The Sacredness Of Submission
Introduction
The philosophy of our world today seems to be summed up in the phrase made popular in the 60's: "Do your own thing." The basic idea of that philosophy was individualism: just be yourself, throw off the antiquated restrictions of the past and be free. The problem is society has expanded on this 60's idea somewhat in our day, so that it means, "Submit to no one; you are your own boss, and no one has the right to tell you what to do."
Though there is much to be said for individualism, the attempt to throw off all restraints, whether ancient or modern, has led to the lack of discipline in our school system, a legal system run amok in chaos, and in reduced productivity in our nation's corporations.
The world system says, "Do your own thing." God says, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time" (I Pet.5: 6). The Scriptures are very clear about the fact that the Christian is not to be a self-seeking person, but a submissive person.
Submissiveness is precisely what Paul is addressing in our text.
Submission to God is the key to the Christian's success in life. Yet many of God's children have never wholly surrendered themselves to the Lord. Their lives are spiritually unproductive, self- centered, and confused. They selfishly want God's blessings, but only as long as it does not require them to take their hands off the controls of their lives. The fact is God doesn't operate His kingdom on the Burger King philosophy: "Have it your way." If we want success in our walk with God, we must submit to His Lordship and rule.
Submission to God is a sacred thing, for it is a pivotal point in the Christian's life. Submission to God is the starting point of Christian maturity, and continues to be a decision we face everyday.
Today we will examine what the Apostle Paul had to say on this sacred subject.
I. The Plea For Submission
A. This Plea Is Extended By Beseeching
Romans 12:1a, "I beseech you therefore..."
The idea of this phrase is, "I beg of you, please." (Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest's Word Studies From The Greek New Testament, published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Romans In The Greek New Testament, pg. 204) Paul realizes the great importance of submitting to God. So much so that he literally begs the saints to submit themselves.
Concerning the Christian's need to submit to the Lord, William Cowper once penned these words, "O Lord, my best desire fulfill,
And help me to resign
Life, health, and comfort to Thy will, And make Thy pleasure mine."
Olney Hymns, William Cowper, from Cowper's Poems, Sheldon & Company, New York
B. This Plea Is Extended To The Brethren
Romans 12:1b states, "...I beseech you therefore, brethren..."
Paul is obviously addressing Christians here. The only meaningful way in which the lost can submit themselves to God is through repentance and salvation. But Christians who won't walk in the Spirit are also unlikely to submit to God, for the Bible says, "...The carnal mind is enmity (in opposition) against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Rom.8: 7).
The flesh always stubbornly wants it own way, much like this story illustrates:
In the summer of 1986, two ships collided in the Black Sea off the coast of Russia. Hundreds of passengers died as they were hurled into the icy waters below. News of the disaster was further darkened when an investigation revealed the cause of the accident. It wasn't a technology problem like radar malfunction-or even thick fog. The cause was human stubbornness. Each captain was aware of the other ship's presence nearby. Both could have steered clear, but according to news reports, neither captain wanted to give way to the other. Each was too proud to yield first. By the time they came to their senses, it was too late. (Closer Walk, December 1991)
C. The Plea Is Extended On Mercies' Basis
Romans 12:1c reads, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God..."
The word "therefore" directs the reader back to the content of the previous chapters in which Paul spoke of the justification, sanctification, and glorification of the saints through the death and shed blood of Christ. God saved us by no merit of our own, and then provided us the wherewithal to serve Christ in the same manner. It was all of grace; not of works (Eph.2: 8-9). You see folks; it was the "goodness of God" that led us to repentance and salvation (Rom.2: 4).
What a shame that Paul should have to beg Christians to submit themselves to the God, who has justified them in spite of their sins, sanctified them-set them apart for the Savior's service, and who will one day glorify them with Christ.
In spite of all that God has done for His people, many of them have to practically be begged to submit themselves to God, even in the basic things of the faith, such as faithfulness in God's house. My nephew, speaking of questions he's had concerning why some Christians do what they do, said in a recent sermon, "I've had questions like: If we believe that when we come to the house of God, that we've entered into the presence of God, then why are we so eager to leave it, so obstinate to return to it, and so eased to miss it?" (Rev. Shannon L. Talley)
II. The Presentation Of Submission
A. It Involves Sacrifice
Romans 12:1d says, "...present your bodies a living sacrifice..."
The word "present" simply means, "to put at one's disposal" (Ibid, pg. 205). Too many Christians hold on to the mistaken idea of, "It's my life. I can do what I want to with it." God's Word reveals just the opposite.
We read in I Corinthians 6:20 "For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
The word "bodies" actually refers to more than this outer shell we walk around in.
The word "bodies," mindful of the Old Testament sacrifices, represents the totality of one's life and activities, of which his body is the vehicle of expression. (John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, Editors, The Bible Knowledge Commentary, New Testament edition, published by Victor Books, Wheaton, Illinois; pg. 487.)
Andrew Murray said, "God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him."
Giving up control of one's life requires the willingness to sacrifice. But the gains of submission to Christ far outweigh the losses.
Eric Fellman speaks of meeting a Chinese couple in Hong Kong, while traveling to China. "A friend took me down a narrow alley to a second-floor flat to meet a man recently released from prison in China. I knew I would be pressed to carry Bibles and literature on my trip. But I was hesitant and tried to mask my fear with rationalizations about legalities and other concerns.
"A Chinese man in his 6O's opened the door. His smile was radiant, but his back was bent almost double. He led us to a sparsely furnished room. A Chinese woman of about the same age came in to serve tea. As she lingered, I couldn't help but notice how they touched and lovingly looked at each other. My staring apparently didn't go unnoticed, for soon they were both giggling.
"'What is it?' I asked my friend. 'Oh nothing,' he said with a smile. 'They just wanted you to know it was OK-they're newlyweds.'
"I learned they had been engaged in 1949, when he was a student at Nanking Seminary. On the day of their wedding rehearsal, Chinese communists seized the seminary. They took the students to a hard-labor prison. For the next 30 years, the bride-to-be was allowed only one visit per year. Each time, following their brief minutes together, the man would be called to the warden's office. 'You may go home with your bride,' he said, 'if you will renounce Christianity.'
"Year after year, this man replied with just one word; 'No.' I was stunned. How had he been able to stand the strain for so long, being denied his family, his marriage, and even his health? When I asked, he seemed astonished at my question. He replied, 'With all that Jesus has done for me, how could I betray Him?'
"The next day, I requested that my suitcase be crammed with Bibles and training literature for Chinese Christians. I determined not to lie about the materials, yet lost not one minute of sleep worrying about the consequences. And as God had planned, my suitcases were never inspected." (Eric Fellman, Moody Monthly, January 1986, p. 33.)
The Flesh in Subjugation:
This means the flesh is put in subjugation.
Galatians 5: 24 reads, "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."
Romans 6: 14a, "For sin (the sin nature) shall not have dominion over you..." The Christ Holds First Place:
This means Christ holds first place in the heart of the saint.
Colossians 1: 18 states, "And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence."
B. It Involves Service
What are we talking about when we speak of service for Christ? A.T. Pierson explained it this way:
Whatever is done for God, without respect of its comparative character as related to other acts, is service, and only that is service. Service is, comprehensively speaking, doing the will of God. He is the object. All is for Him, for His sake, as unto the Lord, not as unto man. Hence, even the humblest act of [the] humblest disciple acquires a certain divine quality by its being done with reference to Him.
The supreme test of service is this, "For whom am I doing this? Much that we call service to Christ is not such at all.... If we are doing this for Christ, we shall not care for human reward or even recognition. Our work must again be tested by three propositions: Is it work from God, as given us to do from Him; for God, as finding in Him its secret of power; and with God, as only a part of His work in which we engage as co-workers with Him." (A.T. Pierson in, The Truth.)
Service was one of the objects of our salvation.
Titus 2: 14 reads, "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."
Service must be done trusting God's power supply.
Philippians 2: 13 states, "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
Service should be continual:
Paul indicates that we should continuously be about the Lord's service.
We read in I Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."
The word "abounding" means, "to superabound (in quantity or quality), be in excess...remain (over and above). (James Strong, S.T.D., LL.D., The Exhaustive Concordance Of The Bible, published by MacDonald Publishing Company, McLean, Virginia; #4052 of the Greek Dictionary Of The New Testament, pg. 57).
One translation renders the phrase "always abounding in the work of the Lord" as follows, "...always enthusiastic about the Lord's work..." (Holy Bible, New Living Translation, published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois; pg. 1169).
C. It Involves Separation
The Christian is not to be party to the world system.
Note 2 Corinthians 6:17, "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,"
Ephesians 5:11 reads, "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them."
One needs to understand that separation from the world does not mean isolation from the world. The Scriptures never teach us to isolate ourselves from the world. Isolation is not conducive to evangelization, which is one of the primary goals of the Church and individual Christians alike. Paul is simply saying that the Christian is not to be part of and party to the lost world's sin and corruption.
We are not to be isolated but insulated, moving in the midst of evil but untouched by it. Separation is contact without contamination. Jesus was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners" (Heb. 7:26), yet He was "a friend of tax collectors and sinners" (Luke 7:34). Vance Havner.
We are also warned not to develop affection for the world and its allurements.
Read 1 John 2:15, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."
To court the world is to commit spiritual adultery against God.
James 4:4 states, "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."
Paul defines true separation for us.
Read Romans 12:2a, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind..."
"Conformed" means, "to fashion or shape one thing like another" (W.E. Vine, M.A., An Expository Dictionary Of New Testament Words, Vol. I, published by Fleming H. Revell Company, Old Tappan, New Jersey; pg. 227). Simply put, we are not to pattern our lives after the "world" (aion=age) in which we live-we are not to permit ourselves to be pressed into its mold.
The word translated "transformed" here in Romans 12:2 is the same word translated "transfigured" in Matthew 17: 2. The Greek word used in both these passages is the same word from which we derive our English word "metamorphosis." "A metamorphosis is a change on the outside that comes from the inside" (Warren W. Wiersbe, Meet Your King, published by Victor Books, Wheaton, Illinois; pg. 117).
Notice also the medium by which our spiritual metamorphosis takes place: "...by the renewing of your mind." "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..." (Prov.23: 7a), the Bible says. That's the reason we need to study God's Word, and hear it preached and taught, so that what's in us will manifest itself outside of us.
III. The Proof For Submision
Romans 12:2b, "...that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
One rendering of the thought that Paul conveys here is this: "Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-His good, pleasing, and perfect will" (Source Unknown).
Yet another translation of these words are as follows, "Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is" (Holy Bible: New Living Translation, published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois; pg. 1148).
It all boils down to one thing: If there is no submission, there will be no direction in the Christian's life. As we submit to God in every area of life, our desire becomes like that expressed by Jesus, who said, "...Not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22: 42b). The more we submit to God's will, the more He will be pleased to reveal His will to us.