“Authority” is a bad word in much of modern society. Yet, our relation and reaction to authority will determine our eternal destiny. This message explores the reasons why.

<p>“Authority” is a bad word in much of modern society. Yet, our relation and reaction to authority will determine our eternal destiny. This message explores the reasons why.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Collegedale Korean SDA Church

Alistair Huong

Our Problem With Authority

Gracious Heavenly Father, we are so privileged to gather in your house of worship on a Sabbath day in peace.

Lord, we know that many of our brethren around the world and even in this country do not have the luxury.

And so we pray right now that your Holy Spirit may fill us.

May we be grateful for the blessings you have given to us, but at the same time, may we be ready to respond, to receive the word and to act according to what we learn.

May your Holy Spirit teach us and guide us and open our hearts and minds to receive and accept what you wish us to understand now.

So you see on the slide our title and you see it in the bulletin.

When you hear the word authority, what is your knee-jerk gut reaction?

What kind of feelings, you don't have to answer out loud, just think rhetorically.

How does the word authority make you feel?

Does it make you feel warm and fuzzy and cuddly and mm-mm-mm?

When I think of the word authority, these words come to mind.

Stern, harsh, punishment, discipline, maybe even arbitrary, authoritarian.

Does that resonate with you at least a little bit?

The word authority has somewhat of that connotation at least in this day and age.

It's not necessarily a positive, warm, cuddly feeling, right?

But I'm here to say, I'm gonna right out the outset make this statement and I'm gonna try to prove my point through the message this morning.

That is that our relationship, our reaction to the word authority is going to determine our ultimate destiny.

Let me say that 1 more time, maybe in a different way.

How we respond and interact and understand and accept authority in our lives will determine our eternal destiny.

I'm going to try to make that point now from scripture.

What do we think about these authority figures or institutions now?

When we hear of the word police, when I was growing up, policemen were nice.

We think of them as the people that you can stop on the side of the road and ask for directions, right?

Now, I'm not trying to make a political statement merely describing the spirit of the times.

When we talk about police or law enforcement, it's like side-eye, right?

Like, I'm not going to let my eyes off you type of feeling.

And when we talk about border patrol, now I'm getting into hot water, right?

It's like, whoa, are we really sure we trust those guys down there?

There's a mistrust of those authority figures in our lives.

The government, so inept, always corrupt.

How do you know when a politician is lying?

If their lips are moving and words are coming out, that's how you know.

So, you know, we have jokes like that, and what does it reveal about our undercurrent?

The undercurrent in our understanding about government as an authority figure?

There's this idea now that rules are there to be broken.

Or at the very least, they're there to be bent, to be tested.

If you've ever watched any sitcom, television show, Disney movie maybe, have you ever noticed that parents are always the ignorant, the stupid ones that just don't get it.

Like parents, especially the dad, and now that I'm a dad, I take umbrage at this, okay?

He's the bumbling fool, right, that has to be set right by either the mom or the rebellious children who always are the heroes of the story.

There's this undercurrent that is being portrayed or parents are being portrayed through this societal view that parents as authority figures are at best comic relief.

Let's just write them off, parents are so out of touch.

My parents don't even know how to use Instagram.

I mean, come on, how can I take them Seriously, right?

You've heard the saying, well, I'm spiritual but not religious.

You know what they're saying when people say that?

Well, I believe in having a spiritual life.

But I don't believe in organized religion because it is merely a system of control that I don't accept.

An authority figure in my life that I do not accept.

And so religion at the very, in society, particularly here in the Western world, is being portrayed as a system to control the minds of the weak.

If you are enlightened, if you are smart, if you are independent, you're not going to fall for that garbage, are you?

Religion is there just to keep control over our young people so we can tell them what to do.

Authority in our society today, in short, has become a bad word.

And it is now placed in opposition to the ideas of individuality, liberty, equality, fighting for injustice, independence, right?

As if those things are mutually exclusive.

But fighting against 1 seems almost automatically like we have to discard the other.

Accepting authority in our lives now is like a sign of weakness, a sign of giving up our rights, when in actuality, and this is really my thesis for this hour, is that authority, let's see here, is the core issue in the great controversy.

It is the absolute foundational issue and that is why I'm here to say our relationship with authority, particularly godly authority, is going to determine whether we're on the right side of the gates of the New Jerusalem.

Well let's begin at the very beginning shall we?

Isaiah chapter 14 verse 12 and 14 We know this story well.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning?

How art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations?

For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit also upon the mountain of the congregation in the sides of the north, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the most high." In short, what was Lucifer's problem?

He had, yes, an eye problem, but beyond that, all the ophthalmologists, optometrists rejoice.

But the problem with himself is he wanted himself to be the highest authority.

To make this crystal clear, let's take a Look at the book, The Story of Redemption, page 15, paragraph 1.

Lucifer and his sympathizers were striving to reform the government of God.

Lucifer and his angels, what did they think they were doing to the government of God?

We're gonna come back to that idea in just a moment, but notice the choice of words, how they think about what they're doing.

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Our Problem With Authority

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