Free to Serve

Introduction

The sermon last week was a tough one; it was about submitting to authority. We recognize that as whole, we do not like submitting to authority. Rebellion was at the heart of the first sin by Adam and Eve and ever since, all humanity has had a submission problem. Here in America, we perhaps have even more of a problem with submission because our country was built upon rebellion. But what we learned from Peter is that submission as a Christian is in fact a very good thing, something in which we should even take pleasure because, first, it is the will of God for us to submit as much as we are able to the authorities he establishes, and second, by submitting to authorities, we are a testimony of Jesus who submitted himself to his Father’s will and to the governing authorities, even unto death.

This is truly a radical and nearly unheard-of way to consider submission, especially today’s Christian culture, but it’s also the biblical way to approach submission. It’s an approach to submission that I believe is uniquely Christian because this radical submission can only be done by someone who has been made free.

Spiritual freedom

I find it wonderful that in the text Peter connects submission with freedom because they seem like mutually exclusive concepts, and to most people they are. But not for Christians. For the Christian, freedom is necessary for submission.

In 1 Peter 2:16, Peter instructs believers in Jesus to live as people who are free. Politically, Peter and the Christians he wrote to were not free. Rome was the ruling power and all conquered territories and provinces, whether they had their own government or not, submitted to the governing authority of Rome. It was to Rome that taxes were paid and it was Roman law the people obeyed. Therefore, we know with certainty that Peter was not speaking about living as people politically free. Rather, he spoke about living as those who are spiritually free in Christ Jesus.

By nature, all people are servants to sin and death. People are dead in their trespasses (Eph2:1); no one is righteous and no one seeks God (Romans 3:11). Not only does the natural person not desire God and righteousness, but they cannot because of their sin. Without Jesus, all people are slaves to sin, unwilling and unable to seek God.

With humanity being in such hopeless state, God acted on our behalf and sent his Son Jesus to bring us hope and Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to bring us help. The Holy Spirit opens our eyes to God’s glory and moves us to respond in faith to Jesus and to abide in his word. This is why Jesus said in John 8:32, 34-36, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Jesus sets us free from sin!

With the enslaving chains of sin broken by the Spirit of God through faith in the resurrected Jesus, Christians are now FREE and able to live as his servants and do as God desires. Where once we were unable and unwilling to seek God, through freedom in Christ we become able and willing! Spiritual freedom in Christ allows us to become servants of God, and this is exactly what Peter said in the text: we are to live as people who are free by living as servants of God.

For those who live in free countries like the USA, this freedom might sound a little odd. If we were to give a definition of freedom, we’d likely say something like, “Freedom is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hinderance or restraint.” This is our American idea of freedom which is not at all like the freedom we have in Jesus. Spiritual freedom, instead of having the right to act, speak, or think however we want without restraint, is the ability to act, speak, and think like GOD wants. This means our spiritual freedom is the joy and pleasure of submitting to God. If we are to submit to God in our freedom, then we will willingly and even joyfully submit to authority which we know is God’s will (1 Peter 2:15).

We can submit BECAUSE we are free, and this is another way we can be active in our eternal hope.

The difficulty of political freedoms

For Peter and the Christians to whom he wrote, hope in the future coming of Christ and the kingdom of God was all that they had. The only freedom they knew was freedom in Christ and so it was much easier for them to submit. The same cannot be said for us.

As citizens of the USA, we know political freedom. We have personal freedoms guaranteed to us by the Constitution of the United States. While we enjoy our political freedom, it comes with an unfortunate side effect: we can easily forget our freedom in Christ.

See, the political freedom we have in America the Apostles and the Christians in the Bible never had. We get to play a part in creating and sustaining our own political freedom. We enjoy this privilege and thank God for it too! But what often happens is that our time and efforts go into our pursuit of political freedom. It can even get to the point where our hope is placed in this freedom. We become so dominated by our desire for political freedom that our actions become dictated by our desire to keep this freedom and we become fearful of losing our freedom. When we become fearful of losing our freedom, we will more readily act in any way necessary to preserve our freedom.

When we value political freedom so much, it becomes a false God. We fight for it, we die for it, we sacrifice our families and children for it, we celebrate it, and when it’s threatened there’s no telling what we will do to keep it. But this freedom is not true freedom. This freedom is not the freedom God has designed us to long for and live under. The freedom the provides true and genuine freedom unlike any other is freedom in Jesus Christ.

If our true freedom is in Jesus, then we become servants, servants to Christ. Our actions become dictated by Jesus and the will of God for our lives. We have no need to fear because our freedom in Christ cannot be taken away! Therefore, we may have true peace and live a life of love regardless of our circumstances. We might die as servants of socialism or communism but what is that compared to eternal life in the presence of the glory of God, not only for ourselves but for all those who are drawn to Christ by our Christlike example of submission?

It is the will of God that we submit as those free in Christ to serve. As a result, we will honor all people, we will love our brothers and sisters in Christ, we will fear God, and we will honor the emperor.

A word of caution

Peter has just one warning for us. At the end of verse 16, Peter cautions us not to use our freedom as a veil for evil.

Again, this is harder for us than it would have been for Christians in the Bible because we have constitutional freedoms and rights. Consider this: if it was passed into legislation that every woman had a right to have an abortion, could a Christian woman justify having an abortion? Here’s another example: if the government gives us the option of rebelling against authority, should Christians participate in rebellion? We have political and spiritual freedom, yet we must never forget which freedom always must supersede the other.

Conclusion

God, as our ultimate authority and the one for whom we are called to submit to authorities, provides the way for us to be made free in Christ Jesus so that we may be free to serve him according to his will. Our spiritual freedom should lead us in all submission and growth in godliness. Because of our freedom, we are able to honor everyone, love one another, fear God, and honor our governing authorities.

If you are a follower of Jesus, you are free to serve. If you do not follow Jesus, you are a slave to death and there is only one hope: freedom in Christ.

Let us take these words of scripture to heart and may we be changed by them for the glory of God. May God do such a work in our souls that we see submission as a privilege and recognize the freedom we have been given, the freedom to serve, and may we become more like our Beloved Savior.

Amen.