Pastor Mark
\nMikels – November 5, 2006<\/p>\n
“WE HEED ONE
\nANOTHER”<\/p>\n
Church Under Construction – Relational Phase #7<\/p>\n
Intro … This morning, in preparation for Communion, I would draw
\nyour attention to the final and arguably the hardest “One Another
\nDirective” of them all …<\/p>\n
And yet, if we view it properly and if we are experiencing the reality
\nof the first six directives we have examined, then it’s perhaps the
\nmost logical and practical of all …<\/p>\n
It’s a directive designed to keep us out of trouble – it’s a directive
\nthat is given for our good.<\/p>\n
It’s a directive that seems pretty natural in a context where people
\nare devoted to each other, where they genuinely desire the best for
\neach other, where they consistently encourage each other and seek to
\nbuild up each other, where they are comfortable enough with each other
\nto confess their sins and admit their failures to each other and where
\nthey practice genuine forgiveness towards each other.<\/p>\n
As the seventh then in such a life-affirming list of directives,
\nconsider with me …<\/p>\n
Biblical Relational Directive #7 …<\/p>\n
“SUBMIT to one another.” – Ephesians 5:21<\/p>\n
“Submit” … when I hear that word my mind goes back to my childhood
\nand to numerous skirmishes with my older brother where each of us was
\ndetermined to make the other cry “Uncle”.<\/p>\n
He was older, bigger and stronger but I was stubborn … it was easier
\nto make me cry than it was to make me cry that humiliating word.<\/p>\n
“Submit” … Webster says it simply means to “yield yourself to the
\nauthority of another” – to allow someone else to determine or at least
\ninfluence the course of your life.<\/p>\n
It’s not necessarily a negative or a demeaning thing … it certainly
\ndoesn’t have to be a humiliating thing.<\/p>\n
In fact, in this Scripture, it’s intended to be a helpful thing –
\nhelpful to us individually and helpful to the Body of Christ
\ncollectively.<\/p>\n
In this phase of our spiritual construction, I’m placing it before us
\nas the final thing in this long list of things designed to build us
\ninto the relational body Christ would have us be.<\/p>\n
So … for our good and for the greater good of our church family, the
\nWord of God directs us to<\/p>\n
“Submit to one another”.<\/p>\n
Three key questions come immediately to mind …<\/p>\n
Key Question #1 …<\/p>\n
To WHOM Am I To Submit Myself?<\/p>\n
“My FELLOW BELIEVERS – My PEERS<\/p>\n
This directive, like the six that preceded it, is focused upon the
\nChurch of Jesus Christ – specifically upon the local expression of that
\nChurch. We here in this room who are committed to this local fellowship
\nand who are thus linked to one another by that commitment are the focus
\nof this directive.<\/p>\n
I am to submit myself to “My Fellow Believers – my peers”<\/p>\n
Notice that this is a general submission … this is not the specific
\nsubmission that God says should exist between a wife and her husband,
\nor between children and their parents, or between slaves and their
\nmasters or even between church members and church leaders. The Bible
\ntalks about those submissions in other places.<\/p>\n
Here Paul is talking about submission to “My Fellow Believers – My
\nPeers” in the family of faith. We are all included in this directive
\njust like we are all included in the previous six.<\/p>\n
Key Question #2 …<\/p>\n
What Is My MOTIVATION For Submitting Myself?<\/p>\n
“My REVERENCE For CHRIST”<\/p>\n
I submitted to my older brother as a kid because he was bigger than me
\nand stronger than me and actually meaner than me. He made me submit.<\/p>\n
This expression of submission is not like that at all … this is a
\nvoluntary yielding of ourselves to the will or directives of another.<\/p>\n
Now why would I do that?<\/p>\n
What would motivate me to do that?<\/p>\n
Paul says that I submit to my fellow-believers because of … “My
\nReverence For Christ”.<\/p>\n
He’s saying that my feelings of reverence for Christ – my awe of Christ
\nand His profound plan for my life – cause me to submit to my
\nfellow-believers.<\/p>\n
The point is …<\/p>\n
I connect these people in my church family with Christ – some of the
\nreverence I have for Him just naturally transfers over to them. I see
\nthem as representing Him – living for Him – bringing Him in some more
\ntangible way into my daily life. I see Him in them and therefore I find
\nmyself yielding myself to them even as I would yield myself to Him.<\/p>\n
So …To whom do I submit myself? – “My fellow-believers, my peers in
\nthe faith”<\/p>\n
And …Why do I submit myself to them? – “Because of my reverence for
\nChrist”<\/p>\n
And now “Key Question #3” …<\/p>\n
Key Question #3 …<\/p>\n
WHEN Should I Submit Myself?<\/p>\n
“When they COUNSEL or CORRECT Me”<\/p>\n
Under what circumstances should I be most conscious of submitting
\nmyself to my fellow-believers? In what settings ought I be most
\nsensitive to what they are saying to me?<\/p>\n
When they Counsel or Correct me!<\/p>\n
You see, in situations where I am in need of direction or correction,
\nChrist might well choose to speak to me using the vocal cords of my
\nchurch family.<\/p>\n
One of the most life-changing decisions I ever made came as a result of
\njust such a moment …<\/p>\n
I was the Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Apple Valley – I had
\nbeen the pastor there for over<\/p>\n
15 years … I had become intrigued with and had begun to embrace the
\nconcepts of Cell Group<\/p>\n
Ministry – I was beginning to sense that the entire life of the church
\ncould be and perhaps should be structured around such ministry.<\/p>\n
Without really knowing it, I was seeking counsel and direction from the
\nLord concerning the next steps in implementing those Cell Group
\nconcepts.<\/p>\n
And right at that moment, the Chairman of the Church Board, came into
\nmy office and said,<\/p>\n
“Pastor Mark, I believe the church needs a change in leadership”.<\/p>\n
Now those could have been deflating words – they could have been
\nfighting words – in many ways, those are the words that any pastor
\nanywhere most dreads hearing.<\/p>\n
But on that day, at that critical time in my life, they sounded to me
\nlike words from Jesus Himself.<\/p>\n
Jesus was counseling me through this Spirit-Sensitive man concerning
\nthe next step in my personal ministry … I would be leaving First
\nBaptist Church and heading in a new direction.<\/p>\n
That new direction turned out to be Sonlife Community Church and I will
\nforever be grateful to Sam Johns for allowing the Lord to use his vocal
\ncords that life-altering Monday morning.<\/p>\n
Who knows what all the Lord Jesus desires to communicate to us
\nconcerning the direction our lives should take – on one hand, he may
\ndesire to send us some word of counsel, on the other hand, he may need
\nto bring us some word of correction. In either case, to hear and heed
\nthe voice of those who speak for Him is an extremely wise thing to do.<\/p>\n
In fact, as we have seen this morning, the Lord Himself directs us to
\ndo just that … Submit to One Another.<\/p>\n
And now as we conclude this meditation, let me just share with you “the
\nkey condition” that allows this “submission” to function effectively.<\/p>\n
The Key Condition …<\/p>\n
Be so in TUNE with CHRIST that you recognize His VOICE<\/p>\n
when He SPEAKS to you through those AROUND you.”<\/p>\n
The Lord Jesus once said … “I am the Good Shepherd … my sheep
\nlisten to my voice. I know them and they follow me.” (John 10:11a, 27)<\/p>\n
Daily Communion with Christ – abiding in Him and with Him – is the way
\nto stay “in tune with Him” … the way we put ourselves in position to
\nbenefit from His ability to speak to us through those around us.<\/p>\n
And when He speaks – when we hear words that are consistent with Him –
\nwe are to “submit ourselves to the direction we are receiving” for it
\nwill always be in our best interests to do so.<\/p>\n
Final Thot … SUBMISSION is the ultimate demonstration of REVERENCE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"template":"","meta":[],"categories":[9,3],"archive_item":"http:\/\/archive.org\/details\/sonlifecommunitychurch.com--church-under-construction---relational-phase-part-7","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonlifecommunitychurch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermons\/196"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonlifecommunitychurch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermons"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonlifecommunitychurch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sp_sermon"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonlifecommunitychurch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonlifecommunitychurch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonlifecommunitychurch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}