Spiritual Disciplines: The Spiritual Discipline of Submission Scripture Reading: Ephesians 5:15-21 Intro: Be very careful, then, how you live not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (NIV) Almost all of the spiritual disciplines that we have been looking at are counter cultural. We have looked at fasting when our culture calls us to consume, we have looked at meditation and silence and solitude when our culture tries to fill our ears and minds with distractions Out of all the spiritual disciplines, I think that submission is the most counter cultural. If we explain to co-workers why we fast, or pray or meditate, they might think we are just weird. If we explain to them why we live a life of submission, they are likely to say that we are wrong! Today we are going to look at one of the most counter cultural and difficult spiritual disciplines to practice submission. Ephesians 5:21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (NIV) Submission is a bad word in our society. We make heroes of people who won t submit to anyone s authority, You never hear of politicians or actors talking about submission, unless it is beating the bad guys into submission. The motto for our age is depicted in the Survivor theme: Outplay, Outwit, Outlast.
It is not too surprising that God s values look upside down from the world s perspective. Let s look at God s perspective, and his call on our lives. Body: What Submission is not Christian Submission is not about being a Doormat. Paul, who writes this passage here in Ephesians, deals harshly with both secular authorities and with Christian brothers and sisters when they overstep their bounds and treat him as less than he is. The Submission that Paul is calling us to is a mutual submission not one where there is one person in submission, and another in authority, but that we would submit to each other. We do not submit to others because that is what I deserve, the worm that I am Richard Foster writes: Jesus called us to self-denial without self-hatred. Self-denial is simply a way of coming to understand that we do not have to have it our own way. Our happiness is not dependent upon getting what we want. Self-denial does not mean the loss of our identity as some suppose. Without our identity we could not even be subject to each other. Did Jesus lose his identity when he set his face toward Golgotha? Did Peter lose his identity when he responded to Jesus cross-bearing command, Follow me. (John 21:19)? Did Paul lose his identity when he committed himself to the one who had said, I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name (Acts 9:16)? Of course not. We know the opposite was true. They found their identity in the act of selfdenial. p 99
Christian Submission is not about over-the-top politeness. It is not the abdication of responsibility or authority so we get nowhere and no decisions get made because we are so worried about stepping on each other s toes. Christian Submission is not about the lowest common denominator. Christian Submission is not about keeping each other from getting ahead. Christian submission doesn t say, I m not going to use my God given gifts, because I might make someone else look bad. There is a sense in the term of submission of coming under the other person, not to be held down by them, but to lift them up! What Submission is Definition - a voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming responsibility, and carrying a burden". "put others first" - Contemporary English Version Instead of looking out for ourselves, we are to be looking out for everyone else, and they are to look out for us. Every discipline has its corresponding freedom. What freedom corresponds to submission? It is the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way. The obsession to demand that things go the way we want them to go is one of the greatest bondages in human society today. People will spend weeks, months, even years in a perpetual stew because some little thing did not go as they wished, they will fuss and fume. They will get mad about it. They will act as if their very life hangs on the issue. They may even get an ulcer over it. In the Discipline of submission we are released to drop the matter, to forget it. Frankly, most things in life are not nearly so important as we think they are. Our lives will not come to an end if this or that will not happen. Richard Foster p. 97 Christian Submission Flows Out of Strength, Not Weakness. Jesus is our example in this. John 13:3-5
Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. (NIV) If I suddenly had the divine revelation that Jesus did all things under my feet, I think I would like to try it out! Not take up the lowliest servant s job! But because of Jesus place of strength, he is able to serve to subject himself to his own disciples; not as a weak person beaten into submission, but as the strongest person in the universe, choosing to submit. Philippians 2:6-7 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. (NIV) We too come from a place of strength Ephesians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (NIV) We respond to that strength, not by taking up any highhanded authority, but by submitting to each other. The most amazing picture I have of submitting from a place of strength is that of Jesus standing before Pilate. Pilate asks Jesus a question and Jesus stays silent. John 19:10-11 "Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?" Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin." (NIV)
Pilate, this little governor of a backwater province in the Roman Empire has the creator of the universe standing before him in human form, and Jesus submits himself. Christian submission is not about placating a bully but it is about serving in love & strength. Christian Submission must come in Relationship Without knowing each other, knowing the heart s desire, talking things through with each other, there can be no mutual submission one will always just be giving in to the will of the other. That is why we need face-to-face relationships with other Christians in small groups and close friendships, so that we can obey God s commands! Christian Submission is about Sacrifice Just because submission is not about all these bad things doesn t mean that it is easy if it is working it should hurt. John 15:12-13 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. (NIV) Laying down one s life is not just about dying. It is about giving up what we hold dear because our friend is even dearer to us. giving up preferences, honor, possessions, the TV remote laying down our living lives for each other! Christian Submission is about Honor Romans 12:10 Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. (NRSV) We are to be a people who lift each other up, not knock each other down.
Christian Submission flows from the filling of the Spirit Grammar Lesson. Ephesians 5:21 is deeply connected to the command in Ephesians 5:18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. (NIV) The rest of the verbs are participles ing verbs. Being filled with the Spirit should cause in us certain actions or this verse could be read like this: Be filled with the Spirit, speaking in psalms, hymns, & spiritual songs, singing and making music, giving thanks, submitting to each other Our Submission to each other is an outworking of the Spirit s filling of our lives. If someone likes to call themselves a spiritual leader and Christian but cannot submit to others because of pride or rebellion, I want to question their adjective! As this is connected to the filling of the Spirit, we cannot do it without the grace of God flowing through our whole being. If you are having trouble with the discipline of Submission, ask the Holy Spirit to fill you more! Why should we be submissive? The Key words are "out of reverence for Christ." Just as you have submitted to Christ, submit to each other. Acts of Submission Ignatius of Loyola said, A thick and shapeless tree-trunk would never believe that it could become a statue, admired as a miracle of sculpture, and would never submit itself to the chisel of the sculptor, who sees by her genius what she can make of it. We must ask for the grace to let ourselves be shaped by our loving Creator.
Thomas à Kempis said our attitude should be As thou wilt; what thou wilt; when thou wilt. Submit to God s Word This doesn t mean that we will not struggle with Scripture, nor does it mean that we turn our brains off, but when we come to pieces of scripture that are difficult, we should give the Word the benefit of the doubt and allow it to shape us Submit to our Families I believe that God gives us families to practice love on, because if we can love them, we can love anybody, and if we can submit to them, we can submit to anybody. The passage in Ephesians goes on from verse 21 to describe how each of us in a family is to submit to the others. Read it. Men there are 9 verses that describe how we are to submit to our wives and children while Paul only gives them 2 each on how to submit to us! Submit to your neighbors, coworkers, friends Here submission looks a lot like service. Don t complain about your neighbor s new fence, help him build it! Help a co-worker get a promotion, let someone get the glory for a job you do together. Serve your boss like they are Jesus, even if they think they are God! Submit to the Christian Community If you look around you, these are all the one-anothers that God calls us to love and serve, to lift up and honor above yourself. Submit to the Broken & Despised James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (NIV) Limits of Submission Submission is an act of love it is not loving to allow another to continue to abuse you, others, or themselves. We are called to submit to one another, not to one another s sin. There are times when we need to submit to God rather than human authorities who are asking us to go against him. When Peter and John are commanded by the Sanhedrin to stop talking about Jesus, how did they respond? Acts 4:19-20 But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." (NIV) Mind you, there have been many arrogant people who have said, We must obey God rather than men just to excuse their desire not to submit to authority. Any time that we think that God is calling us to not submit to the authorities, we should tread slowly in humility and in the counsel of trusted Christian friends. Carry-Over: The Spiritual Disciple of Submission is about as counter-cultural as you can get. We may feel ourselves even bristle at the very word submission. This is why we must practice it, to till the soil of the soul. If we practice it with humility, it will allow the Holy Spirit to reach down in to the earth of our soul and pull up any bitter root of seething anger or envy or selfishness that might be there. We can build a life of submission by working on it as a discipline. Ask yourselves these questions. Who do you want me to submit to today?
Who do you want me to voluntarily give in to today? Who do you want me to come under today? Who do you want me to put ahead of myself today? Ask God where he wants you to submit today. I believe that He will answer us in ways that are un-expected, and I believe that He will give us someone every day. Ask the Father today, who would you have me submit myself to today? Whom shall I come under and lift up in your name?