Fellowship and Submission

There are two things that I cannot stand or fathom within the church it is discord within the fellowship and not following the shepherd that God put over the church body. This has reared its head at me before, and it irked me then.

There is a fellowship that God has placed in His church that cannot and MUST not be broken. The writer of Hebrews says "Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no fails to obtain the grace of God; that no 'root of bitterness' springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled." (Heb 12:14-15).

Can you sense what the writer is saying? We are to desire PEACE not discord. In Ephesians, Paul writes: "Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ." (Ephesians 5:17-21)

That is true fellowship! We submit to each other! We do not think of ourselves and what we want first, but others. We give up our desires in order to put others first. That is what fellowship looks like. Paul writes in the next chapter of Ephesians Paul, while discussing the Armor of God, writes that our struggle "is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." (Eph. 6:12)

So, now, we see that we are not to fight against each other, but we are to take a stand against the forces of evil that come against us. One of those is discord, enmity, and a "root of bitterness." I don't understand why we Christians must fight and backbite each other! It drives me crazy!

But, what is even worse is when we do not follow the leaders God has placed in our lives! God leads men and women into leadership positions for a reason. Their job is to listen to God and lead HIS sheep in the way He wants them to go. We are to submit to their leadership because God has put them in leadership over us. If we rebel against our pastor, we are in direct rebellion against God! Have you ever thought about it in those terms?

If we live in rebellion, than that is on our heads. If we, however, live in submission to the leadership that God has placed over us, and the leader does not lead us in the way God desires for us to go, that is on the leader. He or she will have to answer heavily for leading the flock of God the wrong way. So, in essence, the only thing that keeps us from following God's desire for us is ourselves! It's our lack of faith and our own selfish desires that keep us from submitting to God's appointed leadership.