1 Peter 2:18-20

1 Peter 2:18-20

Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 2. You may recall that last week we looked at the exciting topic of submission. In our passage Peter wrote that we are to submit to the leaders of the government. That included their local leaders but also the emperor who was actively persecuting Christians at that time. Peter didn’t give any exceptions for governments and leaders we don’t like or even for those who make it difficult for Christians. Paul wrote to Timothy about this subject saying:

1 Timothy 2:1-3 1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior.

Paul says we are to pray for those who are in authority so that our lives might be easier and because it pleases God.

In our passage tonight that begins with verse 18, Peter continues the subject of submission as he applies it to the workplace. Let’s go on and read the verses and then we’ll discuss them.

1 Peter 2:18-21 18 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. 19 For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. 20 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. 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

We need to remember the broader context of this verse. Peter has been talking about our ability to be a witness to unbelievers. As we read last week in verse 12, we are to live in such way that people will be attracted to Jesus.

1 Peter 2:12 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.

We can be witnesses in our attitude and actions toward the government but also in our attitude and actions toward our bosses.

You may have noticed that Peter doesn’t actually say boss, he says master. At that time just over half the people living in the Roman Empire were slaves. Their bosses were their masters.

Before we get started I want to clearly state that slavery is wrong. Though God permitted it in the Old Testament law he also gave very specific guidelines for not only dealing with slaves but also for their release. The way slavery was used in the south completely ignored those laws. Unfortunately, there has been an increase in slavery in the last decade that has largely gone undetected because it is being done in secret instead of in the open as in the past.

Thankfully we don’t have legal slavery in the US today. We aren’t slaves so the closest application is to that of workers to their bosses.

Other than the instructions to be submissive to government leaders, this instruction to submit to our bosses affects us the most. Unless you are retired or work for yourself, you spend more than half you waking hours at work. Estimates are that if you were to work until you were seventy you would have worked the equivalent of twenty years. That’s twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for twenty years non-stop. As a result, our jobs can become a great place for us to be witnesses for the gospel. When Jesus said in the Great Commission to, “Go make disciples” what he was really saying was, “As you go” as in, “As you go about your normal lives make disciples.” Some people will leave their homes and travel to distant lands to share the gospel, but for the majority of us it means sharing the gospel with those we come into contact with each day and most of those people are at work. How we act at work then will either attract people to the gospel or repel them.

If you like sports you’ve probably seen fans of some teams that make you dislike the team their rooting for. They aren’t just avid fans but their rude and obnoxious fans. When I was in high school and college my younger cousins became avid University of Georgia fans. Because they knew I’d attended Georgia Tech they wanted to rub it in whenever Georgia did well. As a result I became a fan of whoever Georgia was playing. It’s not that I had anything against Georgia (except when they played Tech) but some of their fans were annoying. It’s only been in the last few years that I’ve been able to rejoice when Georgia did well. And really, since I’m from Georgia that would make sense. It was much easier when Mark Richt was their coach. Mark was an outspoken Christian.

Similarly, the way we act can cause people to want to know more about the gospel or to turn away from it. We are to live such good lives that people are drawn to Jesus.

We sometimes fail to realize what great places work can be for evangelizing. At work you see people I never see. You talk to people who would never talk to me. You are able to make friends with people outside the church and who need to know Jesus. It’s also amazing how many unbelievers say they would go to church if they were just asked. So work can be a good place to tell others about Jesus and invite them to church.

In our passage Peter talks about how to be a good witness at work. Here are some lessons Peter gives for being a better witness at work.

First, there’s an instruction: Slaves submit yourselves to your masters.

I think the most appropriate application we have today for this is worker and boss. Some might think that’s a stretch, but let me quickly make the case for I don’t think it is. Again, the majority of listeners Peter’s letter being read would have been slaves. The word Peter uses for slave in verse 18 is not the most common one though. The term Peter uses is for a house servant. A house servant could have served in a variety of functions. They could have served as anything from a maid, to a cook, to a home school teacher to a family physician and everything in between those. So it included menial labor and highly skilled labor. It included those who had no education and those who were highly educated. It would have included Joseph when he worked for Potiphar about who we read:

Genesis 39:4-6 4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. 5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. 6 So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome.

Joseph was a slave, but he had the trust and support of Potiphar – till Potiphar’s wife made advances on Joseph and then lied about what happened. The point is the term covered a multitude of positions.

For the second lesson Peter mentions a possible problem: Some bosses are harsh.

The word Peter uses for master described someone who had absolute authority over another person. Some of those masters were fair and treated the slaves like family members but there were others that were cruel and harsh. What made it worse is the slave had no rights and little protection from such masters. A slave wasn’t even considered a person in the empire. Yet to these slaves Peter instructs them to be submissive.

If you had a great master this instruction would have been easier. However, if you had a master that beat you and abused you this instruction would have just ground salt into an already open would. How could Peter expect those servants to willingly submit? Should they try to rebel, go on strike, or escape? But Peter said to submit because do so would be a witness that could draw an unbeliever to Christ.

While we may wish that the New Testament writers had come out in loud opposition to slavery, what they did do was plant the seeds of opposition that led to the end of slavery would be undermined in the Roman Empire within two hundred years and after three hundred years there was no slavery left. If you’ll research the reason why, most every resource – including secular encyclopedias – will credit Christianity. As Christianity grew there became such an overwhelming number that slavery was exterminated in the empire.

We know that slavery continued elsewhere but the anti-slavery movements were usually led by Christians. That was true in Great Brittan and in the US as well.

Who you work with and for can make all the difference in the world. Thankfully the bosses I’ve had in secular jobs were always fair. Actually, because they knew I was preparing for ministry most were more than fair. I had three jobs where I know I was being paid more than that had to pay me because of that. But I know every job isn’t like that. It wasn’t always like that for my mother. She had some bosses that she loved and others that because of the way they treated her couldn’t wait till they retired or moved on. Peter acknowledges this reality. He recognizes that some will be harsh. He admits some will suffer unjustly. But he still says they are to submit.

Peter reminds us that there are two kinds of suffering. There is suffering that’s deserved and suffering that’s underserved. There’s suffering because you done something wrong and there suffering even though you’ve done nothing wrong. Adam and Eve suffered when they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden but it was because of something wrong they’d done. Joseph suffered when Potiphar had him thrown in prison but was because a lie told by Potiphar’s wife. Joseph was suffering unjustly.

There may be times when we experiencing both of these sufferings as well. Sometimes we deserve the suffering or punishment we are experiencing. One survey found that American workers admit to goofing off at work 20% of the time. That’s equivalent to one day of work out of five. It sounds like many aren’t punished when they deserve it. But there are also times when we are don’t deserve the punishment we receive. Like Joseph we were accused falsely or weren’t given credit we deserved or passed over for a promotion we’re entitled to. What are we to do? We’re to endure the deserved punishment – after all, we deserve it – and we are to endure the underserved punishment. Peter tells us that when we do God is pleased when we suffer unjustly without complaining because we are following the example of Jesus.

Just imagine this conversation between to slaves working for a cruel master. One is bitter and mad while the other is content and joyful. The first asks the second asks the first why he isn’t complaining too and the second slave begins telling the first slave about Jesus who suffered on the cross unjustly for our sins. Take Jesus to work with you. You attitude can become a vehicle to share the gospel.

The third lesson Peter gives concerns our calling: To this we were called.

In verse 21 Peter wrote: To this you were called. . . . To what were they called? What did he just say? Peter said that you may have a job where the boss is kind and generous or you may have a job where the boss is difficult and unfair. The good news is whichever one it is you were called to it. It is then that he mentions the example of Jesus reminding us that just as Jesus suffered we were called to suffer as well. We follow a Savior who suffered which means that from time to time we will be called upon to suffer as well. Paul told the Philippians:

Philippians 3:10-11 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

We’d like to think that knowing Jesus only means happiness and fun, but sometimes it means suffering and pain. Peter says, to this we have been called.

Did you know that suffering can be beneficial? As Christians we need to know and understand this important truth. First, suffering can make us pure. The Bible compares suffering to a goldsmith who heats up the gold to purify it and get rid of impurities. Nothing purifies us like suffering. Second, suffering will humble us. Paul wrote about his “thorn in the flesh” that God allowed him to endure in order to keep him from becoming conceited. Paul said he begged God to remove it. What God did was give him grace to endure it. It kept him humble. Third, suffering keeps you dependant. Suffering forces you to depend on God. Prayer is never as important to us as it is when we are suffering. For these reasons and more God allows us and calls us to suffer.

Why do we work? Why do we set an alarm each morning and go to work? The major reason is to provide for ourselves and our families. As Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, no work no food. But there is another to work. When Adam and Eve left the garden God said to Adam:

Genesis 3:17-19 17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

That might lead us to believe that work is the result of sin. Adam had to work only because of his sin. But that’s not true. God gave the man work to do in the garden; they just didn’t have to work hard for food.

Genesis 2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

The purpose of work is not only to put food on the table, but it gives meaning and purpose to our lives. That’s why many continue working even when they’ve made enough to sustain them for the rest of their lives. However, there is an even greater reason for working and that is to bring glory to God.

Mark Twain once said, “Work is a necessary evil to be avoided.” There may be days when we feel like he got it right. I came across an article today about a man who wanted to avoid work so he texted his boss saying he’d been kidnapped. He told gave his boss he owed some money to some guy who had now taken him. The man described the color and make of the car he was in. A little later he described his escape and that he’d made it to a hospital. Of course the man’s boss called the police who caught up with him at the hospital. The good news is he won’t have to work for the next ten to fifteen years. That’s going to an extreme to get out of work.

We know God has ordained work as a stewardship of his created world. He has designed work for our good and his glory. As Paul wrote:

Colossians 3:23-24 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

When Peter wrote this letter there certainly would have been members of the congregations reading it that would have suffered wrongly. They would have been given unreasonable tasks, worked ruthlessly, or been punished unjustly. Peter knew that when he wrote. But the goal is to bring God glory.

If the application for this passage is that of a worker submitting to a boss, what will that look like? Skip Heitzig gives these four applications:

Work hard and work well so that you will be a worker any employer would want to hire. I never left a job on bad grounds. (Well, there was that job at UPS. It was a temporary job and they seemed to be glad when it was over. I know I was.) But every other job my bossed would say they wished I could stay. That’s because I always tried to be the best employee they had.

Life is a mix of good and bad, use both to advertise your faith. A Harvard study found that 85% people get hired because of their attitude. That means only 15% get hired because of their knowledge or skill. As Christians our attitude should be one of gratitude.

Take God to work with you. How can you deal with unfair suffering? Take God to work with you. This is the way to transform a job into joy. Remember the idea is not to please your boss but god. A boss may not see that 20% goofing off, but God will. Work for God.

God’s plan isn’t that you show up, but grow up. Work is intended to provide for our needs, give us purpose, and bring glory to God but it is also intended to shape us. It teaches us.

I think most of us will recognize the name Stradivarius. Today, three hundred years after Antonio Stradivari died, Stradivarius violins are considered the best ever made. Why is that? I think one reason is his philosophy for work. His work philosophy was summed up in one sentence:

Other men will make other violins, but no man shall make a better one.

Stradivari believed that no instrument should leave his shop unless it was as near perfect as humanly possible. That’s because, as he said:

God needs violins to send his music into the world, and if any violins are defective God’s music will be spoiled.

Some rich noble might order a violin, but ultimately who does it sound like Stradivari was making the violin for? He was making for God and for his glory.

1 Corinthians 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

I’ll close with this story.

Sid was an ugly caterpillar with orange eyes. He spent his whole life groveling and squirming in the dirt on God's earth. One day Sid got a terrific idea. He crawled up the stem of a bush, made his way to a branch, and secreted a translucent fluid onto that branch.

He made a kind of button out of the fluid, turned himself around, and attached his posterior anatomy to that button. Then shaped himself into a J, curled up, and proceeded to build a house around himself. There was a lot of activity for a while, but before long Sid was entirely covered up and you couldn't see him anymore.

One day an eruption took place. Sid’s house shook violently. That little cocoon jerked and shook till a large, beautiful wing protruded. Sid stretched it out in all of its glory. He continued his work until another gorgeous wing emerged.

At this stage of Sid's life you might have wanted to help him, but you didn’t because if you tried to pull the rest of Sid’s house off you would maim him for the rest of his life. So you let Sid convulse and wriggle his way to freedom without any outside intervention. Eventually, Sid got his house off his back, ventured out onto a branch, stretched, spread his wings. He was nothing like the old worm he used to be. And you know what? Sid didn’t crawl back down the branch and start groveling and squirming in the dirt again.

Instead, he took off with a new kind of power, flight power. Now instead of swallowing dust, Sid flies from flower to flower enjoying the sweet nectar in God's wonderful creation.

Did that process hurt? Did his life get shaken because of it? Yeah, but the submission brought a great sense of freedom at the end.

1 Peter 2:18-21 (NLT) 18 You who are slaves must submit to your masters with all respect. Do what they tell you – not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are cruel. 19 For God is pleased when, conscious of his will, you patiently endure unjust treatment. 20 Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you. 21 For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered[l] for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.