A Look At Submission And Divine Command Ethics

Two concepts are on my mind this morning.

'Divine Command Ethics' - God tells us to do this and not to do that as individuals like He instructed Israel as a nation.

and

What some groups refer to as ESS (The Eternal Subordination of the Son) which paints the Son as eternally submitting to the Father instead of just taking on the role of a servant for a time in the incarnation, then being exalted by the Father and returning to a co-equal role and sitting on the throne with Him.

I see great linkages between these two concepts. Are we submitting for a time so that redemption can happen in time and space or are we submitted forever?

Do we force submission on others?

What kind of submission is expected in marriage and family? How is our Church leadership structured? If you are a man how do you see and treat women?

Big questions aren't they?

Evolution or natural selection says the fittest will survive. The weak will eventually bow down to the strong. Religion forces submission by divine decree but what is spiritual?

"You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you." - Galatians 5:4-8 ESV

"And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, 'If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.' " - Mark 9:35 ESV

Freedom is an interesting thing. The Israelites faced a crisis when they left Eygpt. It was a freedom crisis. They didn't have anyone to tell them what to do anymore. They asked for rules and God gave them rules because they had no capacity to look at Him and be led in freedom. That generation died in the wilderness.

"When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, 'It is finished,' and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." - John 19:30 ESV

Jesus obeyed the rules for us. He won our salvation and as a last act of submission, He fell backwards into the arms of God trusting that His Father would raise Him up again. Now He sits at the right hand of God and all those who believe sit there also because they are hidden in His victory forever.

"And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." - 1 Peter 5:4-7 ESV

We now have a capacity to willing humble ourselves also and not lose our dignity doing it. There is a crown waiting for all those who fall backwards into the arms of God in circumstances because Christ has finished the work of mandatory spiritual submission.

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The Healing In Transformation

Yesterday I was thinking about 'being wounded from previous pressure'. Oppression makes a depression that stays after pressure is off like someone shaping a piece of clay.

"Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it." - Jeremiah 18:3-4 KJV

I can't really say the refiner's fire 'is my heart's desire' all the time but I do want to be a person who 'doesn't see the heat when it comes.'

"Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." - Jeremiah 17:7-8 KJV

The old you got broken but God has formed a new you in Christ. This new person responds to heat and pressure differently when Christ is in view.

"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." - 2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV

This transformation is one of growth and expansion. God is doing a new thing. I want to embrace this process and see God in each detail instead of flinching at and living in a wound that wounded my old self.

Today is going to be a great day! Let's look at Jesus and live in a transformation that will alter us from the inside out.

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Rock Hard

This morning I am thinking of the heavy boot of oppression on different kinds of soil.

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." - Romans 12:2 ESV

Wet soil - A big sloppy imprint
Dry loose soil - An imprint that can be seen and tracked by those experienced at looking for patterns
Solid rock - Barely a scuff if anything at all

Transformation of the mind hardens us from caving under and being changed by external pressure. Water washes us but does not wash us away.

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The Glorious Power Of Sanity

"And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." - Colossians 1:9-14 ESV

Salvation pulls us out of insanity and puts us in our right mind. Power fills us. It is the power of patient endurance that has joy and thanksgiving.

Grace makes us sane. Oppression puts pressure on our mind in ways that change it's shape. The weight causes an imprint on the soul. God removes us from the impersonal power and authority of darkness and places us into the kingdom of his loved and loving Son.

I notice that the prayer Paul prays is for knowledge, spiritual wisdom and understanding of what has already been accomplished. A progression that needs to be understood. Information comes in then it must be processed before it can be experienced. Spiritual wisdom is Biblical wisdom. It is wisdom that sees the character and nature of God... wisdom that has the cross as a focal point... wisdom that is not detached from reality but explains reality in the light of eternity. If that wisdom is employed then understanding will provide the platform for the will and faith choices can be made which will produce fruit.

God has delivered us. It is a past tense deliverance that allows for present tense understanding and future fruit.

This is how every generation before us has been fruitful in faith. Now it is our turn.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." - Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV

Perhaps we seek a different kind of power... a strength of body or mind or an alignment of opportunities and resources before we walk by faith but in truth those things, if they come, are things that come later. Understanding is first. Glorious power. The power that reveals the glory of the person and finished work of Christ is the foundation of salvation. If that is revealed no weakness will ultimately hinder us from walking in a way that is pleasing to the Father.

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