I have been thinking of those words from Ephesians 5:21 every day this month; I have prayed over them and wondered how to practice submission on a daily basis.
Submission is not something you can “muscle-through.” There are some behaviors one can adopt, and it would definitely be possible to appear submissive under certain circumstances, but that sort of cuts against the grain of submission.
I have tried to submit myself to Donna in our marriage relationship, but we have been married, going on 27 years – our patterns of behavior are deeply rooted. Any changes I make to myself may be noticed, but they are hardly concrete until they have been practiced for some length of time. And I have tried to be giving of myself in that relationship for most of those 26 years.
I have tried to submit myself in relationship to my children as well. But they are children and not peers so that kind of submission doesn’t always look like submission. It may look so when I forfeit the television or something out of deference to them, but not when I am grounding my daughter from her cell phone. Yet they are the same inside me.
I have tried to submit myself to my brothers and sisters, to people I meet, to my parents…I feel less righteous than before, not because of my behavior, but because I feel as though I am missing something that is essential and I don’t know what it is.
Thoughts, suggestions, critiques?
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
The Spiritual Practice of Submission
The following is my sermon notes for Sunday's lesson. I invite comments regarding the message as I encourage your participation in this discussion about Submission as a spiritual discipline. Thanks.
2010-02-14 The Spiritual Practice of Submission
Don Morrison S 11th and Willis Church of Christ
Today we continue our look at Spiritual Disciplines by examining the practice of submission.
I want to admit, up front, that the whole concept of submission doesn’t sound very appealing to me on the surface. I want to confess that it is almost bred into us that the individual is supposed to be self-determined and autonomous.
Then I want to admit, that knowing how difficult it is for us to look plainly and fairly at the idea of submission. I thought about turning straight to Ephesians 5:22, 23 where scripture says, “Wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body...” I knew that would be a great start for everyone’s Valentine’s Day.
And now, having just brought that to mind, I want to ask you to set that aside. I want to ask you to set aside all your preconceptions about submission and look through some scriptures about the practice of submission as a spiritually transforming way of life for all of us—not just one gender, not just those who are not bosses, not just those who are really, really spiritual, or the losers—for all who would follow Christ.
As Zen read earlier (Philippians 2:5-8) that Jesus placed himself in a position where he is, by his very nature, God, but where he also became completely submissive to the Father’s will.
Prayer
• Open heart and mind to see submission not only from the perspective of our worldly experience.
• But as a virtue that can liberate us.
• Bring us first to you—to submit to you first and then to be as you would have us.
• Help us to be pliable in your hands, moldable, submissive to your will as Jesus, our Savior
So let’s start with the verse just before Ephesians 5:22
Ephesians 5:21
Submit to one another out of reverence to Christ.
Submission to one another is an expression of our reverence for Christ
• Not just submission toward God, but in relation to one another.
• Story about Ken Cukrowski reading the Greek text with me
• Relationship between student and teacher that the student must submit to.
• A student cannot get the full benefit from his teacher if he cannot place himself in the position of submission to his teacher
1. Submission to one another frees us from the need to be in charge and in control.
In that same vein, when Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James, John, Thaddeus, Bartholomew and the rest to come follow him as his disciples, they were committing themselves to a certain role in their relationship with Jesus.
• Jesus told some of them, “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” (Mark 1:17)
• It is what he will make of them, by his power or expertise, if they will place themselves at his feet—so to speak—and become his disciples.
• Do you wonder what Jesus can make of you if you place yourself at his feet and let your will and freedom align with his?
• Without submitting to him, neither they or us could become his disciples. It is when we align our will and freedom to his will and freedom that we actually become his followers.
2. Submission changes us into someone who can be a follower, a learner a student.
I want to point out one more of the changes that submission can bring to our lives when we practice it.
First, let’s look at Samson and Delilah in Judges 16:4-9
• Samson idealized self-determination and autonomy
• He pursued a Philistine wife rather than marry according to the law
• He was humiliated by her when she gave away the answer to his riddle
• Samson’s relationship with Delilah was more like a rivalry. They kept trying to outmaneuver each other.
• I know I am starting from a difficult place, using Samson and Delilah, but imagine if they had submitted to one another.
• Calhoun’s definition: “Submission that leads to growth means aligning my will and freedom with God’s will and freedom, expressed by submitting to one another out of love and reverence for Christ.”
• Imagine Delilah seeking Samson’s will and freedom rather than her own wealth or her people’s desires.
• Imagine Samson seeking Delilah’s will and freedom rather than mocking her with lies, or setting her aside for his own self-promotion.
3. Submission changes us by teaching us to value others for what they might have to offer.
Recap
1. Free us from needing to be in charge
2. Ability to be a better disciple of Jesus and learn better from others
3. Learning to value the thoughts and ideas of others, including those of people we would like to be close to and have enduring relationships with.
Now let’s read more from Ephesians 5 while we hold to this idea of submission and the ways it changes us.
V 21 aligning my will to the greater good of the body of Christ, the church.
• how does that look at the business meeting?
• How does that change my conversation after the body makes a decision I didn’t like so much?
V22 the wife aligns her will and freedom to her husband.
• Not becoming a doormat saying, “do whatever your want to me.”
• Rather, deciding not to push her way (even though we all know that she is usually right because… well just because) and align herself with him
V 25 The husband aligns his freedom and will with his wife’s.
• serving her as Christ serves
• Seeking her needs above your own—submitting your needs to hers.
Submission is not about becoming less of a person or less valuable a person. It is about changing us into the image of Jesus who submits himself to the will of the father.
2010-02-14 The Spiritual Practice of Submission
Don Morrison S 11th and Willis Church of Christ
Today we continue our look at Spiritual Disciplines by examining the practice of submission.
I want to admit, up front, that the whole concept of submission doesn’t sound very appealing to me on the surface. I want to confess that it is almost bred into us that the individual is supposed to be self-determined and autonomous.
Then I want to admit, that knowing how difficult it is for us to look plainly and fairly at the idea of submission. I thought about turning straight to Ephesians 5:22, 23 where scripture says, “Wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body...” I knew that would be a great start for everyone’s Valentine’s Day.
And now, having just brought that to mind, I want to ask you to set that aside. I want to ask you to set aside all your preconceptions about submission and look through some scriptures about the practice of submission as a spiritually transforming way of life for all of us—not just one gender, not just those who are not bosses, not just those who are really, really spiritual, or the losers—for all who would follow Christ.
As Zen read earlier (Philippians 2:5-8) that Jesus placed himself in a position where he is, by his very nature, God, but where he also became completely submissive to the Father’s will.
Prayer
• Open heart and mind to see submission not only from the perspective of our worldly experience.
• But as a virtue that can liberate us.
• Bring us first to you—to submit to you first and then to be as you would have us.
• Help us to be pliable in your hands, moldable, submissive to your will as Jesus, our Savior
So let’s start with the verse just before Ephesians 5:22
Ephesians 5:21
Submit to one another out of reverence to Christ.
Submission to one another is an expression of our reverence for Christ
• Not just submission toward God, but in relation to one another.
• Story about Ken Cukrowski reading the Greek text with me
• Relationship between student and teacher that the student must submit to.
• A student cannot get the full benefit from his teacher if he cannot place himself in the position of submission to his teacher
1. Submission to one another frees us from the need to be in charge and in control.
In that same vein, when Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James, John, Thaddeus, Bartholomew and the rest to come follow him as his disciples, they were committing themselves to a certain role in their relationship with Jesus.
• Jesus told some of them, “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” (Mark 1:17)
• It is what he will make of them, by his power or expertise, if they will place themselves at his feet—so to speak—and become his disciples.
• Do you wonder what Jesus can make of you if you place yourself at his feet and let your will and freedom align with his?
• Without submitting to him, neither they or us could become his disciples. It is when we align our will and freedom to his will and freedom that we actually become his followers.
2. Submission changes us into someone who can be a follower, a learner a student.
I want to point out one more of the changes that submission can bring to our lives when we practice it.
First, let’s look at Samson and Delilah in Judges 16:4-9
• Samson idealized self-determination and autonomy
• He pursued a Philistine wife rather than marry according to the law
• He was humiliated by her when she gave away the answer to his riddle
• Samson’s relationship with Delilah was more like a rivalry. They kept trying to outmaneuver each other.
• I know I am starting from a difficult place, using Samson and Delilah, but imagine if they had submitted to one another.
• Calhoun’s definition: “Submission that leads to growth means aligning my will and freedom with God’s will and freedom, expressed by submitting to one another out of love and reverence for Christ.”
• Imagine Delilah seeking Samson’s will and freedom rather than her own wealth or her people’s desires.
• Imagine Samson seeking Delilah’s will and freedom rather than mocking her with lies, or setting her aside for his own self-promotion.
3. Submission changes us by teaching us to value others for what they might have to offer.
Recap
1. Free us from needing to be in charge
2. Ability to be a better disciple of Jesus and learn better from others
3. Learning to value the thoughts and ideas of others, including those of people we would like to be close to and have enduring relationships with.
Now let’s read more from Ephesians 5 while we hold to this idea of submission and the ways it changes us.
V 21 aligning my will to the greater good of the body of Christ, the church.
• how does that look at the business meeting?
• How does that change my conversation after the body makes a decision I didn’t like so much?
V22 the wife aligns her will and freedom to her husband.
• Not becoming a doormat saying, “do whatever your want to me.”
• Rather, deciding not to push her way (even though we all know that she is usually right because… well just because) and align herself with him
V 25 The husband aligns his freedom and will with his wife’s.
• serving her as Christ serves
• Seeking her needs above your own—submitting your needs to hers.
Submission is not about becoming less of a person or less valuable a person. It is about changing us into the image of Jesus who submits himself to the will of the father.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Defining Submission
In the book, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, Adele Calhoun describes Submission as aligning one's will and freedoms with God's will and freedoms. How does that definition change/reinforce your perception of submission?
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Virtue?
Is submission a virtue? Or is it just becoming a doormat? What does it look like to be strong and to submit?
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Submit
You probably know that the word Islam means submission. There have been times when I wondered how Islamists interpret that idea: submission to what, and whom? I looked up the word “submission” on Google and one hit came up with a picture of a woman’s bare back with some form of Arabic writing across her skin, from her shoulders all the way to her waist. There were also trickles of blood striped across the writings where she had been flogged. The idea of the picture was clear: some submit more than others.
The same might be said of Christianity, I suppose, which means “Christ-like.” Many muslims must wonder what Christ is truly like, having been injured by perversions of Christianity for hundreds of years.
I bring these two images up because the concept of submission is so foreign to us and so difficult to embrace as a Christian virtue. Yet, just as love, honesty, fidelity, and loyalty to Christ are our pursuit, so is submission. Submission can be forced, as the picture I mentioned illustrates, but for us it is voluntary: We choose to be subordinate as Christ also chose.
Jesus submitted to the will of the father over his own, when he chose to lay down his life, of his own accord, for the father and for us. Further, Jesus chose to submit to the priests and teachers of the law when he endured a mockery of a trial, the overwhelming pain of his beating and the humiliation of being stripped publically and displayed to all.
Why would anyone put themselves through such traumatic agony if they had a choice? Jesus believed he was submitting to God first.
When submission is only about authority and loss of stature, it is hardly virtuous. But when as Christians, we can overlay our submission to God to our submission in this world we can find greater meaning and virtue.
Ponder the meaning of this verse from Ephesians 5:21, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” What does that mean when you think you are right? When you think someone else is too bossy? How does God redeem our submission to make it virtuous?
The same might be said of Christianity, I suppose, which means “Christ-like.” Many muslims must wonder what Christ is truly like, having been injured by perversions of Christianity for hundreds of years.
I bring these two images up because the concept of submission is so foreign to us and so difficult to embrace as a Christian virtue. Yet, just as love, honesty, fidelity, and loyalty to Christ are our pursuit, so is submission. Submission can be forced, as the picture I mentioned illustrates, but for us it is voluntary: We choose to be subordinate as Christ also chose.
Jesus submitted to the will of the father over his own, when he chose to lay down his life, of his own accord, for the father and for us. Further, Jesus chose to submit to the priests and teachers of the law when he endured a mockery of a trial, the overwhelming pain of his beating and the humiliation of being stripped publically and displayed to all.
Why would anyone put themselves through such traumatic agony if they had a choice? Jesus believed he was submitting to God first.
When submission is only about authority and loss of stature, it is hardly virtuous. But when as Christians, we can overlay our submission to God to our submission in this world we can find greater meaning and virtue.
Ponder the meaning of this verse from Ephesians 5:21, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” What does that mean when you think you are right? When you think someone else is too bossy? How does God redeem our submission to make it virtuous?
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Submission
Adele Ahlberg Calhoun describes submission as aligning my will and freedom with God’s will and freedom, believing that God’s will includes freely submitting to each other out of love and reverence for Christ. (Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform Us, p. 118).
The idea of Submission brings different concepts and emotions to mind depending on our experiences. I want to think of submission as a virtue, but I know that it is not always thought of that way. What do you think and feel about submission?
I am posting some passages that relate to submission and I would like you to respond to them. You might also post any references you think may be helpful in studying the spiritual practice of submission.
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord… Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right... Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord…Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ… And masters, treat your slaves in the same way… (excerpted from Ephesians 5:21-6:9 NIV).
An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”
To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less. (John 3:25-30)
Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Hebrews 13:17)
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. (Romans 8:5-9)
May God bless our study of submission.
The idea of Submission brings different concepts and emotions to mind depending on our experiences. I want to think of submission as a virtue, but I know that it is not always thought of that way. What do you think and feel about submission?
I am posting some passages that relate to submission and I would like you to respond to them. You might also post any references you think may be helpful in studying the spiritual practice of submission.
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord… Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right... Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord…Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ… And masters, treat your slaves in the same way… (excerpted from Ephesians 5:21-6:9 NIV).
An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”
To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less. (John 3:25-30)
Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Hebrews 13:17)
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. (Romans 8:5-9)
May God bless our study of submission.
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