Submitting to God’s Government

Next Part God’s Government—Power and Authority

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Through His Church, Christ is training people to fill positions in God’s future world-ruling SUPER GOVERNMENT. Members understand that to be born into the kingdom of God and to rule with Christ, they must first obey God and follow His government now in the Church. God will not hand ultimate power and authority in the Millennium to those who have not built holy, righteous character under God’s government in the Church.

Paul gave further instruction regarding Christ’s government in His Church. Notice what he told the Hebrews: “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you” (Heb 13:17). In Heb 13:24, he added, “Salute all those that have the rule over you.”

He said this to the Thessalonians: “And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you” (I Thes. 5:12).

These are basic scriptures that members in the churches of men largely ignore. But in the Church of God, Christ actively works through offices that He has placed in His Church for its good.

I emphasize: Even the all-powerful Christ submits to the authority of the Father—the supreme in command of the kingdom of God. Notice an example of submission while He was in the flesh: “And being found in fashion as a man, He [Jesus] humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8). As a result, “God also has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth” (Phil 2:9-10).

Jesus had to first submit to power and authority—government—before He could qualify to rule during the Millennium. Would anyone think that Jesus’ servants are exempt from what He Himself had to do? Of course not! True disciples of Jesus follow His example and come under His authority. They submit themselves to the government of God now—in His Church. The whole world will do so in the world to come!

Now that you have basic understanding of how the Church of God is governed, we must examine in detail the crucial elements of power and authority, and their role in how Christ governs His Church.

Men’s Governments—Power or Authority, Not Both

Let’s begin by looking at the world’s struggle to find the balance between authority and power. There are few things more frustrating than a government having authority, yet lacking the power to carry out its policies. This applies either to its administration or to the citizenry that it serves.

Consider for a moment the American president with his policies regarding foreign nations, Social Security, abortion, tax cuts, same-sex marriage and judicial appointments. No matter what the administration tries to accomplish within these areas, there are various constitutional “checks and balances” in place that often spell “checkmate” to the president (also true of prime ministers) in a democracy. Of course, America has always proudly trumpeted to the world that it practices “controlled power,” meaning with the consent of “the people” through their elected representatives, and with this the case on governmental policies and matters of almost every size.

Teachers in schools and ministers in nearly all churches are additional examples of authority without power. They can teach and preach, but generally lack the “teeth” to tell their students and parishioners what they need to hear, rather than what they want to hear, let alone actually enforce school policies and church teachings without enduring miles of red tape due to the cumbersome mechanisms of bureaucracy. But they are still unfairly held accountable—kept under the gun—to “educate” students or “feed” their churches.

Ask any president or chief executive officer of a corporation who faces important decisions for which he must give account if he can do his job without the power to carry out those decisions. He will tell you, “No!” Ask the coach of a football team the same question, and you will hear the same answer. Husbands in marriages, as well as parents with children—and leaders of almost any kind of organized endeavour—will say the same.

There can be the very frustrating circumstance of AUTHORITY without sufficient POWER to administrate it.

The Other Problem

However, there can be a worse problem, and it is probably the greatest problem with men’s governments. There can be governments possessing complete unbridled POWER, but without proper, responsible authority and control. This is a description of dictatorships or totalitarian forms of government at the other end of the political spectrum from democracies.

Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany demonstrate what can happen when power is unrestrained. So do Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein—and so did Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan. Without control, nations can be destroyed. So can economies. And millions can die in the crossfire of world wars. Of course, this is the legacy left by most of the governments of men.

The problem of unrestrained power without control is easier to understand. There must be control, the properly channelled use of authority in the function of any governmental entity—or disaster can result.

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