iLife Series Part 5: iSubmit

Review: What's most natural in relationships is to RESPOND and react to others in the same way that they treat you. -

God has a different lens through which He views relationships. When it comes to how we treat each other-He says, "Do unto others as I, your Heavenly Father, have done unto you."

The big relational "aha" is to focus on what God has done on your BEHALF.

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Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Ephesians 5:21

The word "submit" means to place yourself under one's authority. Essentially, in relationships I am to put YOU FIRST and you are to put ME FIRST.

It's not natural:

I want to be the boss. I want you to submit to me ... after all, I'm right. Right? I don't want to be taken advantage of or walked on. "God, what other advice do you have? That's too weird and uncomfortable."

It is biblical:

Submitting to one another shows reverence and respect for your Savior. Not because the other person deserves it but out of reverence for Jesus.

A biblical picture of submission

Don't be selfish; don't live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself 4 Don't think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing. 5 Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had.

6 Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as

God. 7 He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. 8 And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal's death on a cross. 9 Because of this, God raised him up to the't'eights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:3- 11

Summary: Consider the people around you better THAN YOURSELF,

Our example: Jesus never pulled rank. He had all the rights in the world and he put his rights on the back burner and leveraged his power for others.

Wait! How far do I go with this? had never submitted?

What if.,. Jesus

Jesus left us a pattern; relationships take precedence over MY RIGHTS

It's hard to imagine this, but the Savior of the world died for the sins of the person that drives you crazy, Your Savior died for the sins, the continuing sins of everyone you know and/or have heard about. .. all those people that you think are YUCK,

Don't you realize how kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Or don't you care? Can't you see how kind he has been in giving you time to turn from your sin? Romans 2:4

Sermon in a sentence: God says, "Relationships are the PRIORITY, And I want you to submit, not because it works, not because you benefit from it, not because it fixes relationships ... simply out of reverence and respect for me, every time you put that other person first, it is a STATEMENT of your gratitude for the fact that I put you

first. "