(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, well we're in Ephesians chapter 5, and I want you to look at verse 21 and 22. And the name of the sermon is, Authorities in Light of the Bible. I want to explain to you how authority works in the Bible and the authority structure that God has set up. Ephesians 5 verse 21, notice what it says. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. Now verse 21 is one of the most misunderstood verses in the entire Bible. Because in verse 21 it says submitting yourselves one to another, and then right after that the next verse says wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands. And so some people say well in verse 21 that means wives and husbands are both submitting to each other, but then it tells wives to submit in verse 22. And see the confusion is the fact that when you end Ephesians 5, the context is not gone. What verse 21 is saying is this, submit yourselves one to another in the fear of God if you are in a position where you are not the authority, and biblically you're supposed to submit. And so in verses 22 through 32, he's going to talk about husbands, wives. Verses 1 through 4 of Ephesians 6 are parents and children, and verses 5 through 9 of masters and servants in Ephesians 6. So basically he gives three examples of when you are to submit yourselves to one another. If you are a wife, you're supposed to submit yourself to your husband. As a child, you submit to your parents. As a servant, you submit to your master. So to understand verse 21, what you realize is this, at the end of chapter 5, you're not on a brand new thought. You're still in the context of submission, but now it's going to give children and parents instead of husbands and wives. Now let's look at Ephesians 6. Let's start with parents and children, because I think that's the one that's easiest to understand about submission, okay? Verse 1, it says, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. One example of submission in the Bible, where you are in a position where you are to submit, are children to their parents, okay? Children are supposed to submit to their parents. You're supposed to obey their parents, okay? That's what it says in Ephesians 6, verse 1. Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. You as a child are expected to obey your parents, whether you agree or disagree, whether you understand or you do not understand. Children obey their parents. Verse 2, Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise. It says in verse 2 that this commandment of honoring your parents, there is a promise associated. Verse 3, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. According to the Bible, if you obey your parents, there's a promise of living a long life. That is something built into what the Bible says. You say, Brother Stuckey, I want that magic formula to live a long life. Well, I mean, hopefully you obeyed your parents when you were a kid, because that is part of the process. The Bible says that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. So people ask this question, when should children obey their parents? I mean, should you obey your parents if they tell you to commit a murder? Should you obey your parents if they tell you to go to sleep? I mean, when do you obey your parents? You obey your parents as long as they're not asking you to sin. That's when you obey your parents. Now, we're going to see later on that the role of parents and children, it's going to change once you're living in your own house and you have a new head, a new system of submission and everything like that. But while you're living underneath the rule of your own parents, and they're the ones providing the bills and paying for everything, you are under their rules, okay? And you are to obey them unless they ask you to commit a sin, unless they ask you to do wrong. Okay? Now go to Colossians 3, Colossians chapter 3, Colossians 3. Now do parents always make the right choices? No. There are some times I'm going to make choices for my son and my daughter and I'm going to be wrong, right? I mean, there's a classic example of where you're not looking at your children and all of a sudden they both start crying and you're turning around and you're trying to figure out, okay, what happened, right? And look, sometimes you might spank the wrong child. Look, that's reality. You don't know what happened and you might assume, I'm assuming that my son stole the toy from my daughter, right? And sometimes you might be wrong, right? Sometimes that is the case and then sometimes I see my daughter like trying to steal stuff from my son. Sometimes you make the wrong choice, okay? As parents, sometimes we make rules and maybe our rules aren't perfect. Maybe we make mistakes. But look, our children are going to do better in life if they obey our rules when they're young than if they just go off on what they want to do. I mean, if children had their choice, they would eat ice cream for every meal. They would just eat dessert and candy and pizza and just junk food and chips and that's what they would do. They would never brush their teeth, they would never take a shower, it'd be a disaster, okay? God gave parents as the authority for a reason because when children are young, they are completely dependent upon their parents. They can't make it on their own. Look, if you dropped your young child off on the side of the road, that child on its own would end up dying, right? Unless it has some sort of parental structure to guide those children, they will fail at life. They will fight that structure of parents with children for a reason and children are to obey their parents as long as they're not asked to sin, even if they do not agree with the rules, okay? Colossians 3 verse 20. Colossians 3 verse 20. Children obey your parents in all things, in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. See, children are to obey their parents in all things according to the Bible. The only exception which we're going to see in a little bit is if the parents ask the children to commit a sin. For example, if you ask your son to tell a lie, right? You tell your son, I want you to lie and just pretend like, you know, you're out of money and stuff and just, you know, rip somebody off on the side of the road by making them feel guilty. Well, that would be wrong. Children should disobey, right, if their parents are asking them to sin. Or there's a buffet where it's like under 12, the price is 200 pesos, but then if you're over 12, the price is 500 pesos and your son's 13 years old and they were told, you know, hey, pretend to be like 11 years old so we can pay less money for you. Well, that would be wrong, right? You know, you're lying about your age and that's actually an example I remember from when I was a kid where it's just like, you know, I know I'm young and it's just like, you know, and it's just like I'm not, I'm, you know, I'm not, you know, under 12 or whatever the age was. And it's just like, you know what, if your parents are asking you to do wrong, that is a time when you're supposed to disobey. You know, usually your parents don't ask you to sin, right? Usually your parents have rules for a reason and you don't understand those rules when you're young. A four-year-old doesn't understand these rules. Well, why do I have to go to bed at a certain time? Like, why do I have to do this? You know, why can't I eat this? They don't understand that at a young age, but the way God has made it is an authority structure for the parents to guide those children, okay? Go to verse 21, verse 21. So children are to obey their parents as long as they're not asked to sin, okay? Verse 21, fathers provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. So children are to obey their parents and parents are to love and care for their children. That is the balance. When you are in the authority position, yes, you make the rules, but you are to care and to love for those children. That's what we see here in verse 21. Go to Ephesians chapter six, Ephesians six, Ephesians six. The reality is as parents, the better you love your children, the more likely they are to obey what you say. That is reality, right? If you love your children, they're more likely to obey the things that you say, but realize children do not understand certain rules. They do not understand why you tell them to go to bed. They don't understand why they can't eat certain foods, but they are expected to obey even if they do not understand, even if they do not agree. My daughter is at the age right now where she gets very curious about light sockets and she's always trying to grab light sockets and grab electrical things and everything and she's just curious. She sees this and she's curious. As a parent, I cannot let her do that, right? I mean, that's dangerous for her. She doesn't understand that. All she knows right now is that when I do not obey, I get a spanking for not obeying that, okay? Now it's important as a parent to have rules like that because otherwise kids are going to destroy their lives. One thing children are very curious about, and if you do not have kids, you're going to learn this one day, is they're very curious with fans. They think these fans are just really interesting how they're spinning around and everything and they just try to touch them. And if you just let your kids do that, look, they're liable to break a finger or lose a finger or whatever, right? It's dangerous. Parents are there to give their children structure in their lives and those children are not going to understand why there are those rules. And yes, sometimes the parents make the wrong choice. I'm sure I've made rules for my son and my daughter where I was wrong or I made the wrong judgment on a situation. But you know, usually parents are right. Usually parents have good rules for their kids at a young age and the parents are given as that authority structure. And as children, whether you agree or disagree, guess what? You are to obey your parents unless they ask you to do wrong. Ephesians chapter six, verse four, Ephesians six, verse four, and ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Once again, it's talking about loving your children and it says, bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. As the parents, as the authority, you are to care for the people that are supposed to be obedient to you. The more you do that, the more they're going to listen. Go to Genesis 27, Genesis 27, Genesis chapter 27. So children are to obey their parents. Parents are to love their children. So when do children disobey? They simply disobey when their parents ask them to do wrong. They ask them to commit a sin. They ask them to do something dishonest. Otherwise, those children are to obey their parents while they are underneath their authority. Genesis 27, verse 11, let me give you an example. And Jacob said to Rebecca, his mother, behold Esau, my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. My father, peradventure, will feel me and I shall seem to him as a deceiver and I shall bring a curse upon me and not a blessing. In this example, his mom, Rebecca, asks him to tell a lie, pretend to be your brother Esau. Now, is it right to pretend to be somebody else? To lie about who you are because his dad couldn't really see very well and pretend to be your brother. Is that right? No, it's wrong. And Jacob says, I'm going to seem like a deceiver to my dad because you are a deceiver. You are lying. Of course, you're going to seem like a liar because you are lying. You're pretending to be Esau when you're not. He's lying. He's being dishonest. Verse 13, and his mother said unto him, upon me be thy curse, my son. Only obey my voice and go fetch me them. And his mom says, I want you to obey, son, and let the curse come upon me. But here's the thing. She may say, let the curse come upon me. It's not just going to come upon her. It's going to come upon him also. Why? He did wrong. Look, if somebody that is your authority asks you to do wrong and says, I will take responsibility if something happens, you are still to blame. You still did wrong. And she can say, let the curse come upon me. But Jacob's the one fleeing for his life. Jacob's the one whose life is turned upside down. Why? He's lying. He's deceiving. See, the one time you disobey your parents when you're young and underneath their authority is if they ask you to commit a sin. But look, if your parents make you wear a certain shirt or make you wear certain shoes, you're supposed to obey as a child. That is what the Bible teaches. Now go in your Bible to Ephesians five, Ephesians five, Ephesians chapter five, Ephesians chapter five. One area of authority structure, one the Bible mentions here is parents with children. The parents are the authority. The children are underneath the authority of their parents. Okay. But you know, there's a change that takes place in terms of authority structure because those kids are going to grow up one day and they're going to become adults. And eventually those adults are going to leave that household. They're going to get married and they're going to be on their own, right? And so notice what it says in Ephesians five verse 22, the change is going to take place when a child leaves the authority of their parents and now they're running their own home as a husband or if they're a wife, they're under the authority of that husband, Ephesians five verse 22, wives, submit yourselves on your own husbands as onto the Lord. So it tells wives to submit, okay? Submit does not mean follow your husband if you want to follow him or follow your husband if you agree with him. Submit means to obey and even if you disagree, that is what submission is. And the proof of whether or not you're a submissive person is if you obey when you don't want to. Right? Like if your husband said, you know what, I want to come to church here today and you're the wife and you say, you know what, I agree with that, right? I want to go to church too. Well that's not being submissive because you agreed anyway. See the proof of whether or not you're submissive is when your husband asked you to do something and you disagree, but you do it anyway. You do it in a kind attitude and just listen, why? Because you realize that the Bible says you're under his authority. That is the proof of whether or not you're submissive is when you disagree and then you do it anyway. It's like with children. If a child disagrees with their parents rule, but they listen anyway, it's shown that they're submissive as a child. They're being obedient to their parents, same way with wives and husbands. And I understand this is not a popular doctrine in 2020, but you know, most of the things we preach around here aren't very popular in 2020, but it is what the Bible teaches. Verse 23, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject on the Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. The Bible says wives are to obey their husbands. Let's go to Colossians three, Colossians three, Colossians three. This is why, you know, young ladies, you need to think very carefully about the person you marry because when you marry, you're basically signing and say, you know what? I trust this person. I respect this person. I am willing to follow this man with my life. And if you marry the wrong person, then you know what? You've got a whole lifetime of sorrow up ahead. So it's a decision that should not be made lightly. And look, I do believe that people can get married at a young age and things can work and everything, but you know, make sure when you get married, you marry the right person. Don't rush into it and say, man, you know, I'm attracted to him and he's attracted to me and we're both Baptist, so let's just get married. It's like, well, make sure that you're marrying the right person. That's a lifelong commitment you're making. And the Bible says in Colossians 3 verse 18, wives submit yourselves onto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. This is the authority structure in Colossians 3 verse 18, the Bible saying that wives are to submit to their own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. But notice verse 19, husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them. See this is the authority structure. See the authority, you know what, they, yes, the person underneath the authority is supposed to listen and obey, but the person who is the authority, they're supposed to show through love. And unfortunately, oftentimes, you know, both things don't work in marriage. The person that's the authority isn't showing love and the person, the wife isn't, you know, obeying and being submissive to their husband. And the same thing could work with children or any authority situation. The person under the authority is supposed to show they care about the person. And the result of that is the person underneath is going to be submissive, okay? Go to Ephesians chapter five, Ephesians five, Ephesians five, you say, well, how are you supposed to love your wife? Well, you're supposed to love as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it and died for the church. It means as the husband, you lay down your life for your wife. You lay down your life for your kids. I mean, being the authority sounds really cool, right? You're the authority over your wife, you're the authority over your children, but that means you're supposed to live a sacrificial life where you care about them more than yourself. We're actually saying, you know, my life is not about me, it's about my wife. My life's not about me, it's about my kids. And you put your heart and your soul into that family. That is what a good leader is going to do. Unfortunately, that's not always the case, but that is what a husband is supposed to do. Okay? Ephesians five verse 25, husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. Verse 29, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherishth it, even as the Lord the church, for he are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. What the Bible is saying is this, that as a man who's married, as a guy, you know what, you care about your own body, right? You ought to love your wives as you would love your own body. Instead of just doing the things that you enjoy and the things you care about, you're supposed to love your wife more than yourself, and instead of just loving yourself, when you're getting married, what you're saying is, you know what, I'm going to commit my love to this other person, right? Because before I was married, when I got off work, I did whatever I wanted, right? I went and I played basketball, I went and played soccer, I went and worked out, and I just spent all the time in the world just caring about the things that I wanted, but then when you get married, there's a change that takes place. It means I'm not going to come home late at night and everything and not be around my family and just come home to go to sleep, right? There's a change that takes place and it should take place when you get married, where your time is not just about what do you want to do, what does your family want to do? What's your wife want to do? What do your kids want to do? As the authority, you're supposed to show love, okay? That is what the Bible teaches. So wives are to submit to their husbands and husbands are to love their wives. Now here's the thing, if both sides would do a better job, the result would be the other side would do a better job. So instead of focusing on the other person not doing what they're supposed to do, we should all focus on ourselves individually, and you know what? It's going to be a direct relationship, a direct correlation, okay? But there is a change of authority that takes place. Notice what it says in verse 31, for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined onto his wife and they too shall be one flesh. See the Bible says that when you get married, you become one flesh. There is a change of authority. What does that mean? It means my parents are not my authority anymore. My wife's parents are not her authority anymore. You say why? We have our own house, I work the job to pay for the money, we pay for our own bills and things like that. There's a change of authority. Now here's the thing, I believe that children ought to respect and love their parents even when they're 20, 30, 40, 50 years old, even when they're outside the home. I talk to my parents all the time, I Skype them every single day or every week, tomorrow I'll Skype them and talk to them. My wife talks to her parents, but there is a change of authority that takes place. Now this is something that's important for us to understand because I'm sure one day my little girl is going to grow up and you know what? I'm going to give her permission, I'm going to give the guy permission that proposed to her one day and say, yes, you know what, you can marry my daughter and yes, they must get permission. And you know what, it's going to be tough as a parent to kind of give over leadership to some other guy when I've been responsible for her for 20 years. I understand that it's going to be very difficult for me one day and I'm sure it's going to be really hard when I get to that point, but there is a change of authority that takes place when someone gets married. You say why? Because it's a new home and you leave father and mother and you cleave onto your spouse and you are one flesh, the Bible says. Verse 32, this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ in the church. Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself and the wife see that she reverence her husband. So husbands love your wives as yourself and the wife reverence or respect her husband. You say, well, brother Stuckey, when should the wife disobey? Well, when do children disobey their parents? When their parents ask them to do something wrong. When should wives disobey their husbands? When the husband asked them to do something wrong. If the husband asked them to tell a lie, they should disobey that. If the husband says, I don't want you reading the Bible anymore, they should disobey that. The husband says, I don't want you to pray anymore. They should disobey that. The husband says, Hey, I want you to come out drinking with me. They should disobey that. If the husband says, I don't want you to go to a good church. You know, I want to, I want us to go to this Catholic church together. They should disobey that. You say, why? Because of the fact that the husband's asking them to do something wrong. Now I understand there can be some gray area situations and I'm not going to claim that I have the perfect answer to all of those questions, but the authority God gives us this, wives are to submit to their husbands, husbands are to love their wives, and wives are to disobey when their husband asks them to do something wrong. Otherwise they're to obey. Now look, if you're smart as a guy, you're not going to just order your wife around for every little thing, right? I mean, if every, throughout the day, every 30 minutes, it's like, no, I want this. I want this. I want this. You know what? You're not going to create someone who actually cares about you and you're not going to create someone who's actually going to submit to you. Okay. I mean, if you're, if you're telling your wife, you know what? I don't want you to wear that dress. I want you to wear, it's like, you know what? You're probably going to have trouble getting your wife to follow you if every single little thing you're just arguing, arguing, arguing, but if there is a disagreement and the husband says something and the wife disagrees, but the husband's made a decision, the wives are to obey, be kind and respectful. Why? You made your decision when you got married. It's not up for debate five years later, 10 years later, 20 years later, you made your decision when you got married and the husband is the head of that home, right? And here's the thing. If wives are just unsubmissive and just arguing and complaining, look, it's going to create an attitude where the husband's not going to love their wife as much and vice versa as well. If the husband's not showing love and not showing he cares, what's going to happen? The wife's not going to want to submit. Okay. This is the authority structure that God has set up in the Bible. Parents are the authority over their children. Children are to obey their parents. Parents are to love their children and to show they care. And then children are to only disobey if they're asked to do something wrong. Same thing with husbands and wives. Notice what it says in Ephesians chapter six, verse five, Ephesians six, verse five, Ephesians chapter six, verse five. The next area that the Bible mentions a point one was parents with children. Point two was husbands with wives. Point three are masters with servants, or you could say bosses with employees. Okay, Ephesians six, verse five, servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling and singleness of your heart as on to Christ. Now in the Bible, a person could basically become in bondage because they owed a debt and they could become a servant where basically, you know, if they're in debt, you know, a certain amount of money and they can't pay it off, they basically become a servant where they have to obey the master to pay it off over time through work, okay? And so here it's referring to masters and actual servants that are in debt and they have to pay that off, but you could still apply this to bosses and employees would be a good way to apply it, okay? So basically if you work for a company as the employee, you don't make the rules. The authority is the boss. You're to obey what they say. Ephesians six, verse five, it says servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling and singleness of your heart as on to Christ. What the Bible is saying is when you are obeying your boss, it's as if you're obeying Christ. It's as if Christ is giving those rules. You say why? Because God set up this authority structure. God said if you work at a company, your boss is the one that makes the rules, not you. Verse six, not with eye service as men pleasers. You say what does that mean, brother Sucky? That means you don't just obey your boss and work hard when they're looking at you. I mean isn't this true with companies a lot of times where everyone's just kind of goofing off and then the boss walks in the room and then all of a sudden they're at their desk just typing away, doing whatever. They're just lazy all day long, but then all of a sudden when the boss is there, you know what? Man, they're working hard. Why? They're doing it with eye service. They're trying to please men instead of trying to please Christ. Now as Christians, we should not have that attitude. We should always be willing to work hard, but this is the way a lot of people are. But the Bible says not with eye service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart with good will doing service as the Lord and not to men. From our hearts, we should want to obey our bosses. That's what the Bible says. Now look, I've had many bosses in my life and some bosses have been very good bosses and very kind and very respectful and some bosses screamed at me every single week, okay? But whether or not the boss is a good boss, whether or not they're nice or rude, whether or not they're kind or bastos, you're still expected to obey them. Why? Because they're the one giving you money. They're the one paying the bills for you. They're giving you a salary and you're agreeing when you work for that company to listen and adhere to what that boss says. They're expected to obey. Verse eight, knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And look, the Bible says, you know what, if you do what's right, then we as God's people should understand we're going to receive from the Lord. So when you obey your boss, God is looking down and saying, you know what? You're obeying me. I will pay you appropriately because you're working hard. Going to Colossians 3, Colossians 3, Colossians chapter 3. And I keep going to Colossians because it's parallel with the book of Ephesians and these sections are very parallel right here. I want you to understand something. As I said, I've had good bosses and I've had bad bosses. And I've had bosses that have asked me to do things and I did not agree with what they said. The job I worked in Maryland for several years in the actuarial field and I was on the computer all the time, sometimes my boss would ask me to do an assignment. And sometimes in the back of my head, I'm just thinking, like, I don't agree with this at all. I don't see a purpose for it. I feel like it's a waste of time. But I said, you know, yes, sir, you say why? That's how you're successful in the work field. You work hard and you're respectful. That's what you're expected to do as an employee. And the reality is, just as parents know what's best for their children when they don't always understand, just like God set up an authority structure of husbands and wives for a reason, the husbands sometimes know and the wives maybe don't necessarily understand or agree, it's the same reason why you have bosses and employees. And look, usually the boss is right. There's a reason why they're the boss. There's a reason why they own the company. There's a reason why they make three times your salary. Why? They got 25 years of experience and have proven themselves and they work hard. And you might think you know the answer because you're thinking of this small situation. They're looking far beyond that. They're saying, hey, you know what, they could understand, hey, this is where that person is getting that logic. But here's the thing. If that doesn't work out, we could lose a lot of money in this situation. They understand things you don't understand. So as an employee, you're just respectful to what your boss says, whether you agree or disagree. Now, does the boss always make the right rules? No. Sometimes they make mistakes. That doesn't change the fact that you're still supposed to submit to that boss. This is the authority structure in the Bible. Colossians 3 verse 22. Servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. You can see this is parallel to the book of Ephesians. So you are not with eyeservice as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart. Why? Because you fear God. You say, I don't agree with my boss. I think he makes dumb rules. It's not going to affect my salary. It doesn't matter. But do you fear God? Because if you fear God, God expects you to obey your boss. That is what the Bible says. Go back to Ephesians 6, Ephesians 6, Ephesians chapter 6, Ephesians chapter 6. So here's the thing. Employees are to obey their bosses. What should bosses do to their employees? They should care about their employees. They should love their employees. Why? That's the way authority works. If you want to get your employees to work hard for you, you ought to be nice. Now I've had bosses that yelled at me. And yeah, you know what? I followed what they said, especially as I know the Bible, I know what I'm supposed to do. But I've had bosses that were rude to me and everything. It doesn't create an atmosphere, though, where the employees want to follow their boss. And people that don't believe the Bible or don't care, they will not follow those bosses. They will simply work hard just if the boss sees them. But they don't actually care about their bosses and say, I want to respect my boss because I like him. He's a good guy. But when I've had bosses that were actually very nice, my natural reaction in my flesh is just like, I want to make my boss happy. And they weren't always saved. I've had unsaved bosses that were just nice people. I mean, they see me, they say, hey, Matt, how are you doing today? It's like, you know, it makes you feel good. It makes you want to work hard for that person because you've got a boss that actually cares. Notice what it says in Ephesians six, verse nine, and ye masters do the same things unto them forbearing threatening, knowing that your master also is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with him. And see, I want you to notice in verse number nine, it says to those that are in the authority that they have the powerful position. It says forbearing threatening. See, it's warning against always threatening your employees. Every time your employee makes a mistake, if you're saying, hey, if you mess up again, you're fired. That's threatening your employees. I mean, if you don't listen to me better, I'm going to fire you. The Bible says that's not a smart thing to do as masters and masters ought to realize, yes, I'm the authority over these servants, but I've got a master up in heaven and God expects me to be a kind person and to be respectful. And we can understand a lot about authority with all of these situations. That's why he's giving them all together. I mean, it's the same thing as a husband. Look, as husbands, it's not a smart strategy to always threaten your wife. If you don't obey my rules, then blah, blah, blah. That's a foolish strategy. And if you're always doing that, it's not going to be a successful strategy. If you're always threatening your kids, it's just like, that is not the smartest strategy to use. Okay. Go to Ruth chapter two, Ruth chapter two, Ruth two, Ruth chapter two, and look, obviously you know what, when you're the authority, you know, there's going to be times where maybe you're frustrated and you disagree with whatever. And obviously all of us have parents have threatened our kids from time to time and everything. You do have to provide spanking when necessary. But if you're always just yelling at your kids and threatening them, it's not the best strategy. See, instead of yelling, if they need a spanking, they get the spanking. And if they don't need that, then you should show them that you care. You show them that you love. It's the same thing with husbands and wives. It's the same thing with bosses and employees. Bosses if they're smart, will actually care about their employees. Bosses if they're smart, will learn the name of their employees. They're going to learn about their families. You say, why? It's going to cause those employees to work harder. Notice what it says in Ruth two, verse four, Ruth two, verse four, and behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said unto the reapers, the Lord be with you. And they answered him, the Lord bless thee. So Boaz is the big shot. He's the powerful guy. And he goes up to the reapers, these lowly people, and he says, you know what? The Lord be with you. This would be like a boss who just at the very start of the day, just goes around and says hello to all the employees. That's what Boaz is doing. Verse five, then said Boaz unto a servant that was said over the reapers, whose damsel is this? Now I don't have time to go into the story. I've preached on it before, but Boaz, you can see is a very kind person. He understands how to be successful as the authority figure. And he asks the employees basically how they're doing. He asks the reapers how they're doing. And then he has a servant that's responsible over these reapers. And you notice here, he just talks to the servant for a little while. And then this servant tells him everything that he wants to know immediately. Why? Because that servant is trying to please Boaz. Because Boaz was a good boss. I mean, if we lived during this time period, we would love to have a boss like Boaz. Wouldn't you love to have a boss that just is greeting you in the name of the Lord in the mornings? And he's kind to you. And when you make a mistake, they don't yell at you. Because look, we all make mistakes from time to time. Isn't that true? Whether you're a child, any of us, children, husbands, everybody makes mistakes. But do you want your boss yelling at you every time you make a mistake? I remember I had a job where I was working at a car wash a long time ago. And I remember my boss had me up painting like really high in the air up on a ladder. And look, I mean, it was... And I understand it's always hot here in the Philippines. But in the US, temperatures kind of rise and fall. In the wintertime, it's cold. In the summertime, it's hot. I mean, the temperature was probably 45 degrees Celsius, pretty hot. And I'm up on a ladder painting. So I've got sweat dripping down my face. And you know, a couple drops of paint fell and hit the ground. And my boss comes around, he starts screaming at me and everything. It's like, my goodness, I mean, it's like 45 degrees. I'm up here on a ladder. I'm sweating. I'm miserable. And then a few drops fall to the ground, and he's screaming at me and everything like I didn't enjoy working for that boss. Now, I can say I'm very thankful that I had that boss, though, because every boss I've ever had since I really liked. When you have a bad boss, it makes you happy when your next boss isn't rude like that. It makes you really thankful that you've got bosses that aren't always yelling at you all the time. And I remember just having other employees would complain about bosses I had. I was thinking, man, I love this boss. He doesn't yell at me. He's kind to me and everything like that. But if you want to be successful as a boss, a smart strategy would be be kind to your employees. When do employees get to disobey their bosses? Is it when they disagree whether or not they should do an assignment in PowerPoint or Excel? No. Is it when they disagree on a matter? You know, no, it's when the boss asks them to sin. If the boss asks them to do wrong, then they disobey. Why? Because that law is above what their boss says. If the boss says, I want you to lie and pretend something and say something that's not true because our company will make more money, and this is a real example. This is something that will happen sometimes. Hey, can you just change the numbers there a little bit? Just make it look like it's 5% instead of 6% and come up with a smooth way to explain it because it's going to help save the company a lot of money. That's dishonest. And in that situation, you should disobey your boss. Now, hopefully you don't have a boss that's like that. But if you're in the situation where your boss is asking you to commit a sin, well, you should disobey. Why? God's law is above what your boss says. Now turn in your Bible to 1 Timothy 3, 1 Timothy chapter 3. So in the Bible, in Ephesians 5, what you have is three different situations of authority. You have parents with children, you have husbands with wives, you have bosses with servants or masters with servants, the boss, the husband, the father is supposed to show love and care about those people, and the servant, the wife, the child is supposed to obey and only disobey if they're asked to commit a sin or do wrong. Now those are three examples, but there are two other examples of authority structure I want to mention. There are three mentioned in that passage from Ephesians 5, 21 to Ephesians 6, 9, but there are a couple other ones. Another one is with pastors and church members. Church members are to obey their pastors at church, okay? Now I want you to realize something. I am not the pastor of this church. This is something I say from time to time. I am running this church underneath the authority of Pastor Roger Jimenez in Sacramento, California. And so when it comes to making the rules, I don't make up the rules here. When it comes to final decisions, Pastor Jimenez has the final decision. Now he doesn't really care whether we buy 70 pandesal or 80 pandesal in the morning. I don't bug him with small issues, okay? But when it comes to big issues, mark my word, any major big issue that's determined here, I don't make the final decision on that. It's something I consult with Pastor Jimenez about. I don't have the authority to do that, okay? Because I'm running this underneath his authority, and every single week I report to him about how things are going and things such as that. So church members are to obey their pastors, but realize I'm kind of sent here to kind of run this church. Now I want you to realize when it comes to this authority structure, my authority is inside of this church alone. My authority is not at your personal home, right? I'm not going to tell your wife how to dress. I'm not going to tell her, you know what, I don't want you to wear yellow to church. I want you to wear blue to church, right? I don't have that sort of authority. There's authority given for church leaders inside of the church, but you don't go outside of that scope. And I'll explain that here in a second. First Timothy three, verse one. First Timothy three, verse one. This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. So being a pastor or bishop, it's a good work you desire. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given a wine, no striker, not greedy a filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. See one of the things about being a pastor is this, you have a couple areas of experience with an authority structure, as the husband over the wife and as a parent over the children. So you have experience before you become a pastor and you have the authority over the church members. Does that make sense? It's not just one area. The household is one thing, but there's the husband to wife relationship. There's the father to children relationship. And the Bible's saying you have some experience with an authority structure. Doesn't it make sense why God does things the way he does them? Doesn't it make sense where he says, you know what, you need to be married and have kids first. Why? Because you learn lessons. When you get married, you learn lessons about laying down your life. Because look, as the church leader, you got to lay down your life for the members. You're not self-willed. That's what the Bible says. You care about the members more than yourself. And you learn that by being married because you care about your wife more than yourself. You care about your children more than yourself. And so look, it makes sense why God says you're not a pastor if you don't have any kids, if you're not married. Why? You need experience. Okay? And so it says, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? If you don't have experience ruling your own house, you cannot take care of the church of God, the Bible says. Now what I am here at this church is I'm the evangelist running this on behalf of Pastor Jimenez. You know, most people know this, but not everybody. But you know, I moved to Sacramento, California to be trained for the ministry at Verity Baptist Church. And I actually worked for Verity Baptist Church. I still work for Verity Baptist Church outside of what we do here, just in terms of the accounting, making soul-winning maps and a lot of different assignments. So my secular job in terms of how I make money is not through this church, it's actually through Verity Baptist Church and the work I do every single week. Okay? I'll talk about that more here in several weeks, you know, give you kind of more information about that. But what I want you to realize is this, you know, I worked for that church for several years and everything. Pastor Jimenez knows me pretty well. I know him pretty well. It's kind of like with a servant with Boaz. The servant knows what Boaz wants. I know what Pastor Jimenez wants in general. When I give him weekly reports, I know the things he wants to hear. I know the things that he cares about. I know things that aren't that important to him. I'm not going to bug him with a hundred things every week. It's like, I got this decision and this and this and this and this and this. And look, when you're in the working force, you need to become independent. Right? I mean, your boss can't come to you every five minutes and say, all right, little Johnny, let me help you with this too. All right. This is how you do a VLOOKUP function. This is how you do this. No, you got to learn how to do it on your own. Otherwise you're not going to be a good employee because your job as an employee is what? What's your purpose? To make the company money. That's why you're there. And if the boss has to spend all his time on you, you're not a good employee. Right? So, what I want you to realize is I know Pastor Jimenez pretty well, so I know the general things that he wants. So this church was started. Obviously I'm not some random person Pastor Jimenez doesn't know. So he can trust me to run this church and he's given me authority in terms of this church. Okay. And also our church in Pampanga. First Peter five. First Peter five. First Peter five. You say, Brother Stuckey, is there anything wrong with that? What would there be anything wrong with a manager hiring an assistant manager to run things while they're working on other assignments? I mean, that's logical, right? You pick someone that you trust and say, well, this person I'm going to give in trust of this situation. Because look, obviously Pastor Jimenez is, you know, he lives a long ways from here. Right? He doesn't care for every single situation, but he trusts me with running the things at this church. Okay. So in a way, although I'm not the pastor of this church, in many ways I operate like the pastor because most of the decisions around here I make on my own, I don't have to consult with Pastor Jimenez. You say, well, how does an authority work with people that are underneath that authority? Those that are underneath their authority are to obey the authority unless the authority asks them to do wrong. First Peter five, verse one. The elders which are among you, I exhort whom also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God, which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. And the Bible says, you know what, if you're the one who's the elder or the pastor running the church, you need to be feeding the flock. What does that mean? It's not referring to pandesala in the mornings. It's referring to teaching the world to be a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Teaching the word of God. That's your job if you're running a church. It ought to be that if you're at a church, you can say, I learned something every week. I learned something with the sermons. I've been at many churches where I know ahead of time, I'm not going to learn anything today, but I'm going to just going to obey God and go to church and everything. And look, that's sad. You ought to be able to walk in church and say, you know what? I want to be at church. I'm going to learn something. I'm going to learn something new. I'm going to understand the Bible and look, that's the way most people feel around here. You come to church and you know, I'm going to learn something, right? That is the way it ought to be. Feed the flock of God, which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not from filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Verse three, neither as being Lords over God's heritage, but being in examples to the flock. And see, the Bible says this, don't be a Lord over God's heritage. What that means is I don't go outside of my scope and make decisions that are outside of my bounds, right? What it means is this, if we have a ministry run here at church, then you ought to obey the things that I say, right? But I don't go to your home and say, you know what? I don't like you eating at Jollibee. You know, you know, I'm not a fan of Jollibee. Now when it comes to my household, if my wife wants to buy Jollibee, I might say, no, I don't want Jollibee. I want Mangy Nisal, all right? But you know, I don't make the decisions for the food you eat and the clothes you wear. And look, I preach sermons, but I don't have the authority to tell you, you know, well, you know, you've got to wear this and this. No, you make those decisions based on the preaching of God's Word. But when it comes to something that's a ministry at the church or something we run, for example, you know, on Saturdays, I'm not in Metromenilla. I'm in Pampanga running that church plant, right? And so there's various people that are left here running the soul winning ministry and things like that. And they're going to do it. And they're going to try to just obey the things that I say. You say why? Because they understand there's an authority structure. That's the way it works. Inside of a church, that is one authority structure where there's the leader of the church and the people at the church are supposed to obey as long as it pertains to the church. If it does not pertain to the church and it's at your home or outside that scope, well, then you wouldn't have to obey, okay? Now I will say this. We'll talk about this more, you know, in a month when I preach a sermon on volunteering. If somebody's volunteering, I try not to ask too much from them. Because they're volunteering. They're making a free will choice that they want to help out the church. But you know what? When someone's volunteering, I can't ask too much from someone that's volunteering. But the authority structure that is given is this. At a church, the person running the church has the authority. The people at the church are supposed to obey that. For example, when it comes to the music that we sing on Sunday mornings, the guys, you know, let me know what they're going to sing. And there are some times you could ask Brother Marlon. Sometimes I say, you know what? I don't want you singing that song. I say it in a nice way or whatever, but I say, you know, that's a dumb song. I know you're going to screw up that song. No, I'm just kidding. No, I mean, sometimes I say, you know what? I think that this song will fit well with my sermon, right? Sometimes I say, hey, I want you to sing these couple songs that's going to fit well with a sermon. So when it comes to things that we run around here, obviously, you know, I make, you know, the rules on stuff like that. But there is a boundary that you should not overstep if you're the leader. And if you overstep that bounds, the result is going to be the members are going to think you're a jerk because you are a jerk. And look, there are a lot of Baptist church. I'm not preaching against the Baptist churches here, but here's the thing. There are a lot of Baptist churches here in the Philippines where the pastors go way overboard and they try to run people's personal lives. I've been to a church before where the pastor said, you know what? Every decision you make, you should run by the pastor first. So if you want to buy a car, you should call me to get approval on the car that you want to buy. Now look, that has nothing to do with this church. And look, you might make decisions in life I don't agree with, but you know what? I don't have the authority to make those decisions for you. My job is to preach the word of God and feed the flock of God. And based on what you learn at church and your Bible reading, you make decisions in your own life. Okay. When do you disobey? When I ask you to commit a sin or do something wrong. Right? I mean, if we had a soul winning time and I said, you know what, instead of just, you know, counting the people that you know got saved, let's just count anybody who might have gotten saved. That would be wrong to do, wouldn't it? Like if you preach to 10 people, even if you only confirm two salvation, I want you to count all 10. That would be dishonest of me, wouldn't it? Including unborn children. Count the babies in the womb. We want to get those numbers up. It's going to increase our donations. That would be dishonest, wouldn't it? And look, there are churches where sometimes they ask you to do things that are dishonest. Okay. Now go to Romans 13. Romans 13. All of that was introduction. Now we don't have much time left, but honestly, all of that was introduction to the point I'm trying to make. Okay. We talked about parents with children. Children are to obey their parents unless the parents ask them to do wrong. This is the way authority structure works. Parents are supposed to love their children. Wives are supposed to obey their husbands unless the husbands ask them to do something wrong. Husbands are supposed to love their wives and care for them. Employees are supposed to obey their bosses unless their bosses ask them to do something wrong and the bosses are supposed to show love and care for their employees. When it comes to a church, the pastor, the one running the church, you know what? You are to listen to the person running the church as long as it pertains to the church unless I ask you to do something wrong, okay? But I'm supposed to show that I actually care about the members. The last one is government with people. Government with people. Authority structure, this is how it works throughout the Bible. You say, how does government work with people? And I'll show this to you from the Bible. Look, we are supposed to obey our government unless they ask us to do wrong. That is what the Bible, and that's not a popular teaching in today's world, but that is what the Bible teaches. We are supposed, now here's the thing, the government is supposed to care about the people. Now we know they're not doing their end of the bargain. There's no question about that. That does not change. And look, there's a lot of parents that, you know what? They're not doing a great job with their children. That doesn't change. In fact, children are supposed to obey their parents unless the parents ask them to do wrong. Verse 13, verse 1, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. See, God set up authority structure, and one authority structure he set up was government with people. Now no authority always makes the right choices. Isn't that true? Don't parents make the wrong choice with their kids sometimes? Don't husbands make the wrong choice with their wives sometimes? All bosses sometimes make mistakes. That doesn't change. In fact, it's an authority structure that God has set up. Verse 2, whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist shall receive themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. So here's the thing, rulers are not to be a terror to good works. You should not be afraid of the government. Now unfortunately, most governments are not doing their job. So the result is that the people that live there, they are afraid of their governments. They're afraid of making an honest mistake and getting in big trouble when they're not trying to do something wicked or whatever. But in verse 3, the Bible is saying the reason why you should obey is because rulers, they're not supposed to be a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. It's saying when there's a rule or something that the government says, you know what? We should just obey. We should just do what it says. Now there are a lot of laws, most laws in our government we agree with. Isn't that true? I mean, murder is against the law, stealing is against the law. Most of the laws are actually good laws. Now there are a lot of laws I don't agree with that I don't think line up with the Bible, things that I wouldn't make if I was the one running the show, but I'm not the one running the show. I just live here, right? So look, obviously there are a lot of rules we agree with. Not committing murder, not stealing, and then there's some rules that maybe they're not a sin, but maybe they're just kind of don't make much sense. They're kind of bobo. Are there a lot of laws like that? Absolutely. There's plenty of laws like that. But if the government's not asking you to sin, you are to obey what the government says. Why? That's the authority structure God has set up. This is the way authority works in the Bible. I mean, when should my son obey what I say? When he agrees with me or whenever I tell him to do something. Whenever I tell him to do something. That is the way it works. Now, does my son always agree with me? No, but he should obey me unless I'm asking him to commit a sin. Verse four, for he is the minister of God to thee for good, but if thou do that which is evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword in vain. For he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. So the Bible's saying here in verse four that when it comes to the government, when it comes to those higher powers, you know, they are meant to be helpful for us. And the Bible's saying that if we disobey their rules, they beareth not the sword in vain. Now, here's the thing. Government's authority that they're given is to basically punish evildoers. They have a very limited scope of authority, and unfortunately, they go way above their scope of authority in every country around the world, okay? We understand that, but we are to obey their rules unless they're asking us to do what's wrong. Why? That's the way it works with authority. That's the way it works with when you're underneath in authority, okay? Verse five, wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake. So in verse five, you from your conscience should say, I want to obey. I want to do what's right. That should be your natural attitude, okay? Verse six, for for this cause pay ye tribute also, for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing. Verse seven, render therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor, okay? When it comes to government, they take taxes from you. That's something it says in verse number seven. Now in the Bible, did Jesus pay taxes? Yes he did. Did Jesus say, I agree with having to pay taxes? No, he said he disagreed, but he paid taxes anyway. You know, when you pay taxes in the US, your taxes are going to abort babies to promote the LGBT and a lot of things that we don't agree with, but Jesus paid taxes and he was in the Roman Empire. Did the Roman Empire do a lot of things that we would disagree with as Bible believing Christians? Absolutely, but that's the authority that you're in. You're supposed to obey the authority when they cause tribute upon you and you're supposed to pay taxes, okay? Now let me say this, when it comes to government, I am not going to claim that I always follow the government perfectly, right? But I am saying, biblically speaking, we should obey unless they ask us to commit a sin and that goes down to even having a speed limit, right? Now I don't drive here, you know, I drove in the US, but you know, yeah, we are supposed to obey things like that. Now is it the worst sin in the world if you go above the speed limit? I don't think so, but we're still supposed to obey the authority when they tell us to do something. Why? That is God's authority structure in the Bible. And look, I get it, this is not popular preaching, why? Because governments make a lot of dumb rules and we don't always want to follow what they say, but this is what the Bible actually teaches, okay? Now turn in your Bible to Daniel 3 real quickly, we'll close up. Daniel chapter 3, Daniel 3. Now look, when it comes to disobeying authority, I understand there can be some gray area situations, especially with a church, when the government infringes upon the rights of a church. There's definitely a line that we're not going to cross, but then there's some other things where we say, you know what, it's not worth that fight. For example, when they said that there's a curfew at 8 p.m., we'll just move the church services up a couple hours. Why? Well, because we don't want to break their curfew, right? That's why we changed to having 5 p.m. church service at Wednesday, why? Well, because we're not going to just try to intentionally fight the government, right? They set up a curfew, we say we'll move it up so people have time to get home and stuff like that. It's not worth causing a big issue over, okay? Daniel chapter 3, Daniel 3. And just drop down to verse 16 for sake of time, verse 16, verse 16. It says in Daniel 3, verse 16, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. What they say is this, we're not scared, we're not taking caution with answering you, they're asking them to bow before an idol. Nebuchadnezzar says, I want you to bow down before an idol of me. Now what would happen if the Catholic church developed a lot of power in this country and they required us, if you drive by Kiapo, you must stop and bow down to the idols. Should we do that as Christians? Absolutely not. Why? It's a sin. It's wrong, right? If the Catholic church was requiring us to go to the Feast of the Black Nazarene and worship, you know, that morbid statue of Jesus, well, we should disobey that. Why? I mean, it's idolatry. You know, it's wickedness, okay? That's what they're asking them to do in verse 16. Verse 17, if it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. And they say, you know what, we're going to disobey you in this situation and we believe God's going to deliver us. But even if he does not deliver us, we're not going to bow. We're not going to bow down before an idol, okay? Now I want you to understand, there can be some gray area situations. Let's say, for example, the government said, we want everybody in the Philippines to wear a red shirt tomorrow. Guess what? I don't think they should make that rule, but I'm going to wear a red shirt, right? Now if they said, we want everybody to wear a rainbow shirt, that's probably something where I would disobey because I would feel like I was, I mean, there could be some gray area situation, but I probably be like, you know what, that's no, because I would feel like I'm supporting the LGBT, okay? I understand there can be some gray area situations, but I want you to realize, for the most part, most of the government's rules in general are actually helpful to us. I mean, they do actually protect us from bad people. Now do they make some bad rules? Well, of course they make some bad rules. But you know, every authority makes some bad rules. I can say honestly that as a father, I make rules sometimes that honestly aren't the right rules for my kids. I make decisions sometimes that are wrong. When it comes to me having a wife, sometimes I make decisions that are wrong. When it comes to me running this church, I've made plenty of mistakes. You make mistakes in the authority situation, but that does not change the fact that servant, because here's the thing, we looked at all of those issues, those situations of authority and Baptists will pound the pulp and say, hey, you're supposed to obey your husbands. You're supposed to obey your parents. Obey the government when you want to. Isn't that what people say? Does that fit with authority structure in the Bible? No it doesn't. I want you to realize this because, you know, especially over the last year, governments around the world have gone way above their scope of authority biblically. And I understand they can get to the point where you say, you know what, I'm not going to follow all this. And look, I understand that. I've been to that point as well. But the general rule in the Bible is that we are to obey the government unless they ask us to do wrong. You say why? That is the way the authority structure works in the Bible. Every single example. And if you disagree with what I'm saying, I'd encourage you to read Ephesians five and six. I'd encourage you to read First Timothy three when it talks about elders or bishops. I'd encourage you to read Romans 13 without preconceived ideas. And what you're going to find is, you know what, we are supposed to obey the higher powers. The only exception to that is when they ask us to commit sin. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today. And I ask you to help us apply this sermon to our lives. I know this is more of a Bible study sort of sermon, and I know it's kind of a controversial topic. Obviously, we understand that governments are not perfect and they make decisions we don't always agree with. And I'm not going to claim that I always follow the government perfectly. I'm not going to claim I never break some of the rules sometimes that maybe don't seem like the greatest rules. But this is what the Bible teaches on this topic, that we are supposed to obey authority in any situation where we are underneath an authority. We're supposed to obey the authority unless they ask us to commit a sin. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.