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PRINCIPLES OF JESUS CHRIST SERIES
SUBMISSION
& TIMING
As we were worshipping the Lord said, “There is something that I am
dealing in the whole heart and life of each one of My people. Let them go home
early and have more time with Me because there is something that is coming
forth in the spirit.”
Just now as we were going around, one of the sisters
was a bit shy to share a vision she saw yesterday. She wrote this vision and I read it, I felt
it was good to know something that the Lord is doing.
This is what she said: ‘Yesterday at the
Saturday prayer meeting, I had a vision.
It is not something very easy to share.
If I tell it some people might think that I have gone into the deep
end. First I saw a thick cloud of
darkness and I also noticed there was a crack in the darkness. Through the crack I noticed that beyond the
darkness is brilliant gold colored light.
But as we prayed the crack still remains and it got no wider. Then I saw the devil. I knew it was the devil beyond a shadow of
doubt. I saw fear in the face of the
devil.’
It’s not easy to share a vision of a
devil. It’s easier to share a vision of
Jesus. What I believe is happening is we
are cracking some realm of darkness over this land through all the prayers and
there is something happening. There is a
flow of the Spirit we all can sense. You
and I know that the fullness still had not come. It had begun.
Revival has begun. The fullness
has not come and apparently the devil knows that is coming forth. There is a great fear. There is a great stirring in our hearts
knowing that something is about to explode.
This morning we want to close with the
series on principles of Jesus Christ applying in His life. This morning we are going to touch on the
principle of timing and submission. The
two go together. Jesus’ life is the
ultimate example of what submission is like.
The ultimate example of what timing is like. When we were young, we thought that being
right about certain things is enough.
But as we grow and mature in life, we realize that being right and doing
the right thing at the right time is also important. As maturity sets in we realize that timing
can play a big role in many situations.
The timing for saying certain things, the timing of winning a person
back to the Lord and the timing of doing the right things, all these rest
around the big word timing.
The word timing is related to the
word submission. You notice that
basically in a lot of problems that we read in the bible and in church history
have to do with submission and timing.
Many people who have gone from one phase of ministry to another, one
phase of life to another, have encountered submission problems in their
lives. Either they are submitting to
some authority figure or somebody else is submitting to them. You notice that
timing has to do with it. Sometimes when
we are under authority, we have to wait for the right time to do or say certain
things. The ability to wait has to do with the quality of submission. So timing and submission are related.
And the reverse is true. It’s important as a leader to enhance the
people flowing in one accord and one leadership. The leader must also move in the right timing
of the Lord. If the leader does the
right thing in a wrong time, people will find it hard to submit. So when the right thing is done in the right
time, in the fullness of time you will have the full backing of the people. But
sometimes some things are not done in the fullness of time and a leader is not
able to do what he wants to do. If the
leader has the patience to wait a year or two, then more people will be willing
and information would have been gathered and more people will be able to flow
along with that vision. So we find that
both ways, submission and timing always plays a dual role together.
Philippians 2, we see Jesus’ life in His
submission. When we talk about Jesus
submitting and obeying in His life, learning the principle of submission, we
also find it relates to the principle of timing. In His life, He was sensitive to God’s timing
to do the right thing at the right time.
Phil. 2 verse 5 onwards, “Let this mind be
in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not
consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation,
taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He
humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of
the cross. Therefore God also has highly
exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and
of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Lets look at some examples in Jesus’ life in regard to timing and
submission. How Jesus grew in learning
submission. Submission is something that
we all have to learn in our life at certain point. There was a teaching on submission during the
Charismatic movement that went to the extreme.
People submitted themselves to church leaders to the extend that they do
not have anymore thinking process going on or they do not make decision for
themselves anymore. Somebody else make
decisions that are personal and private for him or her. That’s where the doctrine of submission has
gone to the extreme, so that for many people they do not know how to hear God
for themselves. If they want to get married,
they have to ask permission from the leaders.
If they want to make a personal decision in their job, they will ask
permission from the leaders.
Now there is a difference between asking for
permission and asking for advice. Advice
and counsel means there is option whether you want to follow it or not. You just want to get more information to make
a right decision but you are making the decision. But in many cases of Christian extreme
groups, they teach submission to a point that the church members don’t grow
anymore. They remain spiritual babies
because they never learn to hear God for themselves. When they have to make a decision, all they
have to do is to depend on the leaders.
That’s how extreme some groups can become like Jim Jones and all those
cults. They could dominate peoples’
lives since they surrender the right of their own personal life to such
leaders. When the leaders go wrong, it’s
very dangerous. The whole group
dies.
God did not design submission in that
way. He designs for it to flow in a give
and take manner. Every time the bible
talks about submission, it says submit one to another, that’s a give and take
process. Submission is not
demanded. People who recognize something
in others give and yield their submission.
Remember the principle is that submission is never taken but it’s given
freely. In other words, when we respect
and we learn something from someone else and we recognize the hand and the
wisdom of God in someone, we voluntarily yield our submission because that
person knows better in that area. So it
should be given rather than be demanded or taken. So in all of our life, we need to learn the
principle of submission and principle of timing. These are the things that break our pride, break
our self, break our flesh and cause us to be able to be filled with the Spirit
of meekness that would inherit the earth.
Jesus learned submission from very young.
Lets look at the gospel of Luke. There
are many times in His life when submission was demanded. We want to consider the special time in His
life when He practiced those principles.
In Luke 2, Jesus was twelve years old, just a little boy about to turn a
teenager the following year. Luke 2: 41
“His parents went to
I want you to know that at twelve years
old, He was remarkably matured. Verse
48, “So when they saw Him, they were amazed;” at such maturity in a boy
so young. “And His mother said to Him, ‘Son, why have You done this to
us? Look, Your father and I have sought
You anxiously.’ And He said to them,
‘Why did you seek Me? Did you not know
that I must be about My Father’s business?’
But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.”
Although Jesus was twelve, He knew more than His parents
about spiritual things. He knew the
purpose of God in His life. He knew the
call of God in His life. He had more
knowledge than them. He also knew His
destiny and call. He says, ‘I must be
about My Father’s business’. Very few
twelve years old children know what they want to do in life. But Jesus knew what He was called to do. He knew His destiny at twelve years old. Normally if we Christian parents bring their
children up in the way of the Lord by twelve they would know their
destiny.
In verse 51, “Then He went down with them
and came to
The Greek says, “He was submitted to
them.” I don’t think it was
easy. It’s easy to submit to someone who
knows better than you but it’s hard to submit to someone who you think you know
more than him/her. Secondly, it’s easy
to submit to someone who knows what is God’s purpose for your life. It’s easy to yield to that person because
that person will help you into God’s purpose.
But it’s hard to submit to someone who does not know what God wants to
do in your life. And as great a miracle
as Jesus had when He healed the sick, cast out devils, opened blind eyes,
healed the lame, opened deaf ears and made the dumb to speak. As great a remarkable miracle is the fact
that in all His perfection, in all His holiness, in all His wisdom and
knowledge, He could learn to submit which is also learning to wait. Submission and timing always goes
together. Little children have the habit
of being impatient. The interesting
thing is patience comes from experience.
We learn patience in life. I pray
that the older we grow in the Lord, the more patient we may be.
Young ministers after graduation usually are very impatient to get to do what they want to do. But after a few hard knocks, they learned to be a bit more patient. Submission and timing flows together. Jesus knew that one day He will come out from the umbrella of His mother and father but now He has to learn the most difficult thing to do. That word is easy but the most difficult action to do in the Christian walk and its spelt ‘WAIT’. It’s not easy to wait but Jesus was not like other children. Have you ever seen little children? You ask them to wait and they want to do something. They are eager to do it. Perhaps you are taking them to a park and you have something else to finish. You say, “Could you please wait for another hour?” You could see them waiting but every five minutes they say, “Papa, is it time to go?” Half an hour later, they will say, “Can we go now?’ I mean they could hardly wait. But submission and waiting go together.
So Jesus submitted to His parents and we know from references in the gospel of Luke 3 that He only launched into His ministry at the age of thirty. This means eighteen long years of patient waiting. A lot of pastors especially denominational pastors who want to renew their church struggle with submission to their superiors. When they ask me, “Pastor, what is your advice from your point of view?” I said, “There is only one key word ‘patience’.” Unless God calls them out it’s different. Patience to wait on the people to come to know the Holy Spirit and when we get on fire by the Holy Spirit we sometimes lack patience with people. It’s amazing that Jesus with all His glory and splendor had so much patience. Because most of time in the world, the more knowledgeable a person is the more talent or ability a person have, the more impatient he/she has with others who are too slow. They either scold the people who are too slow or push their way around. But that’s not God’s way. God’s way is to be patient. Eighteen long years He is subject to His parents. I believe that from that day onwards He just obeyed. I mean every year they went up to the feast, but from that day onwards, He never stayed behind.
Can you imagine Mary calling Jesus, I mean
calling a small boy. Not calling for
help. It is quite a unique
experience. Can you imagine this unique
experience of Jesus’ mother? “Jesus, can
you come here?” “Yes mom.” You mean Jesus never called His mother mom? Of course He did. Who do you think He is? Son of God yes but He was Son of man. If He didn’t call His mother mom, what
do you think He calls His mother? Oh
yes, instrument of God to bring Me forward.
Of course He called His mother mom. “Jesus can you please wash the dishes?” “Yes, mom.”
He submitted. He waited on
God. He didn’t say, “I am not made to
wash this. I am made to cast out devil,
heal the sick, open blind eyes.” It’s
important for us to learn to yield and to submit.
Submission has to do with timing and our
ability to hold ourselves back in God.
Waiting for God’s perfect timing.
The people around Jesus in His hometown knew Him as a carpenter. Which means that as He grew up helping His
father, He was probably making some tables and chairs. I mean Jesus Christ, Son of God, a man
without sin doing such a humble job.
Some of us think that this kind of jobs is not for us. No such thing. We need to learn humility and submission in
ordinary matters of life. I realize that
sometimes in some church groups they force people to do humble tasks. That would be wrong. People have to be slowly taught how to do it
and not compelled to do it. As they
learn to do these little things their lives develop the quality of meekness and
submission that money can’t buy. NoBible
school training, no lecturer can give you the training of meekness. That can only come with washing toilets or
doing the most humble task that is given to you.
There are times when Joseph must have sent
Jesus out and said, “Jesus can you go out and deliver this stool?” He delivered the stool or delivered something
else. People will place orders and Jesus
will be there and ask, “What would you like to order?” “A table and two chairs.” No wonder when Jesus went out as Son of God,
people cannot accept Him. They asked,
“How can this be? This is the man who delivered my table and now He commands
demons to come out.” They couldn’t put
two and two together. It was harder to
accept Him especially if you know Him.
In fact the one place that had the most resistance to Jesus Christ was
His hometown. He could not do mighty
work because when He tried to do something, they would say, “I know you. You are the carpenter. Now you are saying you are the Son of
God.” It was very hard to accept.
Do you know why Pharaoh was so cruel to the
Israelites when Moses came? The Pharaoh
was most probably Moses’ colleague in the school for princes. The Pharaoh whom Moses came to meet grew up
together with Moses. Moses grew up in
Here is Jesus and He did all these things
in His hometown. In verse 51, He was
subject to them. But His mother kept all
these things in her heart. There are
many degrees of submission that we learn to.
We learn and we grow in submission.
The first and hardest lesson, which Jesus here succeeds beautifully, is
to learn to submit when you have something greater than the one you submit
to. When you know more than the one you
submit to. When you know your own life
than the one you submit to. It’s very
difficult. Most people would rather not
submit. They will rather call it
quits.
Another example of this area of struggle of
submission is the life of David. When
David was launched out into his public ministry after he had slain Goliath, the
women were singing, “Saul had slain his thousand and David has slain ten
thousands.” Can you imagine David coming
to work under that kind of set up? He
was more anointed than Saul. Saul had
already lost a great portion of his anointing.
The only difference is that David was talented, gifted, anointed but he
didn’t have a position. Saul had a
position. David had to learn
submission. I mean he could have easily
instigated a rebellion. But David
submitted because he waited for the timing of God. God had prophesied that in his life that he
will be king. Yet he didn’t view Saul
and Jonathan as a rival. He viewed them
with love. Even Jonathan told David, ‘When you are king, I will be next to
you.’ Jonathan was a submissive person
too. He says, ‘I recognized God’s call
in your life. This is divine destiny,
nothing human. When you are king, I will
be next to you.’ Sadly, he died with
Saul. All through Saul’s life, David had
to learn to yield and to work under a man who was less anointed than him. He was more gifted than that man but yet he
could be under him.
Now the reverse is also important. Many times people find it hard to be leader over
others who are more talented. Most
people feel insecure. That should never
be. The reverse is also necessary when
God teaches grace. Do you know what Saul’s failure was? He failed to realize that position also comes
from God. When God gives you a position,
unless God takes it away, no man, no demon can ever take it away. Instead of being thankful for David, who
could now help him to extend his reign and all that God wants him to do, he
became insecure and he wanted to get rid of David. You noticed that David had that kind of grace
to take people who are as talented and who are as powerful as he was. Remember the time of Abner? He wanted to receive Abner but Joab didn’t
want because Joab thought his position was threatened. Then David wanted to receive a lot of these
mighty men who are skillful in the own right, they came to David and David
became captain over them. He never felt
insecure because when God calls and God positions you, your security is in God. So from the reverse side, we need to
understand that most of all is our walk with God. We must rest in God. From the point of submission and timing,
which is in Jesus’ life, He learned to submit to imperfect human parents when
He was perfect. Jesus knew no sin. He was perfect in His heart, mind, thoughts
and deeds. To submit to parents who are
less perfect than Him, it’s as amazing to me as healing the sick and casting
out demons. That shows the grace on Jesus’
life, the willingness to flow along with God’s plan and God’s timing. Eighteen years of that.
Finally Jesus graduated from the first
stage of submission and He moved into the second stage. In Luke 3: 23 when Jesus was thirty years old
and He was about to begin His ministry, He had to do something more. He had to submit in another pattern in
another realm. He already submitted to
His parents for eighteen years and God looked at Him and when He came out of
the water baptism, God says: ‘This is My Son in whom I am well pleased.’ Do you know that you can please God by
submission and timing? When you allow
God to exalt you rather than exalting yourself, everything will be in divine
harmony. But most of the time being
human and if we get in the flesh, we want to do things ourselves. But if we were to just go on our knees and
pray and let God do the exalting, you do the humbling, and all things will fall
into perfect place. It may not come in
the time that you expect but it will come in a time that God has.
What Jesus did was very interesting. First of all He had to say goodbye to his
home. From that day onwards, He was not
coming back home or going back to his job as a carpenter. He’s no more going back there. Sometimes when you have been in something for
eighteen years, if you don’t watch out, you can be comfortable in it and you
don’t want to change. Moses was pretty
comfortable after forty years in the wilderness. He had a good wife. He had a family. He had a good father-in-law. He had a nice job taking care of the
sheep. He had his food, clothing and
shelter. He had everything nice for
himself. There is nothing more he could
ask for in life except to live all his days for God. So when God asked him to go he was a little
bit less willing. If we don’t watch out,
sometimes we are staying in certain areas for eighteen years or forty years, we
don’t want to change anymore. We are so
complacent. God is bringing us to
another deeper realm and we say, .No God, we don’t think we could go along with
that.” God has to shake us up in order
to promote and bring us into a deeper realm of submission. This is the most interesting thing I have
found.
We
all know that promotion come not from the east or from the west, but it comes
from God. Now the word promotion
also means exaltation. And the word
exaltation also goes with the word humbling.
The humble shall be exalted. So
there is no exaltation without humbling.
So before God promotes there must be a humbling process in our
life. There must be another area of
submission and yielding that demands of our life. To be willing to yield to Him even more. To be willing to submit to Him and His timing
even more. As Jesus was about to launch
out into His ministry, God spoke to Him to have one more realm of
submission. By that time John the Baptist
was already out doing his ministry.
Jesus knew more than John the Baptist.
Jesus had more and a bigger calling than John the Baptist. But God wanted Jesus to go and submit to John
the Baptist. How did He submit? John the Baptist’s portfolio in ministry was
preaching the baptism of repentance.
Calling the people for the Lord.
Now Jesus could have just started His ministry in another corner of
In Matthew the record tells us, as Jesus
came to John’s ministry in verse 13, “Then Jesus came from Galilee to John
at the
What
a marvel of submission. The bible says
submit one to another. When we come to
one another and we are willing to submit to one another, there is always
unity. When each one of us comes with a
servant heart and we say, ‘I am prepared to serve you and wash your feet.’ And you come prepared to wash my feet, and then
there is no strife. There is no striving
because I have come prepared to serve you and you have come prepared to serve
me. There is perfect harmony. The only reason why there is disunity would
be we are no more willing to serve one another and to wash one another
feet. May God deal in our hearts that we
will say, “Lets serve one another.”
Lets see what we can do to show our love
for one another. Here you could call
Jesus a spiritual giant, and yet He comes to John the Baptist and said, ‘John,
please baptize
If you read it in the Greek this is what
Jesus is saying, ‘Ask your permission for this to be done.’ Just permit it to be done. Jesus is saying, “Can I have the permission
to enter your house.” If Jesus comes
physically right now, Jesus won’t even enter your car or house. He would still come and say, “Can I have
permission to enter your car or house?”’
You will say, “Lord, you are my Master, you own my life.” What a polite Jesus we have. We can see evidence of that in chapter 24,
when Jesus Christ was about to go off, and the two disciples on the way to
Emmaus had to welcome Him and persuade Him to stay. Unless He is invited He won’t stay. So Jesus said, “Let permission be granted.” That’s what He said, “Let permission be
granted now in this matter for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all
righteousness.” It’s a right thing to do
in a right time. This submission He went
through is slightly different from the first one. Although the factors are still there but it’s
slightly different. In this area of
submission, it is what I call a joining of the flow of the Spirit of God, where
Jesus recognized that John’ ministry is vitally important. In fact all of Jesus’ disciples were in a
certain sense touched by John the Baptist’s ministry. Some were great followers of John the
Baptist. Some were just touched. Look at the ministerial ethics involved. Jesus didn’t just come and preach in the
opposite corner and started taking away John the Baptist’s disciples. He could have done it but Jesus came to John
the Baptist and yielded to him and then John the Baptist gave permission for
his disciples to follow Him. Look at the
ministerial ethic involved. These are
small things that matter as far as God is concerned.
Look at the gospel of John. We got to compare all the gospels to get the
full picture. After He was baptized in
water, Jesus kept coming to John. Now
you know that He came the first time, it was for water baptism. Why do you think He came the second
time?
John 1: 35-36 “Again, the next day, John
stood with two of his disciples. And
looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God!”
What was Jesus doing with John
the Baptist? Did He start preaching
yet? Not really in that sense. Why did Jesus go a second time, a third time
and a fourth time? Jesus was submitting
Himself to the ministry of John the Baptist and to the timing of God. So Jesus kept going there. I mean you thought, oh, He finished His water
baptism and He can run off now with His ministry. It is not like that kind of submission. Submission, you say, “Let me do this one act
of submission and then after this I can get away with what I really want to
do.” That is a right act but with a
wrong attitude. Unless you are willing
to submit forever it’s not real. Jesus
was prepared to just wait and He came when John the Baptist was still the main
preacher. Jesus was the new man. Look at the ministerial ethics involved. Jesus had the ability to preach. I mean the anointing had already come on Him
when He came out from the water baptism.
The Spirit of God was already on Him.
But Jesus just hanged around, stayed around with John the Baptist and
stayed among the group.
Sometimes when you see an anointed person leading in a revival
prayer, some of you may feel that you could do a better job. You think God has called you to many areas of
prayers, Praise God! Just like Elisha
hangs around Elijah, Jesus also hangs around John the Baptist. It doesn’t mean if you hang around these
people you will be limited by them. But
it means that everything that they have for you can be imparted properly so
that you can build on the foundation that they have for another realm. You yield, you submit and let the Spirit take
His time. Usually you think its time to
start your own ministry, but actually it’s not time until we die to self. When
that happens, then we think, God, even if its forever, no problem Lord. When you began to think that any time is
fine, as long as God’s will be done, then you are ready to do God’s work. You began to think that, Lord, anytime is
your time. My time is Your time. Then you are more ready. So Jesus hung around and waited around. John did the right thing. See this is a good reflection on John. He was not insecure. He knew where he was. He knew that the success of his ministry
means as Jesus comes he could pass over to Jesus. John 1: 36 “And looking at Jesus as He
walked, he said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God.’”
That day he lost two more disciples.
These are all ministerial ethics.
When
you want to start a church and you know that your ministry comes from another
ministry, you wait. You abide your
time. You don’t decide your own
time. God decides a time for Jesus. John the Baptist was sensitive to decide the
time. What happens if John was not
sensitive? God would have taken him off
the scene. You don’t have to worry about
that. Will you miss God’s time if you
submit to somebody whom God told you to submit and don’t allow you to do what
God wants you to do. Don’t worry about
it. As you keep submitting God will take
that person off because God will not allow His plans to be delayed by anyone
who is disobedient. He will just take
John the Baptist off the scene. Thank
God, John was sensitive. John says, this
is the one I am talking about and more and more disciples started deserting
John. More and more disciples started
following Jesus. That took place for
many months. Through all those times,
after Jesus was baptized, He had forty days and nights in the wilderness. Then He had submission to John the Baptist
for a period of time. Several months,
Jesus was waiting for one signal. Jesus
cannot really start His ministry until John the Baptist’s ministry was shut
down because there cannot be two opposing forces on a sense. Although there were many people who were
following Jesus and whatever John gave Him He took. So somebody came to John the Baptist and said
to him and made this statement to him, that would have been upset some
Christian leaders if it happened to them.
But John was not upset because he knew his calling.
John
3: 26 “And they came to John and said to him, ‘Rabbi, He who was with you
beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified – behold, He is baptizing, and
all are coming to Him!” So Jesus
began baptizing and people are coming to Him.
Verse
27-30, “John answered and said, ‘A man can receive nothing unless it has
been given to him from heaven. You
yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been
sent before Him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the
bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the
bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy
of mine is fulfilled. He must increase,
but I must decrease.’”
What
a lovely man. I am sure he got a great
reward in heaven. Jesus had some people
following Him by now although His followers were not baptized by Him but by His
disciples. Jesus had some measure of ministry but He didn’t go all out
yet. He didn’t go all out because He was
still waiting for one more signal from God.
One more sign from God. He had to
work in a very quiet way. He didn’t
really broadcast Himself. Whatever
advertisement He had, He got it from John the Baptist. Until one day, the signal came. John the Baptist was put in prison. It’s all the timing of God. His ministry had come to an end. The bible tells us in the gospel of Mark chapter
1: 14 “Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching
the gospel of the
So
we see in the second lesson on submission is a different lesson compared to
what we learned earlier. First of all
the lessons are different. The first
lesson we learned is personal ethics. He
says, “Lets permit this to be done for righteousness sake,” and then He waited
for John to turn his disciples to Him.
All these are personal and ministerial ethics that go a long way. All these are evidences of submission that we
need to watch and flow along with.
So,
firstly is in the area of ethical things, where we learn what is the righteous
thing to do and how to fulfill righteousness.
This looks like some kind of delay and it seems to hurt but it doesn’t. Learning patience in the area of ethics and
righteousness. Do you know that in this
life, if all of us believe that what is right and wrong is the same for
everybody, there will be a tremendous peaceful world? Generally as Christians, we have a general
sense of what is right and wrong but when it comes to some specific areas,
people began to differ. How do they
differ? According to the development in
their life because Hebrew 5 says, that those who mature in God learn to discern
right and wrong, which means that discerning right and wrong is a growth
process.
There
is something that we know the Word says it is wrong but when you began to apply
to different areas and to the situational ethics that’s where you are left with
only your conscience in God. And you got
to discern the principles in your heart.
That discernment is where people differ.
That’s for the development of applying the Word correctly and ethically
that sometimes people just cast aside.
Like for me, I make a strong stand about collecting love offerings in
any public ministry. I don’t believe in
collecting love offerings as practiced by some flamboyant evangelists. It’s my ethics and I will not permit it. No matter how anointed a man of God is, I say
these are principles of righteousness to me. I will not bend. I will not bow to that. No matter how famous the man of God is. I say it’s wrong, that’s it. I don’t like a man of God coming to the
pulpit, saying, “How many here have a one thousand dollar bill, how many have
gold rings and how many have this or that?” To me this is wrong. But these are things that we learn to adhere
to in the second process of submission.
That we wait and we learn to wait until everybody flows along in that
area. In the area of these small things
of right and wrong, we learn what I call a patient submission.
The
second area in His learning to submit was in the temptations that He had forty
days in the wilderness. Jesus submitted
His success, His plans, His life, and His desire to God. But behind the temptations was this, lets
turn to the gospel of Matthew 4: 2 for forty and nights He was already
tempted. In Matthew 4: 2 “And when He
had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.” Do you see the word that He was hungry? Jesus was tempted when He was hungry. When you are in an ordained fast, you
normally get over the hunger. You don’t
feel hungry. But the moment the time
period of your fast is over, you can feel the hunger. Imagine after the end of the fast, the devil
came when He was hungry and said, “Turn this stone into bread.” Jesus had the power to do it but He didn’t
want to use that power. These three
temptations have to do with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye
and the pride of life.
So
my friends, the second point has three sub-points. The submission that God deals in our life is
in the areas of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of
life. You may encounter some testing in
submission and timing at the second phase of whatever you are doing. Maybe it’s in business. As you launched out, the devil gives you an
offer to compromise your Christian principles and ethics to get a million
dollars. All you have to do is go along with some bribery. All you have to do is to do this illegal
thing. What do you choose? Remember that principle that we have
spoken? What you get by compromise you
will never be able to keep to the end.
Nor will you ever be satisfied.
You compromised and you got it.
What happen you get sleepless nights?
Secondly in the end you lose it because you can’t live with that kind of
thing. So we realize that the second
area of submission is very deep area. As
you look and you ask, “Shall I yield to God’s higher principles?” If you answer is yes, although it looks like
you will lose but you gain on your inside.
It looks like you lose on the outside but you gain on the inside. The gain on the inside will in the end lead
to gain on the outside. God doesn’t
shortchange you. Everything that you
yield to God, He bless in return.
The
first submission of Jesus is with His parents and He learned the normal
submission to parents’ authority that we all learned as children. This is what
I called the basic area of submission.
Just learning to flow along with parental authority.
The
second area is in the area of principles where we learn that submission and
principles go together and higher principles are called in the realm of
submission. Submission without
principles is not submission. Most
people only know the first level of submission, like the parental kind of
submission or an army kind of submission.
But the second level of submission goes higher. It touches on higher principles like personal
ethics that you hold to and principles that you value in your life. These areas that you submit to will begin to
produce another dimension in your life and ministry. That is the second phrase of submission and
timing. Jesus waited until John was shut
up in prison and He launched out His ministry.
It was the divine timing. He did
not instigate. He did not do anything to
try to remove John the Baptist. He
waited because He knew God has His time.
He just hung around the group. He
did whatever He could in His time. He
did most of His ministry in private. Disciples
followed Him to His house and He shared with them. He reserved His public ministry until John
was put in prison and He launched out because now He is ready. He was all tested and proven. God gave Him great success. That went on for three years. At the end of the three years, there was the
third area of submission that God dealt with His life.
Luke
9: 51 “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received
up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.”
When He knew that the time had come and He had to
submit to something else, something else that even His own disciples could not
understand and comprehend. The third
level is awesome.
It
is like Abraham giving his son Isaac.
Because what you give up is what God gave. Do you know that Abraham went through these
three realms of submission? God first
called Him out of the
The
final test of Jesus when He was successful was when He was told by the Father
to give His life for the world. This was something that His disciples never
fully understood. Now here is a
point. Jesus yielded His submission even
when His parents didn’t understand Him. Because He succeeded in the first level
of submission, and in the second level where He submitted to John the Baptist’s
ministry, now in the third level He could push through ahead of what God told
Him to do even though His disciples did not understand Him. That was how submissive He was to God.
Lets
look at His disciples’ reaction when Jesus started going forth. In Luke chapter 9: 51 “Now it came to
pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set
His face to go to Jerusalem, and He sent messengers” to prepare the
way. Verse 53, “But they did not receive Him, because His
face was set for the journey to
In
Matthew 18, the disciples knew that something was up and they were saying to
one another. They came to him and said,
“Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” The disciples started arguing about this
because they thought that some great kingdom was going to be set up in
Mark 9: 30-32 “Then they departed from
there and passed through
There were amazement, bewilderment; all these were
taking place among His disciples. The force
of submission drove Jesus as He prayed and tarried in Gethsemane, and went on
in
The
three children, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace, said to
king Nebuchadnezzar that if God were to save their lives, that is fine but if
God doesn’t save their lives that is also fine.
They are not going to bow to idols.
See they had the level of submission that surpasses even the
natural. This third level is very
high. It’s the giving up of
everything. Usually the third level you
do it alone because everything is stripped from your life. It’s literally like the cross. Everything that is there is stripped from
Him. All you have is God and the divine
knowledge that you are doing what God wants you to do. I don’t know if anyone of you have been
there, but it’s the most difficult thing to do.
Now these three comes in cycles too in our life; they come with each
phase in our life and in ministry but the third submission is more powerful
than we think.
Now
if you read I Peter 2, you realize that the topic was on submission. In verse 13 it says, “Therefore submit
yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king
as supreme. Then in verse 18, “Servants,
be submissive to your masters with all fear.”
So the example he is talking about is submission. In verse 21, “For to this you were called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should
follow His steps: Who committed no sins,
Nor was deceit found in His mouth.”
Look
at that kind of submission. I mean He
just sealed His mouth. Pontius Pilate
questioned Him but He didn’t answer a word except for a certain point where the
name of God was involved. Verse 23, “When
He was reviled, did not reviled in return; when He suffered, He did not
threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.” That’s the high quality of submission. Total, everything. God doesn’t bring us to the third level until
we passed the first and second level. In
the third level, we see it’s like the kind of sacrifice where Abraham
sacrificed Isaac. It’s total complete
and you and God. When Abraham was
offering Isaac, he had nobody, not even his family. It was he and God. If he makes it, he made it. If he fails, he failed. It’s something that you go alone.
No.2
in the third level, the submission is not for you. The first two levels are for yourself. The most remarkable thing about this third
level of submission is for those around you to be blessed. What is Jesus doing at this third level? He is giving Himself as a sacrifice for
us. The women cried when He carried the
cross up the hill and He said, “Women don’t weep for Me but weep for
yourself.” Because He knew that this
doing was to bring forth something for His disciples and for the others. He knew that this sacrifice He paid was not
for Himself but it’s for others. The
first two levels of submission are just; the first one is learning
authority. The second is waiting for the
time of your gift and has to do with principles. The first one has to do with authority is
learning to work with authority which all of us struggle at different time. The second has to do with principles. The third has to do with life. First you give up your own life and then
others will get life because of your sacrifice.
If you could give your life then other lives will come forth.
I
remembered the man who first translated the bible into English. All because he translated the bible, he
received much opposition and persecution at that time. See sometimes to turn the tide you got to lay
down your life. You have to lay down one
life in order that the tide will change.
Do you know sometimes when I pray for our nation, I weep and cry because
I know that there are some in our nation who never have the chance to hear the
gospel. You know whom I am talking
about. I know in my heart that it will
take some lives that are sacrificed before this group can hear. Not sacrificed in vain but it will take some
lives at the third stage of submitting to the will of God. God will call forth some to be martyrs but
the blood that is shed will open the door for thousands to come into the
Like
Paul, Paul says, ‘I go bound in the Spirit.’
There’s something higher. Even if
we live to 120 years old, it will still be short compared to eternity. If we live our little life for a cause bigger
than us, it will leave a great impact.
John Wycliff knew that something was bigger than he is individually. When the authorities found out about his
translation they arrested him. It was a
custom of that time to burn such people considered as heretics publicly. As they put the firewood around him and hung
him up to be burned at the stake that one life was sacrificed for generations
down the road. You say, ‘Brother, isn’t
the Blood of Jesus Christ enough?’ My
friends, the world will not come to know the Lord Jesus unless we have people
who are willing to lay down their lives and blood for Jesus. We can confess
prosperity, we can confess protection but there are some places and some groups
and some doors that are never opened unless human blood is shed to open those
doors. As he laid his life at the stake
he did it not for himself. He didn’t translate the bible for himself. If he dies his children and his wife will
miss him. He put aside his family because there was something bigger that he
must submit to for eternity. As he died
on the stake burning, he said, ‘God open the eyes of the king of
At
one point the
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