2003-02-12
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Yesterday, the Spirit led me to begin writing about submission to God, and there’s a real need to understand the crucial nature of this issue for all believers. It’s sad that our present society has made the word “submission” so wholly unacceptable. I say this in view of what the Father has to teach us about it. For example, we find in EPH 5: 22, “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.” This is followed shortly in EPH 5: 25 by, “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave His life for it.” Just in these two citations, we see a line of authority emerging, the line that God intends. No husband or wife who is neglectful or abusive to the other is in line with God’s will. In addition, we see another form of JN 15: 13, “The greatest love a person can have for His friends is to give his life for them.” The line of authority is made clear and is completed in the connection that exists between Christ and the Father and Christ and us. COL 1: 15, “Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the first-born Son, superior to all created things.” [Christ speaking to Phillip] JN 15: 9, 11, “…Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father…Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” JN 14: 6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the Father, except through Me.” Christ never does anything without the leadership of the Father in His life, and we should never do anything without Christ’s leadership in ours.
So, once I again I boldly say that there is real strength and power in submission to God. The power of I speak of is not that of manipulation or pragmatism, but it is power to do God’s work. The latter surely includes fighting the devil to victory in Christ’s name and loving others as Christ loves us, among other things. This is the kind of power which gives us strengthened faith, allows us to endure pain, suffering and loss, and will see us safely delivered from our sorrows into the Father’s hands for an eternal life of joy in heaven with Him. James teaches us about our need to submit to God and resist the devil in JAS 4: 7-8, 10. “So then, submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will run away from you. Come near to God, and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners! Purify your hearts, you hypocrites!…Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” James knew God has authority over all and wanted us to understand and accept that for our own good.
There are times when it is helpful to go back into the original language, in this case Greek, since we are looking at a NT verse. That allows us to clarify exactly what is meant by the writer inspired by God. Let’s look at the word, submit. In the Greek, submit, as used in JAS 4: 7, is imperative mood, the passive voice, and the aorist tense. The imperative mood tells us that it is a command that we are to obey. The passive voice tells us that the subject receives the action of the verb. We (subject) are to submit (verb) to God. There is no aorist tense in English, but it Greek it refers the situation where a command is given at a specific, undefined time in the past. In other words, we don’t know the exact time that God inspired James to write this, but we know that He did. Because James was Christ’s half-brother, and we know he didn’t come to faith until after the crucifixion, we can say it must have been some time after Christ’s death, but we don’t know exactly when.
We can do the same thing with the word, resist, as found in JAS 4: 7. It is in the aorist active imperative. The imperative mood tells us it’s a command we are to obey. The active voice tells us the subject performs an action, in this case, we (subject) are to resist (action to be taken). The aorist tense is a command given sometime in the past, but we don’t know exactly when.
Before I sound too scholarly here, let me say that I took one course on mood, voice, and tense from Precepts Ministries, so I’m no expert. However, I do have the desire to learn Biblical Greek and Hebrew some day and hope that this explanation demonstrates why such a pursuit is not a waste of time. It is my belief that such courses should not only be offered to seminarians, but should be made available in our congregations to the growing number of devout believers who want to deepen their knowledge and appreciation of God’s teaching through His word.
Getting back to the issue at hand, we must never be afraid to submit to the Father’s authority over us or that of the Son. Unlike human efforts to hold authority, we need never fear that any unrighteousness or injustice will be dealt us at the hand of our Deity. It simply isn’t in Him. What we need to do is to continue examining our lives for the nature of our own willingness to submit to God. If there are problems with that, then we need to set about dealing with them in a timely fashion, because we have been told, “The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” [1 THESS 5: 2]. The sound of the last trumpet [shofar] will come when we least expect it.
PRAYER: O Lord, we stand before Your throne today with our heads bowed and our hearts seeking Your wisdom, Your leadership, and Your direction for our lives. It is by Your invitation that we have faith. It is by our choice that we accept Your invitation to join You in Your work. We acknowledge that without You we are spiritually impoverished and hopelessly incapable of defeating the evil forces that lure and tempt us. With You, we can find the direction, protection, and provision we need to fend Satan off. You gave us Your Son on the cross, so that we could be saved and able to choose not to sin. RO 10: 4, “For Christ has brought the Law to an end, so that everyone who believes is put right with God.” It is through His blood shed for us that we are now Your partners in the New Covenant [1 COR 11: 25]. This covenant is the new and better covenant that Jeremiah prophesied would be made in JER 31: 31-34. You have given us the gift of the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, have told us to listen for Your commandments, and have given us Your word so that we can know Your will. Our part is to obey Your commandments and to trust You, living “in Christ.” COL 3: 3-4 is the reality that arises from faithfully obeying you. “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Your real life is Christ and when He appears, then you too will appear with Him and share His glory.” Dearest Abba, we acknowledge that You are our one and only true God, that You are superior to all other gods, and that Your righteous power is supreme. These words from the Psalms are in our hearts. PS 135: 6, “Whatever the Lord pleases He does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.” Your wisdom is unparalleled. PS 147: 5, “Our Lord is great and very powerful. There is no limit to what He knows.” You are full of goodness, which You want us to share. PS 16: 2, “I said to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord. Every good thing I have comes from You.” We joyfully submit to You today and always and are dedicated to resisting the devil. We humbly confess our sins and offer You our worship, adoration, loyalty, diligence, glory, honor, trust, obedience, thanks, and praise. Eternally, in Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
I am led to write about practical applications of the strategies God gives us to fend off Satan's attacks in tomorrow’s message. While this has been a lengthy series, I don’t apologize for that. Spiritual warfare is something that touches every believer in one way or another without exception. It is important enough that the Lord led me to spend this time on it. No doubt the Spirit will always have things to say to us about how to deal with the fiery arrows Satan is sending our way. Rest assured that RO 8: 18 and other places in the Scriptures are given to us so that we won’t become discouraged or give up our precious faith. All of the pain and heartache that we must endure is worth the final outcome. Our Father never stops loving us or abandons us. Remember, IS 49: 14-16 tells us our names are written on the palms of His hands. His love is eternal, consistent, fair, and beautiful. It is there for anyone who loves Him and endures in his faith. Peter and I send each of you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn