When you know your destiny is to be first chair or your own business or ministry and you are still under another that seems to do things contrary to what and how you would do things — it can be very frustrating.
There is a season in our lives where we must submit and serve and be vigilant NOT to usurp the first chair — we have to remind ourselves that— “It’s NOT my gig”, “it’s NOT my place”. But we learn what to do and what NOT to do for ourselves.
The Holy Spirit is really our Teacher and Pastor, the Five-Fold Gift is just His tool He uses to reinforce what He is already revealing to us — if we are paying attention and have an ear to hear.
To be a master you first but be a servant and respect the authority of the one who is in “first chair” (the head of the business or ministry). If you ignore that authority and rebel, you have just activated the sowing and reaping principle where you will be inundated with rebellious people who won’t listen to you. I have had many late night conversations with Pastors that complain about how people won’t listen to them— in part, this is because when they were the junior they sowed seeds of rebellion to their Elder.
This isn’t to say all leadership caused this. In the Body of Christ as well as in the secular world, leadership will always have at least an outer fringe of individuals that were not righteously parented, pastored, or mentored to respect authority and they unfortunately volunteer themselves to be made examples of themselves. The Bible refers to them as “vessels of dishonor”. Therefore this not necessarily a reflection of leadership but of parenting and pastoring. It falls upon the current leadership to discipline the unruly for the sake of the rest of the stewardship they have.
Even the old school Mafia there was a saying: “Kill a Don and you cannot be a Don.” Therefore if you didn’t respect the present Don’s authority, you would not be acknowledged as a Don — even if you where sitting at the head of you own organization — you would have been persona non grata and you would have been called a “mad dog” — someone who could not be controlled or do business with and therefore must be “put down” like a dog with rabies.
I’m not endorsing murder here but I am highlighting this spiritual Law — we all reap exactly what we sow. If we disrespect the position we will reap disrespect from the position as well as when we are in the position.
Some have complained to me that: “You don’t know what it’s like being under so and so!” I assure you, you didn’t have it as bad as David. Did they throw spears at you? Or put a contract out on your life? Probably not. Yet, David said, he would touch the Lord’s Anointed. Saul was demonically swayed and David wouldn’t be the one to “take him out” or be the cause of his downfall.
Of course, I do have to clarify that in this dispensation (era of history) of the New Covenant. There is One Ruler and His Name is The Lord Jesus Christ. David had to deal with an almost absolute “ruler” that had the authority to kill without consequence (at least in the natural). In the New Covenant we have Five-Fold Gifts that are Anointed by God to “Lead” not rule. No one but Jesus is our King and has the Authority to establish the bylaws of the New Covenant (we see this in the Gospels). No Five-Fold Gifts has that kind of authority. However, we are commanded to LOVE one another (and this is a fellowship love that the world is to know us by) and love is a servant (see the love chapter) and every place we see submit or obey, think the heart of submission is love. Whether, you are in the senior position or junior position— WE LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
The senior or “first chair” isn’t a ruler or a king or even a Old Covenant Prophet but he is Anointed with his own set of responsibilities to LOVE and serve the Flock of The Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul say: “I coveted no one’s silver”— in fact see Acts 20–38 to see what an Anointed Leader’s responsibility.
Biblical submission is about our love walk and the witness the world sees in us. Submission is LOVE and in submission to our senior develops us. Submission secures future harvest of juniors that will submit to our Anointed leadership and protects us from error that we would have to learn the hard way — instead of by proxy.