Troubled Teens and Submission to Authority is a rough and tumble topic that is sure to bring up controversy, especially where it applies to raising up disciples who are in need of advanced training; Choice, Change, and Commitment. Troubled Teen Ministries is a Blog that represents Teen Challenge with the intent of this information to teach troubled teens how to better understand God, ourselves, and others... including our mates, our children, the family dynamic, and improved communication in all relationships. Craig Rogers of Teen Challenge states, "we must open ourselves to a greater understanding of the spiritual development of young people, what makes a troubled teen, and how to restore them to a life of hope, faith, power, and success." Bottom line, troubled teens or not, they need to understand Submission to Authority.
One Biblical definition of the word understanding is: knowing things in their right relationship! (and honoring that knowledge by practicing submission to appropriate authority.) Information is needed and necessary for understanding, to help us know the choices we have, and to point us in the right direction. We need to make an informed choice in life about this essential subject; but information, in and of itself, does not bring about real and lasting change. That must come to a deeper place than the head; it must come to the heart. Real change comes from the “inside…out”, not from the outside…in! True change comes from revelation…not just from information. Only the Holy Spirit can bring revelation; so in all these things, we must look to God for the help that only He can give.
DEUTERONOMY 29: 29
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are REVEALED belong to us and to our children forever, that we may DO all the words of this law.”
DEUTERONOMY 30:19-20
“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing…therefore, CHOOSE LIFE that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days.
Choosing LIFE is choosing Jesus, for He is the way, the truth, and the life,” John 14:6
Choosing LIFE is making daily choices to trust and obey Him in thought, word, and deed. What we think, what we say, what we do…must be like Jesus….for this, and only this, is evidence of a true…heart change!
There is an old song most of us in the church have heard called Trust and Obey
“When we walk with the Lord, in the Light of His Word; What a glory He sheds on our way. While we do His good will, He abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey. Trust and obey. For there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus…but to trust and obey.”
It has been noted that that the two greatest things a person can do is to:
- believe unto salvation TRUST
- submit to God’s Authority OBEY
Heart change leads not just to “right choices”…but to righteous choices. Such profound choices result in commitment to God and to His Authority.
I want to be very careful today to lay out the vital importance of one of the most essential elements of God’s truth…..that of the two-sided coin….AUTHORITY and SUBMISSION.
It would seem that the young people who have been drawn together at Abundant Life Academy have come because of a common thread:
- teens are rebellious and they disrespect authority (parental included)
It seems perfectly clear that such disrespect sums up the major issue: the younger generation does not submit to the authority of the older generation.Though teenage rebellion is a well known fact of life, it is not the REAL ISSUE? It is not the heart of the matter?
Actually, in truth …. it goes much deeper than that, for the REAL ISSUE is laid at the feet of ALL people.
As individuals, we each must face this issue of God’s AUTHORITY. Moms, Dads, teens, bosses, employees, boys, girls, men, women.
Do we receive and submit to His Authority ? OR Do we usurp it for ourselves ?
HOOSING LIFE as stated earlier….is choosing not only to believe God unto salvation from sin….but just as equally…..it means to submit to God’s Authority.
Now we cannot do what we do not acknowledge, and we cannot be established in what we do not understand. We will not commit ourselves to what we do not HONOR
Do we truly UNDERSTAND AUTHORITY and SUBMISSION…(in the heart - not just the head)?
Do we take God’s AUTHORITY seriously and understand His view of it?
Do we honor and submit to those He appoints over us?
Do we acknowledge that spiritually, we are not allowed to hold and exercise real authority if we do not submit to it ourselves? THIS IS NOT ABOUT TEENS….it is for all people of all ages!
We must all understand the following things:
Authorit
• the power to determine or otherwise settle issues
• the right to control, command, or determine
• the right to direct actions and thoughts of others
• a power or right because of rank or office to issue commands and to punish violations
Submi
• to yield to the power or authority of another
• to defer to the authority of another
• to not resist but to be humbly obedient
Order
• proper, satisfactory, or working condition
• state or condition in good working order
• conformity or obedience to established authority
• rightful, proper, appropriate
GOD IS U
LTIMATE AUTHORITY
We are to have one, and only one, response to His supreme position of AUTHORITY….and that is one of OBEDIENCE. We are literally to humble ourselves under His Mighty Hand. To bow our hearts, our knees, our lives before Him…the One who is worthy of Authority…for His is a righteous authority….and when we humbly submit ourselves to it….He will come and set our lives, our homes, our families, our children, and all relationships in DIVINE ORDER
Only by Him and through Him is any position of true authority given….and it is backed up by Him in those who humble themselves under Him
AUTHORITY….SUBMISSION are actions…that when obeyed, will result in God’s ORDER. These are realities that are taught in the Word of God, and it is our primary responsibility to, not only, acknowledge this…but to obey it.
