A Submissive Heart

Take your Bibles if you would please and turn to the book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 21. Just one verse for today. Hopefully it'll be a shorter sermon. No, Amen?

Okay, good. Just one verse for today. It has some monumental concepts for us to be able to tackle and comprehend in it. One being submissiveness and the other fear or respect for God.

In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 21, it says, "And being subject one to another in the fear of Christ." That's the legacy. The NAS would say "be subject to one another in the fear of Christ." And so the title for today's message is a submissive heart. And I'd like for you to know that a submissive heart is where life truly starts. Life in Christ requires this element of humility and mutual submissiveness, especially when it comes to, first of all, submitting to Christ.

And so life starts at this down point when you kneel at the foot of the cross, when you yield to Christ, when you submit yourself to God. That's where life actually starts. That's the starting point of your joy. That's the starting point of life hitting in the right direction is when you kneel, when you bow, when you yield to the Lord.

And so a submissive heart is where life starts. Life goes in the wrong direction when you are filled with pride. Proverbs 16, 18 said, "Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling." And so this good word in the Old Testament, the Proverbs say haughty, haughty spirit. When you are high-minded, or when you are lifting yourself up, or if you have a high estimation of your abilities as opposed to a dependence upon Christ, then that's when you will stumble.

The Bible says that's when you're headed for destruction. And so pride goes before destruction or before a fall. And so in those areas that you are high-minded in or arrogant in, those are the areas that are going to self-destruct. And those are the areas to where the trials that you will incur will not be for your faith, and so if you would like to know a sermon in a sentence and to encapsulate today's message, I would say this, we live by this command to submit to others out of reverence for Christ.

This is what we live by. This is how we live in regards to being Christians, a body of humble believers. We submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. We're referencing Christ when we serve one another, when we submit to one another.

The Bible says in Colossians 1.13 that Christ is the head of the body of the church. And so he's the head, he's the controller, he's the one who sets the tone. And the tone that he is setting here is for us to be subject one to another. And so a submissive heart is a result of being filled with the Spirit in the text.

Look with me in verse 18. Ephesians 5.18 says, "Do not be drunk with wine," for that is dissipation, "but be filled with the Spirit." And so being filled with the Spirit then is defined in verses 19, 20, and 21 in that you will be speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father, and being subject to one another in the fear of Christ. And so speaking, singing, thinking, and submitting is what it means to be filled with the Spirit. And as we have already spoken about in verse 20, thanking God for all things is something that requires you to be filled with the Spirit.

If you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then from the overflow of your confidence in God and not yourself, your confidence in God, not the world, your confidence in God, not money or circumstances or your own ability, enables you from a humble submissive perspective in view of God to be thankful for all things because you believe that God works all things for His glory and your good for those who love Him, Romans 8.28. And so as well, we're not complaining and murmuring, we're actually thanking Him for all things. This is someone who is filled with the Spirit who is able to do this. So thanking God for all things is not easy.

It's not easy to be one who is thanking God for all things, but it's one who trusts God without any reservation in the heart. And now it's the same for being submissive. It requires you, what is the requirement of you to be able to be submissive one to another? It requires you to be filled with the Spirit.

This is not natural. I say it like this all the time, godly character is not natural. It really isn't. Godly character is something that has been from disciplining yourself to conform to Christ.

And so godly character, not being natural for the human body, naturally we are sinners. Naturally we are selfish. Naturally we do not want to thank God for all things. And we certainly don't want to be subject to one another.

We don't want to, in the flesh, be subject to anybody, much less subject ourselves to everyone or be in the service of everyone to help everyone. And so to be under the control of the Holy Spirit in all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength means your whole being will be speaking the Word of God, singing about Christ, thanking God for all things, and submitting one to another. Paul finishes his definition of what it means to be filled with the Spirit with this idea of submitting. And this subject of submitting or being subject is used to set the tone for the rest of the relationships that are set forth in chapter 5 and chapter 6.

This one idea, submitting, carries through to the next passage and sets the tone for what it means to be a good husband, a good wife, a good parent, a good employee, and a good spiritual war fighter. These are the main subjects that finish out the book of Ephesians and we're heading there fast, I think. We're getting there as fast as we can, verse by verse, concept for concept. But I don't want to skip over anything.

So this paragraph ends with a link that links to the rest and that is the verb submitting. And so it sets the tone, it sets the stage, it sets the heart attitude that will what God's will is for your life. And so this means if you carry through the thought from the beginning all the way through, this is what it sounds like. You can turn back to chapter 5, verse 1 if you want to walk with me in the train of thought in the text.

I want you to see it for yourself. Chapter 5, verse 1, "Therefore be imitators of God." And so this main idea is from where all of these sub ideas stem from. You are to be an imitator of God, of Christ. And so in order to do that, chapter 5, verse 2 says you're going to walk in love.

And chapter 5, verse 8 means that you're going to walk in the light. If you're going to imitate God, then you're not only going to walk in love and walk in the light, but you're also going to walk in wisdom. Chapter 5, verse 15, we've talked about all of those. Not only are you going to walk in a way that is worthy of your calling in all of these areas, but you're also, chapter 5, verse 18, you're going to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And we just talked about what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit that results in a life that's overflowing with speaking and singing and thinking and submitting. And so all of this here enables you, if you are one who is submitted to the Spirit, you have a submissive spirit, a heart attitude of submission, first of all to God, then that's going to enable you to have a biblical marriage, chapter 5, verses 22 to 23. It's going to enable you to be a biblical parent, chapter 6, verses 1 through 4. It's going to enable you to be a biblical employee, chapter 6, verses 5 to 9.

And it's going to enable you to be a successful fighter, chapter 6, verses 10 to 20. Many fail in a lot of these areas because they simply don't have the first step right, which means to submit to Christ, to have a submissive heart, especially one to another. And so submitting to the Spirit enables you to have a normal, joyful, Spirit-controlled life. Not one that means that I have to have control of all things.

It means you yield control to God in all areas, heart, soul, mind, and strength, and especially in these areas that are mentioned. And so this is what it means to think biblically. And I would like for just a moment to share with you that thinking or dwelling starts in the heart. That's a heart attitude that this is getting down to.

And so Psalm 119.11 says, "Your word have I treasured in my heart that I might not sin against you." And so God's word will conform the heart unto these heart attitudes and will prevent unnecessary sinning. Psalm 51.10 says, "Created me a clean heart, O God." And so that is simply understood like this, that you're taking personal responsibility and asking God to help you to submit to His ways because you believe His ways are better. You're not doing it your way. You're submitting to His ways and you want to find out what His word says to walk in wisdom, to walk in light, to walk in love, to be filled with the Spirit.

"Created me this heart, dear God, that I might desire Your law, Your words, Your ways above my own. Help me, dear Jesus, to put myself aside. Help me to crucify the flesh and help me to walk in the Spirit, not gratify the flesh." Paul encouraged the Galatian church to do this when he said, "Walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh." Galatians 5.16. It's very important to realize that the first step is submitting to the Spirit and when you do that, then you will gratify the things that that God is pleased with and not the things of the flesh.

The Spirit is opposed to the flesh here. That's important to know. I want you to take a look with me, turn to Romans 10.1 at the heart of Paul in regards to his ability to conform his desires to something that would be not natural. Romans chapter 10 and verse 1.

This is a very impressive prayer and it's a demonstration of how much your heart can be conformed and I want you to notice this. In Romans chapter 10 verse 1 it says, "Brothers, my heart's desire." Okay, so Paul has truly submitted himself so much so to the will of God that his heart's desires are in alignment with God's will and when your heart's desires are in alignment with God's will, it's really a result of the fact that you have been delighting yourself in the Lord and the Proverbs or the psalmist said it this way, "If you delight yourself in the Lord, he will give you the desires of your heart." And so that's when you can trust your desires is when you have been delighting yourself in the law of the Lord and you have been submitting yourself to God's word and you are doing your absolute best from the pleased God and to be in alignment with him, you're crucifying the flesh, you're putting sinful deeds aside, you're controlling your thoughts in your mouth and your heart attitudes and your actions, you're submitting yourself to Christ.

A result of this is an example here in Romans 10. "Brothers, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation." Paul subjects himself to the Jews and the Gentiles. He wants their well-being. That's what he desires.

He wants for them to be right with Christ. He has inwardly a compulsion, a desire for the loss to be saved. His concerns, his focus, his thoughts, his check writing, his feet marching, his lip speaking, everything is in aligned with that desire. And so he has moved self aside and placed before him the desire of others' well-being.

Do you think this is a fulfillment of Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 21? "Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ or in the respect of Christ or respecting what Christ has done." Christ died for those who would repent and believe and out of respect for that now Paul goes after those who would be saved. It's an amazing point here to see that Paul now has purposed himself outside of himself and has placed others' well-being as more important than himself. And the Bible supports this idea all over the place.

In Romans chapter 12 verse 10 it says, "Giving preference to one another in honor of Christ." So we give preference to someone else over our own preferences. In Philippians 2.3 it says, "With humility of mind regarding one another is more important than yourselves." How much conformity to Christ would it require for us to be able to think that Philippians 2.3 is mine? I own it. I live it.

I actually feel this way. This is my desire. My heart beats like this Philippians 2.3, "With humility of mind regarding one another is more important than yourselves." That's superbly important. You know, you think to yourself, how is this possible?

How do submissive people think? Well they think of themselves as not having first. They think of themselves as being okay with being last. This is something that the Word of God has accomplished in your heart and mind.

Matthew chapter 20 verse 16 says, "The first will be last and the last will be first." This is a kingdom mindset, not a worldly mindset. And also, the Bible also gives us the illustration for when Jesus washed the disciples' feet. In John chapter 14 and verse 5 it says, "He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet." How submissive is it when you see Christ the King kneeling down to do the lowest servants' job? This is anti-cultural and this is the example that we have.

How do we do this? Well, point number one is a submissive heart obeys God. A submissive heart obeys God. And in John chapter 15 in verses 10 to 14 the Bible says this, "If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.

These things have I spoken to you so that my joy may be in you." Get this now. This anti-cultural way of submitting to one another actually produces the joy of the Father in you. Okay? "My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

This is my commandment that you love one another just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this than one laid down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you to do." What an example Jesus has set here. Now, in order for this to happen, you must have a heart that is submissive to the Word of God.

I'm talking about not week by week, Sunday to Sunday, like, "Oh yeah, I'm a Christian. Let me put my Sunday clothes on." It's not day by day. It's actually moment by moment. Moment by moment you're submitting to Christ.

You're submitting yourself to the Word of God. How do you do that? Well, it's certainly from the heart. John chapter 4 verse 24 says that God is spirit.

And now we know that not only is God spirit, we know that his spirit resides within us. Those who have been saved have the seal of the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 1 13. And so the seal of the Holy Spirit being in and on your heart means that God is in you. And so we must submit our heart to the Spirit of God.

And in Deuteronomy chapter 10 and verses 12 and 13 it says, "So now Israel, what does Yahweh, your God, ask of you but to fear Yahweh your God and to walk in all of his ways and to love him." Love is from the heart. "And to serve him," we must be serving him from the heart, "with all of your heart and with all of your soul and to keep his commandments of Yahweh, his statutes which I'm commanding you today for you're good." So we see that this is something that has got to be from the heart. It cannot be external obedience. You can't grow up in church and learn how to talk the Christianese.

You can't grow up in church and learn how to do things that make you look like a Christian and it be real. It has to be from the heart. God wants your heart. He's zealous and jealous for you.

And you, where you are is in the heart. You are there. And so Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 8 says, "You have put all things in subjection under your feet for in subjecting all things to him he left nothing that is not subject to him." And so this being that all that you see and all that you can imagine has been submitted to Christ. Christ is in control of that.

At the very least of all of this should be your heart. If Christ is in control of all things and all things have been submitted to him, are you truly just as submitted to him as the cosmos has been submitted to his control? As the planetary movements, as the ecosystem, as everything being under the control of Christ, are you spirit-filled and controlled with Christ? The heavens, the galaxies, the cosmos, the angels, the demons, history, future, the earth, and all it contains?

Psalm 24.1, all it contains belongs to God and everything has been subjected to him. And so now when it comes to our hearts, how do you do this from the inside of your heart? And in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 1 helps us to see how long this ramp has been being ramped up to get to these climactic, gigantic ideas of imitating God, walking in love and in light and in wisdom, and being filled with the spirit, which now means that we are subject to one another. This chapter 4 verse 1 says, "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, exhort you to walk worthy of your calling." Now if you consider your life or your walk as one that needs to be worthy of your calling, of your salvation, of your effectual call to be saved, the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again in your place, paid your penalty, saved you from hell.

If you fear Christ, which this verse in chapter 5 verse 21 is talking about, submits to one another in the fear of Christ, this is the idea that you will walk in the fear of Christ in the respect of what he has done for you in the manner that is worthy not only of the fact that you've been saved, but the fact that you respect him in all of who he is and what he has done. "Therefore I, a prisoner of the Lord," Ephesians 4.1, "exhort you to walk worthy of the calling which you have been called." And here's how to do that. You say, "How? I get it.

I understand it." Now tell me how. Well this long ramp leading up to chapter 5 starts with these ideas right here in verse 2 with all humility. Humility is exuberated in your posture. It's through your eyes.

It's through your countenance. It's through your tone. It's through your actions. It's your choice of words.

It's the attitude of the heart that comes out of all of who you are with all humility and gentleness with patience bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. All of these things, humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love, are things that you do from being filled with the Holy Spirit and you do it from the inside of your heart. And when you are not filled with the Spirit but are in the flesh, guess what you do? You do the opposite of verse 2.

Chapter 4 verse 2 says, "Humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love." When you are filled with the Spirit, these are the things that you do. But when you are in the flesh, you're not humble, you're arrogant. When you're filled with the flesh and you're not in the Spirit, you're not gentle, you're harsh. And loose lips sink ships.

Life and tongue. A lot of times we just slice people up real quick like from a knee-jerk reaction in the flesh. And that's terrible to not be filled with the Spirit but to be dominated by the flesh. And then as well, you're just impatient all the time.

You have no self-restraint to listen when someone's talking, to love someone by listening, by yielding your time as if your time is your own value. You belong to Christ. And so be patient. And then as well, bearing with one another.

If your impatience causes you to be short-fused with people, then you are not as filled with the Spirit as you think you are. And so I implore you, brothers and sisters, to be filled with the Spirit and yield yourself to God so that these are yours from the heart. And as you put Christ on like clothing, as you put on the new life, it will eventually wash away all of those sinful heart attitudes and conform you to Christ. And you will find yourself filled with the joy that I read to you just a minute ago in John chapter 15, "The joy of the Father will then now be in you and you will be happy in humility and in gentleness and impatience and in bearing with one another." This is your best life in Christ.

Outside of Christ, you're frustrated with being patient. Outside of being filled with the Spirit, you're frustrated with bearing with one another. You're dominated by the Spirit of the flesh and frustrated and you just want to get out of the presence of the people for whom you are supposed to be in subjection to. Chapter 5 verse 21, "In reverence for Christ, my dear brothers and sisters, and what he has done for you, be subject to one another.

Have one another's preferences as more important in your own heart and mind as the preferences that you have. And so yield to and love them in this sacrificial way." This is the way of Christ. This is not the world's way. This is how we are to truly submit to Christ and to submit to others.

And so point number two, a submissive heart serves others regularly. Serves others regularly. It's not just the gift of it. It is truly serving one another from the heart.

John Calvin said of this verse, "God has bound us so strongly to one another that no man ought to endeavor to avoid subjection and where love reigns, mutual services will be rendered." One of the strongest theologians to have ever lived. 14 languages fluidly. Greek and Hebrew, write it and read it, expound upon it. This man expounds upon this verse in a way that he excuses no man from being in subjection to any person. And so submissiveness cultivates a unity within the body of Christ because we are so loving and kind and gentle and humble towards one another.

Church unity and peace are byproducts of humble service, especially behind the scenes. I'm so thrilled with Joshua and Andrew and Ariana and Victoria and all of our young adults who take behind the scenes so that worship unto God can happen in an orderly and respectful way. I'm so thankful for those who take out all of the trash on Mondays without asking you to be thankful. I'm so thankful for those who render services around here in such a way that the grass is mowed, the buildings are pressure washed.

Do you know if you add up all of the services of the saints at this dear church within the last year, it will have saved easily over a hundred thousand dollars. That's a byproduct of a church that really gets service, that embraces this idea of humility and service behind the scenes. Did you know that to be subject means to arrange your life under that's what it means. You are arranging your preferences, your time, your life, your effort, your finances, your abilities, your giftedness, you are arranging that underneath another.

So servants who humbly volunteer and arrange their life under the authority of the local church, whether they are serving underneath a ministry leader or underneath a deacon or beside a deacon or underneath an elder or beside an elder, it means that they are doing that in an orderly way. And now you have orderliness which glorifies God. And so when the servants have an attitude of servitude and they yield their time underneath another and come in and serve and put preferences of others as their main preference, then it creates glory and honor and praise unto Christ our King. And so our unity in that everything works so well around here is a testimony to how sanctified the saints are here at this church.

It glorifies God, whether it's teaching, cleaning, fixing, mowing, pressure washing, preaching, singing, uploading, greeting, playing the piano, printing, writing, calling, emailing, visiting, following up, planning, preparing, praying, this goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on with all of the wonderful things that the saints do here at this local church behind the scenes out of an inner compulsion to love God and love others. And I commend you for submitting to one another, not only because it helps out budgetarily, but it makes the church the true church. And if a church gets high-minded and too affluent or too wealthy and they start using their money to, I don't know, pay somebody else to do their service, guess what happens? The church, the people become preference oriented.

Well, I want to pay somebody else to do the pressure washing. I don't pay somebody else to do the mowing. I want to pay somebody else to mop the floors. I want to pay somebody else.

I want to pay somebody else. And now all of a sudden you have a bunch of subcontractors and none of the servants are serving and they are all self-centered. It's kind of like going to the mall. You want to get the most for your money.

Your desires are forefront, but opposite of a consumeristic mentality is one who is concentrated to Christ and willing to live sacrificially and give. And so you want to give the most that you possibly can, not get the most you possibly can in regards to sacrificial service. Now in this text, some who would go in the opposite direction for which I have laid before you would make an argument. And their argument would be that this idea of submission is asymmetrical, not symmetrical.

The idea of being asymmetrical means that submission flows by example like this. A sergeant submits to a lieutenant and a lieutenant submits to a captain and a captain submits to a colonel and a colonel submits to a general. A general submits to the president or the king. That's asymmetrical.

But symmetrical is a usage of this text that is completely anti-cultural, completely against the normal societal understanding of what orderliness is. It is not normal to live in a symmetrical way of submitting one to another in Ephesus. This is a cultural shock that Paul is laying down to the new church here at Ephesus. And as F.F.

Bruce testified to, there was so many new Gentiles coming in with a Greco-Roman philosophy of life that this basic idea of submitting one to another had to be taught to keep the church in alignment with God and unified. And so this idea caused the church in Ephesus to have to relearn and retrain how to live, how to live orderly, how to be. This meant that they would be boggled down in the mind and to leave church shocked with the essence of trying to figure, "I got to figure this out. This is not normal." Why would a general even consider what a lieutenant had to say or much less submit?

Why would it not be asymmetrical? Why is it mutual? Think with me. Generals, yes, have power over soldiers.

Kings have power over people. Bosses have power over employees. Fathers have power over their family. People have power over their own lives.

It's Greco-Roman thinking here. But what if in this text it's not asymmetrical, it's symmetrical. What if it's mutual submission? How would that be orderly?

Would that not disrupt the whole way of life in every area of life? Because if this idea of submission certainly carries through to the rest of the subjects in chapter five and chapter six, then that's going to turn fatherhood on its head. It's going to turn being an employee or a boss on its head. It's going to turn everything that's mentioned right side up because they are living in an upside down world.

Paul has shocked them and he's saying to them, "Change the way you're thinking and submit one to another in all of these areas of life." I'm saying to you now that the only way that this makes any logical sense is in Christ. This doesn't make any sense at all for the lost person who wants to dominate, who wants to be in control of their own life, who thinks that I'm a boss and my employees got to do what I say from a general who rules with a fist and fear. This doesn't make any sense at all outside of Christ, but in Christ this makes all the sense in the world and you would say, "Wow, it would be pretty neat for a general to consider what lesser ranks have to say. It would be pretty neat for a king to consider what the people are saying.

It would be pretty neat if the bosses, the owners in this world would consider what the employees have to say. It would be pretty neat if fathers would consider their wives and listen to their children. The only way that this makes any sense at all is in Christ and we see this through the hermeneutical rule called context as king. And when you look at this concept in context, you see the key of mutual submission being in the fear of Christ, in respect of Christ because of who Christ is and what he has done.

Now I will retrain my brain and I will take my body and make it to be disciplined in the way of God. And when you do that long enough, the word of God washes away all of those old ideas and they become infused with joy. Some Christians have a lot more joy than other Christians. It's because they are dedicated to the Bible, the more dedicated to the word of God.

They have more of the word of God hidden in their hearts and they have yielded more. And so I say to you brothers and sisters, Christianity is paradoxical. The way up is down. If you would humble yourself, Christ would lift you up.

Luke 18 14. It truly is paradoxical in all areas of life for orderliness. Christianity is also counter cultural. This is your normal.

If you're a business owner, it works to be counter cultural to love your employees, to actually help them get their jobs done, to take them into consideration. How are things working for you? This actually works in the workforce. This actually works at home for the fathers to take into consideration how their wives feel and think, how their children are doing.

It actually works. It actually produces orderliness and glory into the Lord. And so in Christianity, Christianity is leaders serving the servants. Go figure.

Christianity is leaders serving the servants and servants serving the leaders. All for the glory of God. That's what this text is saying. Leaders serving the servants and servants serving the leaders as unto the Lord.

You know, I went on a mission trip to Thailand and I learned of the King. His name, the Jaira Longhorn. He's the King of Thailand. He's been the King since 2016.

I learned this of him. He is a self-serving narcissist and the people don't respect him at all. They pay their homage. They give their respect out of obligation, but inwardly in their mind, they do not like him because they have been accustomed to the prior King who was a King for 70 years.

And his name, Bhumibol, he reigned for 70 years and he's the longest reigning King that Thailand has ever seen. And guess what? You still hear testimonies today in the streets of Thailand. You know how the prior King walked around with the people and served the people.

He was a man of the people. He was in the markets. He spoke with the people. He would actually help them in their businesses.

He would do these things. I'm just telling you, it works. God's ways work. You do not have to have a dominating spirit in order to get things done.

You don't have to rule with an iron fist. You can be humble. You can be loving. You can be kind and you can put God's ways into practice and you can submit one to another, not just in church, not just at home, but in the workforce and in your communities and in this world.

And it works. It works. It works. Christian are self-sacrificing and loving.

Now this totally contradicts the Greco-Roman world and their power structures and authorities. And so now back to your own heart. There must be a change in your heart in order to be able to embrace this. There must be a new heart and a new spirit.

Ezekiel 36, 26 says, "I will give you a new heart and I'll put a new spirit within you." This new heart from salvation and this new spirit, this exuberance of Him from you is to be embraced, not fought against. It's to be learned of and submitted to. The more you learn of Christ in the scriptures, the more you are in Christ, the stronger and more joyful and submitted you are. And so honestly, to the one who has a changed heart and submits to God's spirit, they go forth with a heart attitude of submission.

You can tell right away the difference between a prideful person and a submissive person, an arrogant person, one who is humble. You can tell right away. And so having a submissive heart means this. It means if you're a child, it means that you're going to submit to your parents gladly.

It means if you're a young adult and you live at home, you're going to use your strength gladly to be able to help and to serve and to be subject to your parents. It means in honor of Christ, you're going to take out the trash gladly, not just at home here. Garbage is full, take it out, right? If there's dirt on the floor, sweep it up.

You take this as identity. I am a servant of the king and I love God's people. And even beyond God's people, you do these things for all in whom you are around. For one who is saved and has this submissive heart attitude, it means that they are agreeable.

It means that they are humble. It means that they are workable. It means that they are submissive. It means that the spirit of God is dominating in their heart.

They're not hard to work with. They're not argumentative all the time. They want to work with whom they're around. And so does Jesus command this?

Well, not only did he command it, he demonstrated this in Matthew chapter 20 verse 28. It says, "The son of man did not come to be served, but to serve. The son of man did not come to be served." Boy, if anyone could have come and set up a kingdom in Jerusalem and everybody bowed down with their palm tree branches and held him as king, if anyone could have set up a kingdom, it would have been the king. But he gives us a paradoxical, countercultural example as to live by.

And so the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve. And so should you. Luke 18, 14 says, "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted." Leaders, fathers, business owners, you think of yourselves no better than anyone else. And so this shockwave that Paul gave to the Ephesian church is the same cultural shockwave that Jesus gave to his audience in Matthew chapter 20 when he used the phrase to "Lord it over them." Turn to Matthew chapter 20.

I want you to see that this is no new news to the Ephesians. Matthew chapter 20 and verse 25 and give us the example of this in that the Gentiles, the lost ones, the Greco-Roman heathens desire to be lords and lord what they have over others. In Matthew chapter 20 and verse 25 it says, "But Jesus called them to himself and he said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and their great men exercised authority over them." I don't know if Jesus spoke that sarcastically or not, but I'm trying to drive home the point that that's the way that they were. In verse 26, "It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave, just as the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many." And so Christ didn't come to be served, he came to serve.

This is our example and so now Christianity we see Christ submitting to sinners, Christ submitting to his disciples, Christ being subject to the needs of those around him. He is a lowly servant and then all of our high-mindedness, we are not good examples of Christ, we're not good ambassadors at all. What this means is that Christianity would have pastors serving and not lording. What this means is Christianity would have husbands and wives mutually serving one another, mutually submitting to one another.

Christianity is cultural submission right side up. I'm going to take what you think is right in the world and flip right side up because everything out there is wrong. And guys, it takes solid Bible study to be able to watch TV and see what's really going on. To see the perversions that are happening to every biblical value, popular culture celebrates sin and they make you to want to be entertained by it.

This is Christ changing everything. He didn't just change the calendar date when he died on the cross and rose again. When he saves you, he changes everything and the mark of a Christian is a different life and these types of ideas are embraced and not rejected. And so I see that we ever changing into being Christians.

And so back to Ephesians chapter 5 verse 21, "Being subject one to another in the fear of Christ." I have five take-home truths for you and then we'll be done. Take-home truth number one is simple, fear God. Fear God. If you have reverence and fear for God, then you will embrace these types of things gladly and you know the Proverbs 1.7 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

It's absolute beginning. And so if you do not fear God, guess what? You don't have knowledge. You don't know anything.

You absolutely are a fool if you don't fear God. But if you would fear God, then you would submit to one another because the clause here at the end of submitting one to another that's tagged on to this concept is fear. It's respect. If you do not submit to one another, then you have no respect and no fear of God.

But guess what? God knows how human we are and he knows that nobody wants to submit or be in subjection to another person. So he places some emphasis on this particular subject in the fear of Christ. In case you didn't hear me loud and clear, in the fear of Christ, submit to one another, help brothers, help sisters, put their preferences first, love one another with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Love God, love others, submit, be subject. Your strength, your time is to be in subjection of the needs of those who are around you in the fear of Christ. It's kind of like the father saying, "Do it or I'll spank you." Right? Did he really have to say that?

Well, I guess so. Take home truth number two, always be humbly helping. Always be humbly helping. Don't help out of spite.

Don't not help. But always be humbly helping. This is utilizing who you are in submission to Christ and to others. You always have a spirit of, "I'm willing to help." And I would say to you around here, anything that is ever projected that needs to be done, we have a mountain of saints jump on it and want to help.

And I'm so pleased about that. I'm so thrilled about that. I really, really see a lot of saints who are focused on sanctification, submitting to Christ around here. I think that our last point may stretch us a little bit.

But point number one, fear God. Point number two, always be helping, humbly helping. And point number three, submitting is obedience from the heart. And so if your heart needs to be reined in and made to be more and conformed, conformity to Christ, then up your prayer life, up your Bible study life, aim at studying scripture that helps you to understand these concepts so the Word of God outweigh the sinful attitudes.

It's your responsibility to up your prayer life, to up your study life, and to aim your studying at the solution for the sin that is still remaining. It's our job to do the best we possibly can to be blameless before Christ when He comes. In fact, it's a large roll of the husband in the upcoming passage to wash his wife in the Word of God so that she would be spotless and blameless before Christ comes. And so it's the Word of God that does this work.

And so we, point number three, submitting is obedience from the heart. And the Word is the only thing that can penetrate. Hebrews chapter four verse 12, it can penetrate soul, marrow, heart. The Word of God can get through the hardest of hearts.

You may be yourself, I am one hard nut to crack. I've lived a whole life in an opposition to these ideas. There's just no way I guarantee you the Word of God can soften your heart and change your heart. And you will have the joy, the joy, the joy of Christ in your life in these areas.

It's amazing. And so point number four, people are a major priority. People are a major priority. If you are going to obey Ephesians 5, 21 and being subject to one another, then you have to be alert as to what is going on around you in people's lives.

You have to make people and their needs and their desires a priority in your life. You have to think less of yourself and your time and you have to give yourself to people because this is the way that you fulfill being subject to one another, an attitude of submissiveness to people. And so now people are your priority. If you say, "I'm not a people person," I would say, "Okay, be careful.

You may not be a people person like all the time. Nobody is expecting you to be like out in the community every day, all day. But be careful because Christ died for people and the church is made up of people and Christ is coming to redeem a people. Heaven's going to be made up of people.

And so be careful that you are not sinfully excusing yourself from being obedient to this command and being subject to one another out of this default attitude, "I don't like people." The last point. And I'd like you to turn your Bibles after this. Serve the least of these. Matthew chapter 25.

Serve the least. And I'm going to read this entire passage so that you get the heart of it. Now we're moving beyond the church, okay? You think that this command is just for the church?

It's not. In Ephesians chapter 5, this command starts broadly and then it gets more narrowly as it goes through chapter 5 and chapter 6. And so this broad concept of being subject one another is not just for the family. It's not just for the church, but it's also for everyone around you.

And I want to demonstrate this through Matthew 25, 45. Actually, I would like to start in verse 31 and just read the rest of the chapter with you. You'll get why as I read this text and then we'll close in prayer. Matthew chapter 25 and verse 31 says, "But when the Son of Man comes with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne and all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Verse 35, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, and I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in naked, and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me." Then the righteous will answer him saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty something to drink?" Verse 38.

"And when did we see you a stranger and invite you in or naked and clothed you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?" And the King will answer and say to them truly, "I say to you to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them you did it to me." Then he will also say to those on his left, "And apart from me, a cursed one into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink.

I was a stranger and you did not invite me in naked and you did not clothe me sick and in prison and you did not visit me." Then they themselves also will answer saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?" Verse 45. Then he will answer them and say, "Truly I say to you to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment but to the righteous to eternal life." And so brothers and sisters, you see in verse 45 the phrase, "the least of these." And you see also in verse 40 the phrase, "the least of them." And so I would say to us, "Be subject one to another includes the strongest being, submissive and serving to the lowest to the weakest." And for us as Christians who have been saved into a high calling, we serve even the least of these.

And I promise you the highest blessings come from your highest obedience in this area. Let's pray together. Lord, we do love you and we thank you for this concept, this counterculture concept when it feels like we got to step on others in order to raise ourselves up in our value and get a raise at work. Lord, thank you for this countercultural idea for where now the husbands and Ephesus would see that culturally they need to take no regard of their wife but now they are to rearrange their life and to give consideration to not only their wives but also their children and to mutually serve one another and submit to one another.

Thank you, dear Jesus, for this challenge and I pray that if we have any American worldview, any cultural views inside of our hearts and souls that your Holy Spirit would work and dislodge those out of our hearts and minds now. Help us to be a humble people who are willing to be subject to one another. Help us, dear Jesus, to live in a way that is pleasing unto you, to be good representatives of you. Help submission not be a pejorative term that we think negatively about but help it to be embraced as Christians as ones who truly, truly love and are energized by serving one another.

Thank you, dear Jesus, for how you have done that for so many here at Bula Baptist Church. Your testimony is on display daily through these dynamic saints. I thank you as well, dear Jesus, for bringing anyone here who perhaps is lost and who has never repented of their sin and placed their faith and trust in you and I pray by the power of your Holy Spirit right now that you would do a work inside of their heart that they know it's you, dear God, tugging on their heart, pulling and convicting their heart. Bring them under conviction, dear God, for the sin that they know that they have committed against you.

Draw them by your Holy Spirit, dear Jesus, unto repentance where they're crying out to you and save that soul, dear Jesus, I pray. I pray that many souls would be saved through the preaching and the teaching and the discipleship and the evangelism and even the conversations of the saints here at Bula Baptist Church. I pray that you would save souls and see that they would be baptized and join the dear church here and commit themselves to Bible study your word and know you more to align themselves with you and then after being trained Lord they would go then therefore and also make disciples. I pray that you would continue your spiritual development in every single one of our lives.

We thank you for this time today, this precious time to be able to worship you, to be able to hear your word, to be able to sing, to be able to pray, to be able to take our time with one another's lives and to consider one another ourselves and to yield our countenance, to yield our mind, to yield our heart, to yield our time, to yield our eyes, to yield our concern one to another out of reverence for how you have done so for us. God we love you, we praise you, we give you all the glory and we ask that you would continually bless us as we continually do our best to walk in your word. We love you in Christ's name Amen.