Submit to Serve

Ephesians 5:21  "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ."

People talk about the "hard words of Jesus," but there are even harder words from Paul.  Without a doubt among the most difficult selections from Paul's letters for the modern reader is the set of verses from Ephesians 5 and 6 that begin with this innocuous sentence.  Why?  Because following these words, Paul tells wives to submit to their husbands.  He tells children to obey their parents.  And he tells slaves to obey their masters.  He says a lot of other things here, too, but without a doubt much of his teaching in this passage is difficult for the modern Western reader to accept.

What does it mean to submit?  According to one source, our English word comes from  the Latin verb, submittere, "to yield, lower, let down, put under, reduce."  And that word in turn comes from sub, meaning "under," together with mittere, meaning "let go, send" (think of "mission").  Of course, Paul was not using the Latin word in writing his letter, but since it is the source of our own word, it is important to know where the English word "submit" comes from.

Submitting is not something we find easy to do.  Indeed, it goes against our very instincts to submit.  But then again, the Christian faith has little to do with following your natural instincts -- it involves transcending them.  Last night in the church Bible study I lead we came across this set of verses and had some very good discussion about it.  As for the specifics of what Paul discussed -- regarding such controversial things as men and women, slaves and masters -- it is important to point out the realities of his era, and to realize that Paul was drawing Christian ethics into deeply embedded aspects of the wider culture of his time.  One point that Paul really doesn't address though, but which we have to address today, is what does one do when a spouse, a parent, or, let's say, an employer, isn't Godly.  How does one submit in such circumstances?  Should we even do so?

Perhaps to answer that question, we need to remember the overarching statement: "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ."  I believe the tacit meaning here is that we are to submit to one another as Christ submitted himself to others and to the Father.  Jesus is the truest example of submission in the Bible.  Despite being within the Godhead, Jesus submitted to the will of the Father and to our need by being made "a little lower than the angels" for our sakes:

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2:14-18)

This is the manner of submission we are called to -- not merely doing what we are told or blindly obeying, but instead living a life of loving, caring servanthood, whereby we truly do put others above ourselves as Christ did for us. 

The seventeenth century monk known to us as Brother Lawrence exemplified this sense of submission.  He spent his years in the monastery as a kitchen attendant, and saw it not as a chore but as a wonderful means by which he could serve others and serve God.  How many of us could say, as Brother Lawrence said:

It is not necessary to have great things to do.  I turn my little omelet in the pan for the love of God; when it is finished, if I have nothing to do, I prostrate myself on the ground and adore my God, Who gave me the grace to make it, after which I arise, more content than a king.  When I cannot do anything else, it is enough for me to have lifted a straw from the earth for the love of God. (The Practice of the Presence of God)

Though his tasks were menial, brother Lawrence's lived-out expression of the Gospel, through true and unselfish submission, made him great in the eyes of those who knew him, and his witness remains for us today.

And so we are called to submit to one another, in Christian love.  And yet again, what if those closest to us are not receptive of our submission?  What if they only want to take advantage of it?  We discussed what Paul does not address -- those living in abusive homes, those living with enemies of the faith. What about such circumstances?  If there is an answer, I believe it is this:  We are always to be silent witnesses, in all circumstances, but, we are called to serve God above our service and submission to anyone else.  When we realize that a human relationship obstructs our service of God, then the time has come to leave the relationship behind.

May we have the blessing of good relationships, lived out in peace.  But may we also have the wisdom to know that submission to God comes before submission to man, no matter what.