Transcription
[Music] The message is something you've all been waiting so long to hear about, and that's on paying your taxes. So, Romans chapter 13. Romans 13. And actually, the title of the message is, "Why Christians Should Respect Those in Authority." And this really, honestly, is a very, very relevant message for us. In fact, I think you could say it is very counter-cultural.
So, in the 1960s, there was a controversial psychologist who was advocating many things, among them that everybody tried dropping some LSD. His name was Timothy Leary, and he coined the phrase, "Question Authority." And that really became the motto and the mantra of the baby boom generation. And honestly, I think it's at the core and at the root of what has morphed into what we are seeing in our culture today, where we've gone from questioning authority to a complete disrespect for authority, especially political authorities. So that if people disagree with a leader, they not only feel they have no obligation to respect or honor the leader or obey them, but in fact, they feel that they have license to denigrate and attack the leader.
Romans chapter 13 deals specifically with this issue. As we come to verses 1 through 7, it's not complicated. You could read the verses and walk away with a fairly good understanding of what Paul is talking about. But especially, it is a good reminder that regardless of our political beliefs or our political preferences, we have a responsibility to honor those who are in authority in government. I'm not just talking about the president, our senators, our representatives, our judiciary, our governors, our commissioners, our councilmen, but I'm talking about those who work and are employed by the government, law enforcement, those who are serving in a variety of ways, whether it's on the highway department, or whether it's firemen, EMTs, people that are serving in various capacities within the government, that we honor them.
As we look at it, what I want to do is I want to divide our thoughts up into three areas. First of all, the authority of government. What is the authority of government? Let's look at it. Romans chapter 13, verse 1. "Let every person." So, right up front, Paul says, "Everybody." You say, "But you know what? I've had this encounter with a plea." And listen, "Every person." You say, "But you know, I don't, I don't agree." And the reason why, "Let every person be subject to governing authorities." That word "subject to" is a word in the Greek, *hypotasso*. So, it is primarily a military term, and it means to line up under. It's like you're under a commanding officer. If you're in the military, then you know that in boot camp, from the minute that DI gets in your face, you're taught to respect authority. You're taught to come under the one in authority. You're taught to honor authority, to those who have higher rank than you, to those who are over you. That's the idea that Paul is giving us here, that every single one of us, every person, should come under the authority of, should submit to the rank of the governing authorities.
Would you notice that as he goes on? "For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God." You might expect Paul to say, "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities as long as they honor Christ, as long as they're doing good, as long as they are honorable, as long as they're worthy of respect." Which, you notice, there's no qualifiers there's no caveats. It doesn't say, "Be subject if they're good, or don't be subject if they're bad." The text makes no distinction between good authorities, bad authorities, moral ones, immoral ones. That authority can be a Democrat or a dictator. They could be a communist or a king. They could be a Republican or a revolutionary. And Paul says, "Be subject to governing authorities."
This is not unique to Romans, though. Let me just say, as Paul is writing this to the Romans, the emperor at that time is none other than Nero. Maybe you don't know about Nero. And I would suggest, of course, not while I'm preaching, because I know you would never Google anything while I was preaching, but maybe when the sermon's done, make a note, after John's done preaching, Google Nero. And you can read some of the atrocities, some of the craziness that was a part. And Paul is saying, "Be subject to governing authorities." Very, very interesting. He says something similar in Titus. He says, "Remind believers to submit to the government and its officers." Who put also come under them, fall in line with, line up under. He says they should be obedient, always ready to do what is good. Peter, as well, writing during the reign of Nero, says, "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among." And every authority instituted among men. We're not just talking about spiritual authority that would be given. We're talking about governmental authority, whether to the king, you can put Nero in there as the supreme authority, or to governors. We're to submit to authority.
You say, "Well, is there, is there ever an exception to that?" Well, certainly the Bible does give some exceptions where people did not follow the directive of the ruler. One example would be Exodus chapter 1. And you'll see a pattern as to why they didn't. In Exodus chapter 1, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had decreed that all of the Hebrew male infants were to be killed upon their birth. And Jochebed and Amram did not listen to Pharaoh, but protected their baby, who incidentally was later known as Moses. You can read in Daniel chapter 3 about three of Daniel's friends. Their names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Babylonians, had erected a large idol and had told everybody, "Listen, you need to worship this idol, this image. And when you hear the sound of the instruments, everybody falls down. And if you don't, you'll be killed." And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to obey that directive. You could read in Daniel chapter 6. And you have Daniel, where the king at that time has directed that no one for thirty days was to pray to any king, any God, any manner, except the king of empire. And Daniel, that godly Daniel, went to his room as he had been doing all of his life, and he knelt down and he prayed. Because he did that three times a day, and he was arrested and thrown in the lion's den. He disobeyed the king's directive.
Probably the most well-known would be Acts chapter 4, where you have the Apostles Peter and John. They're appearing before the Jewish Supreme Court, the Sanhedrin. And they called the Apostles, that is, the Supreme Court called them back in and commanded them, "Never again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus." Peter and John replied, "Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than Him?" That's the issue. When civil authorities ask us to obey them rather than God, either to do what God has commanded us not to do, or not to do what God has commanded us to do, then we have not only the right, but the responsibility to stay true to God. They said, "We can't stop telling about everything we've seen and we've heard. We cannot listen to you. We will disobey you." But outside of those moments, we are not called to be subversive. We're not called to be revolutionary in terms of government. We're called to obey government.
And here's why. Look at it in Romans 13, verse 1. "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities." Why? "For there is no authority except from God." All authority comes from God. That is why you and I have to be very, very careful that we acknowledge the authority that is placed over us. And everybody in life does better under authority. We have to recognize that that governmental leader is there representing God's authority, placed there by God. That that person, that supervisor, that manager, that boss, that owner of the business you're working for, them, they're in authority. You've got to honor their authority. You're in school, you're a student, you've got to honor the authority of that teacher, of that professor, of that principal, of that administrator. They're in authority. If you're a child living at home, and I would suggest there is a place for honoring the authority of a parent for all of your life, that you honor your parents because they have an authority that is not theirs alone, but is created by God. And not to honor that authority is not to honor God. In fact, can I just say this? That if, if you don't learn to come under authority, it will be impossible for you to walk with God, because He is the authority. We, we walk with Him by honoring His authority, by recognizing His authority. Parents, one of the great lessons you'll ever teach your children is to teach them to respond not only to your authority, but to the authority of the school. You err if you undercut the school's authority. You err if you undercut the pastor's authority. You err if you're always going in and you're defending your child at the expense of authority. It's a mistake, because if you don't teach your child to respect authority, they won't respect God, because it is linked together.
Paul goes on to say this, "And those that exist have been instituted by God." Parents are given authority by God. "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right," is what the Bible says over and over again. Civil authorities have an authority that's instituted by God. It's not just them. The structures of society or of the church are created by God, and we err if we violate them. Everybody needs to have, we all do better if we're under authority. Honestly, everybody.
You say, "Well, what about you?" Let me just talk about me. We have the Southern Missouri District of the Assemblies of God. I have a district superintendent, and I'm under his authority. You say, "Well, how does that work? You got the biggest church. What's he gonna tell you?" You'd be surprised. Let's just tell you a story. So, we're at the time, we're back at Evans Road at the Southwood campus. And as we're there, the church's grown. The county has told us we can't expand anymore at that location. And so I've been praying about it and seeking the Lord about it. And at the time, like, the James River Expressway stopped at Kansas Expressway. So they hadn't yet paved it going out west. And so it was obvious that at some point, at the west bypass and the James River Expressway, that that would eventually be a significant interchange. And so I thought, "What a perfect place for a church." This would have been back in 1995. So I go to the district superintendent and I ask for a meeting with him. I take him out to lunch. I can remember like it was yesterday. We're sitting at Olive Garden. He's a godly man. And so I go to him and I say, "Hey, listen, have you ever thought about, you know, buying that land there? Because someday that's gonna be a great, a great location for a church, and give you visibility." And he's like, "You know, we, we don't really speculate on land." And I was thinking, "Jehovah Jireh, that's the answer I wanted, because you don't, and we will, we'll put a church there." I mean, that's kind of how I was thinking. I was just very excited. And so I will tell you what I'd like to do. We're out of space. County says we can't expand. And I'd like your permission to take the church and split the church in half, and I'll take half the people and go over on the west side of town and buy land right there and start another, start a new campus. They wouldn't let us have multi-site back then. And so I would just start another church. And I explained it all to him. And he said, "What would you let me pray about that? I'd like to pray about that, if I could." And I was like, "Sure, you know." And I'm feeling really great about that because if he, because I have already prayed, and if I pray and he prays, obviously he's gonna hear what I've heard, because, you know, it's all gonna work together, it's gonna be awesome. So I'm like, "Sure."
So two weeks later, he, we get together, and he says, "Brother Lindell." And let me just tell you, whenever they say, "Brother" or "Sister," you know it's not gonna be good. I'm just telling ya. It's not. So anyways, like, "Brother Lindell, I've prayed about it, and I don't believe that's God's will." And I just, I can remember my heart sinking. And he said, "You know, you may not know this, but there have been several people praying for years for the Assemblies of God to have a mega church in Springfield. We believe you're the answer to those prayers. And I don't want you to split the church. I want you to build a mega church." And my first response was, I mean, I was thinking, "You have got to be kidding me." My first response to him was, "Jeez, how much that would cost?" I mean, amen. Anybody who thinks we intended to do this, I mean, you don't understand. We, we, it was not what we even wanted to do. And as he said, "You know, my experience has been, whenever the Lord is in it, money is not the problem." And I was like, "Well, that's easy." I mean, I didn't say that, but I was thinking, "Well, that's easy for you to say." I mean, hear what I'm saying? Here's what I want to tell you on this. A lot of people will submit to authority as long as they agree with the person in authority over them. But as soon as they don't agree, then they don't want to submit. But if you only are willing to submit to authority when you agree with the authority, you never really submitted to authority. You know? So what I had to do is I had to get a hold of myself. First of all, there's an arrogance in me. And as I tell the story, and a bit of shame, because you can sense there's an arrogance in me to think that somehow I would know more than somebody who was older in the Lord than me. Second, that somehow what he would think after praying could be wrong, just because I had prayed. It took me, I'm gonna be honest, it took me about a week to work through it. But the next week after that, I began looking for land. And within a month, we'd made an offer on this land. And the rest, as they say, is history. I'm just simply saying that if I had not listened to authority, would we be here today? The answer's no. Would we even have, would we know what we know today? The answer is no. The fact of the matter is, by listening to authority and respecting authority and operating under authority, God did what I couldn't see. And because I honored those who are over me in the Lord, God has honored me and honored us. That's the way authority works. You honor your parents, and the Bible says that your days may be long on the earth, that God will honor you. You honor that person who's in authority over you, and God will honor you, because when you recognize their authority as His authority. So if I honor them, I'm honoring Him. God honors people who honor Him. It's important for us to understand that that authority comes from God. Those that exist have been instituted by God.
Now, I'm gonna, I'm gonna give you this, because for me, as well, it's, it's a bit of a conundrum. When you read that phrase, "Those that exist," so the authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Is it, well, John, in a practical sense, then, are you saying that dictators and oppressive governments are instituted by God? I didn't say that. The Bible did. That. I didn't, I mean, there's no tyrant who has seized power without God allowing him to. And let me add this: while all government is of God, that does not mean that the cruelty of some of those governments is a reflection of His will. The church, for example, is ordained by God, but that doesn't mean when you have an apostate church or evil leadership in the church, that God wanted it that way. So we could say then, God has ordained the institution, but doesn't necessarily endorse the practices of the leaders of those institutions. And yet, at the same time, and this is where the mystery intensifies, God can use a leader to either bless or judge a people. For example, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Babylonians, one of the great empires of the Old Testament. God used the Babylonians to judge the land of Judah for their rebellion regarding idolatry. And to that end, when you read in Jeremiah chapter 27, God's speaking here, says, "Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant." Very, very interesting. Then he would call him his servant. And yet, here is this wicked king. And I want you to see this, because Daniel is going to work under that wicked king. Daniel is gonna respect that wicked king's place as king. He's gonna honor that wicked king as king without compromising his testimony. And that wicked king is gonna become a believer in the one true God. In fact, when you come to Daniel chapter 4, you have Nebuchadnezzar's testimony of how he came to a knowledge of the true God. And one of the statements he makes is, "So that everyone may know that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses." That is a significant statement. So significant that God repeats it not once, he repeats it not twice, he repeats it three times. Aside from this, four times. You have it in verse 17 of chapter 4. You have it in verse 25 of chapter 4. You have it in verse 32 of chapter 4. And you have it in verse 17 of chapter 5. It's repeated over and over and over again, because God wants us to get it into our heart that He is sovereign over the kingdoms of man, and He gives them to whomever He will. All authority comes from Him, and He is the one who establishes that authority.
Come to verse 2 of chapter 13. "Therefore," in other words, because God, every authority exists by God's power and He's established it, "whoever resists authorities resists what God has appointed." Now, listen. When you resist your parents, you're resisting God's authority in your life. And when you resist the person God has put over you in whatever capacity that might be, and the Holy Spirit will apply that to your life, you're resisting God and His purposes in your life. And again, if you have a problem with authority, a walk for God for you will be very, very difficult. You say, "Well, I'm just a rebel by nature." Then you need to stop it. You say, "Why?" Because the Bible says, "Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft." It says the sin of idolatry. It's like you've got a separate God. It's you and your will. And you can't, you can't serve God if you're not willing to recognize His authority first of all in your own life, and His authority as He administrates it through other people in your life. This is, oh, this is a really critical issue for every single believer and child of God.
Second, I want to talk about the administration of government. And Paul gives us four things the government does. First of all, government punishes evil. "Therefore, whoever resists authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment." What Paul is saying, God's not only established governmental authority, He has sanctioned its ability to adjudicate laws and to punish people when they violate laws. Look at it in verse 3. "For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who's in authority? Then do what is good, and you'll receive his approval." I mean, a part of what government does, even poor government, restrains evil. Even the worst governments, to some extent, put fear in the hearts of people who would seek to do evil. If a government is doing its job, then lawbreakers should be afraid. Look at it in verse 4. "But if you do wrong, be afraid. For he does not bear the sword in vain." Now, in a practical sense, some of you know exactly how this works, because when you're driving down the highway and people are with you, they all get whiplash when you see the patrolman parked on the side of the road, and you stop on the brake. And some of you know you really have gotten in a bad habit when you're going the speed limit and you still do it. It's an automatic reflex. "Be afraid, for he does not bear the sword." But in and the citation book in vain. But in a more serious way, the sword is the idea of lethal force. And we can at times be critical of people who have exercised lethal force, perhaps indiscriminately. But for the most part, we are grateful for the wise exercise and availability of lethal force to protect citizens, right? I mean, if somebody's got a car and they're gonna run through a crowd, you're grateful for lethal force to stop that person and save lives, correct? What he says here is, "He is the servant of God." This is, in essence, going to be three different times that Paul makes it very clear that not only is government instituted by God, but those in government who are employed by the government are operating as an agent of God. They are exercising God's authority. It's a very interesting concept. Therefore, if you're criticizing, and I'm not saying we can't ask questions, and I'm not saying that we can't go through due process, what I am saying is that it has to be in an attitude of respect and honor, where we would go, and we would, we would have a discussion, and we would honor people, and we would respect people, even when we disagree with people, why? Because they're a servant of God.
Now, this is, this is counter-cultural. If you turn on CNN or Fox or all the other vitriolic news programs, which are really not news, they're entertainment, and basically tabloid entertainment. I mean, for a lot of people, you could get off your blood pressure if you just turn off Fox and CNN. I mean, your go, go way down. These people are the servant of God. Barack Obama was the servant of God. Donald Trump was the servant of God. George W. Bush, the servant of God. William Jefferson Clinton, the servant of God. George Herbert Walker Bush, the servant of God. Ronald Wilson Reagan, the servant of God. James Earl Carter, the servant of God. Gerald W. Ford, the servant of God. Richard Nixon, the servant of God. Governor Greitens, the servant of God. Governor Parsons, the servant of God. Listen, I'm just saying, we've got to think this through and have a Christian perspective, not a partisan perspective. And too many of God's people have caught up in the spirit of the age and have forgotten that they are, they are to be citizens of heaven first, and citizens of the U.S. second, or whatever country you're from. This is important. He's a servant of God. And a venture, how do you like that for timing? "Who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer." Just like the Avengers do. Wow. Long before Marvel, God is the Avenger. Civilian government, then, is not just symbolic. It's not just a verbal threat. It has the power to take life.
Second, government promotes good. "For he is God's servant for your good." There it is again. I mean, when they're serving for our good, you say, "How's it for good?" That there might be peace, that there might be prosperity, that we might live godly and peaceable lives. First Timothy. That we might, you know, we might be the kind of people who, who lift up holy men's or their hands. I think it's Second Timothy chapter 2, where we're lifting up holy hands, we're praying for people, we're asking God to bless our country, bless our leaders, because honestly, the gospel can advance in many ways through peace and through the prosperity of that. So they're there to bless us. They promote good.
Third, government prompts conscience. "Therefore, one must be in subjection." In other words, you're going to come under, you're going to be subject to government, not only to avoid God's wrath. Now, listen. When the police officer gives you the ticket, and you were speeding, God is disciplining you. It's a new way to look at it, but that's what's happening. When you break the law and you are fined, and there is a penalty, God is. Don't be mad at them. They're doing their job. They're a servant of God. Say, "You know what? The Lord is disciplining me." You say, "If it, if you believe it's wrong, then hey, that's what the courts are for, and you can have your day in court." But again, you have your day in court with respect and with honor, and you recognize that that person is a servant of God. It will change how you view, how you talk, and how you think. Not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. In other words, I want to have a clear conscience. You want to have a clear conscience. The reason we're going to look at, moment about paying your taxes, you pay what you owe when you owe it, because you want to have a clear conscience. You obey the laws of the land because you want to have, if it's, if it's not right, if it's wrong, you don't do it, because you want to have a conscience that doesn't condemn you. Listen, this is, this is really important. A lot of people override their conscience. That's something you don't want to do as a believer. You don't want to violate your conscience. You don't want to sin against your conscience. Obey the laws of the land because it's a, it actually serves to train your conscience, to help you in a whole host of other areas, because if in one area you begin to violate your conscience, you can be sure it will affect you in other areas of your life. Paul says, "You know, you follow the leaders. You do it. You'll pay because you want to have a clear conscience."
And then fourth, and finally, he says, government passes taxes. And boy, don't we know that. "For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God." Now, this is interesting, because he said servants of God, servants of God. In fact, bring that, the verses up there so we can see it. "For He is God's servant, for He is the servant of God, for the authorities are ministers of God." It's, it's interesting. It's different in chapter 13, verse 6. And that word "ministers" is used of people who ministered in the temple. So almost like spiritual servants. It's also used of angels. You said, "So you're like telling me my IRS agent, as he's auditing me, is an angel?" Hey, let's not get carried away on this thing. I mean, but I'm just simply saying they have a God-ordained purpose. Verse 6, chapter 13. "For the same reason you pay taxes." We pay because God established a government. If you don't pay, you'll be punished. You pay because you want to have a clear conscience. And you pay to support those who are working for government, because they are doing God's work. And that's not an argument for big government or limited government. It's simply stating it. But I would say this, as I was preparing the message, you know, honestly, it's like this. A lot, not like my favorite topic in the whole world to preach on. But as I was preparing, I thought, "You know what? There's people here today who need to be challenged to be honest on your taxes, to pay your taxes." And all of us need to give thought to how we view and how we speak about those who serve in government, especially when they, when they say things and do things that we find may be fundamental disagreement with.
That leads us to the third thing: the acknowledgement of government. How do we acknowledge government? Well, first of all, we recognize it's from God, and and we support it with our taxes. But what I really want to focus is, we honor those who serve in government. Look at it in verse 7. "Pay to all what is owed to them." So Paul says, "Don't be a debtor. Give people what you owe them." This is interesting. Follow this. "Taxes to whom taxes are owed." If you owed taxes, pay taxes. "Revenue to whom revenue is owed." You say, "What's the difference between taxes and revenue?" Scholars feel this first one has to do with like personal tax, maybe income tax, property tax. This has to do with more generic, maybe, maybe sales tax. So the idea is, whatever you owe, you pay it. And you're not obligated to pay more than you owe, nor are you obligated to forgo deductions that diminish what you owe. But once you have followed the law, you're required to pay what you owe. But then watch this. "Respect to whom respect is owed." Can I just tell you, we owe respect to government officials. We owe it. It's a debt. You have before God that all of us have. Is that out of line? Matters stop, because you're dishonoring the Lord when you start saying, "I can't respect that person." Then what you're saying is, "I don't agree with the Bible." And you say, "Well, I didn't know the Bible said that." Well, now you know. That's why this is relevant for us. You may not agree with them, but you owe them respect. Why? Because they're God's servant. They're an authority because God establishes government, and He places people in government. This whole idea of, "He's not my president," is ridiculous and should never come out of a Christian's mouth. And I'm not an apologist for our president. I am an apologist for Scripture. We pray for our president. We respect our president, whether he's a or she is a Democrat, a Republican, a libertarian, a socialist, a communist, a fascist. I mean, we pray for them, and we respect them. And honor to whom honor is due. Would you notice? Honor is due. Respect is owed. It's the debt that you have. It's a debt that all of us have. So we respect them. We honor them because they hold an office that God has established, and exercise power that is the Lord's, and they're exercising it on behalf of the Lord. And though we may disagree with them, we honor them nonetheless, because in the end, it's not just about our political preferences. It's about our testimony for Christ. Listen to what Peter says. "Show proper respect to everyone." Everyone. And then he says, "Honor the king." We respect everyone. Now, and what happens when we do that? Look what Peter writes in verse 13. "For the Lord's sake, respect all human authority, whether the king is head of state." Listen, you may not agree with the current president, he's the head of state. Or you may not agree with the next president, they're the head of state. And the scriptural call is for us to remember, we're citizens of heaven first. And we'll respect all human authority, why? Because it's instituted by God. It comes from God. "Whether the king is head of state, or the officials he has appointed, for the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and honor those who do right." Now, watch what happens. "It is God's will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you." Here's what happens. You start, you start taking this, this is counter-cultural. You will stick out like a sore thumb, which is good. Because our country's become so divisive, I don't know that I buy into it's more divided than ever. I mean, you read some stories, there were people beating one another with canes and on the Senate floor. So it's, our country's had a pretty raucous history and government. But I'm simply saying, for Christians to become a part of that is ridiculous, and there's no place for it. What we need to do is we need to honor and respect. We need to guard our words and guard our heart. And when we do that, people are gonna notice. And they're gonna want an answer. "Why? Why are you like that?" "I know you don't, but I don't agree with her position, but he or she is our elected official, and I will respect and honor them because scripture clearly commands it." I'm not taking one scripture. You've seen that we've gone, we've gone all over the New Testament to establish the truth. So we honor them.
Let me, let me say this. Some of you have been hurt by authority, whether it's been parental authority, or it's been another authority, could be pastoral authority, or political authority. And so the whole idea of authority is a little difficult for you. Can I just caution you not to paint with one brush all authority because you've been hurt by somebody? That doesn't mean everybody's like that. And what we have to do is we have to walk in forgiveness. And we have to take to heart the scripture that we give respect to whom respect is owed. We give honor to whom honor is owed. And we know this, that ultimately, in doing that, who are we honoring above and before all else? In doing that, God. And if we honor God, He'll do what? He'll honor us. And I believe along the way, some of those people who maybe found it hard to respect them and hard to honor them, but we did it anyway, are gonna find Christ. You have to believe Daniel didn't like a lot of what Nebuchadnezzar did. You have to believe it was a struggle at times to respect and honor Nebuchadnezzar, but Daniel did. And when it was all said and done, Nebuchadnezzar, one of the most wicked kings to live in terms of violence perpetrated on people, became a believer in the one true God. That's the power of personally honoring those in authority over us. And again, the blessing. Sometimes those in authority over us, that we may not think they know more than us, they do. And they may see things, or God may simply be using them to say things to us that we need to hear for the direction of our lives. I promise you, if I didn't listen to those who are in authority over me, my life in James River would look radically different, and would be considerably less in terms of its experience of God's blessing. Honor, honor those in authority.