God willing, this morning my sermon will focus on the sources of authority we recognize in our lives. Of course, I will preach that God’s Word should be our only rule for life and conduct even as I encourage our church family to again commit ourselves to the Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The authority of God’s special revelation is what Paul establishes immediately in writing to the church at Rome (Romans 1:1-2).
As a part of the challenge this morning, I am also praying that the Holy Spirit will convict us of areas in which we allow other sources of authority to run our lives.
I wonder if each of us can identify other sources of authority to which we defer when we make decisions in the flesh.
Here are some sources of authority which we sometimes sinfully listen to rather than heeding God’s Word:
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Pragmatism / Experience – Do you ever know something based on God’s Word that you ought to do, yet you say, I’ve tried that before and it didn’t work. So, I’m not going to do it now”? Deferring to what works, or what appears to work is allow “pragmatism” to be authoritative. “Anyone then who knows the good he ought to do, but doesn’t do it sins (James 4:17).”
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Desires – Our desires tell us, “If I do the right thing, then I will be miserable.” So, we allow our desires to tell us what to do. The tragedy of allow desires to rule our lives is that it’s all a lie. As has been said, “Choose to sin, choose to suffer.” God gives us His Word for our own good (Deut 10:12-13).
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Materialism – This is a sub-set of desires I suppose. But, so many people in our culture allow their desire to acquire to make decisions about how they follow Christ. Whereas Scripture warns that people who want to get rich, fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction (1 Timothy 6:6-10).
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Fear of People – Do you ever make the wrong decisions because you are afraid of what someone else will do or say? “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe (Proverbs 29:25).
What are other sources of authority that people allow to make their decisions rather than God’s Word?
