I Peter: JESUS, OUR HOPE IN THE MIDST OF SUFFERING Submitting to Jesus 1 Peter 2:13-3:22 Layne Lebo April 22, 2018

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1 I Peter: JESUS, OUR HOPE IN THE MIDST OF SUFFERING Submitting to Jesus 1 Peter 2:13-3:22 Layne Lebo April 22, 2018 I understand using the word submission in a sermon title isn t good marketing strategy. The word doesn t have a positive connotation for most of us. Submissive means humble or compliant; giving in to the control of another especially one in authority. In the church we associate submission with passages of Scripture that instruct wives to submit to their husbands or slaves to their masters neither of which translate well to our culture. This past summer our staff and I preached a series on 1 Corinthians the Apostle Paul s 1 st Century letter to the Church in the ancient Greek city of Corinth. In chapter 11 Paul has specific instructions for women in public worship. I won t re-preach that message, but I explained that from beginning to end the Bible consistently holds a higher view of women than the culture to which it was written. The Bible honors and values women, while ancient cultures viewed them as 2 nd class citizens. Based on the value the Scriptures give to women, I m convinced that passages which talk about women covering their heads, women not speaking in worship services and women not giving leadership to men, were written to specific cultural situations and need to be translated into the world in which we live to be true to their intent. Similarly, if we re going to understand the concept of submission and how it applies to our lives, we need to be aware of the Biblical context and then wrestle with the implications for us. I d like you to read 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 9-12 with me aloud and as we read pay special attention to the words in bold But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage 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. 1 Peter 2:9-12 We re chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God s special possession. Before we weren t a people, but now we are the people of God. We are foreigners and exiles (pilgrims, 1

2 aliens, not of this world). And then Peter writes what I believe is the premise of his letter: 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. This is the context in which Peter instructs followers of Jesus to submit. I pointed out 2 weeks ago that if we read most of the New Testament letters from the vantage point of people who are well-entrenched in our culture, we re going to have trouble understanding what the authors wrote. In The MESSAGE, Eugene Peterson paraphrases the beginning of verse 11 with the words, Friends, this world is not your home, so don t make yourselves cozy in it. We can only receive many of the truths in the New Testament when we recognize this world isn t our home and we aren t too cozy in it we re foreigners here, pilgrims on a journey. In his sermon last week Alan Robinson talked about how values many of us cherish like freedom, ownership and having our preferences met often conflict with loving God and others and meeting the needs of those around us. As we look at the concept of submission today, we re going to continue building on the theme of living counter-culture lives. If we read this letter from a position of power and authority and strength, we re going to struggle to understand it and apply it to our lives, because Peter was writing to people who were on the margins or fringe of the culture and who tended to view themselves as powerless women, slaves and followers of Jesus in general who were being persecuted for their faith by people in authority over them. I ll begin reading at verse 13 Submit yourselves for the Lord s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, 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 people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. 1 Peter 2:13-17 It didn t occur to me until I was listening to Alan preach last Sunday how Peter s words in the beginning of chapter 2 could be read politically and that s also true of the passage we re studying today with its phrases, Submit to every human authority show proper respect to everyone honor the emperor. Some of us struggle with those instructions based on who our mayor, governor, state representative, senator or president is. And we re in a season currently where most of us seem unhappy with our president regardless of our political persuasion. The 2

3 Scriptures frequently remind us that our primary loyalty isn t to any human leader, political party or ideology; our primary allegiance is to Jesus Christ. Here in the United States we elect a president every 4 years, but regardless of who is president, King Jesus is on the throne. Peter reminds us of the supremacy of Jesus when he writes, Submit yourselves for the Lord s sake to every human authority. And then Peter directs specific words to slaves and to wives (and a few words to husbands). Much of what he writes is tough for us to hear, because it s written to a male dominant culture, where slavery was part of the fabric of life. I m going to read verses of chapter 2 and then jump ahead to chapter 3 verses 1-7. Later, we ll come back to verses Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are 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. Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear. Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers. 1 Peter 2:18-20 and 3:1:7 What do we do with statements about slaves submitting to their masters, warnings against jewelry and fine clothes, Sarah calling her husband Lord and wives being identified as weaker partners? How do those ideas translate to our lives today? I can t answer all of the questions this passage raises. But I will say that while some people use passages like this to claim the Bible is out of touch with our lives today, slaves, women, children and foreigners all people who were viewed as less than in ancient cultures, were held in higher esteem by God and his people than anywhere else. The status of women, children, foreigners and slaves was 3

4 elevated, not diminished by God and his Word. So, I have difficulty accepting that Peter s intent was to further subjugate women. Let s look at Peter s interlude of chapter 2 verses 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 cross, 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 2:21-25 Like many New Testament writers, Peter points to Jesus and his suffering as our example. In the face of being horribly mistreated Jesus didn t sin; He wasn t deceitful; He didn t retaliate and He made not threats. Peter says, Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. Jesus submitted Himself to his Heavenly Father, God, and that is what enabled Him to submit Himself to others. Jesus had confidence that in spite of what people did to Him, He was ultimately submitting Himself to his Father whom He could trust. When your political leaders, your boss, your husband or wife or your parent mistreat you or don t lead well, you can still choose to honor them, because ultimately you re entrusting yourself to God. Before we go on, I want to say this as an important aside Throughout history this and other passages written by the Apostle Paul have been wrongly used to encourage children, women, slaves and parishioners in churches to endure abuse from their leaders even to remain in damaging situations. While it s true that God is our ultimate protector, this is not a license for leaders to abuse those under them or for those under leaders to endure abuse without resistance. You might be thinking, I m not a slave, I m not a wife and while it s in the news a lot, what my president or other elected officials are doing doesn t impact me all that much. If that s what you re thinking, understand that what Peter writes in this passage pertains to all of us who find ourselves in subordinate positions in a world that isn t our home a world in which we re not to be too cozy. And if we correctly view ourselves as the pilgrims or foreigners we truly are, that pertains to all of us. Remember the final words of 1 Peter chapter 1, All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever. 1 Peter 1:24 & 25 It s against that backdrop that I d like to read 1 Peter chapter 3 verses 8-17 to us. These words are Peter s explanation in 4

5 response to the challenge he gave earlier in chapter 2 verse 12: 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. Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good. But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened. But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. For it is better, if it is God s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 1 Peter 3:8-17 This is where the rubber meets the road for us where we re given clear words that have significant implications for each of us, every day. Love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. Rather repay evil with blessing. Keep our tongues from evil and our lips from deceitful speech. Don t be afraid or intimidated. If our lives are characterized by those words, people will notice differences in us. We ll stand out, as Paul says in Philippians chapter 2, like stars in the sky. And that leads us to 1 Peter chapter 3 verses 15 & 16 words I m confident many of us have heard in the context of sharing Jesus truth and love with others. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. McBIC s mission as a church is very simple: To help people connect with Jesus. I like the simplicity of that statement and its ability to speak to every person. We all need to connect with Jesus. For some who don t know Jesus, connecting with Him may mean simply that their curiosity is piqued through worshiping with us. For some it can mean they re ready to take the step of entering into a relationship with Jesus. For the young or new follower of Jesus connecting with Jesus may mean growing in discipleship. And for those who have walked with 5

6 Jesus for decades, connecting with Him may mean being convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit or gaining fresh insights. One of the ways we seek to help people connect with Jesus is through what we call, Building Bridges seeking to help people link with God through our individual lives or through our ministry as a church. Individually and as a church we want to position ourselves in relationship with people so that when they hit the inevitable bumps in the road that life brings, they turn to us as someone they know cares for them and has a relationship with them. As people committed to building bridges and investing in relationships with those who don t know Christ, 1 Peter 3:15 & 16 has important insights for us: Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. Here s the challenge we face if we re entrenched in our culture or cozy as Eugene Peterson state it if our accent as Alan highlighted last week isn t any different from the people around us, we won t have an answer to give to people. We can t effectively point people to Jesus if we re essentially no different than they are. Take a look with me again at this Burger King advertisement that Alan shared with us last week 6

7 It s a bit overstated, but that s exactly the message that our culture communicates and which many of us accept. It is incompatible for us to adopt the Burger King manifesto as our life philosophy and be people who submit to Jesus and entrust ourselves to Him. In contrast, our life creed as followers of Jesus comes from 1 Peter chapter 2 verses I invite you to stand with me and receive these words from Peter as Jesus words to you But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage 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. 1 Peter 2:9-12 7