Weekly Pursuit – Week 2 of August
Verses:
Phil. 2:9-11 “Therefore also God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, …and every tongue should openly confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”
Excerpts:
The Lord Jesus’ return to heaven was through His being a man and being submissive in the form of a man. As a result He was exalted by God. We need to have the mind in us which was in Christ Jesus. Whoever knows this principle [of submission] will realize that no sin is uglier than rebellion and that nothing is more important than submission. Only when we see the principle of submission can we serve God.
The Lord’s obedience was learned through suffering. True submission is found when there is still obedience in spite of suffering. A man’s usefulness is not in whether he has suffered, but in whether he has learned obedience in suffering. Only those who are obedient to God are useful. If the heart is not softened, the suffering will not go away. Our way is the way of manifold sufferings. A man who yearns after ease and enjoyment is of no use. We must all learn to be obedient in sufferings. When the Lord came to the earth, He did not bring obedience with Him; rather, He learned it through sufferings.
Salvation not only brings joy; it also brings submission. Only submissive ones will experience the fullness of salvation. Otherwise, we change the nature of salvation. We need to be submissive, even as the Lord was submissive. The Lord became the source of our salvation through obedience. God saved us with the hope that we would submit to His will. When one meets God’s authority, submission is a simple matter, and knowing God’s will is also a simple matter, because the Lord, who was submissive throughout His life, has already given us His life of submission. (Authority and Submission, ch. 5)
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