Be Subject and Give Honor
Notes
Transcript
This text and this message are the epitome of counter-cultural. If you listen to this message and are not challenged; you didn’t listen.
We like to receive honor, and to subject others to our wills, but the example of Christ Jesus, and the calling on our lives as believers is just the opposite; to subject ourselves and give honor to others. I so doing, God is glorified, the gospel shines the brightest, and we are blessedly transformed form the inside out
Jesus, our Example
Jesus, our Example
Read 1 Peter 2:21-25
No sin
No deceit
revile = insult / slander
No threats
Was infinitely more concerned with God’s judgment than that of the crowds
He DID what was right, even though most didn’t SEE it as right
He IS our Shepherd, leading us by word and Spirit to walk in HIS ways
Citizens imitating Jesus
Citizens imitating Jesus
Read 1 Peter 2:11-17
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.
Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
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.
Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.
For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.
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.
WDJD?
Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.
And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
How did He address leaders in authority?
So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?”
Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
George Micklejohn
"Here we behold the God of the universe submitting to that supreme authority he himself has conferred upon man; and acknowledging the reverence due to that very power, which was shortly to pronounce the sentence of death against him."
Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?
He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.
For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.”
And they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” And he said to them, “It is enough.”
Peter:
Acts 12 - broken out of prison by an angel
Acts 5 - We ought to obey God rather than men (when told not to preach Jesus)
Paul:
Acts 9 & 2Cor 11 - lowered over a wall in a basket to escape death
Acts 25 - I appeal to Caesar
Daniel:
But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.
When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.
Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme,
Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
When we are told to stop preaching Jesus, we keep preaching Jesus.
When we are told not to call sin, we keep calling sin sin.
In most any other matter, we subject ourselves and show honor.
Servants imitating Jesus
Servants imitating Jesus
Read 1 Peter 2:18-20
Servants = house slaves
Early Christian writings were the first to show respect in the Roman culture to slaves.
NOT ONLY!!!!
Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.
Please note that the primary focus should NOT be seeking the release of suffering, but rather to ENDURE it being mindful of God
Who, after all, has suffered more and more unjustly than Jesus did for us?
While not the direct context, this CLEARLY shows that believers ought to be the best and most committed employees on any job
Amazing Grace was written by John Newton, a former slave trader who mentored William Wilberforce, who labored to outlaw slavery in the UK, and was sung by a character in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which was influential in slavery ending in the US.
My chains are gone is a very fitting chorus to have been added.
This passage comes under fire...
The point is that our Sovereign God has placed us in the generation and location and circumstance that we are in, and more than anything else (personal liberties included) calls us to follow in the steps of Jesus.
This is hard, and would be impossible if we did not have Christ as our shepherd; His Spirit as our enabler and guide
knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,
Wives imitating Jesus
Wives imitating Jesus
Read 1 Peter 3:3-6
Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Your Own Husbands, NOT all men
Some may be won by your conduct
True Beauty - Christ in you!
Lord = Sir = RESPECT
Husbands Imitating Jesus
Husbands Imitating Jesus
Read 1 Peter 3:7
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
Live WITH
in an UNDERSTANDING way
showing HONOR
she is an heir WITH you
that your prayers...
one big reason that men are hindered in being a good head of house is that they forsake honoring and serving their wives, and as such cannot be blessed in prayer and communion with God
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
The Lord is our shepherd; He leads us in paths of righteousness… which are paths of voluntary subjection to and giving of honor to others for the Glory of God and for the sake of our own sanctification.
Thanks be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has caused us to be born again to a living hope, called us to live holy lives, and leads us to follow the humble example of Jesus in every aspect of our lives.
May we follow Him with renewed humility and thankfulness, and be greatly blessed and transformed as a people.
