For I too am a Man Under Authority

It was an amazing statement of faith. It was an appeal and an observation. “I too am a man under authority.” (Matthew 8:9) The centurion was beseeching the kind intercession of the Savior to save the life of his child. In the midst of his pleading with Christ he makes a comparison between himself and Christ. He acknowledges that he is a soldier under the authority of Rome with soldiers placed under his authority. However, what is striking is that the centurion recognizes that Christ is also under someone else’s authority. Christ came not to do His own will but the will of His Father. The centurion saw it for what it was and made that the basis of his request.

As a pastor, I too am a man under authority. There are several different layers of accountability in my life. First, there are my fellow elders. Most importantly, they hold me accountable to living a godly life that is worthy of emulation. Nothing is more important than a man’s walk with God. They also hold me accountable for achieving the goals of the Lord in preaching and teaching on a weekly basis.

Secondly, there is my church. The church congregation, though comprised of many members, holds me accountable as a single entity. The church congregation is the body of Christ, and is charged with the responsibility of seeing Christ’s interests advanced on this earth. They hold me accountable to helping the church achieve those interests in our community and within the church.

Lastly, I am also accountable as a missionary to my mission board, my home sending church in Texas, and hundreds of financial supporters back in the States that support me. You see, I am not only a pastor. I am also a missionary. I was commissioned by Cedar Heights Baptist Church, a church in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas, to come to Kamloops with the express purpose of preaching the Gospel here in the interior of BC, starting churches in the cities of this region, and advancing the Kingdom of Christ by making disciples. Cedar Heights Baptist Church commissioned me as a missionary. This means that I am sent with their blessing, their approval, their recommendation, and their financial assistance. I am required to give an account on a monthly basis of what is happening, and what is being done with the money that they send to support me. There is no contractual agreement between me and my supporters. In the event that they don’t like what they read one month in one of my newsletters – they can pull the plug on my funding.

I also function under the oversight of the North American Mission Board, the church planting and evangelizing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. I am an official missionary with an official sending church, working under the guidance of an official Missions Agency. With the approval of a local church, the funding of hundreds of individual brothers and sisters in Christ, and the guidance and oversight of an official Mission Board –I too am a man under authority.

Wouldn’t it just be easier to go rogue and do it alone? It depends on what you mean by the expression, ‘easier?’ There is something fundamentally flawed in our hearts and minds today when we think that something is ‘easier’ when it involves less people and less headache. Have you ever stopped to consider that the involvement of multiple layers of people with multiple layers of accountability is a God given safety net? Have you ever considered that dealing with these individuals on a regular basis helps a man work out patience and long-suffering as his God continues to work in him and through his circumstances for his sanctification? Have you ever considered that God is more concerned with your personal holiness than He is with it being ‘easier?’

At the end of the day if you find yourself a little free from accountability to others then you need to ask yourself a question: how will I grow and conform more and more into the image of Christ without accountability? You see, Jesus was a man under authority. If you, dear brother, are striving to be a man after God’s own heart, a man forged into the image of Christ – then how will you do this without deliberately holding yourself accountable to a higher authority than yourself?