Leadership through Discipleship #4

Peter – The Power of Submission
Authority and Submission

The teenager rebels against parental authority and longs for the day when he is no longer told what to do. As soon as he is of age he goes to the local Army recruiting office and signs up for a tour of duty. Finally, he is on his own, doing his own thing!

The irony of that situation is humorous. Everyone knows that when you join the military your life is not your own. You will be told when to get up, when to go to bed, and what you will do with every waking moment, at least through basic training. Authority is never to be questioned. You learn to take orders without hesitation. If in the military one doesn’t learn how to be under authority there are other lessons in life that will teach you the technique!

We seldom seek employment just for the fun of it. There are usually financial requirements that drive one to take a job. House rent or mortgage, car payments, food, clothing, and everything else we want to acquire requires money. In employment there is always someone who is the “boss.” Someone gives the orders and holds you accountable to accomplish your tasks. We either learn to submit to those in authority or constantly find ourselves seeking other employment!

The Apostle Peter learned so much about authority and submission through the mentoring of Jesus that he seems like a different man in the book of Acts. He speaks with authority for all the disciples on the Day of Pentecost. He speaks with power to the lame man at the Beautiful Gate and commands him to rise and walk, healed of his life-long handicap. Peter’s shadow is sufficient to inspire faith and produce healing of sick people in Acts chapter five. Such authority and power were only possible through the lessons of submission that he had learned.

Peter is not above correction or making mistakes even after he is used in powerful ministry in the book of Acts. He shows his weakness in prejudice against the Gentiles (Acts 10) and his preference for Jewish fellowship in Antioch (Galatians 2). So even then he must learn the act of submission to continue to exercise power through authority. He acknowledges that he must not consider the Gentiles unclean if God has cleansed them and obeys the call to preach to the Gentiles of Cornelius’ household. He apparently received the rebuke from Paul concerning his hypocrisy in refusing to eat with the Gentiles when his Jewish friends came to town. One of the things that made Peter great was his ability to accept correction and submit to God’s authority. (See 1 Peter 2:13-16.)

The more authority we are given, the more we find the need to submit to other authorities. You will never outgrow the need for submission. True power in leadership only comes through submission to authority.