Creflo Dollar - Mutual Submission - Part 1
One of the major areas that were under attack during the pandemic was the area of relationships, relationships, not just in marriage, but all kinds of relationships were under attack. And it appeared that the enemy had a field day just destroying relationships. But the Word of God, under the grace of God, is available to help us out. So, we've been talking about grace-based relationships, and we're focusing now on the marriage. 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 3, he says, "But I would have you to know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God". And we have given you a clear translation of the word "head". This word comes from the Greek word kephale, which means source.
So, he's not talking about the head of the woman in a sense of dominance. He's talking about that the head is the source. But I would have you to know that the source of every man is Christ, and that the source of a woman is the man, and that the source of Christ is God. See, if you interpret these Scriptures from a worldly base or a religious base, and not from a grace base in context, what you'll have here is a man thinking that he has the right to rule over and dominate a woman, and for a woman to feel like submission is just about oppression. And you'll miss the whole deal. And so, it's so important to rightly divide the word of truth. And right here this word "head," it's how something grows or comes into being. You look at here and he says that the head of every man is Christ.
Something grows and comes to being. The head of every woman is a man, how did they come into being? Out of the side of a man. The head of Christ, how did he come into being? Was God. That's what he's talking about here in proper context. Headship is a source of love, the head or the source by which love flows. The headship is the source of nourishment. It's the source by which love flows. So, a man, if he's going to be the right head, you gotta first of all understand that a head means you are the faucet or the source that nourishment flows from. You are the source. You are the faucet from which nourishment and love flows from. So to be the head of the woman, and in marriage to be the head means that your responsibility is to nourish, to cherish, and you are now the source that love flows from you to your wife.
Now, this love is not up to determine what you define it as. You know, you're gonna look at today and find out that the strength of what God is asking us to do is based on Christ being the strengthener. And so, you know, as God loves Christ and as Christ loves the church, so man loves his wife. And that is a unconditional way. It is a nourishment that comes from the source by which you come from. So, wherever you came from, if a cow came out of the dust of the ground, then he's nourished from that same atmosphere. Birds are nourished from their atmosphere. Fish are nourished from the atmosphere they came from. A woman came from the side of a man, and so that man is responsible for the proper nourishment that should be available to that wife. And so, you are nourished from the source that you come from. The atmosphere that gave birth to you is the place or the source for our sustained life.
Think of that. Think of that, gentleman, to know that sustained life, sustained life for that wife is provided and comes through you, the man, as the source. And so, the real value of a man is God's love flowing through him. What's your value? My value as a man, your value as a man, is God's love flowing through you. That's awesome. Why is it that the church is so filled with women when it appears to me that it should be so filled with a bunch of men, seeing that we're the water hose, in a sense, that God flows his love through a man. Think of that. God flows his love through a man. God flows his love through a man. God flows nourishment through a man.
So, these relationships are gonna start with man understanding who he is. He understands what manhood is all about. He understands that he's not obligated to function by toxic masculinity or to function by man law that, I don't know who even came up with that. A bunch of stuff that really just has ruined, has ruined manhood. And most men have no idea what manhood is about. Manhood is sacrificial servanthood. Manhood is the guy that knows how to love. Manhood, a real man does not play with a woman's emotion 'cause you're playing with somebody's wife and somebody's gotta come and fix all that damage that you caused because you were allowing muddy water to flow out of your faucet. A man who understands that.
Now, let's go to Ephesians chapter 5. That's just a little review. Man is still, must strive to understand what masculinity is all about. And I talked about that last two times, so I'm not gonna spend our time on that. Ephesians 5:21 and 33. Now, watch this. Ephesians 5:21 through 33. Now, this is so important because Paul was talking about a lot before we got to this particular point, but he concluded this about submission. "Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of the Lord". And most of us, especially in church, submission only deals with the woman and you forget real submission, biblical submission, is mutual submission. You know, that's what we share in common. In other words, submission is not just directed to a woman. Submission is also directed to a man. It is mutual.
And this idea that you, you know, you cherry pick and say, "No, no, no, I'm supposed to, you know, just love you," as if it's okay for you not to be submitted. And Paul was saying now that we are all heirs together, that submitting yourself one to another out of respect for God and in the fear of the Lord, it's mutual submission. So, if you're gonna talk about biblical submission, you must first conclude that it is mutual submission. To say that submission only pertains to the woman is not biblical submission because everybody is, now that those who are in Christ, they're heirs together. We stand on equal ground together because of what Jesus did. And that's why Paul had to start off here, he says, "First of all, let me make sure you understand this. Submit yourselves one to another". All right, look at verse 22. I'mma read about verse 33 'cause this is where we're gonna hang out today. He says, "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands". And notice the strength of being able to submit yourself unto your own husband. He says, "As you do the Lord".
So, if you're not submitted to God and rebellious against the Word and don't pay no attention to what God's got to say, you probably ain't gonna be good to be married because your submission is only going to be successful as unto the Lord. So, he figures, well, if you can call yourself a Christian woman and submit to God like you say you do and like you praying in the closets and all that stuff, if you say that, he says it shouldn't be any problem to do that with a man. For the husband is the head of... see, there it is right now, I sense it right now. Women are like, "See, why we got to do that"? Just listen to the whole thing. Please don't mess the message up. Biblical equality is not the same as women liberation. And biblical equality is not sameness.
See, the race is a man's race. There's a man without a womb, and there's a man with a womb, but we're all equal in this man race, if you understand what I'm saying. That's why it's ridiculous for you to take the race of man and make one weaker or one stronger when it's the same race. What you have is the same race with some different functions. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, same God, three different functions. Father God was just as much as God as Son God just as much God as Holy Spirit God just as much God. One God, three functions. One man, two functions. "You calling me a man"? I don't even want to get into that today. I don't know what nobody call nobody. I'm just talking about what used to be. I ain't getting into all other stuff 'cause I ain't up on all the letters. I can't keep up with all of it. I just, I'm not, you know, I don't even know how to, I'm not even anointed to do that. I'mma stick to what I know, and the only thing I know is man with a womb and man without a womb. I don't know nothing about, you know, what else happened after all that.
So, don't ask me none of them questions. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm kind of back where God was before all this stuff happened. I don't know nothing about all that. I'm from the old school. I don't know nothing about none of that. All I know, all I know is whatever happened to anybody wherever, you are still under obligation to walk in love and respect. Well, well. For the husband is the source of nourishment and love of the wife, but how's he gonna be successful? Even as Christ is the head of the church. That's where he gets his model from, even as Christ is the head of the church. And so, you're trying to be the head and you don't even know Christ. What kind of head do you think you're gonna get for somebody who don't know Christ? When it's based on even as Christ is the head of the church, but you don't know Christ. You don't know how he's the head of the church, and you trying to be a man. You are a male that has yet to understand manhood, and you mess somebody's life up.
A woman's trying to figure out what's the right man to marry. You but listen to this series and make a checklist. Talk to me about what you think head mean? "Oh, that means I'm the one in charge. I'm the boss and you gotta do what I tell you to do". I'll talk to you later. I got to go. "And he is the savior of the body". Next verse. "Therefore as the church is subject," committed, obligated or obliged, "unto Christ, so let the wives be subject," obliged, obligated, committed, "to their own husbands in everything". Committed, commitment is what he's asking for. "Husbands, love your wives," how? "Even as Christ," look at there, the strength of it. "Even as Christ also loved the church, and he gave himself for it".
So, he defines that love. That's what it is, sacrificial servanthood. How do you know when manhood love, sacrificial servanthood, is the right kind? When you're giving yourself, when you're giving yourself. "That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word". Next verse, "That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing: but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought man to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself".
So, you know, see some guy who don't love his wife, you're like, "You don't love yourself, do you"? "For no one, no man, ever yet hated his own flesh," but what did he do? He said he nourishes and he cherishes it. You see, it's been in the Scripture the whole time. He's saying this is the love that should be coming from a man, nourishing and cherishing it, how? Even as the Lord the church. "For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones". Come on. "For this cause shall a man leave his father, leave his father and his mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one". So, you're to leave to cleave. You don't need to be, you know, a man should not be calling his mama and daddy and talking to them about stuff and not their wife. The wife ought to know first 'cause she one with you. She is closer to you. I know you came out your mama, but you gotta leave in order to cleave. Okay? You gotta leave to cleave. "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church". Verse 33, "Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; as the wife see that she respects her husband".
We're gonna talk about how vital it is for a wife to respect her husband. Of course, it's vital for a husband to respect his wife. But I'm gonna show you why did he particularly put these places, these things in point. God knows that a woman is probably, naturally can be a better leader than a man. And he knows that she's naturally more intelligent than a man. So, he swapped the roles to make it a challenge. "I'm gonna ask you to do something that doesn't come easy to you, and I'mma ask the man do something that doesn't come easy to him. And then there's gonna be an amazing joining that takes place as that happens". So, keep that in mind as you see how this is spelled out in the Word, and we're talking about grace based.
So, notice how Paul brings Jesus into the equation every time, what we just read, notice how he brings Jesus into the equation. In each case, drawing from Jesus to be successful is the key. Drawing from Jesus is the key to being successful when you're talking about loving your wife. Drawing from Jesus is the key to being successful when you're talking about submitting to one another. It's gonna be drawing from Jesus, and we have, we have done all kinds of things with the marriage. And we've tried to exist apart from Jesus. And well, what if you're not a Christian? And then people have come up with a lot of different things.
I read something about the respect of man, and after I finished reading, I told Taffi, I said, first of all, I don't agree with none of this. This is like asking a woman to go ahead and do this without the man having or accepting responsibility to earn this. You know, trust has got to be earned. You know, and when you leave Jesus out and then you go to your own self-effort and you come up with all of these different things, and that's what's happening in the world right now, you're listening to fools.
A fool says in his heart, "There is no God". You understand what I just said now? A fool says in his heart there is no God. And when you listen to people who say that there is no God, try to instruct you on the marriage institution, you are taking wisdom from a fool. In fact, it's not even wisdom. You're taking information from a fool, and you're trying to live by it. And you say to yourself, "Oh, I really like that guy". But you have to understand, God is the Creator of the human system. And if anybody knows how that ought to operate, he knows how that ought to operate. And those who dismiss God out of the equation is not gonna come up with the correct answer. And that's been happening for years and years and years. "Forget about what God say, I want to hear somebody tell me something I agree with it to make me feel better". But it won't do the marriage any better. It'll still stay the same because you're not doing what needs to be done.
Now, Ephesians 5:25, let's focus in on this for a moment. Ephesians 5:25 says, "Husbands, love your wives, even as". The success comes from the strength of even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for the church. So, the wife, for the wife, and I'm specifically talking for the wife, being deeply loved by someone gives you strength. When a wife is deeply loved, it gives her strength, while for the husband, loving someone deeply gives you courage. You know, it takes courage to love deep, why? That's a scary thing. That's vulnerable. That's vulnerability. It's like to love deep, that means I'm taking off all of the safety guards, and I'm gonna love deep. And I know that there's a risk that I could get hurt for loving deep. But it takes courage to love deep. But when a woman is being loved deeply, she's strengthened. You understand that strength that takes place in the life of a woman who's loved deeply as Christ loves the church deeply that he died, went to hell, shed his blood, got mugged, and then forgave the very people that mugged him.
Somebody say, "That's too deep". That's deep deep. It takes courage for a husband to love his wife deeply. That's courage. But a woman to receive somebody to love her so deeply, it strengthens her. Men of World Changers, I believe it's time to strengthen the women of World Changers. I believe each one of you, as a man, you're married, it is okay. Now, take the safety nets off and love her deeply. What will you get? You get a strong woman, a woman who now has the strength. Let me show you something now. Biblical submission is a response to biblical headship. Let me say that again, then I'll explain it. Biblical submission is a response to biblical headship. In other words, when the head is loving like that, when he is nourishing like that, the response that you will get from loving and nourishing and cherishing that woman, the response you will get is biblical submission.
Want to submit, biblical submission in every way because it's only responding to what's coming out of the faucet. It's only responding to what's coming out of the faucet. If the water is coming out of the faucet and it is clean and it is pure, my response, that response is gonna be, I can drink it. But if the stuff coming out the faucet is nasty and muddy and gritty and black, you drink the water, but you gonna spit it out. I'm not gonna submit to swallow something like that. Biblical submission is a response to Biblical headship and love and cherish. So, you can't come to my office and complain about how bad your wife is 'cause the first thing I'm gonna think about is, she's just responding to whatever's not coming from you. She responding to you, Herbert. I don't know where that name came from. And forgive me if anybody on stream or anybody here named Herbert, you know, my name Creflo, so I mean, come on, man, you know. Think about that. So, the next time you look at your woman and you think, what is going on with her? Check your pipes. See what you've been connected to lately. You should be connecting to the Father.