Sacrifice and Submission
Disclaimer: Yeshua Speaking, “ 17. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Matthew 16:17-18KJV
What Love Is This?
All scripture is God-breathed and profitable, but forgive me, I do have some favorites that absolutely delight me all the more; among them is Romans 5:8, “ But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Matthew 10:5-6 details which sinners Yeshua instructed his disciples NOT to go to. To limit any possible confusion, let’s dive in, shall we? Yeshua speaking;
“5. These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6. but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Therefore our understanding of the directive Yeshua gives to his disciples in Matthew 28:19, to go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, must keep this in mind.
Further clarification for understanding, Yeshua speaking;
“31. Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. 32. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee,” Mathew 26:31-32.
Scripture doesn’t contradict, and Jesus Christ does not change; he is the same yesterday, today, and forever, Hebrews 13:8.
See clearly, Jesus Christ commanded His disciples where to go and also told them who not to go to when they got there, and he also told us why, Yeshua speaking;
“24. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:24.
I have discussed in more detail in an earlier article whom the loved of God are and the lost sinning sheep to whom Yeshua came to save, Matthew 15:24.
Keep that in mind to understand the context of the word Gentile used in Matthew 10:5. This refers to non-Israelite people. Not to belabor the point, but it’s all the more glory to our King; the lost sheep of Israel are Israelites, for they are of the house of Israel. Those of whom were broken off from the flock. Remind you of a parable you might know? Luke 15:3-7.
Yeshua Follows God’s Will
That was a lot to digest, I am sure, so it would behoove us to recap. According to the Holy Scriptures, Jesus Christ commanded that His disciples NOT go to the Gentiles.
But rather, Jesus Christ commanded that the disciples whom he chose out of all of his disciples to be his apostles, the sent ones of his gospel message, his fishers of men, go only unto the lost of His Hebrew people, who had been scattered abroad in all nations. Luke 6:13-14.
So unless God the Father changed his will, which he changes not, John 6:37, or Yeshua died and rose again with a changed mission, which he did not, for he does the Father’s will, John 6:38, or the disciples decided to go rogue and outright disobey the man they had abandoned their lives for and follow after, who had also just proven he was the Messiah, then the gospel message went forth by God's design, for His kingdom, for His church.
The true, actual church started with the Hebrews. How the Catholics, unfortunately, commandeered our faith, I will leave it up to your own independent research if you so choose.
But you will see further in your independent research that even some of their own people eventually protested in reformation from the corruption the Catholics egregiously turned our faith into. After they pushed us aside, of course, called themselves ‘ the church,' perversely misrepresented and misinterpreted the word of God for their glory, power, and greedy ill-gotten financial gain, all in the name of our God.
Wake up, loves, ye beloved of God, in the name of Yeshua.
Love in Humility
Let us imagine for a moment, place yourself there, Israelite; Yeshua had just come back to life from a brutal public death; he had just risen from the dead after 3 days of being buried! I mean if ever there was a time to gloat, that would be it! A time to highlight himself and his deity. To point the attention to his majesty.
To bask in the adoration of his power.To seek revenge on the ones who shouted, crucify him! To bad mouth Judas Iscariot for his planned betrayal or to give Peter a big, I told you so! All things some of us might have done, Matthew 26:34-35.
But no, in line with His character, for His glory, and our good, Yeshua did none of these things. Instead, he gathered His brethren, His apostles, and His friends, addressed their concerns, then told them to get back to work furthering His Father’s mission for Him and them, to be about their fathers’ business and focus on the kingdom. Namely, to go and get the lost ones that he loves.
Thank you, Lord, for a love that seeks until it finds in order to save. Hallelujah!
Biblical Love in Action
What is this love depicted in action, you may ask? A love that John 15:13 calls the greatest love. A love permeating with sacrifice, “ Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Look at this type of love; look at the language Yeshua uses, lay down. This language, lay down, connotates voluntary vulnerability, no fight, no resentment, no arrogance, no need to be right, no pride, no self-ambition, no competition, no quid pro quo, no back and forth, no demands, no bullying, not irritable nor abusive, not boastful, not resentful, just surrender.
It is important to discuss the sort of biblical love I am referring to even further, as it will be most important later in this article, so pay close attention, beloved. Because if you are operating from your own idea of love forced on us by a materialistic and self-centered world, you will apply an affection or feeling where none is called for.
I want us, for the purposes of this article, to focus on the love Jesus has for those lost sheep Yahweh sent him to save, Luke 19:10. A love so deep that it says you didn’t deserve my love, and that’s exactly when I gave it.
You didn’t earn my love, nor did I ask you to, but for my glory and the love I have for you, I gave it anyways.
I gave you a love you didn’t even know you needed, so that when you found out you needed it, it would have already been given, and the work finished. Hallelujah! Glorify our Lord.
Why is This Important?
The understanding of Christ’s love for us is crucial for many reasons; the most paramount of these is our eternal salvation, rooted in the belief in Yeshua’s death, burial, and resurrection for our sins. Another is because the Gospel is depicted through this love enacted in marriage.
Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 5 that husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her—laying down his own will in sacrificial lovingkindness with tender regard for his bride, the church, regarding the lives of his believers with great significance, value and worth.
Not because we deserve it, far from it, but because God required it. In the same, he has instructed that husbands live sacrificially with their wives in a way that promotes her sanctification and walk with the Lord.
Wives, do you support the priests in your homes in the manner that pleases the Lord? In submission. Honoring his God-given position in the home as the head. We have let the ruler of this world and his dominions deceive us, and it has only caused more peril in our homes.
The head and the body does not share the same significance in their roles. Much like Christ, the head of the church does not share the same significance in role with the church that he is OVER. Both are beloved by God, but one's role in the body is of authority and thus must be submitted to; Jesus is Lord of lords, and He is the King of kings.
Even though we are to submit to each other as believers in the body and are considered equals in the eyes of God in personhood and as heirs together of the grace of life, 1 Peter 3:7, the husband is the final and supreme authority in the marriage under God, who is over all, and must be submitted too, 1 Peter 3:5-6;
5. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: 6. even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.
Understanding God’s Design
But make no mistake; the husband is not God. To be deemed ‘lord’ in this instance; is a sign of respect and acknowledgment of headship and position, much like how we might use sir or mister today.
It’s vitally important that we understand that to treat your husband as if he were God would be a transgression of the 1st Commandment; it would be a sin. And one of the roles of a biblical husband is to help present his wife as blameless, aiding in her sanctification; for him to ask her to submit to him as she would to God would be to ask her to sin, Matthew 18:6.
Not interpreting the scripture correctly can lead to disastrous relationships in misaligning how God has designed his marriage construct to operate for His glory and our good.
What a wife must do, according to Ephesians 5:22, is to submit to her husband as unto the Lord. Surely God is not asking wives to submit to man as she would submit to Him; that would be idolatry, which would be a sin, so what does unto the Lord mean?
Wives' submission to their husbands, in accordance with God’s Word, is submission to God. Submitting to His design, plan, and sovereignty over their life and marriage, Jeremiah 29:11.
To fail to obey your husband when you can, in all things, both in word and deed, is as if you are saying you neither trust nor respect God’s plan and purpose for you or his wisdom in design for how he wants the families in his kingdom to operate.
Submission By Design
Put plainly, the husband is not God but is man; he is fallible and sins and must not be treated as if he is Yahweh. Romans 3:23.
But God is God, and so respecting and honoring your husband’s God-appointed position in leadership over you, Ephesians 5:23, is not about your husband; it is about submitting to God’s will, in honoring, respecting, and obeying His design of how he wants marriage to function.
We have to remember unlike the world, which isn’t confused, but just engaged in outright denial and sinful rebellion, God made both male and female, and he made us differently.
Scripture doesn’t say to respect men because they are so respectable nor love the woman because she is so lovable; just by observing the sexes, we can see that something in how God formed us, psalm 139:13, has made us respective of these needs.
As humans, we need or can benefit from both love and respect, but men tend to need respect more, and women tend to need love more than the other does; it’s how we are made; we are not just genitals and hormones; our differences are deeply woven into our beings by the great designer, Yahweh.
Apostle Paul, although unmarried, knew that there are challenges in the union of marriage, 1 Corinthians 7:7, and he gave us the guidance of sacrifice in love and submission to God’s will as a way to allow the marriage to function better and in line with what would glorify God and bless His kingdom.
But you don’t know my spouse, you may say, and you’re right, I don’t, but God does, and he still designed the roles of marriage the way he did.
So, if you find it difficult to do what the Lord has asked, do like Yeshua did when faced with God’s will on our behalf, and pray for direction and strength; Luke 22:40-44, according to Scripture, it was a prayer Yeshua did in agony, as His sweat turned into drops of blood.
Then soon after, because we couldn’t in our unrighteousness, and furthermore by God’s omnipotent design, Jesus walked to the cross and sacrificed his life, a sacrifice covered in kindness, radiating in love.
Yeshua patiently endured the unjust verdict delivered to him and bore that cross on our behalf for the sins that we have committed, in obedience, rooted in submission, to the will of our Father. Love you. His Glory.
