There is a difference between being in authority and being under authority. That distinction, small as it may seem on the surface, changes everything about how we live, how we serve, and how we experience the power of God in our daily lives.
Consider the role of an American ambassador. When an ambassador walks into a room, people listen. They pay attention not because of who the ambassador is as an individual, but because of who the ambassador represents. The authority they carry is borrowed, delegated, and entirely dependent on the government behind them. An ambassador who decided to go rogue, to change the message, to represent their own agenda instead of their nation’s, would quickly find that their authority evaporates the moment they step outside the boundaries of the one who sent them.
That picture has profound implications for followers of Jesus.
We are not in authority. We are under authority. And when we truly understand that, everything changes.
The Centurion Who Understood What Most of Us Miss
In Matthew chapter 8, beginning at verse 5, a Roman centurion approaches Jesus with an urgent request. His servant is lying at home in terrible agony, tormented and paralyzed. What makes this moment remarkable is who is doing the asking. This is not a devout Jew. This is not a disciple. This is a Roman soldier, a representative of an empire that largely viewed the Jewish people with contempt. And yet here he is, humbling himself before Jesus, pleading on behalf of his servant.
Two things stand out immediately. The first is compassion. The centurion did not have to come. His servant had no power over him, no leverage, no claim to his time. He came because he genuinely cared. That is the definition of compassion in action. Compassion is not a feeling that stays safely inside. Compassion is love with boots on. It gets into the ditch. It inconveniences itself. It crosses social boundaries and sets aside personal comfort to help someone else.
The second thing that stands out is the centurion’s understanding of authority. When Jesus offers to come and heal the servant, the centurion stops him. He says he is not worthy to have Jesus come under his roof. Then he says something stunning. He explains that he too is a man under authority, and because of that, when he tells soldiers to go or come, they do it. He is not boasting about his own power. He is recognizing a system. He understands that authority flows from submission, not from rank.
Jesus is amazed. He turns to the crowd and says he has not found faith this great anywhere in Israel.
Authority Without Compassion Is Just Dominance
Before we talk about the power of being under authority, we have to reckon with the compassion piece, because without it, authority becomes something ugly.
When the church walks through the world projecting superiority instead of love, when we look at the struggling, the addicted, the broken, and quietly congratulate ourselves for not being like them, we are not exercising authority. We are exercising dominance. And the world sees right through it.
People do not need to encounter a church that is better than them. They need to encounter a church that is willing to get into the mess with them. The centurion crossed every cultural barrier that existed in his world to seek help for someone who could do nothing for him in return. That is the model. That is what it looks like when authority and compassion work together.
He Already Said It
When the centurion tells Jesus to simply say the word and his servant will be healed, there is a lesson buried in that request that is easy to miss. He did not need a spectacle. He did not need Jesus to show up in person and perform a visible miracle. He trusted that the word of Jesus carried the same power whether Jesus was standing in front of him or miles away.
How often do we pray desperate, anxious prayers about things that God has already spoken to in his word? We cry out for provision when Scripture is clear that God will supply every need. We beg for healing when the word already declares that by his wounds we are healed, as described in Isaiah 53:5. We ask for peace in the middle of anxiety when Philippians 4:6 through 7 tells us to bring our requests to God and receive a peace that surpasses understanding.
Jesus is not withholding. He has already spoken. The question is whether we believe it.
Submission Is Not the Same as Obedience
James 4:7 carries one of the most misapplied instructions in all of Scripture. It tells us to submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee. Many people focus on the second half and wonder why the devil is not fleeing. The answer is almost always found in the first half.
Submission is not the same as obedience. You can be obedient out of fear or habit or social pressure. Submission is a posture of the heart. It is willingly placing yourself under someone else’s authority because you trust them. When we submit to God, genuinely and completely, we position ourselves under his authority in a way that makes the rest of the verse work.
The question worth sitting with is this: what areas of your life have you not yet submitted to God? Your marriage? Your finances? Your health? Your children? Your future? Submission in those areas does not mean God will take them away. It means you trust him enough to hold them with an open hand.
The Authority That Looks Like a Towel
Jesus, who holds all authority in heaven and on earth as declared in Matthew 28:18, demonstrated that authority by washing feet. He traded places with a murderer. He served. He pointed everyone around him toward the Father.
True kingdom authority does not look like standing on a platform demanding to be heard. It looks like showing up early to serve, staying late to clean up, and sitting with someone in their pain without an agenda.
When you are under his authority and you are serving others in his name, you do not have to announce yourself. The authority speaks for itself.
