which is turned back to Ephesians
chapter 5. Now the Lord willing, I want to spend
several weeks in this passage of scripture concerning Christ
and the church, what marriage is, and so on, and I'll covet
your prayers that the Lord will give me some wisdom and some
grace in dealing with this. But Paul introduces this section
with something that is foreign to our way of thinking. You know,
I thought about this. I can't stand for somebody telling
me what to do. I really can't. And this is just foreign to my
way of thinking. Submitting yourselves one to
another in the fear of God." Now this is a part of what being
filled with the Spirit looks like. Remember when he said in
verse 18, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled
or be being filled with the Spirit. And this is a part of what being
filled with the Spirit looks like. Now he's getting ready
to deal with wives submitting to their own husbands. He's getting
ready to deal with children submitting to their parents. He's getting
ready to deal with servants submitting to their masters. He's getting
ready to deal with masters submitting themselves to their servants
and all that that means. But he begins with this statement,
submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of God. Peter said the same thing when
he said, yea, all of you be subject one to another. All of you be
subject one to another. For God resists the proud and
he gives grace to the humble. Now, submission has something
to do with humility. We're going to see that. Now, I'm just assuming you're like
me. Most of us will probably chafe at the thought of submission. Like I said, I cannot stand for
Lynn to tell me what to do or anybody else. I just don't like
to be told what to do. And we she never tells me what
to do. Nobody believes that. But The point I'm trying to make
is most of us probably will chafe at the thought of submission
because it just goes against our nature. And everybody here
has had bad experiences with people who wanted their submission. Bullies? You ever had a bully
deal with you? Maybe you were the bully. an
abusive spouse, a dictatorial boss who wants you to know that
they're in charge and they want to keep you in memory of that
at all times. There are so many examples of
people wanting submission. But understand this, submission
that is forced is not submission. If you're made to submit, it
is not submission. The only way you can submit is
if that's what you want to do. There is no other kind of submission. You only truly submit when that's
what you want to do. The only way to submit is to
give up your rights because you want to. And if this thing of
submission has a reciprocal bit, well, I'll submit if you will.
Kind of tit for tat. If I get something out of this,
I'll go ahead and do it. That's not submission. You don't
submit for any other reason but the fear of the Lord. That is
why you submit. The only true submission is a
willing submission. When wives are told to submit
themselves to their own husbands, the only way they can do that
is not because the husband forces submission, but because that's
what they want to do. That's what they feel led of
God. They see it's what God's Word says to do. Now, the life
of our Lord Jesus Christ was a life of continual, nonstop
submission. If you would pick out something
to describe his life when he walked here on earth, there wouldn't
be a better word to use to describe his life than that of submission. Now he was equal, he is equal
with the Father. Amen? all that God is, He is. Now turn to Philippians chapter
2, just a few pages over. Verse 5, let this mind be in
you which was also in Christ Jesus. Who being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery, thought it not a thing to be
grasped, thought it not an unjust thing to be equal with God. The only one who is equal with
God is God. But he made himself of no reputation. That is an act of submission.
He submitted himself. He was subservient to his father.
He was equal with God, yet he chose to be subservient to his
father. And he took upon him the form
of a servant. That was an act of submission
to his father's will. And he was made in the likeness of men. That was an act of submission.
When he became flesh, it's because the Father told him to do it.
And he was subservient to his Father's will in everything he
did. Verse eight, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself. An act of submission. and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." That was
an act of submission. I love that passage of scripture
in Luke chapter 2 when he comes back to Nazareth after his parents
came looking for him. and they didn't find him and
they went back and he was talking to the elders and doctors of
the law and he said, don't you know I must be about my father's
business? He's talking about his heavenly father. You know
what the scripture says regarding him? He went down with them to
Nazareth and was subject to them. He submitted himself to them.
Now he knew who he was and he knew who they were, but he submitted
himself to them. 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse
9 says, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though
he was rich, what all can be said about that? I can't even
describe his infinite riches, but though he was rich, yet for
your sakes, he became poor. What an act of submission to
his father's will that you, through his poverty, might be rich. He said, I came down from heaven
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. Every act of his while he walked
upon this earth was an act of submission. The Son of Man came
not to be ministered to, but to minister. and to give his
life a ransom for many, and what humility he demonstrated. Can you imagine the Lord Jesus
Christ washing your feet? I can't imagine that, but he
did. And what an act of humility and
submission he demonstrated in washing his disciples' feet. His life was a willing submission,
nonstop, at all times, to his Father. And that's the submission
we're talking about. And you know faith. We're talking
about the life of Christ being a life of submission. Faith itself
is submitting to what God says in His Word. Romans chapter 10,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. I bear them record. They have a zeal for God, but
not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves. Now, faith is submitting to what
he says. Christ, Jesus' righteousness.
Christ is the end of the law for righteous. You know what
faith does? Faith submits to that. willingly, willingly submits
to that. Now, notice Paul says submitting
to one another. Now, there isn't any serving
of the Lord Jesus Christ without understanding something about
this phrase, one another. That means I'm to submit to you.
That means you're to submit to me. that were to submit to one
another. Now listen to these scriptures. Love one another. How many times
is that in the Bible? So many. Love one another. Have peace with one another. Wash ye one another's feet. Your members one of another. Be kindly affectioned one to
another. Preferring one another, showing
difference to one another. Have the same mind one to another. We're not to judge one another. That's a command. We're not to
judge one another. Edify, that means build up, not
tear down. Edify one another. Be like-minded one to another. Receive one another as Christ
received us. Admonish one another. Salute
one another. Treat with respect one another. I know salute means say hello,
but I like the idea of the Respect shown in saluting. Defraud ye not one another. Tarry for one another. Care for one another. By love,
serve one another. Bear ye one another's burdens. be kind to one another, forgiving
one another. You know, you can ask a lot of
questions about what it takes to have a successful marriage,
but there's nothing more important than this, forgiving one another. Esteem one another as better
than themselves. Lie not to one another. These are all scriptural phrases.
You know this. I'm not just coming up with these on my own. This
is everywhere. The Bible says something about one another.
Forbearing one another. You know what that means? That
means putting up with one another. Putting up with one another. Comfort
one another. Consider one another to provoke
and to love and to good works. Speak not evil. of one another. Grudge not one another. Don't hold a grudge. Confess
your faults one to another and submit to one another in the
fear of God. Now we are to submit to one another
in the fear of God. That is our reason. You know,
it would be easy to submit to perfect people, wouldn't it? You know, when the scripture
says for the wives to submit to their husbands, if your husband
loved you just the way Christ loved the church, you wouldn't
have any problem with it, would you? Be easy, be simple. But we're called
upon to submit to imperfect, fallible, flawed individuals,
that's us. Submit to one another. Submit
to one another's issues, but submit to one another. And we're not to do it, as I
said, in a reciprocal way, not in a 50% way. I'll try it out.
If you do it, I will. That's not submission. Well,
if they don't submit to me, I'm not gonna submit to them. That's
not submission. You're doing this in the fear
of God. knowing that it is what the Lord
calls you to do. And really, in a very real sense,
it's an act of faith. You're trusting Him to take care
of it. You don't have any control over the way that person is going
to react that you submit to, but you do so in the fear of
God, knowing that He is in absolute control, trusting this in His
hands. and by his grace being willing
to do this. Willingly surrendering your personal
rights for Christ's sake. Submitting yourselves to one
another for the good of the church. Now don't ever look at a submissive
spirit as being a weak doormat. He who is strength submitted
himself completely. and what strength he demonstrated
in his submission to his father's will. Now, if I'm being filled
with the spirit, and that's the context of this, be filled with
the spirit, be being filled with the spirit. If I am being filled
with the spirit, it will manifest itself in me being a submissive
person and me submitting myself to you. Now, I guess this is
needless to say, but I'm going to say it anyway. That doesn't
mean being an enabler to someone's dysfunctional, destructive behavior.
That's not what that's talking about. And you know that, and
I know that. But that's still submitting to
one another, relinquishing one's personal rights and personal
agenda in the fear of God. This is the way a church operates,
a true church. submitting themselves to one
another, doing so willingly, doing so in the fear of God.
Now, if I'm thinking about this subject of submission and I'm
thinking they need to do that, I've missed it all together.
They need to be more submissive toward me. They need to have
a better attitude toward me. If that's what I'm thinking,
Remember, the Bible never, ever tells somebody else how to treat
you. Not once. It tells you how to treat them. Submitting yourselves to one
another in the fear of God. Not tit for tat. I'll submit to you if you submit
to me and see what I can benefit from it. No, this is wrong. When we submit to one another,
it's part of that endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit
and the bond of peace. And the only thing that prevents
me from submitting myself to you, there's only one thing,
pride. That's it. By pride only cometh
contention, the wise man said. And you can't, if I have the
proper attitude about myself, I think of 1 Corinthians chapter
4 verse 7, who made you to differ from somebody else? I can't look
at myself as better than anybody or more superior than anybody. What do you have that you didn't
receive? Nothing. Now if you received it, why do
you glory as if you didn't receive it? They need to be submitting
to me. Bow down to my wisdom and my knowledge and my authority.
No, no, not at all. You can't look at yourself better
than somebody else. You realize you're not the center
of the universe. Now turn with me to 1 Peter chapter
5. This is where Peter says the same thing. 1 Peter chapter 5. The elders, which are among you,
an elder is a pastor. That's a God-appointed office. It's also called in the scriptures
a bishop, an overseer. The pastor is called a shepherd,
one that feeds the flock, one that tends to the flock. the
elders which are among you." Now, this is a God-appointed
office for the good of the church, and let me make this statement,
and I can't make it strong enough. The church is not for the pastor.
The pastor's for the church. Now, I realize that there are
many people who take the name of pastor don't really believe
that. They think the church is for the pastor, but that's not
true. The pastor is for the church,
not the church for the pastor. The elders which are among you,
I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings
of Christ. Now, he says, I'm an elder. I've
been given some spiritual maturity, and that's what's implied in
that name elder. You've got some spiritual maturity.
The Lord's taught you something. You're an overseer, you're a
shepherd. He said, I'm an elder too. And I love what he says
next. I'm a witness of the sufferings
of Christ. Now, there are a lot of people
who are witnesses of the sufferings of Christ as far as physical
sufferings. Didn't get anything out of it. As a matter of fact,
they were the ones who made him suffer. They're the ones who drove the
nails in his hands and his feet. They're the ones who mocked him
and made fun of him as he was hanging on the cross. They were
witnesses of his suffering and didn't do them any good at all.
So what does this mean, being a witness of his sufferings? Well, first, you're a witness
of God's purpose in his sufferings. You really believe that he's
suffering because it's God's purpose for him to suffer? The
sins of God's elect became his, and how he suffered under the
wrath of God for those sins. He suffered because he was guilty.
We're witnesses of that. We preach that on Calvary Street,
He became guilty and he was getting, and it's hard to even say this,
but he was getting exactly what he deserved. My sin so truly
became his that it was the justice of God, the law of God that was
calling for this to come to him. God forsook him. God turned his
back on him. And we're witnesses of the accomplishment
of his sufferings. His suffering did something.
Put away the sins of God's elect, glorified God. Oh, this is what
a true pastor is. He's a witness of the sufferings
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is his main, that's his
only subject. That's his only subject. The
whole Bible is witnesses of the sufferings of Christ. Why he
suffered, God's purpose, He was guilty, he was made sin, what
he accomplished by the sufferings, the complete salvation of all
of his people. I love Luke 9 31, that's one
of my favorite verses. I've got a lot of favorite verses,
you know that, but I love this one. When Moses and Elijah were
speaking with the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration, and
the scripture says in Luke 9 31, they spake of the decease, which
he should accomplish at Jerusalem. Do we think of anybody's death
as an accomplishment? No, it just tells us they're
sinners. That's what it tells us. It tells
us they were weak. It tells us they were flesh. Nobody's death is looked upon
as an accomplishment. I was, I don't know if I'm being wrong
about, well, I'm not being wrong. I think it's so weird when people
talk about death and they say, this is a celebration of their
life. No, it's mourning over their death. It's mourning over
their death, and it's certainly not an accomplishment. I mean,
they're not a man's death, but that's not the way the Lord Jesus'
death is. He accomplished the complete
salvation of all of his people. We're witnesses of the sufferings
of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Now there's a glory that's gonna
be revealed. You can't see it now. You can't look at me right
now. You can't talk to me right now
and have any intimation that I'm perfectly conformed to the
image of Christ. But that day's coming. That day's
coming when I take off the robe of this flesh and when you take
off the robe of this flesh and we're going to see then The Lord
said the righteous will shine as the sun at that time. Every
believer. He says to these elders in verse
2, feed the flock of God which is among you. That's the responsibility
of the elders to preach the gospel. What is it that is food to you? The gospel of Christ. There isn't
anything so beneficial as being able to hear the gospel of Christ
and to feed on that. That's my necessary food. Feed
the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof,
not by constraint, not because it's your responsibility, not
because you're afraid of what will happen if you don't, but
willingly. because that's what you want
to do. Not for filthy lucre, not for
a paycheck, but of a ready mind. Brisk and cheerful readiness
is what one man said. Verse three, neither as being
lords over God's heritage, but examples to the flock, not lords,
do this, do that, keep this rule. That's not the job of a pastor,
not as a lord over God's heritage, but an example to the flock. Paul said, follow me as I follow
Christ. And a pastor ought to be the
example in faith, in submission, In humility, in generosity, in
everything else, the pastor is to be an example. Follow me as
I follow Christ. Verse four. And when the chief
shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that
fadeth not away. Now this crown of glory that
the pastor is given is the same crown of glory that every believer
is given. This is not some kind of special,
he's gonna have a bigger crown or maybe have two or three crowns
or five crowns or whatever, he's gonna be burdened down with all
these crowns that he's earned and achieved. That stuff is foolishness. I love what Paul said, I've fought
a good fight, I've finished my course, I've kept the faith,
therefore there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness. which the Lord shall give me,
and not to me only, but also all they that love his appearing."
I tell you what, every believer loves his appearing. I love his
appearing as my surety before time began. I love his appearing
when he came to earth to keep the law for me and put away my
sin. I love his appearing when he
goes back to glory and represents me as my great high priest and
intercessor. And I love, don't you love to
think of him coming in the clouds? Every eye's gonna see him. Everybody's
gonna know who he is. Every believer loves his appearing. And every believer has this crown
of glory, this crown of righteousness. Does that mean they're going
to be given a literal crown? I don't think so. I don't think so. But typically
these crowns would be cast at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But when the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown
of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise, you younger, submit
yourselves unto the elder. If the Lord has put this man
in this position, submit yourself to it. That's only wise. If he's
a witness of the sufferings of Christ, a partaker of the glory
that shall be revealed, submit yourselves to him. Yea, look
what he says next. Yea, all of you, be subject. And that's the same word, submit.
All of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility. Now here's the key of submission. Humility. There's nothing more beautiful,
well Christ is humble, so I can say nothing more beautiful than
humility, but Christ is the object of what humility is. If you want
to know what humility is, don't look at somebody who says, well
I'm a really humble person. That's a denial of humility,
but Christ who has all glory humbled himself, and he's a humble
person. People didn't feel threatened
and judged and condemned around him. Now, religious people did,
and he made them feel that way, purposely. But nobody who was
a sinner, he was the friend, he is the friend of publicans
and sinners. Be clothed with humility. Now,
in this thing of submitting ourselves, getting rid of our own personal
agendas, our own personal goals, and so on, and submitting ourselves,
endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of
peace, this is an act of faith. We're doing it because He says
to do it. And we're doing it in the fear of Him. Now, what
is the fear of God? There's no better definition
of the true fear of God than this. You know, people, I hate
it when people talk about, you know, these good God-fearing
people. Do they look to Christ? Then
they're not God-fearing, if they don't. I don't care how they
act and how good they seem. If they don't look to Christ
only, they're not God-fearing. The fear of God is that you're
afraid to look anywhere but Him alone for everything in your
salvation. That's the fear of God. That's submitting yourselves
in the fear of God. Be clothed with humility, for
God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble
yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God. Now this
is something that I want to do that right now. I want to humble
myself because I don't want to have to be humiliated because
if I don't humble myself, you know what, I'm going to be humiliated.
I'm going to be exposed every time. Humble yourselves. Take the lowest seat. Isn't that
an act of submission when you take the lowest seat? Esteeming
others is better than yourself. Take the lowest seat. Give deference
to everybody else. Take the lowest seat. Humble
yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God that he may
exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him. Now this
is part of humbling yourself. You cast your care upon him.
You have a just estimate of yourself and you know you can't handle
it. You know you can't deal with it. You cast it all upon him,
for he careth for you. When we willingly submit ourselves
to one another, here's what we're doing. We're saying, I trust
the Lord. When we don't, we're saying,
I do not trust the Lord. I do not find safety in doing
what he says to do. May this be my way and your way,
submitting ourselves one to another in the fear of God. And I love
the way he introduces the rest of this book with this statement,
submitting yourselves to one another. in the fear of God. Let's pray. Lord, give us the grace first
to submit to you and give us the grace to submit
ourselves to one another in thy fear. Bless this message and
cause it to bear fruit. Take the words that have been
spoken today and bless them according to your will. Forgive us of our
sins. Give us grace to rest in thy blessed Son. Give us grace to truly be submissive
people in thy fear. How we thank you for the submission
of Christ to your will to accomplish our salvation. We give thanks.
In Christ's name we pray. Amen.