Title: Got Submission? / Topic: True Spiritual Authority

Today’s Reading: Judges 6; Judges 7; Psalm 52; 1 Corinthians 14

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 14:36-38
36 Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? 37 If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command. 38 If he ignores this, he himself will be ignored.

Observation: Paul is mocking those Corinthian believers who don't want to listen to Paul. They are just "too spiritual" and "too enlightened." They are way beyond Paul! Paul challenges them in verse 36: "Are you the originators of God's word? Did you get it before anybody else? Does it all stop with you? Is God restricted to you?" As far as these psuedo-spiritual, self righteous, and inflated spiritualists were concerned, it was all about them. But Paul puts the kibosh on that. In verse 37, he states an eternal principle: to have authority, one must be under authority. If a person does not recognize and respect the authority that God has ordained (i.e. the Bible, the Church and it's God-given leaders), then that person is not to be recognized or respected. That person is a phony -- do not listen to such a person.

Application: True spiritual authority is not independent. It does not stand alone.* It is connected to and submitted to authority -- the authority of the Word and the authority of the Church. Those who claim to have authority but refuse to submit to authority are to be ignored as false. It takes great faith to recognize that God will work through the flawed human leadership of the Church and even greater faith to submit to it when I think it is in error. But it takes no faith at all to fly solo, relying only on my own mind and interpretations.

Bottom line: Submit to God and demonstrate true faith by staying submitted to your leaders. This is where true spiritual authority is forged and honed.

Prayer: Lord, keep me submitted to the authorities you have placed in my life, that is your Word and my leaders and elders. May I be a man who functions in true submission and true spiritual authority.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

*In some cases in the Bible, prophets of God did have a solitary role, but their ministries were based on God's word and consistent with the traditions of their past.