February 26, 2017
All Scripture from NIV unless otherwise documented.
Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king. Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” 1 Peter 2: 11 – 25
Last week we saw that we are the people of God, chosen and precious to Him and that God is building us into a spiritual house, and that we are a royal priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices that are pleasing to God.
Today and next week I want to continue that theme and begin looking at how we, as the people of God, are to live. I will be quite honest with you and tell you that in today’s social and political environment, the things that Peter wrote can be quite controversial. Depending on your theological bent, whether progressive or conservative, there can be quite a diverse understanding concerning these things. I am going to do my best to simply be true to the text without interjecting my social or political views into it.
In verse 11 Peter called the believers that he was writing to, aliens and strangers in the world. If you will look back to chapter 1 and verse 1 you will see that he was writing to Gentile believers that were scattered throughout Asia. It wasn’t that they had been dispersed from their native countries and were living in a land that wasn’t their home as the Jews had been on numerous occasions. These were new believers and as such, they were now citizens of heaven. As such they were living as aliens or strangers in a fallen world. This same concept is true for believers today. When you became a Christian you became alienated from the fallen world that is still in subjection to sin and its consequences and became citizens of heaven.
As such, Peter calls you to abstain from the worldly sinful desires that wage war against your soul. I don’t think that any of us would deny that there is a battle going on in our lives between good and evil. Even as Christians the influence of the old sin nature still pulls at us. James 1: 14 says: “but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.” Paul lamented in Roman’s 7: 18 – 25 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
What are the sinful desires that wage war against your soul? Paul wrote in Galatians 5: 19 – 21(NLT): “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin.” Trust me, it isn’t an enviable list of things that our sin nature calls us to do.
But Peter calls you to abstain, to restrain or to keep yourself from these sinful desires. Instead, Peter said that you are to live such good lives in this world, among those who are not followers of Christ, that even though they accuse you of doing wrong, the good deeds in your life will glorify God. Your life, the things that you do and the things that you say are the only Bible that most people read. You are an ambassador for Christ among those who do not know Him. You are to be the reflection of Christ in this world, the light shining in a world of darkness that draws people unto Christ and salvation.
Beginning in verse 13 Peter addresses a few of the areas that can cause us to struggle in our walk as the people of God. Peter mentioned three things here that have an impact on our testimony to the world. The first one is submission to governmental authority, the second with submission to an individual that has authority over you, and the third, which we will look at next week concerns submission in the marital relationship.
Concerning authority to institutional or governmental authority, Peter said: “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men:” verse 13 As believers our ultimate authority is God and His word. But Peter isn’t addressing that in this passage. Here he is talking about leaders in human institutions, governments. Peter called believers to submit to “the king as the supreme authority, and to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.” In verse 17 Peter wrote: “Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.”
As Americans we like to believe that our vote determines who our leaders will be. I have voted in every major election that I have been eligible to vote in since I turned 18. But listen closely to this passage of Scripture from Daniel and consider how God has raised up leaders throughout history to accomplish His will in this world. Daniel wrote: “He (God) changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.” Daniel 2: 21
When the people of Israel clamored for a king, God appointed Saul to be the king of Israel. When Saul began to rely on himself instead of God, God raised up David to be king in Saul’s place. God later used the king of Assyria to bring judgment on the northern kingdom of Israel when they had strayed from true worship of Him. He then used the king of Babylon to overcome Assyria and to bring judgment on the southern kingdom of Judah when they strayed from following Him. Later God used the Medes and the Persians and then the Greeks and finally the Romans to affect changes in the world, and in particular to deal with His people Israel.
In our nation’s 240 years of existence we have elected presidents and congressmen and governor’s and so on by going to the ballot box. Regardless of which party win’s, some people are always unhappy with the results.
What I understand Peter here to be saying, not to the world, but to Christians, is that we are to submit to their authority for the Lord’s sake, and to show proper respect for them and for all people who are in authority over us. We are to do right and to do good works that we might silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.
Now I’m not saying that you and I are to approve evil or that we don’t have the right to question the actions of those who are in authority, but if I understand Peter correctly, it is to be done with proper respect. Why? Because it is God and not man who has ultimately put our leaders in their positions so that He can accomplish His will in the world. We may not understand His purpose and we definitely may not like His purpose, any more than the Israelites did when they were conquered and carried off to foreign countries, but we are to show proper respect. I really don’t know what more I can say about this without expressing my personal opinions and beliefs.
Then Peter addressed the subject of submission to someone in authority over you individually, master/slave relationship. Let me make a couple of observations about this before I get to what Peter intends. First, it is pretty obvious from the Scriptures that slavery was a reality from very early on in the Old Testament. Sarah had a servant (a slave) who bore Abraham’s first son Ishmael. Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt and eventually all of the people of Israel became slaves in Egypt. When Assyria and Babylon conquered Israel and Judah the people were carried off into slavery. Israelites could sell themselves into slavery in order to pay their debts and so on. Paul, writing to Philemon didn’t ask him to release Onesimus from slavery, but he did urge him to treat Onesimus as a brother in Christ. And in this passage from 1 Peter, Peter doesn’t here address whether slavery was right or wrong, but simply addressed new gentile believers in Asia, including those who were slaves and gave them instructions on how they should live as believers.
As a side note, I read an article earlier this week written about a Muslim woman in Kuwait who is advocating that her country approve sex slaves for the men there. In an effort to keep men from committing adultery with other Muslim women, Iman’s in other Muslim countries have said that it is permissible for them to own western women to be sex slaves, which evidently does not constitute adultery in their religion. The advantage to the wives is that their husbands can feed their sexual appetite, not be accused of committing adultery, and the wives can then make them do all of the housework and chores that they would be doing otherwise. I tell you this so you might know that slavery is still alive and well in this world.
How do we make application to Peter’s instructions in whatever role we find ourselves in as servants of others. Most often this passage today is applied to the employer – employee or the supervisor – employer relationship, but it could pertain to other relationships as well.
Peter said pretty simply, treat those in authority over you with all respect, and not only those who are good and considerate to you, but also those who are harsh to you. Why? I believe that one reason is because of your testimony for Christ as a believer.
One advantage that you have today as an employee is that you can always quit your job if you feel you are being unfairly mistreated. Even so, that’s not always a good option, especially if you have been at a job for a long period of time.
Again, that’s not to say that you can’t or shouldn’t use the options available to you to correct unfair treatment. There are laws that govern what employers can and can’t do. But even that should be done in a respectable manner and in accordance with the law. Notice what Peter says in verse 19. “For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.”
After we moved to Walnut Grove in 1985, Becky got a job with the Greene County Juvenile office. Without going into all the details, there was a judge who used God’s name in vain in front of Becky several times. She wrote him a note and asked him to not do that. One day he fired the Juvenile deputy director and then the next day the director of the Juvenile office. As he passed by Becky’s desk he told Becky that she was fired too. When she asked why he said, because I said so.
We have always felt that it was because of her Christian witness. As it worked out, God had something better in store for her. He was obviously in control.
The point Peter was making simply had to do with enduring hardship from someone in authority over you because of your faith. If you are persecuted because of your faith in Christ by those in authority over you, endure it without complaining. You were called to suffer in the example of Jesus. Jesus “committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” And yet, He did not retaliate, He made no threats, instead He entrusted Himself to God who judges justly. I think that may be a veiled reference to the fact that we are to leave justice to God and not take it in our own hands.
We may not like it, but we have been called to suffer following the example of Christ. That may mean that you will be called to endure suffering for doing good by following in the footsteps of Christ.
Do you want to live as the people of God? Begin by becoming a person who submits to those in authority over you, and especially to the authority of God through Jesus Christ.