True Authority

Ephesians 1:18-23
Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know… what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come and he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Jesus has been given ALL authority. There is no authority or power or name over His. All things are submitted to Him. The church is His body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. The church is the fullness of Christ. This is not to imply that Christ is incomplete, but to declare who the children of God belong to and to whom they submit. We are His body and He is the head. The head runs the body. Our hand does not tell us what to think but our hand cannot move without the command from the head to do so. Eph 2:6 tells us that the church has been raised up in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

The church as the body and fullness of Christ is also above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named. The church as the body of Christ has all things under her feet. This authority is for this age and for the age to come. The Church has authority in Christ today on this earth; this age. The Church is the body and fullness of Christ. We, as a body become one with Him by God’s grace which gives us faith for our standing and keeping.

That is not to say that man has any authority. Man cannot even charge the ants to leave his yard, let alone speak life or do good or anything other than evil. Those who think they have power to fulfill their own agendas based on a scripture or two are deluded. Jesus alone has all authority. Man outside of Christ is only destined to destruction.

The church has full authority and backing of God Himself to do all the Head commands. If we are not following the direction of the Head, being Jesus, we can expect no power or help or backing of His authority. If my hand involuntarily waved around, I would tie it down to make it stop. My body must do as my head commands or it is dysfunctional and not useful. If my body acts outside of the authority and commands of my head; it is an obvious problem to others. If my limbs all moved without my brain telling them to; my whole body would have to be hindered to keep me from hurting myself or others.

When the church submits to Jesus as head, she has full authority and power to so all that He commands. In Christ we have the authority to preach His gospel. We need not be afraid of persecution or ineffectiveness or complete failure. We have been given authority and power to preach the very truth that offers eternal life to those the Spirit will enable to receive.

We have authority to love, to heal, to help, to endure beyond reason. In all that we are commanded to do in Christ we have Him to back us fully. We have nothing without Jesus and everything with Him. If God determines that signs and wonders are needed to fulfill His work, He will supply them. Whatever God has told us to do; He will supply all we need to accomplish the work He has given us. We must trust that He will not only show us but that He has already been wherever He will lead us to go. He has prepared the way for us beforehand. He knows exactly what we will need and is willing to grant us full power and resources to complete the work chosen for us if we will but ask.

If, at our occupations we did not believe we had authority from the manager to do our work; we would not bother to go to work. If we went to work we sure wouldn’t accomplish anything because we would constantly question our place in the company. We wouldn’t order necessary supplies because we wouldn’t feel worthy to sign the purchase order. We wouldn’t be very inclined to go to our manager with our mistakes because after all, if he doesn’t even really want us on the job, why would he help? The one who keeps his position, invests his talents, and understands his place to complete the task given him; is the one who will be successful. Weather it is the janitor or the president; he must have a knowledge that he has been given authority to do what is asked of him. He can delegate or seek aide or take initiative with boldness to complete his tasks. He is interested in doing his job well and he is not preoccupied with weather his position is low or high. He has confidence that his employer will supply all that is needed to make him able to comply with his orders. The work he does is a reflection on the one who hired him.

Laziness has nothing to do with humility. Those who are in Christ have a place and a duty to fulfill. Those hired on by Jesus have all they need and more. They are not required to bring any strength or resources of their own – in fact they are commanded not to. But if they do not understand the authority given to them by the one with the power and resources, they will accomplish nothing. If they are able to remain employed, their reward will be small.