Be Subject... (Part One)

The message of offense

I have previously stated that Mike and I are not preachers, we are pastors.

Let me explain this difference, a preacher is a man who teaches you a message. This could be a great sermon bringing PhD level knowledge down to an easy to understand level, but they are not a pastor.

A Pastor is a man who is among the fellowship, he is living life with you, he knows you, he is a part of your community. When he preaches, he knows the people who will be hearing his message, he knows the struggles of the people.

He is not crafting sermons to preach against people, he is taking the Scripture, the message of the passage and personalizing it to the needs of the fellowship.

So it is from this perspective that I am going to be looking at verses 13 to 25 over the next two weeks.

At some point, I am going to step on your toes, why do I know this, because this is what these verses did for me.

The next two weeks, we are going to be looking at the phrase “Be subject”

This week we are going to look at how we are to be subject to government, next week it is professional and personal relationships.

Before we start, I need to backtrack some into last week’s message. I want you to look at verse 11.

To properly understand verses 13-25, you must remember this phrase:

as sojourners and exiles.

We must remember that we are citizens of heaven first, we are ambassadors of Christ’s kingdom.

What am I subjecting to?

Peter is commanding us to be subject to every human institution

The specific titles used are representative of the various levels of government.

Why must I be subject?

For the Lord’s sake

The will of God

To be an ambassador for Christ (vs. 15-16)

What about......?

There are going to be times where we will have to stand for God’s kingdom instead of being subject to human institutions.

When this happens, the first question we must ask is.

Is my defiance based upon a Biblical preference or a Biblical standard?

Does your life show a heart of disobedience or a heart of obedience?

I ask this in specific reference to the government.

Owing to the false opinion of his own excellence that every person entertains, there is no one who patiently endures that others should rule over him. Those who cannot avoid the necessity do, indeed, reluctantly obey those who are above them; but inwardly they fret and rage, because they think that they suffer wrong. The Apostle [Paul] cuts off, by a single word, all disputes of this kind, by demanding that all who live “under the yoke” shall submit to it willingly. He means that they must not inquire whether they deserve that lot or a better one; for it is enough that they are bound to this condition.

John Calvin

Here are a few examples from Scripture on how a person was in defiance of human institutions.

I want you to notice the heart and how the heart drove the actions.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

18 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 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, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” 21 And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

8 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. 9 And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs, 10 and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.” 11 Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12 “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.” 14 So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days.

Our submission to the government is not based upon malicious compliance, it is based upon our complete obedience to the authority that God has put in place.

We must remember that we are called to obey all authorities, even when they are evil.

We must remember two things:

God is aware and He will judge the rulers of this world.

Micah 7:2–3 ESV

2 The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net. 3 Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together.

Micah 7:15–17 ESV

15 As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them marvelous things. 16 The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hands on their mouths; their ears shall be deaf; 17 they shall lick the dust like a serpent, like the crawling things of the earth; they shall come trembling out of their strongholds; they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God, and they shall be in fear of you.

We are not powerless, but we need to use the correct weapons.

2 Corinthians 10:3–5 ESV

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

What does this look like?

Be subject — to be or become inclined or willing to submit to orders or wishes of others or showing such inclination.

English Standard Version (Chapter 6)

4 Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him. 5 Then these men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.”Peter is telling us that we have freedom like no other, but we do not have freedom to commit evil.

We are to do good. vs 14

We cannot be a part of conspiracies or cover-ups for evil. vs 16

We are to live as servants of God. vs 16

We are to honor everyone, this is to show esteem or respect. This includes the emperor (president). vs 17

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.

Charles Spurgeon