the past few days we have been thinking about the one another texts that are so practical for us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. This morning our focus will be on the 21st verse of Ephesians chapter 5, read a moment ago, which is submitting to yourselves one to another in the fear of God. We began on Friday with love one another, as Christ hath loved us. A love which is deep, a love which is eternal, a love which is born out of self-sacrifice by the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us. We also thought of how important it is to be kind one to another, tender-hearted, and forgiving one another as an application of love from the Lord Jesus Christ to us as believers and showing it to each other. These one another texts are helpful to us as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. But this morning I want us to think about this whole area of Christians submitting to one another, as the Word of God tells us here. The word submit, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God, is a military term that means to arrange your order under someone else. The obvious analogy of that is of a soldier in a regiment. who lines up under a commanding officer, and the man who joins the army. As soon as he goes through the barrack gates, virtually ceases to become or to continue to be an individual. He has given his life up for service in the army. He's now a member of a body of men, his regiment. All the other men that he is with are gathered together, and they are listening to the commands and the orders that the officers or NCOs issue to them. So any man who joins the army is virtually signing away his life, the right to determine his own life, the right to determine his own activity for this period of service. And I'm thinking here not of a conscripted man, but a volunteer who has gone to the army. And yet, even volunteers, the army takes over his life completely. He is told when to get up, when to eat, what to wear, obliged to wear the uniform, must do as he is told, must give obedience. He cannot go on holiday when he likes. He is a man under authority. Rules to be obeyed that are all set down in standing orders. and he's in big trouble and guilty of insubordination if he breaks any of those rules. And a failure to submit, to be in subjection to his officers, is a serious offence. This is the idea of this word submit here in Ephesians 5.21. And Paul is telling us as believers that we who are filled with the Holy Spirit, those who have been saved by the grace of God, We are to behave voluntarily in exactly the same way as this soldier that I've described, with respect to each other. In a sense, we are members of the same regiment. We are a unit of the same great army of the elect children of God. And we are to do voluntarily that which the soldier is forced to do. But the difference is that we love our Commander-in-Chief, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He has rescued us from death and hell. He has brought us out of darkness into his marvelous light. He's transformed our lives, made us new. And he loves us and provides everything for us. And he, the Lord Jesus Christ, has even shown us what submission is all about. for he knew and showed us. Therefore it should be the easiest thing in the world for us to submit to him and to each other. But is it? Now there is more to submission implied in this 21st verse here. We need to see the importance of not only submitting to our captain and Lord, but to each other as well. Knowledge therefore of the depth of the meaning of this word translated submitting is necessary for our understanding and our instruction and then for our following what it is. First of all this word that is covered by submission can also mean to put into subjection In the eighth chapter of Romans, in verse 20, the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. The creation is spoken of here in this section of Romans 8, subject to vanity or futility after the fall of man through Adam and Eve. and the curse affected the whole of creation. And under its effects and subject to the consequences of the fall, the curse came. The whole world is bound to submit now to be in subjection to the awful effects of man's rebellion. We're subject to it, subject to that futility. But secondly, this word can also mean under someone's feet. Now it does not mean us getting in the way in the kitchen, not that sort of under the feet. It means being under the dominance and the rule of someone who has overcome. For instance, the word occurs over six times in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 27 and 28. For he hath put all things under his feet But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted, speaking of the Saviour, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. Six times the word occurs in these two verses. Earlier in the letter to the Ephesians, in chapter 1, it occurs in this form in verse 22, "...and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church." There is this subjection, this submission. And the Lord Jesus Christ has dominion over all his creatures. All are placed in absolute subjection to him, whether they like it or not, whether they voluntarily, as we sit in the Lord's house, submitting ourselves to the authority of his word, or it be those outside of the congregation of God's people, they still are technically under the subjection of God, of the Lord Jesus Christ. that they don't submit to him is part of their rebellion. And then thirdly, it's used to convey willing obedience and subjecting of oneself to an authority. And several examples help us here with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Luke 2 verse 51, And he, the Lord Jesus Christ, went down with them referring to his parents, Joseph and Mary, and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them. There's the first example of the Lord Jesus Christ giving us an example of subjection, of submission to authority. He voluntarily placed himself under the authority of parents. Then there were 70 disciples sent out to preach by the Lord Jesus. Later in Luke's gospel, chapter 10, the 70 returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. Similar use of the word. And then Paul explains the bondage of the natural human spirit that is not regenerated by God the Holy Spirit in Romans chapter 8. The carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Again, that rebellion, that not being subject to God's law by choice. And then fourthly, unconverted people do not and will not subject themselves to the requirements of their capacity of image-bearers of God. Because as image-bearers, we have the law of God written on our hearts. That is why we have a conscience. It's why we know when we have sinned. We know when things are wrong in our lives. For the Lord God has written those commandments of his, the moral law, on our hearts. And we cannot get away from it. Yes, the world would want to do that by denying them, by saying that they are not subject to them. Why should we? But nevertheless, God has made us that way. and therefore to disobey the commandments is rebellion against the Creator. They, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." And finally there's the use that we find here in Ephesians 5, the submission of Christians one to another. So this verse, even though it's a prelude to specific teaching about submission in particular relationships, we did not read about them, but wives and husbands and children later on in Ephesians 5. Very distinctly, it primes our thoughts with our duty to be submissive in our church relationships. Well, first of all, submission to Christ. That implies that we understand in our hearts, in our minds, the solemn relationship that we have as believers in Jesus Christ, as individuals. We are subject, first of all, to him. Paul said in chapter three of Ephesians, for this cause, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Bowing the knees, is willing surrender. It is voluntary submission, subjection. And it's to God through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm sure we're familiar with our status now as Christians, in that we have, by the grace of God, through repentance, through faith, submitted to and believed on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me say, if you have not done that this morning, then you need to. because he is God, he is over all, he is the ruler of the universe, he does all things well and right, he does nothing wrong, he is the Lord God to whom we must give submission and subjection. And that is the gospel that Christ has come to give us, that ability to seek him with all our hearts and turn to him. If you're not a believer this morning, My friend, you are perhaps submitted to your own ideas and your own ideals. Perhaps you have subjected yourself to your own righteousness and thinking that that will be good enough for you before God, but it will not. He calls you to submit to Him, this dear Saviour. He has every right to because He is your maker. He has every right to because He sustains you day by day. As an unbeliever right now, you are benefiting from the air that we breathe, from the food that you have eaten today, the clothes that you wear, the very state of being that you have, the life that you have, is because God in his sovereignty has granted it to you. And therefore, you must acknowledge him. You must come to him in repentance and faith. You must turn to him and seek him as your own saviour. And you say, well, that's hard. How can I submit to someone I can't see? How can I submit to someone that I just read about in a book? How can I submit to someone who seems to have changed the lives of others that I know in a congregation? How can I? Well, look at him and see how he submitted to his father's will. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. though he was in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant. And he humbled himself unto his father. He humbled himself unto the judge of all men. He humbled himself, he submitted himself, even unto death, the death of the cross. That's how humble, that's how much in subjection the Saviour Jesus Christ was. He has been there before you, my unbelieving friend, and therefore look to Him and seek Him with all your heart. And we trust and pray that He will find you by His Spirit. Now our submission as believers to our dear Master means that we should long to please Him, to serve him, to work for him, to honour him, to glorify him, and to see his kingdom expanded. And we want his name to be exalted because that name is worthy of exaltation. He is worthy of these things. And so a true Christian is a surrendered person. It's been said that he who abandons himself to God will never be abandoned by God. William Bridges remarked, if you lay yourself at Christ's feet, he will take you into his arms. I wonder if this is how we see ourselves as believers this morning. Are we, my friends, fully submitted to the Lord Jesus Christ? Does he have every part of us, every aspect of our lives, or are we holding something back from him? Have we reserved something in our lives that we don't want him to know about? And even though he does, or something we're not willing to give up. Perhaps it's a portion of our time, our wealth, our energy. Are we fully surrendered in every area of our lives with respect to our relationship to Jesus Christ? So a Christian is a person who has submitted absolutely to the sovereign Lord Jesus Christ. But this submission flows into mutual submission within the body of Christ. And this mutual submission one to another in the fellowship of the gospel of church members is actually a Christian duty. It is a hallmark of a spiritually filled Christian. There are some other related scripture verses which make this submission into this command to the whole body of Christ. So in fact, we are to be submitted and in submission to one another. Peter tells us in his first letter in chapter five, likewise you younger submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility. For God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he might exalt you in due time. Paul, writing to the Philippians, says, Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Be kindly affectioned one to another, Paul says in Romans 2, with brotherly love. And how is that to happen? In honor, preferring one another. So these verses teach that Christians are not and should not be isolated individuals, independent of each other. The letter to the Ephesians has a constant theme of church at local level being one body. just as much as there is a needed unity in an army, all the men pulling together, knowing their role, faithful to their respective tasks, and a place there in the armies, so it is in the same way in a local church. Now submitting one to another has both negative and positive features. Let's deal with the negative first. What submitting is not about. First of all, submissive believers in a church should not be thoughtless. Thoughtlessness often indicates something else, prayerlessness. We thought about that yesterday, praying one for another. We must all work on this together, interest in one another without intrusiveness. and busybodying as a blessing when it's properly exercised, when there is a true concern one for another. And so we should be thoughtful, not thoughtless, because thoughtlessness can lead to discouragement and the feeling that people don't care. And secondly, submissive believers must not be selfish and self-centered. And here it must be said that while Christians are still individuals in their own rights, Yet they are not to be individualistic. And as soon as we do that, we're wrong. Individualism is doing our own thing, whether or not it affects others. It's more the characteristic of a spoilt child than a submissive team member. And mutual submission can never flourish while members wish to retain that individualism. And then thirdly, submissive believers must seek to avoid self-assertion. Because self-assertiveness is the world's way of pushing yourself forward. It's a supposed antidote to what is called low self-esteem. But that is not for us in the Church of Jesus Christ. Because what does the child of God have to do with these things of pushing ourselves forward? Sadly, the world does that. You go for a job and they ask you, why are you the best person for this job? Why are you the best? Why should we choose you? What's special about you? What's good about you? But that's not for us. Actually, low self-esteem is what the Christian life is all about. Why? Because of the reality of sin. We've come to see that we cannot esteem ourselves highly at all. There is nothing to commend ourselves in and of ourselves. We are lost in our sins, in our trespasses. We are debtors to God. But when Christ comes in to fill our lives, oh, what a difference that makes. Our esteem then is lifted when Jesus comes into our souls. Not self-esteem, but Christ-esteem. Because now we feel good because Christ is our Saviour. We feel good because we can highly esteem Him. And others esteem the Christ who lives in us, then, when they see Christ making the difference. And we can never take any credit for ourselves, and neither would we want to, but we magnify our Savior, we lift Him up. Our assertiveness, then, has its roots in the Word of God alone, in the Scriptures. And mutual submission depends on, first of all, our esteeming Jesus Christ highly in our lives, and others, second, But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves, and ourselves last. As an aside, it means crucifying ourselves, and it means putting Christ first. You probably know the little acronym JOY, J-O-Y, Jesus first, others next, yourself last. And then submissive believers must not be self-opinionated because a Christian has, and of course quite rightly has, opinions. But the submissive Christian cannot be self-opinionated. There is a difference between someone who has good and strong and Bible-based beliefs and opinions and someone who is opinionated, someone who is self-conscience. Someone who is proud of their own opinions, of the conclusions they've come to. Sometimes they even take the word of God and say, I think it means this. Often the opinionated man or woman is much more interested in the fact that he believes that in what he believes. Always looking at himself, parading himself and his beliefs and making people say, you've got to believe this too. and opinionated people regularly cause clashes within the family of God. That's not the way of mutual submission. And then fifthly, submissive believers must not be dictatorial. Some will immediately think that this must not be dictatorial only applies to those who are in the leadership of the church, of the body of Christ. And they'll cite such scriptures as 1 Peter 5, which we referred to before. There the elders are told that they must not be lords over the flock. To lord it. And this is because those in the eldership are particularly exposed to the danger of temptation to be dictatorial. Nevertheless, this passage in 1 Peter exhorts the elders to then be examples of the flock. The flock is exhorted to follow the example by avoiding the same temptation to be dictatorial, of giving orders, of manipulating circumstances and people to gain their own ends rather than the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's not just the leaders of the church who are vulnerable to this trait that prevents or destroys mutual submission. Those are some of the negatives, but what about the positives? To be truly submissive to one to another we need a true affection for each other as Christians. A true affection. Already in this series of sermons we've looked at love one another. We realise that we have no option but to love one another. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love, says Paul in Romans 12, in honour preferring one another. And this, my friends, is not an invitation. This is an imperative. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love. It's an order from the Lord Jesus Christ through his apostle Paul. You and I must love one another. It's a tall order. But we must not forget some of the vital advantages that we have as Christian believers. And the first advantage is this, that the Lord Jesus Christ loved us even before the foundation of the world. He knew us, knew us by name, was aware of us. Before we were saved, when we were utterly unlovely, when we were unlovable in our sins, he loved his enemies. We are not asked to love our enemies in the church. Mutual submission means that there should be no enemies in the congregation, only brothers and sisters who should be best friends and affectionate to each other. And secondly, we realize that we cannot naturally love some people, believe as though they may be, Even though we perhaps find people rubbing us up the wrong way or a different personality that strikes difficulties into our lives, yet we can love them supernaturally. If naturally it's difficult, supernaturally through Christ, the virtue of the filling of the Holy Spirit in our souls, it is possible to be affectionate, to love one another. One of the poets says, may the mind of Christ my saviour live in me from day to day, by his power and love controlling all I do and say. And if you have an enemy in the church, then love that person. Love them with that supernatural love of Christ. And if you have become an enemy, To anyone in the church, seek to love that person and seek to be reconciled with the supernatural Christ-given love. And you will then find the enmity evaporating and affection of a mutual kind being increased and promoted. So mutual submission absolutely excludes enmity of all kinds. The filling of the Holy Spirit in our lives is the answer. to that lack of affection. It's an outworking of what is said in Ephesians 4, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Which leads us to the next positive. To be truly submissive one to another, we need a true humility with each other. Pride, that principal impediment to mutual submission, must be counterattacked with mutual humility. Once again, that scripture in 1 Peter 5 throws out the challenge. Likewise ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another and be clothed in humility. For God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he, and it's his right to exalt, he may exalt you in due time. The exaltation of being in the presence of Christ in that day when he calls us to be with himself. Someone has said that the humility is the repentance of pride. I think I quoted this yesterday at the questions. Humility is that grace that when you know you have it, you've actually lost it. Humility is the sacrifice of self-recognition. It prefers others to get the credit for something than take it to ourselves. Have you ever had that situation? You perhaps worked very hard on a project or something or you've been preparing food for people and someone has said that, well, that other person provided a lovely meal when it was you all the time. What do you feel inside? It's not for her to get the credit, but for me. Or it could be something else practical that has been done in the church and perhaps mistakenly someone else has been given that bit of exaltation. And what do you feel? You feel that you want to be justified. You feel that you want the credit because that's where it belongs. Can you be humble in that situation? Christ can help you to be that. And he will if you ask him. Humility then seeks earnestly to build up others, even when it costs us personally. So how are we doing, my friends, with this spirit-filled humility? How is the battle with pride and self-seeking? Unless each of us are on the constant offensive against pride, we will not enjoy the sweet and blessed fruits of mutual submission among ourselves. And then thirdly, to be truly submissive one to another, we need a genuine willingness to cooperate with each other. I wonder what our greatest desire as members one of another, after we state that we long to see the God, the God of all men, honored and his son's kingdom extended. What's that desire? Is it our greatest desire to hold office? Our greatest desire to be involved in the organization somehow? To be seen as a pillar or a principal person within the church? To make sure that others respect our rights? Oh, there's so much of that today in our society. Respecting rights. But we can equally do that in the church and want rights within the congregation. Are these then our desires? If these are our desires, then we'll never achieve that unity by mutual submission in the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, it's seeking individualism. We're missing the point of true mutual submission one to another. It is actually the foregoing of rights that draws people together. The Christian who wishes to see the Christian church, the body of Christ advancing, will be interested in the advancement and the development of others first, and the church in the long run. What is that greater goal that we see? The unity of the body does not worry any longer about his or her rights. The Christian doesn't talk about them then, always watching them and guarding them. These things depart when mutual submission and subjection to each other is in place. This is an atmosphere of cooperation then, and it always needs to be worked out in the church. Before any of us say, well, this is so idealistic, it's so unbelievable and unachievable. Well, my friends, this text in Ephesians 5 actually leads us no option. Submit yourselves in the fear of God. Knowing the Lord has given us the supernatural equipment to do it. Are we then filled with the spirit and ready to submit? And then to be truly submissive one to another, we need three more things to be in place. We need accountability one to another. And if we are to be subject one to another, we need to be brave enough to have a given account. to each other. There is scriptural guidance in this. Galatians 6 verse 1, brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest also thou be tempted. And submission requires each one of us to be ready to be answerable to each other, ready to admit our failures, and ready to depend on each other's prayers in our areas of weakness. and only true mutual submission will allow this to flourish. We need also responsibility to one another because we are responsible to each other as well as to the Lord for our faith and our practice in the church so that we work and speak with one voice. Like-mindedness, mutual respect, adherence to the pure teaching of the word of God takes this responsibility seriously. And in these days of error and foolishness in the wider churches, we have a responsibility to our Savior to preserve the purity of his gospel and the purity of worship. And that is done as we're responsible to each other, as we're accountable to each other. And we achieve that in this responsibility by knowing what we believe, by standing firm on the word of God, by being submissive and subjection to the teaching of the word of God from this pulpit. Knowing what we believe and a willingness to defend that against who may wish to gain entrance and destroy our unity. And then thirdly, we need loyalty to one another. And that loyalty defends one another when someone is attacked. And such loyalty that refuses to believe an outsider's accusation against a member until the facts are known. That will not listen to those remarks or those implied even accusations before we find out. And such loyalty that demonstrates to an outside world that these Christians indeed in their church love one another. There needs to be a strength of loyalty that refuses to be satisfied with a mediocre standard of church fellowship that does not strive for true loving submission in this atmosphere of accountability and of responsibility and loyalty. Once again, we fear that these standards of church unity and mutual submission are beyond us because we find ourselves to be weak creatures. But that would be the wrong kind of fear to have. Because at the tail end of our text today, as we close, a precious qualifying statement brings such fears to nothing. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. And the word for fear in this phrase is the reverential fear of Almighty God, that respect, that controlling motive in the Christian's life. It's not the fear of God's power and righteous retribution only, there is that in it. But it is a wholesome fear of displeasing the Lord God. A fear that banishes the terror that ordinarily makes us shrink from his presence. And this fear of God influences us as we seek to submit to Him and then to each other. And this fear gives us a reason for the submission one to another because it pleases God when we are united. And therefore it displeases Him when there is disunity and when there is a lack of mutual submission. So do we want to displease our Saviour, my Christian brothers and sisters? All of our circumstances are guided by God's loving hand if we're obedient and if we trust him. He has given us his Holy Spirit in order to demonstrate that the power of God can do great things amongst the Lord's people who belong to him. I wonder if we're ready for the adventure. in the Church of Jesus Christ, in the local assembly, to submit ourselves one to another in the fear of God, that the Lord Jesus Christ will indeed be honoured and glorified, for we want his name to be uplifted and glorified. And then the needy world outside will take notice, if they're interested, but they will see. They will see what your relationship to each other is, and how special it is, they will see that you are seeking to crucify your pride and your self-seeking and your self-assertion and your selfishness and that there'll be no dictators amongst you. There will be that true precious mutual submission rooted in your relationship to Jesus Christ and submission to him. People will be amazed. at the affection and mutual esteem that there is amongst the members of this church that takes mutual submission seriously. And we trust that they will praise God for his miraculous working in all of our lives. Are you ready for that? This is the exhortation of this text to us today. May he make this gloriously true for us today. And in the future, as we seek to be obedient to this text, submit yourselves one to another in the fear of God. I mentioned it's an adventure. Yes, it will be. It'll be something that will challenge. It'll be something that will perhaps disturb. But don't let it go by without thinking this is the word of God. I need, as an individual Christian, you need as an individual Christian, to submit myself to others in the fear of God. Readiness to do that is an indication that the Lord Jesus Christ is active in his powerful way amongst an assembly. May it be so that this will bring great joy, may bring great peace in believing, may bring great joy and affection and mutual cooperation here with you and enhance the relationships that you have and build the Church of Jesus Christ here as it is seen in this community. To the praise of our Saviour and to the glory of his name. Amen. Let us pray together.