Ephesians 5:21
The cover page of The Messenger had these words, “One Christian is no Christian.” That is a very direct statement and difficult to accept for some people. It declares that as Christians we need to be in relationship to other Christians. It means that we need to surrender ourselves to the church and to one another. This is difficult for some because as David Wiebe says in an article in the MB Herald, “The idea of surrender seems foreign in our age of individualism, entitlement, and dysfunctional relationships. Yet surrender is a critical element of Christian discipleship and vitality.” It is also a difficult statement when we realize that no church is perfect. How do you enter into a covenant relationship with something that you know may fail at times? Yet today we have two young people who are prepared to say, “I belong to Jesus and I want to be part of His church.” We have four adults who look at this church and say, “I want to be part of this body of believers and make a commitment to it.”
We believe that the Bible teaches us to be in such a relationship with one another. In a little while we will be asking all 6 of these people, “Is it your desire to work together with us as God enables and be received into the fellowship of this church?” We will ask them for a commitment to us and we will make a commitment to them.
There are many places in the Bible where we can find such a relationship affirmed and described. This morning, I would like to look at one of those statements in order to help all of us think about the covenant we make to each other as members of the church.
Ephesians 5:21 says, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
One of the first important things is to recognize that submission is not something which is forced upon people, but which is chosen. The verb tense in the word “submit” is passive, which means we choose it. Some of the other translations help us get that sense very well. The Good News Bible says, “Submit yourselves to one another…” and the King James Version says, “Submitting yourselves one to another…”
We need to understand that such submission is not a blind obedience. In a number of places in the Bible Paul taught the church not to submit to certain situations. In Galatians 2, Paul is telling the church that there were some “false brothers” who were trying to get them to obey the law rather than trust Christ for salvation. Paul says in 2:5, “we did not yield submission even for a moment.” He also expressed concern with the Corinthian Christians, in II Corinthians 11:4 that they were submitting to false teachers who were preaching a different gospel. So we see that blind obedience is not what is meant by submission. I watched the movie Antz the other day. It has a strong message of the danger when unthinking obedience is given to a leader. We are not to give unthinking obedience to one another or to the church.
We are also not to force obedience on one another. There have been times when the church has tried to use power to cause people to obey. This is not what is intended. Markus Barth, in his commentary says that this verse is, “an appeal to free and responsible agents that can only be heeded voluntarily, but never by the elimination or breaking of the human will, not to speak of servile submissiveness.”
So I think it is important to say at the beginning of this study on submission that ultimately it is each person’s choice to submit to the body of believers. However, submission is important in the church and so we are invited to make this choice.
The other part of the verse is critical in helping us understand why such a challenging call is reasonable. It is because we are called to submit “out of reverence for Christ.”
Because Christ Modeled Submission
When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he agonized over the awful thing which was before Him. He knew that He was about to face suffering at the hands of wicked men even to the extent of his death. It seems that, although He came to earth to die and knew it all along, at this point He had a choice. It was the Father who had given Him the assignment and in the garden, in agony, He wrestled with the choice. We are amazed when in the end Jesus declared in Matthew 26:39, “not as I will, but as you will.” What a powerful example of submission.
In Philippians 2 we have another picture of the way in which Jesus carried out His ministry. There we read that He took “the nature of a servant” and “He became obedient to death, even death on a cross.” Jesus took the attitude of submission His whole life. In fact, one could say it was His modus operandi, His method of operation.
As we make the choice to be subject to one another, we follow the example of Jesus.
Because We First Submit to Him
But submission to one another “out of reverence for Christ” also means that we first submit to Him. David Wiebe says, “At a basic level, we surrender to Jesus when we say he alone can save us.”
When we receive a gift from someone, it involves an act of submission. If they give us something and we receive it, we are saying, “I have a need” and “you can fulfill my need.” In salvation, that is what we do. We submit to Jesus by accepting the gift He has prepared for us.
But we also recognize that receiving the gift of salvation is only part of what it means to be a Christian. Jesus is Lord and when we understand and accept that, we are also submitting to His Lordship in our lives. We are saying that it is our first commitment in life to obey the one who has created and redeemed us.
As we choose submission to one another in the fear of Christ, we are saying that our first submission is to Christ – to His gift and to His Lordship. In fact, it would be true to say that our submission to one another must arise out of our prior submission to Christ. Submission to one another does not make sense nor is it reasonable unless we have first submitted to Christ.
Those of you who are being baptized are telling us that you have submitted to Christ. All of you who are joining the church are saying that you are willing to join in a covenant by which we say to one another, “I am willing to submit to you.” What does it take to make such a statement? Surely one thing is an attitude of humility. A proud person will not be able to submit to others.
If we have submitted to God first of all, humility becomes a possibility. Humility begins when we know who we are before God. He is Lord, we are servants. He is creator, and we are creatures. He is judge and we bow before Him. We will find it difficult to submit to one another and to God if we do not begin with recognizing who God is. Most translations have softened this phrase to “out of reverence for Christ” but the Greek actually says “out of the fear of Christ.” That means that Christ is all powerful and we fear His power and His judgments. So we are called to place ourselves under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
However, humility does not mean that we are nothing. Sometimes, when we know our sins and our weaknesses and the greatness of God, we think of ourselves as nothing, as a worm. But that is not what humility means. God has made us in His image, which means that we have infinite worth. Humility means that we understand that we are not God, but also that we are not nothing. C.S. Lewis puts it this way, “to humble oneself before God means becoming so aware of the greatness and reality of God that the self falls into its proper perspective, certainly not at the center, but infinitely worthy and precious because God is fully present and in control…”
When we have a proper view of God and ourselves, then we are also able to have a proper view of who we are in relationship to others. If we have too high a view of ourselves, we will have trouble submitting to others. As you become members, you will have opportunity to become involved in ministry. You will be asked to serve in programs and on committees. Humility means knowing that you can’t and shouldn’t do everything you are asked.
On the other hand, a proper view of humility means that we know who we are and what we have to contribute. In the life of the church, the Bible tells us that each person has a gift. That is a cause for great joy and a reason why, in humility, we can submit to one another. If each one has a gift, it means that no one person has all the gifts. Even the most gifted among us needs the others. On the other hand, it also means that each person is needed. Every person in this church has something to offer to the church.
As you become members today, may this be one of the ways in which you submit to one another. May you rejoice to receive the gifts that others have to give to you. May you also rejoice to offer what God has uniquely equipped you to give to the body.
In choosing to submit, we also have the opportunity to choose self giving co-operation.
Self giving co-operation means that we put ourselves at the disposal of others in the church. We are not here to serve ourselves or to build a community in which we have a happy little family. We are here to build the kingdom of God and if we have first of all submitted ourselves to Him, then we are ready to do whatever it takes to be involved in that work.
Being involved in that work involves some pretty mundane tasks. It means that week after week, someone has to take posters off the bulletin boards and put new ones up. It means that week after week, someone has to make sure that all the light bulbs in the church are functioning. It means that every week someone needs to punch out the perforated figures in the Sunday School material in order to make the truth about God known to the 2 and 3 year olds. Are we willing to give ourselves to these mundane tasks as a part of building the kingdom of God?
Self giving co-operation means that we may have to be involved in some things that force us out of our comfort zone. Getting up in front of the church to share your testimony is not an easy thing for everyone and I appreciate that each of you are willing to do it. When you tell us your story of what God has done in your life, God is glorified and the kingdom of God is built. Self giving co-operation means that we may have to visit someone who is difficult to visit – someone who has had surgery and has tubes in their nose or someone who has Alzheimer’s disease and is no longer saying things that make sense. But as we show love to the least, to the hurting, we declare that God’s love is winning and we build the kingdom of God.
Self giving co-operation means that we cannot just coast into the heavenly kingdom sitting on a pew.
In I Peter 5:5, Peter calls the believers to, “clothe yourselves with humility.” It may be that the imagery in the background of the phrase “clothe yourselves” is the girding of oneself with the towel, much as Jesus did when he washed the disciple’s feet. This evening we will observe foot washing. This is a great symbol for us to express the Biblical truths which we are discussing. Such a physical symbol of servanthood forces us to think carefully about submission. When we wash each other’s feet it makes us think about our relationship with all the other people in the congregation. What if we end up washing the feet of someone with whom we have had a disagreement? How do we serve them with joy and love? How do we live our lives in the congregation in such a way as to be able to serve everyone? In the foot washing service, we have a great chance to declare by our actions that we value everyone, that we are humble, but that we also have something to offer to the whole body.
It is great to participate in foot washing and I certainly invite everyone to do so today. But the symbol is also a symbol of what it means to be subject to one another in all the different aspects of church life. May we be willing to live in such a way! As you are baptized, we will hear how you are declaring your submission to Christ and are accepting His salvation. As you become members and as those of you who are transferring become members, we understand that you are also declaring to the rest of this body, your intention to submit to one another. “At the same time, as we accept all these people as members, we are declaring that we are also willing to be subject to them in the fear of Christ. With such an attitude, the power of God can continue to grow this church and His kingdom through this church.
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