Sermon Tone Analysis

Goats, Pearls, and Hard-Headed Humans: The Blessing of Submission and Covering

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Text

The Struggle with Submission

Moses and the Israelites

It’s almost time to enter the promised land and here are Joshua and Caleb.

“We are well able to take the land.”

It’s interesting, we don’t know the name of the other 10 spies.

Because, who cares.

Joshua and Caleb were the only ones with an ounce of faith.

But this is the point where people start to aggravate God.

As a matter of fact, scripture calls it the Day of Provocation.

They provoked God.

Made Him mad.

You know, you can make God a little aggravated.

I know He’s never aggravated with you...

I’ve had a few times He not only got upset… He corrected.

And He corrects because He loves us.

And so all of this had built up, and God said, “Okay, I’m sick of this.

Step aside, Moses, I’m going to take care of this little problem.”

Their unbelief and issues with faith had angered God before they could enter into the promised land.

God told Moses He would wipe them out.

Moses said, “Lord, if you kill these people as one man, people in the nations will say you had the power to bring them through, but not to bring them in.”

It amazes me that these men had such influence with God.

“Let’s think about this thing, God.”

I try that and He says, “I don’t need you thinking about anything.

I’ve got it all figured out.”

But God hears Moses.

But He also says that His glory is going to fill all the earth.

And that they have tempted Him these ten times, and as surely as they have seen His glory, they will not enter into the land.

So then, I’ll give you another little insight into these people.

Right after God says, “You’re not going in.”

They say, “We’re ready to go in!”

So it’s really a bigger issue of: whatever God says to do, we’re going to do the opposite.

Welcome to 2022.

They end up going in, and it really turns into a nasty ordeal.

Many, many of them are killed in battle because of their decisions here.

It just all turns out worse and worse for a people who are not in line with the wishes of their God.

It became an issue of submission, really.

They had no interest in submission or being obedient.

They were going against God, Moses, and even preferred to go back to Egypt!

Here’s some real truth: There is freedom in submission and bondage in rebellion.

Initial Reactions

Real quick: Let’s have a show of hands for who enjoys being told what to do.

Ah, we welcome and embrace the word “authority”, in the context of “taking authority” and “walking in authority”, yes?

Rightfully so!

What an awesome privilege and honor we have to exercise the authority given to us by faith in Jesus Christ.

But hold on.

There’s another side to authority that causes many saints to cringe, resist, and “feel some type of way”.

It’s when authority requires a response – to submit.

Now, I wonder what emotional, non-verbal response did hearing the word “submit” invoke in you?

Did your spirit throw confetti and leap for joy?

Was there a slight squirm, or an eye roll?

It’s amazing how each and every one of us are given the command to submit to authority, and every one of us has at some point tried to wiggle out of doing so.

God expects us all, regardless of race, title, or status to submit ourselves to Him, to our supervisors and government, and even to graciously submit to each other.

It is a pity that the topic of submission is often discussed only in the context of marriage, because the problem in our culture is not that wives do not want to submit to husbands, but that no one wants to submit to anyone.

We’re like a bunch of goats!

Bucking and hollering about any little thing we don’t care for in anyone around us.

How do Christians act in these other relationships where we are supposed to be submissive?

When it comes to being submissive to church leadership, we’re quite bad at it.

So bad in fact, that there are now THOUSANDS of different denominations.

Do we really believe that all of those splits were justified?

On the personal level, how many people are quick to switch churches because of relatively minor issues.

Instead of praying for our Christian leaders, many of us spend more time complaining about them.

Instead of submitting to them, we ignore or even oppose their instructions.

In a way, we’re kind of like goats.

Stubborn.

Hard to deal with.

You ever tried to get a goat to go a direction it has no interest in going?

The Pearl, on the other hand, is quite interesting.

Why We Struggle With Submission

Many of our lives look more like the concluding verse of Judges:

We like to do what WE want to do.

And to begin, our first submission must be with God.

“Submit yourselves to God.”

Submission is at the core of holiness.

Submission to God is the cornerstone response that is needed in all of our lives before we can meaningfully address other issues.

Why would someone submit to their pastor, if they wouldn’t submit to God? How can we expect Christians to be submissive towards political authorities, if they ignore God on issues like sexuality, materialism, greed, and pride?

My experience has been that Americans are some of the most resistant people to truly hearing the word of God.

And I’ve got a big theory about it.

I’m not even sure it’s a theory - it’s just pretty true.

And it’s this: it’s hard to understand KINGDOM principles with a DEMOCRATIC mind-set.

Democracy is fine for the nations of the world, but we have to remember that the kingdom of God IS, in fact, a kingdom!

It is ruled by a King, and within kingdoms are rank, order, and authority.

Church government is not of the people, by the people, for the people.

It’s of the King, by the King, for the King!

We don’t get to make amendments on His commands.

We don’t get to do checks and balances on His power.

We just OBEY!

The laws of His kingdom are not subject to popular opinion, voting, or polls.

The laws are not swayed by what we believe to be good for us, as Eve was so cleverly deceived into thinking.

And so today we have to be instructed in kingdom principles, because our society doesn’t train us to think these ways.

And too often today, if we don’t agree with authority, we can challenge it through complaint or protest.

Because our government is “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

These democratic principles have trickled down into Christianity and marched many down the deceptive path of self-rule.

And as this continues, they go beyond challenging authority to blatantly resisting it.