Pastor Mark
Mikels – November 5, 2006
“WE HEED ONE
ANOTHER”
Church Under Construction – Relational Phase #7
Intro … This morning, in preparation for Communion, I would draw
your attention to the final and arguably the hardest “One Another
Directive” of them all …
And yet, if we view it properly and if we are experiencing the reality
of the first six directives we have examined, then it’s perhaps the
most logical and practical of all …
It’s a directive designed to keep us out of trouble – it’s a directive
that is given for our good.
It’s a directive that seems pretty natural in a context where people
are devoted to each other, where they genuinely desire the best for
each other, where they consistently encourage each other and seek to
build up each other, where they are comfortable enough with each other
to confess their sins and admit their failures to each other and where
they practice genuine forgiveness towards each other.
As the seventh then in such a life-affirming list of directives,
consider with me …
Biblical Relational Directive #7 …
“SUBMIT to one another.” – Ephesians 5:21
“Submit” … when I hear that word my mind goes back to my childhood
and to numerous skirmishes with my older brother where each of us was
determined to make the other cry “Uncle”.
He was older, bigger and stronger but I was stubborn … it was easier
to make me cry than it was to make me cry that humiliating word.
“Submit” … Webster says it simply means to “yield yourself to the
authority of another” – to allow someone else to determine or at least
influence the course of your life.
It’s not necessarily a negative or a demeaning thing … it certainly
doesn’t have to be a humiliating thing.
In fact, in this Scripture, it’s intended to be a helpful thing –
helpful to us individually and helpful to the Body of Christ
collectively.
In this phase of our spiritual construction, I’m placing it before us
as the final thing in this long list of things designed to build us
into the relational body Christ would have us be.
So … for our good and for the greater good of our church family, the
Word of God directs us to
“Submit to one another”.
Three key questions come immediately to mind …
Key Question #1 …
To WHOM Am I To Submit Myself?
“My FELLOW BELIEVERS – My PEERS
This directive, like the six that preceded it, is focused upon the
Church of Jesus Christ – specifically upon the local expression of that
Church. We here in this room who are committed to this local fellowship
and who are thus linked to one another by that commitment are the focus
of this directive.
I am to submit myself to “My Fellow Believers – my peers”
Notice that this is a general submission … this is not the specific
submission that God says should exist between a wife and her husband,
or between children and their parents, or between slaves and their
masters or even between church members and church leaders. The Bible
talks about those submissions in other places.
Here Paul is talking about submission to “My Fellow Believers – My
Peers” in the family of faith. We are all included in this directive
just like we are all included in the previous six.
Key Question #2 …
What Is My MOTIVATION For Submitting Myself?
“My REVERENCE For CHRIST”
I submitted to my older brother as a kid because he was bigger than me
and stronger than me and actually meaner than me. He made me submit.
This expression of submission is not like that at all … this is a
voluntary yielding of ourselves to the will or directives of another.
Now why would I do that?
What would motivate me to do that?
Paul says that I submit to my fellow-believers because of … “My
Reverence For Christ”.
He’s saying that my feelings of reverence for Christ – my awe of Christ
and His profound plan for my life – cause me to submit to my
fellow-believers.
The point is …
I connect these people in my church family with Christ – some of the
reverence I have for Him just naturally transfers over to them. I see
them as representing Him – living for Him – bringing Him in some more
tangible way into my daily life. I see Him in them and therefore I find
myself yielding myself to them even as I would yield myself to Him.
So …To whom do I submit myself? – “My fellow-believers, my peers in
the faith”
And …Why do I submit myself to them? – “Because of my reverence for
Christ”
And now “Key Question #3” …
Key Question #3 …
WHEN Should I Submit Myself?
“When they COUNSEL or CORRECT Me”
Under what circumstances should I be most conscious of submitting
myself to my fellow-believers? In what settings ought I be most
sensitive to what they are saying to me?
When they Counsel or Correct me!
You see, in situations where I am in need of direction or correction,
Christ might well choose to speak to me using the vocal cords of my
church family.
One of the most life-changing decisions I ever made came as a result of
just such a moment …
I was the Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Apple Valley – I had
been the pastor there for over
15 years … I had become intrigued with and had begun to embrace the
concepts of Cell Group
Ministry – I was beginning to sense that the entire life of the church
could be and perhaps should be structured around such ministry.
Without really knowing it, I was seeking counsel and direction from the
Lord concerning the next steps in implementing those Cell Group
concepts.
And right at that moment, the Chairman of the Church Board, came into
my office and said,
“Pastor Mark, I believe the church needs a change in leadership”.
Now those could have been deflating words – they could have been
fighting words – in many ways, those are the words that any pastor
anywhere most dreads hearing.
But on that day, at that critical time in my life, they sounded to me
like words from Jesus Himself.
Jesus was counseling me through this Spirit-Sensitive man concerning
the next step in my personal ministry … I would be leaving First
Baptist Church and heading in a new direction.
That new direction turned out to be Sonlife Community Church and I will
forever be grateful to Sam Johns for allowing the Lord to use his vocal
cords that life-altering Monday morning.
Who knows what all the Lord Jesus desires to communicate to us
concerning the direction our lives should take – on one hand, he may
desire to send us some word of counsel, on the other hand, he may need
to bring us some word of correction. In either case, to hear and heed
the voice of those who speak for Him is an extremely wise thing to do.
In fact, as we have seen this morning, the Lord Himself directs us to
do just that … Submit to One Another.
And now as we conclude this meditation, let me just share with you “the
key condition” that allows this “submission” to function effectively.
The Key Condition …
Be so in TUNE with CHRIST that you recognize His VOICE
when He SPEAKS to you through those AROUND you.”
The Lord Jesus once said … “I am the Good Shepherd … my sheep
listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me.” (John 10:11a, 27)
Daily Communion with Christ – abiding in Him and with Him – is the way
to stay “in tune with Him” … the way we put ourselves in position to
benefit from His ability to speak to us through those around us.
And when He speaks – when we hear words that are consistent with Him –
we are to “submit ourselves to the direction we are receiving” for it
will always be in our best interests to do so.
Final Thot … SUBMISSION is the ultimate demonstration of REVERENCE.