My message this morning is, “When those above you are idiots.” We all live under authority. Parents, bosses, government, church leadership - there is no such thing as a society without any measure of authority. Authority is one of the restraining factors in this world that keep us from drifting into chaos. We all live under authority, and that means we all have experienced both the blessing and curse of authority. Authority is a blessing when it leads to prosperity and safety. But there will be times when you will face the unfortunate reality that the ones to whom you are required to submit make decisions that are foolish, arrogant, harmful or downright wrong in your eyes.
And this, “in your eyes” is important. Because whether or not the people above you are actually idiots, there are days when you think that they are because they are not listening to you. You never think the people above you are idiots when they listen to you - only when they are not listening to you do they magically transform into idiots.
Your perspective on power and wisdom changes when you are the one in power. Remember being a kid and thinking that your parents knew everything? Then you become a parent and you’re like - ok, when is all of this knowledge supposed to kick in? Or you’re the boss and you realize that you actually have no idea what you are doing?
This perspective is what makes Ecclesiastes 8 very interesting, because Solomon is writes a chapter basically around the theme - what to do when your boss is an idiot … and Solomon’s the boss! He is the king! and this is not a democracy - he has absolute power. However, he also knows he doesn’t have absolute wisdom, or absolute righteousness. Yet neither did his advisors. And neither do you. So power without wisdom - somebody is going to get hurt, and somebody does. Look at the key verse in the section: Ecc 8:9 All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt.
These past few years have seen the role of law enforcement spark controversy in various communities. While African American communities have always had what could be charitably described as an “uneasy” relationship with government authorities, the shooting death of Trayvon Martin was significant, for as I observed last week, while there have been many eras throughout world history that could be characterized as an “age of rage” the internet has brought the rage home to many of us, almost to an overwhelming degree. After Trayvon there was Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and the hashtag, #BlackLivesMatters became a movement, and a polarizing one at that. Those who defended the police as those who are trying to do an impossible job, employed the counter hashtag #bluelivesmatter, and lines were drawn in the sand.
This all corresponded with the rise of Donald Trump, who promised to restore law and order in American cities as part of his pledge to make America Great Again, and after his unlikely victory protests erupted in various american cities, sometimes erupting in violence as we saw last month in Charlottesville between the Alt-Right and Antifa, and sometimes it seems that anarchy rules on the streets. If America is a boiling pot, there are times when the waters spill over into Canada. The alt-right is here. Antifa is here. The anarchists are here. the government is here.
I don’t bring this up today to be sensational or to try to preach from the newspapers. But only to state that there are serious questions being asked today about the legitimacy of government to enforce laws and the manner in which our governments in particular enforce the law, and as Christians we not only live in this nation under the law, but we work with and go to school with and drink coffee in the shop with people who either distrust or defend, or sometimes detest the government and law enforcement, and we get in conversations, in which people may ask us, what do you think, and so often our answer as Christians is, I try not to get involved in all that.
