The Holy Spirit is real. Complimenting clear guidance from the Word of God, the Spirit of God is your personal guide in matters not as clear. Others can offer advice which may or may not be helpful, but the Spirit will bear witness to what is truly helpful. As a child of God, it is the Spirit of God who is your real leader and not anyone else acting in His stead. Ultimately, in the spiritual realm, there is one God and one mediator between God and men—Jesus. The Spirit in His ministry to you does not act in the stead of Jesus; He brings the leadership and life of Jesus right into you.
The Spirit bears witness with your spirit. When He does, you know. This is not a feeling; it is a knowing (Rom. 8:16). Obviously, the Spirit never leads contrary to the Word of God of which ultimately He is the author. However, this truth is sometimes manipulated. How? There can be stark differences between what the Word of God says and some men’s interpretation of what is written in the Word. If an interpretation contradicts another clear statement in the Bible, it is important to remember that it is an erroneous interpretation that has been offered to you.
If you believe God is leading you a particular way and it is within the ways of God’s written Word, then you need to trust and obey. If someone maintains that this is not God’s will for your life and insists that something else is His will instead, beware. This is an example of a lose-lose scenario. Bow to man’s pressure and you quench the Spirit’s leadership in your life. On the contrary, if you obey the Spirit and defy the person/leader insisting you follow another path, you can expect that person will say you are out of God’s will.
Also, such a dogmatic assertion concerning God’s will for an area of life not spelled out in the written Word violates what is explicitly spelled out in the Word—there is “one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). The Spirit of Jesus is the one (the only one) vested with the authority to show you His will.
When a youth is in the home and under the authority of parents, obviously, parents have responsibility. However, parents would be wise to help maturing children develop their relationship with God so they become God-dependent, not parent-dependent. Also, parents must take care not to become unwitting pawns in the hands of someone like a lording pastor.
Pastors who assert authority in spiritual matters beyond the clear absolutes in the written Word are overstepping their jurisdiction. As overseers, pastors have organizational authority, but when the exercise of legitimate authority extends into the spiritual realm, it is no longer legitimate. Leadership seeking to influence as a shepherd is legitimate, but lording that forces a desired end by spiritualizing manipulative tactics is not. In the spiritual realm, the Spirit of Jesus is the authority. When matters are not black and white but a leader asserts that they are and then pushes his personal view onto others, that authority figure has overreached and eclipsed the role of the Holy Spirit. This overreach is what creates lose-lose scenarios.
John Van Gelderen
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To be honest I see a lot of danger in this article. it seems to leave out the teaching in Proverbs about the importance of heeding the wisdom of those older and wiser in life experience and their walk with God. Young people can greatly lack wisdom and experience, and thus authority in their lives is a protection. It seems scary to tell young people to continue on in the path they desire as long as they believe what they’re doing is God’s will and does not violate a specific biblical teaching. Also, as humans we can be deceived easily… Read more »
Thank you for your interest and perspective. The article does qualify it’s point and brings out parental responsibility, but then seeks to guard against parents being used as pawns by others seeking to manipulate. Pastoral leadership is biblical and what the passage in Hebrews encourages. The word “rule” is leadership, not authority. The article upholds leadership, but confronts lording. Lording uses tactics that force. Leaders use methods that influence, but do not force. This article upholds leadership, but seeks to call out the lose-lose tactics that force sincere people to obey them. The qualifying scripture that gives biblical boundaries to… Read more »
John, Thank you for sharing this! I believe the article is correct. My sheep hear my voice is legitimate and the Holy Spirit guides us into all truth. I’d be interested to hear of testimonies of how God has moved in people’s lives when others thought they were off. There have been times, I wish I would have listened to counsel. Other times, the counsel I received was off and rather than going with the Holy Spirit; I did things not in faith and pleased man more than God.
Thank you Dan, I’ve done both as well.
John that’s a great article. I understand “concerned’s” fears. However I think that ultimately we need to trust the sheep to hear from the shepherd and teach them how to hear the Holy Spirit. The problem we have as pastors is that we love the sheep and want to avoid pain for them. They need to interact with God for themselves though and sometimes they will get it wrong and be hurt but learn a valuable lesson. I think perhaps many of my most important lessons have happened that way. I believe that an over dependence on Pastoral authority leads… Read more »
David, Thank you for sharing. What an encouragement to get your insight and testimony!
Yes, Dave, thank you for sharing this. I love how you approach the areas not spelled out clearly in Scripture by giving your advice and then asking, “What would God have you do?” This puts the focus back on their relationship with God and exemplifies shepherding, not lording.
Loved the article and the discussions above and the clarification of issues raised. ..also appreciated the time in Clinton and the encouragement … am looking forward to reading the other books he has out..