Page 98 - The Christian Life and the Church Life_Government of God

Living under Authority and Representing God 97

The Center of Dispute in the Universe Relating to Who Has Authority
The center of dispute in the universe relates to who has authority (4:2-3).
The center of dispute in the universe relates to who has authority, in politics, and
even in arguments among brothers. Sorry to say, when certain different brothers
get together, they argue. The underlying issue is “I’ve got the authority,” “No,
I’ve got the authority.” There is an example, it seems harmless, it seems benign.
There are three brothers taking the lead in the church somewhere in the United
States. Then one brother, he would do this week after week—he would come
to the brothers’ meeting and he would say, “I was with the Lord, then the Lord
showed me this. The Lord spoke to me and told me this.” He came there with
the final word, “God showed me. God told me.” But the other brothers, as
members of the Body, they could not say, “Amen.” They had to be honest and
faithful in the fellowship so they shared, “We have a different feeling.” Then
the brother being subjective would say, “Well, I guess you are rejecting God.”
This is a kind of benign way of usurping authority. The self can be strongest
in sisters and in brothers when someone says, “God showed me this! God told
me this!” Well, I have learned, I am not going to dispute, I am not going to ask,
“God told you?” “God showed you?” The Lord will clear that up between the
two of you. We can just say, “We have no echo.” There is the Spirit and there
is the Body. Will you honor the Body? Will you honor the Lord’s authority
expressed through the Body? But a highly subjective person just trusts his
feelings. A brother, John Ingalls (he is with the Lord now)—I’ll mention this
just a little bit—ended this way. He fully trusted his subjective feelings and he
felt the Lord’s recovery changed in nature, so he had to leave. Well, the Lord’s
recovery did not change in nature. John changed in nature. He went off and
established another Lord’s table meeting in Anaheim. As far as we know, the
Lord gave him more than twenty years—no repentance. I am not his judge but
neither am I naive. I do not want to end up like them. That is a negative pattern.
We have positive patterns of those that pioneered this way to us. My prayer is
when I consider them, “Lord, just do the same in me for the sake of your Body.”
Our Needing to Set Ourselves to Submit to God’s Authority
and Uphold God’s Authority
We need to set ourselves to submit to God’s authority and uphold God’s
authority (Matt. 11:25)