BIBLICAL SUBMISSION

“Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”
—Hebrews 13:17

OUR TEXT SAYS obey and be submissive to those who rule over you. Submission is from the Greek word which means to surrender. When you surrender to someone you stop fighting and rebelling against their rule over you. When Christ saves us, we put down our hatred and stop rebelling against Him. We no longer say, “I will not have this man to rule over me!” We now bow our necks to the yoke of Christ and call Him Lord and Master, and trust whatever He says. That’s godly submission. Our text tells us why we ought to obey and submit to godly church leaders: “Because they watch out for your souls as those who must give account to God.” God has established various levels of authority under His ultimate authority, and the purpose for all authority is to protect and bless those who are under authority. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 13:10, “Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the authority which the Lord has given me for edification and not for destruction.”
 
GOD ESTABLISHED THE authority of civil government to protect and bless law-abiding citizens from those who would harm or take advantage of them. The same is true in the family; God appoints the husband to have authority, under Christ, in order to provide for his family, protect them from physical and spiritual danger, and bless them by leading them in the ways of God. In the church, God has appointed elders and pastors as overseers. Paul said to the elders at Ephesus in Acts 20:28, “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Rulers are not to lord it over the church, but rather to be examples to the flock as servants to the people of God. “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away” (1 Peter 5:2-5). And because the pastor and elder receive their authority from God and are called to shepherd the church, Peter says in vs. 5, “Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
 
HOW ARE YOU doing with this? Do you willingly submit to the leadership of your pastor and elders, or do you rebel against their authority in the church? The Word of God says, “Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls…” (Hebrews 13:17).

Friday Devotional: October 11, 2024
In Christ,
Pastor S. Henry