Seeking the Things that are Above II

Colossians 3:12-17.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on July 15, 2018.

Seeking the things that are above is a phrase that is used to change our perspective on how we live our life.  We can either live with our heart and mind, which is naturally fixated on the earth, leading us, or we can live with our heart and mind, turned towards heaven and the leadership of Christ.  Our flesh will lead us to destruction, but the leadership of Jesus will lead us to eternal life.

Thus, Christians need to be followers of Jesus in deed and not just in word.  To truly follow someone involves watching what direction they choose and making corrections accordingly.  Similarly, to be a disciple of Jesus, we must do more than just show up for His lessons.  We must actually take time to study the lessons that He teaches and then put them into practice in our lives.  In that way we will truly become more like Him over the course of time.

In our passage today, we will see the why, what, and how of doing this.  This passage will not answer every question that you may have.  However, it will encourage you to be a person who is seeking the things that are above rather than a person who is pursuing the things of this world.

Putting on the New Man

In verses 8-10, Paul has introduced the metaphor of taking off our old man, like you would a set of clothing, and then putting on the new man.  In this metaphor the old man represents my life as led by my own fleshly heart and mind.  The new man is Jesus, and by faith Christians are those who are taking off the old way of life and putting on the new way of life that is directed by Jesus.  Now, this is not intended just to be a nice platitude, but a template for our daily transformation.  This is something we must wake up every day and pray, “Lord, show me where I need to put off the old man today, and strengthen me to put on the new that you have for me.”

Thus verse 12 quickly explains why we should give ourselves to such a task.  The first is that we have been chosen by God.  God chose us for the purpose of becoming like Jesus.  He did not choose us just to warm a pew on Sunday mornings.  Also, this choosing was not based upon the fact that we were better than others around us, but simply because we humbled ourselves, and turned from the wisdom of this world and turned towards Jesus, the wisdom of God.  If I refuse to take off the old man and put on the new man, then I am rejecting the purpose for which God chose me.  In fact, I am ultimately rejecting His choice, period.

The second reason he gives for putting on the new man is because we are holy.  We are not holy because we got our act together better than those who are not.  We are holy because when we were chosen by God, He also set us apart for His holy purposes.  Those purposes do include taking the good news about Jesus and His salvation to all people, even to the ends of the earth.  However, we cannot preach salvation if it is not happening in our daily life.  Salvation is more than a legal standing before God.  It is also something that God does in our life every day as we listen to Him and find deliverance from our old man.  The foundation of the Gospel is God’s ability to take the worst of sinners and enable them to become like Jesus, the sinless one.  It is Jesus who purchased us with His blood on the cross, and He did so in order that we would become like Him.  When we are like Him then we can produce deliverance throughout the earth.  However, to use our life for worldly and selfish purposes would be to profane (use a holy thing for common purposes) what God has made holy.

The third reason he points out for putting on the new man is because we are loved by God.  When you have the love of the Creator, then nothing else matters.  It doesn’t matter when the world rejects me because God loves me.  It doesn’t matter if I am lacking in the things of this world.  In Christ I have everything I need.  He is the one who takes care of my needs.  Thus there are two loves that we must choose between.  We can remain in the love of God and pursue His purposes, or we can remain in love with the world and go after the purposes of our own flesh.  We cannot love both because they are diametrically opposed to one another.  I can’t love the ways of the world and the desires of my own flesh, and still love God.  I will go towards one and away from the other.  When we turn towards God in reciprocal love, then He teaches us how to love the world properly.  The proper way to love the world is to lay down your life that they might live, rather than plunging headlong with them into destruction.  May we love God enough that our hearts are changed regarding the world.  Then we will love people enough to call them back from the edge of destruction.

So what does it look like to put on the new man?  In the second part of verse 12 through verse 14, Paul lists many things that show us what this looks like.  He does so not because we need a checklist to accomplish, but because of the deceptions that Christians encountered then and of course also today.  There is one Lord, Jesus, and we are called to one life, putting Him on.  There are no such things as Christians who are at such a high level that it is now okay for them to do things that the Bible tells us are sin.  Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  These are listed to guard against error.

The first thing he tells us to put on is tender mercies, also translated compassionate hearts.  This parallels Micah 6:8 where we are told to love mercy enough to live it out in our daily lives.  Thus Christians are told to choose the tenderness of God over the hardness of the world.

The next word is kindness.  Kindness goes beyond doing the right thing.  It involves going beyond.  Jesus helped people, but more than that he did so in a kind manner.  We see such tenderness in John 4 as He talks with the woman at the well.

Next we are told to put on humility.  Humility is the disposition of the mind in which we do not see ourselves as superior or above others.  Christ is above us all and asks us to position ourselves beneath each other, so that we can serve one another in His name.  Of course, this is exactly what He did when He yielded to the cross.  Though He is God, He embraced the lowest place.  How much more ought we to do so?

Next we are to put on meekness.  This word is often defined as strength under control.  Its emphasis is gentleness and being mild-mannered, not because you lack strength, but because the Spirit of God enables you to control yourself.  A meek person is not pushing themselves and their agenda, but leaving room for others and what Christ is doing through them.

Patience in this passage is having a long fuse with others.  It is easy to be short-tempered and easily aroused to anger.  However, Christ is patient and slow to anger.

We are told to bear with one another.  We would probably call it putting up with one another.  Yes, it is not always easy to put up with YOU, just as it is not always easy to put up with ME!  This has more to do with the personality differences and disagreements we may have.  Christ puts up with our pettiness and slowness to follow Him, and He does so because He loves us.  Our flesh is too quick to write others off and refuse to deal with them.  This is not the heart of God.

Then we are told to forgive one another.  Here we get to the parts where may do each other wrong in one way or another.  The heart of God wants to forgive us for our sins and works towards reconciliation.  Thus, those who follow Jesus must also be a forgiving people.  This is one of the hardest things for our flesh to swallow.  Forgiveness is not saying, “It’s OK.”  Rather, it is saying, “I am not going to hold this against you.  It is now between you and God.”  If a person is repentant and wants reconciliation, then we embrace them as Jesus embraced Peter on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in John 21.

Lastly, Paul tells us, “above all these things put on love.”  One way to view these different virtues is to see them as different facets of what it means to love Christ and to love others.  When you love someone you have a tender heart towards them, are kind to them, and humble around them, etc.  When we live out the love of Christ in our life it perfectly binds us to one another.  Genealogy, blood, race, nationality, and any other thing cannot perfectly bind people to one another, but the love of Christ can.  Such love cannot be commanded or forced by any human being.  But, every one of us is led by the Spirit of Christ to let the love of Christ be expressed in our life.

So how can we live in such an incredible way?  Verse 15 transitions to answering this question.  Putting on Christ is a daunting task and an extremely high bar.  How can God expect us to do it?  Paul points us back to Christ as our hope of accomplishing such a task.

The phrase, “let the peace of Christ rule in your heart,” has two parts to it.  First we must let it.  Those who put their faith in Christ are the recipients of His peace.  This is given to us by the work of the Holy Spirit in our heart.  The picture I would use for this situation is when the disciples were with Jesus in a boat on the Sea of Galilee (Mark 4:39).  The sea represents our heart and all the emotions, desires, and thoughts that can stir up such an internal tempest that we fear for our lives.  Letting Jesus bring His peace into our hearts involves having Jesus in our “boat” in the first place.  But, more than that, we must call out to Jesus and ask Him to quell our inner storms.  When we call on Jesus, He says the words, “Peace, be still!”  Once Jesus calms those fears, emotions and desires, we then must let it rule in our hearts.  The word “rule” means the peace that Christ has brought to us is now calling the shots about what we will think, desire, and feel.  When you let Jesus lead in your life, you are enabled to have an inner peace that directs you without turbulence and chaos.  Clearly, this is something we must do each day.  Our hearts tend towards chaos, but letting Jesus rule in our hearts brings peace.  You don’t do this by yourself and all in one day.  You simply need to let the peace of Christ take up residence in your heart and let Him be your King.  “What are we working on today, Lord?”

Next, we are told to be thankful.  Learning to be thankful in each moment is a difficult thing.  Without the assurance that Christ is with us, it would be an impossible thing.  Thankfulness begins with contentment.  When we are content with what God has provided in our life and the station of life in which we have found ourselves, it transforms how we approach others.  Thankfulness needs to become the atmosphere of our daily life.  Each morning, rise up and thank God for the day, but not because it is an opportunity to get more.  Do so simply because it is another day to be faithful in those good things that the Lord has given you.  Instead of looking to the hills for something better, ask the Lord how you might care for what He has already given you.  When you are faithful with the “little” that He has given you, then perhaps you will find that those little things are far greater than you imagined.  It seems impossible to be able to choose to be thankful.  It involves getting our eyes off of what you don’t have here on earth, and looking towards what you do have there in heaven.  God, help me to see what I have already.  Lord, help me to want to please you, in order that I might be more like you!

Lastly, we are told to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly.  Notice that we are to “let” it happen.  God is working to put His Word in us and to have it richly bless our inner life.  This definitely involves reading the Bible, and spending some time in studying it yourself and with others.  However, Jesus is also called the Word.  Thus it is both, the commands that He gives us and He Himself.  Like the glory of God coming upon the tabernacle or the temple of Israel, so we should want the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.  We must not only memorize the word of God, but also have the Spirit who spoke it working inside of us that it might be fruitful.  This process of letting the Word of Christ dwell in us richly is expressed in several ways.  We are told to teach and admonish one another, in the ways of Christ.  Also we are to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (alone and with others).  God’s people are intended to be a singing people.  We sing not because our voices are so good, but because we have something worth singing about, Jesus!  Our hearts are full of the grace of God, and He is pleased to hear the sound of our hearts as we sing about it.

Paul ends this passage with a powerful statement.  Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him!  We are representatives of Christ in this world.  How well do I represent Jesus?  To some degree, we all fall short.  However, that is why we are told to bear with one another and forgive each other.  Jesus knows that we will have bumps and scrapes along the way, but He promises to dwell within us and enable us from the inside out.  The path forward is not an easy path, but it is a good one in which God will give us all the resources we need to put on the New Man and become like Jesus.  He will help us to be His spiritual children, amen!

Seeking things II Audio

Society under Siege: Sexual Boundaries

1 Corinthians 6:9-20.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 11, 2016.

Since the 1960’s a sexual revolution has been going on within our society.  However, in the last decade a “breaking of the dam” has accelerated the pace that Americans are embracing sexual sin.  On one hand we do need to remind ourselves that these sexual sins are not new.  There prevalence in our society may be new, but sexual immorality has enjoyed the embrace of many a society throughout history.  In fact we have not plumbed the depths of sexual immorality.  The Christian foundation that lies beneath this country has been rejected by a steadily increasing number.  We are in the process of replacing the old foundation with a new one.

It is important for Christians to stop themselves, before they wax eloquently against homosexuality and transgenderism, and deal with the truth that we are all drawn to some form of sexual immorality.  Many who are vocal against homosexuality can be guilty of the hypocrisy of pointing out another’s sin without dealing with their own.  The Bible makes it clear that sexual fantasy is sin.  Pre-marital sex is sin.  Adultery is sin.  Divorce for selfish reasons is sin.   The Church has struggled over the last century with these issues as well.  Sometimes we have done well in holding up biblical truth.  Other times we have done poorly at forgiving people whom Christ has forgiven.

We must also remember that sexual sin is not just wrong.  It destroys a person and robs them of life.  Compassion must be the essence of our response, and not a fake compassion that embraces destructive life choices.

The Christian must leave behind the old life

In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul is dealing with the Corinthian Christian’s who were embracing all manner of sinful activities.  Though they had received the truth of the Gospel of Christ, it had become a blanket absolution for continuing to make sinful choices and live sinful lifestyles (at least for some).  In challenging these Christians, Paul gives a list of sins that they were apparently doing.  This list begins with sexual sins and then includes some non-sexual sins.  The first word is “porneia” in the Greek.  It can cover a range of sexual sin (pre-marital sex, prostitution).  The second word, idolatry, is not actually a sexual sin.  But, throughout the Old Testament idolatry is connected with sexual sin.  The reason is because idolatry is unfaithfulness to God, who is often depicted as a Husband to His people.  In fact, we should note that sexual sin can be so powerful that it often operates as an idol in our life.  We will make any sacrifice in order to please it.  Adultery and Homosexuality are pretty clear.  He goes on to list: thefts, coveting, and drunkenness, which are pretty obvious too.  Revilers are those who use harsh, abusive and caustic accusations against others.  It has the sense of a harsh attack.  Lastly we have a word that is translated as "extortioners" in the NKJV.  It is the same word Jesus used of false prophets who come in sheep’s clothing, but inside are “ravenous” wolves.    Thus extortioner probably falls a bit short.  It references ravenous con-men who are out to eat you.  The emphasis for this list is that God did not change His mind at the cross and suddenly decide to let these kinds of people into His kingdom.  Some of the Corinthians were being “deceived” in this matter.  They felt that they could have Jesus and continue living out these sins.  No.  The Christian is called to leave the old life behind.

Verse 11 points out that coming to Jesus involves a real spiritual work that has real effects upon the sin in our life.  They had been washed.  This is a reference to the reality that sin defiles us and must be removed in order for us to be acceptable to God.  It is disingenuous to say that the death of Jesus covers our sin and then continue to pursue it.  Jesus did not wash us so that we can go back out and wallow in the mud.  Next, Paul tells them that they had been sanctified.  This means that God had made a distinction in their life that they were no longer a common person.  They had been set apart as a special person for the work of the Lord.  To say that Jesus has sanctified us and then live the common life that the world is living is also disingenuous.  Lastly the Corinthians had been justified.  To be justified is to be put in a position of acceptability before God.  If these are only spiritually, unseen, things then why would Paul list them?  He is trying to help them see the contradiction between what Christ was doing in their life and what they are doing.  They are working against Christ.  I am not talking about perfectionism, but rather about the real change that happens in the life of a person who rejects their old life and embraces the new life in Christ.

The Christian must leave behind the old lies

In order to leave behind the old life we have to let go of the old way of thinking, and any deceptive lies that would “justify” continuing in what Christ is saving us from.  In verses 12 and 13 Paul takes a couple of statements that the Corinthians would use and rebuts them.  The first is “All things are lawful for me.” It seems that they were taking the truth that Christians are not under the Law of Moses and twisting it to mean that sin doesn’t matter anymore.  This one is still used today.  This idea can be answered a couple of ways.  In Romans 8, Paul reminds Christians that we are still under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.  You are either being led by the Spirit of God or by the sinful nature.  So Christians are not under the law of Moses, but neither are they called to “lawlessness.”  Our relationship with Jesus through the Spirit leads us into what is good, and away from what is bad.  Now to the Corinthians Paul approaches it differently.  In verse 12 he counters that not all things are beneficial.  For example, it is technically legal for you stick your hand in a viper’s mouth or on a hot stove.  But why would you?  It is not beneficial.  In fact it can do great harm.  Sin is destructive and those who go after it invite destruction into their lives.  In verse 13 he reiterates their argument, “All things are lawful for me,” and rebuts with the reality that sin is enslaving.  Once you give an inch in these areas, they will begin to dominate your life until you become a slave to unrighteousness and an adulterer against Christ.  This is a dangerous half-truth at best and you will have to reject it if you want to follow Christ.

In verse 13 we have a second Corinthian lie, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food.”  Basically they are saying that what we are doing is natural.  God designed us this way.  In referencing food, Paul is touching on the issue of eating meats sacrificed to idols and yet still keeping it connected to some of the sexual sins listed.  The argument works either way.  God designed us with sexual desires and abilities.  Therefore nothing is wrong with it (they would argue).  We could even go further and say something like this: In the age to come God is going to give us new bodies in a new heavens and earth.  Thus what we do with this one is irrelevant as long as our “spirit” is connected to God.  This kind of reasoning is pure sophistry.  It is a person wanting to do something so bad that they justify it over the top of the truth.  Yes, God did create sexuality and He created man’s digestive system.  In fact, having sex within the bonds of marriage is more than natural.  It is a part of God’s will for many.  But this does not mean that all boundaries are null and void.  Do we eat rocks or poison for that matter?  Why not?  We were not designed for them.  Paul states that the body and its desire for food are going to be destroyed one day (the same is true for sexual desire).  This is meant to sober their thinking.  God did not design us for sexual immorality, but to please His purposes.  Like any designer, God designed sexuality to be expressed a certain way.  Sexual immorality destroys the ability of sexuality to accomplish God’s plan in our lives.  It is also destructive to relationships between people and between us and God.  To go after sexual immorality is not to embrace your design, but rather to reject it.  God’s plan for humans involves laying down this body and the resurrecting of a new glorified body.  Though we will lay down the old body for a new one, the quality or kind of resurrection is dependent upon what we do in this body.  Do we put our trust in Jesus or in our own wisdom?

The last lie is in verses 15-17.  Apparently the Corinthians weren’t saying this, but there is an assumption that underlies their activity and Paul points it out to them.  They are acting as if these sins don’t involve or affect Jesus.  They had compartmentalized their approach to Jesus.  As long as I have a spiritual “faith” in Jesus, it doesn’t matter what I do with my body.  Paul reminds them that their bodies belong to Christ because he bought them with his own blood on the cross.  Thus we are not just the bride of Christ.  We are a bride that he purchased back from slavery and death.  We are in relationship with Him “who knew no sin.”  When we go after sin our unfaithfulness to Christ does affect our relationship with Him.  This brings us to the conclusion of the matter.

The Conclusion

In verse 18 Paul lays out the categorical rejection.  A Christian must flee sexual immorality as defined by God’s Word, not our sophisticated, twisted reasoning.  So why is so much energy spent on trying to justify it?  We do so for the same reasons that people have affairs every day.  Our lips say we love Jesus, but our hearts have quit loving Him.  If you truly love Jesus then you will flee sexual immorality.  Like Joseph fleeing Potiphar’s wife, we must be people of action.  We must set up protections and accountability so that we are not caught up by the temptations of our flesh.  We must learn to control our thought life, by first controlling the garbage that is coming in, and then focusing our thoughts upon that which is good.

Thus in verse 20 we see that it is more than just freeing our lives of vices.  We must positively do something and that is to glorify God by living the life He has given us to the full.  The vice of adultery is to be rejected.  However, then a husband and wife must learn to give themselves fully to grow in loving another person for life, and for better or worse.  Young people can control themselves and wait until they are married.  Married people can control themselves and mature into the man and woman that God has designed you to be.  To do this you must learn to love your spouse in the various situations that this life will throw at you.  We have a responsibility to glorify God in how we live out our sexuality in this life.  Christians, this world needs role models of God’s plan, a plan to make us all into the image of Jesus Christ.

Sexual Boundaries Audio

The Virtue of Submission 2

We will finish up 1 Peter chapter 2 as Peter continues talking to us about the virtue of submission.  Last week we looked at how our response to government can send the wrong picture of what Christ is.  He was not a rebel trying to take over the earthly kingdoms of this world.  But then neither was he a sycophant who was in love with human governance.  The passage today deals with the area of slavery.

The term here could be literally translated as a house servant as opposed to a lesser slave.  However, I’m not so sure that would make a difference in the instruction given.  There were many reasons why a person may end up as a slave.  Many ended up in slavery through indebtedness.  Depending on the size of that debt they could be slaves for less or longer periods of time.  Others were captured in wars and thus had little opportunity for freedom.  Others were born into that class.  Some hired themselves out as house servants with a contract for service.  Lastly some were in an apprentice relationship and thus took care of the master’s needs in return for instruction in a trade.  Notice that even in America we still have these types of relationships.  Have we truly abolished slavery?  We may have abolished a certain form of slavery, but no economic system can completely remove the principle of slavery.  Some men will always be at the economic mercy of others, whether through fault of their own or not.  Even the false hope of communism that called for all the workers to unite and cast off their oppressors, soon itself made everyone slaves to a system that was ran by the elite in the government.  Now put yourself in God’s position.  You have to give a word of instruction to people who will live under every kind of government conceivable and under every possible variation of leadership from evil to good.  What would you say that would serve your people or children well under every circumstance?  It is easy for modern people to hear this instruction to slaves and scoff like we are somehow more righteous than God.  May we approach His Word with the understanding that God is less concerned with meeting 21^st century America’s approval and more with helping his people not lose their faith in this society.

Servants Should Submit To Their Masters

Peter speaks to those in the lower class of society who are being told through the Gospel that Jesus has set them free and they are children of God.  Instead of promoting a revolt against Rome and all governments that supported slavery, he tells them to take their proper place under their masters with fear.  Instead of despising their master and abandoning their post, they need to serve him and not assume that God would look kindly on any insubordination.  Because we get stuck on the word slave, we refuse to move on to the deeper point.  True slavery is never about your circumstances.  It is about your heart.  We see submission and service as slavery when in fact a free man is most able to serve.  God can set us all free in the natural, but will our hearts still be slaves to pride, arrogance, and selfishness?  If we attack God for speaking to this heart issue then we must at least own up to the fact that we are seeking temporary trinkets over the top of eternal joys.

Peter then speaks to the obvious question about a good versus bad master.  The good and gentle master is compared to the “harsh.”  The Greek word is skolios (where we get the word scoliosis).   It means twisted and perverted, curved towards self.  God is not pleased when his people use the errors and sins of others to justify their own error and sin.  We are not to deceive ourselves and cloak our sinful attitudes.

Peter reminds them that suffering because of doing good will be commended by God.  When we are aware there is a God, we are not so quick to try and take justice into our own hands.  Do you remember Jesus talking to his disciples in Matthew 5:46?  He said if you love those who love you what credit is that to you?  Don’t sinners do that too?  But if you love those who hate you, then you will be rewarded by God.  The same is true here.  If you submit to a good and gentle master that is not a credit.  But to lovingly serve a twisted, perverted master is to give him a picture of Christ.  Evil will not help a wicked master.  Only good can break through if it is possible at all.  However, our flesh is tempted to not care about God’s reputation or the wicked master’s soul.  We have a day of eternal reward coming, but he has an eternity suffering ahead.

Servants Must Remember Their Calling

Peter then reminds them of the Lord Jesus who has called them to follow him.  Our master, Jesus, suffered.  How can we be above suffering?  Even those who are not servants in the natural need to recognize that, we are called to follow Jesus in his sufferings.  He suffered injustice on our behalf because he loved us.  Am I refusing to do the same?  My flesh certainly does.  We need to learn to step in his steps and follow his lead.  Remember the passage of Isaiah 52:13 through chapter 53?  He is the suffering servant who is well acquainted with sorrow and grief.  When his disciples were asleep, his two constant companions, sorrow and grief, were wide awake.  However, we also need to follow Jesus in his response.  He didn’t use injustice as an excuse for sin or deceit.  He didn’t pay back wrong for wrong.  The word “revile” literally means to heap abuse upon someone.  He had the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back and more piled upon him verbally, physically, and emotionally.  Yet, he didn’t threaten.  Can you imagine being threatened by God?  But Jesus didn’t do that.  He committed himself to God’s judgment and submitted himself to the judgment of men.  He was free to suffer injustice because he knew in his heart that he was right before God.  God would vindicate him and reward him.

Peter then reminds them that Jesus died because of our sins.  Imagine, Jesus carried your sins on himself.  He suffered your punishment.  The true believer has felt the repugnant effect of his own sin and died to it.  On the other hand he has seen the beauty of Christ’s love and come alive to his righteousness.  The suffering of Jesus (his stripes) makes us whole.  Who might be made whole through my suffering?  I can’t satisfy the punishment of other’s sins.  But Jesus has already done that.  However, we can be a vehicle for demonstrating and revealing Jesus to them.

It is clear that Peter had Isaiah 53 in mind as he wraps up this instruction by referring to them as sheep.  Isaiah said that all we like sheep have gone astray, but God has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  Peter reminds them that they were wayward sheep who have come back to the good shepherd.  Only this shepherd is not watching over your flesh to help it be well fed.  He is watching over your soul.  Many a soul is lost for the sake of the pleasure of our flesh.  Always remember that rebellion destroys the soul.

Final Thoughts

Ask yourself, is my life reflecting Jesus or am I following a Jesus of my own making?  It is important for us to often remind ourselves of our sin and what it did to Jesus and yet his love is still towards us.

Lastly, ask yourself, do you trust God to deal with the injustices done to you in this life?  When we keep our “station” whatever it may be, even under the threat of evil, God is pleased and promises to reward us in the coming judgment.  God help us in the days ahead to understand that Jesus was not a wimp and yet he submitted.  Jesus was not a slave and yet he served us.  Let’s follow him!

Submission II Audio