Submission in Christ, 29 September 2019
Submission in Christ
Series—A Love Supreme
Colossians 3:18-4:6
Series Big Idea: Christ is above all others. This is a study on the book of Colossians.
Big Idea: Followers of Jesus not only love God, they submit to one another, live life for God, and submit most of all to the LORD.
I want to begin today with one of the most offensive words in the dictionary. No, it’s not a swear word, but to some people it might as well be one. The word is submission.
Let’s face it, we don’t like to submit…to anyone. If we miss a deadline on a research paper, it’s the teacher’s fault for not working on our timetable. If the police officer pulls us over for going 90 on I-75, something must be wrong with their radar. If the boss actually expects us to…work…!!!
Humans have been rebellious since Adam and Eve fell into temptation in the Garden of Eden, certain God didn’t really mean what He said.
Call me old school, but I believe in God, I believe in the Word of God, and I trust God understands reality better than I do. He’s had a little more experience with this thing called life than I’ve accumulated! So today I want you to suspend any skepticism or disbelief and imagine a world in which everyone followed God’s instructions, where everyone submitted to Jesus. It’s actually quite beautiful!
Today we’re concluding our series A Love Supreme, a look at a letter written by Paul to the church in Colosse. We started chapter three last week and we’re up to verse eighteen.
Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. (Colossians 3:18)
“Wait, wait, wait!!! You started with that one? So women are supposed to be second-class citizens, taking abuse and allowing their husbands to do whatever they want to them?”
Actually, this isn’t the only time these words appear in the Bible. In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul wrote,
Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:22)
“There goes that misogynist Paul again.”
I often say context matters, especially in the Bible. Yes, these verses have been abused by insecure, cowardly men to manipulate their wives. But the verse before says,
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:21)
Is that a picture of domestic violence or coercion? Hardly. The next verse in Colossians says,
Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. (Colossians 3:19)
Does that clear it up? God’s design for marriage is one man and one woman mutually surrendered to one another. Loving one another. Serving one another. There’s no place for dominance or control. The original Greek word for love here, ἀγαπάω, agapao, means “to love, value, esteem, feel or manifest generous concern for, be faithful toward; to delight in.” Last week I shared Scot McKnight’s definition of love:
Love is a rugged commitment to be with other people, to be for other people, and to grow together in Christ-likeness.
That’s a beautiful picture of a godly marriage.
Of course, marriage itself is old school. Today, about 15 percent of babies worldwide are born to parents who aren’t married. In the USA, it’s about 40 percent, though it’s 53 percent for Hispanics and 71 percent for African Americans. Now this isn’t to shame anyone, but according to a report from Columbia and Princeton researchers, children born to unmarried parents do not fare as well as children born to married parents. Furthermore, unmarried parents are more likely to be poor, suffer from depression, and report substance abuse.
My point is simple: when husbands and wives submit to one another, when they love and respect one another, they create a healthy environment not only for themselves, but for children.
Speaking of children…
Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. (Colossians 3:20)
Does this mean they have to whatever they’re told, even if it’s abusive or sinful? Keep reading.
Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. (Colossians 3:21)
Common sense makes this portrait of a godly family clear and attractive. There’s no mention of rebellion, selfish behavior, or scheming. There’s no room for sin here, but rather instructions for healthy families.
I know many of you have never experienced a healthy family, for one reason or another. I urge you to break the cycle, find a mentor family, and leave a better legacy for future generations. It might be as simple as saying, “Can I hang out with you and your family sometime.”
No marriage is perfect. No family is perfect. We are all sinners. But when our focus is on loving God and loving others as we love ourselves, we’ll experience something no self-absorbed, me-first community can ever know. It’s old school, but it works. It’s God’s design. And it loves and respects everyone—men, women, and children. Submission in Christ—as well as submission to Christ—is the best way to live. The home is the optimal environment for making disciples and passing the baton of faith to future generations.
Now Paul turns to a relationship even more controversial than marriage: slavery. It was a reality in his world. But slavery at the time of this writing was not like the race-based chattel slavery in our country’s shameful history where a person was property and lacked any legal rights.
The Greek word here, doulos, can be translated slave or sometimes servant or bondservant. Often, they were not life-long slaves, but rather prisoners of war.
Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism. (Colossians 3:22-25)
There’s good counsel here for all workers, regardless of their status. All of our work—all of our lives—should be worship. It should be for God’s glory. Note God will not show favoritism to those who take revenge upon wrongdoers.
Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven. (Colossians 4:1)
This sounds a bit like the Golden Rule. Treat others the way you want to be treated.
By the way, slavery has not ended. More than 20 million people are in modern slavery today, some suggest as many as 46 million.
Paul’s culture was filled with domination. Women were literally second-class citizens. They were treated like property. Slaves were subject to abuse, too. But Paul’s instructions were counter-cultural. Like Jesus, he elevated the status of women…and slaves. It has been suggested that he writes more about slaves precisely because a slave, Onesimus, would deliver this letter and the letter to Philemon, Onesimus’ master, who lived in Colosse. Paul was an advocate for the weak and marginalized. He promoted mutual submission, respect, and love. His teaching shattered the Jew/Gentile, male/female, slave/free divisions and hierarchies. Historically, the gospel has liberated the oppressed, the outcast, minorities, and the poor. The book of Philemon is a great example.
We all need to humbly honor God with all of our relationships, no matter our cultural status. Our identity must always be as sons and daughters of the most high God, first and foremost. He is the Master of us all. Jesus is LORD.
And when we are treated poorly—by anyone—we can remember the Messiah who submitted his own life for the very sinners who killed him. I’m reminded of Paul’s words to the church in Philippi:
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:5-8)
Paul never advocates for abuse or tyranny. He simply reminds us of the one we claim to follow, Christ Jesus.
Now Paul shifts his focus from the family and work toward more personal matters.
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (Colossians 4:2)
Are you devoted to prayer? How do you pray? Is it a laundry list of requests? Are you watchful? Do you record answers to prayer? Are you thankful?
God is not a genie waiting for us to summon him with our wishes. He’s our Father and our Master who wants a relationship with us. He wants to do life with us.
And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. (Colossians 4:3-4)
Paul requests prayer, but not for himself. He’s under house arrest in Rome. Wouldn’t you request prayers for freedom?
Instead, he prays for the proclamation of Jesus, the mystery of Christ. He wants the guards to know Jesus. He wants other prisoners to know Jesus. He wants everyone to experience the gospel, to encounter the Messiah. All he seems to care about is Jesus!
Robust prayer will include worship, confession, thanksgiving, and petitions. Relationships are two-way, ongoing conversations, and that’s what God desires with us.
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. (Colossians 4:5)
This is a brilliant sentence. Here’s my person interpretation:
“Love non-Christians so that they might become Christians.”
The phrase “make the most of every opportunity” in Greek is similar to our expression “cornering the market,” like buying up all of a given item. He wants the Colossians to be the wisest when it comes to treating unbelievers.
I believe the reason churches in our country are closing at an alarming rate is not because of the culture of the world, but because the church has failed. We have not loved well. We’ve judged. We’ve condemned. We’ve pointed fingers and yelled through megaphones, but we haven’t always loved well. We haven’t always acted wisely toward outsiders. And we haven’t made the most of every opportunity to share the gospel.
If that frustrates you like it frustrates me, let me remind you of the upcoming Saturate Toledo endeavor. We’re hoping to deliver Jesus Film DVDs and booklets to every home in the five-county area in November. We’re going to pray as we deliver goodie bags. We’re seeking to make the most of this opportunity, which includes all of the free DVDs and booklets we can distribute.
Tonight’s another opportunity to serve outsiders…dinner church at 5 PM. Bring an unchurched friend with you.
Finally,
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (Colossians 4:6)
Paul doesn’t literally mean use table salt when you talk! Salt was a tasty preservative. There was no refrigeration back in the day. Our conversations are to be full of grace, life-giving, value-adding. Are yours?
So What?
There are so many things to apply from this text. Ultimately, we are to submit to Christ. We are to obey God, even when we might not feel like it! We are also to submit to one another in love. Love God. Love others as you love yourself.
Speaking of love, today we celebrate the greatest love of all, God’s love for us, expressed on the cross as Jesus died for us…that we may be made alive in Him. Today we celebrate submission to Christ, obedience, through baptism.
Credits: series outline from D6.
You can listen to this message and others at the First Alliance Church podcast here.
Series—A Love Supreme
Colossians 3:18-4:6
Series Big Idea: Christ is above all others. This is a study on the book of Colossians.
Big Idea: Followers of Jesus not only love God, they submit to one another, live life for God, and submit most of all to the LORD.
I want to begin today with one of the most offensive words in the dictionary. No, it’s not a swear word, but to some people it might as well be one. The word is submission.
Let’s face it, we don’t like to submit…to anyone. If we miss a deadline on a research paper, it’s the teacher’s fault for not working on our timetable. If the police officer pulls us over for going 90 on I-75, something must be wrong with their radar. If the boss actually expects us to…work…!!!
Humans have been rebellious since Adam and Eve fell into temptation in the Garden of Eden, certain God didn’t really mean what He said.
Call me old school, but I believe in God, I believe in the Word of God, and I trust God understands reality better than I do. He’s had a little more experience with this thing called life than I’ve accumulated! So today I want you to suspend any skepticism or disbelief and imagine a world in which everyone followed God’s instructions, where everyone submitted to Jesus. It’s actually quite beautiful!
Today we’re concluding our series A Love Supreme, a look at a letter written by Paul to the church in Colosse. We started chapter three last week and we’re up to verse eighteen.
Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. (Colossians 3:18)
“Wait, wait, wait!!! You started with that one? So women are supposed to be second-class citizens, taking abuse and allowing their husbands to do whatever they want to them?”
Actually, this isn’t the only time these words appear in the Bible. In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul wrote,
Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:22)
“There goes that misogynist Paul again.”
I often say context matters, especially in the Bible. Yes, these verses have been abused by insecure, cowardly men to manipulate their wives. But the verse before says,
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:21)
Is that a picture of domestic violence or coercion? Hardly. The next verse in Colossians says,
Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. (Colossians 3:19)
Does that clear it up? God’s design for marriage is one man and one woman mutually surrendered to one another. Loving one another. Serving one another. There’s no place for dominance or control. The original Greek word for love here, ἀγαπάω, agapao, means “to love, value, esteem, feel or manifest generous concern for, be faithful toward; to delight in.” Last week I shared Scot McKnight’s definition of love:
Love is a rugged commitment to be with other people, to be for other people, and to grow together in Christ-likeness.
That’s a beautiful picture of a godly marriage.
Of course, marriage itself is old school. Today, about 15 percent of babies worldwide are born to parents who aren’t married. In the USA, it’s about 40 percent, though it’s 53 percent for Hispanics and 71 percent for African Americans. Now this isn’t to shame anyone, but according to a report from Columbia and Princeton researchers, children born to unmarried parents do not fare as well as children born to married parents. Furthermore, unmarried parents are more likely to be poor, suffer from depression, and report substance abuse.
My point is simple: when husbands and wives submit to one another, when they love and respect one another, they create a healthy environment not only for themselves, but for children.
Speaking of children…
Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. (Colossians 3:20)
Does this mean they have to whatever they’re told, even if it’s abusive or sinful? Keep reading.
Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. (Colossians 3:21)
Common sense makes this portrait of a godly family clear and attractive. There’s no mention of rebellion, selfish behavior, or scheming. There’s no room for sin here, but rather instructions for healthy families.
I know many of you have never experienced a healthy family, for one reason or another. I urge you to break the cycle, find a mentor family, and leave a better legacy for future generations. It might be as simple as saying, “Can I hang out with you and your family sometime.”
No marriage is perfect. No family is perfect. We are all sinners. But when our focus is on loving God and loving others as we love ourselves, we’ll experience something no self-absorbed, me-first community can ever know. It’s old school, but it works. It’s God’s design. And it loves and respects everyone—men, women, and children. Submission in Christ—as well as submission to Christ—is the best way to live. The home is the optimal environment for making disciples and passing the baton of faith to future generations.
Now Paul turns to a relationship even more controversial than marriage: slavery. It was a reality in his world. But slavery at the time of this writing was not like the race-based chattel slavery in our country’s shameful history where a person was property and lacked any legal rights.
The Greek word here, doulos, can be translated slave or sometimes servant or bondservant. Often, they were not life-long slaves, but rather prisoners of war.
Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism. (Colossians 3:22-25)
There’s good counsel here for all workers, regardless of their status. All of our work—all of our lives—should be worship. It should be for God’s glory. Note God will not show favoritism to those who take revenge upon wrongdoers.
Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven. (Colossians 4:1)
This sounds a bit like the Golden Rule. Treat others the way you want to be treated.
By the way, slavery has not ended. More than 20 million people are in modern slavery today, some suggest as many as 46 million.
Paul’s culture was filled with domination. Women were literally second-class citizens. They were treated like property. Slaves were subject to abuse, too. But Paul’s instructions were counter-cultural. Like Jesus, he elevated the status of women…and slaves. It has been suggested that he writes more about slaves precisely because a slave, Onesimus, would deliver this letter and the letter to Philemon, Onesimus’ master, who lived in Colosse. Paul was an advocate for the weak and marginalized. He promoted mutual submission, respect, and love. His teaching shattered the Jew/Gentile, male/female, slave/free divisions and hierarchies. Historically, the gospel has liberated the oppressed, the outcast, minorities, and the poor. The book of Philemon is a great example.
We all need to humbly honor God with all of our relationships, no matter our cultural status. Our identity must always be as sons and daughters of the most high God, first and foremost. He is the Master of us all. Jesus is LORD.
And when we are treated poorly—by anyone—we can remember the Messiah who submitted his own life for the very sinners who killed him. I’m reminded of Paul’s words to the church in Philippi:
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:5-8)
Paul never advocates for abuse or tyranny. He simply reminds us of the one we claim to follow, Christ Jesus.
Now Paul shifts his focus from the family and work toward more personal matters.
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (Colossians 4:2)
Are you devoted to prayer? How do you pray? Is it a laundry list of requests? Are you watchful? Do you record answers to prayer? Are you thankful?
God is not a genie waiting for us to summon him with our wishes. He’s our Father and our Master who wants a relationship with us. He wants to do life with us.
And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. (Colossians 4:3-4)
Paul requests prayer, but not for himself. He’s under house arrest in Rome. Wouldn’t you request prayers for freedom?
Instead, he prays for the proclamation of Jesus, the mystery of Christ. He wants the guards to know Jesus. He wants other prisoners to know Jesus. He wants everyone to experience the gospel, to encounter the Messiah. All he seems to care about is Jesus!
Robust prayer will include worship, confession, thanksgiving, and petitions. Relationships are two-way, ongoing conversations, and that’s what God desires with us.
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. (Colossians 4:5)
This is a brilliant sentence. Here’s my person interpretation:
“Love non-Christians so that they might become Christians.”
The phrase “make the most of every opportunity” in Greek is similar to our expression “cornering the market,” like buying up all of a given item. He wants the Colossians to be the wisest when it comes to treating unbelievers.
I believe the reason churches in our country are closing at an alarming rate is not because of the culture of the world, but because the church has failed. We have not loved well. We’ve judged. We’ve condemned. We’ve pointed fingers and yelled through megaphones, but we haven’t always loved well. We haven’t always acted wisely toward outsiders. And we haven’t made the most of every opportunity to share the gospel.
If that frustrates you like it frustrates me, let me remind you of the upcoming Saturate Toledo endeavor. We’re hoping to deliver Jesus Film DVDs and booklets to every home in the five-county area in November. We’re going to pray as we deliver goodie bags. We’re seeking to make the most of this opportunity, which includes all of the free DVDs and booklets we can distribute.
Tonight’s another opportunity to serve outsiders…dinner church at 5 PM. Bring an unchurched friend with you.
Finally,
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (Colossians 4:6)
Paul doesn’t literally mean use table salt when you talk! Salt was a tasty preservative. There was no refrigeration back in the day. Our conversations are to be full of grace, life-giving, value-adding. Are yours?
So What?
There are so many things to apply from this text. Ultimately, we are to submit to Christ. We are to obey God, even when we might not feel like it! We are also to submit to one another in love. Love God. Love others as you love yourself.
Speaking of love, today we celebrate the greatest love of all, God’s love for us, expressed on the cross as Jesus died for us…that we may be made alive in Him. Today we celebrate submission to Christ, obedience, through baptism.
Credits: series outline from D6.