The following is a paper I wrote for New Staff Class at Gospel for Asia on the book Touching Godliness Through Submission by K.P. Yohannan. All views are my own and do not necessarily represent those of Gospel for Asia.

 

[The Core of Submission to Authority]

The core of submission to authority is to know who God is, and secondly; to know who you are as His creation. Every piece of creation, from a protons and neutrons linking together in the proper ways to make atoms, to seagulls riding the shifts in the ocean breezes, to galaxies holding their structure as the rotate around their core, every piece of creation submits itself to its creator and to the surrounding system that He has placed it in.

Submission was made manifest to us in the Jesus. The members of the Trinity have from eternity past been in perfect submission to one another. Jesus came down and showed what that looked like as a man. He knew the mind of His Father, and He knew who He was. He did only the Father’s will. His Submission was perfect.

[The Spirit of Submission]

Hupotasso, Submission is a present tense, ongoing verb, like breathing. It is an attitude of the heart that overflows as action. It is a reflection of the posture of your heart towards God and man. The Spirit of God acts in accordance with the will of God, for the Spirit knows the mind of God. This means that the Spirit is in constant submission. If the Spirit of God is living in us, and if we are sensitive to Him, then our hearts will be in submission. You will then see your heart bent in humble love and dedication towards your God. This is the Spirit of Submission.

[The Benefits of Submission]

“To the extent that we submit, we too will know God’s restoration to that life of blessing.” In James 1:16 it says “Do not deceived my beloved brethren, every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” All that is good, any blessing, comes from God. In perfect submission to God there is perfect restoration to the good that He wants to show to us. As we become more submitted we come into more perfect union with God. This is the benefit of submission. God smiles upon a humble heart. A Christian who is submitted to God and the delegated authority over him will receive a fuller anointing of God’s blessing.

[Christ, Our Example]

Fully God. Fully Man. Jesus came to live life we could not live, and die the death we should have died. In living that life He showed submission to the world, as He yielded Himself wholly to the will of His Father. Each word and act was from a heart of humble obedience, and it was all love. If we seek to live as Jesus lived, we will learn the very heart of submission. In dying on the cross He showed submission to the world. “Not My will, but Yours be done.” “Yet it was the will of the Father to crush Him…” – Isaiah 53:10 Jesus embraced the will of the Father to the uttermost. His submission killed Him. This was love unto death.

As the body of Christ, identifying with our Lord in every way, taking upon ourselves the wounds of Christ as a sign of honor, looking to Him as our example; this is to be our same heart. We will submit to the end, unto death.

 

[We Must Obey Delegated Authority]

We are all under authority in one way or another. All authority on this earth is delegated. It is God’s will that we obey His delegated authority in the same way that would obey Him directly, for their authority is not their own, but is from Him. Our heart is to be that we will submit ourselves, because we fear God.

[Our Response to Authority]

Submission to delegated authority is not just a concept or something that we say we agree with. When we submit ourselves, there are practical ramifications in every area of our life. Our whole attitude will change, the way we speak to those over us will change, and our whole character will be one of humility and obedience.

At church, we will treat the pastor and elders with respect and reverence, not criticizing or fighting for our own ideas, but seeking to be servants of the body and the leadership. The attitude that we have towards our country’s  government will be one of honor. We will see those placed over us as people who have been placed there by God. At work we will not cut corners, shirk responsibilities, or speak against our bosses. Rather we will go above and beyond what is asked of us, doing our work to the glory of God. And at home we will pursue love, obedience, and unity with determination. We will see the family as sacred, instituted by God. As children, we will obey our parents, as spouses we will submit to one another in self-forgetful love.

Our response to authority is not a solitary piece of cloth isolated from the rest of our existence. Rather it is a complete thread, inextricably woven throughout the entire tapestry of our lives.

[Godly Examples of Submission]

The story of submission is told over and over again in the Bible. We see some who pursue submission to God and man, they are honored and proclaimed as pleasing in God’ eyes; others manifest the spirit of rebellion, and reap the harvest of destruction. Submission is to authority is always motivated by love. We see, patriarchs, kings, prophets, shepherds, all submitting themselves because “they feared God.”

[Why We Rebel]

Rebellion is in our blood. “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through  one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…” – Romans 5:12 The blood in our veins is from our father Adam. He believed the lie of Lucifer, that we could be “as gods.” This is the insidious core of rebellion, thinking that we are our own gods, seeking our own way instead of His. This is what Adam and Eve did. They acted in the spirit of Lucifer, and all of creation was infected with sin. Rebellion entered the world, and death reigned in our hearts. Since that day, we rebel against anything that is placed over us. Just as at the Fall, it starts with an idea, “I know better, I deserve this” and the idea builds upon itself, forming layers of deception that blind us from seeing the way things really are. We justify ourselves, and seek our own way blindly. We wander farther and farther from the safety of submission and into the shadowlands of rebellion. This is the curse that we groan under. This is what Jesus came to save us from. If He has saved us, rebellion has been purged from our blood. We will cling to Jesus and not allow the spirit of rebellion defile our hearts.

[Biblical Principles for Exercising Authority]

As has already been stated, all authority comes from God. The one in authority must have this define the way that he exercises the power that he has. When you see yourself as a conduit, nothing more than an aqueduct to carry the love and justice of God to those under you, it removes any basis for pride or self-exaltation in your position. If you are on a throne, you have been placed there by His hand, and he can topple you with a breath. When you exercise authority in this light, everything is different.

Another word for leadership is Servanthood. “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve” Jesus, the King of Kings, the one to whom “all authority” (Matthew 28:18) had been given; this king came to serve. This is to be our guiding principle, leading those entrusted to us as a servant.

[When Our Authorities Go Wrong]

“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw of such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” – Deceleration of Independence, 1776

This is a subject that must be approached with fear, trembling and a sober mind. We must begin from a place of asking God to save us from the injustice that we are suffering under. Throughout history, he has revealed as a God that delivers His people from evil men when His people cry out. When authority puts in place law that goes against the law of God, we say with resolve, “We must obey God rather than man.”

Our response to unjust authority must be clothed in prayer. All disobedience must not be tainted by the spirit of Lucifer, rather in humility and determination to pursue God no matter what man says. God will not leave His people alone in the face of in unjust authority. He will show us what our response is to be. If disobedience, to disobey in a way that honors Him. If removing oneself from underneath the authority and going somewhere else, He will show the way. If remaining and suffering, He will give the strength to stand and still obey Him.

[Conclusion]

If we turn our hearts to God, He will teach us the path of submission with a smile on His face, for in Submission we touch the very heart of God.

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