"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 13:7
Part 2
Yesterday:
“Obey them that have the rule over you,”
God calls His child to live in obedience to his/her God-ordained authorities.
Today:
“And submit yourselves:”
“Submission” is a big problem for mankind. But let me remind you that the first incident of insubordination took place in heaven, not in humanity! Lucifer, God’s “light-bearer” rebelled in heaven and God cast him out. He quickly taught people how to follow his example in the Garden of Eden when he challenged Eve to disobey, and Adam sinned with her. And now Adam passed on to all of his future generations his primary problem with “submission” to authority. If you have ever wondered where our visceral hatred of submission comes from, just do a little digging the God’s Word, and you will find we all have a “submission problem.” In all of the scriptures, Jesus Christ is the only one who lived a godly submissive life. He is the example for us to follow!
The good news here is that when God saved you, He gave you the wherewithal for victory over your disobedience. He would never command you to do something impossible to do. Our obedience is possible, and in fact, it is a quality of God’s child.
“And submit yourselves.” Yes, God says we are to submit to our godly authorities. Here in this passage, He is talking about our spiritual leadership. In other places, He speaks of our submission to government, of wives to husbands, or children to parents, and even servants (slaves) to their masters. Please note that God covers all the bases so that every area of our lives is spent under authority. This is for our good and our protection. These are excellent opportunities for us to show the world a Christ-like example of obedience.
Why do we listen to our spiritual authorities?
“For they watch for your souls, as they that must give account,”
Our church leaders must be vigilant on behalf of our souls! They watch, literally “are sleepless” for your soul.[1] Robertson defines this Greek word as “to seek after sleep, to be sleepless, be watchful.”[2] They watch, they care for your soul.
Our church leadership will stand before God to give an accounting for their care of the body. Here’s why a godly pastor is so watchful of you. If you are God’s sheep, the under-shepherd will be accountable for you to the Chief Shepherd. This is an excellent reason to listen to and obey them.
Believers, how can we help our church leadership team (pastors, deacons)? Come back tomorrow as we finish these thoughts.
[1] Cambridge Bible, the electronic version in eSword.
[2] A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, the electronic version in eSword.