Mutual Submission

So there’s this concept that I have been working on that came out of a conversation with my father. It has to do with relationships. It can be generally applied to most any relationship, but it especially has ramifications for interpersonal relationships. The basis for the discussion is the following passages:
Ephesians 5:21-33.
Colossians 3:18-25.
Most people –particularly women –cringe when you pull out these passages, especially the Ephesians passage. I believe that is because they start in the wrong place. Most people start in verse 22 “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.” The tone of the passage, however, is set in verse 21 “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” With that as a back ground we can take it all in context. The apostle Paul is not admonishing the wives for the sake of subjugating them; he is admonishing them in light of a larger scriptural principle that includes the husband and even the children. He admonishes one side, then the other in an effort to strike a balance. Wives are to submit to their husbands, but why? They are to submit because husbands are to love them as Christ loved the church, and gave himself up for her (i.e. he died for the church).
Not to limit the principle to married folk he goes on (in the Colossians passage) to admonish the children to be obedient to their parents. He doesn’t just tell them to be obedient because he said so, but because it pleases the Lord. Then he flips the coin to the parents’ side and tells them not to embitter their children. There again we see the give and take. Children are supposed to obey, but parents should not exasperate their children either.
The over aching concept here is the following: mutual submission. A give and take if you will. We submit to one another in expectation of love, we love in expectation of submission. We obey without becoming bitter because those who tell us what to do, do so without malice.
This principle can be easily extended to the realm of leadership. We submit to the leadership of the church, but we do so because the leadership is suppose to love us (i.e. give themselves up for us, take care of us). Deacons (elders) submit to the leadership of the pastor because he is to be a loving shepherd to the congregation. At the same time pastors are to submit to the deacons (elders) because they should have his (and the church’s) best interest at heart.
This concept has ramifications to virtually every aspect of life including, but not limited to work.
You look at companies like Google and there can be no doubt as to the loyalty of the employees. They treat their employees like celebrities and their employees respond with loyalty and above average work. There is a mutual understanding that is beneficial to both parties.
In the larger context of scripture we see it played out, or should in our obedience to God’s commands. God does not just tell us to not murder, steal, kill, envy, commit adultery, and the like just because He is a kill-joy. He gives us those commands because they are life giving. He cares for us enough to give us rules to live by that will keep us from harm and generally make our lives better.
On the flip side we see what happens when we disregard the concept of mutual submission. In marriage you end up with abusive relationships (to one degree or another) or divorce, in families you end up with rebellious children that bring heart ache to their parents, and in churches you end up with church splits.
One especially dark result of a lack of mutual submission is that of spiritual abuse. This results when a spiritual leader forgets his role, shrugs off the scriptural checks and balances and assumes inordinate spiritual authority. In these cases you end up with leaders within the church that seek to control the lives of their charges because they believe themselves to be (inordinately) spiritually superior. They excuse uncalled for behavior because they believe themselves to be more spiritual and know better than the rest of us common Christians.
Keeping in mind that the apostle Paul admonished believers to follow him as he followed Christ I would hate to be such a ‘spiritual leader’ and stand before Christ and explain myself. “Yes, I know what I told them was not scriptural, but it was for their own good.” Yes, it is as preposterous as it sounds.
I don’t think people realize just how revolutionary this concept can be to the Christian world. Taking that as our challenge and implementing it in our lives as a whole can and will change the way we think and behave in a profoundly positive way.
Jesus put it this way, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34,35  What better way is there to show the love of Christ to one another than by submitting to each other, IN LOVE?

The prodigal son, sort of. Part 4/5

Part Four: So like God.
The parable demonstrates God in all of His mercy, much to the chagrin of most of Jesus’ listeners. They were accustomed to viewing God as a predictable law enforcer who rewarded those who followed all the rules. This parable throws out all the rules. God as a doting father? Yes. This is so like God. There are a lot of things that are required to be His sons, and we have failed Him in ALL of them just like the son in the parable. God, however, doesn’t care. He has provided for us a way to salvation and He is so absolutely thrilled that we would respond to His offer that He willingly overlooks our offenses and insulates us from the consequences of our sin: death, eternal death.
We try to explain ourselves to God, but there is nothing we can say, nothing we can do. God wants us back and He throws a party when we do. All we have to do is come back to Him. It is almost too simple, you come to Him, and He takes you back.
No way around it.
There are consequences. Sin has consequences and there is no way around that. We can’t forget that the reason that God can be so forthcoming with forgiveness is because the consequence of sin was laid on Jesus. He died so that God could overlook our sin. Not only is this monumental, it is monumentally stupid to pass it up. If you haven’t already, take Him up on the offer.

The prodigal son, sort of. Part 3/5

Part Three: Crazy old man.
The protagonist in this drama is actually the crazy old man, the father. Yes, he would have been labeled as crazy for letting off his son after being wished dead, enduring public shame and going to the edge of town to keep a look out for his son, every day. Exactly how long this went on we really don’t know, but every day the father stood watch for his son.
One day his patience was rewarded and his hope was fulfilled. Off in the distance he sees his son. At this juncture time is critical. If the townspeople see the son they will stone him for his very public act of rebellion, so let the race begin… The father needs to get to the son first, we get it, but there’s more. To see someone of this man’s social stature running would have been nearly unheard of. Why? Propriety is why. For someone of his wealth it would have been improper, if not immodest, to show his legs in public like the poor folks who can’t afford a long enough robe to cover their legs. To be able to run to his son he would have had to pick up his long robe exposing his legs and bringing contempt on himself. The thing is, he doesn’t care, he just wants to get to his son.
Over the top.
If all of that wasn’t enough the father listens to, but basically dismisses his son’s declaration of repentance and plea for forgiveness. He not only takes his son back, but he immediately reinstates him to the family (by giving him a ring) essentially insulating him from the consequences of his actions.