baptist ball teams, Methodist ball teams and Church
of Christ ball teams.
b. But where is the authority for the church to collectively do this type of thing?
Conclusion:
I. WE'VE BEEN DISCUSSING AUTHORITY IN RELIGION;
WHO HAS AUTHORITY, HOW TO ESTABLISH AUTHORITY, AND THE TWO KINDS
OF AUTHORITY.
A. Authority in Religion. is a very important subject.
1. If we fail to respect the authority of God and go beyond or add to word then we are rebelling
against God.
2. If people don't learn how to establish authority and learn the difference in generic and specific
commands then they can justify to themselves anything by the Bible they want to.
a. They justify to themselves mechnical music in worship, car washes, bingo, and even
collections on the street to finance work of church.
1) But we learn from an approved example that we are to give upon the first....
(This is specific).
2) God specified gopher wood to be used in the building of the ark.
3) Just as the specification of gopher wood excluded other kinds of wood, so this
passage excludes any other method of obtaining funds to finance the Lord's church.
4) Churches that are guilty of such things are in disobedience to God even though they
may wear a scriptural name and "do many wonderful works".
b. If church members can prove their practices by scripture which gives a direct command,
or is an approved example, or necessarily implies, then they can live in all good
conscience before God and be ready to face him at judgment.
1) But if they engage in unscriptural works of darkness all we can do is pray for them and
try to teach them, and hope they will see the error of their way.
2) Jas. 5:19,20 - "Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let
him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a
soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins."
3. Someone said, "an ounce of prevention is worth.."
a. This is a famous old statement that has a lot of meaning, but when it comes to religion
it is an understatement.
b. Once people get off the strait and narrow path there seems to be no stopping place.
c. The longer a person is wrong the more sure he is that he is right.
d. People worshiping or engaging in error need to repent that their soul might be saved
from death.
Invitation:
I. If you are not a Christian, to be saved you must repent of your sins, (determine to live the
Christian life), and be baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38).
II. If you are a Christian, 1 John 1:9 teaches that we are to confess our sins to God…
III. If we can assist you in the needs applicable to your situation the Lord invites you to come forward
during the invitation song.
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