God has placed pastors to be in authority in the church.  That’s not an easy thing to tell people, especially in America.  It okay in other parts of the world that, for years, have been raised up under monarchies, but the thing about the American church is we were founded on rebellion.  Independence is just a natural way of life for man in general, and especially for those in the society that we’ve been raised in.  It’s very difficult for people who have not been able to experience the military or know how it works.  Some of us even grew up in households where our fathers were in charge.  No one questioned his authority.

There was a day when the authorities spoke, there was respect; for our teachers, for the police.  Workers recognize the authority of their employers.  None of us think we should go to a board meeting to give our opinions on how a corporation should be run.  It doesn’t even enter into our minds.  Anything secular is given credibility and obeyed if not reverenced.  Except the church.  As iniquity abounds, the one thing that Satan is going to do, the Bible says is, “Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.”  Shepherds can be smitten.  It’s not just death, or removal from the position, but the shepherd could be deceived.  Could be overcome with lusts and brought down.

It was necessary to hold up Moses’ hands so a victory could be won (Exodus 17:11-12).  It’s natural in man to rise up and be rebellious, be seditious, and want to be independent.    We saw that God was dealing with bringing revelation to the people.  We’ve been taught of the different levels of responsibility and authority within the church, and, as we see that there are actually more than two levels (just me and God), it helps us get away from this priesthood of the believer that has so saturated the minds of America today.  The extreme being the Quakers, who oppose any hierarchy in church.  “We are equal.  When we come together, we’ll wait for the God to move.”  That sounds really spiritual, but it’s not Bible.

We see, during the Exodus, they called all the people together at the foot of the mountain when God was going to bring the Decalogue and He said to bring the people close enough to hear what I speak to you.  We individually can get close to God, amen?  We have bold access into the holy of holies to fellowship with Him.  He speaks to us directly into our spirit during our communion and relationship with Him.  We don’t have to go through a priest or a pastor or an apostle to commune with God and to hear as God is dealing with our hearts.  Thank God for that, that this is that intimacy that the blood of Jesus has afforded us.  But we don’t live to ourselves and we don’t die to ourselves.  Each one of us then takes this communion we have with God, as He is edifying us, as the Holy Spirit is bearing witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God.  We have this boldness and we’ve all received the gift of faith and allowing us that relationship and that communion.  The Bible is so full of order and structure that it can’t be denied unless someone is seeking an opportunity to be independent and be out from under authority, to be antinomian in their minds.