HOW DO WE AS CHRSITIANS RESPOND TO AUTHORITY AND INJUSTICE? 1 PETER 2:11-25 FEBRUARY 5, 2006 My seventh grade English teacher was a lady named Mrs. Eatherly. The only thing I remember from that class is a statement that she made over and over again. Like most seventh graders, we were always trying to get out of work. So, in the face of an upcoming assignment or a pending exam, we would often say, Mrs. Eatherly, that s not fair. Rather than deal with our specific request to put off the test or reduce the assignment, she would give us the same frustrating answer every time. You are going to learn that life is not fair. The sooner you learn to deal with that fact the better. And, my job is to help you learn to deal with life s injustices. Two things bothered me about her response. First, she was in charge and there was nothing I could do about it. If she said the assignment was due Tuesday, that was it. The second thing that bothered me was that she was right. Life is unfair and often there is nothing I can do to change life s injustices. That story from many years ago does raise the question, How do we as Christians respond to authority and injustice? Peter is going to give us God s perspective on that question. If you have a Bible would you open it to 2 Peter 2:11-25, for we will look at these verses and try and answer the question, How do we as Christians respond to authority and injustice? Let s start in verses 13 and 14. Submit yourselves for the Lord s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as to one in authority or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and the praise of him who does right. We see that we are to submit to every human institution. The phrase every human institution is difficult to translate. One commentator suggests that it would be better translated every created being. However we translate this phrase; the idea is that, because we are God s ambassadors, Christians are called to give up striving for power and authority over other human beings. Instead, we are to pursue the good of others, submitting to them. Some followers of Jesus might not feel like this call to submission would include non- Christians. Peter assures us that that it does and includes the roles of significant nonbelievers in our lives: governing officials, 2:13-17, masters, 2:18-25, which we will cover this week, and their husbands, 3:1-7, which we will cover next week. Submission to all these people is limited by the phrase, for the Lord s sake. We submit to government officials because their authority comes from the Lord. Since the Lord gives them their authority, we submit to them for His sake. Yet, the phrase, for the Lord s sake also limits our submission -- submission can never violate the will of God. The first person Peter mentions as one to whom we must submit is the king. This is a reference to Caesar, the supreme authority in the land. Next Peter mentions governors, the leaders of the Roman provinces. This was probably the highest authority to which his readers would appeal. As verse 14 points out the governors maintain order. Without a governor or government, anarchy would rule the land. So a wicked governor is better than no governor at all. Even a wicked governor is a tool in God s hand to maintain order. So, because he is a tool in God s hand, we submit to a wicked governor right up the point that our submission would lead us to violate God s will.
Many of you know I spent the 1993-94 school year in Siberia. Often, in conversations with older Russians, they would express their desire that Russia would return to communism. Why would anyone want to go back to a totalitarian government like communism? Because some government is better than no government. Russia was on the border of complete anarchy while I was there. The people just wanted some kind of order. If it took a hard-line government to bring order, so be it. I believe wicked and unjust rulers will be punished by God. But even in their injustice and wickedness, these rulers serve God s purposes. In verse 15, Peter assures us that if we continue to do right we will have an impact on those who reject Christ. Let s read verse 15. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. The foolish men are those who have rejected God. Because they have rejected God, they are ignorant of God s ways and values, so they draw wrong conclusions about the behavior of Jesus followers. However, over time, our doing right will silence the ignorant men. In the mid-1990s, Chinese officials became so fed up with sky high rates of crime, drug addiction, and sickness in the county of Lancan Lahu in the Yunnan province, they sponsored Christians to go into the troublesome villages and share their faith. They started by picking the worst village which had 240 people, 107 of which were hopelessly addicted to opium. Christians were bussed into the village at government expense and the villagers were herded together and made to listen to the testimonies of Christians. A year later there were 17 converts, and they began to grow rich because they stopped buying opium. Eight of these converts started their own sewing business. Three years later, there were 83 converts and the prosperity had spread. The government official said, We are delighted with the results and have been extending the tactic to many other villages. 1 How long has the Chinese government opposed Christianity? What happened here? They saw Christians doing right and they called on them to help bring transformation that they as a government couldn t bring about. In doing good, these Christians silenced their opponents. Now Peter can almost anticipate the response of his readers; What about our freedom in Christ? Aren t we free to throw off these evil rulers? Peter s response is that our freedom in Christ frees us from the bondage of sin and that we are to use our new found freedom to serve God. Too often, people wrongly assume that freedom in Christ means they can do anything they want and it serves as a cover for evil. No, these governor and rulers are accomplishing God s purposes, so we need to turn our freedom in Christ into a service of God by submitting to these rulers. Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond slaves of God. In verse 17, Peter closes with a summary statement regarding our response to authority. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Notice some of the subtleties. All people including kings are to be honored. But we are to love our brothers. Though Peter doesn t deny we are to love our neighbor, this points out brothers and sisters are family and therefore have a special call upon the Christian s love in a way others do not. Also the king, the supreme leader of the land is to be honored, 1 Chinese Village Allows Evangelism to Bring Social Order from www.preachigntoday.com, 2005.
but only God is to be feared. We reserve an attitude of awe and reverence for God alone. Why? He is the One who gives the king his authority. God is the true ruler. How do we, as Christians, respond to authority and injustice? For the Lord s sake we submit to all human authority. As we move into verse 18, we read of the relationship of indentured servants to their masters. Let me deal with two concerns with these verses. First, and foremost, some critics of Christianity suggest that Peter is condoning the institution of slavery. Peter is not condoning slavery rather he is dealing with the realities of life in the Roman Empire. People were forced into slavery due to debt or due to being a prisoner of war or due to being a child of a slave. Most leaders didn t even address slaves or servants because they viewed them as something less than human. Thus in addressing servants, or slaves, Peter is not condoning slavery, rather he is recognizing their humanity. My second concern is that reading these verses will lead some people to passively accept unjust or even abusive situations. That s not the case. When we are able, we need to move out from unjust or abusive situations. But there are times we can t. There are times we are going to have to face injustice. There are times we are going to take undeserved abuse. What do we do then? Let s read verses 18 through 20. Servants, be submissive to your master with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. These servants have no rights. They are completely at the mercy of their master. Some masters are good, but some are unreasonable. We understand that a servant will be treated harshly for sin. But what about the case when a servant does what is right and still suffers at the hand of an unreasonable master? It is not fair yet there is no recourse. Such suffering can dehumanize a person. How can we find any purpose in such suffering? How can we keep such suffering from crushing our spirit? Peter tells us that we find favor with God when we bear such suffering. In fact, this kind of suffering gives us a unique opportunity to model Christ to the world. In the midst of these situations, we can know that God has called us. Let s read verse 21. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in His steps. Unjust suffering is such an unique opportunity to represent Christ to the world that we get instruction from Peter, using Christ s life as an example, on how to suffer. Let s read verses 22 through 25. Who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds we are healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and Guardian of your souls. Jesus Christ suffered unjustly for you and for me. He bore our sin on the cross. We can take lessons from Him on how to act in such situations. He was not involved in deception. He did not revile or threaten
those who mistreated Him. How was he able to maintain such self-control? He kept entrusting Himself to the One who judges righteously. How do we, as Christians, respond to authority and injustice? For the Lord s sake, we submit to all human authority and we withstand injustice without retaliation Fortunately, we don t have slavery in our society. Where, then, might we apply this principle? Let me suggest a few places we might be forced into unfair suffering. First is in the area of relationships. I grew up in a home in which my dad was very volatile. He could be verbally and even physically abusive. I vowed when I left home I was done with my dad. Yet, I never felt God would have me abandon this relationship. I have put limits on the amount of time I spend with my parents. And over the years my dad has mellowed. Yet, there are always verbal barbs. Maybe you are in a relationship where you suffer unfairly. A second area we might suffer unfairly is on the job. Maybe you have a job, with an unreasonable boss, where you can t make a change. Before moving here, we lived in a military town. If a soldier didn t like his commanding officer, too bad he was under contract. He just had to wait until his next assignment and hope for a better commanding officer. Maybe you are facing a work situation like soldiers in that you can t immediately change your job situation. For a time, you have to endure the suffering. A third area in which we might have to suffer relates to people s or society s prejudice. People can be excluded because of their race or gender or age. You can t change your race or your gender or your age. So in some cases you might suffer unjustly. Again, this passage is not a call for us to passively accept injustice in our lives. But when we are in a situation which we cannot change and are suffering unjustly, we can know there is a purpose to our suffering. Our suffering unjustly without retaliation reflects Jesus Christ to the world. I freely admit to you that bearing injustice without retaliation is beyond my natural capacities. I have an over-worked sense of justice. And when I perceived I have been treated unfairly, I want justice and I want it now. My response to verses 18 through 25 is to pray. And my first request is that God would change my heart that I might be willing to live these verses, because in my flesh I don t want to do it. My second request is that He would give me the strength to suffer unjustly without retaliation. And at the end of the day I nee d to be willing to ask, Lord, how am I doing? And I know change will be a process, and that my failures will remind me to continue to seek God We submit to authority and endure unjust suffering for the Lord s sake. We get a better idea of why we do this for the Lord s sake in verses 11 and 12. Let s read verse 11. Beloved I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against your soul. We are called strangers and aliens which tells us that we don t belong to this world. We belong to Someone else, the Lord. When Peter tells us to abstain from fleshly desires, he is telling us to abstain from self-centeredness because our self-centeredness wages war on our soul. Our self-centeredness threatens to take over our soul, our entire being. What is in question here is our allegiance allegiance to self versus our allegiance to the Lord.
Whenever I got near the end of an overseas assignment, I cared little about keeping the local currency. Russian rubles or Turkish lire or Mexican pesos would do me no good in the United States. So after putting a few aside as souvenirs, I either spent them on things I could take back to the States or I gave them away. In the same way, we need to remember we are passing through this world, on a journey to the Lord. And like those foreign currencies, we can t take the possessions and comforts of the world with us. When we submit to authority and suffer we may miss out on the possessions and comforts of this world. But, in our journey to the Lord, we can t take those with us anyway. Yet, our submitting to authority and bearing unjust suffering give us an excellent opportunity to invest our earthly life in something that we can take with us. We can turn our submission and suffering into an opportunity to enhance the reputation of the Lord. Verse 12 tells us that our excellent behavior will one day cause people to glorify God, the Lord. Let s read verse 12. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. Even though people in this world do not understand our behavior and even though they may slander us, on the Day of Judgment they will give glory to God because of our behavior. Though we may not see the results in our lifetime, a right response to authority and injustice will one day glorify God. How do we, as Christians, respond to authority and injustice? We reflect and glorify God when we submit to all human authority and when we withstand injustice without retaliation Whenever we were in a restaurant in Chile, the waiter always spoke to Hope instead of me. Why? With her dark eyes and darker complexion, she looked Chilean. Me, on the other hand, with my light eyes, I looked different, foreign. Just as my appearance caused people to conclude that I was a foreigner, so submission to authority and response to injustice cause people to conclude that we are aliens and strangers. How do we, as Christians, respond to authority and injustice? We reflect and glorify God when we submit to all human authority and when we withstand injustice without retaliation *Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1987, 1988, The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. North Pointe Community Church, PO Box 29,555 Lincoln, NE 68529 Copyright 2005 Andrew A. MacFarlane. All rights reserved.