A false economy: shifting our eyes from Jesus to submission

My belief is that abuse and codependency have three facets. The first facet is what someone has a right to, and the second facet is what means they use to assert that right, and the third facet is changing the economy of worth.

In David Johnson's and Jeff Van Vonderen's excellent book, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse, they point to what is the most common shifting of the economy of worth in the church - external righteousness. When churches lose sight of Jesus as the source of their value and instead change the economy, bad things happen. Church discipline stops being about the heart of the matter - understanding our worth in Jesus and rekindling our love for Jesus - and starts being about changing our behavior, or else. But, there is also a positive side to this that I think the authors missed. It's not just that people are shamed for being visibly unrighteous, but they are also rewarded for being visibly righteous. People can be comfortable within an abusive system if they practice all of the visible rules (although they do note that many people still feel trapped when the leaders push more and more rules).

The authors note that the Pharisees are the prime example of spiritual abuse in the Bible, and it's clear that they created a system of external-only righteousness. But again, they did not touch on the reward system. For example,

Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. (Matt. 6:1-2)

Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places. (Luke 11:43)

So, the Pharisees shifted the economy of something that would normally be good (righteousness) into a punishment and reward system by which people were measured. But there was more to that. Jesus was ultimately murdered by the church leadership because he exposed the false reward system. He rewarded the "sinners" - those who were externally unrighteous, but loved Him, and He condemned the "righteous" - those who were externally righteous, but hated Him. Not only that, but he showed how they were hiding their unrighteousness by changing the rules for righteousness. For example,

He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to be put to death’; but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given to God),’ you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother; thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

We see here that the Pharisees destroyed something that was inherently good. They took righteousness and made it the ultimate currency in their religion, but because they couldn't meet their own standard, they manipulated the standards so that they appeared righteous. Not only that, but we see that when people call them out on their manipulation, those people get ostracized and worse.

In the RP church, I believe that there are three such currencies - all which are good when put in the perspective of a heart devoted to Jesus, but horrible when they take a live of their own. I plan to show the symptoms of each in the congregation.

Now, let's look at the impact of a false economy of submission. Submission to our leaders is good. God has put leaders over us to represent Him, and to guide us into righteousness. However, we need to be careful to not think anything more of leaders than we should or anything less of non-leaders than we should. The Bible says:

For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. (1 Cor. 12:14-26)

This is yet another example where the Bible turns the economy on its head. People with the gifts of leadership are going to be naturally more honored within the church, but we need to be careful not to honor them too much and we need to be careful that we honor those who do not have such visible and desired gifts. Yet, what do we do in the RP church? We go the extra mile to heap honor on those who are the heads and we ignore those who are the hands and feet. This is tearing the church apart.

Just as our secular courts favor the rich and powerful over the weak, our church courts refuse to look objectively at the sins of the leaders. Instead, the members are charged with insubordination. It doesn't matter whether the leaders had the right to obedience or not, the members are still insubordinate if they do not blindly obey their leaders. The same goes for families and work.

Again, it's not just about submission, but about honor and worth. In our economy of leadership, the leaders are spiritually superior to the members, not equals with different roles. That is why treatment of women in the RP church is such a farce. We pay lip service to equals with different roles, but then we apply this false economy of spiritual superiority, which relegates the women to a spiritually inferior role. When women complain about this mistreatment, we just say that they are insubordinate and trying to usurp the role of their husband.