Kingdom & Submission

“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mark 8:34–35, ESV)

Essential to The Kingdom of God

When you think about kings and kingdoms, what pops into your mind right away? For many, it is the concept of submission. The king is the ruler, and the subjects submit to his rule. It’s that simple. 

Yet, when many people talk about the Kingdom of God, I don’t hear many people talk about the concept of submission. Maybe it’s because they don’t think about it, but most likely it’s because we don’t like the word/concept of submission. It makes us grimace a little. Think about it. When was the last time you used—or heard someone use—the word “submit”? We’ve almost removed it from our vocabulary completely. Yet, it’s an essential aspect of the Kingdom of God. Christ is our King, and as his subjects—as members of the kingdom of God—we are called to submit to Him. 

Everywhere in Scripture

We see this principle everywhere in Scripture. In James we read, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7, ESV). In Ephesians 5 we’re told that “the church submits to Christ” (Ephesians 5:24, ESV). We are told that there is a “submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ” (2 Corinthians 9:13, ESV). 

Besides these explicit uses of the word “submit,” we also have passages that speak to the principle of submission. The passage at the beginning of this post is one of them. Jesus tells us that if anyone wants to be his follower, “let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34–35, ESV). To deny ourself, and take up our cross, means that we need to submit to Christ—not ourselves. 

Submission in the Kingdom

Submission is at the heart of the Kingdom of God. I’ve concluded that: The Kingdom of God is present wherever there is submission to Jesus Christ. 

On the surface, this may seem like a simple truth, but when you begin to apply this principle, you can see how helpful it truly is. 

Heart & Hands

As I mentioned in my previous post on this topic, the Kingdom of God originates in the hearts of believers when they are born again by the Holy Spirit. Yet, what else happens when we’re born again? We repent of (turn away from) our sins and submit to Jesus. This is why Jesus repeatedly said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17, ESV). 

Yet, we also know that we haven’t fully submitted our lives to Christ at that point. We want to submit our lives to Christ, but our sinful nature is still pulling us away from Christ. This is why Scripture speaks about the Kingdom of God growing like a mustard seed—starting out small and becoming large—or spreading like leaven through a batch of dough. Our submission to Christ also grows as we mature in Christ. Our submission to Christ spreads like leaven throughout every area of our lives. The longer we follow Christ, the more our hearts, minds, and lives are submitted to Christ—the more the kingdom grows in our lives. 

Then, as I’ve also mentioned before, as our hearts and minds grow in their submission to Christ, it affects the way we live. Submission to Christ overflows from our hearts and minds into our families, churches, businesses, and communities. We work on submitting our parenting to Christ. We submit our work to Christ. We submit our business practices to Christ. We work toward laws and policies in our communities that are in submission to Christ. 

As you can see, the kingdom of God can spread broadly. Submission to Christ can spread beyond our hearts, into the world around us. This is why Jesus taught, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” (Matthew 13:33, ESV). It starts out small, but slowly spreads throughout EVERYTHING. This is what we’re praying for when we pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10, ESV).