Spiritual Disciplines | Submission
In our individualistic culture, everyone’s self-sustaining independence balks at the idea of authority. We overemphasize the need for everyone to be a leader to rise above the others. As a side effect of this, submission to authority can be a discipline often ignored by Christians as we seek positions of authority without learning submission. We have created this false sense of independence where we become incapable of submitting to authority or others as a means of self-fulfillment and assertion. With the amount of scripture that discusses submission and Jesus’ example of becoming lowly so that we might be elevated, it is imperative for the Christian to discipline themselves in a posture of submission.
The act of submission involves willfully coming under the authority and leadership of another. While this is an outward discipline, it, like the others, stems from the heart’s willingness to let go of our personal preferences and self-aggrandizement for the leadership and guidance of one another. Submission dethrones our need to rule over others and submits to the true Lordship of God Almighty, the one true King over all creation. There is no real authority outside of the ultimate authority that comes from above. We can only serve as authorities as we submit to Jesus Christ as Lord over all. Furthermore, when we submit to others, we lift up one another. Where the flesh seeks to glorify the self, the Holy Spirit stirs within us to glorify those around us. In doing so, we become more like Jesus Christ, who became nothing to lift us up towards the only thing that matters.
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
Ephesians 5:21-33,ESV
Those To Whom We Submit
Too often people use the passage in Ephesians 5 to dominate and subjugate another person under their oppressive rule. Yet, looking at this passage, we should arrive at a personal conclusion that becomes willing to be in submission ourselves rather than forcing others to be submitting to us. The beauty of submission (and the whole of scripture itself) comes from learning not to apply it to others but to ourselves first. Applying this verse to point out how others should be submitting to us dramatically misses the point. We need to first learn how to be in submission, to empty ourselves, and to become willing to not be the focal point of reality.
- Submission to The Lord All authority comes first and foremost from God. He reigns over all things for all time and submits to no one. Therefore, every area of our lives must be subject to His sovereign rule and reign in the understanding that He is not only sovereign but good. He will not seek our description and downfall but only what is prosperous for our eternal soul. We can never fully understand our identity, our purpose, or our place in this world until we bow before the throne of God. So, we must first ask where we are submitting to God and where we fail to do so. Do not withhold portions of our heart from God in a vain misguided attempt to hide from an all knowing God. Instead, give yourself fully to the Lord’s loving guidance.
- Submission to Rulers We tend to stress that Christians should be counter cultural to the world. There is truth to this as well. The ways of this world are not the ways of God. Yet, in our attempt to be counter cultural, a redemptive stance, we cannot descend into standing against any authority, which is a rebellious stance. All authority is given by God and thus, we submit to authority as we would submit to the Lord. There may be cases in which authorities direct us to behave in ways counter to scripture, to which we obey our first authority, the Lord. But, by submitting to the authorities, we position ourselves to be a redemptive force in the community. We display our posture to the Lord in service to another.
- Submission to One Another. Finally, submission to one another, in Christian love, we submit to one another. Everyone has needs and abilities. Submission to one another does not mean to allow ourselves to be taken advantage us, but to give out of ourselves and out of our own need to bless and support one another. When the fullness of the body of Christ submits to one another fully, we will find a growth where the masses of strength care for the weakness in order that God would be glorified. Submission to one another puts into practice the redemption and renewal of our heart to submit to the Lord and care for the body of believers.
In truth, we all need to submit to one another and submit to God. We were not created to be independent or on our own. First and foremost, we cannot rely on our own for our salvation. Salvation is by grace alone with us being unable to sustain the full payment of the weight of our sin. Nor are we intended to exist apart from the body of Christ. Each person must submit to the other. We are called to be in community and mutual submission to one another as members of the body of Christ. When we practice he spiritual discipline of submission, we find ourselves free of the incessant need to be in control. Instead we allow others to grow as we care for their needs, and, in doing so, our unity will glorify the power of God to transform the hearts of those who follow Him.
