Episode #296 How Submission Became My Secret to Joy – Unforced Rhythms of Grace

Hey, friends. Today we're talking about authority as believers and kind of from a unique vantage point. So I wanna start us off by reading Matthew 20, verses 25 and 26. And it says, “But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant.”

This is an idea that's prompted by Celebration of Discipline, which is Richard Foster's book that I'm reading. He's talking in this section about submission and how many of us have experienced that being painfully misused. He says, “Most of us have been exposed to such a mutilated form of biblical submission that either we have embraced the deformity or we have rejected the discipline altogether."

And I have experienced that. I have seen that. I've also experienced the blessings of true biblical submission. So if you haven't read my first book, A Wife's Secret to Happiness, submission in marriage between a wife and her husband is one of the themes in that book. And it's looking at how God describes submission in the Bible and how we get to embrace that and receive the blessings that God wants to give us in our marriages as we do so. So check out the book, if you haven't yet, A Wife's Secret to Happiness.

But today we're really talking about submission through the lens of authority. And Jesus is showing his disciples, “Hey, the way that I function in my authority is different than the way the world does.” The authority Jesus is talking about was not to manipulate or control, as Foster says, it was an authority of function, not status.

See, oftentimes in society, authority, privilege, title, those are used as he describes here in Matthew 20, way back in New Testament days, to lord over others, to exert our will upon them. But Jesus came showing a different way. Jesus, Prince of Peace, King of Kings, part of our triune God, he came to be a servant. He came and submitted himself to the will of the Father to take our sins upon himself. He who has ultimate authority became servant to us, frail, sinful human beings. It's incredible to think about.

And as Christ followers, we have been given authority. We get to walk in the authority that God has granted us for the good of those who are around us. Foster says, “In submission we are at last free to value other people. Their dreams and plans become important to us. We have entered into a new, wonderful, glorious freedom — the freedom to give up our own rights for the good of others.”

Now, I know this can be a painful topic, especially if you've experienced the mutilated form of submission being imposed on you by others. So for today, we wanna keep this conversation between us and the Lord, between us submitting to him and walking in the authority that he grants us, to do good to those who are around us.

And so here's a question I invite you to take to God today:
God, whose dreams in my life can become important to me, and how can I show it?

I believe there's ways that you can walk in your authority as an heir in the kingdom, as a royal priest, as part of this holy nation that we're all part of, for the good of someone in your life.

There are ways that you can come alongside someone for their dream. Not to own it, not to take it up as your own or care about it more than they do, but simply to exercise your authority, to demonstrate value in them, to walk in greater freedom as their dream becomes important to you too. So I'm excited for what God will show you.

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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