Sanctified Submission
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English Standard Version Chapter 2
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
Puritan Prayer,
May I always be subordinate to thee,
be dependent on thee,
be found in the path where thou dost walk,
and where they Spirit moves,
take heed of my enstrangement from thee,
of becoming insensible to thy love.
Thou dost not move men like stones,
but dost endue them with life,
not to enable them to move without thee,
but in submission to thee, the first mover. (Valley of Vision pg. 12)
In verses 13 through 3:7 Peter is exhorts the church to live out their sanctification through subjection or submission. Peter wants his readers to understand the importance of living lives set apart from the world and set apart for the glory of God by submitting to those whom God has ordained and commanded us to submit to.
In verse 13 we see be subject to every human institution
In verse 18 we see be subject to your masters
In verse 3:1 we see wives be subject to your own husbands
Do you see the theme Peter is aiming for?
Why do you think submission is so important?
It is an expression of our submission to the gospel. In believing the gospel we come to Christ repenting of our sin finally realizing that we are running away from Him, rebelling against Him, and refusing to submit to Him and His Word. We come to Christ with in an attitude of humble submission understanding that He is righteous and we are not. That He is holy and we are not. That if we desire to be saved from the wrath of God we must come to Him, trust and obey! In this submission to Christ we lay aside our self-ruled life and seek to live a life under His reign!
It is a way we put the interest of others before our own.
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
3. It is an illustration obedience to Jesus.
If we have the mind of Christ as we just read in Philippians then we will have the same desires as our Lord when we come to Him in repentance and faith. Do you remember what Jesus said to the disciples after his encounter with the Samaritan women at the well?
Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
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Do you see Jesus saying I so desire to do the will of the Father, His work is my meat, His will is my food, where I find satisfaction and fulfillment. In other words He is in complete submission to the Father! Do you remember Jesus words before his crucifixion?
saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
Luke 22:42
Do you see His total submission to the Father? To the point of death!
In this paragraph specifically, Peter is charging the church to live out their salvation and sanctification through submission to government and living honorable sacrificial lives. This paragraph is full of imperatives as Peter is calling those who have been born again to live holy lives in all realms of life.
He starts out exhorting the people of God to do something we all struggle with at some level, that is being subject for the Lord’s sake. This is something our flesh pushes back against because of our pride and self righteousness. We often think we know better, we wouldn’t do things that way, we think everyone else is idiots so we rail against all of those in authority.
However, when we come to Christ, when we are born again, made sons and daughters of God, we are also entering a life of submission. The gospel is about submission, in coming to Christ we are confessing Him as Lord and submitting to His lordship. In doing that we put His word and will above everyone else’s including our own. That means whatever He says we should do. Not only do we live lives of submission we also live lives of sacrifice, as we look to the Savior and seek to follow and imitate Him!
Peter is about to reveal to us that one of the ways we do that as believer’s is.....
I. Submit to Authority (13-14)
I. Submit to Authority (13-14)
What does is mean be subject?
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 36.18 ὑποτάσσομαι; ὑποταγή, ῆς; ὑπείκω
to submit to the orders or directives of someone—‘to obey, to submit to, obedience, submission.’
The NIV Application Commentary: 1 Peter Original Meaning
The word “submit” is a compound verb from the Greek words hypo (meaning “under”) and tasso (meaning “to order, place, appoint”). While it is often inaccurate to determine meaning from the roots of a word, the roots here do give an adequate determination of the meaning of the verb: “to order oneself under, or according to, a given relationship,” or “to live according to the governmental order.”
Peter here is commanding, exhorting the people of God to be subject, to obey the orders, rules, or directives of every human institution. We will look at that a little deeper in a minute, but we must recognize that he doesn’t let us pick and choose which laws we obey, but we must be in submission to all laws unless they cause us to disobey God.
Notice first of all, why believers are to submit to authority. We are to,
A. Submit for the Lord’s Sake (13a)
A. Submit for the Lord’s Sake (13a)
2:13a Be subject for the Lord’s sake
What is Peter talking about here? How is a believer’s submission to governmental authorities for the sake of the Lord?
Consider the alternative, if we do not submit and we get caught and are thrown into jail, what does that do for our witness to Christ? What kind of testimony will we have before the government and all of those around us if we consistently rebel and break the laws that are for the good of society?
Peter is telling us here as we submit to authority we are representing our King well. We are causing people to notice a difference in God’s people. They may ask or at least consider why are these people different? Why are the Christians not rebelling, not acting the fool, but instead following the laws of the land?
Now, is Peter’s command to submit consistent with the rest of the Scriptures?
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
Paul affirms submission to government in , and his letter to Titus,
Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,
Do you remember one of the ways Paul told Timothy to be subject to government?
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:1-
Not only are we to submit to authority, but we are also to offer prayers and supplications for authority. Why is that?
That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life.
It pleases God
It promotes opportunities for us to point people to Christ and fulfill God’s desire for people to come to Him for salvation!
Do you see then, how as born again believers we are to live lives of submission for the sake of the Lord and the glory and honor of His name?
Spurgeon Commentary: 1 Peter Exposition
True religion is always the friend of order as well as of liberty. The gospel is no doctrine of anarchy, and the Christian is no fomenter of strife.
Notice next who Peter points out that we are to be subject to. He reminds us we are to....
B. Submit to Every Human Institution (13b)
B. Submit to Every Human Institution (13b)
Here Peter narrows the scope of our submission above and beyond civil government. He is going to focus on civil government in the next verse but then following that he will broaden the submission up to..
Slaves to masters in
Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.
and
Wives to husbands in,
Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives,
1 Peter 3:
These are all human institutions. Of course marriage was instituted by God, but it involves two humans. Governments may not be made up of men and women of God but they are ordained and set in place by God.
What other relationships might our subjection and submissiveness apply to?
Children to parents
Bosses to employees
Elders to church members (Sheep to Shepherd)
Teachers to students
Younger to the Older
In other words in every area of our life we are to be submissive to those who God has place in a position of authority over us! This is to be done in honor of Christ and for the glory of God!
In the context of this verse Peter specifically calls the church to submit to Government, he writes specifically,
whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors sent by him.
This can be especially difficult in our democratic society. If our candidate wins we may be more willing to submit. But, Peter doesn’t say submit to the president or governor or sheriff that you voted for! He says submit to every human institution whether national leader or local leader. Whomever is sent by God we are to submit to.
Remember the context, Nero was the emperor, he was way more evil and cruel than any leader we have seen in this country.
Dan Doriani writes,
1 Peter A Resident’s First Duty: Submission to His Governors
Nero was emperor. Few had less merit than he. Beyond his cruelties, he ruled poorly for most of his reign and, more than most other emperors, claimed deity. If Peter could command the church to submit to Nero, we can certainly submit if our governor takes a stand that we consider erroneous.
Sprugeon called the emperors and kings of that day, “monsters of iniquity.”
What is one of the primary benefits of submitting to government? Peace!
What happens when there is a lack of submission? Chaos, violence, possibly even civil war!
However, when we submit to government more often than not we live quiet and peaceable lives. They don’t bother us, they don’t harass us, they don’t abuse us. Therefore, peace comes through submissiveness.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
If we see that part of our sanctification involves our submission to emperors and governors, what then is the purpose or role of these men whom God has ordained as leaders we are to be subject to.
For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.
Peter informs the church, if you live sanctify lives as you have been enabled to do through the new birth and the sanctification of the Spirit you will, abstain from evil and won’t have to worry about bearing God’s wrath as you go about
1. Government is sent to punish evil (14a)
1. Government is sent to punish evil (14a)
The first and foremost role of government is to provide a safe society for the people to live. In other words, they are to do their best to control evil through meting out justice or punishing evil.
Paul expounds on this a little further than Peter,
For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.
Peter informs the church, if you live sanctify lives as you have been enabled to do through the new birth and the sanctification of the Spirit you will, abstain from evil and won’t have to worry about bearing God’s wrath as you go about conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel.
Notice what Peter does here, he not only gives a negative example of the role of government, he provides a positive picture of government. They not only punish evil,
2. Government is sent to praise those who do good. (14b)
2. Government is sent to praise those who do good. (14b)
Think about it this way God has ordained government to protect, punish, and praise people.
For us that means, we are not supposed to just avoid evil and hide in our homes and stay locked up in our christian communities. We are to go out and engage the world in doing good. It is when we do that the government should recognize our efforts and notice the power of the gospel in the lives of believers to the point they praise what we are doing!
What are some ways as believers we are to do good that the government might recognize our godly living?
Are there times when we must disobey government?
So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
Acts 5:
We see Peter’s command to be subject to the government for the Lord’s sake, but there is another purpose for our submission as well.
What do you think that might be?
II. Silence the Foolish (15)
II. Silence the Foolish (15)
English Standard Version Chapter 2
15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
First of all our godly submission is God’s will! That is good enough reason in itself.
A. For this is the will of God
A. For this is the will of God
You want to know what God’s will is for your life? Be submissive, to who? To every human institution. To the local sheriff, to the mayor, to the governor, and to our president.
To our parents, to our grandparents.
To our bosses, to our teachers.
To our elders and pastors.
To our church.
To Jesus! Whom we confess as our Lord and believe in our heart that God has raised from the dead!
What specifically is God’s will for our life?
B. For believers to do good.
B. For believers to do good.
For us to obey all that Jesus commanded, which includes ordering our lives under local leaders and living holy lives, living according to the golden rule we learned about Wednesday night!
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 7:
When we do this people will notice our lives are set apart from the world, they will notice we are not out protesting in the streets, they will notice we are not slandering our president on twitter. They will see us submitting to the laws of the land, even the ones we don’t agree with, even the ones that are dumb.
For example:
Did you know you cannot keep a donkey in the bathtub in GA?
You cannot carry ice cream in your back pocket.
You cannot wear a hoodie in Dublin, GA (I agree)
You cannot picnic in a graveyard.
Now I found these GA laws on the internet and did not verify the truthfulness of these laws, but the point remains the same.
It is probably wise to;
Keep your donkey out of your tub,
Your ice cream cone out of your back pocket,
and your groceries out of a graveyard.
Unless laws are keeping us from obey God, we are to submit to the laws of the land. We are to do this for the Lord’s sake, for the testimony of His son and His Son’s bride.
We are also to do good because it is the will of God! This is what he desires for His children to do, just as he desires all to be saved, all to be sanctified and avoid sexual immorality, God’s desire is that we would all do good!
His will is for us to do good is,
C. The foolish will be silenced.
C. The foolish will be silenced.
When does the world slander the church? When we live in a way that does not line up with what we preach. When we conduct ourselves according to the passions of the flesh and not the preaching of the Scriptures.
How do we know this? What is the world’s primary accusation against believers? The Church is a bunch of hypocrites....You say one thing and you do another. You act like something you are not. You wear a mask to cover up who you really are.
How do we stop being called hypocrites? By living holy sanctified lives, being subject to every human institution and obeying the will of God by doing good.
What are some other ways we obey God’s will by doing good?
John Gill explains we do good,
by doing good works, and those well; by living soberly, righteously, and godly; by having the conversation honest among the Gentiles, agreeably to the law of God, and as becomes the Gospel of Christ; particularly, by living according to the laws of civil society, so far as is consistent with, and not contrary to the commands of God; and by being subject to every civil magistrate, and ordinance of man:
John MacArthur explains,
“The word Peter used for ignorance means more than merely a lack of knowledge.” It also “indicates a willful hostile rejection of the truth.”
In other words these people are not just unaware of the truth they are unwilling to submit to the truth that they have heard.
These people are not just lacking knowledge of the truth but lack a desire to hear and understand the truth.
These people not only lack the ability to reason but choose to rebel against the truth.
It is these people that Peter say’s we can silence by living sanctified and submissive lives.
Do we see the importance of living in obedience to our government?
What are some practical ways we can apply these verse to our own lives?
Obey laws even when we don’t agree with them and even when we will probably get away with breaking them!
Don’t get caught up in political slander.
Pray for our leaders!
Preach the Word - Don’t protest the world
If arrested for Preaching go willingly, don’t lay down and disobey those in charge.
Don’t
Peter exhorts the people of God in verses 13-15 to live in subjection to those in authority because it is the will of God and will put to silence the foolishness of ignorant people. Or another way to put it, our submission will put a stop to stupid sinful talk. Peter continues in verse 16-17 to lay out no less than 7 commands that show us how to live out this sanctified submission.
Peter exhorts the people of God in verses 13-15 to live in subjection to those in authority because it is the will of God and will put to silence the foolishness of ignorant people. Or another way to put it, our submission will put a stop to stupid sinful talk. Peter continues in verse 16-17 to lay out no less than 7 commands that show us how to live out this sanctified submission.
What if we had a visitor show up this morning who had no idea of the context of these verses we are about to address, or maybe had never even heard or believed the gospel? All they heard we me jumping right in to these 7 things Peter calls us to do…Live as people who are free…don’t use your freedom as a cover up for evil…Live as servants of God....Honor everyone....
They will hear the imperatives completely disconnected from the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
They may think they can actually do these things on their own.
They may think by doing these things they will merit salvation.
Therefore, before we begin looking at these commands from Peter, let’s be reminded the immediate context is our sanctification in Christ. While the broader context is our salvation by the mercy of God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. In other words, Peter starts his letter reminding his readers that they have been born again to a living hope. They have been redeemed from the futile ways inherited from their forefathers by the precious blood of Christ!
So as we begin this morning even as believers this morning let us remember, apart from salvation in Christ these seven exhortations are no more than,
Standards that we cannot meet.
Statutes that we cannot obey.
Laws that condemn us in our flesh.
But in Christ, they are wonderful truths that set us apart for the glory of God and the upbuilding of His kingdom!
How then are we to seek to lives growing in holiness and sanctification as we submit to God, to God’s Word, and to the Government?
The first command Peter gives is to,
1. Live as free people.
1. Live as free people.
Live as people who are free,
The hardest thing about this verse is that we must recognize that we are not free to start with! We think we are all red-blooded Americans who are born free when the truth is we are born in bondage!
What are we free from what are we freed to do? Isn’t the Christian life oppressive, and a list of things you cannot do? Peter here is saying live as those who are free, he wants his readers including us we have been freed first and foremost,
knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
1 Peter
So Christ has purchased us from being bondservants and slaves to sin, the flesh, and the futile ways of our forefathers.
Now I want us to think back for a minute, how many of us can think of at least one sin we were in bondage to before Christ saved us that we could not kick, we could not whip, we could not stop doing ___________. But when God saved you all of the sudden you had the desire and the power to put that sin way to stop being enslaved by that sin. This is because you had been set free from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, by the precious blood of Christ!
For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
Romans 6:
So can we agree we have all be set free from sin and slavery to it? So we have been liberated from the power of sin.
We have also been set free from the penalty of sin.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
Being free from the penalty of sin we have also been freed from the condemnation that comes as a result of sin.
Galatian
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
We have been freed from bondage to Satan,
I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Galatians 4:1-
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
We have been freed from the control of the world,
I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Finally we have been freed from the power of death,
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:54-56
Our freedom ought to cause us great joy, great happiness, devotion to our Savior, and give us a desire to grow in holiness as we consider the control and condemnation we have been set free from!
I love what Peter does next. He commands us we to be sure we,
not using our freedom as a cover-up for evil,
Therefore, I rephrased it that we are to,
2. Live as repentant people.
2. Live as repentant people.
The Reformation Study Bible breaks this down into 2 things we must not us the freedom for.
Our freedom as Christians must not be used as a pretext for rebellion.
Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men. So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.
1 Corinthians 7:20
2. Our freedom as Christians must not be used as a license to sin.
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
This means as Christians wake up every day we ought to consider all that Christ has done to set us free from the bondage of sin and death. When we consider that he gave up his life that we might be free in this life it should cause us to desire to live holy lives, acceptable and pleasing to him. Therefor our freedom should send us running to Him in repentance!
The Puritans prayed this way when they consider the goodness and grace of God in freeing them in Christ!
After recognizing the things that condemn them he writes,
I deny them not, frame no excuse, but confess, Father I have sinned;
Yet still I live, and fly repenting to thy outstretched arms;
thou will not cast me off, for Jesus brings me near,
thou will not condemn me for he died in my stead,
thou will not mark my mountains of sin for he leveled all,
and his beauty covers my deformities.
O my God, I bid farewell to sin by clinging to his cross,
hiding in his wounds, and sheltering in his side. (Valley of Vision pg. 17)
How do we respond when our sin is brought to our attention either through the conviction of the Word and Spirit or through another brother or sister?
Do we excuse them or confess them?
Do we fly to the Father in repentance or fight against the loving rebuke?
Do we bid farewell to our sin and cling to the cross or cling to our sin and flee from the cross?
Peter is telling us you are free from the bondage of sin and the condemnation it brings, therefore don’t use your freedom as a cover up for your evil. Instead we should be a confessing repentant people who also,
3. Live as Servants of God.
3. Live as Servants of God.
Peter here says Christian are to live as servants or slaves to God.
This word for servant pertains to a state of being completely controlled by someone or something—‘subservient to, controlled by.
Do you see the contrast live as free people, but live as servants to God?
Paul describes this contrast in,
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
This verse in Romans is a great summation of what Peter is calling Christians to.
You have been set free from sin
You have become slaves of God
The fruit you get leads to sanctification
Its end is eternal life (Glory)!
Daniel Doriani is helpful here, he explains,
1 Peter Using Freedom Correctly
There are many ways to abuse freedom. In Peter’s day, some wanted to rebel against Rome, an idea that was doomed to fail and lacks biblical warrant. Others simply wanted to follow their own ideas or desires. Some Corinthians adopted the slogan “All things are lawful for me” (1 Cor. 6:12a ESV). They considered themselves liberated from all laws and plunged into an array of sexual sins (1 Cor. 5–6). Paul retorted that even if, in some unusual sense, “all things are lawful,” it is also true that “not everything is beneficial” (6:12b). Some “freedoms” hurt others. Some freedoms enslave the one who exercises that freedom (6:12c). We must use our freedom correctly: to love neighbors and to serve God. He brought us out of slavery for something more than self-indulgence.
This is one of the most helpful ways for me to evaluate something that I may feel like I have the freedom to do.
First of all, consider is it called sin anywhere in the Scriptures?
Secondly, is it beneficial? I what I desire to do going to help anyone?
Thirdly, consider am I going to bring glory to God in what I desire to do?
Ultimately, He is the one I serve, He is the one I desire to please there for whatever we do, do to the glory of God!
One of the ways Peter calls the church, Christians to do this is to,
4. Honor everyone.
4. Honor everyone.
In other words, to show respect, high status, or honor to every person. The Reformation Study Bible makes the note that in context it more likely means to respect all those who are in authority.
Personally, I would stick with the former interpretation because it would have been really easy to say honor everyone in authority. But I do believe it is important to honor and respect all men because they are made in God’s image.
Pastor David, made a great point in his notes, not everyone will receive the same honor because some deserve more because of their what they have done or not done.
I am also not saying we praise all that they do in their sin, but it is important to remember
I am not saying we praise all that they do in their sin, but it is important to remember
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
At one point we were all sinners in need of receiving God’s grace, we needed a gracious brother to treat us with respect and honor and show the grace of God to us they they might share the gospel with us and show us our need for salvation. If these faithful Christians would have disrespected us and treated us without honor and grace how open would we have been to receive their message?
Peter’s next exhortation should be especially meaningful for us. We honor and show respect to all but we....
5. Love the brotherhood.
5. Love the brotherhood.
Before we jump to application, consider again the context of Peter’s writing. He was writing to a church that was Jew and Gentile. We don’t think about that distinction as much today but his command was to love the brotherhood both Jew and Gentile. Care for your new family of faith, show the compassion, and sacrificial love as all of them were walking through this time of persecution and suffering. There is no better time to show love to one another then when a member of the family is suffering or in need.
There is something special about being apart of God’s family. Love of the brotherhood is a recurring theme throughout 1 Peter.
1 Peter 1
English Standard Version Chapter 1
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
Do you see all that the love of the brothers and sisters brings?
Unity, sympathy, tenderness, humility, and forgiveness of sins. Aren’t these all things we desire as the family of God. Therefore we ought to all see if we can outdo one another in love.
Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Let brotherly love continue.
We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat.
This isn’t just Peter and Paul’s commandment,
Jesus said,
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
The disciple whom Jesus loved wrote,
And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
Do we get the point. As those who have been born again by the mercy of God ought to love one another.
Now let’s get really practical, how can we do this and do it better?
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Colossians
Be compassionate
Be kind
Be humble
Be meek
Be patient
Bear with one another
Forgive one another (when we have a complaint)
Above all put on love!
The 6th exhortation Peter lays out for us is that Christians are to....
6. Fear God.
6. Fear God.
How would you define fearing God?
53.58 φοβέομαιc: (a figurative extension of meaning of φοβέομαιa ‘to fear,’ 25.252) to have profound reverence and respect for deity, with the implication of awe bordering on fear—‘to reverence, to worship.’
Dan Doriani explains, “This is an affectionate fear, not cringing or servile terror, that we owe to a person we respect. We revere the Almighty.”
I always like to go back to Pastor David’s description of our fear of God, a “trembling trust.” We trust in God as a loving Father who has adopted us into His family, we understand that He is our refuge, our Rock, our Redeemer and this brings us great comfort.
At the same time we affirm, God is all powerful, all knowing, transcendent, majestic, and Holy. He is unlike us in that not only is He perfectly Holy, He is perfectly just. We understand that we are not! We daily have to go before Him in repentance recognizing that we have fallen short, we have sinned against Him and need His forgiveness that can only be found in His Son! We understand the righteous wrath Jesus Christ recieved on our behalf and we know this is not something we take lightly we grow in our understanding of the pain and horror the Son experienced as He hung on that cross forsaken by the Father and becoming sin for us!
Therefore we Fear God!
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
Ecclesiastes
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,
and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.
Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
What do we see resulting from a proper fear of God? Worship, not worry!
fear God; not with a servile, but a filial fear, the new-covenant grace of fear; which springs from the goodness of God, has that for its object, and is increased by the fresh instances and discoveries of it; and which shews itself in a reverential affection for God, a strict regard to his worship and ordinances, and a carefulness of offending him. This is placed between what goes before, and follows after, to shew the influence it has on each of them; for where the fear of God is, there will be due respect shewn to all men, more or less, and an hearty and affectionate love to all the saints, as brethren, and a proper regard to those that are set in high places of dignity and power:
There is one more exhortation Peter provides at the end of verse 17.
7. Honor the Emperor
7. Honor the Emperor
Another result of our fear of God is that we submit to and honor those who are in authority! Even ungodly evil, emperors, kings, presidents, and whoever God has placed in power over us.
Very practically this means we,
Pay taxes.
Obey laws of the land.
Avoid sinful slander.
Speaking well of them (Gill)
Show proper respect, because these men bear God’s image even if they are fallen.
Cheerful subjection to them (Gill)
Spurgeon Commentary: 1 Peter Exposition
I cannot say that I delight in political Christians. I fear that party strife is a serious trial to believers, and I cannot reconcile our heavenly citizenship with the schemes of the stumps and the riot of the polling booth. You must follow your own judgment here, but for my part I am a foreigner even in England, and as such I mean to act. We are simply passing through this earth, and should bless it in our transit, but never yoke ourselves to its affairs.
Pastor David ends this section with the question.
How will truths from this section impact your thinking, praying, daily walk, and worship?
I will be more deliberate in considering the holiness of God each day.
I will be more focused on how I can love God’s people more each day.
I will pray for God’s help in maintaining a proper view of my self and of others.
I will seek to worship God in all of His glory, not being distracted by the things of this world!