When someone goes into a bakery, he or she is confronted with a
wide selection of bread, cake and pastries. Having made the right
choice, you pay the necessary amount and leave the store. When a person
visits a car dealer with the intention to buy a car, on having the
required sum of money he or she can choose what suits their taste.
If the person does not like the particular model, he or she, the customer,
just chooses something else. He or she has the free option, being
the customer who pays for it, therefore they are in the position to
say yes or no and to have that which they like. When someone goes
to the market place, he or she has the choice of buying from a various
assortment of fruit and vegetables, being the customer. He or she
points with his/her finger at the wares, "That's what I would
like but only two pounds of it." He or she receives the goods,
which he/she has picked out, pays and departs.
However, the story changes when you go into the house of God. We can
bring our requests to God, but concerning salvation, redemption and
healing, we do not have the freedom of choice like we do in the bakery.
There are no alternatives: Lord, I would prefer this and that. "In
the house of God, He Himself sets the standard and lays down the rules
as it pleases Him! He cannot be bought. In this case, it is a completely
different story. Today, just like at that time the anti-authoritarian
spirit tries to rule the church in order to take control of it, but
does not succeed. We can see what happened with Korah in Numbers 16:1-35.
"Separate yourselves from them," Moses said. We know that
God still appoints nowadays. It was God that called Moses to be a
prophet, Aaron to be a high priest, Samuel to be a prophet, David
to be a king, Peter and Paul to be apostles, Phillip to be an evangelist.
No one put himself in this office! It is not a profession but rather
a calling from God Himself. "And no man taketh this honour unto
himself, but he that is called of God as was Aaron." Hebrew 5:4
It is God who calls and decides! E.g. Matthew 9:38: "Pray ye
therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers
into his harvest." Ephesians 4, 11-12 "And he gave some,
apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors
and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." See also Acts
20:28. The church is the work of God. Whoever puts himself in this
office is cursed: Jeremiah 14:13-15 and 23:14-38; Galatians 1:7-9
or Deuteronomy 13:1-11 etc.
Whoever submits himself to a false authority, e.g. which God has not
appointed will end up being lost! Matthew 15:14 and 23:16; Luke 6:39;
Matthew 15:6.
Whoever does not subject himself to the authority which God has ordained,
will not be saved. Satan's sin before his fall was his rebellion against
authority, see Isaiah 14:12-17. Sheep need a shepherd up until the
time when Jesus comes again. How do we want to be saved? There is
only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one direction, one way and
that way being Jesus Christ. Here we cannot choose, for besides Him
there is no saviour. He alone is Lord and redeemer. God's decrees
can be found in His word. God does not operate outside of His guidelines.
He is and always will be a God of order. rw
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