1 Peter series – “Holding onto Hope in a Hostile World”

1 Peter 2:13-17

¹³ For the Lord’s sake, submit to all human authority—whether the king as head of state, ¹⁴ or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right. ¹⁵ It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you. ¹⁶ For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. ¹⁷ Respect everyone, and love the family of believers. Fear God, and respect the king.

Not only are we to submit rightly but we are to:

• Serve Readily 

In verse 15 Peter tells us that it is God’s will that we live honorable lives, the word honorable means not just holy lives but helpful lives. When we do, it will silence the ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you. We are to live the kind of lives that make the message of God’s grace both beautiful and believable. Paul challenges the Christians living on the immoral island of Crete in a very similar way in Titus 3:1: “Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work.” It’s imperative that we walk with integrity as Daniel did, Daniel 6:4: “So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him.” Living a holy and helpful life is not just God’s wish it’s His Will. So often I hear Christians who say that they want to know what God’s will is for their life, yet this usually has to do with location or vocation, where do you want me to live and work. But do you realize that God cares more about how you live than where you live, He cares more about your walk than your work. When it comes to wanting to know and walk out God’s will I’ve found that it’s helpful to start with what we absolutely know with certainty to be His will. Are you living out what you already know to be His Will? If you are not being obedient to His known will why worry about what you wonder is His will, and why would God reveal more of His will when you won’t walk out what He has already revealed? Now when God’s people were sent into exile into Babylon, they were aliens and strangers in a foreign land, much like Christians are today in our culture. God told them to build houses, start families and work, but they were to also seek peace and pray for the city in which they lived. Jeremiah 29:7: “And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace.” God was calling them to be good citizens. We are not just called to submit to those in charge but we are to serve our communities. Peter says that when Christians serve others by doing good it will “silence the ignorant.” The word silence here means, “to muzzle” or “to gag.” Jesus used this same word when he shouted to the raging sea in Mark 4:39: “Peace, be still! And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.” When we serve our community, it will silence our critics. Instead of condemnation there will be commendation. The problem is that we want to silence the world by shouting back at them instead of serving them. The truth is we are not going to reach the world only with our word we need works. What if we stopped wasting our energy defending our rights and started living right. You don’t have to defend your character if it’s correct. What if we were to let our walk and our works be our witness? What if we were to stop talking about Christian principles in private and start practicing them in public? What if instead of constantly complaining and criticizing the culture we confronted it with compassion. Why are we so surprised by the sick sin we see in our society, look heathens live like hell, and the Savior is the only solution. So how did the Savior live, by criticizing sinners or serving them? We hold the hope, unfortunately many of us are also holding out when it comes to hope. Verse 16 in the NKJV says: “As free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.” We have been set free from sin to serve the Savior. So why would we be fools and use our freedom to serve sin? That’s like a prisoner who is set free from jail and choses to use his freedom to commit a felony! Peter is saying that we have liberty but not a license to do whatever we want. We’re to use our liberty to demonstrate virtue, not to justify our vices. You can’t serve society and be a slave to sin. We have been freed from sin so that we can serve the Savior. True freedom is living on mission for the Master. A “bondservant” is one bound to another in servitude, completely committed to do the will of his master and not his own. Peter is drawing on the Old Testament concept of a servant who was free to leave but who willingly submitted himself to serve a master he loves and respects. A bondservant was surrendered wholly to the Master’s will and devoted to him to the disregard of his own interest. We are not simply “volunteers” signing up for an hour or two of our time; we are surrendered servants seeking to serve the Savior. 

1 Peter series – “Holding onto Hope in a Hostile World”

1 Peter 2:13-17

13 For the Lord’s sake, submit to all human authority—whether the king as head of state, 14 or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right. 15 It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you. 16 For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. 17 Respect everyone, and love the family of believers. Fear God, and respect the king.

After seeing who should we submit to Peter now tells us:

·      Why should we submit?

 “for the Lord’s sake.” Here is the hard truth our submission to government flows out of our submission to God. It comes back to our relationship with the Redeemer. If we are not in a right relationship with Him we will not respond rightly.  Romans 13:1 teaches: “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. People in power are there by God’s permission. This is more of a trust issue with God and it goes back to us resting in Him. Am I resting or wrestling with God? Authority is an instrument in the hand of God, to punishment evildoers and praise those who do good. Submission may not be a popular topic, but it is needful, especially in our rebellious and self-gratifying society. Submission does not mean slavery or subjugation but is a recognition of God’s right to govern our lives. God established the home, government and the church and He has the right to tell us how these institutions should run. We will not understand or exercise authority properly, until we come under God’s authority.

·      When should we submit?

Obey except when commanded to sin, Submit up to the point at which it becomes sin to do so. Let’s look at an Old Testament example and another one from the New Testament. Both have to do with governing authorities forbidding something that goes against God’s Word. When Daniel found out that King Darius had issued a decree that made prayer illegal, we read this in Daniel 6: 10: “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.” When political powers tell me that I can’t pray privately I’m not going to whine, I’m going to stop submitting and keep on worshipping. Now in Acts 4:19-20, we read that Peter and John were commanded to not preach or teach in the name of Jesus: “But Peter and John answered and said to them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.’” When they were confronted again, Peter declared in Acts 5:29: “We ought to obey God rather than men.” When political powers try to prevent us from preach the good news of Jesus Christ we stop submitting and keep on sharing. But let me remind you that in both cases there were consequences for going against governmental authorities. Daniel was thrown in the lions’ den and Peter and John were imprisoned and then beaten. If I’m told to stop praying or preaching I won’t, I’m prepared to face persecution are you?