SPEAKER_02: There you go.
SPEAKER_02: Well, today is Pentecost Sunday.
SPEAKER_02: Pentecost is 50 in Greek.
SPEAKER_02: It's known as the festival of weeks in Hebrew or Shavuot, which is sevens, the festival of sevens.
SPEAKER_02: And it was the seven weeks after Passover.
SPEAKER_02: And to traditionally in Jewish culture, the idea was that it it commemorated, it celebrated the giving of the law on Mount Sinai.
SPEAKER_02: The giving of the law on Mount Sinai.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, we're in John right now, was crucified on when?
SPEAKER_02: Which when where are we at in John right now?
SPEAKER_02: During Passover, right?
SPEAKER_02: And 50 days after that, he was he told them to wait for the promised Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: And when did the promised Holy Spirit arrive?
SPEAKER_02: Pentecost Sunday, right?
SPEAKER_02: Pentecost Sunday.
SPEAKER_02: They were gathered together, a small group of one accord in one room.
SPEAKER_02: And what happened as the as the as the pastor read in the verses?
SPEAKER_02: Tongues of fire came down and they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, today, once a year, we celebrate Pentecost Sunday, the filling of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Barry and I were talking this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Is this the beginning of the church?
SPEAKER_02: I kind of tend to think so.
SPEAKER_02: Other people say maybe the church, you know, was started later, but um, this was the moment that really the believers came together, were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to operate um in the power of God.
SPEAKER_02: And so just in the celebration of Pentecost Sunday, in the bulletin, I started putting putting a weekly prayer challenge.
SPEAKER_02: If you've noticed, anybody read it last week?
SPEAKER_02: There we go.
SPEAKER_02: We got two people reading the bulletins.
SPEAKER_02: This week, you can see it under prayer request at the bottom, the weekly prayer challenge.
SPEAKER_02: Today we celebrate Pentecost, the day the church was born and the Holy Spirit indwelled his people.
SPEAKER_02: So this week, we're encouraging you to embark on a seven-day prayer journey as we seek fresh fire, deeper surrender, renewed boldness through the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Ask the Lord to fill us with hunger for God, repentance, boldness, unity, mission, surrender, revival, awakening our hearts, and moving powerfully in our homes, church, and town.
SPEAKER_02: If you are bold enough, the encouragement, the challenge is that we commit 30 minutes, 30 minutes for seven days that we're going to pray for new song church.
SPEAKER_02: For some people, that might, they've never done 30 minutes of prayer for seven days straight.
SPEAKER_02: So that's the encouragement, the challenge that each of us will commit 30 minutes, or the invitation at least, to commit 30 minutes that we would pray for a new song.
SPEAKER_02: Julie recently sent me the list of the survey of what y'all wanted when you're looking for a new pastor.
SPEAKER_02: And I just found it so fascinating.
SPEAKER_02: And there are three things I found real fascinating.
SPEAKER_02: One, y'all wanted an exceptional pastor.
SPEAKER_02: You didn't want just some mediocre something.
SPEAKER_02: You, I was reading it, I'm like, man, like the biggest mega church is writing 20 books.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if they fit this description.
SPEAKER_02: Like this guy, if you find him, like good luck.
SPEAKER_02: So I was like, wow, this is amazing.
SPEAKER_02: They really wanted an amazing man of God.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, the second thing I thought was interesting was most of the things you were wanting were not even related to a pastor from what when I was reading it.
SPEAKER_02: They're wanting a change in the church.
SPEAKER_02: Um, descriptions that that they were there.
SPEAKER_02: We want to be growth-oriented, we want to do outreach, we want to grow our congregation.
SPEAKER_02: Question: How do we reach out, draw in, and keep any new people?
SPEAKER_02: We want new believers, we want young families interested in coming to New Song.
SPEAKER_02: We want to build our congregation, do outreach.
SPEAKER_02: We want to grow.
SPEAKER_02: We want to have a positive presence in the community.
SPEAKER_02: We want a worship team.
SPEAKER_02: We have a worship team.
SPEAKER_02: We want more young families.
SPEAKER_02: We want to get out of this building.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because it's too small.
SPEAKER_02: I was laughing.
SPEAKER_02: I was like, we had 22 people, right?
SPEAKER_02: When we started, we have 100 chairs in here.
SPEAKER_02: I'm thinking, this is already too small.
SPEAKER_02: We need a bigger building.
SPEAKER_02: There were other comments about all renaming of the church, whether we rename it literally or figuratively.
SPEAKER_02: There's somebody in there saying we need to recall it revival.
SPEAKER_02: We want to be a revival church.
SPEAKER_02: And whether it's again a little renaming or just a figuratively new presence, new image, new idea to the community.
SPEAKER_02: I was reading that.
SPEAKER_02: I was like, wow, this isn't about a pastor.
SPEAKER_02: This is a change of church in a sense, a different idea of a church.
SPEAKER_02: And we all contribute in that.
SPEAKER_02: It's not just one guy can come and like make all these things happen.
SPEAKER_02: No, we all change towards that, right?
SPEAKER_02: We all grow in becoming whatever this vision of revival.
SPEAKER_02: And so that was the second thing I was struck by.
SPEAKER_02: The third thing, I was reading through these things, I was like, whoa, wow.
SPEAKER_02: Only God can do these things.
SPEAKER_02: Like, you can't get a pastor in here to do all this, especially in a smaller town.
SPEAKER_02: Like if you're in a big city, you might be able to bring in a really charismatic guy who is just attracting the transfers.
SPEAKER_02: Because in a city like Denver, we get tons of transfers, church transfers all the time, whether people moving there or it's just people moving churches.
SPEAKER_02: If you get a really charismatic guy, you could grow the church probably just from transfers, right?
SPEAKER_02: And work in a small town.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because it one, the Christian population is small.
SPEAKER_02: Two, they all have history with each other.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody knows each other.
SPEAKER_02: They have history with it with other churches, and transferring churches is a massive thing.
SPEAKER_02: So growing a church in a small town, you're not going to grow it through transfers.
SPEAKER_02: You're going to grow it through reaching the unchurched.
SPEAKER_02: How do you reach the unchurched?
SPEAKER_02: It takes the power of God.
SPEAKER_02: Nothing less than a move of God, the power of God.
SPEAKER_02: So I was like, these people want a move of God.
SPEAKER_02: They're wanting a move of God, something only God can do.
SPEAKER_02: At men's group last week, we stopped and maybe it was two weeks ago.
SPEAKER_02: We stopped and we were going to listening, do listening prayer.
SPEAKER_02: Listening prayer.
SPEAKER_02: And I felt like just the verse of the man who's like, okay, I believe, Lord, but please help my unbelief.
SPEAKER_02: He's, I think it was his son or his daughter.
SPEAKER_02: Help my unbelief.
SPEAKER_02: God came around to Rob and Rob was like, wow, this is amazing.
SPEAKER_02: I had the same verse.
SPEAKER_02: I believe, Lord, but help my unbelief.
SPEAKER_02: And for me, it was really convicting, stirring.
SPEAKER_02: Um, for us as a community of God.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, I'm reading this vision of revival.
SPEAKER_02: We want to see the unchurched come into this church community.
SPEAKER_02: We as a community, as a body, want to change, want to grow.
SPEAKER_02: We're embracing change individually and how we each show up, right?
SPEAKER_02: Because we're a body.
SPEAKER_02: I'm only one member, you're only one member.
SPEAKER_02: We all change together.
SPEAKER_02: And I just in praying through and listening to kind of this this this listening prayer of help our unbelief, I always encourage of God, give us the faith to believe that you can move and reach Gunnison.
SPEAKER_02: You can reach the unchurched here in this town.
SPEAKER_02: So that's my encouragement, my challenge.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna start praying into it.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: It's easy to write things on a paper of like, you know what, we would love to see all these things.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm uh and then we read through and we're like, okay, God, we know only you can do all these things.
SPEAKER_02: No pastor can do it, right?
SPEAKER_02: Only you can move in that way.
SPEAKER_02: But then it takes the response.
SPEAKER_02: How much are you willing to come to God and ask Him to move?
SPEAKER_02: Are you willing to put it means you can put it on the paper?
SPEAKER_02: Are you willing to invest yourself?
SPEAKER_02: God, we want you to move, we want you to do these things, we want you to be present, we want you to save and to form, we want to be active in the mission of God.
SPEAKER_02: So that's the challenge for this week.
SPEAKER_02: On Pentecost Sunday, we're doing 30 minutes of prayer.
SPEAKER_02: If you're willing to join in this challenge, 30 minutes of prayer, seven days straight for New Song Church.
SPEAKER_02: I'm just gonna ask you to stand.
SPEAKER_02: And maybe just me.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe just me.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
SPEAKER_02: Just gonna ask a couple of you maybe if you would just start this prayer and just verbalize.
SPEAKER_02: I know it's kind of uncomfortable in a public space, but we're still small.
SPEAKER_02: So just open your open your mouth and just pray into um God moving here, and then I'll close us once a couple of you have prayed.
SPEAKER_02: Just thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Spirit of God, that you are present, that you are active.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, we look to you in dependence, Lord.
SPEAKER_02: It is not any man, any plant planning, any programming, any anything else.
SPEAKER_02: Spirit, you are the one that promotes and advances the mission of Jesus, of forming a people unto yourself.
SPEAKER_02: So, Jesus, we just ask that, Spirit, you would be present, you would move, you would do that.
SPEAKER_02: Um, Lord, just stir our hearts with that hunger, that that expectation, that dream, that desire, that faith that Lord, we would come as as the man.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, we believe.
SPEAKER_02: But Lord, help our unbelief.
SPEAKER_02: Give us, um, grant us greater faith.
SPEAKER_02: We thank you, God.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: You can be seated.
SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
SPEAKER_02: Well, I I thought I might be standing up here alone, but that's amazing.
SPEAKER_02: And I I believe, I really believe in the power for prayer.
SPEAKER_02: I preached on it when the first, I think the first time I was here, the effectualness of prayer that a lot of times we lose sight of, that actually prayer moves the heart of God.
SPEAKER_02: In a lot of ways, God is waiting to do what he's wanting to do until we ask him to do what he wants to do.
SPEAKER_02: So he's waiting on you to ask him.
SPEAKER_02: He wants to do it, he's gonna do it.
SPEAKER_02: We know the end, but he's still waiting on us as his people to ask him to come and do what he is going to do.
SPEAKER_02: So I believe God will move.
SPEAKER_02: Well, we're currently in a series just looking at the beauty of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gazing at the beauty of Jesus through the gospel of John.
SPEAKER_02: And if you remember from the first couple of weeks, I defined beauty is that which causes us joy or creates joy or affection or adoration when we see it.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: When we see joy or when we see beauty, our heart is moved with joy or love or affection or desire.
SPEAKER_02: And that Jesus is both the source and summation of all beauty.
SPEAKER_02: He is the source and summation of all beauty.
SPEAKER_02: What do I mean by that?
SPEAKER_02: He is the creator of all beauty, he is the creator of all beauty, he's also the fullness of all that is beautiful, which is why he is worthy of all worship.
SPEAKER_02: Worship is seeing and knowing the beauty of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: So when we see and know Jesus, our heart is moved with love, adoration, affection, because we see true beauty.
SPEAKER_02: Worship is rooted not in song, but in knowing the beauty of God.
SPEAKER_02: Last week we talked about Jesus being the ultimate risk taker, the ultimate risk taker.
SPEAKER_02: If you're a John Wimber fan, he spelled, he would say, Faith is spelled.
SPEAKER_02: Does anybody remember?
SPEAKER_02: No, John Wimber Vineyard.
SPEAKER_02: He would say, Faith is spelled R-I-S-K.
SPEAKER_02: R-I-S-K.
SPEAKER_02: Why did he say that?
SPEAKER_02: Because faith is an inward feeling that has an outward effect, right?
SPEAKER_02: We were taking a risk.
SPEAKER_02: So faith doesn't just sit inwardly, it moves us to take a risk.
SPEAKER_02: Faith is spelled R-I-S-K, one of kind of Wimber's um sayings, a couple others in the vineyard movement, he would say obedience before certainty.
SPEAKER_02: Similar along the same faith is spelled risk, taking spirit-led risk in everyday life, ordinary life.
SPEAKER_02: Everyone gets to play, and we're naturally supernatural.
SPEAKER_02: And we talked about last week that the greatest hindrance to God's work is not our lack of resources, not our lack of money, not our lack of people to do all the things we want.
SPEAKER_02: We need more kids' ministers, right?
SPEAKER_02: We we need more youth ministers, right?
SPEAKER_02: It's not our lack of talent.
SPEAKER_02: Well, what did I say?
SPEAKER_02: The greatest hindrance to God's work, an unwillingness to take risk.
SPEAKER_02: We're unwilling to take risk.
SPEAKER_02: We look to Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus risked his comfort, his reputation, his very life.
SPEAKER_02: He risked his comfort and then he left heaven to come as a man, lived in poverty, risked his comfort, he risked his reputation, he was wrongly accused.
SPEAKER_02: The God, the creator, the fullness of all beauty, the creator of all beauty, right?
SPEAKER_02: He's he's wrongly accused, ridiculed, mocked.
SPEAKER_02: He risked his very life moving towards persecution.
SPEAKER_02: When we're seeing in John, he is moving to Jerusalem within full anticipation that he will be crucified.
SPEAKER_02: He risked his very life.
SPEAKER_02: Risk we talked about involves peril and prize.
SPEAKER_02: Peril and prize.
SPEAKER_02: Peril is potential loss or danger, failure, pain, or uncertainty.
SPEAKER_02: And when that peril is realized, it becomes sacrifice, right?
SPEAKER_02: It's no longer just a potential peril, it becomes real sacrifice.
SPEAKER_02: But what was the prize that Jesus was seeking?
SPEAKER_02: In risk, there's peril and prize.
SPEAKER_02: And it and it says Jesus scorned the shame or he disregarded the shame, the ridicule, the pain, the peril, the sacrifice.
SPEAKER_02: He disregarded it.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because of the joy set before him.
SPEAKER_02: What was his prize?
SPEAKER_02: We talked about it from Titus.
SPEAKER_02: It was the salvation and formation of a people for himself.
SPEAKER_02: So he's willing to risk because the prize was so great of a people formed for himself.
SPEAKER_02: So we must take risk and with the right prize in sight.
SPEAKER_02: And why do we take risk?
SPEAKER_02: If anybody remembers from last week, why did Jesus take risk?
SPEAKER_02: So Joyce said before him.
SPEAKER_02: We talked, yeah, for the right prize and in obedience.
SPEAKER_02: John talks all about the obedience of Jesus, right?
SPEAKER_02: He was obedient to the Father.
SPEAKER_02: And similarly to us, why are we taking risk?
SPEAKER_02: It ultimately boils down to an obedience to the Father, obedience to God.
SPEAKER_02: Today we're talking about the submissive king, Jesus as the submissive king.
SPEAKER_02: It's a little bit, it seems of an oxymoron because I've never heard of a king who is submissive ever in history, except Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: He is the king of all creation, the king of the universe, and he's still submissive.
SPEAKER_02: Most kings, right, are submitted to.
SPEAKER_02: They're the ruler, they're the leader.
SPEAKER_02: You come serve me.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus lived slightly different.
SPEAKER_02: He was the submissive king, will be in John chapter 17, verses 1.
SPEAKER_02: I love this passage.
SPEAKER_02: It's a prayer of Jesus, only recorded in John.
SPEAKER_02: And it's demonstrating, I feel like, his heart of submission to the Father.
SPEAKER_02: So much of what we read through John is just his teaching of how he was obedient.
SPEAKER_02: He was faithful to God.
SPEAKER_02: He only spoke what he heard the Father speaking.
SPEAKER_02: John 7, chapter 17 opens up the prayer life of Jesus, and it shows his heart of submission, starting in verse 1.
SPEAKER_02: Father, the hour has come.
SPEAKER_02: Glorify your son, that your son may glorify you.
SPEAKER_02: For you granted him authority over all people, that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
SPEAKER_02: Now this is eternal life.
SPEAKER_02: Talked about this in previous weeks.
SPEAKER_02: That they know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
SPEAKER_02: What is eternal life floating in clouds?
SPEAKER_02: No, it is knowing our true God.
SPEAKER_02: I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.
SPEAKER_02: I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.
SPEAKER_02: They were yours.
SPEAKER_02: You gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word.
SPEAKER_02: Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.
SPEAKER_02: For I give them the words you gave me, and they accepted them.
SPEAKER_02: Beautiful Jesus, the submissive King.
SPEAKER_02: We we talked about last week some of the verses that demonstrate this obedience of submission from John.
SPEAKER_02: In John chapter 6, he says, For I have come from heaven, not to do my will, but to do the will of him who sent me.
SPEAKER_02: John chapter 5.
SPEAKER_02: By myself, this is Jesus saying this.
SPEAKER_02: It seems a profound state.
SPEAKER_02: By myself I can do nothing.
SPEAKER_02: I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself, but him who sent me.
SPEAKER_02: He is submissive.
SPEAKER_02: I do nothing my own, but speak just what the Father has taught me.
SPEAKER_02: The one who sent me is with me.
SPEAKER_02: He has not left me alone.
SPEAKER_02: For I always do what pleases him alone.
SPEAKER_02: The submissive king.
SPEAKER_02: Submission in the Greek reflects a social structure of being subjugated or subordinated or placed under in status or rank.
SPEAKER_02: Biblical scholars trying to understand if potentially biblical writers were using this Greek word in a slightly different way.
SPEAKER_02: This was one definition I came, I found just of biblical kind of linguist.
SPEAKER_02: Um he says submission in the Bible involves the willing and positive response of a subordinate to rightful authority, where the submissive person consciously and freely yields their own will to the authority's will.
SPEAKER_02: We see that in Jesus time and time again.
SPEAKER_02: Him yielding his own will to the authority of his father and submission's will.
SPEAKER_02: Another definition I found this is from each for the other, marriage as it's meant to be.
SPEAKER_02: Though the specific definitions vary slightly, submission includes actions since it involves obedience and it includes attitudes since it involves respect.
SPEAKER_02: So submission is more than just an action or an attitude, it's both.
SPEAKER_02: Starting back in 17, Jesus says, For you have gifted him, he's talking to himself, authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
SPEAKER_02: I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.
SPEAKER_02: I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.
SPEAKER_02: They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word.
SPEAKER_02: Now they now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.
SPEAKER_02: For I gave them your words, you gave me, and they accepted them, they knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believe that you sent me.
SPEAKER_02: I prayed for them, I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
SPEAKER_02: All I have is yours, and all you have is mine, and glory has come to me through them.
SPEAKER_02: You can feel the submission in Jesus' prayer, in him recognizing, repeating, it is God who is giving all things.
SPEAKER_02: This is Jesus recognizing, declaring, You have given all things.
SPEAKER_02: John is called oftentimes the giving gospel, the giving gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because giving is found 67 times in the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: It's a theme that John continually goes back to.
SPEAKER_02: In this prayer alone, 16 times Jesus is referring is reflecting on the giving of God.
SPEAKER_02: And what's the most famous verse that we know from John about the giving of God?
SPEAKER_02: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
SPEAKER_02: It's it's a point.
SPEAKER_02: John is trying to continually reinforce that the Father is giving.
SPEAKER_02: It's why it's called the giving gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is recognizing, Father, you are the one giving all things.
SPEAKER_02: My submission to you is rooted in my dependence on you.
SPEAKER_02: If Jesus demonstrated full dependence on the Father, fully submitted, how much more are we dependent on God to give all things?
SPEAKER_02: We as Americans are typically taught that we are self-sufficient, right?
SPEAKER_02: We're powerful, we're capable, we're talented, we're smart, we're able, we just need to learn some more.
SPEAKER_02: We need to go study some more, we need to practice some more.
SPEAKER_02: Then we can get there.
SPEAKER_02: We can make it, we can make it happen.
SPEAKER_02: The world is our oyster to make it what we want.
SPEAKER_02: We are the kings of our universe, the masters of our fate, the captains of our soul.
SPEAKER_02: So we don't need submission because if we're here led to believe that we are powerful and able, we are entitled.
SPEAKER_02: But the reality of Jesus is dependent on the Father in all things.
SPEAKER_02: How much more dependent are we, the giver of all good things?
SPEAKER_02: We might not see it, but the truth is that we are completely dependent on the Father.
SPEAKER_02: We are needy, we are desperate.
SPEAKER_02: Our submission is rooted in our realization that we are dependent on God.
SPEAKER_02: Anyways, we are the invalid at the beautiful gate.
SPEAKER_02: We're the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda, who had been disabled for 38 years, waiting for some sort of healing.
SPEAKER_02: We're blind Bartimaeus begging by the roadside, we're the tin lepers crying out for mercy, the demon-possessed man living among the tombs, we're the woman with the issue of blood, the woman caught in adultery, the Samaritan woman at the well, we're the crippled man lowered through the roof by his friends, or the thief on the cross beside Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: We are dependent, we're needy, we're desperate, we're helpless, we need God, we need the Father, and our submission again is rooted in our realization, recognition of our dependency on God, which is why in Romans Paul writes, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.
SPEAKER_02: This is your true and proper worship.
SPEAKER_02: For years I have quoted this verse and I have entirely skipped out over the middle part in view of God's mercy.
SPEAKER_02: I just thought we were supposed to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice.
SPEAKER_02: And this last week I was reading his commentary, and he was like, No, you only can get to the place of offering our bodies as a living sacrifice when we are in view of God's mercy.
SPEAKER_02: And we just we talked about a couple weeks ago that mercy is the father forgiving, restoring, and delivering the broken.
SPEAKER_02: And so those of us who want to know, experience the mercy of God need to realize, recognize our brokenness.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: So, in view of God's mercy, that we are broken, we are needy, we are dependent, we are desperate, from that place, we can offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, offering ourselves in submission to the Father.
SPEAKER_02: So, why do we struggle with submission?
SPEAKER_02: Well, a lot of us, it's a it's a it feels an unconsciable word, submission, right?
SPEAKER_02: Because we struggle knowing our total dependency on God.
SPEAKER_02: We think we're we're strong, able, powerful, capable.
SPEAKER_02: We struggle with this realization that in view of God's mercy and only his mercy, that we can offer ourselves in sacrifice.
SPEAKER_02: Pride wants independence, while faith requires dependence.
SPEAKER_02: Pride says, I don't need help.
SPEAKER_02: Or faith says, I need you, God, crying out for the mercy of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Submission begins where self-sufficiency ends.
SPEAKER_02: Some may hear the word submission again and think of it as a form of abuse.
SPEAKER_02: You know, it's been kind of it has been abused in certain ways.
SPEAKER_02: So I thought it'd just be helpful to kind of walk through what submission is not.
SPEAKER_02: Submission is not coerced obedience, it's not ignoring injustice or abuse, it's not the silencing of a voice or opinion, it's not surrendering personhood, intellect, or moral agency.
SPEAKER_02: It's not hierarchy based on superiority and inferiority, and this is true in Jesus as well as in our submission to God.
SPEAKER_02: What is it though?
SPEAKER_02: A disposition to yield, voluntary, voluntary yielding in love, not to exercise authority over.
SPEAKER_02: Though the specific definitions vary a little, submission includes again actions since it involves obedience and includes attitudes since it involves respect.
SPEAKER_02: So if how are we supposed to submit?
SPEAKER_02: Submission is throughout the New Testament.
SPEAKER_02: James tells us, submit yourself to God.
SPEAKER_02: And Peter, Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand with angels, authorities, and powers in submission to him.
SPEAKER_02: All things are in submission to him.
SPEAKER_02: So we submit to God first.
SPEAKER_02: What does that potentially look like?
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's obeying scripture even when it conflicts with personal desires.
SPEAKER_02: Or maybe it's forgiving someone because Jesus commands it.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's choosing integrity instead of sin when no one is watching.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's saying yes to God's calling, even when it feels risky or uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_02: And praying with Jesus, not my will, but yours be done in my life.
SPEAKER_02: Secondly, Scripture tells us to submit to secular leaders.
SPEAKER_02: We all find this very challenging.
SPEAKER_02: Romans tells us, let everyone be subject.
SPEAKER_02: It's submission, the same word, everyone be submitted to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.
SPEAKER_02: Peter, submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human authority.
SPEAKER_02: That is the most shocking, uncomfortable verse.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe there is.
SPEAKER_02: It includes your boss.
SPEAKER_02: You know, like all kinds of human authorities, whether to the emperor as a supreme authority or to governors who are sent by him to punish those who do do wrong and commend those who do right.
SPEAKER_02: Submitting to secular leaders is not obeying unjustice or injustice or accepting lies, but maybe it is following laws, civic responsibility, speaking respectfully about leaders, whether they're bosses or political, even when we disagree.
SPEAKER_02: Third, we are told to submit to elders.
SPEAKER_02: You who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders.
SPEAKER_02: What does this potentially look like?
SPEAKER_02: It's receiving correction instead of becoming defensive, which is hard for us, all of us.
SPEAKER_02: It's supporting church unity rather than stirring division.
SPEAKER_02: It's allowing spiritual mentors to challenge any blind spots.
SPEAKER_02: Next, we are told to submit to ministers of the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: This is the household of Stefanas, Paul is saying, they have devoted themselves to the service of the Lord's people.
SPEAKER_02: They were ministers of the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: The whole household was devoting themselves.
SPEAKER_02: We don't exactly know what that meant, but to the service of the Lord's people, he says, I urge you, brothers and sisters, to submit to such people and to everyone who joins in the work and labors at it.
SPEAKER_02: Who are we supposed to submit to?
SPEAKER_02: Yielding voluntarily our will to ministers of the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: What does that potentially look like?
SPEAKER_02: Serving alongside church staff or ministry teams willingly, or it's supporting missionaries or ministry workers in their calling.
SPEAKER_02: Today is something like the International Day for the Unreached.
SPEAKER_02: And it's it's it's put together by this group called the Third Campaign.
SPEAKER_02: And basically they're trying to communicate, particularly to the American Church, a third of the world is still outside of the reach of the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: They don't know any Christians.
SPEAKER_02: They might read something online.
SPEAKER_02: They might have some connection, but it's still requiring people to go to them.
SPEAKER_02: Why do we still send missionaries to this day?
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because somebody has to go into these communities where they can be a Christian presence, where we're where people in these villages and and and towns can know a living Christian, right?
SPEAKER_02: It's not on TV, it's not Trump, it's not like whatever else they're reading online.
SPEAKER_02: It's a worker being sent out.
SPEAKER_02: So what can we do to support the minute, submit to minister of the gospel?
SPEAKER_02: Supporting missionaries or ministry workers and their colleagues.
SPEAKER_02: Probably the most common that's talked about why it's controversial, submitting to husbands.
SPEAKER_02: Colossians says, wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: First Peter, wives in the same way, submit yourselves to your own husbands, so that if any of them do not believe the word, that's even non-believers, they may be won over potentially with without words by the behavior of their wives.
SPEAKER_02: And if in Ephesians, wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
SPEAKER_02: As the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
SPEAKER_02: The biblical vision of marriage is wives yielding their will and husbands laying down their life like Christ.
SPEAKER_02: He, how did he lay down his life?
SPEAKER_02: He died.
SPEAKER_02: So when people say marriage is all about this mutual submission, I don't think that is exactly right.
SPEAKER_02: The wife is yielding her will in these three passages, and the husband is giving his entire life, everything he has in does, which seems far more difficult and costly.
SPEAKER_02: So, but submitting to husbands is mentioned.
SPEAKER_02: Finally, submitting to one another in Ephesians, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
SPEAKER_02: What does that potentially look like?
SPEAKER_02: Admitting when you are wrong, letting someone else have their preference, listening carefully instead of always needing to win arguments.
SPEAKER_02: Listening, we can yield, serving in unnoticed ways or bearing with difficult people patiently.
SPEAKER_02: How does scripture tell us to submit?
SPEAKER_02: We submit to God ultimately, we submit to secular leaders, yielding our will, submitting to elders, submitting to ministers, submitting to husbands, submitting to one another.
SPEAKER_02: This whole idea of submission is so foreign to the American mind.
SPEAKER_02: It is so foreign to everything we're taught, right?
SPEAKER_02: We're taught to pursue power at the expense of everybody else, right?
SPEAKER_02: And in particular with men, we call it toxic masculinity, a pursuing power at the expense of everyone else through wealth, women, and influence.
SPEAKER_02: But there's also toxic feminism, of pursuing power and everything else.
SPEAKER_02: You know, they both are pursuing power at the expense of other people.
SPEAKER_02: This whole idea of yielding is so foreign to anything that we would want to do.
SPEAKER_02: We don't, it's it's against our nature, it's against what we're taught as to be a good and successful and faithful, right?
SPEAKER_02: No, we're told to pursue power, but the way of Jesus is submission.
SPEAKER_02: And how did he know submission?
SPEAKER_02: Because he realized his total dependency on the Father.
SPEAKER_02: He stayed in that place of dependency.
SPEAKER_02: I am dependent on the Father in all things, the giver of all good gifts.
SPEAKER_02: If he was dependent in every way, again, how much more are we dependent, the broken, needing of his mercy?
SPEAKER_02: When we went through Philippians, we read through Paul's telling us, do nothing out of selfish ambition or ambition or vain conceit, out of empty glory, right?
SPEAKER_02: Pursuing things that feel like glory, look like glory, seem like glory.
SPEAKER_02: The world says it's glory, but it's empty.
SPEAKER_02: He's saying, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.
SPEAKER_02: At the time, I said, you know, we we often we never like say it out loud that we read the Bible as hyperbole.
SPEAKER_02: We often live like it is.
SPEAKER_02: Because we read this and we're saying, do nothing out of selfish ambition or bank vain conceit.
SPEAKER_02: That's impossible.
SPEAKER_02: Who can possibly do that?
SPEAKER_02: Paul can't possibly be mean, meaning what he's saying.
SPEAKER_02: Because if he means what he says, that is incredibly radical, right?
SPEAKER_02: Doing nothing out of selfish ambition, vain conceit, rather in humility, valuing others above yourselves.
SPEAKER_02: Some translations even struggle with that wording, so they add words to it because it almost makes no sense.
SPEAKER_02: In humility, valuing others above yourselves, not looking to your own interest, but each of you to the interest of others.
SPEAKER_02: In your relation with one another, have the same mind as Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: What do we talk about?
SPEAKER_02: One of our pillars was being formed into the like-mindedness of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Be formed in the like-mindedness of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: He's not just the Lord and our leader, he's also our example.
SPEAKER_02: He's our example of perfection, he's beauty, right?
SPEAKER_02: So we are, as we're gazing at him, as we're knowing him, we are becoming more formed into the like-mindedness of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: What is the like-mindedness of Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: Who being in the very nature God, he did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.
SPEAKER_02: Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
SPEAKER_02: He was submissive to the Father, yielding his will, what will be found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.
SPEAKER_02: The submissive king.
SPEAKER_02: Hopefully, as we gaze at Jesus and we see the beauty of Jesus, that this king of all creation was willing to submit himself in dependence.
SPEAKER_02: And he's calling us to live in this place of dependence and submission to God and others.
SPEAKER_02: That we would it wouldn't be willing to yield our wills.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because we love humility, is not a place of weakness, right?
SPEAKER_02: It is a strength that Jesus demonstrated.
SPEAKER_02: One less encouragement.
SPEAKER_02: John chapter 17 says, Father, the it starts with father, the hour has come.
SPEAKER_02: The hour has come.
SPEAKER_02: If you remember from the beginning, when at the his first miracle at Cana, his mom came to him, said, Hey, they have no wine.
SPEAKER_02: What did he say?
SPEAKER_02: My hour has not yet come.
SPEAKER_02: And it was another theme throughout John that we didn't really hit on, but John is continually bringing this back up through Jesus' words of like, My hour is coming.
SPEAKER_02: My hour has not yet come.
SPEAKER_02: My hour will come.
SPEAKER_02: Here in John chapter 17, it starts with, My hour has come.
SPEAKER_02: He from the beginning of his ministry, he had the end in sight.
SPEAKER_02: My encouragement is that it doesn't matter so much how much we start in life, even how we run in the middle.
SPEAKER_02: For some reason, in in scripture, in the economy of God, something there's something about how we finish that matters.
SPEAKER_02: That we are faithful to the end and we have focus on where we are going.
SPEAKER_02: Matthew 20 tells Jesus tells a parable about a landowner who he hires workers throughout the day, some early in the morning, others one hour before, quitting time.
SPEAKER_02: Yet at the end of the day, he pays them all the same wage.
SPEAKER_02: Right, which the guy had worked all day, 10 hours, he thinks you should get more than the guy who worked an hour.
SPEAKER_02: Those who worked longer complain, but the landowner responds that he is generous, not unfair.
SPEAKER_02: The encouragement is that based on John 17, that we keep focused where we are going.
SPEAKER_02: I think it does help us in our walk with Christ, in our willing to yield, to keep our eyes on the prize of where we're going, what we are doing.
SPEAKER_02: Beautiful Jesus, the submissive King, my encouragement to us is that we would be willing to be a submissive people.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because we're dependent on God and we're willing to yield our own will.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because we love.
SPEAKER_02: We love the mission of God.
SPEAKER_02: And we we don't need to be self-seeking.
SPEAKER_02: That is the more powerful place than just something, someone who needs to dominate, control, seek power.
SPEAKER_02: Um, with that, I'll pray and then we'll do communion.
SPEAKER_02: But Lord Jesus, we do just thank you, God, that um Lord, you demonstrated submission and a willingness to yield.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you've called us throughout scripture, through most gospels or through most uh letters, God, that you've called us, instructed us to live submitted lives, Lord.
SPEAKER_02: So just teach us what that looks like, Lord, that Lord, we would be renewed and truly have the mind of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And Lord, be willing to live out, embrace the complete humility of Christ, Lord, because we we see you as the beautiful example.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, you've given us the perfect example.
SPEAKER_02: Um, so Lord, just lead us and teach us.
SPEAKER_02: And as we behold you, Lord, we are transformed as as we gaze dimly at the mirror into your likeness.
SPEAKER_02: So, Lord, just pray that that would happen today.
SPEAKER_02: And that, Lord, as we move into communion, God, that you would just be continue to be celebrated.
SPEAKER_02: We thank you, God.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.