A Man of God Loves and Submits to God
Few blessings have bettered me more than the generations of godly men the Lord has and continues to put in my life. To call someone "godly" suggests that not every dude is a man of God. Do you agree? If so, how is a man of God different than every other man on Earth?
Perhaps the easiest way to recognize a godly man is by juxtaposition against what we'd call a "worldly man." I'm not talking about those who are well-traveled, though that is one definition. Worldly also refers to a man whose thinking, actions, and lifestyle are almost completely based on the values and goings-on of this temporal world. In contrast, a godly man prioritizes the spiritual and eternal. He delights in being and doing what is right in the eyes of his Master and Creator, the one true God.
This 12-part Man of God study further explores certain qualities and behaviors characteristic of men aspiring to be Godly. Lesson 1 focuses on the role of love and submission to God in that pursuit. These lessons are easy to understand and perfect for father/son discussions, studies held by mentors and their mentees, or small group devotionals.
Part 1: A Man of God Loves God
If we want to be men of God, we first need to have some understanding of who or what God is. Unfortunately, humans are too “human” to understand God completely. Afterall, the Bible says God has always existed; He is everywhere at once; and He knows everything. These are all difficult ideas to understand. If only there was one word to summarize the most important thing to know about God. There is!
“Dear friends, we should love each other, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has become God’s child and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” -1 John 4:7-8
LOVE. It’s not just what God does. It’s who He is. Love is the reason He is so good to us even when we are bad to Him. How has this been true in your life?
Another word for being bad to God is “sin.” Sometimes sin refers to doing the things God told us not to do, like…
“Do not lie to each other.” -Colossians 3:9
Other times, sin means we didn’t do the things God told us to do, like...
“Honor your father and your mother…” -Exodus 20:12
Even though we thought we were only sinning against other humans, we were really sinning against God. We disobeyed our perfect Creator and Master, and He doesn’t have to put up with our disrespectful sin. In fact, God has to punish sin. Do you agree?
Since God is over all, He is our judge. What kind of judge would He be if God let everyone do anything and everything they wanted to do, and there was never any punishment? God must punish sin, and the punishment is separation from God.
“It is your evil that has separated you from your God. Your sins cause him to turn away from you, so he does not hear you.” -Isaiah 59:2
That separation is like a spiritual death sentence.
“Sin came into the world because of what one man did, and with sin came death. This is why everyone must die—because everyone sinned.” -Romans 5:12
The “one man” in that verse is talking about Adam. He was the first man to sin. Then, every man after him followed in his footsteps and sinned also.
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” -Romans 3:23
So, we all deserve death and separation from God forever. However, God doesn’t like us being separated from Him. He wants us to be with Him, but He also knows that rule breaking cannot go unpunished. So, God found a way to do what judges must do (punish rule breaking) while also showing us how much He loves us.
“The payment for sin is death. But God gives us the free gift of life forever in Christ Jesus our Lord.” -Romans 6:23
Think about what that verse says. Because we have sinned, we deserve death. However, we have been given life forever through Jesus. Even though Jesus is God’s son and was perfect during His entire life on earth, He died the humiliating death of a lawbreaker.
“But God shows his great love for us in this way: Christ died for us while we were still sinners.” -Romans 5:8
Think about how much God must love us to give His son to die for us.
“God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.” -John 3:16
Some might think that Jesus probably hates us for putting Him in that situation. However, Jesus did it because He loves His Father and He loves us too.
“You are God’s children whom he loves, so try to be like him. Live a life of love just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us as a sweet-smelling offering and sacrifice to God.” -Ephesians 5:1-2
The Bible also says…
The greatest love a person can show is to die for his friends. -John 15:13
That’s how much God (Father/Son/Holy Spirit) loves us, but why should we love God?
There’s an old, children’s song that goes…
“Oh, how I love Jesus / Oh, how I love Jesus / Oh, how I love Jesus… because He first loved me.”
God (the Father) loves us. Jesus (the Son) loves us too. So, how should we respond to all of this love? We should love right back. However, let’s remember that God’s love for us wasn’t just a warm feeling. Jeus loved us enough to die for us. Do we love Him enough to die for him? Did you know that’s exactly what God wants you to do?
I know what you’re thinking. It doesn’t make sense for Jesus to die for us if we’re just going to then die for Him. However, dying for Jesus really means living for Jesus.
“When we were baptized, we were buried with Christ and shared his death. So, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the wonderful power of the Father, we also can live a new life.” -Romans 6:4
“Christ died for all so that those who live would not continue to live for themselves. He died for them and was raised from the dead so that they would live for him.” -2 Corinthians 5:15
We all used to be selfish. We cared and lived mainly for ourselves. However, when we became Christians, we decided it was time to let the old us die. We were reborn not only as believers, but as lovers of God and followers of Jesus.
PART 1 - SUMMARY: JESUS LOVES AND DIED FOR ME; I WILL LOVE AND LIVE FOR HIM!
Part 2: A Man of God Submits to God
Being men of God and followers of Jesus means we no longer ask, “What do I want to do,” as our main guide through life. Instead, we navigate each day seeking to know, “What does God want me to do?” We won’t always like the answer. However, because we love God, we will learn to submit.
What do you think the word “submit” means?
In wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu, and other grappling-based martial arts, a competitor’s goal is to make his opponent submit (aka, “put him in submission”). When the opponent submits, it means he stops fighting the dominant competitor’s hold. He accepts the helpless and maybe painful or dangerous situation he is in and submits or “gives in” to the strength and the will of another. Submitting is accepting and admitting that, “I’m not in charge. You’re in charge.”
Men of God should submit to God’s will. That means we recognize God is in charge and choose to do what God wants… even when it’s not exactly what we want or had in mind.
Why must we submit?
1) We submit to God because He created us. That means God is powerful, and He has a right to be over us.
“You are worthy, our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power, because you made all things. Everything existed and was made, because you wanted it.” -Revelation 4:11
2) We submit to God because without submission, there is chaos.
Imagine a world where kids never submit to their parents; citizens never submit to law enforcement; and employees never submit to their bosses. It would be chaos if everyone just did what they wanted to do. In the same way, submitting to God keeps order in our lives.
“The wrong things the sinful self does are clear: being sexually unfaithful, not being pure, taking part in sexual sins, worshiping gods, doing witchcraft, hating, making trouble, being jealous, being angry, being selfish, making people angry with each other, causing divisions among people, feeling envy, being drunk, having wild and wasteful parties, and doing other things like these. I warn you now as I warned you before: Those who do these things will not inherit God’s kingdom.” -Galatians 5:19-21
3) We submit to God because God knows what’s best for us.
The Lord says, “My thoughts are not like your thoughts. Your ways are not like my ways. Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” -Isaiah 55:8-9
“Even the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom…”1 Corinthians 1:25
4) We submit to God to show our love for Him.
“If you love me, you will obey my commands.” -John 14:15
“Loving God means obeying his commands. And God’s commands are not too hard for us, because everyone who is a child of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world—our faith. So, the one who conquers the world is the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” 1 John 5:3-5
5) We submit to God because that’s what Jesus did.
We spoke earlier about how Jesus died because He loves us and because He loves His Father. However, He definitely wasn’t excited to die. In fact, Jesus told God in a prayer that He wished there was another way to do what needed to be done. However, Jesus ended His prayer by submitting to God.
“Father, if you are willing, take away this cup of suffering. But do what you want, not what I want.” -Luke 22:42
Jesus submitted to God, and so should we.
Why is it so difficult to submit to others...including God? One reason is our PRIDE. We want to be in charge.
“God is against the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” -James 4:6
We must swallow our pride and humbly submit to God. Those who don’t will be put in their place.
“Whoever makes himself great will be made humble. Whoever makes himself humble will be made great.” -Matthew 23:12
“...every knee will bow to the name of Jesus - everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. And everyone will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and bring glory to God the Father.”- Philippians 2:10-11
Another reason we don’t like to submit is because of FEAR. We’re afraid of what will happen if we’re not in charge. However, we must learn to trust God to lead us in what’s best.
“Trust the Lord with all your heart, and don’t depend on your own understanding. Remember the Lord in all you do, and he will give you success.” -Proverbs 3:5-6
CONCLUSION
It’s clear that love is an important part of becoming men of God. As we begin to love God more and more, we will demonstrate our love by submitting to God and obeying His word.