Eccles8v1to8. DEALING WITH THE POWERFUl.

(A)Introduction. See Eccles8v1to8.

I have always found it easier to exercise power wisely than to react with wisdom to those who have power over me. I think, on the whole, I was more successful dealing with my pupils than I was with senior management in school and the various advisers and inspectors that crossed my path. I used to think and pray about how to manage some of my students but I am afraid I never bothered to consider carefully how to manage head teachers. I think I may have erred in this respect! You are probably thinking that I am not the person to advise anyone on how to deal with the powerful. You are right! However, I am going to try.

(B) Obey the King's command.

Most of the time we have to obey those in authority over us. It is palpably obvious that a soldier cannot pick and choose which orders to obey and disobey. That would be a recipe for disaster. Lawlessness leads to anarchy in society in general. Parliament, judges, policeman, teachers and church leaders all need to be obeyed more often than not. Discernment is needed to judge those rare instances when disobedience is imperative.

I think we have to obey those in authority over us when they are stupid. There are many times when we doubt the judgment of politicians, head teachers, army officers and even church leaders but this is not a good reason for disobeying them. I have been asked many times to do things as a teacher, I think are a total waste of time. If I disagree strongly with a certain policy I am entitled to make my views known but if the head teacher insists on the policy then I must implement it however much I wish not to.

1Sam14v24to45 records the stupid command King Saul gave his troops and its tragic consequences. He ordered his men, who were pursuing the Philistines, to eat no food until the evening came. The Philistines were in disarray thanks to a spectacular raid made by Jonathan and his armour bearer on one of their outposts. The soldiers obeyed even though it sapped their strength and by evening they were so hungry they ate raw and bloody meat prohibited by the Law of Moses. The fighting men were correct to obey an order showing lack of judgment despite their impaired performance. Jonathan, Saul's son, who was ignorant of his father's command, ate honey during the pursuit of the enemy. When Saul discovered this at the conclusion of hostilities he ordered Jonathan to be put to death. The army refused. But the men said to Saul, "Should Jonathan die - he who has brought about this great deliverance in Israel? Never! As surely as the LORD lives, not a hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for he did this today with God's help." So the men rescued Jonathan and he was not put to death. V45. The army was right to refuse because Saul's demand was unjust and immoral. It was morally wrong to execute an officer who was absent on an heroic engagement when the order was given not to eat. You cannot be guilty of disobeying an order that you never receive.

There are only two grounds for disobeying an order from those in authority over us. We cannot do something that is morally wrong or compromises our allegiance to Jesus Christ. Nor do we have to obey someone who exceeds their brief and strays outside the area to which they were appointed to exercise authority. If my head teacher ordered me to wear a tie to work I would be obliged to obey him or her. I would not have to obey an instruction on what church to attend or woman to marry.

I am afraid that we are most tempted to disobey those in authority when their rules are inconvenient, irksome or irritating. Jesus teaching is quite straightforward on this subject. He says, "If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles." Mt5v41. The Israelites did not like the Roman occupying power press ganging them into carrying a burden for a mile. Simon of Cyrene was pressed into carrying the cross of Jesus under this Roman law. It was very irksome and inconvenient to be dragged away from your usual occupation to trudge a mile with a sack of corn on your back. However, there was nothing immoral about carrying a sack of corn. The Roman army performed a useful service - they kept the peace - and this was the price you had to pay.

We are much more likely to try and get round regulations we do not like than to make a stand on principle - especially if that stand threatens our livelihood. I do not try as hard as I should to drive within the speed limits. I think some of them are so unnecessary .... Jesus says, "If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles." There is no getting away from it - that is what Jesus says. It is wrong of me to deliberately exceed the speed limits. On the other hand let's consider how Ken should react. He is the works manager for a printer. He has been inundated with orders. His boss, the owner of the works, instructs him to take the lot. Then, of course, he is unable to meet all the deadlines. So his boss orders him to lie, "Tell them that two of the machines have broke down. They're being repaired at the moment. Orders will be completed within the next couple of days." So what does Ken do? Does he obey orders and lie? He needs to make a stand the very first time he is asked to lie. He needs to tell his boss, "Sorry, I am a Christian, I cannot do that. Perhaps, in this instance you had better phone up our clients and explain the situation." It takes guts to say, "I cannot do that."

The Teacher writes: There is a proper time and procedure for every matter. There is. We need wisdom to know the proper procedure in time of testing.

(C) Do not be in a hurry to leave the King's presence.

The King's presence is the place of influence. It is also a dangerous place. Daniel suffered at the hand of jealous rivals. Nehemiah was very much afraid when King Artaxerxes accused him of looking sad. See Neh2v1to3. Despots are notably capricious! It is inevitably a place of compromise. Elijah did not rate Obadiah very highly. Elijah knew of Obadiah's efforts to rescue and preserve 100 prophets of the LORD from Jezebel but he still complains to God, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." 1Kings19v10. Elijah reckons he is the only Israelite left true to God despite knowing of Obadiah's work. He is obviously contemptuous of a man who was compromised by his position as Ahab's chief of staff. Yet the Scriptures tell us that: Obadiah was a devout believer in the LORD. 1Kings18v3.

Obadiah could have left the King's employ. He could have followed Elijah and sort refuge in a foreign land. He would have been relieved of the necessity of being polite to the prophets of Baal and making small talk to Jezebel! But he would have lost his influence with Ahab and been in no position to the save the prophets of the LORD.

We shouldn't be too quick to condemn those compromised by the company they keep. Dr Martin Lloyd-Jones wanted evangelical Christians to leave mixed denominations. As soon as you do this you lose what influence you have upon those denominations. It is much easier to reform an organisation from within than from without. Sometimes, of course, a church group will expel a reforming member. Luther and Wesley would have preferred to reform their churches from within but they were forced to leave. No blame accrues to any Christian driven out of their church by those too proud to admit the error of their ways.

Today, amongst non-conformists in particular, Christians are in too much of a hurry to leave their churches. Christians lack the wise heart that knows the proper time and procedure in the event of trouble within a church.

Some years ago I visited a fellowship in London the day after a church meeting held to vote for a new pastor had narrowly failed to get the requisite majority. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife! Several people said that they would leave unless the decision was reversed. Another church meeting was held and a few, against their better judgment, changed their vote so that the pastor could be called. He was a disaster. He wasn't up to the job. The first to leave were some of those who were most vocal in his support. Eventually, after only a short ministry, the pastor resigned. The church experienced the entire trauma because a group of immature, unwise, believers were in a hurry to leave if they could not get their way.

I know of another instance where an experienced pastor instigated a project dear to his heart and did not receive the backing from his church that he expected. Disappointed and frustrated he retired from the ministry prematurely. A church with many young and immature Christians was left without leadership. It has since disintegrated. Did the pastor show discernment in leaving when he did? His action is understandable but was it wise?

I think it is hard to remain in membership of a church where there is persistent and serious abuse of power by the leadership. John addressed this problem in his third epistle. Diotrephes was a leader who loved to be first. He did not welcome visiting preachers including John himself. Diotrephes was so jealous of his position that anyone who did welcome an itinerant prophet was put out of the church. It is significant that even in this case John does not encourage anyone to leave the fellowship!

We should be in no hurry to leave a position of influence. That is often the easiest thing to do but it is rarely the wisest.

(D) Do not stand up for a bad(lost) cause.

We can save ourselves a lot of grief by recognising when a cause is bad or lost or both bad and lost. The church is notorious for fighting a series of lost causes with great ferocity. Those who are advocates of a young earth and such bitter opponents of Geologists and Geomorphologists should remember the efforts made by churchmen to discredit Copernicus and Galileo for showing that the earth rotates and orbits the sun. That wasn't Scriptural! There is a passage in Joshua about the sun stopping in the middle of the sky and standing still over Gibeon that was quoted as evidence for the sun moving around the earth. It took the Roman Catholic Church hundreds of years to apologise for their treatment of Galileo! However fundamentalist Baptists who dredge up all sorts of spurious arguments in favour of a young earth are the modern day equivalents of those 16th century opponents of Galileo. It is a lost cause! See Josh10v12to14.

I was an opponent of the abolition of Grammar schools and corporal punishment and the prohibition of teacher's smoking on school premises. I am sorry to admit that the only one of these I actively campaigned against was the last. I thought it was wrong that teachers should be forced off the premises to sit and smoke in their cars in the road. My campaign was very short lived - I realised I was standing up for a lost cause.

There are times, however, when a cause seems lost but persistence pays off. I can remember applying on behalf of Brockley Community Council many years ago for a grant to build a village hall. I had to apply to West Suffolk Local Education Authority. They replied that to be eligible for a grant we had to have funds equal to 30% of the final cost of the proposed hall. I asked if money received by the Parish Council for the sale of charity land would count. The Chief Education Officer informed me that it would not. It looked as if our plans to build a village hall were stymied. An application for a grant appeared a lost cause. I decided to write to the Department of Education and Science for confirmation that the Chief Education's decision was correct. It was not! We received our grant and the village hall was built.

If we are sure that our cause is righteous it is appropriate to pursue it with determination. Very often passion, conviction and perseverance can turn a lost cause into a winning one. When Joseph's silver cup was found in Benjamin's sack his cause seemed a hopeless one. Judah pleaded for Benjamin's release with heartfelt eloquence: "So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy's life, sees that the boy isn't there, he will die. Your servant guaranteed the boy's safety to my father. I said, 'If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!'
"Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord's slave in place of the boy and let the boy return with his brothers. How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come upon my father." Gen44v30to31.

Judah passed Joseph's test. Joseph said to his brothers, "Come close to me." When they had done so, he said, "I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you." Gen45v4and5.

There are even times we have to pursue a lost cause knowing it is lost and with little expectation of it ever being otherwise. Jeremiah had a message from the LORD for the people in the besieged city of Jerusalem. He told them to submit to the Babylonians. This was the last thing the notables in city wanted to hear. Jeremiah kept proclaiming the message knowing it was in a lost cause because it was a word from the LORD. I think the small church at Brockley is a lost cause but if it is the Lord's work I must persist in it as long as possible.

We need discernment so that we can judge whether a cause is bad or good. I am afraid that some Christians have championed bad and lost causes in my lifetime. I think those who campaigned to keep Sunday special were foolish. It is not right to impose a peculiarly Christian way of observing Sunday on those who are not Christian. It is equally pointless for believers untrained in the disciplines of Geology, Meteorology and Geomorphology to try to prove the earth is young. It is a waste of time. It is both a bad and a lost cause. When I was a student the Geographical Society at UCL used to invite a representative of the Flat Earth Movement to argue their case. Many found the evening hilarious. I didn't. The members of this society held the views they did because in their opinion they were Scriptural. They were bringing the Bible into disrepute.

(E) Wisdom is needed to question the powerful.

The Teacher writes: Since a king's word is supreme, who can say to him, "What are you doing?" No one in authority likes to have that authority questioned. Success often depends upon a wise approach. Esther needed to get King Xerxes to reverse the agreement he entered into with Haman for the destruction of the Jews. She proceeded with great delicacy and discernment. Esther did not blurt out her request but first entertained the king to banquets on successive days. Only then did she present her petition. Daniel showed excellent judgment in getting his supervisor to change his diet to something more in keeping with Jewish law and custom. He didn't baldly refuse to eat the food and wine from the king's table. Instead he proposed a ten day test to see if his health suffered on a diet vegetables and water. It didn't and the Jewish students of King Nebuchadnezzar were allowed the diet of their choice. Nathan confronted King David with his wicked behaviour of engineering Uriah's death and marrying his wife by means of a story. The tale of the rich man taking the poor man's ewe lamb incensed David. Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man!"

It is interesting that in the first instance none of the people mentioned above adopted a confrontational approach. I nearly always adopted such an approach with head teachers. I assumed that the bald statement of my case would be sufficient. It rarely was!

It is very important when questioning the decisions or policy of those in authority to convey to them that it is not born out of personal antagonism. Care needs to be taken to assure a leader of the church of your love and loyalty before taking him to task. It is a lot easier to take criticism from those who clearly have your best interests at heart than those who seem motivated by personal antagonism.

(E) Conclusion.

The Teacher concludes this section by reminding his readers that the most despotic ruler's power is limited. No one knows the future or can control the direction or strength of the wind. None can put off the day of his death. It is impossible for the wiliest of sinners to cheat the grim reaper. The wise will have prepared for this eventuality by committing their lives to him who is powerful to save.

Wherefore, he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Heb7v25.

ANY COMMENTS FOR JOHN REED: E-mail jfmreed@talktalk.net

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