Pastor, “You can’t do that, Jesus” is about authority. Here’s how to answer it.

Nobody says it in those words. But you’ve heard it in a members’ meeting, a denominational floor vote, or a comment section full of people sure Scripture can’t mean what it plainly says: “You can’t do that, Jesus.” Peter said it first, and Jesus called it what it was. It’s a sermon of the serpent. This one is really about authority, and here’s how I answer it as a pastor.

What congregationalism is

Strictly, congregationalism is governing the church by congregational vote. But this lesson is really about something bigger. Congregationalism is one example of the deeper temptation: treating God’s authority, and the authority He delegates, as something we get a vote on. Authority has a structure, and it can’t be democratized.

Rebellion can be individual or corporate. One person can do it in their heart. A whole denomination can do it with a ballot.

The serpent’s question

When Jesus tells His disciples He must suffer and die, Peter takes Him aside and rebukes Him: “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turns and says, “Get behind me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:22–23). Jesus is saying, in effect, “You just preached a sermon of the serpent.” Peter wasn’t casting a wrong vote. He was asserting his judgment over Christ’s.

The hiss is “Did God really give anyone authority over you?” It’s “Did God really say?” with “You will be like God” right behind it: I’ll decide what’s true.

Step 1 — We don’t get a vote on truth

God has revealed Himself through special revelation, the Scripture. Truth is external, knowable, findable. We don’t question God’s word, God’s authority, or God’s delegated authority. We’re either in alignment with what is true or out of alignment with it. We don’t vote on orthodoxy. We don’t even affirm it into being. It is true, and we submit to it.

Over time, denominations have voted to set aside what God made explicit. I’ve watched it happen. When I was a young pastor in training, there was a large church of a denomination right outside my window that was deconstructing. They were leaving the authority of Scripture and voting to ordain and affirm what God’s word calls sin, voting against what God Himself defined as marriage.

I remember one night vividly. There was a tornado warning and we were all in our dorms. The tornado didn’t touch down anywhere else, but it knocked the cross straight off that church. I think the fear of God got into a lot of people that day. Later that semester I watched the cranes trying to put the cross back up, which is very hard to do. Even if your denomination or your congregation has voted one way, you don’t actually get a vote. Neither do I.

Step 2 — Separate what’s ours to decide from what God has decided

Churches decide plenty of things together, and they should. Service times, budgets, building plans. But some things have already been decided by God, and those aren’t on the agenda. When anyone, a member, a pastor, or a whole denomination, votes against the explicit word of God, Jesus’ answer is the same one He gave Peter. That’s the line every pastor has to help his people see. There are plenty of voices on TikTok preaching another gospel on sexuality and sin. It’s not what Jesus taught, and it’s not what the Bible says.

Step 3 — Teach the centurion’s posture

The positive picture is the centurion who asks Jesus to heal his servant: “For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me” (Matthew 8:9). He understood that authority flows down a structure, and that his own authority came from being under someone else’s. Jesus said He hadn’t found anyone in Israel with such great faith (Matthew 8:10). To have authority, you must be under authority.

Step 4 — Model submission yourself

Your people won’t learn submission from a pastor who answers to nobody. Let them see who you’re accountable to. Talk about the people who speak into your life and the Scripture that overrules your preferences. When you bow to God’s word in front of them, it gets a lot easier for them to do the same.

Anytime we get in the way of the purposes and the truth of God, we’re preaching the serpent’s sermon. We don’t vote on what is true. We align with it. We don’t get a vote on truth, and to have authority, you must be under authority.