iChoose
Pt. 2 – I Choose To Submit
I. Introduction
How many choices have you made this week? How many did you make this morning? Let me show you one of the choices those of us over the age 30 will remember. Remember this? A small box of crayons? Then out of nowhere our choices exploded and we were faced with the mammoth task of choosing from the large box of crayons! Technological advancement!
If you visited a grocery store this week you were faced with countless choices. I love cereal. Are there any other cereal lovers in the house? I could probably eat a whole box in one sitting if I am not careful. I went to the grocery store this week to find out how many options we have. Can you believe that now you don’t just have Captain Crunch and Cheerios? You have 125 different choices in the cereal aisles. You used to just have white bread . . . thick or thin. Now you have 35 types of sandwich bread. Wheat, rye, multi-grain, honey wheat, or double fiber.
You have to choose to choose.
In many ways he was the cultural icon of the 1960’s. His lyrics were laced with edgy social commentary, religious themes, and philosophical themes. He was included in the 100 most influential people of the 20th Century by Time Magazine. He was hailed as the #2 recording artist of all time by Rolling Stone. He has even been nominated several times for the Nobel Prize. And when his most recent album was released in 2006 he became the oldest person to ever hold the #1 spot on the Billboard Charts. In 1979, he released a song that speaks to our subject today. Take a listen to Bob Dylan for just a second.
"Gotta Serve Somebody"
You may be an ambassador to England or France,
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.
You might be a rock ’n’ roll addict prancing on the stage,
You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage,
You may be a business man or some high degree thief,
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief
You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride,
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side,
You may be workin’ in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair,
You may be somebody’s mistress, may be somebody’s heir
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.
What Dylan understood is that at some point in our lives we have to choose to whom and to what we will serve or submit. It doesn’t matter how powerful you may be or what position you may hold the choice of who to serve must be made. Dylan’s proclamation in the 1970’s wasn’t really a new proclamation. Although he probably didn’t pick up a guitar and sing an earlier version of this anthem, Joshua, who probably – and it wouldn’t have taken much – had a better voice, bluntly challenged the Children of Israel to choose who they were going to serve. The Israelites stood on the prepacise of their inheritance and their promised destiny. With one final push they will have graduated from slaves to land owners and from homeless to the homeland. But Joshua understood that they could not possess their inheritance and the promise/destiny of God without making a choice. Hear his challenge to choose.
Joshua 24:14-15
14Now therefore fear Jehovah, and serve him in sincerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt; and serve ye Jehovah. 15And if it seem evil unto you to serve Jehovah, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah.
He forced them to make a decision. Joshua, in that bold call to decide, teaches us that our willingness or unwillingness to submit is the deciding factor in determining if we will ever walk into our destiny or purpose. We can have promise after promise and prophecy after prophecy given to us, but if we refuse to submit those words and plans can be forfeited forever.
Our level of success is directly and permanently linked to our level of submission. We must make the choice . . . to whom and to what we will submit? Even if we say that we refuse to choose, we in effect are making a choice. By making no choice we are in fact making a choice.
There are three areas of submission that I want to talk to you about this morning.
1. We must submit to the Word.
This may sound like a silly statement to make to a room full of Christians. We would probably all raise our hands and say, “yeah we submit to the Word.” However, I would challenge that assertion! What we should really state is that we submit to parts of the Word. However, I want to challenge you that according to
2 Timothy 3:16:
16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
16Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way.
Too often we submit to the parts that back up our already decided upon position. We proof text and say I will accept this because it matches up with what I believe. I like this one, but don’t like that one. When did God’s Word become a buffet where we get to pick and choose according to our taste?
No, I challenge you that we take the whole book and we believe that it is the literal Word of God and that every part of it, like it or not, comfortable with it or not, is what we submit to. So if it says not to do something then we don’t have to call a special prayer meeting to pray about it. For instance should I get drunk tonight? No question that Word says no. Is a homosexual lifestyle OK since God is a God of grace? The Word is clear! If it says we are to do something then I don’t have to fast, call prayer partners, and lay prostrate before the Lord to find out if I should do this! Should I tithe? Maybe I should seek counsel about that. Maybe I just shelve that one until I can afford it. No, the Word is absolutely clear. His Word is the final Word on that subject. And according to what Jesus taught about the Law failure in one area equals failure in every area! We take it all. We submit to it all.
I choose to submit to the authority of His Word. In order to do that we must make sure that we:
a. Read His Word – How can you submit to something if you don’t know what it says? Is ignorance bliss? No, we are held accountable for the whole council of God’s Word.
b. Study His Word – We can’t just wait on someone once a week to tell us what he has studied or what he has read. We must study to show ourselves approved! Get a translation you understand, but study it. Why? So that it becomes a part of who we are.
c. We must apply the Word – It is more than just reading or studying it. We must also apply the Word and allow it to direct us, guide us, correct us and our course in life. I am talking about more than mere memory verses or assigned reading. This is the idea that we actually live what we read. We live according to the principles and commandments that we find in the Word.
Let’s submit to and become people of the Word!
2. We must submit to Jesus as Lord.
Too often we claim Christ as savior, but never submit to Him as Lord. By the way we don’t make Him Lord. He is Lord! We don’t make Him anything. However, we do need to make and take the step of submission. This step takes everything to an entirely different level. This takes our relationship from fire insurance to in essence making Him the boss of our lives.
In fact, the word “Lord” in the Greek means “supreme in authority, that is controller”. We must come to the place where we make Jesus the supreme authority and controller of our lives. His commands trump everyone else’s commands. What He says is right trumps what anyone else says is right.
What does submitting to Jesus as Lord mean?
a. We must submit our ways.
Remember the passage of Scripture found in Proverbs 3:6?
6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
That word “acknowledge” carries the idea of being riveted. Are we riveted to Him in all of our ways? His ways are not options they are directions. Following the known ways paves the way for direction and discovery in the unknown. I find too many people wanting direction for the unknown when they aren’t submitting in the known ways. One depends on the other. We must come to the place where we begin to live in a “thy will be done” manner.
b. It means we make the choice now to either bow now or bow later.
Philippians 2:9-11
9Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name; 10that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, 11and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
That is the concept of submission. We submit our will and our way to Christ as Lord and even though we know that we will bow eventually we choose to bow now out of our free will!
3. We must submit to assigned leadership/relationships.
Matthew 8:5-10
5And when he was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, 6and saying, Lord, my servant lieth in the house sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. 7And he saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 8And the centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed. 9For I also am a man under authority, having under myself soldiers: and I say to this one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. 10And when Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
The centurion that Jesus runs into was someone who understood authority. His response and interaction with Jesus teaches us that there is authority in relationships or chains of command that produce power and provision in our lives. These relationships come in natural and supernatural forms.
If we don’t submit to those chains of command then we are in fact in rebellion and rebellion is frowned on by God. Ask Aaron and Miriam what happens when assigned relationships are ignored or rebelled against. Remember their story? They begin to question Moses authority and right to lead and in turn the right hand man and right hand woman have right hands full of leprosy.
Jesus marveled at the Centurion’s understanding of authority. I often wonder if Jesus marvels at our lack of understanding of authority.
Hear me carefully this morning, I have no problem with asking questions/questioning. I have no problem with checking integrity. In fact I think you should do this. I have no problem with seeking council. However, what I have noticed in the last few years is that questioning, checking, and seeking council has simply become a cloak of disguise for hidden rebellion and unwillingness to follow chains of command. There was no intention of submission to begin with. The “you’re not my boss” and “no one can tell me what to do” mentality has snuck into the body of Christ and the result or fruit is sheep who are willing to trample shepherds, prevailing confusion, and a headless body floundering through life.
An older generation wanted free love. This generation wants free reign and with it comes bondage and pain. Question, check, seek council, but don’t do it when the outcome has already been predetermined! It was Paul who stated that it is God, not a board, not a committee, not a power hungry, conniving group of people, that gave (Greek word there for gave implies He Set) in place pastors, teachers, apostles, prophets, and evangelists in our lives for our own good. There are assigned relationships purposely set in place to protect and empower us. Paul drives this though home again in:
I Thessalonians 5:12
12And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
There are in fact people over us (to stand before, that is, -in rank- to preside) in the Lord. Like it or not there are no Lone Rangers or independents in the faith. If you find someone who tries to live that way you should avoid them because they are on the path to destruction. We are interconnected!
Christianity promises to make men free; it never promises to make them independent.
Hebrews 13:17 drives it home again.
17Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
So who/what should we submit to?
God has ordained at least three categories of authority in the world that we must submit to:
a. The Family - Children are to obey their parents (Eph. 6:10). The wife is to cooperate with her husband, which is the head of the family (Eph. 5:22-24, 1 Tim. 2:12), and the husband is to submit to Christ and love his wife (Eph. 5:23,25).
b. The State - We are to cooperate with those authority figures and obey the local and federal laws of the land, within the boundaries of God’s laws (1 Pet. 2:13-14).
c. The Church - Christians are to submit to the headship of Christ which is exercised through His Spirit (Rom. 8:14), His Word (2 Tim. 3:16), and Church leadership (Matt. 18:17-20, Heb. 13:17).
God has established these authorities as the “delegated” extensions of His authority. There are assigned relationships in your life that you must submit to in order to find real freedom!
Our desire to be a part of a democracy and to have our rights has caused us to allow that same thinking to invade the areas of our life where God has spoken directly and distinctly about submission! Our Christianity trumps our American citizenship. Submit is not a cuss word! I challenge you to choose to submit. Submit to God’s Word! Submit to Jesus as more than just savior. Make Him Lord. Submit your ways to Him. Submit to the assigned relationships that He has placed, set, ordained in your life. The choice to submit in those areas will produce freedom and fulfillment in your life.
I want to close this morning by reading you the last few lines of a poem. It was written by William Henley more than a hundred years ago. It also happens to be the same poem that Timothy McVeigh wrote down and left on the table in his cell as he was marched out to be executed. Listen carefully and you will hear a choice that has been made.
It matters not how straight the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
He walked through life and into eternity without choosing to submit! And even though most of us would never do the terrible thing he did we fail to recognize that are making the same choice he made. To be the captain of our own soul and we choose to live life just as self-centered and rebellious as he did. I think it is necessary to make a choice today!
Close:
Prayer for submission to Word, to Lord (in our ways), and to assigned relationships.
