REAL-LIFE AUTHORITY

Obey your leaders and submit to them, since they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.

Pray for us, for we are convinced that we have a clear conscience, wanting to conduct ourselves honorably in everything. And I urge you all the more to pray that I may be restored to you very soon. —Hebrews 13:17-19 (CSB)

There’s a connection between

and human flourishing.

Authority is a

to serve those who sit beneath it.

COUNTERFEIT-AUTHORITY:

Cultural counterfeits to authority

God’s good design.

Today’s counterfeit to God’s design is

Reveal Answer

.

“To thine own self be true…” —Polonius

Compassion has been

through the poison of a “bad idea.”

The solution to bad authority is

authority rightly used.

Authority =

: originate, create, speak definitively on.

TO EXERCISE GOOD AUTHORITY…

1. Be
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   to those above you.
2. Aim to
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   Reveal Answer
   those below you.
3. Accept
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   from those around you.
4. Administer
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   when needed.
5. Assume
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   if things go wrong.
6. Admit your
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   for redeeming grace.

DISCUSS:

1. When you think of the word “authority” what comes to your mind? What cultural-counterfeits would you point to today?

2. The sermon outlines 6 principles for authority according to God’s design. Which one stands out most to you and why?

3. How do you see each of these attributes in the person and work of Christ. How can we look to Christ as an example without being crushed by the weight of our weakness?

4. Discuss the concept of “Expressive Individualism.” Where do you see this in our culture today? At home? At school? At church? How should Christians respond to it’s influence?

5. Talk about the relationship between authority and discipline. How do we find the sweet spot between the right motivation, the right methods and the overarching purpose?

6. How has submission to authority created flourishing in your own life? When the opposite was true, what kind of counterfeit authority was imposed?

APPLY:

1. Are you accountable? If so, write a note expressing gratitude for the role that person plays in your life?

2. Make an intentional plan to build-up and bless a person who is under your authority this week.

3. Make a deliberate effort to seek counsel from people who are under your authority this week. If in the workplace, consider a round of 360 meetings or process for getting that feedback.

4. Set an alarm to pray for those under your authority as you ask God for help to keep watch over their soul.