Sermon Tone Analysis

*/Ephesians 5:18-21/*

 

 

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*/Greek Text  5:21 /**~~Upotasso,menoi avllh,loij evn fo,bw| Cristou~/( *

*Ephesians 5:21 submitting to one another in fear of Christ.*

Verse 21 is the fitting conclusion to verses 15-21.

It is not the beginning of the next section but it is the transition verse for understanding what follows.

It is the fourth fruit of being filled by the Spirit; 1) Speaking to one another…2) singing and making melody…3) always giving thanks…and 4) submitting to one another in fear of Christ.

These are all results of being filled by the Spirit.

You cannot ever manifest these characteristics unless filled by the Spirit.

Being filled by the Spirit means yielding your will to the Lord’s will, which if you are wise you will understand.

Let’s look at the fourth result of being filled by the Spirit; *submitting to one another in the fear of Christ*.

The word here for *subject *or *submit *is /hupotasso/.

It is a military term meaning “to rank yourself under a leader”.

When you are under the control of the Holy Spirit you will rank yourself under others because you yield your will to the Lord’s will.

And the Lord’s will is for you to *submit*.

You are to do this *in fear of Christ*.

Believers are not to act like unbelievers.

Unbelievers take great pride in “independence” and “individualism”.

Believers are instructed to act otherwise.

We are commanded to /“give preference to one another in honor”/ (Rom 12:10).

We are to be humble regarding /“one another as more important than”/ ourselves (Phil 2:3) and it is impossible to consider others as more important than ourselves unless we are filled by the Spirit.

If you are a self-centered brat, always concerned about yourself and your needs then this is a sign that you are rarely, if ever filled by the Holy Spirit.

You are full of yourself and need to learn the doctrine of kenosis (Phil 2:5-8).

Christ gave up the independent use of His divine attributes.

He yielded His will to the Father’s will (Matt 26:39).

Later tonight I’m going to show you important it is to follow Christ’s example of yielding your will.

You cannot live the Christian life if you don’t train yourself to yield your will to the Lord’s will.

Jesus Christ did not walk independently.

Jesus Christ walked dependently, being filled by the Spirit, in submission to the Father.

As believers in Jesus Christ who desire to be Christ-like we must also be filled by the Holy Spirit in order to submit ourselves to one another.

This subordination, as we’ll demonstrate, is not contrary to equality.

There is both submission and equality in the body of Christ

            Who are we to submit to?

The reciprocal pronoun *one another *indicates that this is mutual submission.

I submit to you and you submit to me.

The problem however, is “HOW DOES MUTUAL SUBMISSION WORK?”

For example, if believer A submits to believer B then B is not submitting himself to A, but ruling.

Only one person can rule at a time.

So, how do we solve this dilemma?

The solution lies in the way Paul applies this principle in the relationships described in 5:22-6:9: wives-husbands, children-fathers, and slaves-masters.

So, the way mutual submission works is like this, “let each of you submit yourself to the ones who you should be submissive to” (e.g.

wives should submit to husbands, children should obey their fathers, slaves should obey their masters, etc…).

The bottom line is that you must be willing to submit to those who have authority, whether it is in the church, home, workplace, or society at large.

This week let’s look at submission within the church since that is the context of Eph 5:15-21.

Although not directly mentioned here there are areas of authority and subordination in the local church.

Believers only gather for a few hours per week so submission in church should not be that difficult.

Christ is the head, the Church is His body.

Within the body the offices of authority include elders (pl) and deacons (pl).

*HEAD*             Jesus Christ

Chief Shepherd

 

 

 

\\ *CHRIST’S BODY        *Elders*ß*Deacons*ß*Flock

 

Elders and deacons are a part of the flock but not all of the flock are elders or deacons.

All are responsible to Jesus Christ, the Chief Shepherd.

All have spiritual gifts but not all hold offices.

There are clear lines of authority but also equality before God.

We all have different roles to fulfill but we all share the same position in Christ.

The authoritative offices include the elders and the deacons, a plurality of men in each office.

First, let’s look at the *elder’s qualifications*.

*1 Timothy 3:15 * /I write /so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.

* *

*1 Timothy 3:1-7 *It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires /to do/.  2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach [blameless], the husband of one wife [digamy, cf 1 Tim 5:9; not “husband of a wife” or “husband of one wife at a time” but “husband of one wife”; not condemning polygamy or bigamy but digamy, being married twice legally; a divorced man who is not remarried still qualifies], temperate [sober, self-controlled], prudent [of sound mind], respectable, hospitable, able to teach [doesn’t say “must…teach” but “must…be able” and willing (cf v. 1) to teach”],  3 not addicted to wine or pugnacious [bully, demanding], but gentle [considerate], peaceable, free from the love of money.  4 /He must be /one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity 5 (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?),  6 /and /not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.

7 And he must have a good reputation with those outside /the church/ [in the community], so that he will not fall into reproach [insulting or abusing others] and the snare of the devil.

Second, the *elders responsibilities*.

*1 Peter 5:1-3 * Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as /your /fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed,  2 shepherd [tend, care for] the flock of God among you, exercising oversight [watching over] not under compulsion [force], but voluntarily [willfully], according to /the will of /God [/kata /with accusative, according to the standard of God]; and not for sordid gain [material gain], but with eagerness [strong desire to serve];  3 nor yet as lording [dominating] it over those allotted to your charge [given a share], but proving to be examples [type, standard] to the flock.

The second office is deacon and the *deacon’s qualifications* are also in 1 Tim 3.

 

*1 Timothy 3:8-13 * Deacons likewise /must be /men of dignity [honorable], not double-tongued [saying one thing to one person and another thing to someone else], or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain,  9 /but /holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.  10 These men must also first be tested /dokimazo - /test to approve not to disapprove]; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach [/anegkletos - /one who cannot be accused].

11 Women [wives of the deacons] /must /likewise /be /dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things.

12 Deacons must be husbands of /only /one wife [same as v. 2], /and /good managers [rulers] of /their /children and their own households.

13 For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high [beautiful] standing and great confidence [/parresia - /boldness] in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

The *deacon’s responsibilities* are to serve in the areas decided by the elders.

Whatever the elders delegate to the deacons is their responsibility (Acts 6:1-6).

The flock is to follow and submit to the leadership of both the elders and by extension of authority, the deacons.

This is found in Heb 13:17.

*Hebrews 13:17 * Obey [/peitho - /follow] your leaders and submit [/hupeiko - /give way to, yield to] /to them/, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account.

Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable [/alusiteles/ - harmful;detrimental] for you.

As per classes of individuals in the flock we have seven: *older men*, *younger men, older women and younger women, wives, husbands,* and *children*.

These overlap somewhat and we’re going to cover some of these in detail in the coming weeks so let’s just look at four of these: older men, younger men, older women and younger women.

*Older men*

 

*Titus 2:2-8 *Older men are to be temperate [sober-self controlled], dignified [worthy of respect], sensible [healthy mind that leads to orderly life], sound in faith, in love, in perseverance.

* *

*Older women*

 

3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior [God fearing devout lives], not malicious gossips [diabolic] nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good {/kalodidaskalos]/,  4 so that they may encourage [train] the young women

 

*Younger women*

 

to love [pleasant, welcoming] their husbands, to love [same] their children,  5 /to be /sensible [modest], pure [holy, innocent], workers at home [devoted to home duties], kind [good, useful], being subject to their own husbands [not to other husbands but their own husband], so that the word of God will not be dishonored.

*Younger men*

 

6 Likewise urge the young men to be sensible [healthy mind];  7 in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds [honest good worker], /with /purity in doctrine [incorrupt instruction], dignified [/semnotes - /serious],  8 sound /in /speech [healthy speech] which is beyond reproach [not condemnable], so that the opponent [hostile one] will be put to shame [to cause to turn, to cause to respect], having nothing bad to say about us.

Additionally, 1 Pt 5:5 says that young men are to submit to [/hupotasso - /rank themselves under] the elders (1 Pt 5:5).

Peter stresses this because it is young men who are most zealous for high positions of authority but they are to submit to the elders so that God may exalt them at the proper time.

All believers are to be humble toward one another; not to think of themselves highly because there is equality in Christ (Gal 3:28; 1 Pt 5:5).

Obviously, everyone here fits in one or more of these categories.

For the church to be unified and healthy we all have responsibilities to one another.

These lines of authority and responsibility have been given in order to preserve the *unity* and cause spiritual growth (Eph 4:3; 11-16).

No one is left without responsibilities.

It is not only the ones who are to submit who have responsibilities.

Those who have authority also have responsibilities.

This is what makes the NT Christian ethic so unique.

*I cannot stress too much how important it is to remember that the only way to follow the responsibilities that each of us have in the church is by being filled by the Spirit!*

It is only when we are filled by the Spirit that these characteristics are manifested.

Now, we have to talk a little about the relationship between /equality/ and /subordination/ because there is a lot of confusion in this area.

Is equality inconsistent with subordination?

 

*Equality*

 

The word of God clearly teaches that all men are equal in Christ.