Monday, August 31, 2009

We are all called to submit

1Cor 11:1-3: “1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. 2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. 3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.”

God is a God of order and authority. Everything has its place, and everyone has his or her role. For some people this is a troubling text that deals with the Godly order of things. For a man not to be controlled by his own desires and be under the authority of a higher being is an extremely hard concept to handle. For me, being able to submit to God and His authority is extremely hard. There was that time when I had to remove myself from the throne of my heart and place God in control of my life. The way God’s universe works is that God made man in his image. The problem is when we make God in our image. We say, “this is the God I want to worship”. The God that I create is a false and self-serving thing that is not anything more then an idol. The God of the Bible is a God of authority and of power and will not be mocked by the little gods of our imagination. The God of the Bible is a loving and kind friend; He is a righteous Judge, a Father, a Creator, and a King. His rule and authority is absolute. In all of my being I will be submissive to Him because of who He is.

Christ is to be the head over every man. That is the order of things. Paul writes, “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” So does that mean the head of woman should be the man? Even in this day and age? Yes. Remember, God is a God of order. Everything must have some form of accountability. A business has a boss, a government has a president, and a church has a pastor. Every institution has one person that is responsible for the stewardship of that entity. Does that mean a boss has the right to treat his employees anyway he or she might want to? NO. Does that mean a president can act in anyway he or she wants to? NO. It means there will be one person who is given charge and full responsibility.

In the home God gave that responsibility to the man. That does not mean that the man runs his house as a dictator or that he is to be waited on hand and foot like a prince. Remember that Jesus said, “let the greatest among you be the servant”. The man is the head of the house; however, he is also called to be the servant leader that represents Christ’s service here on earth. Good leaders never have to tell the people following them that they are the leaders.

Application
– We are all called to be submissive.
Challenge – Do not get caught up with titles and positions. The strongest position we need to keep is on our knees.

Tomorrows Readings:

Old Testament: psalm 148-150 New Testament I Cor. 11:16-34

No comments:

Post a Comment