Purpose And Power Of Authority (5 page)

A person can legitimately be “in charge,” but he has to earn his position and be authorized for it—through legal election, proper succession, a group’s consensus, and so forth. There is an account in the ancient Scriptures of a young shepherd named David who received authorization from God to succeed King Saul as the next king of Israel. A prophet was sent to tell him of his appointment and to anoint him for his rule. However, even with this divine sanction behind him, David did not take the throne until it was time for him to do so. He did not kill the current ruler, King Saul. As long as Saul was still alive, he did not usurp the throne, even though Saul sought to take his life. David stated, “I will not lift my hand against my master, because he is the Lord’s anointed” (1 Samuel 24:10). After Saul died, David then became the legitimate ruler of Israel.

A Person Who Dominates

While the “boss spirit” mainly refers to manipulation, and “in charge” refers to usurpation, the domination concept has to do with control. Many people confuse authority with domination.

There are those whose operate entirely through control. Some of these people are so insecure that the only way they feel they can hide their vulnerability and have others’ respect is (ironically) to be heavy-handed.

In order to maintain a state of control, those who operate according to this approach threaten others or use some of the negative techniques discussed above: they may exhibit a boss spirit, use force, and refuse to delegate because they don’t trust anyone else. They centralize all activity with themselves and become the hub of all power and decisions, micromanaging the activities of their organization, family, church, or nation. People who equate such domination with authority may grow to mistrust any parameters others try to put on them or their actions.

Genuine authority doesn’t control but releases people to exercise their own authority. A true leader feels no need to dominate others but immediately shares his authority with them. He wants to delegate authority and encourage others to develop their own abilities.

A Person Who Functions as a Dictator or Tyrant

Some people think that a person who wields absolute power is in a place of authority. The very nature of a dictator cancels authority, however, because true authority does not demand unconditional rule over others.

A dictatorship incorporates the domination approach, to a great extent. It does not allow freedom of expression or permit people to explore ideas and fully partake of opportunities for personal and professional growth—in essence, they are denied the ability to be fully human. People may confuse dictatorship with authority if they have lived under an oppressive system for a period of time so that it has become familiar, even though repressive.

A dictator and a tyrant are similar in that instead of exhibiting true authority, they are authoritarian. One of the meanings of authoritarian is “of, relating to, or favoring blind submission to authority.” Someone with an authoritarian approach demands unquestioned obedience from others. The tyrant spirit is one of ultimate corrupt power that wants others to submit without thought or question. A tyrant is not only a usurper of power, but he also especially wields power for his own personal gain and security.

Again, the very nature of dictatorship and tyranny cancels genuine authority. Any perceived submission that is a result of force or threat is not real submission but surrender. Wherever there’s true authority, there will be true submission—which, as we will see in a later chapter, is a voluntary act and part of the inherently interdependent nature of authority. Surrender is in stark contrast to this and is always a result of manipulation and fear.

When people are so fearful of another person that they are afraid to do what they actually desire to do because that person has “authority,” they are functioning under a dictatorship. That is not authority; it is intimidation. True authority allows people to express themselves and to develop to the full extent of their potential. It doesn’t restrict but provides instruction, advice, or counsel to build others up. The opposite of a tyrant is someone who seeks the good of others, not his own gain, and even makes personal sacrifices on their behalf.

A Person Who Has a Title

Some people think that because a person has a title, authority automatically accompanies it. We tend to respect and honor people who have titles that seem to elevate them. In this way we confuse labels with legitimacy. It does not necessarily follow that a person with a title is exercising authority. For example, a person may connive, manipulate a system, or even kill to obtain a certain title or role. This person’s rule is unauthorized. Only genuine authority makes rule or power legal.

A true leader may have a title, but he does not operate from the title. He operates from his inner authority, and people respond to his natural authority rather than to his label.

A Person Who Is Loud or “Larger than Life”

At times, people automatically attribute authority to someone who speaks the loudest or appears “larger than life.” This aspect of false authority has to do with a person’s personality—he or she may come across as strong, opinionated, overbearing, charismatic, articulate and persuasive, threatening, or obnoxious. Yet, just because a person or even a group speaks the loudest or the most forcefully doesn’t necessarily mean they have legitimate authority over others. Many people are intimidated by such individuals and therefore succumb to them. They allow them to make decisions and to cause everyone connected with them to move in a certain direction, which may or may not be healthy.

In contrast, I have noticed that true authority is often quiet or even silent. It takes greater natural authority to lower your volume and still be effective. Often, the greater the true authority that is present, the quieter the atmosphere. You know you have effective authority when you say nothing or are very quiet, and people respond positively to you and your influence.

I taught junior high school for five years, and I learned early on that if I had to shout at my students to maintain order, I had no real authority. So, I quickly established boundaries and communicated the values on which my classroom would be run, making it clear on the board and on signs posted around the room what the laws of the learning environment would be. I had been authorized by the school to teach the students, so my authority in that situation was legitimate, but then I had to create the context for that authority. Once the students understood my standards and values, they knew they would have to submit to them if they wanted a good relationship with me. The students responded well and respected my authority, and so there was a good environment for learning.

A similar principle can be seen in many effective leaders of countries, companies, and even families. The measure of their authority is what happens in the midst of their silence—or even their absence. For instance, if a mother goes on an errand, leaving an older child to oversee the household, the measure of her true authority will be reflected in how that older child responds during her absence. Does he run wild through the house, or does he make sure his younger siblings are taken care of? If the household is at peace when the mother returns, the children have respected her authority even when she was out of sight. Or, suppose you are in a meeting at your workplace at which fifteen people are present but not the president of the company. Perhaps there is confusion about what should be done regarding a certain matter or who should do it. Then, the president walks in and sits in the back, and the whole discussion and environment change as people calm down and begin to make constructive suggestions. That is an example of silent authority that is put into motion just by one’s presence.

Jesus of Nazareth had this inherent authority. Once, when the religious leaders of His day wanted to trap Him, they brought to Him a woman who had been caught in adultery to see if He would agree that she should be stoned to death, which was the punishment according to the law. He responded with silence, while they kept demanding an answer. Then, He quietly asked them one question, which decisively defeated them, and they went away. That’s authority.

They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:6–11)

Jesus was later dragged before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, and was falsely accused. He didn’t say a word in response. His silence unnerved Pilate. It’s interesting that Pilate’s response was to threaten Jesus with authority, telling Him that he had the authority to release Him or to kill Him. Jesus told him, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:11 nasb). Jesus was operating under an authority that was higher than the Roman government’s, and even Pilate had to submit to that authority, whether he was aware of it or not.

Confidence or composure, such as Jesus demonstrated, comes from a sense of true authority. Authority creates its own confidence. A person with true authority doesn’t have to flaunt it; it sells itself. Likewise, when a person has legitimate authority, he doesn’t have to use force or volume to demand that he be heard. People will listen to true authority, whether they agree with it or not. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day kept questioning His authority because they wanted to undermine Him. Yet many of the people responded to Him. “The crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law” (Matthew 7:28–29).

The accepted concepts of authority listed above have nothing to do with real authority, yet the problem is that the majority of the world’s population believes that one or more of these ideas represents authority, and that is why we are experiencing an authority crisis. These false ideas are what many people think of when they hear this word because authority has been defined or modeled for them in distorted ways, and their experience of it has been oppressive, negative, stifling, and even deadly.

We must understand that authority is not…

• dominating others
  

• overpowering others
  

• dictating to others
  

• oppressing others
  

• mastering others
  

• forcing people to do what you want them to do
  

• manipulating people to do what you want them to do
  

• controlling others
  

• restricting others
  

• tyrannizing others
  

• subjecting other people to your will
  

To summarize, we often perceive authority as any person, party, or position that dominates, controls, or manipulates other people or situations, usually to that perceived authority’s
advantage. And all of us hate to be dominated, manipulated, and controlled!

Those who exhibit false authority not only hurt everyone around them but also stifle the true authority that is within themselves and that they could be offering to others. They are not operating in their proper authority and domain but in a false domain of abuse. While we naturally side with the victims of false authority, we must realize that both perpetrators and victims of erroneous perceptions of authority need to find and live in the freedom that comes only through true authority.

People react in different ways to the neglect, misuse, or abuse of authority, but our negative conceptions of and experiences with authority produce life-draining emotions and attitudes. Think about specific negative experiences in your life in which you have dealt with people in alleged authority or found yourself in circumstances that seemed to control you. Now, consider how you have reacted to them as you read through the following list of reactions people may have to false authority:

• Fear: They are afraid of being ruled and controlled.
  

• Intimidation/Timidity: They are unsettled by those who claim to have authority over them and may go along with their orders or suggestions only because they feel they have no choice.
  

• Distrust/Caution: They keep themselves at arm’s length from others because they don’t want to be taken advantage of or have their lives run by someone else.
  

• Suspicion: They are distrustful of those who want to be in charge, and so they steer clear of them.
  

• Friction: Their relationships with those who are “in charge” are tense; they have difficulty finding common ground on which to connect with supervisors, teachers, parents, and colleagues.
  

• Antagonism/Contentiousness/Defiance: They are disagreeable and belligerent in their interactions with others.
  

• Defensiveness: They are easily offended and try to protect themselves from criticism.
  

• Resentment: They develop a bitter spirit toward those whom they perceive as “management” or “executives.”
  

• Protest: They object to suggestions, thinking, Nobody’s going to tell me what to do, so they immediately dispute any attempt to influence their lives.
  

• Avoidance: Because of their negative experiences with authority, they avoid exercising initiative or taking supervisory roles themselves.
  

• Threat: They feel in danger from and vulnerable to those who have power.
  

• Stress/Anxiety/Worry/Dread: They experience distress when interacting with authority figures.
  

What a terrible way to live!