[This is my seventh post of ten in my “Vintage Wednesday” series on “Leadership Authority,” re-written/updated from a blogpost back in May of 2011.]

The seventh of Watchman Nee’s Ten Commandments of Spiritual Authority states that:

7. People who are under God’s authority look for and recognize spiritual authority and willingly place themselves under it.

A centurion with great authority and power in the Roman world recognized Jesus’ sovereign authority and humbly noted that he was undeserving of having audience with him (see Luke 7:1-10). Jesus commended this man for his tremendous faith—something he could not say about his own people who should have recognized him for who he truly was.

Perhaps what is most disconcerting in this discussion on authority is when people think they are in authority or under God’s authority and are really not. They may have started out well but along the way have become confused on what God’s authority is and how to live in alignment with it. No longer under God’s authority, they act as if they are, abusing their followers with a distorted authority and often causing them to become disillusioned with their relationship with God.

It’s why Jesus had very stern words for those with influence (leadership): “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So watch yourselves” (Luke 17:1-3a).

If you recognize God’s authority and willingly place yourself under it, watch yourself closely, for without a close relationship with God through his word and prayer while in community with other believers (see 1 Corinthians 1, Hebrews 10:24-25, and Proverbs 27:17), you can easily derail and end up abusing others with your supposed leadership authority.