Freedom in Submission
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Introduction
Introduction
What is the authority in our life? Well the number one authority in our life should be the Word of God. And last wednesday we talked about why and how we can trust the Word of God, and that we can be confident that we have the exact same word as what the apostles wrote down and that we have the perfect true words of Christ in this book, - that this is a trustworthy book. It is sufficient, it is enough for all matters of faith and practice, It is sufficient, or enough for every situation in our lives, the Word of God has the answer that we need, and we can trust what it has to say.
And it says that there are some authorities in our lives that we need to submit ourselves to, to willingly place ourselves under. So lets take a look at a couple
Submit to Parents (Ephesians 6:1-3)
Submit to Parents (Ephesians 6:1-3)
Children, obey. Sometimes it is hard to obey parents, man i understand. Sometimes we want to do what we want to do and just not even care about what our parents are thinking or what they want us to do. But parents do deserve our respect and obedience. And its Fathers Day! One of the best gifts you can give to your dad is to be respectful of him and submit to him, to do whatever he says. God has placed your parent or guardian in your life as an authority for you to follow and obey.
The only time you should ever disobey your parents, is if they are asking you to do something that is contrary to the Word of God, if it goes against the Bible. If your momma pleads and begs you to go off and kill someone for her, you should not obey her, you should in fact disobey her and then call the police and tell them your momma has issues. Now I know what a lot of you are thinking, are chores biblical? Is it biblical to take out the trash or clean my room or do the dishes… I don’t know, you’ll have to find the Bible verse that says its wrong and show that to your parents. But, I’m 99% sure it is biblical to do chores.
*ILLUSTRATION about starting homeschool telling mom I was doing school work but I actually wasn’t
Not only should we obey our parents, but we should obey them with a good attitude. I know this is a huge thing with teenagers. I know cause I was a teenager just two years ago. Our attitude about doing something is JUST AS IMPORTANT as actually doing it.
*ILLUSTRATION about doing the chore hanging up clothes and throwing them on the bed and getting whooped at 14, (then again at 15 for slamming a door)
— If you do what they ask, but do it with a bad attitude, you are still in disobedience to your parents. And check this out, when your disobedient to your parents, you’re disobedient to the Word of God, which means you are disobedient to God Himself. So when you’re disobedient to your parents, your disobeying God, sinning against God. And God takes sin seriously, as we already know.
The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold:
But the Lord trieth the hearts.
*Explain
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
When your parents ask you to do something, do it to the best of your ability as if you were doing it for God, to obey Him and to please Him. It is pleasing to God when we please our parents, because that means we are obeying His Word.
Then in verse 2 it says to honour them. And that word honor means to literally value them, cherish them, not to take them for granted but to respect and revere them. And then God gives a wonderful promise to us, if we do this, obey and honour our parents, then it will be well with us and we will live a long life.
So because the Word of God is our authority in our life, then we should obey what it says, and it says to obey our parents because they are also our authority.
Submit to Rulers (Romans 13:1-2)
Submit to Rulers (Romans 13:1-2)
Here in these specific verses, God is telling us to submit to the higher powers, or the ruling bodies, or basically the government. We need to obey the law of the land. Just follow the law, It’s not that hard. Don’t speed when you drive, don’t sell drugs, just do what you know you should do. Use your common sense. When we are being tempted we are in that moment deciding what to do, the right thing or the wrong thing. And when that moment comes remember this moment right here right now...
DO THE RIGHT THING, PLEASE JUST DO THE RIGHT THING.
Remember that moment of Brother Zain yelling at you to do the right thing.
Because you have the Spirit of God living inside of you, you can do the right thing. It is possible for you to choose to do the right thing. So do it!
Obey the rules, the laws, obey the law enforcers like policemen and government officials. The Word of God tells us to. Of course, unless they tell us to do something that goes against what the Bible says, then don’t disobey the Bible.
There are other authoritative rulers, or authorities that we need to obey as well.
We need to obey Pastors
Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
*Explain
You may not always understand some of the things you are told to do, but Pastors of all people have a specific reason for everything that they do. It is always a safe bet to follow and obey the Pastor who walks close to Jesus. How do you know when someone is close to Jesus? They exhibit the fruit of the spirit:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
We need to respect Elders
Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
Elders are those who are older than us, because the assumption is that they are wiser than we are. This is anyone old people, parents, grandparents, and even teachers. Respecting teachers in school is also a part of being a Christian.
*ILLUSTRATION about mrs strubel and sword fighting with rulers and the consequences, and then being nice to Mrs. Fischer and the reward
We should respect everybody, but especially those who are older than us and have authority over us.
and finally
Submit To God (Romans 12:1-2)
Submit To God (Romans 12:1-2)
Paul here is “beseeching” the Christians. That word in the Greek literally means to come up to someones side and exhort them, to strongly urge them. Urging them to what? Submission
The only way that you are even able to submit yourself to God, is because He is merciful. He is merciful enough to give you a life, he is merciful enough to give you intellect and the ability to think for yourself. He is merciful to give you free choice so that you have the ability whether or not to choose to submit to Him or not.
He says to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. We are to surrender, to submit, to hand over our lives over to God. He has already mentioned this in this letter to the Romans but now he is going to talk about it even more.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
In the Old Testament, when the Jews would make their yearly sacrifices for their sins, they needed a perfect spotless lamb. The lamb could not have any spots or blemishes, he had to be absolutely perfect. And that perfect innocent lamb was killed as a punishment for their sins. And that is exactly who Jesus is to us. He was that perfect lamb who was killed as a punishment for our sins.
Because He died and rose again, we can believe in Him and ask Him to save us. Like many of us have done already. And when we put our faith and trust in Him, His Holy Spirit comes into us and indwells us. And now when God looks at us, He doesn’t see the dirty rotten sinful Zain, He sees Jesus’s blood covering my sins, which makes me accepted accepted. I am now acceptable to God, because of Jesus’s sacrifice.
To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
And so now, Paul tells us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. He’s saying man act like who you ought to be. You’re saved? You’re a Christian? Then act the way that Christ acted, since He is the one who made you an acceptable sacrifice to God. So how am I supposed to act? Well there is 5 essential things every Christian ought to be doing in their life. We’ve talked about it before. What are they?
Prayer, reading Scripture, offerings, witnessing, go to church.
Prayer
Pray without ceasing.
Pretty easy to understand, not much of an explanation needed
Reading the Bible
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
*Explain
*ILLUSTRATION about how many times being fed at bible college but still need that personal time alone with God and His Word.
Offerings
Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me.
But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee?
In tithes and offerings.
Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me,
Even this whole nation.
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be meat in mine house,
And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts,
If I will not open you the windows of heaven,
And pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
*Explain
Witnessing
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
*Explain
Going to church
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
*Explain
So How do I submit to God? I present my body as a living sacrifice. How do I present my body as a living sacrifice? Well act like the original perfect sacrifice: Jesus. How? By doing these five essential things.
When I do these things it is acceptable unto God, because of Jesus as we already mentioned in Ephesians 1. It is Holy, what does that mean? Holy means that we are set apart for a specific purpose: and that purpose is to glorify God, and I glorify God by doing these 5 things.
What are the five things?
good.
Verse 2 says Don’t be conformed to the world. How does that happen? By not doing these five things that Christians should do. People who are of the world do the opposite of these five things.
*Explain
Be renewed in your mind. How do I do that?
If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
I study the teachings of Jesus and put off my old self.
And then I will know the perfect will of God.
The best way to figure out the will of God for your future, what He wants you to do with your life, is to do the will of God right now. Which is those five things.
Conclusion
Conclusion
So we need to submit to the authority in our lives. And of course we know that the number one authority in our life is God and His Word. But His word tells us about other authorities we need to submit to, parents, government, elders, teachers, etc. and when we do that we please God. We talked about how we need to have a good attitude when we obey all these authorities because having a good attitude is just as important as actually obeying. How do we submit to God and please Him? We start with the five basic things Christians ought to do… what are they?
praying, bible reading, witnessing, going to church, offerings.
I hope youll remember these things and apply them to your life