We sinners have a problem with authority. It’s not just the hippies from the 60’s, or the rioters a few summers ago. It’s a natural inclination in every human heart to rebel against God, and against those who represent him in our lives. But God’s gift of authority is a good thing, and it is meant for our good. We see this in many ways.
All of our readings today touch on, in one
way or another, God’s good gift of authority.
Ezekiel is set to be a prophet, one who speaks a hard word, an
authoritative word, to wicked people.
And God charges him that whether they listen or not, it is still his
duty to speak God’s word to them. He
speaks for God, with authority from God.
In Matthew 18 we have a number of topics,
different aspects of sin and forgiveness.
But in verse 18 Jesus reiterates that what his representatives, his
pastors, “bind on earth is bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth is
loosed in heaven”. He’s speaking of the
authority to forgive and withhold forgiveness of sins. A weighty authority given to his ministers,
indeed.
These two, together, have to do with what
Luther called the “Right Hand Government”, that is, how God exercises and
delegates his authority in the church.
Through the preaching of the word, the forgiveness of sins, and the
administration of the sacraments, God’s appointed representatives serve him by
serving his people.
This really is another way of looking at the
distinction between Law and Gospel. God
“governs” his church, as it were, by his law – showing us his expectations and
also how we fall short. And then
justifying us freely by his grace in Jesus Christ.
And then there is the “Left Hand Government”
or kingdom, through which God governs everything in life that has to do with
the earthly, the physical, the bodily. And
so earthly government, as shown in Romans 13, really functions as an agent of
God. All authorities are ultimately
derived from God. And the implications
of this are huge.
It means that when we obey the authorities,
we are really obeying God. And when we
rebel against authority, we rebel against God.
And so this informs the Christian on how we
regard the president, the governor, the mayor, the judge, the police, and so
forth, as well as all authorities we find over us in life.
From our earliest years we learn God’s good
gift of authority through our parents. They
are God’s representatives to both love and protect, but also discipline us in
all things. What chaos ensues when
parents shirk this authority – as we see in the crisis of missing fathers, or
in parents who let the child do the parenting.
Choose your own school, choose your own religion, choose your own
gender!
But a good parent balances law and gospel,
trains the child up in the word of the Lord, and knows that even these children
of ours are not ultimately our own, they are the Lord’s. On loan, to us, for a time.
Luther explains the Fourth Commandment in
the Small Catechism, “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise or
anger our parents and other authorities, but honor them, serve and obey
them, love and cherish them.
Easier said than done. Especially when we figure out that the people
holding those positions of authority are also sinful.
You see it in the teenager who rebels
against parents and calls out their hypocrisy.
You see it in adults who despise their boss who they perceive treats his
employees unfairly. Or in a wife who
dishonors her husband as God-given head of the household, even though he may
well deserve her criticism.
Other times we abuse God’s good gift of
authority by taking authority for ourselves when it is not given. We put ourselves in the place of God over
against others. We make ourselves the
judge, jury and executioner of our neighbor, without recognizing and honoring
those who are truly given those roles.
But just as it is sinful to rebel against proper authority, so it is
sinful to arrogate authority to ourselves which God has not given.
Humble submission to authority is a
difficult thing to do, but we are called by God to do it. And Paul gives two reasons: One, for fear of punishment, and two, for the
sake of conscience.
Even the unbeliever knows better than to go
around breaking the law flagrantly. For
the government does not bear the sword in vain.
Break the law and there will be consequences, punishments. Do the crime and serve the time.
This is a good gift from God, to curb sin
and maintain peace and order in the world.
If it were not for government, we would have anarchy and chaos, and the
strong would certainly take advantage of the weak. The devil would run even more rampant in our
world, and the church could scarcely worship in peace.
But this second reason, “for the sake of
conscience”, Paul shows how the Christian rightly obeys the authority without
coercion. We do it because it’s the
right thing to do. We do it because we
love God, and the good gift of authority he’s given.
Some misguided Christians have sought to be
so separate from the world that they refuse to recognize earthly authority,
refuse to serve in government, or be entangled in any way with earthly
powers. But the Augsburg Confession shows
how Lutherans rightly see government and earthly order:
AC XVI:
“It is taught among us that all government
in the world and all established rule and laws were instituted and ordained by
God for the sake of good order, and that Christians may without sin occupy
civil offices and serve as princes and judges, render decisions and pass
sentence according to imperial and other existing laws, punish evildoers with
the sword, engage in just wars, serve as soldiers, buy and sell, take required
oaths, possess property, be married, etc.”
But as important as God’s rule is in the
left-hand kingdom, as essential as law and order, peace and good government
are, the left-hand kingdom knows only of the law. Only in his right-hand kingdom does God exercise
the Gospel. And we might observe that
God is “right handed”!
And seated at his right hand is his son, our
Lord Jesus Christ, who said, “All authority in heaven and on earth as been
given to me, therefore go and make disciples of all nations.. baptizing and
teaching..” Jesus has received
authority, according to his human nature, and he shares that authority with his
disciples, sending them to make more disciples, by baptizing and teaching.
So does he authorize his pastors, even
today, to continue exercising this authority.
The authoritative public preaching of his word, and especially of Christ
crucified. The authorization to baptize
all nations, by which his Spirit promises the washing of rebirth and
renewal. And the authorization to “do
this in remembrance of me”, consecrating and distributing his gift of himself
in the holy sacrament of his altar. And
forgiving sins, in his name, on his behalf, and with the authority of Jesus
himself.
Whatever you bind on earth is bound in
heaven. Whatever you loose on earth is
loosed in heaven. The catechism explains
this idea commenting on a similar saying of Jesus from John 20:
“I believe that when the called
ministers of Christ deal with us by His divine command, in particular when they
exclude openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation and absolve
those who repent of their sins and want to do better, this is just as valid and
certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself.”
And so the best reason to give
thanks to God for his gift of authority is that through that authority, given
to pastors, mere men…. We have the assurance of the forgiveness of our
sins. And it’s just as good and true and
real as if Jesus Christ himself was standing her personally forgiving your
sins.
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