Submission is a modest disposition wherein authority is properly recognized and obedience is willingly rendered without any opposition at all. God commands submission to Himself, to common authority, and chosen leaders in His Church.
Submission is also instructed in relationships like marriage and the essence of the message of our Lord Jesus Christ is submission to the will and purpose for God as uncovered in His word. In Matthew 7:24-27, He said the people who hear the word of God and submit to its authority in submission can be compared to a wise fellow who constructed their home upon the rock, and the house survived a horrible storm.
Interestingly, He thought about the people who reject the authority of God's word to a foolish fellow who built their home on sandy soil without solid foundations, and the house was obliterated by the storm. Therefore, not being submitted to the word of God, which shows itself as defiance, is very costly indeed.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the ideal illustration of submission. Philippians 2:5-8 reveals the degree He went to submit Himself to His Father. No big surprise the Holy Spirit wants us to have similar minds that He had. In John 10:17, Jesus uncovered that absolute submission is the secret of the Father's love for Him.
Jesus figured out how to submit to God's instructions even when He realized it would personal loss and languishing over Him. Little wonder the Bible says He was respectful unto death and this obedient unto death was shown in Matthew 26:39 when He was confronted with the reality of death on the cross, and He made this agonizing prayer to God saying if He may let this cup pass from His.
For Jesus, obedience to God was His essential concern, and every other thing, Including His own interest, was secondary.