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Frankly, most things in life are not nearly as important as we think they are. Our lives will not come to an end if this or that does not happen.
Almost all church fights and splits occur because people do not have the freedom to give in to each other. We insist that a critical issue is at stake; we are fighting for a sacred principle. Perhaps this is the case. Usually it is not. Often we cannot stand to give in simply because it means that we will not get our own way. Only in submission are we enabled to bring this spirit to a place where it no longer controls us.
If we could only come to see that most things in life are not major issues, then we could hold them lightly.
The biblical teaching on submission focuses primarily on the spirit with which we view other people. Peter, for example, called upon the slaves of his day to live in submission to their masters (1 Peter 2:18). The counsel seems unnecessary until we realize that it is quite possible for servants to obey their masters without living in a spirit of submission to them. Outwardly we can do what people ask and inwardly be in rebellion against them.
The old covenant stipulated that we must not murder. Jesus, however, stressed that the real issue was the inner spirit of murder with which we view people. In the matter of submission, the same is true; the real issue is the spirit of consideration and respect we have for each other. In submission we are at last free to value other people.
Do you know the liberation that comes from giving up your rights? It means you are set free from the seething anger and bitterness you feel when someone doesn’t act toward you the way you think they should.
The touchstone for the biblical understanding of submission is Jesus’ astonishing statement in Mark 8:34.
We are much more comfortable with words like “self-fulfillment” and “self-actualization” than we are with the thought of “self-denial.” Ironically, in reality, Jesus’ teaching on self-denial is the only thing that will bring genuine self-fulfillment and self-actualization.
It is hard for us to be open to the words of Thomas à Kempis, “To have no opinion of ourselves, and to think always well and highly of others, is great wisdom and perfection.” We struggle to listen to the words of Jesus, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
Revolutionary Subordination as Taught by Jesus
The most radical social teaching of Jesus was his total reversal of the contemporary notion of greatness. Leadership is found in becoming the servant of all. Power is discovered in submission. The foremost symbol of this radical servanthood is the cross.
It is impossible to overstate the revolutionary character of Jesus’ life and teaching at this point. It did away with all the claims to privileged position and status. It called into being a whole new order of leadership.
The apostle Paul grounds the imperative to the Church to “count others better than yourselves” in the submission and self-denial of the Lord for our salvation. “He…emptied himself, taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:4–7).
Submission is an ethical theme that runs the gamut of the New Testament. It is a posture obligatory upon all Christians: men as well as women, fathers as well as children, masters as well as slaves. We are commanded to live a life of submission because Jesus lived a life of submission, not because we are in a particular place or station in life.
The Epistles turned to the culturally dominant partner in the relationship and also called him to the cross-life of Jesus. In Colossians 3:19-4:1, the imperative to subordination is reciprocal.
- “Husbands, love your wives…”
- “Fathers, do not provoke your children…”
- “Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly…”
Limits of the Discipline of Submission
The limits of the Discipline of submission are at the points at which it becomes destructive. It then becomes a denial of the law of love as taught by Jesus and is an affront to genuine biblical submission (Matt. 5, 6, and 7 and especially 22:37–39).
In defining the limits of submission, we are catapulted into a deep dependence upon the Holy Spirit. After all, if we had a book of rules to cover every circumstance in life, we would not need dependence. The Spirit is an accurate discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, both yours and mine. He will be to us a present Teacher and Prophet, instructing us in what to do in every situation.
Submission and service function concurrently. Hence, much of the practical outflow of submission will come in the outward discipline of service (to be explored next month).
Seven Acts of Submission
1. Submission to the Triune God
At the beginning of the day we wait, in the words of the hymn writer, “yielded and still” before Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The first words of our day form the prayer of Thomas à Kempis, “As thou wilt; what thou wilt; when thou wilt.”
2. Submission to Scripture
As we submit ourselves to the Word of God living (Jesus), so we submit ourselves to the Word of God written (Scripture). We yield ourselves first to hear the Word, second to receive the Word, and third to obey the Word.
3. Submission to Our Family
The dictum for the household should be “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4). Freely and graciously the members of the family make allowance for each other.
4. Submission to Our Neighbors
This act of submission is to our neighbors and those we meet in the course of our daily lives. The life of simple goodness is lived before them.
5. Submission to the Body of Christ
This act of submission is to the believing community. If there are jobs to be done and tasks to be accomplished, we look at them closely to see if they are God’s invitation to the cross-life. We cannot do everything, but we can do some things.
6. Submission to the Broken & Despised
In every culture there are the “widows and orphans”; that is, the helpless, the undefended (James 1:27). Our first responsibility is to be among them. Like St. Francis in the thirteenth century and Kagawa in the twentieth, we must discover ways to identify genuinely with the downtrodden, the rejected. There we must live the cross-life.
7. Submission to the World
We live in an interdependent, international community. We cannot live in isolation. Our environmental responsibility, or the lack of it, affects not only the people around the world but generations yet to be born. Starving peoples affect us. Our act of submission is a determination to live as a responsible member of an increasingly irresponsible world.
A Final Note
Revolutionary subordination commands us to live in submission to human authority until it becomes destructive.
May you learn the discipline of Submission, as you shoot for the stars!