Sweet Submission | 1 Peter 2:18–3:7

Well, we're in this series, Strangers, How to Live Far from Home, and I want to kick it off today with something really funny. You want to do something fun to start it off here, guys? Something really fun I'm going to do here. Let me play a game with you. I'm going to play Does the Bible Say? And you've got to respond. I'm going to come up with a statement here, and you're just answering yes or no or grunt or groan or moan, whatever. So I've got a few for you here. You ready? Does the Bible say God helps those who help themselves? You're doing good so far. Does the Bible say the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil? Yes, it does. Whoo, we got some work to do on that one. Some of you are hoping it doesn't say that, but it does. Does the Bible say this too shall pass? No, the Bible does not say this too shall pass. Does the Bible say pride goes before destruction? Yes. Some of you have given me the glazed donut look like, I don't know what to say here, Pastor. But yes, it does say that. Does the Bible say God will never give you more than you can handle? No. No, no. God is in the business of constantly giving us more than we can handle. That's the point of the good news, man, is that this life, we can't handle it. Does the Bible say, be sure your sin will find you out? Yes. Boy, we're getting quiet in here. Be bold. Take a risk. I'm not going to shame you. Yes, it does. Does the Bible say, follow your heart? No. No, you're doing good now. Does the Bible say man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart? Yes. Does the Bible say cleanliness is next to godliness? No. Some of you wish it was in there, but it's not. Does the Bible say the truth will set you free? Oh, come on. Does the Bible say the truth will set you free? Yes. Somebody still said no. Does the Bible say, wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord? No. Now, I'm almost picking a fight up here, right? Because you might be saying, what do you mean, Pastor Carl? I know it does say that. And you might be right if you read the English translation. Some of you that are Bible students are just grinning at me right now going, what is he doing? so does the English translation say wives submit to your own husbands as to the lord yeah it's Ephesians 5 22. but I want to tackle this issue of submission today and this is what I want to linger here for just a moment before we go any further this is a big misnomer because of our need to translate the original language we miss something big time Let me tell you unequivocally that the Greek word for submit is not in verse 22 in the original. It simply reads, wives, to your own husbands as to the Lord. It doesn't use the word submit. You say, well, Pastor Carl, why in the world did we put the word submission in there? And when we think about submission, this is one of the biggest topics going. I know a lot of men that flex on verse 22 of Ephesians 5. Yeah, I got a woman. She's supposed to submit to me. And they kind of grunt and spit when they say it. That is not what the Bible teaches. Now, hold on before you say thank you too much. Because we back up to verse 21 and we get an understanding of why they've injected the verb submit in verse 22. In verse 21, this is what it says. Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. And this is the tail end of a passage. Look carefully then as you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of time. Don't be drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit. Not a text on not drinking. It's a text on drinking the right stuff, and that's being intoxicated with the power of the Holy Spirit. And then it goes on to say, sing songs, hymns and spiritual songs, making melody one to another. You're singing to God and each other. By the way, that's the power of collective worship really is great. And it says that you're going to do everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 21, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. And then it says, wives, in the original language, wives to your own husbands. The reason they put in the word submit is that without an understanding of that carryover of mutual submission, we don't understand this. Here's the misnomer. Submission is not just for wives to husbands. Submission is also for husbands to wives. Now, it might be new to you. But that's absolutely true. Submission is to be to one another. And by the way, let me expand something here because I feel in my spirit you need to know this. When we find in the Genesis account that there was no helper suitable for Adam, he gave a woman a helper suitable for him. That word helper is used of four persons in the scripture. Do you know who they are? They are God the Father. They are God the Son. They are God the Spirit. and they are women or wives. Wow. So ladies, you are in great company. Secondly, you need to know this, helper in the original language means to assist someone who is otherwise incapable. That should make you girls really happy right now because you know that's true. so there is a misunderstanding of submission that has led some men to say i have authority i am the head of the home and scripture is clear that men are called to headship but it's not about authority headship is about responsibility Any man that does the flex around me that claims, you know, scripture says my wife should submit and I'm the head of the home, that guy is a disaster of a husband. Disaster. The biblical issue of submission is that we submit to one another and then all Paul's doing is saying, wives, submit also to your husbands as we do to one another. I didn't plan on going here, but I want to tell you that although I do know that my responsibility is to love my bride as Christ loved the church, verse 25 of Ephesians 5, I have never, ever pulled rank because I don't have any. Because we are called to be leading, loving servants. Listening, understanding, hearing a woman's heart. And I will tell you boldly that some of the biggest moves that we've made as a couple... All throughout our, my goodness, 38 years of marriage, God has used my wife at huge junctures. And I am so glad that I heard from the Lord and mutually submitted to my wife and heard what God was saying to her. Ladies, you are powerful. God wants to use you. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, man nor woman in the kingdom of God. It is a plan of mutual submission to one another. All right. Today I want to talk with you about this issue of submission, and it goes way beyond Ephesians 5. And I want to talk with you from the text of 1 Peter about this sweet submission. And I think because of how we've tried to characterize wives submit to your husbands, we've actually dumbed down and stolen the power of what biblical submission is. So we've already established that submission is a mutual proposition. We yield to one another, not just in husband and wife, but toward one another here as the body of Christ, as we sing and worship and love each other and encourage each other. But today I want to give you, from 1 Peter, four huge payoffs of submission. Four, and they are big. We'll start... In chapter 2, verse 13, all the way through verse 17, if you've got a Bible, you can open it up or it'll be on the screen. "...be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil." and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Verse 16, live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. The first huge payoff of submission is that we will, according to the text, silence fools. When you exercise submission, you confound even the leaders of government over your submission. You blow their mind. You silence them. You steal from them the power to actually bring more affliction on you. Now this was especially true to the audience that Peter was speaking to. These are the dispersed. 1 Peter was written somewhere between 62 and 64 A.D., The Roman Empire was ruled virtually every, they ruled virtually every aspect of life. Emperors were corrupt, taxes were heavy, and local officials could be abusive. Christians were viewed with suspicion because they refused emperor worship and were accused of being disloyal citizens. Peter wrote during the time of, who was the emperor? Nero. And Nero was brutal. And we don't even understand the full weight of his brutality because this was written in about 62 to 64. But in AD 70, something happened horrible in Rome. The city burned. And Nero blamed the Christians for the burning of Rome. And what happened under this emperor that they're called to submit to was horrific. It was horrific. Some of you may not know this, but Nero, in his anger, and it was misplaced anger, he just used the burning of Rome as an excuse to persecute Christians. Guys, he had huge gardens, open fields with barns lovely sculpting flowers and hedges. It was unbelievable. But in order to illuminate those gardens, he would bring in Christians, he would hang them on poles, he would douse them with flammable liquids, and he would light their bodies on fire. And that's what would illuminate the gardens. And God says through Peter... Submit. You've got to be kidding me, God. Now the question is, when do we submit and when do we not submit? Because there is hierarchical law. All you have to do is go into the book of Acts and you see Peter and John coming out of prison. What do they say? They're told by the Pharisees, shut up. Don't talk about Jesus. Don't you dare say a word to anyone. And what did they say? Who are we going to serve, God or man? And who'd they serve? God. They kept speaking boldly. Why? Because there is some point at which emperors, governors, legislators, anyone in a position of power asks Christians to do things that they cannot do. So first century Christians didn't bow to worship the emperor like Daniel would not bow to worship the foreign gods. Did it cost them something? Yes, many times it cost them their lives. Imprisonment, beatings. These Christians were a tiny, misunderstood minority. They had no political leverage. Submission was not an endorsement of tyranny. But it was recognition that God is sovereign over human authorities. Did you hear me? God is sovereign over human authorities. What does this do for us? It gives us immense freedom because we're no longer hung up on the handlebars of policies, positions, character, lack of character of people that lead us, whether it's locally or nationally. Guys, this is huge. Wayne Grudem was asked the question, how do we know? What we do and what we don't do to honor those that are in authority over us. This is what he said, best answer ever. Christians should obey every law of human government unless obedience to that law would involve disobedience to God. Some of you lose way too much sleep over politics and it's not God's will for your life. And I don't care what side of the aisle you fancy yourself on. It's not the kingdom way. As a matter of fact, when we get so vocal about all the issues that we see, we actually don't silence fools, we foment fools. So you say, Carl, is there any hierarchical laws that kind of guide or govern your life? I'm going to give you two. I went into management at Moody Radio where I work about three years ago, and I said to them, There's a shift in our land. There used to be a time that no matter where you were on the political spectrum, abortion was seen as a horrific thing, right? Now, I got to tell you, having been a dog musher in Alaska, I've seen a lot of litters of puppies born. And I know this may sound crazy to you. But I've been there with a mama while those puppies are coming out. And maybe, call me crazy, but just being there watching these little puppies born and then being the one that caught my son. I was the catcher and the clipper. I caught him, and then I clipped the umbilical cord, and it was a great job I had. I got to tell you guys, abortion... is a non-starter for me. If you get Genesis 1 wrong, that God created them, male and female, he created them, I think you get the rest of the book all wrong. I told management, I will never knowingly bring in, not that I had before, but I will never knowingly bring in anyone to be a guest on this show who winks at policy that takes the life of an unborn child. And I will never bring in knowingly someone on my radio show who winks at or approves or align themselves with political systems that mutilate bodies of minors because they happen to be confused about their sexual identity. I will never do it. I won't do it. Could there come a time when we're told Christians be quiet, don't say anything about the Lord? Yeah, there could be. Much like it is in India right now for some of our brothers and sisters. And then we're going to have to say, what do we do? Do we choose to honor man or honor God? And we're going to have to say we honor God no matter what the earthly costs may look like. Do you know that there's rewards in heaven for martyrs? And maybe God will hang a reward around our neck one day. He is for millions of others. You know, I just want to pour out my heart on this point for a second. I love you all so much. And as I look across this auditorium, and I know the people that are online watching, some in Africa, some in Colorado right now, we have, rumor has it, like 22 to 23 languages spoken right here in our downtown campus. How cool is that? But I need you to know What makes us powerful is not our diversity. What makes us powerful is that although diverse, we have unity around the person of Jesus Christ. Don't get hung up on the politics of our day. Did the early church have some pretty brutal leaders around them at that time? what did peter tell him to do submit as much as you can that's not approving of everything that's going on but it's yielding as much as you can until a point where there is a threshold that is broken that you say i can't do that you know what that'll do it'll make us even more unified it'll make us stronger You'll get better sleep at night. You'll have less gossiping in the workplace. You'll have less angst, foot stomping. And you'll be able to focus more on the one who saved you and will carry you to the end. And you will silence fools. When the church gets more about the kingdom of God than the kingdom of Earth, Katie, bar the door, we have not seen what he wants to do. And he wants to do it. So submission silences fools. But we go on from there. Servants, what? Peter's saying servants. Yeah, bond servants. You ready for this? Let me just give you this right now. There is no way that God affirms slavery. But in this world today, we actually have more slavery going on per capita, the amount of people enslaved, than at any time in human history right now. And so Peter was writing to a group of people, many of whom were servants. They were paid to serve, and these were sometimes physicians, they were teachers, they were professionals, they were bookkeepers for crying out loud. Yes. So he spoke into a culture, not affirming that slavery, God forbid, or servanthood, where you are paid to be that person's person, is okay. But he says, look here, servants, be subject to your masters with all respect. Not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing. When mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. Verse 24 says, he himself, our Savior, bore our sins in his body on the tree that he might die, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness by his wounds, his unjustly given wounds, by his wounds that he carried for you and me, we have been healed. For you were straying like sheep but have now returned to the shepherd. and the overseer of your souls. The word here for servants, again, I want to stress is ocate. It's referred to as household slaves or bond servants in the Roman world. Again, these were educated people, teachers, physicians. Some were treated very fairly, some were treated harshly, and they had very little legal recourse. And Peter addresses those who suffer unjustly and tells them to endure with hope. Why is this so radical? Because no ancient philosopher told slaves that their suffering could mirror the sufferings of Christ. Peter dignifies them by placing their pain in the very story of Jesus. elevates abused servants by identifying them with Christ, calling them the righteous sufferer. Christ did not retaliate. He did not threaten. He entrusted himself to the Father even though he was sinless. And here's the big payoff of this kind of submission. It models Christ. It models Christ. So you say, Pastor Carl, there's no one here that's a servant, a bond slave. We don't have that permeating our culture. But every theologian that I've ever studied on this passage says that the most direct application for this is that we would look at how we work for those who employ us and work as unto the Lord. Let me give you my conviction. I think Christ followers ought to be the hardest workers in the job market bar none. I think Christ followers ought to be the slowest to gossip in the job market bar none. I believe from every fiber in me that Christ followers model Christ when they live unlike the world in which we live. Because we are aliens and strangers. Foxes have holes, birds have nests, the son of man has no place to lay his head. And the question is, are you trying to live for your rights or are you living to point people to God as you honor him by the way you work for others around you? Christ followers don't come to work late. Christ followers show up on time. Christ followers are prepared. Christ followers solve problems at work. They don't make problems. Can I just give you something? Some of you may wonder, how do I get a job that I love and keep it? I'm going to tell you the ironclad way. There is no person on this planet that is employed that isn't employed for one primary reason. You are hired to solve a problem some way, somehow. If you're a teacher, you're solving a problem of uneducated kids learning to read and write. If you're a garbage collector, you are solving a problem so that garbage from homes can make it to a dump, get recycled or whatever they do with that stuff, but you're removing problems. No matter what area of life you're working in, here's what I want you to know. The way to get a job and keep it is this. Be a person that solves problems for your boss, and I promise you this. I don't care if you were hired way down the line. I have seen it happen numbers of times, and it can happen with you. The last one hired is not usually the first one fired, because a boss will make a way to keep people around who solves problems and doesn't create them. And you model Jesus. you put them on display. My dad was a principal of elementary schools for a number of years. And he told me one day, we were talking, he said, what's it like being a principal, dad? He says, it's great, I've got great teachers. And I don't know how the topic came up. But I asked dad, what's the most dangerous place on an elementary school campus? He said, oh, that's easy, Carl. You ready for this? The most dangerous place that can destroy the fabric of a school is the teacher's lounge. Because that's where gossip starts. That's where backbiting happens. That's where can you believe you did that? Can you believe she did that? Can't believe we're using Hoot and Mifflin books rather than the other books that we've had. God says, through Peter, whoever you work for, bust your booty. Solve problems. Shut down gossip. Encourage your boss. Don't suck up. That's weird too. But do everything you can to lighten the load because you will put Jesus on display. If the way you behave at work is indistinguishable from those around you, you got to do some serious conversing with God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, go back to work on Tuesday with a totally different perspective. Peter goes on. A third huge upside to sweet submission is found right here. Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands. I'm not saying anything different than Ephesians 5.22. So that even some If some do not obey the word, this is husbands, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives. When they see your respect and pure conduct, do not let your adorning be external. Let me just stop here and say this. Commentators are agreed. Peter is not saying don't wear jewelry, don't dress up, don't put the makeup on the barn or whatever you do, all that, ladies. That's all good. What Peter is saying here is that all of this is one thing. What radiates from here is the real thing. I'm just going to pull off the veneer here for a second and tell you. The most beautiful people I see on this planet have this inner radiance that busts through all of this, and they shine Jesus brightly even before they can get their makeup on in the morning, ladies. That's the radiance. Do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry or the clothing you wear, but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with an imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves by submitting to their own husbands. As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, let me just stop right there. I was thinking about this. I thought, wow. My bride calls me bub, and I call her babe. But what if she began to call me Lord? No, forget that. We aren't going to go there. And you are her children if you do good. and do not fear anything that is frightening. Can I tell you this? Ladies, I want you to hear me. No matter where your husband is or isn't with God, And I want you to know this single ladies, because one day you may get married to a man that starts off strong, but goes through some divots. And the tendency is to think I've got to kind of cajole him forward. I've got to, I've got to kind of spiritually kick him in the booty. I've got to do no. Listen to me. One of the huge payoffs of submission ladies is this. You will be a contagious witness. a contagious witness so much so that Peter says and I've seen it happen even women who find themselves saved after they're married or they blew it they did evangelistic dating only they didn't check one box the dude went to church with them but he was never born again it happens all the time and now they find themselves living, sleeping, having sex with, sharing a checking account with a man who's not rocking and rolling with Christ. And the question is, what's a woman to do? And I'm going to tell you. You live in such a way that your husband one day will be so confounded that he says, whether he's lost or a derailed disciple, whether he says it in word or deed, he looks at you and says, oh, sweetheart, take me to your leader. It's beautiful, man. In the Roman world, a wife was expected to adopt her husband's religion. A woman converting to Christianity apart from her husband was seen as socially disruptive and even dishonorable, guys. When Peter addresses those wives whose husbands do not obey the word, he is meaning unbelieving husbands. And what Peter affirms here is that those women of God who radiate the beauty of an interconnectedness with the Savior, walking with God, not for God, but walking with God and huddled up in the arms of God and hearing the voice of God and letting the voice of God then direct this precious child of God, you as a woman, your life will be contagious to your man. It's a beautiful thing. Now lest some of you think, this is hard on women in here today. Oh, Peter doesn't leave the men out. And it doesn't take him long because he knows men, we don't need to read seven verses. We just needed one. Look at what he says. Likewise husbands, oops. Live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. Whoa. Gentlemen, I'm talking to you right now. All of you, married men, young men, listen to me. We are going to go to husband boot camp right now. Husbands, some of you have felt like, I talk to God, I don't hear him. My relationship with God must be cold. I ask him about things. I ask him about employment. I ask him about this. I ask him about that. Where's God? I'm telling you, what we find in this one little verse is that God loves wives so much that a man that does not seek to mind and understand the soul of a woman, God will lovingly freeze that man out of communication until he gets things right with his wife. Some of you men might think, you know, Carl, I feel like my prayers sometimes bounce off the ceiling. Some of you, I would encourage you to pray less and start understanding your wife more because those prayers that you're yapping, God shut you out. He ain't hearing. God loves women, ladies, so much that a man that will not cultivate the heart of a woman, God will lovingly say, dude, you are on the sidelines. You're not going to hear my voice until you get this figured out. Why was this radical? This is a culture that women were second-class citizens. They were sexual objects. They were there for men to do their thing with, and that's how they were written off. But the most egalitarian man that ever lit up this world was Jesus, and his disciples got it. And through an inspired word, they're laying down something that isn't even understood today. I know. I see it on X. I get it on TikTok. I see it everywhere. There is this brand of toxic masculinity that is out of the pit of hell. So we fall off this high ridge two ways. We can either live with our wives in an understanding way and learn to cultivate and understand their heart, or we can fall off into passive manhood. I'm waiting for her to do the talking. Okay, I'm going to follow along this and that. No, mind her soul, men. And the other side is, I'm the leader of the home. She's gonna do what I say to do. No, God's gonna freeze your booty out. He will freeze you out. Passivity is the death of the fall of man. Passive men need to take initiative. Dominant toxic masculinity is the second fall of man, trying to take hold of something that God never rightfully gave you, give it up. You say, well, Carl, how do I get on this high ridge? It's been said that men speak on average 25,000 words a day and women can range up to 30 to 35,000 words a day. And I will say this, I think for man to be an initiating, loving, leading servant, you need to become a student of your bride. Single ladies, single men. Let me speak to you a moment. Ladies, if you're dating a man that cannot hear your heart when you're dating, he probably will not be inclined to hear your heart at all when you're married. If you are looking for a woman, you can do something, even in dating, that begins to draw out what makes her tick, what makes her go, not just what's on the outside for show. And you say, well, how do you do this as a married couple? Because I'm not proposing that couples that are dating act married. They don't have sex together. They don't share accounts together. And ladies, I'm gonna say this because there's a lot of youngins down here. Ladies, don't put your cookies on the low shelf and give them to them. Those are for when you're married. When you give away the cookies too early, You actually diminish yourself in the very eyes of that man. You think you're giving up something to make it more secure relationship. You're actually undermining security and you're diminishing your value. Don't give him your body. It ain't his. Until you're married. So how in the world How do we do this? You know, it wasn't that many years ago when I began to learn the art of actually listening to my bride. I'm a fix-it guy. She gets into a little bit of pouring her heart out, and after about two, three sentences, I've got the problem assessed, and I've got the solution in hand. So I'm like, got it. And she cut her off. And I said, no, I got it. I know what you need. Let me just say this. There are layers of a woman's heart that are so beautiful and so rich. It's so deserving of being heard that when a husband takes time to listen, and you might say, Pastor Carl, do you do this? Yeah, I checked with my wife a week ago just to confirm where we're at here. We do this about twice a week where we have something called chair time. And we sit down and we look at one another. And on occasions, I'll be so close to her that I'll hold her hand. And if she's got something she needs to talk to me about, it's not a one-way proposition. Sometimes I go, I need a chair time. I got to pour my heart out to you. Invariably, I don't talk as long as she does to me, but that's okay. But she begins to talk to me, and the greatest gift I can give her is ask clarifying questions. What do you mean when you said that? What do you think's really deep down there? Well, let's go a little layer deeper. And sometimes there might even be some tears, and she'll say, I don't even know why I'm crying. I'll go, it's okay. It's okay. Crying's okay. But let's go a little bit deeper. And we have solved some super cool spiritual obstacles that seem to be in the way. Some battles that we were fighting as a couple that we just stripped down and we removed brick after brick that caused us maybe for a season to be glorified roommates sharing occasional sex in a checkbook but not intimacy. Men, listen to me. Godly men seek to understand their wives. It takes time, it takes intentionality, and it takes humility. Do it. Why? Because a huge payoff of this kind of submission is effective prayer. You say, Pastor Carl, can you draw a string between hearing your wife and listening to her down to the bottom of something that she has to share with you and your prayer life? Absolutely, 100%. I would say the biggest obstacle to prayers I've ever had in my life was not listening to my wife in an understanding way. But listening to my wife in an understanding way does two things for me. When I see that she's heard and that gives endorphins to her and she'll jump up, give me a hug, and she'll say something to me, it's getting really personal right now, she'll say something to me like, bub, thank you so much for listening. I'll say, babe, that was no problem. And you know what's funny? It wasn't. It was awesome. And it gives great joy. The other thing that it does, I pray with a fresh boldness and a fresh confidence because my one flesh partner who I left my mom and dad, I cleaved to my bride, and we are now one flesh. When I sense that oneness in the truest sense, I pray with a boldness like you can't imagine. Well, it's quiet in here today. But I think that's good. So I got a why in the road for you. We're going to do something very different here in the closing two minutes. I'm going to simply ask you this question. Which sweet submission will you apply this week? I want to ask you, man. is the one that you need to focus on to live with your wife in an understanding way, do it. Don't interrupt. Don't get bitter. Mind her soul. Hear her heart. Things that you thought you got resolved, go back and go, by the way, Over the years we talked about this thing, but did I hear you to the bottom? I almost guarantee you 99.9% she's going to say, thanks for asking, I got more to talk about. You want effective prayer, man. How about a contagious witness, ladies? Because when two worlds collide, when you've got a man that's seeking to understand and a woman that says, without respect to where he's at right now, I'm going to radiate Jesus to this knucklehead. Oh, wow. Amazing things happen. A quick note I feel prompted with right now for those of you Young people, men and women in this room today are watching online that are not married yet. There are two ingredients that you must look for and do not settle for less in a spouse. Number one, humility. Number two, teachability. If there's not humility, there will not be teachability and it will be a long haul for you. Maybe your focus is to get off the emperor rants and begin to fixate on the king of all kings. We'll be the better for it together. Maybe it's going to work. The totally different perspective that you're going to model Jesus come hell or high water. You're not going to go to the equivalent of the teacher's lounge. You're going to rise above that junk. You're going to live differently. Why? Because all these submissions are born out of submitting to the one who took our sins to the cross. knowing that we weren't all that, and yet he died for us. And he filled us up with this new life. And it's beautiful. Submission is sweet when it first goes to God and then to others. Close your eyes, wherever you are. I'm not going to have hands raised. I'm going to have this team sing just a little chorus over you. But which sweet submission will you apply this week? And I'm asking you to choose to do it. I'm asking everyone in here to choose to do it. If you think you're above one of these four, I can't help you. You're too arrogant. Let the Word of God speak into your soul. And watch. what he can do in places of government in places of work with your husband your husband to be with your wife and watch prayers begin to be heard once again they're just gonna sing this over you quietly Don't even join them. Just keep your head bowed and surrender and submit to God first.