Commands come from authority or authority figures. Authority is a person in charge (or in command), an expert or a set of statements used to determine. Do you have the same problem I had growing up, hating anything authoritative?
Most land on 2 very different views of authority;
1. Authority is there to protect, set boundaries and keep safe.
2. Authority sucks all of the enjoyment out of "free choice" and sets joy killing laws, absurd statements and rules with a power hungry, ego trip. This may also come from the style of music you may have listened to as a teenager....Eazy-E and NWA did nothing to convince a teenager in the late 80's that the cops were your friend.
For instance, ask a teenager what their view of law enforcement is and you get comments from, "upstanding protectors of our community" to "I smell bacon!" I landed on the breakfast food option as a teenager.
Most of us have authority issues as adults as well. We have bosses that micro-manage, we work in environments where encouragement is as common as a Bigfoot sighting....oh it seems to be the real thing but it always turn out to be a fake. Authority figures only have to show up to work when they feel like it while the base employee grinds their way through 60-80 hours a week.
We are also authority figures to our children, ruling with a commanding statement of , "because I said so," as a final verdict in many issues. It may go something like this;
Kid: Dad, can I have a candy bar
Dad: No sweetheart, maybe after breakfast.....(ha!)
Kid: But why dad?
Dad: Because it's not the healthiest thing to eat first thing in the morning.
Kid: But dad you had the other half of a Kit-Kat bar this morning...
Dad: Um, well...you see...what I was doing was.....
Kid: Why can't I have one too?
Dad: .........because I said so!
We also have authority issues when it comes to God and we don't even know it.
It is very popular in our culture to look for the "love fairy" of the Bible, (also known as Jesus) and completely ignore the other teachings and statements He made as well. What I mean by the above statement is this.....Everyone wants a piece of the Jesus "love" teachings! Jesus taught us to love others as God loved us, unconditionally (John 13:34-35). Also from that passage is this idea; we correctly show people God by the way that we love one another.....and yes, that is true! But there is a very common idea that Jesus kinda threw the judgement book out the window and just decided to love everyone. We want His love but everything else, nah.....
Doesn't Jesus say in John 14:15, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments....and again in John 14:23, "if you love Me, you will keep My Word." How in the world can we claim to know Christ, want His love and not follow or pursue His commandments with all that we have?
Now, we can go through an array of topics and word studies to determine what "His Words" and "His Commands" are, but why not just take the exact teaching of Christ on this subject and lay it out here.... Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-39, "you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it; you shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Right, I hear ya, it;s hard enough to love your neighbor as yourself...but isn't that the commandment that gets most of our attention....learning to love the people we are around everyday. We ask God for help in our relationship with family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, acquaintances, etc....but very seldom do we ask God's help in loving Him more. And that seems to be the problem.....without a love for God, the other love is useless. It really is pointless. I mean, yes...it creates peace in household and harmony in the office, but what good is that love unless it comes from the Giver of True Love! Without the love for God first, the love your neighbor principle is created and sustained within our own heart and we just don't have an unlimited capacity to love like that.
So you may be saying, "right, I love God and I love my neighbors...I'm good"....but whose love is it that we are loving God with? That is the key to all of this....if we were try to live out the greatest commandment of loving God with all of our heart, soul and mind, we would completely fail at it. It is impossible for the human heart to conjure up that kinda love, continuously and completely. Because of the Fall (Genesis 3), we are imperfect, sin drenched beings who have a sinful bend to our desires and seek after things that are selfish in nature....how can an imperfect being love perfectly? We can't and that is exactly why Jesus came, to fill in that gap for us and through the coming and indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our lives. So, to love God as Jesus commands in John 14, we need.....Jesus. And doesn't Jesus say, "if you love Me, you will keep My commandments......?
So then, can a believing Christian, a follower of Jesus, a pursuer of Christ-likeness and discipleship ever make the comment, "I love Jesus and His teachings on love but that stuff about ____________, well, that's just a bunch of garbage." I just don't see how it is possible....Now I am not saying that we can't struggle with some issues and things in the Bible, trust me....I have plenty...but, who's in error? Is it me or the Bible? Is it me or His commands? Is it me or His Word?
I heard someone say in one of the Biblical commentaries I was reading a year ago, that anytime we approach the Bible with the phrase, "well I think," we have already emptied the Bible of it's power because we have now elevated ourselves as an authority of something that is Authoritative. The argument that is very popular in our current culture is just that, culturally minded. It says, "well the Bible was written so long ago, for a different audience and for different people. The principles are still good but some of the teachings are outdated and don't apply today....." I get that idea and have often thought it myself, throughout the years.....but, as I wrestled with this and struggled with it, in my pursuit to fall more in love with God, through Jesus Christ, a thought hit me recently....what part of God's nature and character makes the cultural argument acceptable...knowing that we love Him because He is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. He is still the same God who was present then, with all power, not bound by time. He is now, who He was then.
So, as I was taking a look at my life, asking the hard questions, where does my life fail to fall into accordance with the love of God (I had to stop making my list because it was so lengthy), I wondered who else might be struggling with this same issue? What areas of your life might you be willing to accept the love teachings of Jesus on but upon closer inspection, your love for God is out of whack because our lives don't match up or are not in alignment with His Word....because, just one more time for emphasis, Jesus said, "if you love Me, you will keep My Word." Not to be perfect at it (because we can't, remember), but actively pursuing and living a life of repentance, not sin justification.
A good reminder of this idea of disagreeing with the Bible based on culture acceptances, cultural beliefs and social ideas is found in Isaiah 55:8-9,
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
That is Authority and this Authority I fall in love with more and more, everyday!
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