Submission Defined

James 3:13-18

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. ¹⁵ This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. ¹⁸ And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

It is my prayer that all of us can name someone in our lives to whom we can look for godly wisdom. It is an important part of walking in the faith every day that we have wise counsel and submit ourselves to it. How do you know when someone qualifies to fill that role in your life? James gives us an answer.

According to today’s verse, people who are wise are also “meek”. That’s probably an unpopular word in today’s world. Meekness in fact gets a bad rap. Meek people are seen as those who are easily manipulated and used. They are the doormats of society. No one wants to be known as meek. That’s too bad, because Jesus and the whole of Scriptures hold meekness up as a positive character trait.

Psalm 37:11 says, “But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.” Now there’s a fantastic thought – abundant peace. Wouldn’t it be great to say that you spent your day in abundant peace?!

Jesus tells us, in Matthew 5:5, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

Micah 6:8 says, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly [meekly] with your God?” 

Meek people are not doormats. They are not pushovers. They are simply people who are confident and secure in their position with the Lord. When you stand in the presence of God, you can be nothing but humble and meek. And you certainly stand in a position of great strength, for the need to self-defend and justify is gone. I’ve known very few people in my life that I would actually label with the word meek, for our very flesh wars against such a stance. But it is enviable and worth emulating. It stands at the very center of submission to the Lord. Jesus was the very definition of meek, and yet He was strong enough to carry our sin to the cross. There isn’t a stronger word in the language than meek.

Have you ever been to the grocery store and been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of merchandise available for purchase? About 15 years ago, when my daughter was a teenager, she went on a mission trip to Haiti. Needless to say, it was a real eye-opener for her to see a nation of people living in poverty. A couple of days after she returned home, we were in the grocery store and she started to cry in the toothpaste aisle. That seemed odd, but her explanation was one I will remember forever. She told me that in Haiti, the possession of a toothbrush made you rich. Here at home, we had an entire aisle of toothbrushes and they were cheap. The inequity of it just struck her (and me.) Here where we have so much to choose from and we can become rather prideful about our choices sometimes. Advertisers spend multiple billions of dollars each year trying to convince us that this product or that is by far the best. Contrary to what they would have us believe, the shininess of the box is not a good indicator of the quality of the contents.

James holds up a choice for us to make as well. There are two types of wisdom; wisdom that comes from the ways of the world via Satan and wisdom that comes from God. Remarkably, they aren’t even difficult to tell apart. Worldly wisdom is dressed in the clothing of selfish ambition, jealousy, disorder, and evil. Godly wisdom is dressed in purity, peace, gentleness, reason, mercy, good works, impartiality and sincerity. Worldly wisdom can actually look appealing to our flesh. It promotes the self and puts you at the center of your own universe. Achievement of your desires and wants is the goal of this wisdom.  This wisdom says, “Go and get something for yourself, for no one else is looking out for you.” We recognize it easily because we see it every day. Godly wisdom wears a different outfit. The box may not be shiny. But the contents are remarkable. In the promotion of others, we find peace. In placing the others needs before our own we find good works. In choosing forgiveness we find mercy. All of these things come in rather a plain brown wrapper – clearly the loveliest choice of all. And in the center of this wrapper is submission, both to the Lord, and to serving your neighbor.