Submission, 6-10-03
For those of you who were not here last week, we began a study on discipleship. We briefly talked about what it means to be a disciple and how we are called to not only be disciples but to make disciples. I encouraged everyone, including myself, to be in prayer about how we can go and make disciples. I want it to be the desire of our hearts to win as many people for Christ in our lifetime as we can. And as we seek to do this in our lives, we must always stay focused on living our own lives as a disciple for Christ, because as we said last week we must be a disciple to make a disciple. Whether you were here last week or not, I want to reissue the challenge that we must make it our goal to share the good news with as many people as possible so that we can build up the kingdom of God. Our entire study on discipleship will build up to that one point: that we must make disciples for Christ.
Tonight however, I want to talk about the first quality of a good disciple: submission to God. I think one of the cornerstones for a biblical understanding of submission is found in the gospels. In Mark 8:34 it says, “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.” And in Luke 14:27 Jesus says, “Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Of all the scriptures in the bible that refer to submission to God this is probably the most well known one and it’s very clear. Jesus’ audience was well aware of what it meant to carry one’s own cross. When the Romans led a criminal to his execution site, he was forced to carry the cross on which he would die. This showed his submission to Rome and warned observers that they had better submit too. Jesus used the image of carrying one’s cross to illustrate the ultimate submission it takes to follow him. Following Christ means total submission to him, perhaps even to the point of death.
Now the word submission actually has kind of a bad connotation in our society and nowadays it is considered politically incorrect. Now I don’t really understand why many people consider the word to be politically incorrect, but then again I tend to see things differently then a lot of people. So I want us to spend a few minutes discussing why being submissive is considered to be politically incorrect. I also want you to come up with 3 reasons why we must be submissive in order to be disciples.
I think you could make a very good argument that being submissive is the most important quality of a good disciple. If we are not obedient to God we will be living according to our own will and desires instead of God’s. We will be putting ourselves in charge of our life instead of allowing God to take charge. We may be praying and we may be studying the scriptures, but if we aren’t being submissive to God, I don’t think we will hear God speaking to us and I don’t think we will be applying our scriptural knowledge. There is also a good chance that we won’t be living a life of piety and striving to be free from sin if we aren’t being submissive. Prayer, study, and piety are all characteristics of a disciple that we will talk about and as you can see they all revolve around being submissive.
I think the #1 reason we must be submissive in order to be successful disciples is because God’s plan for us is to be like Jesus Christ. And when we think of his life, we realize that he was totally submissive to the father. Jesus summarized his whole purpose of his earthly life in John 4:34 when he said, “my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” And that’s exactly what God asks of us. If we are to be like Jesus and we are to be his disciples, then we must be submissive to him at all times.
Once we make the decision to yield to Jesus Christ and be submissive, we immediately find ourselves in a battle and often times a spiritual struggle. We are constantly opposed by Satan as well as by our own will. For these reasons, many Christians are not willing to enter the battle of obedience and submission. So I want to discuss a few reasons why people refuse to completely submit to God.
The first one is because we are afraid God may ask us to do something we don’t want to do. To many people, this is a major barrier to submission. He may ask us to spend time with someone we don’t like. He may ask us to move to another part of the country or even to a foreign land. Or he may call us into a career that we can’t see ourselves doing.
A great example to this barrier is found in Genesis chapter 22. Starting in verse 2 it reads, Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." 3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" 8 Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. 9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. 12 "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." 13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram [1] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
Obviously God called Abraham to do something he absolutely didn’t want to do. Can you imagine how you would react if God called you to sacrifice your only son or your parents or your brother or your sister? Abraham responded in perfect submission. He never asked God why and he didn’t try to get out of it. He followed God’s instructions with perfect submission despite being called to do something he didn’t want to do!
Another barrier to submission is that we think we know what is best for us in our lives. The natural human instinct is to want to do everything on our own and this usually means making the decisions as to what we feel is best for us in our life. Rarely does that natural human instinct tell us to prayerfully ask God for guidance and patiently wait for his instructions and faithfully submit to whatever that is. Somehow we fail to recognize that God always wants the absolute best for us. Even though we sometimes don’t act like we know this fact, most of us do know that God loves us so much that he desires only the best for us. Remember God’s promise to us through Jeremiah in chapter 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” God has a plan for each of you, he wants you to prosper, and the future he has for you is full of hope, but we must submit to his way before we can live out his plan for us. I guarantee you that Brad would not be our pastor if he did not submit to God and Tom would not be serving God in Russia if he and his wife had not submitted to God. And many of you probably wouldn’t be here at OU if you had not submitted to God. We have all of these great examples of how submission can work for our good, yet we continually fail to be submissive to God in our lives. We battle him when it comes to relationships, we battle him when it comes to sin in our lives, and we battle him when he calls us to follow him down a road that may seem scary or unfamiliar to us. Yet we know that God has our best interests at heart!
One more barrier to submission is that we are often afraid that what we give to God may be taken away from us completely. This requires surrender, an actual release to God. This is a real test of faith, because it takes a lot of faith to completely surrender anything we cherish over to God. It may be a relationship with someone of the opposite sex, it could be an activity we enjoy, plans we have made, or a prized possession. Whatever it is that God desires to take from us, we can be sure that he has a divine reason and purpose for it. Sometimes what we give him is temporary and he will give it back when we are ready and other times he keeps it forever because it obviously was not good for our spiritual life and our ministry.
If we can overcome these barriers to submission and truly give our lives to God to do as he pleases he will lead us day by day from one victory over Satan to another. We can also be victorious over all of our temptations if we are obedient to God. He promises us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
Not only will God provide a way out when you are in a struggle if you are submissive to him, he will also provide you with all of your needs. That doesn’t mean he will provide you with a million dollars if that’s the desire of your heart, but he will provide you everything you need to survive and to be his disciple. Look back at the end of the passage we read from Genesis 22. In verse 13 it says, “Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram [1] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.”
Here was Abraham following all of God’s instructions and submitting to God’s desire that he sacrifice Isaac despite the fact that this was probably the last thing Abraham would ever consider doing. God faithfully responds to Abraham’s submission by providing a ram for him to sacrifice instead of his own son! Abraham obeyed and God provided for his needs.
One of the things I’ve been blessed with throughout my life is two wonderful parents. That is a real blessing in many ways, but one way is that it gives me plenty of personal sermon illustrations to choose from. About 6 months ago my Dad was approached by an acquaintance who was out of a job and in desperate need of some money to get himself back on his feet. My Dad went home and prayed about the dilemma and really felt God telling him to have faith and give the man the money that he needed. Now I consider my Dad to be a pretty generous steward, but he’s also the kind of guy that budgets every penny that he makes. So even though he gives above and beyond what God calls him to give, he has it all budgeted and knows that he and my mom can get by without the money. This challenge that God presented him was a struggle, because God was asking my Dad to give up a substantial amount of money that he didn’t have budgeted, so he didn’t know where the money was going to come from. My dad being the faithful servant that he is submitted to God’s calling and gave the man $2,000 to help get him back on his feet, pay off some debt, and get a new job. My mom and dad prayed about what they would do to make up this extra $2,000 that was already budgeted for something else. About one week later, one of the VP’s in my dad’s company approached him and his team to let them know that the project they had been working on was much more profitable for the quarter then they had anticipated and that each member of his team would be receiving a $2100 bonus. My Dad sought guidance from God, he was called to do something he didn’t want to do, yet he was obedient to God’s calling and just as God provided for Abraham, God abundantly provided for my parents.
How is God calling you to submit to him? Is there a sin in your life that he wants you to hand over to him? Is there a direction that God is calling you that doesn’t seem to fit with your personal plans?
How about with this whole discipleship thing we’ve been talking about, do you feel called and compelled to go and make disciples of others, yet scared about how to do it? As we dig deeper into our study of discipleship I challenge each of you, including myself, to fully submit your ways to God. As you submit to him and continue praying that he will reveal someone or some people that need witnessed to, he will also give you the boldness to approach that person and he will give you the words you need to share Christ’s love with that person just as he gave Abraham the ram for his sacrifice.
I can guarantee you that you will be challenged as you submit to God. He will probably ask you to do something you won’t want to do and he may ask you to get rid of something you don’t want to let go of, but as your friend and your leader I promise you that the reward will be much greater then the struggle you may go through and the loss you may temporarily experience. God loves us unconditionally; so much that he sent his only son to die for us so that we may have eternal life. If our God loves us this much, don’t you think he has only our best interests in store for us? “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” God is calling each of us to be his disciples and to surrender unto his will, are you ready to lay it all down and follow him wherever he calls you? As we continue in worship tonight surrender your will to God and ask him to lead you in the direction he desires. Let us pray…
