Flexible in Submission

Colossians 3:2; Luke 22:42

Tonight I want us to begin in a garden.

It is late.

The streets of Jerusalem are behind them now.

Jesus has crossed the brook Cedron with His disciples and entered a place He knows well—a garden called Gethsemane.

The disciples have seen Him pray before.

They have heard Him speak with the Father.

They have watched Him calm storms, heal the sick, raise the dead, confront hypocrisy, and walk steadily toward Jerusalem even when He knew what awaited Him there.

But tonight is different.

Jesus tells His disciples, “Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.”

Then He takes Peter, James, and John a little farther and begins to be sorrowful and very heavy.

Matthew records His words: “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.”

He goes a little farther, falls on His face, and prays.

Luke records the prayer this way:

“Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”

There’s something important there for us to see.

Jesus  pretend that He has no desire.

He  speak as though the suffering before Him is insignificant.

He expresses His will honestly: “remove this cup from me.”

But then comes the submission:

“Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”

That isn’t weakness.

That isn’t indecision.

That isn’t compromise.

 perfect submission.

And though none of us will ever stand where Christ stood in Gethsemane, every believer faces moments when we must decide whether our preference will rule us, or whether we’ll yield ourselves to the will of God.

Tonight we’re looking at the character trait Flexible.

The definition we have been using is:

“Surrendering or yielding affections to God, not to earthly things that can be changed by others.”

Biblical flexibility  mean being loose with truth.

It means being loose with everything God has not commanded us to hold tightly.

Our burden tonight is this:

Christlike flexibility means refusing to let my preferences become stronger than my submission to God.

There are some things we must never change.

There are other things we must be willing to release.

And when God redirects us, we must be willing to yield.

I. Know What Must Not Change

Before we talk about being flexible, we need to establish something very clearly:

Flexibility isn’t compromise.

There are truths that don’t belong to us to revise.

God has spoken.

His Word is settled.

His commands aren’t suggestions.

His truth isn’t ours to bend because culture shifts, pressure rises, or people disagree.

Daniel is a good example.

When the decree was signed that no one could pray to any god or man except the king for thirty days, Daniel did not become “flexible” about prayer.

Daniel 6:10 KJV

10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

Daniel understood the difference between a preference and a conviction.

He could adjust to Babylonian life in many ways.

He could serve under pagan kings.

He could learn the language.

He could work within a foreign government.

But when obedience to God was at stake, there was nothing to negotiate.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego understood the same thing.

They could live in Babylon.

They could serve the king.

They could carry Babylonian names.

But when the command came to bow before the image, they wouldn’t bend.

Acts 5:29 gives the principle plainly:

Acts 5:29 KJV

29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

A. Truth Comes From God

We are not the authors of truth.

We don’t get to decide that something becomes optional because obedience is inconvenient.

If God has clearly spoken, I don’t have the authority to change it.

That means we should be very careful not to use the word “flexible” as an excuse for spiritual compromise.

We don’t become flexible about holiness.

We don’t become flexible about honesty.

We don’t become flexible about the gospel.

We don’t become flexible about biblical doctrine simply because someone finds it uncomfortable.

We don’t surrender what God has commanded.

B. Conviction Must Stand

A conviction isn’t merely something I feel strongly about.

Sometimes people say, “I have my conviction,” when what they really mean is, “I have my preference.”

A biblical conviction is rooted in what God has said.

If Scripture requires it, we stand.

If Scripture forbids it, we refuse.

And that gives us an important question before we move any farther:

Is this something God commanded—or simply something I really wanted?

Because many of the things we fight hardest to preserve are not biblical convictions at all.

They are preferences.

And if we don’t learn the difference, we can defend our preferences with the same intensity we should reserve for truth.

Truth must stand.

But that leads us to the other side of the character trait.

II. Release What Can Change

Colossians 3:2 says: 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

That verse gets to the heart of flexibility.

Why do changes bother us so much sometimes?

Why can a small adjustment produce a large reaction?

Why does a changed plan, a changed schedule, a changed method, or a changed expectation sometimes upset our spirit?

Often the issue isn’t merely the change.

The issue is attachment.

A. Examine Your Affections

Colossians tells us where our affection is to be set.

“Set your affection on things above.”

Our hearts are to be fixed on God, His will, His kingdom, His truth, His glory.

Then Paul adds:

“not on things on the earth.”

He isn’t saying everything earthly is sinful.

A schedule isn’t sinful.

A family tradition isn’t sinful.

A preferred method isn’t sinful.

A ministry role isn’t sinful.

A plan isn’t sinful.

A possession isn’t sinful simply because we enjoy it.

The problem begins when something temporary becomes something I feel I must control.

The problem begins when my peace depends on it staying exactly the way I want it.

The problem begins when someone changes something and my spirit changes with it.

 why the definition of flexibility is so helpful:

“Surrendering or yielding affections to God, not to earthly things that can be changed by others.”

Some earthly things can be changed by others.

Someone can change the schedule.

Someone can change the plan.

Someone can choose a different restaurant.

Someone can move the furniture.

Someone can alter the order of service.

Someone else can be asked to do the ministry assignment you expected.

Your employer can change your responsibilities.

Your family can make a decision you did not expect.

And sometimes nobody changes it deliberately—life simply changes.

Health changes.

Finances change.

Opportunities change.

Relationships change.

Age changes what we’re able to do.

And when those things change, they reveal where our affections have been resting.

One of the most helpful questions we can ask is:

Why did that change bother me so much?

Not, “Was it inconvenient?”

It may have been.

Not, “Would I have preferred something else?”

You may have.

But why did it have such power over my spirit?

Sometimes the reaction reveals the attachment.

B. Loosen Your Preferences

A preference says: “This is what I’d like.”

A demand says: “This is how it must be.”

Those are not the same thing.

We’re allowed to have preferences.

Jesus expressed a desire in Gethsemane.

There’s nothing  spiritual about pretending you never care what happens.

The issue isn’t whether I have a preference.

The issue is whether my preference has me.

A preference becomes dangerous when I begin treating it like a command from God.

That can happen in church.

“We have always done it this way.”

That can happen in marriage.

“This is the way I think it should be.”

That can happen in parenting.

“This is how I expected my child to respond.”

That can happen at work.

“This isn’t the assignment I wanted.”

That can happen in ministry.

“This isn’t where I thought God would use me.”

And suddenly our joy, our tone, our patience, and our relationships are being controlled by something God never commanded us to possess in the first place.

Colossians 3:2 calls us upward.

Set your affection on things above.

If Christ has my heart, I can hold earthly things more loosely.

If my life is anchored in God, I don’t have to control every detail around me.

Psalm 18:2 KJV

2 The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

That is why flexibility  have to make us unstable.

Our circumstances can move because our Rock .

Our plans can change because our God has not changed.

Our preferences can yield because our identity isn’t built on getting our own way.

The more tightly my heart is attached to earthly things, the harder it will be for me to yield when those things change.

But when my heart is set on God, I can hold earthly things with an open hand.

And that brings us back to Christ.

III. Yield When God Redirects

The deepest test of flexibility isn’t whether I can tolerate somebody else’s preference.

It is whether I can yield my will to God.

A. Yield Your Will

Go back to Gethsemane.

Luke 22:42:

“Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”

Submission doesn’t require me to have no preference.

It requires me to refuse to make my preference supreme.

Jesus expressed His will honestly.

Then He placed His will beneath the Father’s will.

This is the pattern.

Sometimes Christians think submission means pretending there’s no struggle.

But Scripture  show us a detached Christ in Gethsemane.

He is sorrowful.

He is in agony.

He prays earnestly.

And still He submits.

There may be times when the most Christlike thing you can say is:

“Lord, this isn’t what I wanted.”

“I did not choose this.”

“I’d have planned it differently.”

“I wish this cup could pass.”

And then:

“Nevertheless.”

That may be one of the most important words in the Christian life.

Nevertheless—not my will, but Thine.

 That is flexibility in submission.

Not because the desire was wrong.

Not because the situation was easy.

But because the Father’s will mattered more than the preference.

And sometimes our surrender is tested in much smaller moments.

A delayed plan.

An interruption.

A change in ministry.

A disappointment.

A closed door.

A responsibility we did not expect.

The question is the same:

Will my preference become stronger than my submission to God?

B. Yield Your Plans

Acts 8 gives us another picture.

Philip had been preaching in Samaria.

God was working.

People were hearing the gospel.

There was joy in that city.

From a human point of view, it looked like Philip was exactly where he ought to be.

Then Acts 8:26

Acts 8:26 KJV

26 And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.

Think about that instruction.

Leave a place where many are hearing.

Go to a desert road.

No explanation is recorded.

No promise of a crowd.

No ministry strategy.

Just: “Arise, and go.”

Acts 8:27 KJV

27 And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,

“And he arose and went.”

I love the simplicity of that.

God redirected.

Philip obeyed.

He did not say: “But Lord, this is working.”

He did not say: “This makes no sense.”

He did not insist that God continue using him in the same place in the same way.

He yielded the plan.

And on that road was one Ethiopian man sitting in his chariot, reading Isaiah.

The Spirit told Philip: “Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.”

Philip ran to him.

He heard him reading Isaiah.

He asked: “Understandest thou what thou readest?”

The man answered: “How can I, except some man should guide me?”

And Philip began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus.

A flexible servant is willing for God to change the plan without changing his obedience.

Philip did not know the whole reason when he started walking.

He only knew the next step.

And  often how God leads us.

We want the complete explanation.

God gives the next command.

We want to know why the route changed.

God asks us to trust Him enough to follow.

Sometimes we say we want God to use us, but what we really mean is: “God, use me in the way I have already imagined.”

But surrendered servants don’t simply offer God their abilities.

They offer Him their plans.

James 4:15 KJV

15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

That isn’t uncertainty about God’s goodness.

That’s humility about our control.

We make plans.

We prepare.

We work.

We decide.

But we keep one hand open.

“Lord, if You redirect, I will follow.”

“Lord, if You interrupt, I will listen.”

“Lord, if You choose another route, I will trust You.”

Faithfulness holds tightly to God’s destination while remaining willing for God to change the route.

Conclusion

So what does Christlike flexibility look like?

It knows what must not change.

God’s truth stands.

It releases what can change.

Our preferences, schedules, methods, plans, and earthly attachments must never take the place that belongs to God.

And it yields when God redirects.

Jesus prayed: “Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”

Philip heard: “Arise, and go,” and: “he arose and went.”

Maybe the question tonight isn’t whether you think you are a flexible person.

Maybe the better question is:

What happens in your heart when something you wanted changes?

Is there something you have begun to treat as a conviction that God never commanded?

Is there a preference you are holding so tightly that it is controlling your attitude toward other people?

Is there a plan God is changing, and you are resisting because you have decided your route must be His route?

Colossians 3:2 says:

“Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”

There are things we should hold with a closed fist.

God’s Word.

Truth.

Biblical conviction.

But there are many things we need to hold with an open hand.

Our plans.

Our preferences.

Our expectations.

Our methods.

Our timing.

And perhaps tonight we simply need to pray the prayer Christ modeled for us:

“Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”

Christlike flexibility means refusing to let my preferences become stronger than my submission to God.

May God help us to stand firmly where He has spoken, release what He has never commanded us to control, and follow Him willingly wherever He redirects.