NATURAL MEN WANT A KING

For some strange reason God's people are often not satisfied with God's way. Many have a different longing within their hearts. They desire a human, tangible authority. They yearn for someone they can see and hear and feel, they feel much more comfortable with something natural (like the many god of men we have around). Whether they realize it or not, what they are really looking for is a kind of king just like the Children of Israel did so many years ago. Being dissatisfied with his spiritual authority, they came to Samuel and insisted that he set up for them an earthly rulerI Samuel 8:5-20Perhaps we can identify some reasons for this puzzling desire. First of all, having such a king would relieve them of their personal responsibility to seek God for themselves. Now their"leader" could do this for them. Next, he could bear all the responsibility,take care of all the problems, decide upon the directions they should take and fight their battles. All they would have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride. When Samuel heard this request he became very angry. He knew something about what God's intentionswere and he understood that God was using him to transmit Divine direction to His people. He was grieved that the nation whom God had chosen as His own would go the wrong way. However, the Lord reminded him that they were not rejecting him but were infact rejecting Himself. They were not turning away from a man but were refusing God's kingship in their lives (I Samuel 8:7-.It is evidence of God's great love for men and His abundant grace that He did not forsake the Israelites even though they were abandoning Him. He let them have their own way, but first He explained that this request would only be bad for them. Earthly, human authority would harm them in three ways:1). It would take away their sons and daughters,2). demand a share of their possessions and3). bring them into a bondage from which God would not deliver themI Samuel 8:9-18He allowed them to have their way because He perceived that their hearts had already turned away from Him. But it is quite clear that this was not Hiswill.OUR CONTEMPORARY WORLDLet us realize here that all these Old Testament examples are not just interesting stories. Instead, they were recorded for a specific intention: so that we could understand spiritual truths from them, for when a man fullyunderstand the Old Testament and its principles then he will appreciiate the New testament better. Just as it was then, so today we too have some choices to make concerning authority. Of course as inhabitants of this world we must subject ourselves to the earthly authorities, even the ones camoulaging as spiritual authority (I Peter 2:13). Concerning our interaction with this world, it is very clear that their delegated authority applies to us. But concerning our functioning in the church, these same two varieties of leadership are also available; human authority and spiritual authority. One kind of authority is set up by man and supported by all the usual props of title, position, vestments, etc. The otheris established by God and is confirmed by His Spirit. In the body of Christ, we do have a choice. On one hand, we can learn to recognize and submit ourselves to God's authority, both when He speaks to us personally and when His will is being transmitted through His chosen vessels. On the other hand, we can subject ourselves to some sort of human, delegated authority which is established and recognized by man. We have before us today both the earthly and the heavenly way.It is true that God allowed His people to have their own way and appointed aking for them. Even though He did not want it, He continued to work through this erroneous system as much as possible to bring His people into an intimacy with Himself. In the same waytoday He tolerates our disobedient behavior when we establish for ourselves earthly authority in His Church. In His abundant mercy and grace, He even works through our"king systems" (god of men) as much asHe can to accomplish His purposes. But it is not His perfect will and it can never fulfill His highest desires. Instead, the Bible makes it very clear that establishing such authority is a rejection of His own and is a serious mistake. The three consequences of this error which Samuel so clearly predicted are as follows:1). It robs people of their spiritual fruit (sons and daughters). Human authorityparalyzes the body of Christ by substituting its own directions and plans in place of the Holy Spirit. While this authority may be well-intentioned and even have many programs such as"evangelistic outreaches," the awesome power of the gospel is diminished when this substitution is made. A related adverse effect is that the believers naturally tend to begin looking to the human authority for direction and approval instead of beingcontinually led by their true Head. Consequently, those under this kind of authority become hesitant to initiate anything themselves lest it be seen as achallenge to the leader's position. Increasingly they become unable to be led directly by the Holy Spirit. This robs the believers of spiritual power. As the living intimacy with the true Authority is replaced with something weak and human, the fruit bearing capacity of every facet of spiritual life is constricted.2). It demands from people their money (possessions). It is without question that the importance of any earthly position is judged by its sphere of influence and by its extravagance. The more people a leader has under his authority, the more important he is.The greater the territory he rules, the more prestige he has. Usually accompanying this elevation in the eyes of men are fancier clothes, more expensive means of transportation andmore elaborate dwelling places (In the church today it is no different). Almost invariably, as the influence of a leader grows, so does his desire for larger, more impressive meeting places, a wardrobe more fitting to his position and in general an increase in salary. This inevitably costs money and this money comes from those who have placed themselves under the influence of this earthly authority.Stop a moment and compare this with the example of our Lord Jesus. He had no place to lay His head and probably did not even have a change of clothes. He never constructed any palaces or temples. He steadfastly refused to be given any earthly position of authority. His wages were only what the Father prompted others to give. How does what we are doing compare with this? It is true that the Scriptures exhort us to give our money to the work and the workers of God. But if we use our funds to support merely human endeavors and authorities we will not be rewarded. When the fire of God descends, anything which has been constructed of natural materials (wood, hay and stubble) will be consumed and our hard-earned money will go up in smoke with them. On the other hand, if we are careful to invest our money in those things whichare truly spiritual, our investment will bear fruit for eternity. When we use our finances to support genuinely spiritual works and leaders, we will never lose our reward.3). It brings God's people into bondage to the will of man by using their time, energy and talents to build up an earthly organization instead of a spiritual body. Natural authority with all of its plans and programs needs people to do the work. So when you place yourself under such authority, you begin to allow yourself to become the tool of such endeavors. Additionally, to the degree that you submit to human authority to rule yourlife, you proportionatelywall out the authority of the Spirit. You cannot serve two masters, itt is inevitable that there will be a conflict between the twoMathew 6:24. Your heavenly Master wishes to direct every aspect of your existence and any other authority will only prove to be competition and a frustration. When you choose the earthly way as the Israelites did, you become a slave to the will and whims of man, instead of experiencing the true liberty of submission to God.

This is a bondage from which God will not deliver us (I Samuel 8:18). God will never violate our will, when we choose something, He will not forcibly change thatdecision. He may work in many different ways to help us realize our error. We may discover our sense of His presence in our life waning. We may begin to find that problems which seemed small when we were walking in intimacy with Jesus now seem insurmountable.He may even allowus to become very miserable in the path which we have chosen. But when we voluntarily subject ourselves to human authority, He will not deliver us from it. Our only alternative is to reverse our choice. We must exercise our own will and choose to remove ourselves from the control of any authorities in the church which are a substitution for His own. This may come as a surprise to many people, but it is nevertheless true. When we subject ourselves to earthly authority, we actually bring ourselves under a curse. The scripture reads: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited "Jeremiah 17:5-6

Notice here how relying upon man and departing from God are linked. When you look to human beings, you cannot help but look away from God. Another verse warns us: "Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; in that very day his plans perish." Then it continues: "Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God Psalm 146:3-5

Today in Christ's church, both of these two kinds of authority are being exercised. Therefore, as members of the Church each one of us is confronted with an important choice. If we submit ourselves to the human, positional variety, it will crowd out and eventually replace the spiritual. Conversely, if we yield ourselves to the heavenly authority, it will inevitably come into conflict with the earthly and we will mostly be termed rebels and aome times kicked out of the church. As we have seen, this decision is extremely important, in fact it is crucial. If we elect to walk down the broad, easy way we will no doubt find plenty of company and may even enjoy a good degree of popularity, but the effects aboutof popularity, but the effects about which God has so clearly warned will come upon us. If on the other hand we choose the more difficult, narrow path, no doubt there will be times we will feel quite lonely and, whether we want to or not, we will become embroiled in the conflict between these two kinds of authority.

The first apostles, and in fact Jesus Himself, found themselves in this kind of situation. Although they did not seek it, they continually encountered opposition from those who held "positions" in the established religious organization of their day. The traditional authorities saw one thing very clearly: if they allowed this manifestation of spiritual authorityto go unchecked it would eventually replace their own. Somehow, they were able to recognize that it was in essence a superior kind of authority which was destined to supplant their lower, earthly variety. Their hearts were not in touch with the heart of God and so they fought to maintain their "place" which they so much enjoyed (John 11:48). In the process they did everything they could to suppress the higher authority. At last, when they had exhausted all other options, they resorted to killing God's representatives.

How easy it is for us to want to avoid trouble. It is certainly the natural tendency for us to just go along with the status quo and "belike everyone else" (I Samuel 8:5). Yet we are not in any different position from our predecessors or our Lord. If we are to truly follow Jesus, His conflicts will become ours. So again, we have these two choices. We can either preserve our personal happiness and peace or we can prepare ourselves to share in the sufferings of Christ. We can submit ourselves to man or humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God (I Peter 5:6).

Unfortunately, the choice before us is not always just black or white. In the church today there is often a mixture of these two different kinds of authority. Some men who possess some measure of spiritual authority have allowed other menPossibly others have even taken these positions for themselves. This then puts these leaders in a situation where they can and probably do exercise both kinds of authority. Many times, these leaders themselves are unable to distinguish between these two varieties. They have not been taught or are not mature enough to understand the implications of exercising each kind. Therefore, it is up to each individual to know, according to the revelation of the Holy Spirit, to which directives and leadership he or she should submit themselves and which should be refused. In this extremely important decision, we must be very careful.

There are two ways in which we can seriously err. On the one hand, fleshly rebellion against earthly authority is not God's way (warning to those that have observed something wrong and think they are in the best positions to point it out). When we discern that natural authority is being substituted for God's in the church, if our reaction to this is not characterized by meekness, humility and love, it is not the response of the Spirit. When we manifest hatred and anger (as I found some on the forum and wonder what spirit leads them), it does not accomplish the work of God. We must not allow our flesh to react to what we see but rather be led in every way by the Higher Authority. In general, His responsewhile on the earth was not to confront and condemn but to go on about the real work of God (This has always been my positions which is why I avoid some threads). We are not called to overt rebellion against any positional authorities but simply to submit ourselves to the Superior will.

On the other hand, we do not wish to and in fact we must not miss God's supernatural direction, especially when this direction comes through other human vessels. We cannot simply reject any and all authority which is expressed through men. It is essential that we humble ourselves in this matter before our Maker and be certain that we are willingand be certain that we are willing to obey His voice wherever it is heard. We must be willing to follow Him in whatever He says. If we do not have this heart attitude, we will certainly end up not only rejecting human authority but in fact all authority. Our condition will be that of independent rebels who are of little use to God. The truth is that if we cannot submit to the Lord speaking through our brothers and sisters, we are not really submitted to Him at all.

The obvious question which arises from all this discussion is: "How can we know the difference between the authority which is spiritual and that which is of the earth?" The answer is very simple but not at all easy. The only way todistinguish between these two kinds of authority is to have spiritual discernment. Outside of the revelation of the Holy Spirit, there is no way to tell. The natural man is not able to differentiate between the two. Only those with spiritual sight will be able to know what is from God and what is not. It is a something which must be discerned 1 Corinthians 2:10-16.

Therefore, it is essential that every child of God cultivate an intimacy with Him. Each one of us is responsible to develop and maintain a spiritual relationship with our Lord. No one else is going to do it for us. We cannot rely upon some kind of "king" to carry the burden. Just as it was with theChildren of Israel, so today God's desire is still the same. In His heart, He yearns for us to allow ourselves to be drawn into a deep love relationship with Himself. From this position, leaning on Jesus' breast (John 13:23), we will understand all that He deems it necessary for us to know.

We need to cultivate the habit of constantly spending time in His presence to commune with Him in prayers and studying of the word, that we might grow up to maturity unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ Jesus having our senses exercised to be able to discern the difference between good and evil, what is the good, the pleasing and the perfect will of God.

1 Peter 1:1-2, Ephesians 4:13, Hebrews 5:13-14, Romans 12:1-2, Mathew 26:40

Stay blessed and remain rapturable

Hmm, so long but worth the read.

God bless u pastor for the eye opener.

And u too for takiing the time to read, and hope others too will n be exposed to the ills in our midst.

English Standard Version Romans 8:14 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

I didn't read it all but I know it is the truth. We do not need any kings disguised as pastors or even brethren, we need the Holy Spirit!

LordReed: English Standard Version Romans 8:14 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

I didn't read it all but I know it is the truth. We do not need any kings disguised as pastors or even brethren, we need the Holy Spirit!

Though u should have at least read to the end 'cos its worth the read, though u got the import of the message. So let us now spread the message in love to our brethren dying in ignorance.