Bethany Bullet Sermon Message - Week of August 26, 2018

Sermon: “SUBMIT”

Text: Ephesians 5:15-21

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”  Ephesians 5:21

Most of us get somewhat squeamish over the word “submit.”  On the one hand this is quite natural; after all submit is a term right out of the Octogan (MMA) or the Squared Circle (wrestling ring).  Submission brings the images of someone forcing another to “tap out.” 

That however, is not the image St. Paul has in mind.  When he uses the word “submit”, he is not thinking about that which another forcibly requires but that which one freely offers.  In fact, the clearest image he has in mind is Jesus Himself.   As Paul recorded in his letter to the Philippians, “Jesus, who in very nature is God, humbled Himself, took on the place of a servant and submitted to death, even death on a cross.”  As Jesus Himself said as recorded in both Matthew and Mark’s Gospels, “For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

Quite simply put, when we SUBMIT (that is Strive to Uplift Brother as More Important Than Self) we show reverence for our Lord and reflect Him for others.

-Pastor Kevin Kritzer