The Spiritual Discipline of Submission

It happened again this morning! One of our boys had to go to the corner because he was acting out, he was acting out because of a silly argument over a toy. In summary, a whole lot of trouble came because this childdidn’t get his way. Please don’t be fooled into thinking that this is only a problem for children. It is not. I have seen friendships, marriages, and entire congregations ripped apart because of human beings not getting their way. I deal with this personally every day of my life – ask Leah… on second thought don’t ask Leah. And if you’re reading this and thinking, “I don’t have that problem.” Chances are you are not as self-aware as you might think.

So, we have been talking about a different spiritual discipline every Tuesday. And in his book Celebration of Discipline, which we reference very Tuesday, Foster makes the point that “Every Discipline has its corresponding freedom. The purpose of the Disciplines is freedom.” In truth, exercising spiritual disciplines is key to the freedom Jesus promises throughout scripture. And what is the freedom that the discipline of submission brings you? In the words of Foster, “the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way.” Face it, we are obsessed with getting our own way – we are so good at making this ok that we hide under mock “selflessness” sometimes. We us our kids, our freedom, our social media, our ability to communicate to, primarily advocate for what we want, to get our own way. 

In Ephesians 5 Paul is giving a list of things Christians should do in place of wrong things and the very last thing he mentions in verse 21 is this, “submitting to each other out of reverence to Christ.” What does this actually look like? We see it in a number of places in scripture.

In Matthew 5 Jesus tells us that if someone strikes our cheek, turn to them the other, if they force you to walk a mile walk with them 2, if they take your cloak give them your shirt as well. 

In Philippians 2 Paul says to look to other people’s interests before your own.

In Romans 12 Paul says to be at peace with all men as far as it depends on you. 

In Romans 14 Paul says it’s ok to eat any meat now. There are some who still believe eating certain meats are a sin. He says he will not eat those meats around those people because there are more important things than that. 

I could keep going but the general idea is “don’t worry about getting your way.” Why not? Because what more could you want or need if you have the Gospel? Is the Gospel not enough for you that you can finally forsake the struggle to get what your own way and start focusing on others? 

I read a great illustration of this concept once from another preacher. He said that his family was on a drive when they came to a covered bridge. It was very narrow so that the road went to a single lane and only one car could cross at a time. There at the bridge was a sign that said “yield”. In other words, let the other person go first. 

2 things:

1.     Most of the stuff in life are not nearly as important as we think they are.

2.     You have all you need in Christ, show that fulfillment in not worrying so much about your own preferences.