Submission to Authority

Good morning, Image Bearers, royalty and priests!

1 Peter 2:11-17 “11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.”

Two weeks ago, we talked about this marvelous truth, almost too good to be true, that we have been chosen and anointed by God to serve as royal priests in His presence

Having the authority and privilege as both Kings and Priests.

How would our lives change if the Holy Spirit engraved this truth, this realization ever deeper on our hearts?

How should our lives change? What is something practical that the Holy Spirit has pointed out to you, saying, “This is something that is not kingly. It’s not a priestly activity. Would you consider giving it up for my sake and for my glory?”

As we are going through 1Peter, I trust that these sermons are connecting together as we think about what it means to be chosen by God

Two weeks ago, we ended our time with verses 11-12.

We are reminded that even as kings and priests, we are

Sojourners and exiles.

I don’t know what goes through your mind when you hear that we are Sojourners and exiles

Maybe we aren’t quite sure what a sojourner is

Song writers have really picked up on this theme of being an exile or a traveler in this world

This world is not my home I’m just-a-passing through My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue The angels beckon me from Heaven’s open door And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore

Oh Lord you know I have no friend like you If Heaven’s not my home oh Lord what would I do The angels beckon me from Heaven’s open door And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore

And a lot of other songs like this

And a lot of times when we sing these songs, you kind of get the impression that

Our scope of eternity is like being on a trip across the country.

And you’re out in the great plains of Wyoming, and your tired, and you pull off the interstate in a little town with a mom and pop hotel

And stay for the night

You aren’t from there…you’re just passing through. Your real destination is somewhere else.

You aren’t there to really get to know anybody or get involved in local activities or change anybody’s life.

You aren’t going to make yourself at home there.

No sir, you are gonna be moving on the first chance you can get

And that’s sort of the impression you get when you sing some doubtless well-meaning songs.

But I don’t believe that is what the Holy Spirit would want us to take away from these verses

He calls us Sojourners and Exiles

A Sojourner: πάροικος (paroikos).Refers to a foreigner who is residing among a people who are not his own.

Residing. Not just passing through, but dwelling, residing in a land that is not his own

It’s the Hertzlers living in Mozambique. Not making plans to return to the States, or move on to another country, but attempting to, as much as possible, make our home there.

Learn their customs and their culture and their history.

Learn to know the people and the language.

but all the while, being keenly aware that we were foreigners. We were different. We were very conscious of that every day!

Peter says, this is the way it is for those who have been chosen.

He says, “I urge you to remember You are now foreigners, residing, dwelling in a country that is not your own.

I urge you to remember! This is important

You are learning the culture, and the language and the customs and as much as possible, you are making your home in this land

But you are fully aware each day that you are foreigners there

I think in our history as Mennonites and Amish, it has been our practice sometimes to, instead of living as foreigners, we try to live as aliens. people who look different, act different, talk different, and stay as far away from the world as we can

Rather than, as much as possible without falling into sin, living in our world as foreigners and engaging with the culture around us with the Gospel message of Jesus

And Peter reminds us that as foreigners, watch your life and your conduct. Because when you are a foreigner, people are watching you. They are naturally curious about you.

In Africa, that was part of daily life

One time I was on a flight from Nampula to Johannesburg and there was a group of Americans on board

And they were living fully up to the reputation that Americans have abroad as being noisy. They were talking loudly to each other on an otherwise quiet airplane

When we got to the Jo’burg airport, one group was splitting off to transfer to another flight, and they were yelling loudly to each other

And you could see other people just kind of giving them that evil eye, and I was trying not be associated with them…even though i did know one of them

Peter says, watch your conduct because, like it or not, people are watching you.

And our deepest desire is for God to be glorified.

And as His image bearers, we guard our conduct

So, how do we watch our conduct?

Does that mean that we don’t smoke and we dont chew. And we don’t go with girls who do?

Well, that might be part of it

But Peter focuses on a different area. He talks to us specifically about how we respond to authority.

Which is such a relevant and practical subject for us.

Because in this country, we struggle with responding to authority in a way that honors God.

And the Church is not completely immune to the challenges that we face

Because he talks to us first about governmental authority

And then he talks about what I’m going to call “social authority”

In other words, authority that doesn’t have to do with politics and law

and then later, he’s going to talk about roles in marriage

And then, later, he is going to talk to us about church authority and how leaders should lead in the church

And all of this talk about authority is going to be set on a backdrop of suffering.

Suffering for the sake of the Gospel

Suffering because

You have been chosen and anointed by God

You are living as foreigners and exiles (strangers)

Because Jesus has given us His example of one who lived faithfully, fulfilling The Father’s will, and has given us His example to follow.

So, today we are going to start looking at how do we as people who are chosen and holy respond to our government

Be subject to every human institution

Boy, this sounds like a pretty tall order!

Peter says, “Accept the authority of every human institution

What does this mean? How far are we to take this?

Does that mean that we have to obey every law that they put into place?

If our government, like the Chinese government, puts a two-child policy in place, that we have to resort to drastic measures to keep from having more children?

If they tell us stop preaching that there is “no other name under heaven and earth whereby men must be saved”, that we need to obey that?

I would say, no. That is not what Peter is implying or would teach us

Peter knew better than we do about what it meant to recieve orders from his governmental authority that were contrary to his convictions and how to respond to those orders.

In Acts 5, Peter and the other Apostles were arrested for preaching and performing miracles

And miraculously, in the middle of the night an angel came and freed them, and they immeidately went back to preaching

And of course the chief priest sent the temple police to arrest them again.

And said, “We strictly charged you not to preach in the name of Jesus, but here you are doing it again”

And Peter gave his famous reply: “We must obey God rather than men.”

And then he proceeded to preach to the religious leaders. Which made them so mad that they wanted to kill him

So, Peter knew what it was like to receive an order from his authorities and respectfully decline to follow that order, and

But from Peter’s life and his teaching, I think we can draw some principles to guide us

Be subject to authority

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution

Institution means creation.

In this context, it means, consider yourself to be bound or under the law that is created by humans

Recognize that God has given humans permission and authority to rule.

To create structures under which we agree to live

That means, recognize that you are under authority

Recognize that governmental authority is part of God’s plan and purpose for your life

And you make every effort to respect and obey that authority

And again, this statement that Peter makes takes on significance when you consider what Peter and the other believers were going through

They were living in a time when all levels of their government were hostile towards Christians

From the local Jewish religious authorities, to the High Priest, to the governor, all the way to the Roman emperor

There was not one level of government that was sympathetic towards the Christians

But Peter reminds his readers, these are human structures, or institutions.

And as people chosen by God, you are to consider yourself as being under authority

Recognize that governmental authority is a structure that is set up and ordained by God Himself

Yes, just like everything in this world, government has been scarred and distorted by sin

And we can point to all kinds of examples

Despots and dictators like:

Hitler in German

Stalin in Russia

Pol Pot in Cambodia

Idi Amin in Uganda

Even here in our own country, we see examples of power structures that are fallen and diseased by sin

But, still, God did make human power structures and, as Image Bearers, as His Chosen Ones, as a Royal Priesthood, Be subject to those authorities

How does this look practically speaking? I would suggest a few things

We aren’t the kind of people that go out and openly demonstrate against our government

I know that hasn’t really been something that we do

Neither should we be the kind of people who are known to speak poorly of our leaders or slander our leaders

Peter reminds us to honor everyone. That includes our mayors, our governors, our president

Don’t engage in the kind of harsh language that you hear on talk radio or social media

Don’t drive around with bumper stickers saying “Biden is not my President”, or “Trump is not my president”, or whomever happens to be in the oval office at that time

Because, as we know, people make decisons about what kind of people we are according to what comes out of our mouths

And when they hear us cutting down our leaders, even those leaders that we have a really hard time supporting,

It’s fodder for arguments and offense

And folks draw the conculsion that we really aren’t any different than anyone else because we are doing what they would do

But, on the other hand, when they hear us speaking honorably of our leaders, even when they know we don’t agree with our leaders,

It puts to silence the ignorance of foolish people

There’s nothing to argue about!

What we do instead is to pray for our leaders.

1 Timothy 2, Paul urges that supplications, prayers, intercessions and, yes, even thanksgivings be made for ALL people including kings and those in high positions

As we pray for our leaders, What can we pray for?

Pray for God’s Kingdom to be advanced through the policies that they put in place and the decisions that they make

Jesus told us to pray, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done”

And as His people, it should be our utmost desire to see the Kingdom of God advanced, and His will being exercised

The hard part is that we don’t always know (or we rarely know) what that should look like.

God’s kingdom is many times advanced in the face of adversity and persecution.

Example: The Chinese underground church

Numbers have grown by leaps and bounds in the face of regulation, oppression and persecution

So, I think that there is some tension here that we as Believers should live with.

Knowing that as we pray for God’s will to be done, it may bring hardship and persecution

Events in our lives that will ultimately bring about God’s kingdom in a way that we couldn’t have foreseen

We can also pray for wisdom for our leaders.

It must be a heavy burden knowing that you are making decisions that are affecting millions of lives

So, pray that God grants supernatural wisdom to our leaders to make the best decisions possible

And, as we should pray for all people, we pray that their hearts would be turned toward the Lord

We have had many leaders who name the Name of the Lord, but whose lives don’t seem to display God’s transforming work

So, honor your leaders, and be subject to them

And then, Peter gives us a very familiar reminder: Don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do what you want.

Where did we hear this before? It seems like Paul and Peter are on the same page a lot!

Yes, Christ has set you free. But don’t use that freedom as an excuse to do what you want.

don’t drive 90 miles an hour on Sharon Center Road with the attitude of, “Hey, my ultimate allegiance is to Christ (that’s true), so it doesn’t matter what I do otherwise. The law isn’t really binding on me (false)

And if I hit a deer and lose control and roll my car, no worries, I’m going to heaven anyway

No, let’s not live like that

Instead, we live as servants of God.

Servants are given the task of not only doing thing for their master,

but also guarding the reputation of their master

They are not allowed to go out in public and slander their master or live in a way that makes people question the character of their master

So, be careful how you live. Guard the reputation of your master

We do all of this for the Lord’s sake.

This little phrase “for the Lord’s sake”. What does it mean?

I read it, and I know that we say it, but I wasn’t sure how I would translate it.

This word “Sake” means, “On behalf of someone” or “out of consideration for someone”

If I would like to take our vacation money and take the whole family to a NASCAR race, but instead, I take that money, and take them to Disney Land

Then I have spent the money, I have acted for THEIR sake.

I have acted out of consideration for them

And that is what the Holy Spirit is telling us to do here.

Remember to act out of consideration for the Lord.

We honor our authorities because that is how the Lord would want us to act, and we do it out of our love and consideration for Him

And after, all, Jesus Himself set us this example

By submitting Himself to the will of the Father.

Giving up His reputation and His power

And coming to earth

Submitting Himself to be born

To live in poverty

To be mocked and mistreated

To be horrifically executed on a cross

And in all of that, he respected and honored His Father, and the earthly authorities

He gave us His example. May we be found faithful in living as His disciples, as His servants and representatives on this earth

Andrew W. Litke, “Journey,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).