Recently I was engaged in a lively discussion with a friend
about the concept of submission within the setting of a church. As we were
conversing, my friend asked a question that he had been pondering for some
time: why do Christians tend to willingly submit to authorities in the
workplace, yet struggle to submit themselves to the authority of the church?
This is a question that puzzles me as well. Why, indeed? What
makes it so hard for many believers to accept church authority? Is it the
abuses of power-hungry leadership, twisted theology or constraining rules? Or
could it be that we are simply not willing to give up our opinions and
preferences when it comes to spiritual matters?
Before I proceed any further, let me make it clear that I firmly believe we as Christians are responsible to test the teachings of our ministers against
the authority of the Bible. Jesus instructed his followers to beware of false
prophets who bring destruction under the guise of harmlessness (Matthew 7:15).
Furthermore, Paul admonishes believers to “prove (test, try, examine) all
things (I Thessalonians 5:21), which includes the teaching we as Christians
receive from our fallible, human ministers. However, I believe that our
American cultural values of personal rights and individualism have infiltrated
the church. Our personal inclinations and preferences have suddenly become more
important than the standards and practices of the church body, and any opposition
to our personal inclinations gives legitimate grounds for leaving and going
elsewhere.
What does God’s Word say about personal preferences in light
of the Body of Christ? First of all, we do have the freedom as saints to
confidently practice things that other churches may not allow. Paul, for
example, had no moral problem with eating meat that was offered to idols, while
other Gentile Christians felt much more strongly about the issue (See I
Corinthians 8). However, Paul makes a pivotal statement in I Corinthians 8:13.
He declares, “Wherefore [because my liberty to eat meat offered to idols may
wound the conscience of other brethren, thereby wounding Christ] if meat make
my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make
my brother to offend.”
Paul’s humility and submission in this verse are so
challenging to me. He was willing to become a vegetarian for the rest of his
life to avoid offending a weaker brother! He could have said, “Look, the idol
is nothing; therefore, it cannot do anything to change the meat.” Yet instead
of exhorting these weaker brethren, he was willing to lay down his personal freedoms and
preferences to avoid a schism or division in the body. Ultimately, he loved the
body of Christ more than he loved his personal freedoms.
I Peter 5:5 gives additional clarity to this concept. It says,
“Likewise, ye younger, [just as pastors are commanded not to lord it over their
congregations] submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you [in the body
of Christ] be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God
resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” I believe the phrase “be
subject to one another” includes being willing to lay down our personal
preferences to submit to the guidelines and preferences of the body.
This line of arguing in turn begs the question: do we have to
personally support and uphold everything that our church stands for? I would like to argue
the answer to this question is not
necessarily. Paul’s willingness to abstain from meat did not suddenly mean
that he believed meat to be evil. Rather, his decision demonstrated his
willingness to sacrifice his personal
preferences and beliefs in order to strengthen and unify the church. In the
same way, I do not believe that we as Christians need to form powerful Biblical
convictions in support of all of our church guidelines. However, we do need to
be willing to subject our personal inclinations to the decisions of the church
group as a whole.
However, some may argue, “What gives
the church the right to make rules that are not explicitly printed in the
Bible? The Bible is enough, isn’t it?” Yes, it is. I don’t propose that church
rules are universally applicable in the same way the truth of God’s word is
universally applicable to all people at all times. However, I do believe the
church has the authority to form guidelines
rooted in Scriptural principles. As a group, the church has the authority
to determine practical guidelines for observing a sacrificial life of
discipleship, modest dress, a stewardship attitude toward personal wealth, and
so on. Furthermore, the church has the authority to expect each of their
members to adhere to the guidelines the church body has chosen.
To illustrate, consider a UPS delivery
employee. Every UPS delivery driver can quickly be identified by their uniform:
a brown shirt and brown slacks/shorts. Suppose a prospective employee comes to
UPS for an interview. This particular applicant despises brown clothing, and
declares, “If I’m hired by UPS, I absolutely will not wear a brown uniform! I hate brown!” Regardless of the
preferences of this applicant, they must consent to wear a brown uniform if
they want a job at UPS. It doesn’t matter which way their personal preferences
lie. All they need to do is follow the company’s policies instead of their
personal inclinations, and the job is theirs. They don’t have to suddenly like
the color brown; they just have to lay down their personal preferences in favor
of the decisions of the larger company.
Can we as Christians be like UPS
employees? Are we willing to lay down our preferences for the sake of our
brothers and sisters in Christ? Can we look past our personal liberties,
freedoms and preferences and make choices that build up the greater church
body? Yes, we may have the freedom in Christ to do these things. However, we
must honestly question ourselves: how can we be most effective in building up
the body of Christ? If this requires sacrificing my personal preferences, am I
willing to lay down my rights for the benefit of God’s kingdom?
By this
article, I don’t profess to have exhausted this subject. I still have much to
learn about this subject of humble submission. However, I firmly believe that
we as Christians need to recognize the dangers of selfishness and egocentrism
that are so often cloaked in a seemingly harmless package of “Christian
liberties.” We must carefully examine our preferences in light of the spiritual
authorities God has place in our lives, and willingly subject to the wishes of
our authorities when our preferences disagree.
