Purpose And Power Of Authority (23 page)

You don’t give authority just because you like someone but because his unique gifts, talents, and personality correspond with the tasks or supervision that needs to be delegated for a certain project. In this way, you are being responsible for the authority that was delegated to you.

Authority Should Not Be Given to the Untested

Authority and its accompanying power should never be delegated to someone who is immature or someone who is a novice in the area of oversight. Instead, delegated power must be invested in increments and installed as a result of trust that the delegatee has earned over time. Before delegating authority, therefore, you should first evaluate a person’s maturity by learning how that person has functioned under authority in the past. Does the person work well with others, or is he always fighting direction and openly or subtly contentious? A person cannot receive from an authority he doesn’t submit to.

The one receiving the authority must also allow the delegator to lead and support him. Paul wrote, “If [a person’s gift] is leadership, let him govern diligently” (Romans 12:8). In other words, let the person whom God called to be the visionary or overseer be the visionary or overseer. The delegatee shouldn’t give him a hard time. If the delegator is forced to become something he’s not because of the resistance of those whom he’s trying to delegate to, it is going to cause problems for the whole organization. Let him remain in his authority.

Those who are untested in regard to submission make potentially dangerous leaders. Why? We come to trust someone as a result of assessing that person’s attitude toward power, fame, popularity, pride, and so forth. All these attitudes are dangerous for someone in a position of leadership and need to be dealt with before a person is given authority. We have witnessed the tragic outcomes in nations throughout the world after someone has been thrust into authority or has seized a leadership role for which he was not qualified.

Remember that Jesus Himself was tested and proven trustworthy in three areas before He began to fully embark on His life’s purpose. These tests occurred during His temptation by the devil in the desert right after He was baptized by John. (See Matthew 4:1–11.) Anyone in leadership must pass these same tests:

1. The appetites test. This test includes drink, food, and sex. The devil wanted Jesus to gratify His hunger more than any other considerations, including His relationship with God the Father. A person must be able to manage his physical desires before being given authority and power.

2. The fame and popularity test. When the devil challenged Jesus to jump off the pinnacle of the temple, the courtyard below was filled with a quarter of a million people who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. The whole point of this test was to see if He would desire instant fame rather than be obedient toward God and receive “all authority” at the right time, after His sacrifice and resurrection. (See Matthew 28:18.) If a person hasn’t passed the test of popularity and desire for instant fame, he shouldn’t be trusted with authority.

3. The power test. The devil told Jesus that if He would worship him, he would give Him all the power of the kingdoms of the world. No one should be given power until he doesn’t desire power for its own sake.

The three qualifications established by God, therefore, for one to be trusted with exercising authority, as well as delegating it to others, are control over one’s appetites, a willingness to go through the process of submission and obedience to earn trust and respect rather than seeking instant fame, and a desire to serve rather than a desire to wield power.

Note that even though Jesus had already been affirmed by God the Father as His Son because of Jesus’ submission and obedience, God still tested Him. After passing the tests, “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14). He received the empowerment of increased authority. And He never used His authority for personal gain, for destroying anyone else—including His enemies—or for fame. He used it for the redemption, advancement, development, and protection of other people. Jesus is our clear example that the ultimate purpose of authority and power is service—serving the interests and needs of others. It is never self-serving. Such an attitude toward one’s authority is so crucial that the testing is necessary.

True success in life, therefore, requires submission to legitimate authority. The spirit of genuine submission and humbleness will always bring favor with God. Likewise, a person’s success as a delegator will depend on his own ability to submit to genuine authority, to learn from it, and to serve. It’s only when we learn submission that we can become true leaders. We can decide whether we want to succeed or fail in God’s eyes by our attitudes toward authority.

Delegated Authority Must Be Preceded by Preparation

Before you delegate authority to someone, you must prepare and train him. The delegatee first needs to be taught the true purpose and responsibility of authority. People must be prepared to receive power since the use of power is the highest form of responsibility. Until a person understands the danger of power, as well as its benefits, he should never be given authority. This is why a prerequisite for using the power of authority is the quality of humility. Humility is a consciousness of one’s vulnerability. You cannot fully trust a person who doesn’t know his own weaknesses or is unwilling to counteract or compensate for them. The delegatee also needs to be trained in the various aspects of his future oversight responsibilities.

An essential role of someone in a position to delegate authority, then, is to know when a person is ready to receive authority. Authority must not be delegated prematurely.

Delegated Authority Should Not Be Abandoned

Authority and power should be delegated in installments and never abandoned. The delegator continues to be answerable for them even after sharing them with someone else.

Authority is always responsible for the authority it delegates. When Jesus gave authority to His disciples, He did leave not them on their own to figure out what they were supposed to do next. He said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18), and “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

Those to whom you delegate authority may be in charge of various areas, but you are still responsible for those areas in the end. This is why you need to monitor, assess, and regulate delegated authority on a consistent basis. Delegation always has an accountability factor. If I delegate authority to someone, I must remain conscious of the fact that what I gave that person was on loan to me, as well. So, even though I delegate authority, I am using borrowed power. Again, everyone under authority is answerable to the Ultimate Authority.

Delegated Authority Is Always Delegated Authority

Likewise, if authority has been delegated to you, it isn’t a license for you to begin to function totally on your own. Always remember that your authority is a trust that has been given to you and that you are responsible to the one who gave it. To put it simply, authority is synonymous with responsibility. The need to report to your delegator is built-in. We can respond constructively to the authority of others as we recognize their own inherent God-given authority.

Delegated Authority Should Be Authentic

A delegator should never attempt to force a delegatee to violate or neglect his personal domain of authority and thus be rendered unauthentic. In other words, we shouldn’t make people operate in domains that are not natural for them; we shouldn’t expect orange trees to yield apples. A person is given gifts by His Creator to be used “in proportion to his faith” (Romans 12:6), so a leader needs to allow people to use their true gifts. Let people be themselves, not images of your own making. The benefit will be happier, more productive delegatees instead of complaining, contentious ones.

Delegated Authority Is Protected by the Delegator

Just as the Creator supports and protects us as the recipients of His authority, the person who delegates authority is responsible for protecting the one to whom he delegates it. The delegatee should be allowed to carry out the authority he has been granted. However, he must also be given the assurance that he may, when needed, refer to or appeal to the delegator, who should make it a priority to offer assistance, wisdom, direction, and encouragement. If problems arise, they are ultimately the delegator’s responsibility.

Delegated Authority Can Be Recalled

The one who is in authority should never be afraid to recall delegated authority when necessary. Authority is a privilege and not a right. It is permission to use someone else’s power. Someone who is functioning outside of his delegated authority is illegal and cannot be fully trusted. Jesus told a parable in which a rich man discovered that his manager had squandered his resources, and he told him, “You cannot be manager any longer” (Luke 16:2). Even though the manager ended up redeeming himself in the eyes of his employer, Jesus was telling us that authority can be withdrawn for misuse. If someone disappoints, he can be dis-appointed.

Since delegated authority is always borrowed, the person who distributes it is responsible for how, when, and to whom that authority is delegated, and he will have to give an account for it. Sometimes, the delegator has to remove someone from a position of authority for the very reason that he is accountable before God and it’s the responsible thing for him to do for the protection and benefit of all those involved.

There were a number times in the history of Israel when the people were misrepresenting God as their Source to such a degree that they, in a sense, had to be temporarily recalled from this function until they returned wholeheartedly to Him and to their assignment of revealing His nature and purposes to the world. Even during their periods of “recall,” God was working in the lives of individual Israelites to continue His purposes, but the nation was not functioning as it was intended to.

To return to an earlier example, if I am the leader of a nation and give you authority as an ambassador to another nation, then the power, or backing, to carry out your assignment comes with it. What gives it authorization is the fact that I gave it to you. And you have to use that authorization for the specific reason it was given, or it’s a misuse of power. In this case, I can recall you from that other nation and hold you accountable for your lack of representation. If you change your attitude, I may send you back to finish your assignment. If you refuse to represent my policies, I can take away your assignment and give it to another who will carry it out.

When it is our position to submit to the authority of others, how should we think about our role? Again, submission is a voluntary and natural act as part of the interdependent nature of authority. It is not the same thing as surrender, in which a person succumbs to another through manipulation and fear.

Genuine submission is one person’s willing and conscious yielding to another person’s God-given personal authority. The Scriptures say that Jesus was “faithful to the one who appointed him” and that He was honored for submitting to His life’s mission, even to the point of paying the ultimate sacrifice for us.

[You] who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.(Hebrews 3:1–4)

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne
of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

The first Adam did not submit to God, but Jesus, the “last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45), did. We are to focus on Him as the “author and perfecter” of our faith and authority. He is qualified to be the Author and Perfecter because He submitted completely to the authority of God the Father.

Let’s return to the scene of Jesus’ baptism in order to highlight the benefits of submission to God and those to whom He has delegated authority. Remember that Jesus submitted to John in accordance with the authority John had received from God to baptize.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. (Matthew 3:16–4:1)

From this account, we can glean these benefits of genuine and faithful submission:

• Heaven, or the presence and resources of God, opens over your life. You have access to the privileges of true relationship and connection with Him.
  

• You are “introduced” to others by God Himself. You don’t need to scramble for self-promotion, because God will bring promotion to you as you faithfully follow in His ways.
  

• You are confirmed by God Himself. God the Father called Jesus “my Son, whom I love,” and as we pattern our lives off Jesus, we will be affirmed in a similar way as a member of God’s family. Jesus said, “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister” (Matthew 12:50).
  

• You receive a special anointing of God’s Spirit available only to those under submission.
  

• You become prepared and equipped by God’s Spirit for tests and trials.
  

• You sometimes receive greater honor than the person to whom you submit. As God in the flesh, Jesus was greater than John the Baptist and all other people, although the manifestation of this greatness depended on His submission to authority. As you submit to earthly authority, you may also find yourself becoming “greater” in influence or accomplishments than the one you submit to. This is not always the case, and it would not mean that you have greater value than the other person. It would mean that that your personal authority naturally extends to a wider or deeper domain in life.