Who
did Jesus say had the greatest faith in all of Israel?
Matthew 8:5-10
Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, 6 saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented."
7 And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him." 8 The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For
I also am a man under
authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!
NKJV
What
does authority mean? Let's
take a look at the Strongs Concordance definition:
NT:1849
exousia (ex-oo-see'-ah); from NT:1832 (in the sense of ability); privilege, i.e. (subjectively) force, capacity, competency, freedom, or (objectively) mastery (concretely, magistrate, superhuman, potentate, token of control), delegated influence:
KJV - authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right, strength.
The
key word I'd like to focus on is jurisdiction.
Jurisdiction means:
Men
and women in the military understand this concept of authority very
well. They understand that there are limits to authority.
These limits can include a group of people, a geographical area, a
specific time limit etc.
For
example, let's take a look at the Navy. I'll over simplify this but the
Navy is composed of numerous units and each unit has a commanding officer
(CO), an Executive officer (XO) and a number of department heads and
various crew members. In one of the last units I served in
prior to transferring into the reserves I was the Executive Officer in a
communications unit. The CO was a Commander and our Communications
Unit was one of several communication units in the world tasked with a
common assignment but in different areas of the world.
I
was the second in command of that unit and at that time I was a Lieutenant
Commander. I was duty bound to carry out every lawful order given by
my CO. If I or any of my unit saw another Commander we were duty
bound to render honor and certain military courtesies to that
officer. Never the less, if that officer tried to tell me or any of
our crew what to do in the performance of our duties they had stepped
beyond the sphere of their authority, therefore, we were not obligated to
obey them.
Hence,
if another CO wanted to have one of our people perform their duties
differently than they had been, then that CO would have to follow the
chain of command. That meant going to our CO and putting in their
request. Then if our CO approved it, the order would go down the
chain to the appropriate individual. Then they would obey the
command because it went through appropriate channels. If the
request or order did not go through the proper channels, or if the request
or order was unlawful then that sailor would be duty bound not to obey
that order.
So
how do you determine the spheres of authority in church or in the
world? How do you
determine a sphere of authority in civilian life or in the church?
Personally, I always look at:
The
Centurion understood that he had
a sphere of authority that included a certain number of men, territories
and responsibilities as it pertained to the support of the Roman
Empire. That was his jurisdiction. He had a person who
performed the role of a servant. He had authority over his servant
and oversaw his servant's activities. Responsibility goes hand in
hand with authority and therefore he would have been responsible for the
care of his servant. It is my assumption that he must have been a
good leader and truly cared for his people and I assume his servant's
illness was either very serious or life threatening, otherwise he would
have cared for it using traditional methods of healing at the time.
The
Centurion knew he did not have power to heal his servant, but he knew
Jesus did. He knew that since he was responsible for his servant he
also had authority. Therefore, he recognized that Jesus had
authority in the realm of the kingdom of heaven and that authority
included the power to minister healing. Jesus was anointed to heal
the sick. He knew that when a king or an emperor spoke, people like
him would carry out those orders. So, he invited King Jesus into his
realm of responsibility and authority and Jesus healed the Centurion's
servant by speaking the word.
Tim,
what's in your hand?
Jesus
began His ministry by preaching "repent for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand" (Matt. 4:17). The Lord asked me a question many years
ago as I read that portion of scripture? He said "Tim, what's
in your hand."
As
I began to study that I found all through the volume of scripture that
"in your hand" referred to things that were in or under their
authority and responsibility. So what was in my hand? At
that time, what was I responsible for that I had authority over?
Where did I have jurisdiction?
So
I was responsible to see the kingdom of God established in each one of
these areas I had authority in, and responsibility for. Let me give
you a brief example to help you understand.
My
wife and I believe Mark 16:15-18 where it says these signs shall follow
them that believe. In fact, we believe the whole Bible and actually
try to do what we see that Jesus did. A little while ago we were
attending a local church as members. The senior minister knew we
were ministers and were responsible for Watchman Ministries Int. yet they
never received the gift of God in us. In other words, we were not
invited to minister or give input in any fashion. Hence, we had no
jurisdiction in that local church.
During
that time we were invited to go and minister in the Bahamas. The
ministries in that country received us and invited us to minister to
them. They had jurisdiction in their country in certain local
churches and we had jurisdiction in Watchman Ministries Int. They
invited us as Watchman Ministries Int. (WMI) to come and serve them.
Brenda and I have jurisdiction in WMI. On that trip signs and
wonders followed us. We saw prayers answered dramatically and
quickly. In fact, at one point I am pretty sure we offended at least
one person because when asked to pray regarding their sons provision for
college because I said no, there was no need because "it was
done." I did not pray, I spoke. The next day we found out
the sons problem was solved. When it came time to pray for healing,
Brenda laid hands upon the pastor's wife who had a swollen leg. The
swelling started going down so quickly that the congregation began to
scream because they saw the leg returning to normal. In another case
we even saw the weather, wind and waves respond to a simple
request.
Why
did we see these results? We had faith and we exercised our faith
within the sphere of our authority. As others recognized the gift of
God in us, they invited us into their sphere of responsibility and we were
able to help them. But we had to honor each person and each church's
boundaries or sphere of responsibility. Our jurisdiction
included time (6 days), space (limited to the local churches who invited
us) and gifting (we could only minister effectively in the areas that God
had anointed us).
Matthew
10:41 says that if you receive a prophet in the name of a prophet you'll
get a prophets reward.
Faith
+ Spheres of Authority
Did
it take faith on our part to see healings, miracles and answered
prayer? Yes! Did it take faith on their part?
Yes! But, it also took an understanding of spheres of
authority or jurisdictions. In the gospels do we see Jesus violate anyone's
freewill? No. The people who wanted healing sought Jesus out.
As they reached out they acknowledged His authority in the kingdom and
they invited them into the realm that they were responsible for.
If
you violate someone's freewill then you get into the realm of manipulation
and un-holy control.
Jesus
praised the Centurion for his understanding of faith and spheres of
authority.
The
Apostle Paul
understood his jurisdiction.
2 Corinthians 10:13
We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us — a sphere which especially includes you.
NKJV
Tim,
why is this important?
Well
I am glad you asked? These principles above work on a personal
level, on a family level and on a corporate level. For the body of
Christ to be effective we must learn to respect and honor the part that
each can play. By respecting each person's or each ministry's
jurisdiction or area of responsibility we'll greatly magnify our
effectiveness as we learn to work together.
The Christian
Outreach Network Establishing City-wide Teamwork or CONECT exists to help
local Christian leaders work together to see the church fulfill Ephesians
3:10 in their city or region. Ephesians 3:10 says the purpose of the
church is to show for the manifold wisdom of God to principalities and
powers in high places. God is the Lord of Hosts or Lord of the
Armies. The church and His angels make up the army of God.
In
the world armies exist to project power to enforce a political will.
In the kingdom of God His army exists to project power in order to enforce
the will of a king. We learned from the Centurion that understanding
spheres of authority were important in the application of faith. So
to maximize our ability to project power we must recognize each person's
or ministry's jurisdiction.
Within
each city we will find different realms or spheres of authority. For
example, you will find many local churches and church leaders
in the city. Every church and ministry is unique. There are no
two ministries exactly alike. Some local church in your city may
excel at outreach to the poor and homeless, some in evangelism, some in
praise and worship. Other churches may excel at teaching and
discipleship, others at healing and the power of God. 1
Corinthian 12:20-21 indicates that there is only one Body with many
different members and no member can say that I don't need another member
who is different. Hence, we need each person, each church and each
ministry in the body of Christ.
The
body of Christ or the church is likened unto an army in scripture (Joel 2,
Ezekiel 37:1-10). When the Israelites took the Promised Land you
will find regions were divided by tribes (Joshua 13-22) and families were
assigned to oversee cities (ie. Caleb in Hebron - Joshua 13:6-15).
Hence, each tribe and family had a jurisdiction. They had an area
that they were responsible for. We also see that they worked
together to drive out the inhabitants of the land (Deuteronomy 3:12-22
& Joshua).
Teamwork
in the City
In
the military goes to war various units are assigned specific locations and
missions. Sometimes we refer to that as our area of responsibility
of AOR. Hence, you might have a ground unit working in the same AOR
with an air unit. To accomplish the overall mission might require
both units to work together. For example, the ground unit may
be given an assignment to occupy a certain piece of ground. If there
is no air support provided then the ground unit may fail in their mission
with heavy casualties. But, if the air unit softens the enemy target
through aerial bombardment then the ground unit has a greater chance of success
with fewer casualties. Consider Desert Storm where the air campaign
so successfully demoralized the enemy our ground forces saw massive
surrenders.
Now,
imagine what would happen in a city if there was a common vision for the
city shared by the church at large in a city. If the overall goal
was established (ie. Ephesians 3:10) and we respected each church,
ministry, or organizations unique gifting and area of responsibility and
we worked together as a team, why we would have a tremendous opportunity
to project power to see the oppressed go free. I imagine Psalm
110:1-3 and Psalm 2 in the context of the Tabernacle of David.
I
can see a day when the Christian leaders of a city meet together in a
council, determine God's redemptive purpose for their city, recognize each
ministries unique gifting and then seeks the Lord for a strategy. I
could see the development of a strategic plan to include prayer,
evangelism and discipleship. I could see 24 hour prayer
established that invites the Lord for a habitation. I can see
people/churches who excel and prayer walking, research and the prophetic
prayer going into an area prior to an evangelistic outreach and praying to
specifically identify targets of opportunity for the corporate prayer to
be focused on before, during and after the outreach. I can see the
God of this world who blinds the eyes of those who do not believe being
driven back so that as the ministries who excel at evangelism preach the
people can see and hear the good news. Then I can see the ministries
and churches who excel at discipleship and teaching working with the new
disciples to see them incorporated into the church so that it grows into a
healthy body.
Faith
will be projected into each persons, each groups, each ministries area of
responsibility. This requires humility and love to be exercised as
areas of responsibilities and unique giftings are recognized by local
leaders. Only by respecting each ministries unique gifting and call
will we benefit (Ephesians 4:16).
In
CONECT we help leaders do apply the first principle that must be applied
in any war. It is the principle of objective and that consists of 3
distinct elements.
