Called to Community
Life in Community
Submission
Pages 231-235
TOGETHER read the devotional and the scripture.
INDIVIDUALLY take notes in your journal on what stands out.
Ephesians 5:21 (NIV) Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Hebrews 13:7-21 (NIV) Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat. The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you. Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. I particularly urge you to pray so that I may be restored to you soon. Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
TOGETHER pray for one another.
INDIVIDUALLY answer the questions in your journal - process your devotional notes and pray.
Why does the word “submission” have such negative connotations today? What does this tell us about our culture or the way the world operates?
What does true submission entail? Can you think of biblical examples?
How does the discipline of submission actually free or empower us?
Is community possible without submission?
EXTRA READING:
“Death comes to every person. You must keep facing it with perseverance. Death is a Passover from corruption to incorruption, from mortality to immortality, from rough seas to a calm harbor. The word ‘death’ must not trouble us; the blessings that come from a safe journey should bring us joy. What is death, but the burial of sin and the resurrection of goodness? Scripture says: Let my soul die among the souls of the just (Psalm 10:16); that is, let me be buried with the just, so that I may cast off my sins and put on the grace of the just, of those who bear the death of Christ with them, in their bodies and in their souls.”
- Ambrose of Milan (339 - 397)