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This is kind of like Jeopardy…I’m going to give you the answers for why you should do something, and you can guess the question. I’ll give you a hint — “What are some Biblical reasons why you should _____ in various situations?”

1. Because of the fear of Christ
2. For conciences’ sake
3. Because every authority is given by God
4. Because God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble
5. Because your leaders watch over you as ones who give an account
6. For the Lord’s sake
7. Because by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men
8. Because the husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church

Okay, that last one kind of gives it away. You probably guessed by now that this is a list of reasons why one should submit in various circumstances and situations. I was working on my workbook assignment for a women’s Bible study I am participating in, and one section involved looking up a variety of verses on submission and writing down the reason why the submission was commanded. It was a very interesting study — I don’t think I’ve ever seen it listed quite like this before.

Submission gets a bad rap in our “me first” modern culture. By its very nature, submission involves considerable trust, and a willingness to put the plans and desires of others ahead of one’s self. Whether it’s to God, the government, a pastor or a husband, submission probably won’t win a lot of contests as a popular character quality to posses these days. But from the list above, we can clearly see there are many rewards to be found as we follow Christ in this character area. It’s another opportunity to live the “upside down” life like we’re talking about at the Rock this semester.

Here’s the references: 1 - Ephesisans 5:21 (submitting to one another). 2 and 3 — Romans 13: 1-5 (submitting to authorities) 4 — James 4:1-10 (submitting to the Lord). 5 — Hebrews 13:17 (submitting to church leaders). 6 and 7 — 1 Peter 2:13-17 (submitting to ‘human institutions’ — i.e. governments). 8 — Ephesians 5:22-24 (Wives submitting to husbands).

I went to bible.crosswalk.com to look something up in one of their online Biblical reference works, and noticed a link at the top of the page I hadn’t seen before — “ministry audio.” Ever curious for new resources on the web, I decided to take a look. Crosswalk apparently now has dozens of broadcasts from various churches, organizations, and radio programs available as streaming audio.

I’m not familiar with most of the ministries listed, so I can’t tell you whether or not they would make a good listen. What did catch my eye was the listing for A.W. Tozer. Apparently a company called WRT books is making a selection of his sermons available on the crosswalk website. Streaming audio of these sermons is free, or the MP3 download is three bucks.

I’ve read several Tozer books and really enjoyed them. While I am normally a fast reader, his writings are the kind that make me slow down and really ponder each sentence. I’ve always wondered what he sounded like when he gave his sermons…and now I can find out. If his speaking is anything like his writing, though, I’ll have to listen sometime when I can really focus on what he is saying.