1 Peter 2:13-17

1 Peter 2:13–17 KJV (WS)

13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; 14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. 15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. 17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

Introduction

Who loves our government?

Who is proud of our nations leaders?

Probably not too many in this crowd.

Peter first gives the command that government and it’s officials are to be obeyed by Christians. vss 13-14

He tells his readers to obey the ordinances of men.

There may be some confusion as to what is an ordinance.

An ordinance is an institution.

It refers to the governmental organizations that rule over different areas of the country.

Some governments call them administrations.

Some call them departments.

Some call them ministries.

Submission to the ordinance does not extend to each individual law.

We should do all that we can to obey civil authorities.

We must remember that we do this for the Lord’s sake.

I’m glad that God tells us that.

There aren’t very many government officials that I respect enough to obey for their sakes.

With the idea that the Lord is our motivation, Peter gives us three levels of personnel that we are to obey.

Obey the king.

Romans refused to the emperor “rex” or king.

He was the first among equals.

The greek people that lived under roman rule, however, frequently referred to the emperor as the king.

We don’t have a king, like they did.

But, we can certainly relate this idea to our world.

The king would be like the federal government.

We are to obey the highest level of government in our country.

They oversee the nation as a whole.

They try to make laws that can be applied equally across the states.

We all know that the states are diverse.

What works in one state might not work in another.

Which is why Christian’s obedience must also extend to regional government.

Obey the governors.

Most of Peter’s readers, based on the first chapter, would have been directly ruled by governors.

As citizens of the region of Asia Minor, these Christians would have had provincial governors as their most accessible form of government.

Some of these governors were very lenient and others were very strict.

Peter expects believer to be obedient.

Finally, he tells the to obey the agents of government.

These are like the police officers of our time.

Agents empowered to insure the adherence to the law of the land.

Those that are sent to punish evildoers.

Those that are sent to praise those that do well.

Obviously, there is a limit to this obedience.

I don’t think the line is where you and I think it is.

I think of our missionaries and the corrupt governments they have to work with in order to enter and remain in these other countries.

You know why they do it though?

They do it for the Lord’s sake.

We will need to adopt an increasingly missionary mindset here in the US.

That fits with last week’s message though, where Peter reminded us to live as pilgrims and strangers in this world.

Peter himself spoke the words of Acts 5:29 “29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”

We do our best to live quiet, peaceful lives.

Ultimately God’s authority tops any man’s and our heavenly citizenship is more deserving of loyalty than our American citizenship.

Peter explains the reason behind this command. vss 15-16

He tells us that obedience to government is the will of God for us.

Submit because submission is the will of God.

There are many things in the Bible that God tells us are a part of his will.

Keeping our bodies pure, presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice, and apparently obeying the government over us.

Our submission to government has an effect on our relationship with God.

It doesn’t just effect our relationship with God, it may affect others a well.

When we obey the law, we silence the ignorance of foolish men.

Ignorance is the result of a lack of knowledge.

Roman aristocrats were quick to malign minority religions without actually investigating them.

A false understanding of Christianity spread quickly among outsiders.

I think we’ve all heard the claim that Christian’s practice of the Last Supper was used to accuse Christians of practicing cannibalism.

As Christians fulfill their civic duty, they can dispel these rumors.

They can silence those that accuse them with unfounded accusations.

Silence means to muzzle.

Stories of abuse, fraud, and scandal hurt all churches in our country.

According to Peter, civic obedience is the right use of freedom.

We use freedom to serve God.

For Christians, freedom meant freedom to be God’s slaves rather than slaves to the state.

For over 200 years we have enjoyed more freedom to serve God than any other group of believers has been allowed.

Of course many have used this freedom to serve themselves rather than God.

Inscriptions found in Asia Minor show that freedmen were considered slaves of the god or goddess in whose temple their freedom was registered.

God has set us free so that we would serve him.

We don’t use our liberty to veil our own maliciousness.

Freedom does not serve as an occasion for evil.

Maliciousness is mostly connected to the idea of baseness.

In other words, freedom to just do whatever our natural man urges us to do.

Freedom is not antinomianism.

Freedom is not lawlessness.

This isn’t true for a country, nor is it true for Christians.

Finally, Peter gives the application of this message.

Honor all men.

Honor is the same word that Jesus used in his command to honor our parents.

It means to esteem highly.

No man is to be despised.

All are among those for whom Christ died.

Can we truly claim to do this?

Every man or woman you encounter is made in God’s image.

Even if that person is openly demonstrating the depravity of their fallen nature.

Can you esteem them as important the way that Jesus does?

Love the brotherhood.

These are your brothers and sisters in Christ.

They are your fellow church members.

Go back and read 1 Corinthians 13 and be reminded what God’s standard is for this command.

Fear God.

Stand in awe of God and his power.

He holds the heart of the king in his hand.

By God’s will kingdoms rise and fall.

He is the supreme Lord of the universe.

This part is necessary if we are going to honor all men and love the brotherhood.

He who fears God will not dishonor any man.

Including the king…

Honor the king.

Honor is easy to offer a good king, but what about Nero?

Remember, Nero is the emperor at this point in history.

After the death of his mother, Nero lost all sense of right and wrong and listened to flattery with total credulity.

Nero divorced Octavia on grounds of infertility, and banished her. After public protests over Octavia's exile, Nero accused her of adultery with Anicetus, and she was executed.

Let’s not even begin to talk about what Nero did to Christians after the burning of Rome.

This is the king that Peter tells believers to honor.

I wonder what Peter would have said about Joe Biden…

He wouldn’t have laughed and applauded at the chants of Let’s Go Brandon.

Conclusion

We are privileged to live in a country where we have a voice in who our governors are.

We should exercise every right and power that we have to see virtuous, just rulers placed in our government.

In the end, our government, like our church, and like your family, will always be filled with sinners.

We must remember and heed God’s call to set the example as his people to obey the powers above us.

As much as we can we need to be law-abiding citizens.