Bulletins
Authority
Everyone lives by someone's authority. There is no escaping it.
The sin of Adam and Eve was the sin of trusting in self-authority over God. "We can decide for ourselves what is right and wrong" is the essence of this attitude. The attempt to dethrone God and set self on the throne is the temptation we all face, and if we are unwilling to "deny self" to follow Jesus, the only authorities left are self or other people. "From heaven or men?" remains the continual question everyone answers by their attitudes and actions.
How we approach this question speaks volumes.
Now some will, no doubt, see this as too legalistic, but it is just the opposite. How so? If we truly want grace, the only way to it is through God's power and authority.
Grace can only come from one who has the power to give it, and this is God. If I choose to ignore the question of authority, and thereby choose self over God, then I have negated the only path to grace and mercy. In choosing self over God, I have unwittingly chosen a path that seeks redemption without grace, and this is untenable.
This is why self-denial is a hallmark of the child of God (Luke 9:23).
(Don Moyer)
