The S-Word: Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God

I. Submission is willingly yielding your rights and preferences for the goal of God-glorifying unity

II. Lack of Submission opens us up to Demonic Attack (Independence is the essence of sin)

Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

III. We Submit to:

1) God, 2) Government, 3) Parents, 4) Spiritual Leaders, 5) Employers, 6) One Another, 7) Husbands

1) Lu 1:38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it to me according to thy word.

2) Ro 13:1 Let every soul be subject to higher powers, there's no power but from God: the powers that are, are ordained by God

Tit 3:1 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,

1Pe 2:13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether to the king, as supreme; 14 Or to governors, as to them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

3) Eph 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2 Honour thy father and mother...

4) Heb 13:7 Remember them who have the rule over you, who have spoken to you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their manner of life. 17 Obey 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's unprofitable for you

1Co 16:15 the house of Stephanas...devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints,) 16 That ye submit yourselves to such, and to every one that helps with us, and labors. 1Th 5:12 beseech you, brethren, to know them who labour among you, and are over you

Pr 5:11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, 12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; 13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to them that instructed me!

5) Tit 2:9 Exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; 10 Not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

1Pe 2:18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the perverse. 19 For this is praiseworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endures grief, suffering wrongfully.

6) 1Pe 5:5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves to the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7 Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you. 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour:

7) Eph 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 24 Therefore as the church is subject to Christ, so let wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Col 3:18 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Tit 2:5 discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

IV. Submission is:

1) Christlike, 2) designed by God for our benefit, 3) in the grey areas

Lu 2:51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them...1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued to him, then shall the Son also himself be subject to him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

V. Submission requires trust that God is:

Good, Sovereign, Almighty, Wise, Just Judge, and a Rewarder (fear)

Eph 1:22 And put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,

1Pe 3:1 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the behavior of the wives; 5 For after this manner in former times the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands:

VI. Submission requires:

1) yieldedness to God and embracing of His will, 2) intelligence 3) humility:

a) transparency=willingness to be seen as I am with nothing to hide; b) good self-image=lack of the need to validate or prove my worth via the temporal; c) flexibility=writing our own agenda in pencil;

d) preferring and honoring others=having affirmation from God so I can pass some along to others.

1) Ro 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Heb 12:9 fathers...flesh corrected us, and we gave them reverence...much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?

2) Ro 10:3 ignorant of God's righteousness, seeking to establish their own, not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God

3) Php 2:3 do nothing through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves.

Questions for Reflection/Discussion/Response:

1. What does one do if there is a disparity in the orders given by the chain of command?

2. Is submission something to be dreaded or embraced? Why? When is it easiest to submit?

3. If one obeys only direct commands, is one submitting? How does one embrace another's objective?

4. What's the consequence of failing to trust God as having each of the attributes in #V?

5. Which of the elements in #VI is most frequently lacking in our culture? Our lives? Our church?

6. T or F: My future well-being is dependent upon not being independent of others?

7. How have you sought to limit yourself for the benefit of the Body? How are you submitted to others?