11 The Red Ferrari

Many of us know the story of Jesus and the Roman centurion. Where Jesus said, "I'll come to your house." And he says, "No, you don't have to come because I'm a man under authority as well. And when I say go, a man goes."

And Jesus praises him for his faith. And He praises him for his faith for two reasons. One is that he recognizes Jesus as a man under authority. He recognizes that Jesus has been sent from God. But he understands the concept of a delegated authority.

As community leaders, you carry a delegated authority. The elders have given you a responsibility for something, and with responsibility comes authority. The two sides of the same coin. You cannot have authority over something for which you're not responsible, and you can't be held responsible for something if you're not given responsibility.

Delegated Authority in Community Leadership

And so we do, as community leaders, have some form of delegated authority. But we must carry that authority lightly. Sociologists have identified many different modes of authority. Some people carry a legal authority. You know, judges, policemen. Some people carry a positional authority. A school teacher would have a positional authority.

There's ownership authority. "That's mine. So I decide what to do with it." There's founders authority. Somebody who started something tends to have authority. There's relational authority. I have authority because of the nature of our relationship, like a father or a mother. There's charismatic authority.

Some people just seem to carry authority. Because they walk into a room and they just sweep away people with their charisma. There's expert authority. I carry authority because I know what I'm talking about. And then there's spiritual or prophetic authority, which is there's a recognition of a spirituality or a prophetic voice in people.

And that carries authority. Not all of those forms of authority are valid in certain contexts. But we need to take care as community leaders. How are we carrying authority? If you're carrying authority within your community in a positional sense, you're gonna do yourself harm.

If you're saying, "You better listen to me. I am the community leader. I am a deacon. People better listen to me. I am an elder." I think you've lost before you've started. As an elder, I think rarely there may be an opportunity or an instance where that's valid.

I think I've said that twice in 20 years. But if that's the first thing we run to, then we're lost. As community leaders, the kind of authority that we should carry most is a spiritual prophetic authority and a relational authority. Not even an expert authority.

We shouldn't be setting ourselves up as experts. We shouldn't be setting ourselves up as gurus. Even though we may have more knowledge than those we're leading. But authority should be carried lightly and relationally. And a relational authority only works when somebody feels safe and loved.

Then they recognize that authority. A spiritual, prophetic authority only works when the people recognize that you're leading where Jesus wants us to go. Those are the kinds of authority that we should be carrying. The other side of this is, if we want to carry more authority, we should be submitted to authority.

What It Means to Pray in Jesus' Name

Jesus made a promise which is often misused. He said, "Anything you ask for in my name will be given to you." Now, that doesn't mean I can pray and say, "I demand a red Ferrari in the name of Jesus." If I could do that, believe me, I would be driving a Ferrari.

What He was saying is, "Anything that you pray for, anything that you ask for, as you represent Me." Just as when a policeman knocks on the door and he says, "Open up in the name of the law." It's not what he demands, but it's as long as he's properly representing legal authority.

What he's saying is, "Open up because I represent something much greater than myself." And when Jesus was saying that, He was saying, "You have an authority when you're representing something greater than yourself." It's not that God's authority is subject to our whims and our desires.

It's that our desires should be subject to the authority of God. Likewise, as leaders, we don't revel or try and lord it over people in our own authority. But we recognize that we are those under authority and we only have a right to take people where the Lord wants to take them.

Likewise, we need to be under authority within the authority structures that God has placed in the church. And so as community leaders, you are under the authority of the elders. And so the people aren't your people. They're not even the elders' people; in a sense, they're God's people.

But it's the elders who will stand and give an account for the people in the church. They have an authority in your community that you're leading. And your authority is only really delegated from them. What does that mean practically? It means you should be listening to them.

You should be asking them. You should be inviting them. You should be taking their perspective. You should be putting their perspectives before your own. You should be preaching what they've laid out, not what your pet theology is. We really need to be a people who understand the spiritual dynamics of authority.

And if we are not people under submission, then we have no right to complain that the people won't listen to us. I've often seen that where I've spoken to leaders and they said, "My people won't listen." And I say, "There's a reason why, because they're imitating their leaders."

Leaders Under Authority, Not Over People

So we need to be leaders who, if we want to carry authority, carry it lightly, but carry it as those who themselves are under submission. The Lord warned us very clearly, do not lord it over others. Do not demand that people give you a title or a position.

Don't walk around and carry yourself like you are the bee's knees as leaders in the kingdom. That topsy-turvy, inverted, upside down, values of the kingdom is that whoever wants to be the greatest must be the least. And as a community leader, you shouldn't be carrying yourself as greater, more important or as special, but as the greatest servant.

You should be carrying yourself as the one who serves others. The way you're serving is through leadership, but don't lord it over. Don't think you've got a position. Don't try and carry your authority as some expert or some guru or somebody in a position.

Jesus Will Ask How We Treated His People

But somebody who loves God and loves people. And remember, when Jesus returns, He's going to ask us, "How did you treat My people?" As a parent, there were times when my children were younger that we asked people to babysit. And we have certain values, certain rules in our house.

And when people came to babysit, I would expect them to honor the values and the things we asked them to do. If after I got home after an evening or a weekend away, and these babysitters would say, "Yeah, we heard what you said, but we didn't like it. We decided to do it our way." Man, I would not have been pleased. They're my children. And I've delegated a responsibility to you to look after my children the way I would.

Jesus is returning one day and He's going to look at us and He's saying, "I gave you responsibility. I delegated an authority to you in order for you to care for and look after My people while I was away. And now I'm back. What did you do? Did you lead the way I asked? Did you love them? Did you care for them? Did you give your life for them? Or did you rule over them and try and establish an authority to serve your ego and your purpose?"

So, let us be those who are leaders, but they carry leadership lightly. But understand there is something powerful about men and women who carry godly spiritual authority and use it wisely, and use it for the glory of God.