The Outward Disciplines
The Discipline of Submission
Who’s in Charge Here?
Matthew 5:38-45 November 10, 2002
"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' [39] But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. [40] And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. [41] If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. [42] Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
[43] "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' [44] But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, [45] that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Mark 8:27-36
Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?"
[28] They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets."
[29] "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
Peter answered, "You are the Christ."
[30] Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
[31] He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. [32] He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
[33] But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
[34] Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. [35] For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. [36] What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
Intro to Series: for the past 6 weeks we have been studying the disciplines of the Christian life. One of the dangers of a study of this nature is the temptation to turn the discipline into a law. As I studied this week, I found a passage that has been very important in my understanding of Christian discipline. Richard Foster wrote:
Every discipline has its corresponding freedom. . . Demosthenes was free to be an orator only because he had gone through the discipline of speaking above the roar of the ocean roar with pebbles in his mouth. The purpose of the Disciplines is freedom. Our aim is freedom, not the discipline. The moment we make the Discipline our central focus, we turn it into a law and lose the corresponding freedom. . . In and of themselves (the Disciplines) have no value whatever. They have value only as a means of setting us before God so that he can give us the liberation we seek. The liberation is the end; the Disciplines are merely the means. They are not the answer; they only lead us to the Answer. . . (We must remind ourselves of this) again and again so severe is our temptation to center on the Disciplines. Let us forever center on Christ and view the Spiritual Disciplines as a way of drawing us closer to his heart.
This warning is especially important as we move to this 7th discipline, the Discipline of Submission. Of all the Spiritual Disciplines, none has been more abused and misapplied than the discipline of submission. The Southern Baptist Convention is going through a split right now that in part is based in a misunderstanding of this discipline. Slavery was excused through the abuse of submission. Wives are held in virtual prisons because of the misapplication of submission. Hierarchies in churches have been established and dictators endorsed through the abuse of this discipline. As we approach submission, we must do it in humility with our focus on Jesus and his lordship alone.
Last night, while watching the half-time show on ESPN, I think I finally saw someone who got this idea of submission! They showed a lot of fans who insisted they were number 1, and then they finally showed a woman who was pointing to an ink sketch on her arm, it said, “#46." Finally, I thought, someone who understood submission! Well, maybe not. If we are going to learn of this discipline, we must go to the master.
Jesus’ teaching, from beginning to end, is about submission. In the passage we read from the Sermon on the Mount Jesus calls his disciples to submit even to those who are persecuting us. Love your enemies, do good to those who persecute you. If pressed to walk one mile, walk two. If struck on the left cheek offer the right. God provides for the good and the evil, we too, can show his love to all we meet. This is a picture of submission, of placing my rights and privileges second. Submission is the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get my own way. It is learning to give in to others. Family break-ups, church fights, city council battles and even international conflicts arise because people do not have the freedom to give in to one another. We often insist we are battling for sacred issues when usually we are merely battling for our pride. Only practicing the discipline of submission will give us the freedom to distinguish between self-will and genuine issues.
For too long biblical submission has been presented as a hierarchy of relationships. I want to take issue with that and suggest the biblical submission primarily focuses on the spirit with which we view other people. One of Jesus’ primary teachings was a call to submission of our selves to those around us. Turning the cheek is the freedom to not seethe with anger when you are mistreated. Loving your enemy is freedom from the circle of retaliation.
The key passage for understanding the discipline of submission is "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” It is in denying ourselves to follow Christ that we find our identity. We often confuse self-contempt with self-denial. Contempt says we are worth nothing, denial declares we are of infinite worth and then shows us how to find it. The hymn we just sang is a hymn of submission and self-denial. “Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free.” It is when we accept the slavery of servanthood that we become free from slavery to ourselves.
John Yoder speaks of Radical Subordination as the primary teaching of Jesus and the Epistles. Jesus’ live and teaching did away with all claims to privileged position and status. We have missed that so badly. The apostles make Jesus’ example and his call central to the life of the believer. Paul says, “Count others better than yourself.” He echos a hymn of the early church which says, “Have this mind in you that was also in Christ Jesus who though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasp, but emptied himself, . . . taking the form of a servant.” As Jesus submitted as a servant, so we are called to submit.
Hear me closely, this is an obligation placed upon all who follow Christ, it falls upon pastors as well as congregations, husbands as well as wives, on parents as well as children and on masters as well as slaves. Revolutionary subordination will cut away the very foundations of a hierarchical society. As Christians we are called to live as citizens of a new order whose most fundamental feature is universal subordination.
I want to share with you some arenas where submission can be practiced, but before I do, I want to offer a word of warning. There are limits to submission. These limits occur when submission becomes destructive. When Peter and John were told to stop speaking about Jesus, they replied, “Who is it right to obey, you or God?” When submitting to the civil authorities contradicted the Laws of God, they reached a limit. Sometimes these limits are easy to see, other times they are very difficult to discern. When we seek to understand the limits of submission, we are driven to a deeper dependance upon the Holy Spirit. He alone will be a present Teacher who will lead us in the ways of the Father.
Now submission as a discipline, often is expressed in service and that is the discipline we will examine next week, but there are certain areas where submission is crucial as we seek to take up our cross and follow Jesus.
First We are called to submit to God himself. At the beginning of the day, yield yourself to God. Thomas a Kempis prayed, “as thou wilt, what thou wilt, when thou wilt.” A prayer of submission to start our day will set our minds in the right direction. And then close the day with the same prayer of submission to free your mind of all the clutter of the day.
Second We are called to submit to the written Word of God, we yield ourselves to the Word to hear the word, to receive the Word and to obey the Word. Daily we need to return to the scriptures, not in obedience to a law, nor out of fear, but in order to submit to God’s revelation to us.
Third We are called to submit to our family. Freely and graciously the members of the family make allowances for one another. First and foremost this means we will listen to one another and then we share from our hearts.
Fourth We are also called to submit to our neighbors and the people we meet through out the day. This is the life of goodness. If in need, help them. Acts of kindness, no matter how small is an act of submission if it is done to serve and not to obligate.
Fifth the fifth arena of submission is to the believing community, the Body of Christ. This can be in the call to help lead or direct ministries of the body. The Leaders of the church are not called to privilege, but to service, we who would lead, must first submit to the Body of Christ. This can be very frightening. For many years, Ben Haden of Chatanooga, TN was so overcome by the responsibility of leading the church, that he would be sick to his stomach every week during the preaching experience. We are called to submit to the Body of Christ.
Sixth We are called to submit to the broken and despised. In every society there are people who are outcast. As followers of Jesus, we are called to submit to these outcast. “With humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself,” these words of Paul are a to be the motto with which we live our lives. Those who have shaped our world have learned this aspect of the cross-life. Mother Theresa, David Wilkerson, Paul Brandt, are men and women who have heard the call to submit to the broken and despised.
And Seventh We are called to submit to our world. The international community, the city we live in, the planet we live on are all interdependent. We cannot live in isolation. Starving people affect us. Our act of Submission is a determination to live as a responsible member of an increasingly irresponsible world.
Jesus modeled this submission throughout his life. In a few moments we will share in the Lord’s Supper and remember the sacrifice He offered for us. In the Garden of Gethsemane, the greatest prayer of submission ever offered came from, His heart. “Father, take this cup from me, yet not my will, but thine be done.” That act of submission to the Father became the source of our salvation through the cross. As we share in the Lord’s table today, I want to challenge you to offer that same prayer of submission and then look for opportunities to experience the freedom of not having to get your own way each day.
