6th April, 2006

JIM REIHER

There are two Scriptures that clearly do instruct and encourage us to follow and obey our church leaders: Hebrews 13:7 and I Peter 5:5. It is a good thing to get behind the leadership team of a local church and work with them.

MARTIN LUTHER: As played by Joseph Fiennes in the recent movie - 'Luther'. Reiher argues that were it not right to disobey church leaders at times, it would have been wrong for Martin Luther to have disobeyed the directives of the Roman Catholic Church.   "We are to submit to and obey Godly instruction and direction, not the opposite. And none of us are perfect - so none of us should expect perfect submission or obedience from others."

Bu there will be times when a church member will not agree with everything that is being said or done. On many such occasions, it is reasonable to bend a bit and go with the flow - so long as you are not hurting your conscience or principles as a result. (And on many issues - let’s be honest here - there is no real huge issue at stake as much as personal preference).

But there will be times when it is an issue of principal or conscience. In such cases you can not obey.

But doesn't that break the teaching of the two verses noted above? If that was all the Bible had to say on the issue, then it would break the teaching. But the Bible has a lot more to say, and the whole of Scripture makes it clear that there are times to disobey bad teaching or bad examples. And because of that, it is reasonable to say that Hebrews 13:7 and I Peter 5:5 are the general principles to seek to follow, but they are not 100 per cent hard and fast rules for all scenarios.

Consider the small letter of III John for example. The whole letter is telling a church member to disobey a church leader who is teaching error and acting the wrong way: “Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good” (verse 11). Gaius was instructed by the apostle John to disobey his powerful church leader, Diotrephes, who had so much power that he could and did put people out of the church if they did not do what he said! (verse 10). The issue is that we are to submit to and obey Godly instruction and direction, not the opposite. And none of us are perfect - so none of us should expect perfect submission or obedience from others.

The Bible tells us to obey or submit to other forms of authority too. We are meant to obey governing authorities (Romans13:1-7; I Peter 2:13-17). And yet there are times to disobey them too (see, for example, Acts 4 and 5; Revelation 13). The same is true of all the exhortations to submit and obey. If we believe all of the Word of God and if we want the full picture, then we can not just quote a verse and pretend it is the end of the discussion.

Besides church elders and governing authorities, we are told to obey or submit to: Jesus (he will never let us down or say the wrong thing! Matthew 10:38); the Holy Spirit (neither will He, but we have to be sure we are really hearing him of course - Romans 8:14); the Gospel (I Thessalonians 1:8); husbands (wives, this is for you - Colossians 3:18); masters (slaves, this is for you - any out there? We hope not! - Titus 2:9); parents (children this is for you - Colossians 3:20); and even 'one another' (church members this is for all of us - Ephesians 5:21).

What happens if a husband tells a wife to do something that Jesus disagrees with? Now the woman is in a dilemma, because the Bible, in two different places, tells the woman to submit to both of them! Or what if the church leader tells you to do something that the government disagrees with (something illegal) - who do you obey or submit to? What if a parent tells a child to stop being a Christian? Or what if a husband tells a wife the same thing? There are a lot of very real conflicts that occur in real life.

If it was not all right to disobey church leaders at times, then Protestants (including all Pentecostals) have another problem: the Reformation. It would have been wrong for Martin Luther to have disagreed with, and then to have disobeyed, the directives of the Catholic Church. It would have been wrong to have started any other churches at all. We should all repent and rejoin the Roman Catholic Church! But of course we won't do that - because truth was at stake. Obeying God was more important than obeying church leaders who had gone off the tracks.

The answer, of course, is to obey God. Listen to God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ - and obey or submit to the highest of all authorities! Conflict resolved! No more problem. Obey God, not men! (Acts 5:29).

And most of the time, it is still healthy and proper to get in behind the vision and goals of your local church. If the time comes for you to make a stand and disobey some directive, then make sure it is a really important issue and seek to speak privately with the leader first. Try to resolve your differences in a spirit of love and gentleness. Prayerfully decide the steps that you take, and don’t make a song and dance out of the issue unless it is clearly damaging to the congregation. And be careful. Discern wisely. Sometimes pride and emotions really control some decisions to not support the leadership team, and all sorts of rationalisation and self-justifying can take place. We might fool ourselves, but we sure can’t fool God!