This morning we continue again in Ephesians. Just looking at one verse this morning, I debated a little bit on how I might do this, but I think there's enough here that it's worth spending time. So we'll just look at Ephesians 5, verse 21. If you would, it'll be short, and stand for the reading of God's word in honor of that word. Just looking at Ephesians 5, verse 21, but let me work into it from verse 18. This is God's very own living Word. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then our verse for this morning, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. May this be true for us and may God apply this word in our hearts here this morning. Please be seated. Let me pray briefly for us. Well God, our Father, we ask that this morning, here in this place, that the promise you made in your word would be fulfilled. That when your word goes out, it does not return to you void or empty or in futility, but rather that it accomplishes everything that you have planned and purposed for it. May that be true here this morning. We ask this because submission for us is not an easy thing. So would you open our hearts and minds to the truth of your word and open our eyes and ears to see and hear that which you would have us see and hear and learn this morning. This we ask in Christ's name. Amen. We might have heard this from a child at some point in time. I've certainly heard it numerous times. When being disciplined, the child will say something along the lines of, you're not the boss of me. One time as a family we were gathered together, this is with Kathleen's family, and the child said that and his father said, son, everyone here is the boss of you. We might laugh at that because, honestly, it's funny. And we laugh at children who make those kinds of statements, you can't tell me what to do, you can't boss me around. But we forget that here we are as adults, mature, grown up, we have the same attitude far too frequently. We have the same complaints far too often. We're just more sophisticated about how we do it. We talk about our rights. I have rights and those can't be violated. Or I have a free choice to do what I want. In fact, I can do what I want as long as it doesn't hurt anybody else. And we think ourselves rather profound and sophisticated for having that kind of a philosophy of life. Leave me alone, we say. I'm king of my own castle, captain of my own destiny. Another one that's been popular in recent decades, you can't tell me what to do. You can't legislate morality. What they really mean, as often as not, when they say that is, I don't like your morals, and I don't want you to try to impose them on me without your irritating, busybody interference. Of course, they always turn that around, don't they? We want you to respect our morals. In fact, it's come to the point in our day today where it's not just respect our morals, but celebrate them as unbiblical as they might be. And of course, this isn't a new story, is it? We can go all the way back to Genesis 1 and 2 and 3, go all the way back to the garden and the tempter's message to Eve and to Adam. Did God really say? Did he really say that? You know, if you eat of this fruit, you'll become wise, you'll become like gods, you'll be gods. Implicit in that is you can make your own rules. You can do what you want as you possess this knowledge of good and evil. Our first parents, of course, succumbed to that temptation and fell into sin and all of mankind to come with them. The guilt of that sin, the pollution of that sin is ours, every single one of us. And so we have deep within us that innate desire to be our own God, to make our own rules. Every man, every woman, every child has that innate desire. And what that is, as many have mentioned, it's a reversal of the way things were as God created them in the garden. Think about the order of things as God created it. God is the creator. That means He rules and governs His creation. That's His own power and authority by right. Then He makes man in His own image and says to them, rule over creation, have dominion, take care of it, guard it and keep it. So mankind, on behalf of God, acts as a steward, if you will, taking care of God's creation. And so there's an order there. God is the creator. Man exercising dominion on behalf of God over creation. Now what happened in the temptation? It got flipped on its head. A creature, the serpent, takes authority and tempts the human beings. and they desire to become gods over God Himself. Everything is flipped upside down on its head. The Creator is left at the bottom of things and the order is completely reversed. It's not just the eating of the fruit, the act that is the sin. It's all the mentality, all the assumptions and that incredible bold-faced reversal that goes with it. And in one very simplistic way of thinking about it, the story of the Bible since the fall is the story of God restoring order to the way it should be. God on top, humanity, and then his creation. The text before us today is just one verse, but what I want to do this morning is consider it in its wider context, what comes before, what comes after. And this one verse is an example of this way of God now restoring order to the way that it should be, and giving us motivation for how to do this in the fear and reverence of Christ. Submitting to one another, doing so out of the fear and reverence of Christ. I just want to focus on those two basic ideas in that verse this morning. Again, in its wider context. So verse 21 comes at the end of a section, pretty lengthy section. It's the culmination of that, but it also introduces what comes next. That idea of submission is going to be built on, Lord willing, in the coming weeks as we look at submission. Well, I'll do a summary next week. Ephesians has these long ideas, right? It's helpful to look at them as a whole and then break them down separately. So we'll look at the broad idea of husbands and wives and parents and children and masters and slaves, God willing, next week. But that's what comes after. So this is the end of a thought that goes back to verse 18, but it even goes back to the beginning of chapter 5. So looking back before this verse and forward to what comes next, I think we can begin to get a general understanding of what Paul is talking about here, when he tells us that being filled with the Spirit means submitting to one another. That's that final clause in the exhortation that I read that begins at verse 18, be filled with the Spirit. It's the final example, the final fruit, if you will, of what it means to be filled with the Spirit. Instead of being drunk on wine, be filled with the Spirit, Paul says. Addressing one another, speaking to one another in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, this horizontal communication and relationship that we talked about last week, teaching, exhorting, encouraging one another, supporting one another, praying for one another, worshipping God together, singing songs together. And then the vertical aspect of it, singing and making melody to the Lord with all of our heart, worshipping God and again doing it together. The third fruit, if you will, giving thanks always and for everything. That's all-encompassing. There's nothing left out. Always giving thanks and giving thanks for everything. We talked about how that's a foundational attitude in the Christian life. Gratitude. Being thankful especially for what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Gratitude for the great salvation that God Himself planned and then accomplished for us and in us, because we can't save ourselves. This call to thanksgiving echoes chapter 5 verse 4, which also described the heart of thanksgiving that should be in the believer, the one who imitates God. It's a fundamental motivation for the Christian life. Fundamental motivation for how we're to live and act as believers. And then the final fruit or characteristic of being filled with the Holy Spirit is submitting to one another. It's really kind of an outworking of that motivation. If I'm a thankful person, I will submit to those around me. You might think, well, how does that go together? Well, let me offer you some ideas. First, Paul is already telling us in this passage, submitting to one another is evidence or fruit of being filled with the Spirit. So if you are a Spirit-filled Christian, and if you are a Christian, you are a Spirit-filled Christian, the fruit will be submission to one another. That goes with gratitude. That's the work of the Spirit in us. But then think about the two great commands, love God and love your neighbor as yourself. So what is love? We looked at this months ago in 1 Corinthians 13, that very opposite of selfishness, of focusing on what I want. Love is outward. Love looks at the needs of the others, being patient even when we're not feeling patient. Again, parents and children is a great example of that. Husbands and wives. being kind when we don't particularly feel kindness in our hearts, and so on. In other words, we have to submit our own passions to the call to love. That's submission. But think of the weight of biblical evidence when it comes to the idea of submission. It is a continual theme in the New Testament. Paul himself mentions it at least 23 times, submitting to one another, submitting to God, submitting to leadership. It might be his biggest single topic in all of his letters. But then Jesus, of course, taught it as well. Mark 9 verse 35. If anyone would be first, what does he say? He must be last, and the servant of all. We remember the last. He who wants to be first must be last, but there is an additional clause, and be the servant of all. Matthew 20, the disciples James and John ask Jesus for places of honor at Jesus' right hand side, or on his right and on his left. And Jesus admonishes them, doesn't He? Don't be like the Gentiles, whose rulers lorded over them. And then He says this in Matthew 20, verse 26, Whoever would be great among you must be your servant. Here again, the Bible is not suggesting something to us. I've taken classes, probably many of you have taken classes too, they're popular in the workplace today, on servant leadership. And they're always offered in the sense of, this is a really good idea, why don't you try it? That's not what Jesus says. Whoever would be great among you must, must be your servant. Romans 12 verse 10, love for one another as believers means outdoing one another and showing honor to others. Peter says it in his first letter, chapter 5, verse 5, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. You can think about Paul's entire letter to the Philippians. have the same mind, he says, or mindset, the same way of thinking as Christ himself, who humbled himself and was obedient even to death on a cross for us and for our salvation. And in that letter he points to the humble service of Epaphroditus who brought their gift, or to the humble service of Timothy among them, or even, Paul says, even to his own humble service with them. Earlier in this same letter, chapter four, verse two, we're called upon to walk with humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. J. Vernon McGee says about this, I like this little quote, in the fear of Christ, we are to walk with one another in lowliness of mind. that captures what Paul is talking about in Philippians. Have the same mindset of Christ, meek and lowly in heart. So the evidence of being filled with the Spirit is a life, a continual, constant life of humble submission to other Christians. meeting their needs, honoring them more than the honor we seek or desire, serving them instead of seeking to be served. Now that doesn't mean, I know at least some of you are thinking this, it doesn't mean that we're patsies. that we just roll over for whatever anybody wants and let other people take advantage of us. We'll see this as we look at the passages to come, the relationships in marriage among parents and children and so forth, how they demonstrate the kind of submission that Paul's talking about here in verse 21. Because submission to one another always occurs in the context of the relationships that God has put us in. There's an order of things. Again, that Genesis order in the garden. There's a proper order of things established by God. And when that order is honored and preserved, it's done so humbly and in submission. And it's for our good. Paul tells us about wives submitting to husbands who are over them, and of children submitting to parents who are over them, of slaves or workers submitting to their masters or bosses who are over them. There's an order of things. The Greek word behind submitting to one another has the idea of arranging things in their proper order, but in particular of arranging them in a hierarchy, one thing under another, keeping things in a right order. So submission isn't letting others who are above us wantonly, willy-nilly ordering us around according to their own whims. There's a context for it and there's guidelines for it. We'll see that in the coming weeks, God willing. True love for one another means that those in authority serve those whom God has entrusted to their care. Husbands will be called upon to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for them. for the church, husbands being willing to give themselves up for their wives. Paul is going to tell us that fathers must not provoke their children to anger. Masters are not supposed to threaten their workers. The good leader will see, as we dive into it more deeply, serves those he leads by putting their needs above his own. A couple more quotes. Calvin says this, Let them that are highly exalted consider well that God's honoring of them is in order that they should the more willingly submit themselves to bear the pains and cares that belong to their office. God honored them for a reason, to willingly bear with and submit themselves to the pains and cares that belong to their office. The early church father Jerome put it even more bluntly. He said to early church leaders, hear this, in the church, leaders are servants. There you have it. That's what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. That's what it looks like, it's powerful, it's amazing. When it's put into practice, it bears amazing fruit in the lives of individuals, but in the lives of the church as well. But it also stands as a powerful witness because it completely goes against the grain of the world around us, particularly of sinful desires and wants, even our own. But what a testimony that would be to those around us. Look how they serve one another. Look how they take care of one another. Look at those who lead and do so with humility and gentleness. something to think about in the coming weeks as we go through this passage. Are we the kind of people, whether called to leadership or to followership, if I can put it that way, are we the kind of leader or follower who submits to other believers? Do we put their interests before our own? What should that look like? What should that look like in our families, in our marriages, in our workplaces, in our church? What should that look like for us here at Hope Presbyterian Church? These are important things to think about, important things to understand, important things to commit ourselves to as followers of Jesus Christ. We do it with each other, and we do it with each other's help, because we cannot do it alone. Of course, we do it, as Paul says, out of reverence for Christ, as it says in the ESV. That's the motivation that Paul gives to us. Do this out of reverence for Christ. And that's a nice word, reverence, but it kind of softens the basic meaning of the word, which is fear. Do this, in fact, most other translations translate it that way. Submitting to one another out of fear for Christ. And that might sound scary, but really this is the same idea as we see in the Old Testament. Fear God and keep His commandments. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The idea then is not sheer terror. When I think of sheer terror, I can't help but think of the old movie from when I was a kid, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. You remember the baroness? She was afraid of children, and so there were no children. They were all hidden away. And if she heard about children or saw children, She would shake her hands. Children! That's not what Paul's talking about. Irrational fear or terror. He's talking about an attitude of awe. Awe for who Christ is. Awe because of what Christ has done for us. Awe. because of everything Paul's been writing about in this letter up to this point. The magnificent work of God in Christ, through the Spirit, to secure our salvation. Those of us who were dead in our trespasses and sins, those God raised up with Christ, seated us with Him in the heavenly places. The work of God to choose us, to make us His children, to make us new people, to even call us His own temple where He takes up residence. That's not our work. That's God's powerful work that He accomplished for us because of the great love with which He loved us, by His immeasurable grace, and by that grace alone, given to us as a free gift We don't have to work for it. We don't have to pay for it. Gift of faith, none of us can boast. Why? So that we can be humble. So that we can submit to one another. So that we would simply submit to what God has done in his work. Submit to what he tells us about himself. Submit to what he tells us about how he saves. Submit to how he tells us how to be saved. and then do it. Simply receive and rest in faith on Jesus Christ's accomplished work for His people. And then be free to walk in love, a love that remembers the love of Christ for us when He gave Himself up, as Paul says, as a fragrant offering to the Father. Paul is saying be in awe of Christ Jesus and what He's done. Submit to each other out of reverence, out of fear, out of awe for Jesus Christ. Respect what God has done. And I think that means also respect one another. That's part of this idea of submission. Think about 1 Peter 3, verses 1 and 2, where he describes submission in marriage as a picture to the world around us of respectful and pure conduct. In chapter 2 of that same letter, in verse 18, servants are to be subject to their masters, he says, with all respect. So awe also has that idea of respect. Of course, we should be in awe of what God has done not just for us, but for our brothers and sisters in the faith. Look what God has done for them. Look what God has done in them. Look what God is doing in them. How can we praise God for what is going on in the lives of others? If I am happy for what He did for me, I should be happy for what He has done for you as well. What a great thing that God has done. What a thing to be in awe of that He would take people like us and make us His children. And then he pours out that spirit into every believer. So the union I have with Christ as a believer is a union I share with every other believer as well, because we have the same spirit. Remember that handout we had earlier from covering the first two chapters, especially the Ephesians, all the ways Paul tells us over and over again what God did for us in Christ, with Christ. Our union with Christ matters. But it's not just an individual thing. We're united together. So if I'm in awe of Christ, I should be in awe of His body as well. If I'm light in the Lord, so is every believer. If I have the Spirit, so does every believer. When Paul was talking to us about unity in chapter 4, this is what he was getting at. This is how we walk in humility and patience, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. We're in awe of the work that God has done in those around us. We recognize those around us as those receiving the same blessings and gifts and benefits that we have received. So we can agree with Paul, there is one body, there is one spirit, there is one hope, there is one call, there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. Again, if I see what God has done for me, I ought to see it just as powerfully in every single believer I meet, my brothers, my sisters in the faith. And especially what I ought to see in them is Christ himself. I submit to others out of fear or reverence for Christ because I see Christ in them. How could I not honor them? How could I not respect them? If I refuse to submit to other believers, it means I refuse to see Christ in them. Or even if I see Christ in them, I refuse to submit to Christ, and that's dangerous. So in the end, to serve one another, to submit to one another, is in a very real sense to submit to Christ himself, our Savior, our Lord, and our God. We serve each other and therefore we serve the body and the body is Christ who is the head. Now we're not Christ ourselves, but that union we have with him is so strong, so powerful, so intimate, that really when we see one another, when we serve one another, we are serving the Lord as we do so. Be filled with the Holy Spirit, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. If we are grateful, thankful people of God, this is what we will do. If we have any sense of awe at the great salvation that is ours in and through Jesus Christ, then we need to seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit in doing the very things that Paul describes here. singing, making melody, being thankful, submitting to one another. Again, I'm a Presbyterian pastor. We don't talk about the Holy Spirit very much, and we don't talk about being filled with the Holy Spirit that much. But this is what the Bible means. This is what Paul means when he says, be filled with the Holy Spirit. Brothers and sisters, let's be filled with the Spirit. Let us be filled with the Spirit out of fear and reverence and love for Christ and for His body. Let me pray for us. Lord our God and Father, we do truly stand in awe of who you are and of the things that you have done for we, your poor and humble people, Submission is not easy for us, especially in the cultural context in which we live. So help us to be counter-cultural. Help us to be faithful believers, submissive in the proper biblical sense that you lay out before us. And, O Lord, as we come to this topic in the coming weeks, fill us with wisdom and knowledge that we might believe the things that you have called us to believe and then do the things that you have called us to do. It is not in our power, not in our ability, not in our own will to do these things by ourselves. So do, O Lord, fill us with your Spirit that we might be and do all the things that you have called us to be and to do. This we request humbly in the name of Christ our Savior. Amen.