Obedience and Submission
Introduction
We live in a permissive world, a world where the absolutes of God hold diminished influence. This should not surprise us for the Bible tells us that lawlessness will characterize the days that precede the Second Coming of Christ.
Believers in Christ are not governed by a world system. We walk to the beat of a different drum. We are God’s children and that which characterizes our behavior – or at least it should - is our absolute obedience to God
The Bible teaches six areas of obedience and submission that believers are called upon to observe
First: Obedience to Parents.
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." Ephesians 6:1
"Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord." Colossians 3:20
"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you." Exodus 20:12
One way by which we can understand the reason for these directives is by examining the purpose of parental discipline.
"Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of correction will drive it far from him." Proverbs 22:15
"My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12: 5-11
Everyone struggles with the temptation to sin. Even the youngest child tends to disobey his parents. Why? We are born with a sin nature that compels us to act “foolishly”. Life is full of regrets. “If only I hadn’t acted so foolishly”, is the haunting memory held by almost everyone.
God’s cure for foolish behavior is discipline. The discipline we receive from our parents is designed to drive away foolishness from our hearts. Without discipline we are not legitimate children of God. A legitimate child is one who bears the image and likeness of his father. It cannot be said that we are truly God’s sons and daughters if we bear the image of Adam, the father of the human race who sinned. Through discipline we grow into the image and likeness of Christ, our heavenly Father’s true and perfect son.
Children who do not respect their parents who try to administer discipline, not only reject their parents, they reject God. God works his purposes in the parent/child relationship.
What about parents who are abusive, cruel and ungodly? The principle to observe is this: Give honor wherever and whenever it can truly be given. If obedience to parents means disobedience to God, God comes first.
Second: Obedience in Marriage
"Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord." Ephesians 5:22
"Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord." Colossians 3:18
Submission is not about inferiority it is about roles. Women are not a lesser form of species than men are. Husbands and wives are assigned specific roles in marriage that are intended to be the same as the different roles seen in Christ’s relationship with the church. Jesus loved and sacrificed himself for the church. The church submits to Christ on that basis. Husbands are to love as Christ loved, sacrificially and unselfishly. Wives are to submit to their husbands on that same basis.
If parents are submitted to each other and to Christ, rendering discipline of their children has the best possible effect. Children see modeled in their parents the behavioral change discipline is designed to produce. This is true correction.
Churches too must practice discipline amongst its members. Church members will model their response after the submission pattern they observe in their leaders. If leaders themselves are not submitted to the disciplines of God and practice them in their relationships, the church is deprived of the example it needs to be true Disciples of Christ.
Just as parents who fail to discipline produce an illegitimate child, spiritual leaders who fail to discipline produce an illegitimate church, one that does not truly bear the image of Christ.
Third: Obedience to Employers
"Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. "Colossians 3:22
The Bible makes it perfectly clear that Christians do not practice relationships as the world does. In the world, employees often take advantage of employers. Theft in the workplace is common. Cheating on the length of coffee breaks and other advantage taking is common. Any respect shown towards employers is motivated by a selfishness desire for promotion.
Christians follow a different pattern. They consider themselves to be servants whose greatest achievement is not measured in terms of their own advancement but is measured by how they contribute to the success of others.. Reimbursement is not the primary motive of the Christian employee. Sacrificial service to others is what drives the Christian employee to perform well. Serving an employer well is seen as serving God well. The paradigms of the believer are quite opposite to the paradigms of the world.
Fourth, Obedience to Civil Authority
"Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work," Titus 3:1
"Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme..." 1 Peter 2:13
In Romans chapter 13 the Bible says that civil authorities are ministers of God. We don’t often think of them that way. The world loves to criticize and show contempt for political leaders, police officers and other civil servants. Christians often do this as well and by doing so they contribute to an atmosphere where contempt and other wrongful attitudes abound. Nowhere does the Bible condone this sort of thing. Instead, the Bible says we should pray for those who rule over us. I believe that a good rule to follow is this: The Christian’s right to complain about civil leaders is directly proportion to the amount of prayers they offer for those leaders! And even then, their criticism should be constructive not demeaning and cruel.
Every year at the time we are called upon to file our income tax returns, I have always reminded my congregation of the importance of being honest. The world cheats by understating their income and by exaggerating claims for exemptions. Christians should act differently and do so on the grounds of two important principles. First, since God is our supply we are not dependent on dishonest means of obtaining money. Second, as the above texts indicate, we are honest for the Lord’s sake. Principles such as these apply to how we are to relate to civil authorities in every other legitimate respect, not just at tax time. The only exception to this rule is when obedience to civil authority means disobedience to God. In such a case, we ought to obey God rather than man.
Fifth, Obedience to Pastors and other Church Leaders
"Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you." Hebrews 13:17
"Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble." 1 Peter 5:5
The worldview is often one of denial of legitimate authority. Authority is seen as being oppressive and something that robs us of personal rights and freedoms. Undoubtedly, power is the most abused dynamic in the human experience. Thinking back to the last century its hard to imagine the numbers of people, the tens of millions, who died at the hands of tyrants such as Hitler and many others, all because they used power for evil. It is the abuse of power that creates an aversion to authority in the hearts and minds of the citizens of the world. But Christians are not of the world, we are citizens of the Kingdom of God. The word “kingdom” immediately suggests authority and the right to rule. True kingdom power is never abusive, never self-seeking and is always exercised benevolently and on behalf of those who are called upon to submit to that authority. Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all, exercises authority in this manner.
The expression of God’s kingdom in the earth today is the church. Christ is the head of the church and He is the Chief Shepherd of our souls. He has delegated his authority to men and women whom he calls to places of leadership. Church members should respect and obey church leaders not according to the worldview of authority but according to a kingdom-of -God view of authority. Failure to do this relegates a church to mediocrity and explains why the power of God is so often absent in the life of many churches.
There is of course all to many examples of the other extreme where a Christian leader becomes a law unto himself and leads a church or a para-church ministry without accountability and sometimes without honesty. However, the presence of the bad should not discourage us from our pursuit of the good. Establishing proper spiritual authority in a local church and practicing obedience to that authority is essential if the church is truly to be the church.
Sixth, Submission to God
"Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." James 4:7
Maybe you’ve heard someone say, “I don’t submit to man I submit only to God!” Although there may be some contexts in which such a sentiment is honorable, for the most part it isn’t. How can one say he is submitted to God if he denies the directives of God concerning submission to others? The truth is, our submission to God is measured by the degree to which we submit to others.
Absolute submission to God produces absolute spiritual power. As the text states, even the devil flees from the presence of one who is truly submitted to God. Many Christians pray for God to demonstrate his authority in the church through healing of the sick, the conversion of the lost, casting out of evil spirits, the operation of the gifts of the Spirit and other signs and wonders. It is good that we pray this way. However, our prayers will be ineffective if we live lives of disobedience to legitimate authority in all the areas God ordains.
A Sad Legacy of Failure to Obey
"Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, "Thus says the LORD: "Did I not clearly reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh’s house? Did I not choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to offer upon My altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod before Me? And did I not give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? 29Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?’ Therefore the LORD God of Israel says: "I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But now the LORD says: "Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed. 31Behold, the days are coming that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. 32And you will see an enemy in My dwelling place, despite all the good which God does for Israel.
Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas were priests by succession. It was their birthright. In those days, this is how priests were chosen.. (Priests are still chosen this way. Every believer in Christ is a priest by birthright – actually by new-birthright). The two sons of Eli were wicked. They made themselves rich by extorting innocent worshipers who came to the temple to worship God. They also used their power to engage in sexual immorality with women who came to the temple to worship. Eli did not correct his sons. He did not practice discipline.
As a result, the promises and provisions of God were voided. Eli, a man who had ever reason to believe his future would be rich and fulfilling, faced a future of tragedy and sorrow. Why? Was it because of the evil of his sons? No, it was due to his failure to discipline. This is the sad legacy of all too many families. It is the sad legacy of all too many churches.
Eli made the same mistake many make today. He reasoned that discipline and love were opposites. He did not understand that failure to bring correction spelled doom for his sons. As good as his intentions might have been he was dead wrong by practicing permissiveness.
Remember the words of the old hymn?
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey!
Amen!
