Uncommon Community | Submit To One Another (June 8th, 2017) - Mike Armstrong

Alright, you ready to uh to get into God's Word?

No?

Like one of you?

You ready?

Okay, good.

Okay, good.

Let's go.

I like that.

Alright, get your Bibles open now to 1st Peter chapter 5.

Okay, 1 Peter chapter 5 is where we're gonna be as we continue in our uncommon community series today.

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

Now, you guys know that, you know, that feeling that you get, that like creepy, awful feeling that you get when you hear you know that nails on a chalkboard, right?

Any anyone get that kind of like that shudder sense when you've heard that before?

You know, some of you, that's like the worst thing in the world.

I see some nods.

Others, it's so weird, uh, that doesn't bother them at all.

Um, but maybe for you, it's like when you hear styrofoam squeak, right?

Like that's that's awful, right?

You've heard that, or maybe it's when like it's like a fork scratches on a dry plate.

Like that's an awful, yeah.

I feel I see people shuddering already.

Or you know, when someone like bites down on an ice uh ice cube, you know, and there's that kind of that squeak or just bites straight into an ice cream cone, you're like, stop, okay, just be done with it.

No, I get it.

Well, we hate that feeling, right?

We hate the we hate the sound.

We it just it's it's a shudder-inducing, awful, awful feeling.

Now, I think whether we you know realize it or not, I think it's in some ways, maybe sort of the same kind of feeling that we get whenever we think about the word submit.

Right?

When we think about the word submission, we have that same kind of kind of kind of feeling.

Right?

We we hate it.

We do not like, naturally speaking, um submission.

Our flesh recoils in horror at the idea of having you know to submit to anyone, right?

To any to any person, to any authority, any any institution, you know, even God.

Even God.

You know, and naturally, you know, submission sounds about as enjoyable as you know, nails on a chalkboard.

Right?

And I think that's how you know sometimes we feel.

Yet our passage today shows us that a healthy church community is one where submission is not just grudgingly accepted, right, but but rather willingly embraced.

Right?

This is something, this is something I want, this is something, something that I'm going for.

Because when we when we do, when we embrace submission and and and we do it from the heart, and it's not just you know an external thing where we kind of look like it or we're behaving, but our heart is so far from that.

But when we actually do it, something awesome happens in the church.

Right?

The church begins to function properly.

We see the the church function, you know, biblically, you know, our our relationships get stronger.

Our relationships go deeper, and and the surfacey stuff and the you know, put on the smile, and and all the masks that we tend to wear tend to tend to disappear.

Our relationships get sweeter, don't they?

And all of that uh begins to begins to grow.

Now, another amazing thing that happens in the church as we learn to submit is that the mission takes off.

Right?

The mission takes off, and disciples are are made, and God is doing an amazing thing, all right?

And and so that's what we're going for.

And ultimately, at the end of all of that, what we're looking for is Christ to be exalted, amen.

That's what we're going for as the church, and that's what happens as we submit.

And so you better believe this is the culture that God desires to build in his church.

This is it.

This is what he wants to build here in us as Harvest New Market.

And so this is what he's learning to build, or he's working to build in you and I as well.

And so, if that's the goal, if that's the end game, if that's what he's trying to do, hey, listen, it's probably a pretty good idea if we get on board with that, right?

Pretty good idea if we if we go after it.

And so that's what we're gonna be talking about here this morning as we uh jump into a couple of verses here uh from 1 Peter chapter 5.

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

So why don't you join me as we read this?

We're gonna be starting uh in verse 5.

You take a look, it says, it says, likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders.

Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility towards one another.

For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

He says, Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Let's pray.

Lord, we uh we bow our hearts before you now, Lord.

Uh realizing, recognizing that our hearts do not like to bow before you.

We do not like the whole idea of submission.

Lord, we we kind of chafe against it.

Uh we sure we don't like the idea of sometimes submitting to you and and oftentimes submitting to each other.

And Lord, that's exactly what you would have us do, though.

So I pray as we you know work through this passage, as we uh begin to talk about these things, I pray that you would make your word come alive in our hearts, Lord.

I pray that you would be uh bringing down our various defenses.

Lord, the the the pride and and and and the arrogance that gets in the way of you having your way.

And so, God, would you start with me, Lord?

Would you do this in my heart, Lord?

Would it be my joy to submit to you and and submit to to our church as we do that uh each uh one to another?

Lord, would you do that in our church, Lord?

I pray that through this, as we discuss these things, Lord, you would be glorified.

We pray all of this in the powerful and righteous name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Amen.

All right, so first off, okay, we haven't really got into this part yet, but what do we mean uh by the word submit?

What do we mean by the word uh submit or submission?

Because I think, I think oftentimes, and we've already talked about it here, we we look at that that word and that concept through a real negative lens, don't we?

You know, we look at that and you know, we don't really, you know, we don't really like it.

And and when we think of the word submission, we think that, you know, in some cases we shouldn't do that.

You know, and we think of it as, you know, maybe we we look at it as though I'm getting pinned down, right?

And you think of maybe, maybe a wrestling match, and you think of, you know, two wrestlers going at it, and the one is on top of the other, and he's trying to pin his his shoulders down, the guy's wrestling and fighting against that.

Well, that's exactly kind of how we think about submission uh as well.

We think of it sometimes as spineless compliance.

Really?

Is that what the Lord wants?

He he wants me to be spineless in in all of this?

You know, we think of it as you know, as coercion, you know, it's it's against my it's against my will.

You know, when we think submission, really all we think is is just misery, right?

This does not sound like a good idea at all, really.

Are we talking about this today?

Yeah, well, we are.

And you know that I mean that uh all of that, that might be your you know, that might be your experience when it comes to you know submission, but that's that's not at all what we're going for.

That's not what the Lord wants to you know accomplish uh here in our church.

And so again, what is submission?

What are we talking about here?

Well, I got a really good, I think, simple definition for you.

I don't know if you've got a pen, you might want to write this down though.

Uh submission is this voluntary yielding in love.

Voluntary yielding in love.

Okay, after all, if you really think about it, who is our who is the greatest model of this?

It's Christ.

Right?

It's Jesus Christ.

And we think of his words to his father, Lord, not my will but yours be done.

Did Jesus not model this so well for us?

He's not calling us to do something that he hasn't done himself, right?

And and the Lord, he he voluntarily yielded himself to the Father in love.

And that's really what the gospel is, right?

He he went to the cross and and he had to wrestle with that and and he had a challenge with that.

And you know, we see in the scriptures how he literally, you know, he had he was sweating drops of blood because of how difficult that whole process was, and he was wrestling with his humanity.

But you know what?

If you are saved here today, if you know Jesus Christ personally, you should have some measure at least of comfort in yielding yourself in love to your God.

Because that's what salvation is.

You have come to the end of yourself.

You have you have at one point in your life realized, I I can't do this.

You know, I am broken and I am in need of a savior.

I am in need of a God to take away my sins and to make me clean.

And so, salvation, when you when you give your life to the Lord, when you confess your sin to Him, what you're doing is very much submission.

You're saying, Lord, you have your way, you save me, Lord, you do it.

I am nothing, you are you are everything.

All right, so our submission to Christ and and our submission to one another, as we're gonna get into here, it really shouldn't be something that we're doing through, you know, gritted teeth and and clenched fists.

Right?

It's something that we're supposed to do gladly.

We're supposed to be like, yes, like it is my joy, it is my it is my desire to do this, as the Lord is growing this in me.

I I want to do this.

All right?

This is what we want to do.

Now, again, as I've already kind of alluded to instead, it doesn't mean any of this is is easy, right?

Because we all have a sinful flesh, we all have a sinful nature that that wants what I want, and the the very nature of our flesh is anti-submission.

It's no, I don't want to submit, it's I want my own way, and I want that more than what than what God wants for me, right?

And so there's this this constant kind of battle that goes on within each one of us, and there's this chafing and this wrestling match.

But listen, if this is where God wants us, if this is where he wants us individually and as a church, it's this place where we have submitted ourselves to him and then to each other, I think we can trust that he's gonna get us there.

Right?

Can we can we believe that?

Can we trust that this is what God is actually going to do?

He doesn't he doesn't call us to do anything that he's not willing to actually take us there, right?

He's he's that that's what he does.

He says, I'm I'm calling you to this, and by my spirit, I'm gonna work in you to humble you and actually give you the strength to do it.

And so this is what we're gonna lean into here uh this morning as we get into it, all right?

That's a lot of kind of preamble and set up, and so let's get into this.

Here's the first thing.

All right, I will gladly submit to my church community.

Right?

And this act of humility ensures that God will work for me and not against me.

Right?

That's pretty important.

But take a look at verse five here.

We're gonna work through this.

Verse five says, likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders.

Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humil humility toward one another.

Okay, so for the first part there, what do we see?

Well, we see uh the the the text really gets into the who, right?

Who should we be submitting ourselves to?

Who should we be submitting ourselves to um in the church?

Right?

Well, well, it says here that you who are younger be subject to the to the elders.

Now, let's be really clear about this.

This isn't just a a blanket statement that you know everyone who is young should, you know, submit to everyone who is who is older.

Okay, well, you know, it's it's it's generally true, definitely true, that that younger generations are full of passion, right, and and and and spirit and and maybe like a headstrong kind of, you know, I think I know what I'm doing, and they could probably you know use some counsel to you know to respect and appreciate and even look for the counsel of of older, more experienced and mature Christians who who have that to offer.

Well, well, that's generally true, and I would even say an aspect of what this is you know talking about uh here.

Okay, this is actually a command for all of us.

Command for all of us, all ages.

All right, the Lord has placed elders, that's you know, spiritually mature men of God who are appointed to leadership in the church.

God put these men in place that the flock, that's that's all of us, we are to voluntarily yield ourselves to in love.

Right?

We are to submit to our elders.

Now, kind of where it stands, you know, for us right now, we're in a bit of a unique situation.

You know, our our elders kind of they well, they govern us um from Markham, right?

And we are in a transition period right now as a church where we you know started off as a campus and we were that for uh just about two years, and now you know we have and kind and kind of are transitioning to become our own independent, local, autonomous Harvest Bible chapel.

All right, and so at some point here uh in the future we'll be you know appointing uh our own set of uh of local elders.

Um but for now we have our elders, praise God, out of Markham.

And they're here from from time to time, and they're on a you know, kind of on a rotation, and they are here and help uh oversee us and bring uh governance and and leadership.

Right?

So it's our our job as the church to submit to these uh godly men, to submit to their leadership and their oversight.

Now, verses one to four in our passage here, it shows us what kind of leadership the elders are to employ.

So take a look at that now.

Okay, I'm gonna read it, starting in verse one.

So I exhort the elders among you, okay.

This is Peter talking, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.

This is how they're the elder, verse two.

Shepherd the flock of God that is among you.

Shepherd them, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, right?

But willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

And when the chief shepherd, that's Jesus Christ, appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

Okay, so the elders, what you see there, generally speaking, they're to lead with humility.

Right?

They're not to be, you know, over top of anybody, you know, do what I say.

You know, it's not this compulsion, this arrogance, it's it's it's not that.

It's they're supposed to lead with humility.

They're supposed to lead with with gladness and and joy, just as the church follows in those same ways, same ways, right?

With with humility and and gladness of their own.

Okay, so that's the first aspect of our submission here.

It's to the elders.

Okay, what's the second thing say?

Okay, the second thing here says, take a look at the verse.

It says that we're to clothe ourselves with humility towards who?

One another.

Towards one another.

Now, Ephesians 5.21, again, you can jot that down if you like.

This is what it says.

It says submitting to one another out of a reverence for Christ.

Out of reverence for Christ.

Okay, so submitting to one another as we would do that, uh, each to another person, maybe the person sitting next to us, it happens, all right, as we gladly, willingly, voluntarily submit ourselves to Jesus Christ.

Right?

Just as we submit ourselves to the lordship of Christ, we should be willing to submit ourselves in certain ways to people in our church, to the body.

Right?

And as we as we do that, the the the Spirit of God Himself, right, He He helps us to lose that, you know, that self-centered, you know, insisting on my way, inflated sense of you know, self-superiority, you know, complex that that tends to rule our hearts.

Right?

That's that's the way it goes.

You know, all of that at the end of the day is really the the antithesis of biblical submission.

Now, you know, we have to we have to recognize here that submission, you know, is is an act.

Okay, submission is an act.

It says here that it's an act of humility, right?

You see the word humility pop up, uh, or various forms of it, but three times in our three verses that we're looking at, five, five to seven.

Now, verse five shows us, look what it says.

It says that we're to clothe ourselves.

Okay, interesting, right?

We're to clothe ourselves with humility.

I think that what that's kind of getting at here is that the humility is not something that any one of us kind of stumble into by accident.

Right?

It's not like, you know, it's it's it's an action, right?

It's something that you have to decide to do.

You have to decide in Christ.

I'm I'm gonna clothe myself with this, I'm gonna, I'm gonna put this, I'm gonna put this on.

Right?

It's kind of like this morning.

Right?

Yeah, you wake up, you you know, get out of bed.

You know, none of us, none of us, you know, showed up, you know, to church, or none of us woke up this morning and accidentally put clothes on.

Right?

I don't think that's the way it works.

I don't think any one of us walked in today and we're like, you know, oh my goodness, I forgot my pants.

Oh no, no, I got them on.

Oh, great.

I got pants, you know, accidentally kind of stepped into those uh as I got out of bed, right?

No, that's ridiculous.

Right?

None of us would would do that, you know, by accident.

It's something that you have to decide to do.

I'm gonna decide what clothes I'm gonna wear, and I have to make that that decision to put it on.

Well, submission, okay, and humility, it's the same idea.

It's the same deal.

You have to decide to put these things on, you have to decide to do them and put them into action.

Okay, but if I refuse to do that, right, if I refuse to, you know, gladly submit to the elders of the church, if I refuse to submit to one another and the church community here, if I reject that act of humility, what happens?

Right?

Let's say I just I don't I don't feel like it.

You know, I don't want to, or I'm not going to, what happens?

Well, according to this verse, something that should give us uh much more of a strong reaction than any you know, nails on a chalkboard, squeaky styrofoam feeling uh could ever give us.

Right?

What does it say?

It says right in the verse, God opposes the proud.

God opposes the proud.

God actually works against us.

God works against you and I if we fail to humble ourselves, if we fail to put on humility, if we if we fail to submit as Christ has commanded us to.

Now, if we're not too sure, let me just be real clear about this.

That's not a good thing.

Right?

That that's that's not good.

Right, that the Lord would be against you, or that he would be against I, me.

Right?

That being said, here, if we do clothe ourselves with humility, if we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, we're gonna read that verse in just a second.

If we get ourselves low, if we are like, Lord, it is not about me, it is about you, Lord.

If you, would you have your way?

If we do submit, what does it say that God does?

Write an awesome thing there.

It says that he gives what?

Grace.

He gives grace to the humble.

Now, I don't know about you, but grace is something I need desperately.

Isn't it something that you need too?

We all need this.

You ever had you had any prayer request ever in your life?

Of course you have.

You've prayed for things, right?

You've had you've had desperate prayers, you've you've had gut-wrenching, heart, heart felt prayers constantly throughout your life, I'm sure.

You know what you're really asking for when you do that?

You're asking for God's grace.

Lord, would you would you pour out your strength?

Would you pour out your power?

Would you do amazing things that I can't do?

Lord, I am at a loss.

Lord, I need you.

I can't fix this myself at all.

I need your grace.

And what this is getting at here is that God will give you that.

If you humble yourself, if you clothe yourself with humility, if you have submission from the heart, God will work for you and not against you.

Now, all of this, you know, when you think about kind of those two options that we have, right?

To, you know, harden our heart and not submit to the Lord and not submit to others and not clothe ourselves with humility, or do the opposite and submit ourselves and humble ourselves and all of those things, what you start to realize with those kind of two options, it kind of escalates just uh what's at stake, right?

Right, if we do this, or you know, if we don't do this specifically, right, it kind of tells us that everything's at stake.

Right?

Everything.

And again, we we can't afford to have the Lord against us.

And so hopefully, what you're starting to realize here is this idea of humbling ourselves, this idea of submission to one another in the church, to the Lord, to the elders, all of it here.

Okay, all of that.

It's not just in the scriptures some some toss-in suggestion.

Right?

We're like, well, you know, do it if you if you've got time, right?

If you can fit it into your busy schedule, you know, or it or if you kind of feel like it today, you know, then then humble yourself.

No, that's not what it is.

And again, I I've been thinking about this this week as I've been kind of working through this, and you know, I hope you're kind of thinking about this too, as we're talking about it this morning, but but for me to picture, you know, that that my sin, my pride, my lack of humility could cause God to be against me or to be against our church in any way, I mean, I mean, that causes me to lose sleep at night.

Right?

I'm not exaggerating, that's literally the case.

Right?

That and it and it should, I I hope, I hope to be quite honest, I hope it's the same for you too.

You know, I hope as you think about, you know, your your leadership in the home, dads and husbands.

I, you know, I hope you think about your marriages and and your service in the church and you know, all of that.

I hope you consider you know just what's at stake here when you consider humbling yourself or not.

Yeah, I it's kind of a scary thing, right?

And so what do we need to do here?

What do we need to do?

Well, I think, you know, one of the kind of core directions, one of the core things that we need to do is to decide.

Right?

To decide to humble ourselves.

We have to decide to, not just, you know, well, the Lord will get to it in me whenever he feels like it.

Or, you know, again, hopefully I'll just, you know, kind of fall into it by accident.

No, you you you need to come before your God individually and say, Lord, I want to humble myself.

Lord, I would would you have your way in me?

Lord, would what I would I submit myself to to the elders of our church?

Would I would I submit myself to to others in our church uh as well?

Right, let's decide to clothe ourselves with humility.

Why?

So that so that the floodgates of God's grace would open up.

Right?

We we talk about it constantly all the time.

It's one of the reasons why we're doing this series, Uncommon Community.

Why do we why are we doing this?

Because we want to see the Lord do something awesome.

Do we not?

Right?

I I hope you're sick and tired of just showing up to church.

Showing up to church, showing up to church, right?

And it's it's the same old and and and nothing's really different, and my life's not changing, and and church is just this thing where I come, and you know, I I guess I'm kind of getting to know a few people, but but I don't still really know their names.

And I hope you're tired of that.

I hope you want to see the floodgates of God's grace open up in your life, open up in our church, and Him do something awesome in our community here, right?

Where the Lord works for us, where we're moving in step with Him.

We're not going against the flow, we're not going against the grain.

So we don't have God working against us.

Right?

That should that should stop us in our in our tracks.

Right, in all of this, we're starting to get into the second thing here.

So here it is.

I will gladly submit my uh to my church community.

This act of humility unleashes God's blessing when the time is right.

It unleashes it.

Right, verse 6, take a look.

He says it again humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may uh exalt you.

Exalt you.

Now, our our natural tendency, have you noticed this in yourself?

Our natural tendency is to look for ways to exalt ourselves.

Right?

How can I, how can I exalt myself?

How can I make my myself look good here in this situation?

You know, how can how can I get attention in a way from people, maybe here in the church, to kind of prop up my my sagging sense or my sagging lack of confidence?

You know, how can I, you know, serve in the church or you know, find a position in the church so that you know people think I'm great and so that people can you know respect me and I I finally have that thing that I don't have at work or or maybe in my own marriage or at home.

Right?

It's it's exaltation.

That's what we want.

All of it.

You know, we want to go after it, and so we do, and we do it in you know all kinds of ways, and you know, all of it is really, again, just the opposite of submission.

Right?

It is.

Exaltation is.

Okay, but but growing and and humble and and submissive Christ followers are those who have uh an increasing desire, okay, an increasing desire to what?

To fade into the background of life, to fade into the background of the church.

And I'm I'm not looking for the spotlight, and I'm not looking for glory, and I don't just want you know attention and everyone to thank me for a job well done and all of that.

I I I have a uh a growing desire for Christ to get all of the glory.

Right?

He's the one who deserves it, right?

He is the is the truly awesome one in this equation, right?

He has simply called me to this task, right?

And so I should I should want him to get the glory.

I should want that spotlight to be on him.

He's the one worthy of all of it.

Okay, and on top of all of that, okay, growing and and and submissive and and humble Christians, right?

Love it when others get honored.

Do you love it when other people get thanked?

Do you love it when when the spotlight goes on another brother or sister in Christ and you see them starting to grow and you see their their leadership gifts being used or their their serving gifts being used?

Do you do you love that?

Right?

Because Christians, growing Christians do.

And it's less of like, well, why do they get thanked?

And you know, I've been serving longer than them, and you know, you know, I've done a better job than all of them, and why does that, you know, no one seem to appreciate me.

Right?

Again, growing Christians love when other people get blessed.

They love watching watching other people get thanked, and and when other people get get honored.

When they see you know good things happen to others, they realize, you know what?

Since we're all one body, we are the bride of Christ.

If something good happens to you, guess what?

It's happening to me as well.

Right?

We are we are connected, we are one.

If one good thing happens to somebody else, it means good things are happening to us.

If if one other person suffers in the church, it means that we suffer too.

We shouldn't exalt in that, we should be excited about that when someone else uh is hurting at all.

We love to see other people receive blessing and seeing the Lord exalt them when the time is right.

So listen, the more desperate that you are to be exalted, you know, in our church or in life in general, listen, the less you're gonna get it.

The less you're gonna get it.

At least you're not gonna get the good kind.

Right?

You're not gonna get the blessing from the Lord.

You're not gonna get, you're not gonna receive exaltation from him.

Right?

The Lord, because the Lord's gonna withhold it from you.

That person's too proud, that that person's too too arrogant, and and and they can't, they can't handle the the praise.

They're they're not able to deflect that and to give glory to me.

And so I'm not gonna let them have that yet.

Right?

You're operating from a position of pride.

Okay, but again, the the more that you humble yourself underneath the the mighty hand of God and you submit yourself to the Lord and to the elders of the church and to you know others here in the body, the more God will exalt you, right?

The more he will encourage you, the more he's gonna pour his grace out on you.

The more he's gonna do it as the as the scripture says here, at the proper time, right?

When the time is right.

And so we need to leave the timing of all of that in the Lord's hands.

Right?

According to our timing, we would have had the exaltation or the blessing yesterday.

Right?

That's when we want it.

We want it yesterday, we want it today, we want it forevermore, right?

We never want to experience yet a moment ever of not being, not receiving God's blessing.

And so we want it, and sometimes we think that we can dictate to the Lord or try and manipulate him or in our pride, whatever, just try and try and have that and claim that now.

But it says here that the Lord will give it at the proper at the proper time when the time uh is right.

Now, you see that that phrase there again, right?

Humble yourself.

Humble yourself.

And I know that you know sometimes we might ask the question, you know, how do I how do I humble myself?

Like what are what are some kind of practical ways that that I can actually you know humble myself, you know, within this community that God has placed me in within Harvest Bible Chapel.

How can I humble myself underneath the Lord's hand and to other people here uh in our church?

How can we do this?

Well, I've got four just kind of practical ways that you can jot down.

Uh they'll be on the screen for you.

All right, here's the first one.

Get to know people.

Get to know people.

Right?

And you might be like, well, wait a second, that doesn't sound like that doesn't sound like humbling myself.

Right?

But that's because I think sometimes when we think humble, we think like we think kind of mousy and we think quiet and and we think, you know, cowering.

That's how we think humility is.

That's what we think it is.

Well, sometimes the the the most mousy, quiet, kind of cowering person who may have the appearance of wisdom, that person is maybe filled with the most pride of anyone in the room.

Right?

And it's because they're they're just focused on themselves and they're constantly comparing themselves to other people and and thinking like I'm better than them or or I'm not as good as them, and you know, and so we got to be really careful as to what we kind of determine is humility and not humility.

Right?

And so, why is number one getting to know people humility?

Because you're you're focusing on the on the needs of other people, right?

You're focusing on what's good for them.

You're you're going up to people in our church and just being like, hey, how's it going?

What's your name?

And getting to know them.

You're finding out, you know, where do they live and you know how long have they been coming to our church?

And you know, what you know, what makes you tick, and you know, what do you do for a living?

And and how many, you know, do you have a family?

Are they here?

And you're you're again the focus is on that person.

You see how you're humbly just submitting yourselves to what's good for that person, you're helping them feel connected, you're helping them be a part of the body of Christ here.

Getting to know people is absolutely a way that you can submit yourself to a person and exercise humility.

What's the second one?

Second one is pray for others.

Pray for others.

Again, you're not you're not focusing on yourself in that moment, you're focusing on the person.

And there's something just super awesome.

I don't know if you've seen it or or noticed it here in the church, and I have, and I love it.

It's when, like, before or after the service, we'll see conversations.

Oftentimes it's out in the atrium, sometimes it's here, sometimes it's upstairs in Harvest Kids, you'll see you know, two people talking and they'll just break in prayer, right?

Because someone has shared something that they need prayer for.

And so the person said, Hey, like, rather than you know, just going up to the pastor after the service, which is, by the way, a great thing to do, but but it's not just the pastor that can pray for people.

We can all do that, right?

And so sometimes you'll see that happening, you know, throughout the Sunday morning here.

Right.

We'll see that happening, you know, in small groups.

You'll see that happening, you know, throughout the week.

And people send each other texts or give people a call.

And, you know, how can I be praying for you?

That's an act of humility as you're putting the other person's needs ahead of your own.

Okay, prayer is an important one.

Pray for others.

Let's get the third one up there.

Okay, meet needs as they arise.

Meet needs as they arise.

Okay, and so you might say, well, well, prayer is a need, and and yeah, that's true, but I wanted to isolate that one uh on its own.

But meet needs as they arise.

As you're getting to know people, and as you're starting to realize kind of where they're at in life and and and what their needs are, sir, work to meet those needs as best as you can.

Now, our primary focus of caregiving and meeting needs is our small group ministry.

Right?

That's how we do it.

And so hopefully you're in a small group or you're working to get into a small group, and and that's a really great way.

That's the best way in our church, within our model, to care for people's needs.

And you'll get to know people and get and get to know them on a on a deep level, and you can be working towards that.

But it could be could be something like a financial need that comes up.

Yeah, I'm really, I'm really struggling, or I lost my job.

Like, well, I've, you know, the God, the Lord has blessed me in so many ways, and you know, I have an overabundance and I can really support you or bless you uh this week.

Maybe it's uh, you know, somebody has has just gone through a through a trial and they're they're they've been spending time in the hospital, and now they're coming home and they're you know they're recovering, and so you can make some meals for them, or you know, you can go and cut their grass for them while they're away, or you know, there's all kinds of ways.

We can spend so much time thinking about just really practical ways that we can meet needs as they come up.

Right?

It's a way that we can submit ourselves to each other.

Here's the fourth one engage in the mission, right?

Engage in the mission.

What is the mission of our church?

It's to glorify God by making disciples, right?

It's making disciples.

That is the mission of our church.

If our church neglects that, if we forget that, if we don't do a good job of that, guess what?

Our church is this.

Right?

That we're we're missing it, we're we're failing entirely.

Right?

Our church is to make disciples, and so you can humble yourself very practically by getting on board with that.

Not like I want it to be about my mission and I want to do what I want to do, and I want church to fit my needs, and you know, I'm looking for all of that.

No, I'm gonna submit myself to what Jesus Christ says the church is.

And he says it's about it's about making disciples.

Right?

This is this is so, so important, these four things.

Now, there are many things we could have written down.

This is just kind of a primer to kind of get you thinking.

I would encourage you, add to this list, think about the other ways that we can submit ourselves very practically, so that other ways that we can humble ourselves within uh the community that Christ has given us.

Now, if you take a look at these uh these four things here, right?

Have you noticed that none of this is really rocket science?

Right?

None of it is.

It's all relatively straightforward, right?

You don't need to be a veteran Christian, you don't need to have decades and decades under your belt before you can do these things.

You know, you don't have to have a of a Bible college degree.

You know, you don't you don't even need to know a ton of scripture, you don't need to have you know entire you know passages and and chunks of the Bible memorized.

You you don't even have to have been coming to church all that long, right, to be able to do these things.

Right?

And uh these are things that you can put into action right now.

You can do it.

Right?

Uh the and the more we do these things, the more, what are we doing?

The more that we're starting to exhibit a Christ-like humility and submission.

Right?

That's what that's what it is.

Because again, you're you're you're putting other people's needs ahead of your own and you're serving them well.

And the scriptures say here that as you do that, you're gonna be blessed, you're gonna be exalted at the right time.

And here's the really cool thing about all of that, though.

Okay, the really cool thing about the the exaltation and the blessing and all of that, that won't even be the thing that you're really going after.

Right?

The the more truly humble you are, the more that you humble yourself.

You won't be preoccupied with all the things that I'm gonna get from God, right?

That's that's not what you're gonna be thinking about.

Your preoccupation is gonna be all the things that other people get from the Lord.

Your preoccupation is gonna be what the Lord gets from your service, and that is more glory.

Right?

Humble people aren't obsessed with you know all of that.

It in fact almost comes as a surprise when we do get it.

Right, and the Lord is pouring that out, and you're like, oh, oh yeah, and you're you're like, oh yeah, but it's been such a joy to serve the Lord this way.

Right?

As Christ has submitted himself to the Father, it is my joy to submit myself to him, to submit myself to the elders, to submit myself to others here in our church.

Right?

And the blessing, the exaltation that God will, again, will shower on us, all of that's gonna seem like cherry on top.

It really is.

Right, here's the last thing I will gladly submit to my church community.

This act of humility shows a deep level of trust in God's care for me.

Shows a deep level of trust.

Verse 7, take a look.

Verse 7 says, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

Because he cares for you.

Now that word, that word casting, I don't know if we got any fishermen or fisher ladies uh in the house, right?

But it kind of reminds us of fishing, doesn't it?

Right?

Casting.

And and literally it means uh to throw upon, right?

It means to throw upon, literally, literally throwing your anxieties, throwing your your cares and your worries and your your stress and your fear, throwing that at the Lord God.

Now, you might be wondering, well, how is that humility?

Well, well only proud and and arrogant people think that they can handle and manage their anxieties and their fear on their own.

Right?

It takes a certain amount of pride to say, no, you know what, I'm gonna hang on to this.

I'm not gonna bring this to the Lord.

I I'm gonna stew in these things.

I'm gonna try and fix the problem.

I'm gonna hold on to this and not be honest and open in my small group during accountability time.

I right, you see that humility is trusting that that God, that that Jesus Christ is powerful enough to handle our biggest burdens.

Right?

And so you're you're casting that, you're you're throwing those things at him.

And so again, just a real practical question.

Are you doing that?

Are you doing that?

Do you do you do those things?

Do you you know take moments throughout your day?

Maybe when it's you know you're on your way to a work meeting, or you know, the kids are going nuts at home, and or there's some kind of financial scare, or you know, whatever it might be, and that anxiety, the temperature raises and and the stress is there, you're waking up in the middle of the night, whatever it might be.

Do you take those moments and bring them before the Lord?

Lord, I I can't handle these things.

Lord, Lord, you you you tell me that you are strong enough, you show me that you are mighty enough.

And so, Lord, I want to I want to cast those on you.

Do you do that throughout the day?

Do you do you invite him into your anxieties?

Do you do you ask him to handle it?

Because that's exactly how you express trust in him.

You're expressing your trust in him that way.

Now, on top of that, do you, you know, do you read the the scriptures and and do you allow the care that God has that you can read literally on every single page of his word?

Do you allow that to translate and and and and show your heart how much he actually cares for you as well?

Right?

Like God loves his people.

We see it through the Old Testament, we see it through the New Testament, we see that life gets dicey, life gets unbearably difficult sometimes, but all of that is to humble us and to allow us to push all of that onto the Lord, our God who is strong and mighty and can handle it.

Right?

And it takes humility to be able to do it.

Okay, trusting the Lord, though, I mean, I mean, you probably know this, you're probably aware of it.

It's not something that we're naturally very good at.

We don't naturally trust Him very well.

And so trust in the Lord, it's like a muscle that needs to be exercised.

We need to work towards that prayerfully, you know, and and prayer and you know, Bible intake, you know, those two things are really trusting in God 101, if you will.

You know, if you're not you know doing those things, if you do not have a growing and and dynamic, or at least working towards that walk with the Lord, you're not gonna, you're not gonna trust Him.

If you are doing all of those things, that's that's the path, right?

That's the pathway that God would have for you to in order to develop a deeper.

Sense of trust in him.

Now, how does casting all of your anxiety on him relate to submitting to one another?

Because I think maybe that's a little bit, you know, less natural of a connection to make.

Right?

It's easy to think through how casting our anxieties on God, you know, is submission, that's humility, but how is casting our casting our anxieties on God relate to submitting to other people?

Okay, well, think about it.

Anxious people are typically self-centered people.

Right?

Or self-centered people.

Because when you're self-centered, when you're anxious, who are you thinking about?

You.

Are you thinking about yourself?

You know, and you know, and how again, how can I fix this problem?

Or this is so so stressful, and you kind of get cocooned very easily, and the eyes of your heart turn inward, and how can I fix this?

Or, you know, how can I manage this?

Or maybe not even that.

It's just like I'm stressed, I'm stressed, I'm stressed.

That's all you ever feel.

And woe is me, woe is me, and my life is so difficult, my life is so difficult.

What's the common denominator through all of that?

Me, me, me.

Right?

It's it's it's you and it's and it's selfish.

You're not you when you're anxious and you're not casting that on the Lord, you're not thinking about the good of other people.

You're not submitting yourself to them.

You're too absorbed with yourself.

You know, again, how can I how can I fix this?

How can I handle this?

You know, it's just constant worry.

Okay, and obviously, none of that shows you know all that much trust in the Lord, does it?

It doesn't.

Okay, but when you do express that trust, when you do learn to do that, and and bit by bit, as we grow, often very slowly in all of these things, right?

As we do that and we see growth and and and our anxieties, they're not they're not dominating us anymore and you know, sending us off a cliff, spiritually speaking, and you know, they're not you know ruling our hearts.

What begins to happen?

We begin to care more about other people, right?

The Lord opens up time and space because he's handling the load, he's handering, handling the burden that we can't possibly.

And so it opens up time and space and freedom and desire, all of it, right?

To care about the needs of others and to express biblical submission to them.

So listen, are we gonna be a church that does this?

Are we gonna be a church that, you know, as we submit to Jesus Christ, right?

Jesus is the foundation of our church by his grace that will never change.

Right?

As we submit ourselves to him and we start to realize that he wants us to submit ourselves to our church community, to the elders, to each other in all kinds of various ways, as we express a heart of all of that, you know, we see that he does amazing things.

So listen, are we gonna commit to it?

Are we gonna be all in about this?

Are we gonna be, again, committed to uncommon community?

This thing that is so countercultural, this thing that, listen, only God can build.

Right?

We've talked through you are not an island.

We've talked through, you know, love one another, serve one another, submit to one another.

Right?

Have you started to notice as we've gone through this that none of these things are something that we can build?

The task is utterly impossible.

Awesome.

Right?

That that's the perfect place to be.

Because then we can start to realize that God, God, have your way.

You're the only one that can build this.

You're the only one that can make your church into something beautiful, into something incredible.

So, but again, the question is are we gonna get on board?

Are we gonna are we gonna jump into this?

Are we gonna humble our hearts?

Are we gonna humble ourselves?

Are we gonna go after church God's way?

Are we gonna go after a church in a way that will truly be great and truly be biblical and truly bring him all the glory that he deserves?

I'm gonna pray for you now.

I'm gonna pray for us, I'm gonna pray for me that God would have his way.