“I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”
John 14: 6
12 “Look, I AM coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 13 I AM the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Revelation 22: 12-13
Pastors Noreen & Henry Kevern
Submission
8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
1 Peter 3:8-9
Today is going to be a tough lesson for us. I usually avoid this topic because it is a hard one to learn. Today we are going to talk about submission. Most of us think that submission means that we do what someone wants even when it causes us harm. But submission by definition has several meanings. Most of us think of it as obedience to someone or giving in to someone wishes but it also means to suggest and be tender, to offer ideas to another. We always talk about surrender to God and that is what submission means. We are to obey the Father and that means we walk in submission to Him. But when we talk about wives submitting to their husbands it seems to take on a completely different inflection, wives are to do whatever their husbands tell them, even submitting to abuse. But that is not what the word actually about. Now when we submit to God, we know we are submitting to God in love. We know God loves us and wants only the best for us. I have balked at times at what God has taught me and told me to do and yes, the outcome was a hard lesson to learn, and then after I came around and followed what God had told me to do, the end result was so perfect in God’s love that I realized that I am a stubborn person and failed to see the plan that God had. He did not give up on me but kept offering to me His tender mercies and put His ideas into my heart. Throughout the ages, the evil one has shouted over God’s soft whisper into our hearts and if we do not learn to obey and listen, to be still before the LORD and to wait on Him. I have not been a patient waiter but I am so much better now. I have learned that in sitting still and listening to His whispers to me that God places in my heart His love and guides me tenderly into surrender. And it is such a sweet surrender.
So in light of that let’s look at what Paul is saying in this chapter. 1Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the Word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Nothing like going right to it. Now as I said, I have not been very good at being submissive. It has taken me a long time to understand what God is saying in His Word. I do not like being submissive because I believe we are equal before God and we are. In Galatians 3:27- 28 it says; “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” So in Christ, we are co-equals. And through the years, God has been teaching me what submission means and how to be submissive. I had to read the gospels many times and open my heart and mind to wrap around Jesus’ life. Jesus was submissive to the Father. He came to do the will of the Father and not His own. It must have been hard for God to be humble as a human. Just think of it, the all-powerful God, the Creator of everything, lowered Himself to become a frail human being. God humbled Himself for you and me, to live a life in the will of God. Jesus came to the earth He created in order to teach us how to live according to God’s plan. He is our example of how we are to live. Jesus lived a life of love. He came as a baby, unable to help Himself. He needed His parents to feed Him, to clothe Him and to take care of all His needs. His parents taught Him and He grew in wisdom. That is what a parent’s job is, to teach their children. Jesus submitted to being a human baby, then a child and finally an adult. He learned. He submitted to His earthly parents. Then when He became an adult, He did the will of the Father. And all the time He knew that He was heading for the cross.
Jesus could have had an easy life here on earth. After all, He is God. But no, He submitted to being a human and to live in the world but not be of it. He loved people. He touched the untouchable. He let women sit at His feet and to tell others about Him. He used ordinary people to tell the way of the LORD. He lived to die for our sins. Jesus taught me that to submit is to show God’s amazing love. Submission is a way in which we show love. The Father is our ruler. Jesus is our King. His Holy Spirit lives in us to teach us.
So as I have come submissive to God’s will, I have learned to be submissive to my husband. Now understand this: in order to understand submission I had to understand that it did not mean I was weak or powerless. Jesus certainly was not. It did not mean that I was a rug under Henry’s feet. It did not mean that I had to keep silent and not put my two cents in. Marriage is designed by God for a man and a woman to come together and give their lives to each other. We are a partnership, a friendship, growing and learning together. We are ever changing as we learn more and more each and every day. When God created Adam and Eve He created them to be helpmates to one another. That is what marriage is about, helping one another. Men and women are created differently. We each have purpose, we each have meaning. God created us to work together, to love each other and to live in a relationship with each other and God. Marriage is a strand of three that cannot be broken. We are to complement each other. We each have a job that God wants us to do. Paul talks about being modest: 3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4 Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 5 For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. As women, we are to look and act the way that God wants us to act. As women, we are not to dress in a way that can cause a man to lust after us. We must not expose ourselves. I am not saying we should cover up like Muslim women do. But we should not be flaunting our bodies. And men should not be doing that as well. We should not be enticing others to look at our bodies and make someone lust after us. If we do so we are committing sin and causing another person to sin. Jesus said that anyone who lusted after another has already committed adultery in our hearts. You see, God looks into our hearts and minds and knows our thoughts. Paul continues: 5They submitted themselves to their own husbands, 6 like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear. Now Sarah did speak her mind to Abraham. When she saw how Hagar and Ishmael acteing towards her son Isaac, she told Abraham to send them away. Abraham did not want to, but he talked with God and God told him to listen to Sarah. And so Abraham did what Sarah had told him to do.
Next, Paul addresses husbands. 7 Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers. Paul tells husbands to be considerate, looking to the wife’s needs. And Paul says that husbands are to treat their wives with respect not doing anything that would harm her and place her as something less them he is. And yes, women are for the most part, weaker than men and so as such, Paul tells men to treat us and to take care of the things we cannot do. That does not mean that women cannot do things that men can do, but it means that if there is something that we cannot do we let the other do what we cannot and to help each other. I do not have a lot of strength in my arms and hands and so I ask Henry to help me to open jars. He is seven inches taller than me and so he reaches the high things that I cannot do. Many times in the stores, women will ask him to get something from the top shelf for them. Henry likes to drive and I really do not like to drive much. This past year one of my grandsons was surprised when I picked him up from school and I was driving. He said that he did not know that I knew how to drive. When I do drive, Henry is really uncomfortable because he likes to control the vehicle. He knows the sounds and how it works. Our motorhome is older, almost thirty years and getting parts has not been easy. So he had to make do with different parts that are not original to the motorhome and he is used to using them and I am not. But I admit, it is fun to watch Henry as he watches me drive.
Paul goes on to say we are heirs together in God’s gift of the cross and eternal life. Submission does not give a husband the license to abuse his wife and to put her down. Submission means love and when you love, you do for one another. If a husband or a wife for that matter, treats the other with abuse then they are sinning. Each of us, whether we are the wife or the husband have different gifts from God. Each of us may have something that we can do better than the other. We are to live together and grow together in the wisdom of the LORD. And we must do so in love.
Now then, Jesus submitted to the Father and talked with Him every day. Jesus knew that the plan the Father had for the life that Jesus lived so that we could be brought back into the life we were meant to live. And His life led straight to the cross.
God wants us to submit to Him as well. He is the stronger part of this strand of three. And all that the Father wants for us is for our good. He teaches both men and women to learn to walk in the way of the LORD in all areas of our lives.
Next Paul is teaching us: 8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. So if we are walking a life in the way of the LORD, we will think alike because we spend time each day in prayer, together and separately. We show sympathy to each other and we love each other deeply from our hearts. We show each other compassion and we do not think of ourselves as better than the other. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. And so we are to not get back at one another when we or they fail and do evil. We are to be a blessing to others, so that they will see the light of God inside of us shining brightly. When Jesus was being arrested, one of the disciples cut off someone’s ear. Jesus showed compassion to that persona and healed his ear. It did not matter to Jesus that this man had come to arrest Him, for to this we are all called to do; to forgive and be loving towards one another, even in the face of evil. 10 For,
“Whoever would love life
and see good days
must keep their tongue from evil
and
their lips from deceitful speech.
11 They must turn from evil and do good;
they
must seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and
His ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those
who do evil.”[a]
It we love God, we have to live a life according to God’s way. We cannot let our mouths speak meanly or filthy language or tell lies. We must turn from the evil one and his ways. We must do the will of God and to share His love. We must seek God’s peace that surpasses human peace. God sees everything we do so there is nothing that is hidden from Him. Remember there are only two choices in life: Living according to God’s way and receive eternal life with Him or living in the evil way of the devil and going to hell with him. God wants all of us, not a part here and there. We are to become overcomers of our flesh nature and let the Holy Spirit teach us what our sins are and leave our lives of sin and walk in the Spirit of God in our lives.
13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats[b]; do not be frightened.”[c] 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Even as others yell in our faces or hurt us we must stand in the LORD and be as He is. We have to stand in God’s Word and not back down because the evil one uses people to hit us, to burn our things and to say we are wrong to listening to all of God’s Word and applying it to all areas in our lives. They talk about how racist we are and how we are judging them. But they fail to understand what we as Christians are to be doing. When we walk with Christ and live our lives as He did, when we call what a sin is according to God, we are to point to what God says, lovingly, as His disciples. For if we are to be His disciples then in every area of our lives, we do not submit to the evil one, but to God. We are to stand firm in our faith in God and in His Word. 15Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. We must be able to tell others about Jesus and His cross and resurrection. We must know the Word and God’s truths. And in doing so we can be 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is hard to speak God’s truth when someone is yelling at you, but we must always speak God’s Word and let it be our armor. We must walk the way Jesus walked. 17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. Jesus lived and died according to the will of God and that is how we are to live our lives. 19 After being made alive,[d] He went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.[e] It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 Who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to Him. Even the angels submit to God and if we follow their examples we will be able to do what God requires of us—even in the face of evil. We are not to give in to the devil but to follow the way of the LORD. So when they tell you that a woman has the right to control their bodies and murder their baby we are to say God says no. Here’s a thought, how about controlling your body by not giving into the flesh nature. God says that marriage is between a man and a woman since the beginning. But when a person twists God’s Word and says that we are to allow gay marriage, they are lying to us because God says it is an abomination to Him. God wants for us what He created for us. He has a perfect plan for our lives and He can work it out in our lives if only we would learn to hear His Word and to obey. When we walk in faith, we are walking in complete surrender to the sweet will of God. God will never tell us to hit back or to stand down from His Word. We are NOT to be like Balaam, who was worn down by someone who wanted him to curse God and His people. He had to be restrained from his capitulation and following the continued assault from Balak who kept sending people with the lies from the devil, to do something that he knew was wrong. But he gave into Balak and headed off to him only to be stopped by a donkey who tried to steer him from following the course of action he was taking. Because Balaam gave into Balak when the donkey tried to steer him away and Balaam began to beat the donkey into submission, God gave the donkey the ability to speak and stop the madness of not following the way of the LORD. So God had Balaam to go to Balak and tell him God’s truth. Balak did not want to hear it, much like people today who do not want to live according to God’s truth. What happened then is still happening today. Far too many people give into what those who walk in the devil’s lies say and then abandon God’s truth. But we must stand firm in our faith and in God’s Word and NOT back down. We must learn God’s Word so that when they try to use it against us, we can correctly use God’s Word and to know what God requires. Pray for those who tell us we are wrong and that God is wrong and keep walking in His way, His truth and His life in every area of your life. Do not conform to the world but conform to the will and truth of God. Speak His Word and follow His Word. Do not give in to the devil.
So now we know what submit means. It is not a matter of giving in to God or others but look at submission as listening to God’s plan for our lives and overcoming the desires of the flesh. My sisters and brothers, let us seek God and His Word and offer our lives as a sweet surrender to the sweet will of God and in doing so, standing firm in His Word and our faith. Resist the devil and his lies. People who distort the Word of God and cherry-pick a verse here and there but ignore God’s whole Word want you to go to hell with them. Brothers and sisters, let us commit every area of our lives to God. And know that God will lead you into His perfect plan for our lives. And that includes that when we vote, we vote for people who listen to God and walk in His way. We should never vote for someone who believes that abortion is a right and that gay marriage is right. We should be voting for people who walk in the way of the LORD.
Father, thank You for never leaving me when I have fallen away. Forgive me for my lapse in ignoring parts of Your Word and allowing others through their constant barraging us with the lies of the devil. Help us to stand firm in our faith and in Your Word in all areas of our lives. Open our hearts to complete surrender to Your will for our lives. We ask You for Your Word to be our armor against the devil and those who follow him. Teach us to use Your Word to build a wall around us so we do not fall into the lies of the devil. Thank You for tenderly placing before us Your way and filling us with the desire to submit to You. Thank You for showing me that submission is for our good and to know that Your love is perfect and that You would never do anything to harm us. Teach us to let Your Holy Spirit have Your way in us and to be on fire with Your Spirit and to walk in Your truth and Your love. Father, we ask this in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
