Submission Is Not Oppressive

Introduction

I think if we were to change our thoughts and to focus on things the way they ought to be, there would be a lot of good done, both in the church, in the world, and all around. And of course, the biblical message of the proper thought process is to put God first. Amen? But what happens when our thought process begins to pull us away from God because we have so reasoned. There is a woman preaching intern in a church of Christ, not that a sign saves, but just for the reality of the situation, named Lauren King. And a quote from her, I watched a video where I heard her say this. There is one word I wasn’t positive of. I’ll provide the word I thought most grammatically fits.

And that is the following. Well, I’ll read that in a second. She was talking about how she knew that this was something she could do that she should do because she had felt it, because people had come up to her and were encouraging her, and they were so happy. And she wanted to share this special thought. And the special thought that really encouraged her was this. There are a million ways that a young lady with a talent for speaking and passionate love for the Lord can serve and glorify God. That’s from an article by Brother West McAdams, through which the lesson is going to be had this morning. But consider her quotation.

She didn’t get to use them. Consider Lauren King’s quote, and then once again the quote from Brother West McAdams. Lauren King said, My mom had the same gifts you have. She didn’t get to use them. This is what brethren and brothers and sisters in the church came up and told this young lady who’s attempting to be a female preaching intern in the church. And she used that as an encouragement. And there’s this whole idea here behind this that as a woman, people in previous generations, their mothers, although they had all this talent, it was wasted. All this talent, all this ability went for nothing. Because they didn’t get to use it in a public setting, like a preacher like myself might have the opportunity to do.

Now consider again the quotation from Wes McAdams. There are a million ways that a young lady with a talent for speaking and passionate love for the Lord can serve and glorify God. Now, which of the two statements is more correct? The inference that talent was wasted because mothers in generations past didn’t get the opportunity to serve God with their talents, or that there are a million ways that a young woman who passionately loves the Lord can serve him. That is the challenge of this generation is that we take our viewpoints, our opinions, and enforce them upon the biblical text. God makes it very clear in Isaiah chapter 55 and verse 8 for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

We should look at the Bible to see what God has to say, not what we can impose upon God’s word. And if we would continue to do that, a lot of the things that we see around us, and a lot of the things that make us call the Bible archaic, or that some people would call it old-fashioned, or perhaps even using the dirty word over and over again we’re going to talk at length about this morning, submission. We would find that that is an opportunity to serve God, not some type of shackles that is there to weigh us down. If you open your Bibles to Philippians chapter 2, go ahead and place a marker there. And I’d like you to have your Bibles. We’re going to go through several passages very quickly, but first I want to center in on this one.

1. Jesus, the Picture of Humility and Submission

In Philippians chapter 2, we find someone that at least our society would find perhaps surprisingly was the picture of humility, the picture of submission. In Philippians chapter 2 and verse 1, when Paul’s exhorting the Philippian brethren, he says, so if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection, sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord, and of one mind. Do you get where he’s going with this? He wants them to be unified. He doesn’t want them to be selfish. Look at verse 3. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others.

Do you get the point that Paul is making here? Paul is saying, be unified. It’s not about you. Serve others. Well, what example would Paul have? Let’s look at that character that the world might find interestingly there in verse 5. Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Now I want you to look at verse eight. And note this description of Jesus. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

2. Submission Christians Are to Have

Note the two steps there. He humbled himself. That is not selfish. That is the opposite of selfishness. That is a selfless act. And notice the second part of that. He was obedient to the point of death. What is someone who is humble and obedient? They are someone who is submissive. And who was Jesus submissive to? Of course, doing the will of God. And Jesus has the attitude that we should take, and we’re going to parse this passage momentarily, but I want you to hold up your Bibles with me, whether electronic, pew, or portable, in whatever way that you find them. Hold them up. Now let’s start turning to some passages. Turn to James chapter 4 and verse 7. James chapter 4 and verse 7. We’re going to look at at least five scriptures here in just a few moments.

And I want you to notice something about submission in the Bible. In James chapter 4 and verse 7, James says, submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. So what are we to do? We are to submit ourselves to God. We are to be submissive to God. We got that. Let’s look at another one. Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 7. Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 7. Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. What are we to do with leaders? We are to obey them. We are to remember them. We are to submit to them. So consider if we are to submit to the Lord, we are to submit to elders.

Look at 1 Peter now chapter 2. You’re going to want to turn to 1 Peter because there’s several in here. 1 Peter chapter 2, though, we’ll begin with. In verse 13. Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors, as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. Are you keeping a list of submission that Christians are to have? To God, to leaders or elders, perhaps, or every human institution? Now look at verse 18. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. You mean Peter to tell me that I have an unjust, a rude and inconsiderate boss, and I have to be in subjection to him?

That’s not an American value for us anymore, is it? If they don’t treat me well, I don’t have to act right. Or I don’t at least have to give them all of my submission. I don’t have to like them. I don’t have to treat them well. That’s not what the scriptures say. Now look at 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 1. Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be one without a word by the conduct of their wives. And now all of a sudden we’re at a passage that people take great umbrage with.

What allows us to separate that passage from all the others? And moreover, when has submission become such a dirty bad word? When has submission become evil or a sign of weakness? Certainly no one would suggest that it’s with great weakness that we subject to our government. No one would say, well, I am a particularly weak person because I submit to the human institution that reigns over me. I am a weak person because I subject myself to the authority of the elders. And certainly no one has a problem with subjecting themselves to an Almighty God. But when we come to our society that is, quote unquote, advanced in thought and understanding of human beings, we say that men and women are to be treated 100% equal, although there are numerous things you can point out that dispel that.

And the question is, what type of thought are we to have? Are we to consider that people in the past, women in the past, have had their gifts wasted? That they’ve had no opportunity, that women are just shut up in the church building, and that they’re not to be heard from again, or that there are countless ways that all can serve, whether male or female, young or old, experienced in the faith, or a new convert. You see, we really only can slice it one way. We can’t take it both. And the problem that we need to discuss this morning is one of Bible authority. What authority do I have to change what the scriptures have to say? Next week, Lord willing, we’ll have a lesson, or I will bring a lesson at the 11 o’clock hour on Bible authority.

3. Submission Is Not a Dirty Word

And some outrageous quotes from people from religious leaders that they might be recognized in the community and what they say about the scriptures and how it applies to them, or perhaps does not apply to them because of our advancement. But for today, let’s discuss this idea of submission. Go back to Philippians chapter 2. I hope you see now that in Philippians chapter 2, we see that Jesus is the ultimate example of humility and submission, and that that’s not a bad thing. In fact, it is the mind that we are to have. You remember verse 4 let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others. Why look to the interest of others? Because it’s not about me. It’s about the Lord.

Did you hear that? It’s not about me. It’s about the Lord. Jesus understood that it was God’s will to be done. Period. There was no mistaking what Jesus came here to do. He came here to obey the will of God. He had submitted himself to the Father. Note verse 5, though, we are to have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. I want you to consider for a moment what it took for our Savior who left glory to come into our form and be a man. And we think of Jesus as a man.

We think of the man who was preaching, the man who was teaching, and that certainly is a good understanding of Jesus. But we the scriptures also revealed to us that Jesus was just a child. Jesus was an infant. He was like us in the very physical form. C.S. Lewis compared that idea to kind of like us taking on the abilities of a crab or a slug who wants to stand in line to become a slug today. Jesus left glory. And he did it because God wanted it that way. And that was enough. He didn’t have to be convinced. He didn’t have to see how that would work out for him. He did it because he obeyed God. He left glory. There is nothing that we will leave.

There is no persecution that we will suffer that will be worse than Jesus leaving his glory to come into our form. Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior of the entire world, was persecuted. He was obedient even to the point of death, even death on a cross. I hope that none of us will face a cross. But in the interim, can we just say that Jesus left things and suffered things that we might never have to face? He left a more glorious place. He gave up something more glorious than we could ever have in this life. And he perhaps suffered a more tortuous death than we can ever even fathom ourselves having. There is nothing about his life that was simple except his commitment to God.

That was simple. That was done. You could laminate it. It was going to happen. But note verse 6 and 7 again. For though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And verse 8. And being found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. And when we complain about our rights or what’s inconvenient to me, or how that’s not fair. The Bible doesn’t understand our society. We are missing the very elementary point that Jesus modeled for us perfectly. And that point is submit to God. Amen. Submit to God.

No matter what. If we take anything from this lesson, it needs to be submission is not a dirty word. It does not make you weak, it makes you smart. It makes you wise. Trusting God is far more wise than anything we’re going to construct. Remember, his ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. And we say that conceptually and we agree to it, but then the world looks and they pick apart different parts of those scriptures and they say, Well, that’s not right anymore. Paul didn’t understand. Peter didn’t understand. It wasn’t written for our time, but it was. The word of God saves through all time. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. It was then and it is now and forever will be until the Lord comes again.

And that is just a fact. When we see how Jesus lived himself, lived his life in obedience to God, we see in verse 9 what happened in the end. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. So that the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And I want to make a point about submission before we move on. We’re going to submit to Christ. Every knee will bow before the Lord. The question is, are you going to do it now or when it’s too late? Consider the reality of living a life and realizing when the time is over, the judgment is here.

That you missed it. Why would we miss it? Pride. Failure to submit ourselves to the will of God. When you are committed, you are in. We tried too much to step one foot in and one foot out. We try to compromise the faith. But that is not what Jesus did, and that is not the example we have to follow. And what we need to see is that applies even when it makes us uncomfortable. Several ways in which it makes us uncomfortable are the topics of homosexuality and gender rights. And this morning I want to focus on the gender idea. And look with me in 1 Timothy chapter 2. Let’s look at some of these passages. Now that we’ve underscored that submission is not only not wrong, but something Jesus Himself did, let’s look at 1 Timothy chapter 2 and make a few points as we move forward.

In verse 11, Paul writes, Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. Rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self control. And you read that and you think, boy, Paul was rude, wasn’t he? What a terrible guy. He just, he just didn’t know what he was writing. He wasn’t educated enough. He doesn’t know what we know in America. He’s not as evolved as we are in 2014. He doesn’t understand. But know what the scripture says?

Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. Rather, she is to remain quiet. What authority do we have to change that?

4. We Need to Open Our Minds

None. What God has said we should do. And that should be the end of the matter. It’s not bad. It’s not evil. It’s not unfair. It’s the way God made it. Let’s look at 1 Corinthians chapter 14, though. Maybe there’s something unfair over here. In 1 Corinthians chapter 14, beginning in verse 34. The woman should keep, the women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. And people say that is archaic. That is oppressive. And the response is no, that is the will of God. I think the first point I’d like to make this morning, and when we talk about submission, and particularly in this gender issue, is we need to open our minds.

Because are our minds really that narrow that only people with gifts of speaking can they can only be used in this church building? Do we not realize that Christian life happens far more outside of the church building than what happens inside of it? These passages are talking about women not teaching over men or speaking in the assembly. First of all, that is obviously not literal because we have commandments to sing Colossians chapter 3 and verse 16 and Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 19. We need to open our minds and see that 99% of Christianity happens out in the world, not in the church building. And that would help us with both our submission to God and our understanding of this issue. There are plenty of opportunities for everyone.

Do you know that there are men in this congregation who don’t preach. What a terrible thing we have going here. Men can’t be mothers. That’s just the way it is. No matter how much a man wants to, he will not be a mother. He can be a father, he can be a good father, he can be a godly father, most of all. But he cannot be a mother because that’s the way God made it. We need to view God’s laws the same way that we can observe. Gender. What God has said, we will do. But consider secondly this morning. That our viewpoint needs to be more open to what God has to say. It needs to not be, well, I’m going to try to understand God through my mindset.

We need to understand what God has to say because we want to submit to God and we’re going to do what He says. And that’s it. Because when we start looking at, well, I’m going to pick this up, but I really don’t like this. We need to get over ourselves, brothers and sisters. If you don’t like Christianity, leave it there. Don’t pick up the parts that you like and leave the other parts behind. That doesn’t make any sense. If you don’t want to be a Christian, don’t be a Christian. If you do, get on board with Christ. It really is that simple. And we make it complex. We make it hard because of the way we think. We can think ourselves in or out of just about anything.

5. A Deeper Respect for What Submission Brings

And that goes with the scriptures as well. But not one person in all time has thought something that changed the scriptures. God’s word says what it means, whether I think it does or not. We need to have the presence of mind and the humility like Christ did to say what God has said, I will do. And if it sounds like I’m saying that over and over, I am. And thank you for listening. Consider a second point, though. We need a deeper respect for what submission brings. Submission is not just bad, dirty or mistreatment. But look back at 1 Peter chapter 3. We read this, but I hope you caught it. Sometimes we just get caught up on the uh-oh, wives should submit to their husbands’ part.

But why? There’s a reason given in 1 Peter chapter 3. Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be one without a word by the conduct of their wives. When they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do you realize that our influence is seen? Our submission to God is noticed. I want to read that text again. Look at it. Look at the implications of that. Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be one without a word by the conduct of their wives when they see your respectful and pure conduct. There’s a reason for this. God didn’t just make these laws up to make fun of us or to play with us.

They are for our good. He has a plan. He has a purpose. And we fit into that purpose if we will put ourselves aside, humble ourselves, and submit to his will. If Christ was submissive, if Christ was obedient, and he was obedient even to the point of death, even death on a cross. We must never allow our thinking to be so polluted by the garbage of our society that any sense, any act or any belief that the Bible says is necessary is unimportant or not true. If we had a society of people who believed in the scriptures and just wanted to do what God said, we wouldn’t have this problem. But TV, media, other churches, they teach that parts of Scripture can be compromised. This idea that women do not need to submit, that this is unfair, that women can speak in the assembly because it’s just outdated is the core of our problem.

6. Take the Roles God Has Given Us

We need to listen to what God has said, not what men have translated God to have said. And that all comes back to submission. Because if you subject yourselves to someone, you accept them as over you, or you accept their authority, and you go with them. That’s it. That’s all there is to Christianity, brothers and sisters. Seeing God, seeking God, and taking what He has so graciously offered. That’s it. That’s the picture. And it applies across the board. But one final point is found in Acts chapter 18 and verse 26. I want to make.

Explain. Teach. Nothing’s lost. Wisdom is still being transferred. Teaching is there. God has a plan. We just have to accept it. That’s just the way it is. When did it start? When did all of this questioning God begin? Those questions may or may not be able to find an answer to, but the question that’s more important is when did I start adopting that mindset? And if I haven’t, where am I getting these thoughts from? Because my thoughts need to be God’s thoughts. Because they are far higher, far wiser. And they will lead me to eternal life if I will accept them. And one final point to make from the passage and from talking about women and their role in being wives and mothers. I don’t know if it bothers you, but I think it kind of bothers me, and it bothered the writer of the article I was talking about, West McAdams, but maybe you’ve heard this phrase.

I can just be a wife or mother. I can only do that. That’s all I can do. We have missed it. Satan has gotten us, and we don’t even see it. I can just be a mother. I can just teach kids to love the Lord. I can just love my husband. I can just support him. I can just teach those who are around me privately. I can just raise children who will be the next generation. I can just raise kids who can preach the word of God? That’s all I can do. We have got our priorities messed up. Men can’t be mothers. Mothers can’t be fathers. We need to take the roles God has given us and use them to every degree that we can. And stop looking down on God’s plan in the process.

Conclusion

Perhaps there’s no more important role in society than those of mothers and fathers. And we tragically look at that and say, She’s just a mother. She’s just a wife. Let us not adopt the mindset of the world. Let us always say what God has says, what God has said, I will do. Will you pray with me? Our dear God and most gracious Heavenly Father, we praise you for your greatness. We recognize that you are the Almighty God. You spoke, and this world came into being. You have revealed your will to us, and we pray that you will help us to not only accept it, but to take it in and apply it. Oh Lord, help us to truly recognize that you are the source of life.

You have offered us a plan of salvation. You have offered us an eternity in your presence. Help us to recognize the magnitude of that, the majesty, the justice, the might of yourself. And Lord, we are so thankful to you for sending Jesus the Christ to die on the cross for our sins. We pray that we will always be able to look at Him, look at His conduct, look at His humility and His selflessness and being obedient to you. Help us, Lord, to see you as our eternal Father and nothing different. Help us to see your will as something that we should do and nothing more. Oh Lord, help us to in all things and in all ways trust you, heed you, and obey you. Forgive us of when we stumble, O God.

Help us to teach others. Help the world to see. Help people to know that Jesus is the Son of God. You are our Father, and as you have planned, we should do. Oh Lord, again, help us and forgive us of when we do sin. Help us to come out of it. And O Lord, be with us as we go through this period of Bible class and help us to do all things this morning in accordance with your will as you would have us do. It’s in your Son’s name we do pray. Amen. We are now dismissed to our Bible class.