Tuesday, April 13, 2010

It has been a long time since my last post, but I wanted to post my lesson on Submission as some of you have asked for it. I hope that it is as much a help for you as it has been for me to study it. Enjoy.

When I was asked to teach, I was given a list of topics to choose from. The reason I chose Submission is because it is something that I most needed to work on and learn about. Submission is quite possibly the most unpopular subject to teach, mostly because it is the most misunderstood as well as the hardest to practice. I grew up thinking of submission in a very negative sense, even though my mother was a very Godly example of the way a woman should submit to her husband. Submission, to me seemed outdated, meant for a time when women were mistreated and thought of as someone “lesser than” a man. In my mind, America, where I grew up, was far ahead of those cultures that considered women to be unequal to men, and so, since they were equal, there was no need for submission. I have been married now for 10 years and have had ample time to study submission as well as practice it. I do not come before you to say that it is easy for me to submit, but having studied it more, I am able to say that I now look at submission as something attractive, instead of negative, and I do believe that it is something for women today because it is God’s design for us.
Today we are going to look at submission in God’s very essence - the Trinity, as God ordained it through creation and as the Apostles taught it in the New Testament. To begin, let us define submission. The greek word for submit is “hupotasso”, and according to a Greek-English Lexicon means “voluntary yielding itself in love.” Mary Somerville, in her book “One with a Shepherd,” defines submission as a military term meaning “for the wife to arrange her priorities under those of her husband”. John Piper defines submission as “a disposition to yield to the husband’s authority and an inclination to follow his leadership.” According to Wayne Grudem, it is “an inner quality of gentleness that affirms the leadership of the husband”. One last definition, and this is my favorite rendition. In Carolyn Mahaney’s book “Feminine Appeal,” she says that “submission, in its simplest form, is trust in God, who is completely trustworthy. He is our loving Father who controls every detail of our lives-past present, and future. He lavishes us with goodness and blessing, and He measures our pain and diversity-all for our good and His glory.” This definition speaks about how we are to submit to God. We will learn later that we are to submit to our husbands in the same way.
Let us begin by looking at God in His very essence-the Trinity. Many of us were taught from our earliest years about the Trinity. We teach our children as well. If you asked our boys about God, they would reply that we have one God and God is three persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Now if we study it further we know that each person of the Godhead is equal, but that they each have a different role. If we look at the incarnation, we see God the Father is in the leadership position. We read in Phil. 2:5-8 that God the Son, even though He was God, still submitted Himself to God the Father and became man. So, does submission mean that we are less important or inferior on unequal? No, we have different roles, as did Christ. He was obedient, even to the point of death on a cross. In Gen. we read that God created both man and woman in His image. We were equally created in God’s image. Just as Christ submitted Himself, even though the Son is equal in essence to God the Father, we too, are called to submit to our husbands.
Now, since we have already looked at submission within the Trinity, now let us go to the beginning at creation, where God not only created everything, but He also gave everything a purpose. Can somebody please read Gen. 1:26-28?
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
This is the sixth day of creation. In Genesis, chapter 2, Moses (the author of Genesis), goes into more detail about the creation of mankind. Somebody please read Gen. 2:15-18.
Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; “I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
The next few verses tell us that Adam began to name all the animals, and God did this to show him that he was alone and needed a companion. So God put Adam to sleep and you all remember how God used Adam’s rib to fashion the woman and when he awoke, think of his delight to see the most beautiful creation in the whole world before him! He sees her, calls her woman and later he will even name her Eve. Let us take notice of the woman’s purpose in verse 18. She is to be Adam’s “helper” and not visa versa. So we see from the very beginning of creation, God ordained woman to be man’s helper. This was before Adam and Eve sinned as well, so submission is not a result of the curse. God gave woman a purpose and at the end of the day, God looked over all of his creation and creation order and said that is was “very good”.
Now we come to Genesis 3, where Satan enters the garden as a snake and tempts Eve. Can someone please read Gen. 3:6-7?
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
Here Eve chooses to lead and Adam chooses to submit. They both sin and God addresses their attempt to reverse their roles in their curse.
Somebody please read Gen. 3:16-17.
To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you” Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying “You shall not eat from it; Cursed is the ground because of you In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.”
First, take notice of Adam’s curse at the end of verse 17. God curses Adam for “listening to the voice of your wife.” Adam was supposed to protect and lead Eve, but instead he chose to allow her to lead and he put her in grave danger by not obeying. Secondly, for Eve’s curse, go back up to verse 16. God says that Eve will have great pain in childbirth, which I and many of you can attest to. The end of the verse says that her “desire” would be for her husband. To get a better understanding of the word “desire”, let us look at Genesis 4: 5-7. It reads,
“But for Cain and for his offering He (God) had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it”.
As we see in verse 7, sin’s “desire” was for Cain, but he needed to rule over it. The same word for “desire” is used in both passages. As sin desired to rule over Cain, so also Eve’s desire would be to want to control Adam. This is our curse. We often find ourselves wanting to rule over our husbands as well, but we are plainly instructed, as we shall see in more scripture, to submit. One last thing, go back to Gen. 3:16. The end of the verse says that man would rule over Eve. This is also part of the curse, but this is ruling in a negative sense. This is a domineering, overbearing, harmful, unjust rule. In Ephesians, we see that this is not how a husband is to lead his wife. Eph. 5:25-33 speaks about how the husband is to love his wife, even as his own flesh. He is to nourish and cherish his wife, just as he would his own body. He is to love his wife, just as Christ loves the church. This is Godly leadership.
So, we have seen how submission is exemplified in the very nature of the Trinity, how God ordained it from the beginning of creation, and lastly we will study it through the teaching of the Apostles. We will fist look at the teaching of Peter. Please turn to I Peter 3:1-6 and somebody please read it.
In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. Your adornment must not be merely external-braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands; just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.
If we look back at Chapter 2 of I Peter, he speaks about submission to authorities in our lives. Now here in Chapter 3 he begins to talk about the submission of wives to husbands. We see from the start that this submission is qualified. The wife is to submit to her “own” husband Further in verse 7, Peter points out that even if some husbands were unbelievers, they might become believers simply by observing the wife’s behavior.

And what should her behavior look like. 4 qualities: She is to be chaste, respectful, having inward beauty, and to have a gentle and quiet spirit. First of all, she is to be chaste. Her life is to be pure. Secondly, she is to be respectful. She is to have reverence or honor for God, as well as her husband. Thirdly, her beauty is to be inward. Verse 3 says that women are not only to concentrate on her outward appearance. Notice Peter never says that she is not to take care of her outward appearance, he says that she is simply not supposed to be preoccupied with what is passing away, and changing, as many of us know all too well. She is to be more concerned with the inward, hidden part of her life, her true personality, or that which is eternal. This leads us to the fourth behavior of a Godly woman-a gentle and quiet spirit. Another way to describe her is meek or humble. These words mean “not insistent one’s own right” or “not demanding one’s own way” or even “not pushy”. This would make her very attractive not only to her husband, but Peter also confirms that a gentle and quiet spirit is “precious in the sight of God.” Grudem asks the question why is this precious in God’s sight? His answer is that “no doubt because such a spirit is the result of quiet and continual trust in God to supply one’s needs, and God delights in being trusted.”
Peter then gives us Sarah’s example of submission. There are 3 things we need to take notice of in her submission. First, Sarah’s hope was in God. She knew that God loved and cared for her and if He called her to submit, she knew that He would bless her obedience. Secondly, Sarah obeyed Abraham even to the point of calling him lord or master. I am reminded of the fact that Spurgeon’s wife, Susannah, called him “Tirshatha” (a title used of the Judean governor under the Persian Empire) meaning “Your Excellency”. Just another example of a Godly woman who reverenced her husband. Lastly, Sarah submitted to Abraham without fear. God is sovereign. Again, I love the definition of submission from Carolyn Mahaney in her book, “One with a Shepherd”. Let me read it one more time. Submission, in its simplest form, is trust in God, who is completely trustworthy. He is our loving Father who controls every detail of our lives-past, present, and future. He lavishes us with goodness and blessing, and He measures our pain and diversity-all for our good and His glory.” Grudem puts it this way: “A woman with a gentle and quiet spirit who continues hoping in God will not be terrified by circumstances or by an unbelieving or disobedient husband.” If we can submit to God, then we can also submit to our husbands because of who God is. A few questions: Do you reverence your husband? Do you trust God enough to always submit to your husband without fear?
Now that we have looked at Peter’s teaching on submission, now we will look at Paul’s. Peter taught us what our behavior is to be like, Paul is going to teach us the extent of our submission. But, before we continue, we need to look at two other passages penned by Paul that give us background into why we are even to submit at all. First of all, we will look at Paul’s letter to the Colossians. Somebody please read Col. 3:18.
Wives, be subject to your husband, as is fitting in the Lord.
If we are under the Lordship of Christ, or in other words, if we are Christians, then we will willingly submit. As George W. Knight III writes, “The apostle thus asserts that such submission is proper for Christian wives because it is what our Lord expects.”
So, we are to submit, because God purposed it to be so.
Now let us turn to Paul’s letter to Titus, where we are given even yet another exhortation to submit. Somebody please read Titus 2:3-5.
Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands so that the word of God will not be dishonored.
Please take notice of the very last phrase. We are to submit to our husband, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. Any number of us could give countless examples of people who say that they are a Christian, but they do not live like one. This is exactly what James spoke about it James 1:22. There he exhorts us to “prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” Not only do they delude or fool themselves, but all the people who watch how they live their lives. These people then curse Christianity and Christians because they see no difference in a Christian and someone who doesn’t claim to be a Christian. This is dishonoring to the Word of God. If we say are Christians and then we do not submit to our husbands, we bring dishonor to our God. When we submit to our husbands, we bring honor to God.
Now, since we are believing woman who want to follow what God deems best for us and we do not want to bring dishonor to our God, let us look to the extent of our submission. Let us turn to Eph. 5:22-24. Somebody please read this passage.
Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
So, how far are we to submit to our husbands, or to put it another way, to what extent: as to the Lord and in everything. First let us examine how a wife would submit to her husband as to the Lord. Let me ask you a question. Are we, as Christian women allowed to pick and choose when and whether we will obey and submit to Christ? Or better yet, do you, if you have children allow them to pick and choose when or whether they have to obey you? Certainly not! Our children are called to always obey us, and you are called to always obey your husband, unless what your husband asks you to do is sin. We can also look at it from another angle. When you obey or submit to your husband, you are obeying and submitting to Christ for He is the One who commanded you to do so. The next verse even says that the husband is the head of the wife, or that the husband has authority over his wife.
So first, a Christian wife is to submit to her husband as she submits to her Lord, and secondly, she is to submit to him in everything. There is not much to be said here; it is quite clear. Unless your husband is asking you to sin, you should submit to him in everything. Now, truthfully, this is not easy, but if God commands this of you, and He does everything for your good and His glory, then whey would you not want what is best for you and most glorious for Him.
In closing, let us review. God’s very essence, the Trinity is an example for us of willing submission, in that Christ willingly submitted to God the Father and became flesh for us. God also ordained submission at the very beginning with the creation of male and female and their different roles. The Apostles also teach us more about what a wife’s submission is to look like. Peter teaches about a wife’s behavior: she is to be chaste, respectful, having inward beauty, and she is to have a gentle and quiet Spirit. We have many Godly examples in the Old and New Testaments, but Peter chose to show us the example of Sarah, who without fear obeyed Abraham, even to the point of calling him lord. Last of all, we learned that we are to submit to our husbands as to the Lord and in everything and if we do, we will not dishonor God and His Word.
If I may, I would like you to look back at Genesis 1:31. After God created male and female in His image, and had given Eve a purpose, to be Adam’s helper, and this being the sixth day, God spoke about his creation and this is what Genesis says: “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was VERY good!” Will we always buck and complain or will we simply obey and believe that submission to our husbands really is what is best for us and most glorifying to God? I pray the latter!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

A Decade in Review


I have been reading what others have written about the last decade and thought that it might be fun to reminisce what has transpired. Wow! Where to begin! Well, I have to start one year earlier. Aug. 14th, 1999 was the day that I married the man that I desired to spend the rest of my life with. We were married in Huntsville, Alabama and it was the best day of my life! I was a Jr. at The Master's College and Jonathan was working on his MDiv at The Master's Seminary. We lived on Walnut Street in Santa Clarita, CA, or better known as Seminary Row.

Spring 2001, we spent a Semester in Israel with the Israel Bible Extension. Not long after, our first little boy, Nahum James was born (Jan. 9, 2002). That summer we moved to Dallas, TX where Jonathan began work on his PhD, since he had finished his MDiv and ThM at Master's. We lived at Swiss Tower, Seminary housing, and made so many wonderful friends and had so many wonderful opportunities. On November 11th, 2003, our second little boy, Isaac John was born. Almost a year later we found out that we were having identical twins and on Jan. 20th, 2006, Jesse Ray and Jonas David were born 5 weeks early, but each weighing in at almost 7 pounds! Life was very busy and very fulfilling.

The end was in sight for Jonathan's doctorate and we began looking into what ministry we would go into. After much prayer, we realized God was leading us to Russia and so, we started making plans to move there. About this time, we were very much surprised to find out that we would be having a baby girl in December of 2007. With only a dissertation to finish, we moved to Huntsville, Alabama, to be near family and have our baby girl. She was due the day after Christmas, but she decided to wait. We were induced on Dec. 28th, and Miriam Katherine was born, nothing short of a miracle, due to serious complications. In September of that next year, we left for our new home in Samara, Russia, where we have been living for the past year.

Those are the main points at least. So much more happened, but that would take years to dictate. What an eventful decade! I can't think of any other decade with so many life-changing decisions and events. Looking back, you certainly come to the realization that we are so blessed by God! So blessed! So blessed!

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." James 1:17