Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Peter 2:18-25

If you think you have it tough at work, think again.

At least you’re not a slave!

As horrible and terrible as the practice of slavery was in the early United States, this was not the first time that slavery was practiced in the world.

Historians believe that 20-30% of the population in the first-century Roman Empire were slaves, becoming enslaved one of four ways: as military captives, kidnapping, or birth into an enslaved household.

The fourth way was to sell oneself into slavery to resolve some personal economic hardship.

The NT nowhere commends slavery as either necessary or noble, as it does for government and the home.

Rather than uphold it as a God-ordained institution, the NT merely acknowledges slavery’s existence and gives believers guidance for how to behave within that system.

This is significant because historical data suggests that many if not a majority of first-century believers were slaves.

First-century slaves were often well-educated and filled a variety of roles as craftsman, doctors, managers, musicians, teachers, and even owners of other slaves.

They were often trusted and influential and could even purchase their freedom in some cases by a process called manumission.

Some served for life, while others for a contracted period of time.

Some slaves were treated better than others, though many were treated poorly, very poorly in some cases, and slaves received no legal protections against such abuse.

In any case, we should be glad we don’t have a system like this today, that we’re able to conduct our lives and choose our employment freely, though not every believer enjoys this freedom.

Slavery still exists in the world, so how should those who suffer from it respond to their situation?

And more importantly for us, how can we apply such guidance to our own career, professional, and work experiences even though we’re not enslaved?

If we believe we are being mistreated at work, we can file a lawsuit, report bad workplace conditions to the government, a union, or higher executives, or simply walk away.

Unlike first-century believers who were enslaved, we can walk away from our employers at any time.

Even if we’ve signed a contract to work for a certain employer for a specified period, we can break such contracts under certain conditions.

As beneficial as this freedom may be, when we exercise it, we may also sacrifice a crucial opportunity without realizing it – the opportunity to make a Christ-like impact in the lives of people who need it most, because how we respond to difficult work environments is a special way to be a witness for Christ to unbelieving employers, overseers, and co-workers.

It’s easy to overlook this dynamic in our job choices.

And even when we do consider it, we tend to value workplace benefits, culture, pay, and treatment more highly.

If you are employed, who do you work for?

Do you feel mistreated in any way in your role?

How are the people you work for and with seeing Christ through your attitude and behavior at work?

If you are self-employed, to whom are you providing services – they are your employer!

Do you feel mistreated by them in any way?

How are they seeing Christ through your response to their difficult behavior?

Let’s walk through this portion of 1 Pet 2:18-25 to shape our thoughts, feelings, and actions to the Word of God.

Let’s “desire the pure milk of the Word that [we] may grow thereby” (1 Pet 2:2), that we may become more like Christ in our behavior at work and less like the self-protecting, temporary-minded nonbelievers around us.

We should be compliant and gracious in our work relationships.

I know this instruction sounds counterintuitive - the very opposite of the self-preserving, self-assertive, self-promoting advice we receive from secular voices today.

It also speaks to the heart of a new generation of workforce which changes jobs and even careers far more frequently

“Be submissive” means to place yourself in a compliant, subordinate position, following instructions, carrying out orders, and performing assigned tasks.

This excludes complaining, back-talking, doing your own thing, and simply being lazy.

“With all fear” extends our submission beyond outward compliance and performance to the attitude and demeanor of our heart.

We should do our work with a respectful attitude, not a bitter, complaining, reluctant one which so often characterizes the attitude of our nonbelieving co-workers and colleagues.

“With all fear” also provides a crucial boundary for our submission because it raises and answers the question of to whom this fear should be directed.

Whom should we fear?

Peter later explains that we should “not be afraid of their threats” (1 Pet 3:13), so we should not let a fear of consequences from our employers motivate our behavior on the job.

Instead, we should let our fear of God motivate us to obey our employers.

Since this is the case, we should also let our fear of God motivate us to disobey our employers when they require us to disobey him – but only then.

If our employer requires us to do something dishonest or unethical, for instance, we should abstain.

If we fear our employer, we will do unethical things because we fear losing our jobs.

But if we fear God, we will risk losing our jobs to remain ethical.

The next two verses (1 Pet 2:19-20) explain this concept further, letting us know what kind of on-the-job behavior pleases God.

Rather than list a series of behaviors which God desires us to practice on the job, Peter focuses on a specific behavior – the way we respond to mistreatment and unethical demands.

From these verses, we see that God will bestow no special acknowledgment or blessing upon us for any consequences or hardships we experience on the job due to a bad attitude or lackluster performance on our part.

It’s as though Peter is saying if you get in trouble at work for poor behavior, you’re on your own; you deserve what you get.

Christians should be the most compliant and gracious employees around.

“Because of conscience toward God” tells us Peter is describing consequences we may receive for any behavior motivated by doing right, having an enthusiastic spirit, or behaving in an ethical manner – contrary to the expectations and wishes of our employer.

Words like endure and patiently let us know that Peter is speaking about hardships at work which extend over time.

These are not just one-off occurrences, but difficulties we face day in and day out.

So, when we go about our work with an enthusiastic, gracious spirit and compliant, diligent effort, but still face mistreatment for reasons due to our faith in Christ and obedience to the Word of God, then God acknowledges our suffering in a special way.

Commendable(NKJV) is a translation of the word for grace, which could be translated woodenly as “this is grace” and “this is grace from God.”

In other words, God extends special grace to followers of Christ when we are mistreated at work for ethnical reasons.

God’s grace is available to those who endure mistreatment on the job for conscience reasons.

God’s grace flows to those who do what’s right and face unjust repercussions for doing so.

Believers are called to suffer hardship.

Now this is not the end of the story.

Enduring unjust treatment at work due to our faith in Christ is more than just pleasing to God, it is our calling from God.

He has not only called us to have a close relationship with him and a place in his never-ending kingdom, but we are called to suffer for him.

But you might say, “Wait a minute!

How is that fair?

How can it be just and acceptable for God to require us to suffer and call that a good thing but to call it a bad thing to endure when our employers require us to suffer?” That’s a good question, to which Peter gives us two solid, reasonable answers.

Our Messiah suffered unjust treatment before us.

“Leaving us” does not refer to Christ somehow abandoning us, something he said he would never do (John 14:18).

It refers to going before us and leaving something behind for us to follow.

Example here is a special, unique word that describes a formal set of alphabet letters that children would trace to learn how to write.

They could not vary from this pattern and hope to succeed at writing.

In the same way, we who have believed on Christ must follow his lifestyle and teaching closely.

We cannot vary from it and hope to succeed.

“That you should follow his steps” describes the way a child walks through deep snow by stepping into the foot imprints of the parent before him.

Do you remember how Christ told his disciples, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:3)?

We all want to arrive safely in Christ’s future kingdom, but to get there we must step into his very footprints – which requires us to step through the suffering of the cross.

In 1906, a song with lyrics by Jessie B. Pounds, was published entitled, “The Way of the Cross Leads Home.”

I must needs go home by the way of the cross,

There's no other way but this;

I shall ne'er get sight of the Gates of Light,

If the way of the cross I miss.

The way of the cross leads home,

The way of the cross leads home;

It is sweet to know, as I onward go,

The way of the cross leads home.

I must needs go on in the blood-sprinkled way,

The path that the Savior trod,

If I ever climb to the heights sublime,

Where the soul is at home with God.

The way of the cross leads home,

The way of the cross leads home;

It is sweet to know, as I onward go,

The way of the cross leads home.

Charles Gabriel, the musician who composed the accompanying music, said that Mrs. Pounds’ wanted to emphasize the truth that heroic Christianity does not follow the line of least resistance.”

Christ himself, of course, taught this well:

“Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me’” (Matt 16:24).

This song also resembles a popular story which was told around that same time of a child who was lost in downtown London, where there was a six-way intersection at the heart of the city called Charing Cross junction.

A police officer approached the lost child to ask where the child lived.

To this the child replied, “I don’t know my address, but if you take me to the cross, I can get home from there.”

What kind of suffering did Christ endure and why?

Peter quotes from Isa 53:9, which prophesied centuries before Christ came to Earth that severe suffering would be a central part of his mission to save us.