Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 7
He insists submission is not self-erasure (“I don’t matter”) but offering your real strengths to “support something much bigger,” under the headship of Christ. What motives in you resist that kind of submission—especially when your gift is prominent, overlooked, or “the opposite” of others?
Another way to ask: If submission means bringing your real strengths to support something bigger under Christ, what in you pushes back against that—especially when your gift is noticed, ignored, or very different from others?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
The speaker suggests resistance to submission often shows up as either prideful assertion (“pushing our way”) when a gift is prominent or discouragement/envy (“pouting about the gift we didn’t get”) when it feels overlooked. Another resistance is trying to eliminate opposite perspectives, which damages the body’s balance.
- He clarifies submission is not self-erasure: not “I don’t matter… worthless,” but offering who you are to “support something much bigger.”
- He calls it “a privilege… the way to meaning and purpose,” implying our motives may resist because we want significance on our own terms.
- He admits a hard lesson: “It is a good thing that everyone is not like me,” showing how self-preference resists the need for opposite gifts.
- “Balance… requires… gifts… opposite of mine,” but if he stops what isn’t his way, the church becomes a non-functioning “eyeball… ear… toenail.”
- He warns against two errors: “asserting our gift and pushing our way” or “pouting about the gift we… didn’t get.”