For this reason, all the brothers and sisters in the church must learn submission. Please bear in mind that no sin is more serious than the sin of rebellion. This is something altogether contrary to the very existence of the church. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He was not just good; He was submissive. Of course, whatever the Son did in Himself could only be good. Yet He said that He could do nothing by Himself. He lived not by Himself but by the will of the One who sent Him. We should remember that there is one unique authority in this universe, and we should maintain this authority. The Lord maintained it; the church must maintain it as well.
Today God is gaining in the church what He failed to gain in every age and in every other place. The church is the only place where one can learn submission. In the church, it is a matter not of good or bad, right or wrong, but of submission. The church is the place where one learns submission. No testimony is more important than the testimony of submission. The whole universe has rebelled, fallen, and taken a different stand. In the whole universe, God cannot find any other place where His authority is acknowledged. This is why God’s children must all learn submission in the church.
Submission is the life and nature of the church. It is the basic principle that underlies the church. The church exists for the purpose of upholding submission. The church is diametrically opposed to the rebellious situation of the surrounding nations. Today the nations of the world say, “Let us break apart their bonds / And cast their ropes away from us” (Psa. 2:3). This is like saying, “Let us be free and be delivered from the bondage of the Son of God.” But today the church says, “We gladly put ourselves under the bondage and chains of the Son of God to learn the lesson of submission.” As a result of this declaration, something special is happening in the church. It has become the “institution” where submission is displayed. The church on earth maintains not only God’s direct authority but also His indirect authority, that is, His deputy authority.
The Bible tells us many things about submission. We will consider submission from four different angles.
The church is the Body of Christ; this Body has its own law. Every organ has its particular function, and every member has its own law that governs it. Today human knowledge has expanded tremendously, but man can still not understand his own body. No one can understand all the biological laws regulating him. Nevertheless, every member in the body must submit to these laws. If a member acts and works individualistically according to its own will, it will immediately become sick. What makes the body so unique is its wholeness. As soon as this wholeness is broken, the body will surely become sick.
No child of God should violate the law of the Body of Christ and act individualistically. All independent acts are expressions of rebellion. Another word for rebellion is independent action. To act individualistically is to act against authority. It means to not submit to the authority of the Head, to not submit to the principle of oneness which God ordained in the Body, and to not submit to the law of oneness which God ordained in the Bible. Individualism is rebellion not only against the Body but also against the Lord.
The Lord has baptized all of His children into one Body through the Holy Spirit. Such an inward union is very intimate. If one member rejoices, the whole Body rejoices. If one member suffers, the whole Body suffers. We may not realize how deep this relationship is. Sometimes a brother will come and ask me, “Why was I sad for no reason at all when I woke up today?” or, “Why am I so happy these last few days?” Many times I cannot give an explanation. But very often the reason for their joy or sadness is not found in themselves. They have no reason to be particularly happy or sad. The Body functions in mysterious ways. When we appear before the Lord one day, we will be clear why we felt the way we did on certain days. We will be clear why we were so energized on certain days and why we were so conspicuously weak on other days. Please bear in mind that other members can affect us, and we can affect them. Although we do not understand how this interaction works, we know that oneness is a reality. Today we are not altogether clear about this oneness and how it functions in mutuality. But the fact remains that we are one and every member affects every other member in the whole Body.