We just kicked of an amazing new sermon series entitled "Fierce Pursuit: For We Have Spent Enough Time in the Past." This week's spiritual discipline that we will look at in conjunction with our passage is submission.
Be honest - did you just cringe?
Submission is an outward spiritual discipline and often carries with it a negative undertone. However, warped and abusive forms of submission are not God's intention for the submission demonstrated for us in Scripture by Jesus (example: the cross) and others.
If we are truly going to be stewards of God's grace, and to be those who devote the rest of our lives to doing the will of God, fiercely pursuing both personal holiness and lovingly, intentionally, and missionally pursuing those we know, we need to be willing to submit to God and His plan for us and for others.
We need both. If we only pursue holiness without pursuing other people, we have not really pursued holiness. If we only pursue other people, and neglect personal holiness, we fail those people, God, and ourselves.
Engaging in the spiritual discipline of submission can help change our posture and place us in a better position to engage in this fierce pursuit of holiness and of other people.
According to Richard Foster in Celebration of Discpline, "The biblical teaching on submission focuses primarily on the spirit with which we view other people." Submission frees us up to not exhaust all our energy and resources on getting our way, and instead to be "free to value other people."
According to Foster, submission can be shown in the following ways: submission to God, submission to Scripture, submission to our family, submission to our neighbors, submission to those who are a part of the body of Christ, submission to the broken and despised, and submission to the world.
Does God have all of you, or just a part?
Is the Bible still a buffet from which you pick and choose which commands to follow and which to overlook?
Do you continually let the trivial get in the way of the eternal in dealing with people, whether it be inside the church, or out in the community?
This week, let us prayerfully reflect on the ways in which God wants us to submit. If there is freedom in submitting, then let's free ourselves up, and free up other people, as our posture becomes more gracious and intentional. Let us be sure to ask the Holy Spirit, our Helper, to do just that, and help us!
Need to catch up on this week's Scripture passage? Prepare for this Sunday's message by reading the Scripture here: 1 Peter 4:1-6
PoC|Coverage is tonight at 6pm. Join us as we engage in care and prayer throughout the building.
Pastor Celia
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