[Mr. Chris Rowland] Well, good afternoon. Happy Sabbath Day to everyone here. Some of you know that a few years ago, our family helped to raise a little girl named Crystal. She's eight years old now. She lives in Texas, but she usually visits us once a year. When she was younger, my wife would often give Crystal some sort of instruction, like you do with children. Like, "Crystal, do this." Or, "Crystal, please do that." And like many children, Crystal did not always appreciate being told what to do.

More times than we could count, these instructions were met with this response, "My do what my want, Nana." You know, perhaps you've discovered that asking a child to do something is almost a surefire way to get them not to want to do it. You know, "Hold my hand as we walk through this parking lot." And then they'll do everything except holding your hand. Or you might say, "It looks like it's cold outside. Make sure you take your jacket." And then the child belligerently refuses to take a jacket and instead chooses to freeze. Now, if you maybe hadn't reminded them that they should take a jacket, then they might have taken one along. No problem.

Some of you might remember many years ago, there was a push to get people to wear seat belts in their cars. Now, these days seat belts aren't really considered controversial. But I remember when they started putting buzzers or beeping in people's cars when the driver's seat belt was not fastened. And I remember people that would get under their driver's seat and figure out which wires they needed to cut or rewire somehow to disable the car's ability to know whether the seat belt was fastened or not. Now, for many of these drivers, it wasn't really the seat belt that was the issue. It was being told that they must wear it. By being told what they needed to do, it restricted their freedom. They would wear a seat belt if they wanted to but not if somebody told them it would make things safer. And by refusing to wear their seat belts, many felt like they were protecting their own perceived personal freedom. They were protecting their independence.

And why is that? You know, it's actually a psychological phenomenon called psychological reactance. You know, essentially it means people hate being told what to do. People hate being told what to do. It often manifests itself as, "I don't want to and you can't make me." On the page with the definition for “submit” in the Collins Dictionary online, the first definition that comes up has this statement. It says, "If you submit to something, you unwillingly allow something to be done to you, or you do what someone wants, for example, because you're not powerful enough to resist." Well, with the definition like that, it's easy to see why people wouldn't want to submit. That particular definition says that if you submit to something, then things are going to be done to you that are against your will.

It also seems to indicate that you would only submit to someone if you weren't powerful enough to resist them. And those concepts, they actually might be correct in certain situations but that's not really what biblical submission is about. It's not about being too weak to fight for what you want to do, but that's a very real way that many people do think about submission. Now, what does it mean to have an attitude of submission?

You know, does that mean that you're a doormat? Does it really mean that other people boss you around so you don't get any say so for what happens in your life? Well, when we speak biblically, submission is yielding oneself to governance or authority. It's choosing to abide by the opinion or authority of another person. It's the opposite of resistance. It's the opposite of rebellion. And usually it's not unwilling. It's agreeing to abide by someone else's authority.

We have a choice. We have a choice. We make a choice every time that we submit to someone else. We can choose to go along with whatever it is that we're being asked to do. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians 11:3. Because this is one of the first passages that most people think about when we think about submission. Here in 1 Corinthians 11:3 we see that God has given us a hierarchy of authority, a structure that shows various levels of authority that we must submit to.

1 Corinthians 11:3 We read here where Paul wrote, "But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God." Now, this verse doesn't list them in ascending or descending order but you can see in this verse four levels that Paul wrote about. Now, reorganizing them from bottom to top, we see that the head of woman is man, and the head of every man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God the Father.

So, at the top of this hierarchy, we see God. And God has that ultimate authority. Everyone must submit to God. Even Jesus Christ submits to God. We can read many times in the New Testament about how He was submissive to the will of His Father in heaven and how He only did or said what the Father wanted Him to. Now, let's turn to Ephesians 5:23, where we see the Apostle Paul described these levels of authority in a slightly different form.

Ephesians 5:23 He wrote, "For the husband is head of the wife as also Christ is head of the church, and He is Savior of the body." So, as the church, we've been given less authority than Jesus Christ, and we are to submit to Him in everything that we do. Christ is described as the head of the church. Now, we see in this passage also that wives have been given a role through the act of marriage to submit to their husbands. And we see that explicitly mentioned in the previous verse, in verse 22.

Ephesians 5:22 "Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord." Now, most people agree that a woman's not being asked to submit to each and every man she comes across. It's really describing her responsibility here in a marital relationship where a man and a woman have made a marital covenant to become husband and wife. Well, also, in the family, children should obey and submit to their parents. Now, we're not going to turn there in this sermon but in Colossians 3:20 Paul tells the brethren in Colossi,

Colossians 3:20 "Children, obey your parents in all things for this is well-pleasing to the Lord." We know that we are to honor our father and our mother. Several places in the New Testament we, as servants, are instructed to submit to our human masters, and we're also instructed to submit to our human governments.

We can see that submission's a lot more than just something that deals with marriage. So, please don't think about submission today as limited to that marriage relationship as many people oftentimes do. Actually, most of us have been given a dual role, a dual role. In some aspects of our lives, we're on one side of a submission relationship, where we have to submit to those who've been given authority over us, whether they are our parents, our brothers and sisters in the church, husbands, managers, governments, or Jesus Christ.

And then in other aspects of our lives, we're on another side of a submission relationship, where we have to exercise authority over those who are instructed to submit to us, whether they are our children, wives, workers, brothers and sisters in the church. So, this is a topic where it's sometimes easy to get defensive and to ignore the Bible's insight into what this attitude of submission looks like. Why do people avoid making a submissive attitude one of their goals?

You don't hear a lot of people say, "Boy, I wish I were more submissive." Think about it. You know, you probably don't see many headlines at the supermarket checkout counter or ads on your computer news feeds featuring articles that say "Ten Ways to be More Submissive to Your Husband," or maybe an article that says, "How to Keep Your New Year's Resolution to Submit to God," or maybe a compelling blog post that says, "Five Sure-Fire Ways to Honor Your Mother and Dad" is just not popular.

I think most people don't want to be submissive because they think that it's going to make them appear weak. I'm going to appear weak if I'm submissive. Our society places a lot of emphasis on self-reliance, you know, self-reliance and independence, being your own person. Some people just can't imagine allowing somebody else to make the important decisions in their lives. It's an issue of control. It's an issue of freedom.

So, let's look at some principles that we can keep in mind on this subject as we are in these dual roles that we've been given. You know, for the first half of this sermon, I'd like to look at our role when we are the person that has some authority. You know, when we're a person with authority, when we have some level of authority, whether it's as a mother, whether it's as a husband, a manager, or some other type of leader, here are three principles that we need to keep in mind.

The first principle for leaders to keep in mind is to understand your role. Understand your role. I'd like to begin in Romans 13:1. If you are someone who is in authority, you need to know where your authority comes from. If we read this first verse of Romans 13, we can see that there is one source for any authority that we might have. Romans 13:1, we read this,

Romans 13:1 "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God. And the authorities that exist are appointed by God." And I believe this verse, it doesn't only apply to world governments because it says there's no authority except from God. There are authorities on many levels as we've been discussing. Now, if you're someone with authority, well, ultimately your authority has been given to you by God. It's not because of your great intelligence, your charm, or anything that you've done to really deserve that authority. If you really understand that your authority does come from God, you don't need to throw your weight around.

You know, if you recognize that you've been given a certain measure of authority, then focus on your responsibilities. You don't have to prove to everyone who's in charge because God placed you there. And since God has given you a position of authority, it's your duty, your duty to exercise that authority in a way that will please Him. You have to keep in mind that the people who submit to you, they are in no way inferior to you. And typically, they're not any less capable of making good decisions than you are. They just have a different role.

Sometimes there's the perception of authority that, well, if you get to be the guy in charge, you can just tell others what to do while you sit back. But God-given authority really involves hard work. It involves hard work, sacrifice, doing things that you don't want to do, and putting other people ahead of yourself. So, let's turn to 1 Peter 5:2, and read some instruction to those who are leaders. In this particular passage, Peter is giving instruction to elders, but I think you'll see that the point of this instruction, it really does apply to anyone who is in a leadership role.

1 Peter 5:2 says, "Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly." And now for the part that's especially relevant to today's sermon says, "Nor is being Lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." Examples. A leader must be a good example. That's a part of your role. We have to live what we expect others to do. We must be willing to do the same things that we require of the people who submit to us. And we also have to set the example by following any rules that we set for other people.

For example, as parents, maybe you've got some picky eaters in your family and you set a rule for everyone and they all need to follow it. You know, if my children are told that they need to eat everything that's on their plate, you know, eat everything that's on your plate or you can't leave the table, well, then I, as the father, I should also have to eat everything that's put onto my plate.

And I guess you can probably tell by looking at me that I do set a good example in that one particular area, but we all have to follow the same rules that we establish. Now, as Jesus Christ said in Mark 10:44.

Mark 10:44 "Whoever of you desires to be first shall be a slave to all." In our role as leaders, we have to understand and recognize as part of this understanding our role that even though it might sound backward, we must often play the role of a servant to those who submit to us, at least if we want to be good leaders.

As I said, our role in leadership is not to sit back. It's not to watch other people work. We also have to serve and often we should serve alongside those who are leading so that we can be a good example to them, to show them how things are done. So, the first thing to do as a leader is to understand your role. Someone in authority must continually stay focused and recognize the boundaries of that authority because authority shouldn't be used as a means to take advantage of other people.

In fact, that leads us to the second principle for those in authority, love those under your charge. Love those who are under your charge. If we're someone who has been given some authority, we need to love the people whose lives that we're affecting with our decisions. The role of a leader should be looked at as a role of service. For instance, if you were a good, godly legislator, for instance, you would need to love the people who you're representing.

You would defend those issues that were best for the people whose lives you would be affecting because you would really care about them. You know, a good legislator who actually loves and cares about the constituents that he has is not going to make decisions just to advance his own political career. I'd like to turn to 1 John 3:14, and look at a passage where the Apostle John helps us to understand this type of love for the people that we lead.

1 John 3:14-15 John wrote, "We know that we've passed from death to life because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." So, in this passage, John writes that we must love our brother. We must love those who are around us. If we continue in verse 16, this example of love is then applied to leadership.

1 John 3:16 says, "By this, we know love because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." So, John is talking about Jesus Christ here. You know, Jesus Christ has authority over all of us. He's the one who should be leading us. He's our prime example of how to be a leader and how to act when you have authority. And what does it say? Well, it says that He laid down His life for us. He served us and this is how we know love. That's how we know love.

Jesus selflessly laid down His life because He loved those under His charge. And in the same way, we should lay down our lives for those under our charge. Now, that doesn't mean that we literally have to sacrifice our physical life or that we have to die for the people who we're leading, but we do need to love them. And we need to be ready to make whatever types of sacrifices are needed so that we can lead them correctly and to be an example of the love of God.

I'd like to turn back to Ephesians 5:25. We know that we are to submit to Jesus Christ as our leader. But let's consider another example of leadership that the Bible gives us. We briefly looked at how much Jesus has loved us, loved the church, and loved humanity. In Ephesians 5:25, husbands are told to follow that example and to do the same things.

Ephesians 5: 25 says, "Husbands, love your wives. Love your wives just as Christ also love the church and gave Himself for her." And let's continue now in verse 28, it says,

Ephesians 5:25 "So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself." Now, those of us who are husbands, we must love our wives in a way that they should be able to feel, they should be able to recognize that love that we have for them. If we expect our wives to submit to us, then we're expected to love them. We are expected to do the actions that we see in verse 29 to nourish and to cherish our wives.

We should nourish them and cherish them. So, this principle of love, it works in other leadership situations also. For instance, parents must love their children. So, if we are leaders who are leading appropriately with love, then those who we are leading, they're going to want to follow because they'll feel that we're acting out of love. They'll feel that love, and a loving leader makes it easier for their followers to say yes. Because when we lead in love, we're putting their needs before our own. They'll see that. They'll understand.

So, the second thing to do as a leader is to love those who are under your charge. Exercising authority in love is what makes a good leader and someone who's going to be respected, someone who will ultimately make the best decisions. This will also often involve the third principle for those in authority, which is to be flexible without losing sight of the goal. So, the third principle for those in authority is to be flexible without losing sight of the goal.

If you are someone in authority, you're often going to have some sort of level of responsibility for maintaining a vision. You know, some sort of vision about where everything is going. You know, Christ has a vision for where His church is headed. Parents have various plans that they put into place when they raise their children, you know, how they like them to turn out.

A manager in business, you know, he's going to have goals for his department, or he might have individual employees some sort of outcomes that he is hopefully leading them toward. Leaders help those who are following them to reach those goals and to fulfill their objectives. But as a leader, you need to keep in mind that once you've decided on a particular course of action that needs to be taken, there's no reason why your choices on how to get there have to be set in stone.

Think about the goal of the course of action. Why are you doing this? What are you trying to achieve? You know, maybe as a father, I could make a goal that my family is going to have a good time on the vacation. And that's like the number one goal that we're going to have as we leave the house. Or maybe a goal would be to spend under a certain amount on groceries this month. You know, a goal like that, or we could have a goal that we'd like to buy a new house, or maybe we want to plant a garden as soon as it warms up a little more.

And as a leader, you have to keep in mind, whatever this goal is that you're pursuing and you shouldn't become distracted from the ultimate goal. But while keeping that in mind, it's okay to change your decisions to accommodate other people, to accommodate their desires. Especially when doing so doesn't have a negative impact on achieving that goal.

You know, have you ever had an idea of what you wanted to do at the Feast of Tabernacles? Like, let's say you're at the feast and you have an idea of what you want to do but your kids kind of want to do something different one afternoon. Do you just dismiss them? Do you listen to what they have to say? Or do you compare their request with the goals that you have for the week? Say, "Does this fit? Does this not fit?" You know, maybe you can work in an activity that they suggest and rearrange some things to make that week more enjoyable for the kids.

Now, on the other hand, maybe their suggestion conflicts with another goal that has to happen at that same time, and you might just have to tell them no. I'd like to turn to Proverbs 3:27. Proverbs 3:27. When you have decision-making authority, you need to be prepared to be flexible, to be flexible and to take into account the suggestions that come to you from the people whose lives you're affecting.

Now, certainly many vacations have been made miserable for everyone, not mine potentially, but because everybody only got to do what dad wanted to do. That is not the best way for the kids to remember a vacation.

Proverbs 3:27 It says, "Do not withhold good from those to whom it's due when it is in the power of your hand to do so." So, as a leader, it is often within your power to be flexible.

As long as you can still meet the goal, there's no harm in being flexible and considering the needs and desires of those under your charge. If your wife has had a hard day at work and you know that she doesn't want to make dinner, you can kind of see that on her face sometimes that she doesn't want to make dinner. And as long as you can afford it and still meet any budget goals that you might have for your family, why not suggest, "Maybe tonight we should have dinner at a restaurant." I'd like to look at 1 Corinthians 10:33 because the Apostle Paul wrote about this kind of flexibility. He wrote about this kind of flexibility when he was addressing the church at Corinth.

1 Corinthians 10:33, he writes here, "Just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of many that they may be saved."

And I'd like to read this from the New Living Translation because I really like the way that this renders the verse. It's a little bit more clear as it relates to today's subject. The New Living Translation says, "I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don't just do what's best for me. I do what's best for others so that many may be saved." So, as a leader, we shouldn't simply seek our own good and our own goals. We need to please other people as we're able to do that. Also, it's not necessary for someone who has authority to make every single decision.

It's perfectly okay to delegate that decision-making responsibility. A wife can still be in proper submission to her husband and still make most of the decisions in the household. Those people who are under your authority will most likely have insight. They might have information that you're not going to have by yourself. So, the third principle is to pay attention to their suggestions and to be flexible.

So, now for the second half of this sermon, I'd like to look at our role when we must submit to someone else, when we're in the opposite case, we have to submit to someone else. When we have to submit to some type of authority, whether it's to God, whether it's to our husband, or to a manager, or some other type of leader, here are three principles of submission to keep in mind in that role.

Well, the first principle of submission to keep in mind is the same as the first principle for those who are in authority, it's to understand your role. You really need to understand your role because submission, it's kind of a contract. To really work right, both parties need to understand where they fit in that relationship. For example, parents have to understand that it's their responsibility to lovingly raise their children, to guide them, to make decisions that are going to affect them.

And in the same way, children have to understand that they must obey their parents. If either of those parties doesn't recognize or fully accept the role that they've been given, there's going to be a lot of trouble that happens. A parent who might refuse to train their children, or likewise, a child who refuses to obey his parents, well, they're both guilty of not really understanding and accepting the roles that they have.

We've all been given these different roles in our lives that we're to fill part of how God refines us. It's part of how God tests us. If a child can't submit to his mother or a wife can't submit to her husband or a man can't submit to the authority of his brothers and sisters in the church, then how can God ever expect us to submit to Him? I'd like to turn back to Romans 13:1, which we looked at in our instructions for those who are in authority. But there's more that it says for those who must submit to others. Romans 13, we'll start back here again in verse 1.

Romans 13:1-2 "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there's no authority except from God. And the authorities that exist are appointed by God." Verse 2, "Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves."

So, this talking about not resisting, it means that we need to submit. We need to submit. If we don't submit to authority, then it says we're rebelling against God's commands. And that's a very serious charge. I'd like to continue in verse 7.

Romans 13:7 "Render therefore to all their due, taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor."

This verse is all about understanding our role. We need to give our due. Whatever it is that's appropriate for the role we're in, we need to do it. We need to give that submission. We need to accept the authority that's placed over us by God. I'd like to move now to 1 Peter 2:13, where there's a section in Peter's first epistle that works its way through a number of human relationships, goes through a number of human relationships where we've been asked to submit. Peter was trying to help us here, I think, to understand our roles.

Now, in my New King James Bible, right above 1 Peter 2:13, there's a nice subheading that the people have put there, that have been placed there. So, we can kind of see what's being talked about in that section, above verse 13 my Bible says, "Submission to Government."

1 Peter 2:13-14 says, "Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme or to governors."

You know, so one of our responsibilities is to submit to human government and the rules that they might create. In the New Living Translation, submitting to every ordinance of man is rendered as submit to all human authority. We're moving to verse 18. There's another subhead there. In my Bible, it reads, "Submission to Masters."

1 Peter 2:18 says, "Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle but also to the harsh."

Peter writes here about slaves and masters. A little bit of a different concept than we're used to today, where it's more often employees and their bosses. It's probably the most similar relationship. He tells employees to submit to their masters. Well, I have to tell you that submitting to a harsh master like it tells me to do here, that doesn't sound fun. It really does not sound fun. And now it's fine to be submissive to those who are good, to those who are gentle, but who wants to submit to a harsh master? We don't.

We don't get to pick and choose when we submit. It's letting that other person take the lead. Whether you agree with their course of action or not, you either choose to follow or whether maybe you're forced to follow but you relinquish some level of control to another person. And I think it's good to keep this in mind before we get into any kind of a relationship that requires submission. Keep this in mind.

If I get a choice of who I get to submit to, I think I'll choose the one that's good and gentle. You know, that's what I'm going to look for. And I think women need to keep this in mind when they're looking for a husband. And continuing at the beginning of chapter 3, over that verse in my Bible, it says, "Submission to Husbands."

1 Peter 3:1-2 "Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, maybe won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chased conduct accompanied by fear." And then in verse 7, it talks to the husbands.

1 Peter 3:7 "Husbands, likewise, dwell with them, with understanding, giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered." So, Peter writes about the submission that it's an important part of a successful marriage relationship. And if we move a couple of chapters ahead to chapter 5:5, he writes more here about some additional roles of submission.

1 Peter 5:5 says, "Likewise, you younger people." So now he's talking about age. "You younger people submit yourselves to your elders." So, the young should submit to the old. He says, "Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility." Well, now Peter's saying all of you, all of you. None of us get to be exempt from this particular command. You know, everyone has to be submissive but who are we submissive to?

We have to be submissive to one another. This one's very different from the other cases, isn't it? You know, not only are church members supposed to submit to Jesus Christ. We're also supposed to submit to one another. Well, why is that? Well, it's because our fellow church members have also been given the spirit of God. You have the spirit of God which holds authority, that holds authority. And we do that. We submit out of reverence for God.

Now, in this case of submission to one another, it's also different because there's no recognized position of authority. We're both members of the church. We're brothers, we're sisters. It's not talking about some structure of authority one over another, but rather the importance that all of us need to recognize that we're all under God's authority. And we need to submit to one another as God commanded. And we place one another's needs above our own needs and desires.

We all owe one another submission. Submit to each other. There's no one here who doesn't have to submit to someone else. There's no one here that's free of submission in their lives. And that's why this first principle is important, that you need to understand your role. Understand your role. Now, the second principle of submission to keep in mind is that submission does not mean silence. Submission does not mean silence.

Now, being submissive might often mean you end up doing some things maybe that you don't like to do. It can involve sacrifice. However, a lot of people think that submission just means that you blindly follow someone who makes all the decisions for you and often against your will. And oftentimes people do that but it's really not healthy. That's not a healthy way to live. Let's turn to Matthew 26:39. Because I'm going to bring out two different examples of submission without silence that are recorded in the Bible. Matthew 26:39. This is a well-known passage of scripture, where Jesus had gone to Gethsemane after the Passover meal. And here He has been praying to God.

Matthew 26:39 It says that, "He went a little farther and He fell on His face and prayed saying, 'Oh, my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will but as You will."

Jesus knew what His father's decision was about the imminent crucifixion. You know, although Jesus remained in complete submission to His father, He did not remain silent. He did not remain silent. He let His request be made known. And He was able to do that while He was still maintaining that attitude of perfect submission. In fact, He didn't just ask once. He continued to ask.

Matthew 26:42-44 "Again, a second time, He went away and prayed saying, 'Oh, my Father, if this cup cannot pass away from me, unless I drink it, Your will be done." And then in verse 44, “So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time” saying the same words. Jesus was not afraid to speak His mind while all the time remaining submissive. It had been appointed for Christ to suffer, to die for our sins. But Jesus was here asking God to reconsider the plan, you know, maybe reconsider how it was to be done, but notice that Jesus was completely prepared to accept what God had originally planned.

I'd like to turn to a second example in Numbers 14:11, where we're going to look at another story of submission without silence. This is the time when God had basically had enough of the Israelites. He had enough of the Israelites and He wanted to strike the Israelites down with a plague. He wanted to wipe them out so He could start fresh with Moses and Moses' offspring.

Numbers 14:11-12 "Then the Lord said to Moses, how long will these people reject me? And how long will they not believe me with all the signs which I performed among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them. And I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they." God made a decree here. He said that He was going to disinherit Israel. He was going to raise Moses as a nation to take Israel's place.

Moses was submissive to God but how did he react? Did he say to God, "Oh, sounds like a good plan"? Not at all. You know, Moses did not remain silent. He disagreed, he did not agree that this is what God should do. And he told Him so. He told Him he disagreed with the course of action that God proposed. Moses then pleaded. He gave God the reasons why he thought the Israelites should not be destroyed. He asked God to forgive their sins rather than destroy them for their sins. Starting in verse 17, we can see here what Moses said to God.

Numbers 14:17-19 He said, "And now I pray, let the power of my Lord be great. Just as you have spoken saying, 'The Lord is long-suffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression.' But He, by no means, clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation. Pardon the iniquity of these people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven these people from Egypt until now."

And as we know, God listened. God listened to Moses's request. And He forgave Israel at that time. He didn't destroy them all at once like He had said. He changed His plan. So, instead of totally destroying them right then and there He relented. He decreed that, well, instead, those who saw His signs in Egypt would never see the promised land, but their descendants would continue to live.

Now in this story, it's clear that Moses was prepared to accept God's decree. God said it, it was going to happen. He was prepared to accept that but he thought that there was a good reason to ask for a different turn of events. It was worth asking for a different turn of events. If submission meant silence, well, then Moses would've had to say, "Okay, God, destroy them if that's what you're going to do."

But if Moses could ask God to reconsider His plans and still be in submission to His authority, then those of us who are in submission, whatever type of submission relationship we are in, we should be able to respectfully ask those who have authority over us to reconsider their plans, to reconsider their plans, and while asking that we can still be in submission to their authority. Now, in both of these cases, we see it's perfectly all right to inform those who have authority over us that we feel differently.

It's okay to tell someone who has authority, "I feel differently. You know, consider this." So, I would encourage you to communicate, to let the people that you submit to know how you feel. Those in authority, they need your feedback. You know, they need your feedback so they can decide whether maybe they do need to adjust their course of action. In Jesus' case, we see how Jesus prayed to the Father three times. Three times He asked Him if He could be spared those events that were going to take place, but the answer was no. The answer was no. But then as we saw in Moses' case, God reconsidered His course of action. And the answer for him was yes. If you don't speak up, if you don't speak up, you'll never know what effect you could have had.

This is vitally important also in a marriage relationship. In a marriage relationship, after God created Adam, what did He say? He said, "It's not good that man should be alone. I'll make him a helper comparable to him." God intended wives to act as helpers for their husbands. God expects a wife to submit to her husband, yes, but that's not to say that she can't disagree with him. It's not to say that she can't express her own opinion. Indeed a wife who practices submission is, by definition, going to be a strong woman and will have her own opinions. She's going to have her own ideas about issues. She might often have different opinions than those that her husband has.

And as a helper, she should be expected to express those opinions and her ideas respectfully. A wife is ordained by God to be her husband's helper, not to be her husband's doormat. And by expressing her opinions, by giving advice, by offering suggestions, she's going to be an invaluable partner, an invaluable partner to her husband, and contribute greatly to the success of their marriage and family. So, the second principle of submission is that submission does not mean silence.

And that brings us to a third principle of submission. The third principle of submission to keep in mind is to respect authority and abide by the decisions that are made. Respect authority and abide by the decisions that are made. In the examples that we just looked at, Jesus told God what His personal will was, and yet He submitted completely to the will of God. The decision had been made. It would not be undone.

You can be submissive and still disagree about something, but once you've made any suggestions, once you've offered any counterarguments about what's going on and the person you're submitting to has made their decision final, after they've had a chance to hear your input, you're going to have to accept whatever decision it is that's made. And you should do it without bitterness. You should do it without complaining. One area where this might be considered is the area of prayer.

In prayer, you know, often we can't understand why is it that somebody was not healed? You know, why weren't they healed? Why are certain prayers never answered and maybe in the way that we'd like them to be answered? Well, we have to respect the decisions that God made. We have to make the best of the situation. If we've told Him what outcome we'd like to see, you know, we've prayed and said, "This is the way I'd like it to turn out," and that outcome, it doesn't come to pass, well, we need to get over it.

We need to get over it and not bear a grudge against God for not answering that prayer. He hears what we ask Him. God hears us. He knows what we've asked Him to do. And you can be sure that He is being just, even if we don't understand the reasoning. The Apostle Paul wrote about a thorn in the flesh that was mentioned in the sermonette that he had to deal with. And in 2 Corinthians 7:8, Paul wrote that he pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from him and God responded.

2 Corinthians 7:8 He said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness." So, Paul accepted God's authority and he was content to abide by God's decision to not relieve him of whatever that suffering was that he was undergoing. Well, you might be saying, "Well, yes, yes, I understand." But God can be trusted. God is always going to be fair. And you're right. There's no guarantee that our human authority figures are going to be fair.

There's no guarantee that a human authority figure is going to be fair. In fact, most of them make bad decisions regularly, make bad decisions all the time. Husbands make bad choices. Am I right? Bosses at work can make bad decisions, terrible decisions for the company. Governments can oppress their people. Well, this law, it's terrible, but God has asked us to submit even when we think that, you know, we might know a better course of action.

You know, that's not the best choice but we still have to submit. So, when a decision's made that you don't 100% agree with, you shouldn't use that disagreement as a reason to not carry out that poor decision as well as you can. You should still try your hardest to make things work out for the best, despite whatever situation it is that you've been given. I'd like to turn to Acts 5:19 because this passage shows us that there are some exceptions to this principle.

Acts 5:19. We need to realize there are times when the Bible tells us we should not submit to a decision. In this particular passage is when Peter and some of the other apostles, they were put into prison. The apostles were put into prison they were commanded not to teach in the name of Jesus Christ. You know, don't teach the name of Jesus Christ, puts them in prison.

Acts 5:19 says then "But at night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, 'Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people, all the words of this life.'"

So, the apostles walked out of the prison and they went to the temple as the angel had instructed them to do. And what did they do? Well, they began to teach again the next day. Well, the captain of the temple, the officers of the temple, they went there and they apprehended the apostles who were teaching there. They were disobeying the command from the high priest who had told them don't do that. Well continuing in verse 27, we read,

Acts 5:27 "And when they had brought them, they set them before the council,” you know, what are we going to do with these apostles? “And the high priest asked them saying, ‘Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood on us.’" Verse 29, "But Peter and the other apostles answered and said, 'We ought to obey God rather than men." We ought to obey God rather than men.

Now, Peter is sharing a very important principle here. Sometimes the various authorities to whom we must submit, they can be in conflict with one another. They can tell you conflicting things. Well, the high priest commanded Peter not to preach in the name of Jesus, but then an angel comes and commands Peter to go to the temple and teach in the name of Jesus. There's no way Peter's going to do what both of them said at the same time.

You know, you can't successfully submit to both of those authorities in conflict. So, what do you do in a case like that? Well, you submit to the higher authority. You submit to the higher authority. This is a situation that we can run into throughout our lives. You know, maybe on the job, you know, maybe your immediate supervisor tells you, you need to do one thing, but then a director, maybe an executive of the company, maybe your boss's boss tells you, you need to do something else and not do what this supervisor said. Well, which one do you submit to? Well, since the immediate supervisor also submits to the director, I should submit to the one who has the higher authority.

Or sometimes your boss might tell you to do something that goes against the laws of the land established by the government. "They're not going to notice. I know it's illegal but it's fine." Well, do you follow your boss's instructions? Do you break the law because you're submitting to them?

No. Now, it might cost you your job but you should follow the greater authority, which in that case would be the government. And which authority is greatest of all? I don't even need to ask this question. It's obviously God's authority. God's authority is the greatest of all. As Peter said, "We ought to obey God rather than men." But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't obey men. We still must obey men.

But it means that when those commands have been conflict with the commands of God, then we have to obey that higher authority. And we have to submit to God, no matter what consequences might come about for us. Now, of course, if we're going to refuse to submit to somebody with the lesser authority, it shouldn't be done silently. You probably need to let them know. We shouldn't be silent. We should tell 'em the reason why we're not doing what they asked us to do.

We can attempt to maybe persuade them otherwise and be respectful in the way that we do that. But at the end of the day, unless they change their mind, we should not submit to a lesser authority that conflicts. So, the third principle of submission is to respect authority. It is to abide by the decisions that are made.

So, in conclusion, a lot of people hate that word, submission. It's not a favorite word people have. On some level, it causes psychological reactance. You know, people hate being told by somebody else what they should do. They would much rather respond with, "I don't want to and you can't make me." But God has called us to be submissive people. He's called us to have a submissive attitude. And I hope that you've seen today that submitting to somebody, it doesn't mean that you're a doormat. It doesn't mean that you have to do things that are against your will because you're too weak to resist them.

For those times when you're acting as somebody who has authority, be sure to understand that role that you have. In all things, love those who are under your charge and be flexible without losing sight of the goal. And for those times when you have to submit to someone else, be sure to understand the role that you have in that relationship. But remember that submission does not mean silence, but you must respect authority and you must abide by the decisions that are made.

So, following these principles will help us to fulfill the commands that God gave for our conduct so that all that we do can be pleasing to Him.