Sermon Tone Analysis

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.

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?

-

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?

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)

What does is mean be subject?

to submit to the orders or directives of someone—‘to obey, to submit to, obedience, submission.’

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)

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?

Paul affirms submission to government in , and his letter to Titus,

Do you remember one of the ways Paul told Timothy to be subject to government?

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?

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)

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

and

Wives to husbands in,

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