Sermon Tone Analysis

Ephesians 5:21

For the past few weeks, we’ve been learning how to worship God together as a church.

When we gather together for worship, we should submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit – who is God and who is not only among us but within us.

In this way, the Holy Spirit “fills” us when we gather together, so we should submit ourselves to his presence and influence in our lives when we gather for a worship service.

That’s why James Montgomery Boice says, “The ‘Spirit-filled’ life is not to be measured merely by one’s private morality or even by one’s private spiritual experience but by how one conducts himself or herself with other persons.”[1]

When we genuinely submit ourselves together to his influence as a church, several outcomes will occur.

We will speak to one another through a variety of good songs, we will be thankful for one another, and we will submit to one another.

It is this third outcome that I would draw your attention to today – submitting to one another.

What does this mean and how well are we doing this as a church?

Submit means to “take a subordinate position” or “defer to the other person” or “treat the other person as more important than myself.”

In its most concrete sense, this word envisions a soldier who literally “stands under” or “places himself under” the authority and leadership of his superior officer.

In a more abstract sense, it is a mentality that elevates the interests, needs, and perspectives of other people in over my own – and these other people in this case are the other members of our church family whenever we gather together for worship and service.

Does submission flourish or languish in the church?

Submission is not a popular concept today and for good reason, for our natural, fleshly, sinful nature does not like to submit to anyone other than myself.

Yet our church – any church – should be a place where submission flourishes.

Sadly – very sadly, churches are a place where submission languishes instead.

Submission languishes when:

We disregard or disrespect members of a different ethnicity

Assert ourselves forcefully in business meetings

Insist that our preferences are superior to those of other members

Spread divisive gossip or teaching to other members

Expect other members to give us special, preferential treatment

Cling tightly to our positions, roles, and titles

Refuse to cooperate or participate in normal church gatherings and functions

Receive service from other members but refuse to serve in meaningful ways ourselves

Such attitudes and behavior are the opposite of how a submissive person thinks and behaves and should not occur within a church family.

Submission inside the church prepares us for submission outside.

Submission within the church prepares us to behave properly in our roles outside the church.

Submission to one another in the church should cause ripple effects that carry over into our family relationships and social relationships as well.

The wives among us should submit to their husbands.

(Eph 5:22-24, 33)

The children among us should submit to their parents.

(Eph 6:1-3)

The employees among us should submit to their employers.

(Eph 6:5-8)

Does this behavior describe our church?

If you’re a wife, are you following and supporting the decisions and leadership of your husband at home?

If you’re a young child or teenager, are you following and obeying the decisions of your parents?

If you’re employed by someone somewhere, are you doing what your employer requires of you?

And are you doing these things with a submissive spirit rather than a complaining or stubborn one?

In addition to these domestic and social relationships, the NT also teaches that we should display the same submissive mindset in at least two other scenarios:

Christian citizens should submit to their government officials (Rom 13:1)

Church members should submit to their pastors (Heb 13:17).

All five scenarios I’ve mentioned from the NT require intentional effort on our part because to willingly “stand under” and take a subordinate position to a husband, parent, employer or to government officials and pastors is neither a mindset nor behavior that comes naturally.

We must depend upon the Holy Spirit to think and behave this way.

Even those in leading roles should be submissive.

As uncomfortable and undesirable as submission may be in the five previously mentioned scenarios, we can make a clear case from Scripture and even from logic and social theory that we must accept at least some form of subordination in the world.

A nation without laws and governing officials, a church without appointed pastoral leaders, businesses and companies without directors and managers, and homes without a head cannot succeed.

Yet, because of our sinful nature, those who end up filling leadership roles in the home, society, and the church can easily develop a “me-first” mentality.

When this happens, a supervisor, government official, pastor, husband, or parent behaves more like a nonbeliever than a follower of Christ.

Even Christ’s closest early followers, the twelve disciples, had this problem.

So, Christ explained how nonbelieving leaders tend to “lord it over” and “exercise authority” over the people they lead.

This means that they like to abuse their authority and leadership position for selfish reasons rather than to use their authority and leadership position to serve people instead.

As John Calvin explains:

“God has so bound us to each other, that no man ought to avoid subjection.

And where love reigns, there is mutual servitude.

I do not except even kings and governors, for they rule that they may serve.

Therefore, it is very right that he should exhort all to be subject to each other.”40

That’s precisely what Christ himself told his closest followers, that those whom God places in leadership roles should view themselves as servants who gladly sacrifice for and support whomever they are to lead.

Paul refers to this kind of submissive mindset for everyone, not just those who are not in a leading role.

He says, “Submit yourselves to one another” (Eph 5:21).

This certainly means that we should practice submission in the roles that Scripture specifies.

Yet this also means that we all should practice mutual submission to one another.

It even means that a husband should submit to his wife in a certain respect or that a parent should submit to a child in a certain respect.

How does such submission occur?

It occurs as husbands love their wives as Christ loved the church and pursue meeting her needs more than his own.

It occurs as parents seek to provide for, train, draw close to, love, and point their children to Christ at their own expense.

It occurs as employers treat their employees like VIPs and as pastors lead a congregation in a humble way that processes feedback from members and places the members spiritual and personal needs over their own, loving and leading like Christ.

We should clarify that this principle of “mutual submission” (in which we all submit to one another) does not demolish, reverse, or undermine the roles clearly given in Scripture which God has assigned for the home, the church, and society at large.

For instance, mutual submission does not require a husband to do whatever his wife tells him, a parent to allow whatever a children wants, an employer to accept whatever employees demand, a government official to tolerate whatever citizens insist, or a pastor to say or do whatever every member prefers.

Also, all such roles – esp.

those within the church – require leaders to be ultimately allegiant and submissive to Scripture no matter how popular or preferred that may be.

Furthermore, all such roles require a certain measure of discernment and trust, knowing that no leader can make decisions which perfectly and equally please everyone they lead.

For these reasons, mutual submission is required.

Those who are being led should gladly and willingly accept and support those who lead them recognizing the challenge that leading entails.

At the same time, those who are leading should gladly and willingly acknowledge and serve those whom they are leading, recognizing the challenges that following entails.

This mutual respect between those who lead and those who follow reveals the true essence of mutual submission and this is the attitude and spirit which should characterize a church when it gathers together for worship and service.

Before we consider some specific applications of this principle of mutual submission as a church, we need to acknowledge why this principle is so important.

Mutual submission is important because we follow Christ.

Paul tells us that we should submit to one another “in the fear of God” or the “fear of Christ” (Eph 5:21).

The KJV/NKJV translates “fear of God” but the early and majority of Greek manuscripts reads “fear of Christ” and should probably be translated as “out of reverence for Christ.”

Paul’s point here is that by practicing mutual submission, we reflect and respect the supreme example of mutual submission, for he submitted himself in two incredible ways.

First, Christ submitted himself to the people of this world by serving them, accepting their mistreatment of him, and dying for their sins.

By doing so, he submitted himself to those who were supposed to follow and submit to him.

He said, “Even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

Second, Christ submitted himself to God the Father by doing these things for this is what the Father wanted him to do.

By doing so, he submitted himself to one who was his equal.

He and the Father are both equally the one, same God (Phil 2:5-6).

The key here is to meditate a lot on Christ’s own example of submission.

He served and suffered for us all, putting our own needs before his own, and most importantly, putting the will of the Father over his own.

If Satan can’t divide our church through false doctrine and obvious sin, he’ll attempt to do so instead through an unsubmissive, uncooperative, me-first mindset – which is contrary the example and teaching of Christ.

When an individual in the church exhibits this kind of me-first mindset, this indicates that they are not walking in step with the Holy Spirit but are instead walking in step with their own selfish nature.

And when a church in general is permeated by this kind of me-first mentality, this indicates that the church is fostering a selfish spirit rather than being filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

Sadly, and far too often, churches are a platform for ugly displays of arrogance, assertiveness, division, and selfishness.

Members argue and assert themselves over the voices and opinions of others and choose to distrust the decisions of those who make them.

On the flip side, people who make decisions often make them without considering the thoughts and feelings of others.

At Brookdale Baptist, let’s be different.

Let’s model and practice mutual submission together.

Here are some ways we can do this.

By involving a variety of members.