Don’t say the S-word: The Lost Power of Submission

06/07/2025 - Matthew Destry

THE WORD: Submission

In the Greek New Testament, the word is hypotassō. It means “to place or arrange under”

In the Hebrew Scriptures, it’s often the word kanaʿ — “to bow the knee,” or “to yield.”

OLD TESTAMENT NARRATIVE: Empty Vessels and Absolute Surrender (2 Kings 4:1–7)

1 Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?” And she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” Then he said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbours, empty vessels and not too few. Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside.” So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another.” Then the oil stopped flowing. She came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.”

Key point: Submission is bringing our emptiness to God so He can fill it. What if God wants to fill what you’re willing to empty?

Ephesians 5:21–33

…submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Saviour. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…

Philippians 2:5–11

“Your attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus… who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage, but made himself nothing… he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross.”

Psalm 131

“My heart is not proud, O LORD… I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother.”

APPLICATION: Where Do We Need to Yield?

  1. Yield Control
  • Application: Identify one area where you’re clinging to control instead of yielding.
  • Reflection Question: “What fear keeps you from saying ‘I am Yours, and all that I have’?”
  1. Embrace Mutual Submission
  • Application: Practise deference in your relationships this week.
  • Reflection Question: “How can I choose to yield, listen, and serve rather than insist on my own way?”
  1. Choose the Posture of Jesus
  • Application: Pray Philippians 2:5–11 daily.
  • Reflection Question: “Where do I need to bend low so God can lift others up?”
  1. Cultivate Quiet Trust
  • Application: Sit quietly with Psalm 131.
  • Reflection Question: “What would it look like for my soul to rest like a weaned child with God?”
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