Submission to authority is something that is not well received in our society today.  We all want to have authority, but few want to submit to it. The idea that we should do something just because someone says so is difficult for us. We just do not like to be told what to do.

If you struggle with authority, you are going to struggle with being a Christian because Christianity demands submission to authority.

We are commanded to submit to the laws of the land.  As long as those laws do not conflict with the Bible, it does not matter who the rulers are, we must obey them.  Paul lived in a day when the rulers were ungodly, unscrupulous men, some of whom demanded to be viewed as divine.  Still, Paul instructed saints to obey them.

Romans 13:1-2 (ESV)
¹  Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. ²  Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

We are commanded to obey the elders in the local church of which we are members.  Elders have delegated authority by Christ, the head of the church, with which they are to lead God’s people.  Paul told the elders of the church in Ephesus to pay attention to themselves and the flock over which the Holy Spirit had made them overseers (Acts 20:28).

The Greek word for overseers is epískopos and is usually translated as “bishop,” a different term that still refers to an elder.  Here is what the Complete Word Study Dictionary says about these terms: “…an elder denotes the dignity of the office, and epískopos, bishop or overseer, denotes its authority and duties.”  The elders of a local church, then, are to be obeyed.  

Hebrews 13:17 (ESV)
¹⁷  Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Wives are to submit to their own husbands.  I know this is an unpopular subject in the world, but it is a Bible truth, meaning it is the will of God.

Ephesians 5:25 (ESV)
²⁵  Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

These examples show us that submitting to authority is an everyday demand to those of us in Christ.  To refuse to obey those who have God-given authority over us is to be in a state of rebellion, not only against those in authority, but against God Himself, who gave them authority in the first place.

Yes, man has trouble with obedience, but let us not allow it to be so with those of us in Christ.  Our lives must be characterized by obedience, first to God, and then to those He has placed over us.  If we refuse to obey, it is a sign of a bad heart condition that needs rectifying sooner rather than later.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.