Just
as works are misunderstood relative to faith, so is
authority. An illusion exists that because salvation
is all of grace and not of works, therefore
salvation and living by faith has nothing really to do
with authority.
The
reason this illusion exists is because the objective
of salvation has become removed from targeting the
fact of sin to the effects of sin. The fact of
sin is that we have rebelled against God’s authority
to do our own thing. The effects of sin are all the
problems this rebellion is responsible for—the
negative personal and societal behaviors, addictions
and bondages, the circumstantial conditions, etc.
Said
more simply, the illusion is that Jesus died to save
us from our problems, not from the cause of our
problems, which is rebellion.
Consequently,
faith is little understood in a context of restored
authority under God. It is understood as an ongoing
commodity necessary to barter with God for further
deliverance from problems and needs. Yet restored
authority relationship is actually at the heart
of our salvation and therefore the expression of
faith.
Paul
labored very hard in Romans and elsewhere to dispel
this exact illusion. Grace is not about salvation from
authority. There is no freedom or liberty apart from
authority. Freedom is a change of context of
authority, not a release from all authority.
Freedom means a shift from bondage under self-centered
rebellion outside creatorial purpose to bondage
under Christ within true creatorial purpose. It
is a shift from subjection to ourselves (which the
world thinks is “freedom”) to subjection to God and
His Promised creatorial purpose for us (which
the world thinks is “bondage”).
There
is no freedom outside subjection to creatorial
purpose. There is no such thing as an independent
stand alone concept of freedom in the universe. One is
either a slave to God or a slave to himself. Slavery
to God is freedom. Slavery to self is slavery. Jesus
said, “He that commits sin is a slave to sin.”
Because
salvation unto freedom is therefore a matter of
authority replacement, not authority abolition
(which is what sin is), faith is inherently about
new authority subjection.
The
church continues to remain chronically immature
because of the belief that the prime target of
salvation is our problems, not our rebellion. This has
bred a continually self-centered “faith.” Most
expression of prayer and teaching on faith is targeted
on deliverance from our problems and fulfilment of our
needs, apart from any improved authority relationship
to God unto apprenticeship into His image. Meanwhile,
since sin itself is not an objective of salvation in
our minds, sin in the church continues to grow
undetected, and unexposed and unconfronted when it is
detected. The objective remains to deal with the
problems caused by sin, not to perfect our servitude
under God.
Jesus
ran into this problem with His ministry. His ministry
was strategized to use His ability to deliver people
from the effects of sin as incentive to get
people to abandon their sin (repent). It was a very
simple strategy. But outside the elect remnant of the
Father’s choosing, it was a strategy that failed
miserably among the multitudes. For the multitudes,
deliverance from the effects of sin was its own be-all
and end-all without desire to be delivered from sin
itself through authority transfer, the cause
of all their problems.
And
this problem remains in the church focused on
effects-salvation. After they come into “faith” in
Christ, the majority church seeks nothing but ongoing
deliverance from sin’s effects without increasing
deliverance from sin itself. As noted, prayer and
faith are expressed in these terms. And so as was true
for ancient Israel, in the church there is an obedient
remnant and an immature slow-to-obey majority, many of
whom are lost and were never truly born again into a
new nature.
But
in the closet of the upper room, Jesus made it really
clear to His remnant disciples what salvation is all
about. It is about continued growth into authority
oneness. Authority oneness, not deliverance from
problems, was His expressed objective of all
salvation, prayer and faith. Everything He promised us
and urged us to ask for in prayer was given in this
context.
Selah.
Blessings
to all the Royal Priesthood,
Part
III
