Refuse to Get Revenge

To submit, or not to submit

Definition of submission

1a: a legal agreement to submit to the decision of arbitrators b: an act of submitting something (as for consideration or inspection)also : something submitted (such as a manuscript) 2: the condition of being submissive, humble, or compliant 3: an act of submitting to the authority or control of another

1 Peter 2:11 NET 2nd ed.

Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to keep away from fleshly desires that do battle against the soul,

1 Peter 2:12 NET 2nd ed.

and maintain good conduct among the non-Christians, so that though they now malign you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God when he appears.

1 Peter 2:13 NET 2nd ed.

Be subject to every human institution for the Lord’s sake, whether to a king as supreme

1 Peter 2:14 NET 2nd ed.

or to governors as those he commissions to punish wrongdoers and praise those who do good.

1 Peter 2:15 NET 2nd ed.

For God wants you to silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good.

1 Peter 2:16 NET 2nd ed.

Live as free people, not using your freedom as a pretext for evil, but as God’s slaves.

1 Peter 2:17 NET 2nd ed.

Honor all people, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the king.

Irony

1 Peter 2:18 NET 2nd ed.

Slaves, be subject to your masters with all reverence, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are perverse.

1 Peter 2:19 NET 2nd ed.

For this finds God’s favor, if because of conscience toward God someone endures hardships in suffering unjustly.

1 Peter 2:20 NET 2nd ed.

For what credit is it if you sin and are mistreated and endure it? But if you do good and suffer and so endure, this finds favor with God.

1 Peter 2:21 NET 2nd ed.

For to this you were called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in his steps.

1 Peter 2:22 NET 2nd ed.

He committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth.

1 Peter 2:23 NET 2nd ed.

When he was maligned, he did not answer back; when he suffered, he threatened no retaliation, but committed himself to God who judges justly.

1 Peter 2:24 NET 2nd ed.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we may cease from sinning and live for righteousness. By his wounds you were healed.

Let Jesus be your example;

He submitted...

He submitted, His character was attacked and He did not respond...

He submitted, suffered and did not seek revenge...

He submitted to God and His plan...

He submitted to God’s plan that He bear our sins on the cross...

1 Peter 2:25 NET 2nd ed.

For you were going astray like sheep but now you have turned back to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

He submitted that we may Submit…as God dreams

As He told Israel leaving Egypt:

Exodus 6:7 NET 2nd ed.

I will take you to myself for a people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from your enslavement to the Egyptians.

As He told Israel after their history of failure:

Jeremiah 32:38 NET 2nd ed.

They will be my people, and I will be their God.

But let’s look at the greater context...

Jeremiah 32:26–27 NET 2nd ed.

The Lord answered Jeremiah. “I am the Lord, the God of all humankind. There is, indeed, nothing too difficult for me.

Jeremiah 32:28–29 NET 2nd ed.

Therefore I, the Lord, say: ‘I will indeed hand this city over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonian army. They will capture it. The Babylonian soldiers that are attacking this city will break into it and set it on fire. They will burn it down along with the houses where people have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal and by pouring out drink offerings to other gods on their rooftops.

Jeremiah 32:30–31 NET 2nd ed.

This will happen because the people of Israel and Judah have repeatedly done what displeases me from their earliest history until now and because they have repeatedly made me angry by the things they have done. I, the Lord, affirm it! This will happen because the people of this city have aroused my anger and my wrath since the time they built it until now. They have made me so angry that I am determined to remove it from my sight.

Jeremiah 32:32–33 NET 2nd ed.

I am determined to do so because the people of Israel and Judah have made me angry with all their wickedness—they, their kings, their officials, their priests, their prophets, and especially the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem have done this wickedness. They have turned away from me instead of turning to me. I tried over and over again to instruct them, but they did not listen and respond to correction.

Jeremiah 32:34–35 NET 2nd ed.

They set up their disgusting idols in the temple that I have claimed for my own and defiled it. They built places of worship for the god Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom so that they could sacrifice their sons and daughters to the god Molech. Such a disgusting practice was not something I commanded them to do. It never even entered my mind to command them to do such a thing! So Judah is certainly liable for punishment.’

Jeremiah 32:36–37 NET 2nd ed.

“You and your people are right in saying, ‘War, starvation, and disease are sure to make this city fall into the hands of the king of Babylon.’ But now I, the Lord God of Israel, have something further to say about this city: ‘I will certainly regather my people from all the countries where I have exiled them in my anger, fury, and great wrath. I will bring them back to this place and allow them to live here in safety.

Jeremiah 32:38–39 NET 2nd ed.

They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them a single-minded purpose to live in a way that always shows respect for me. They will want to do that for their own good and the good of the children who descend from them.

Jeremiah 32:40–41 NET 2nd ed.

I will make a lasting covenant with them that I will never stop doing good to them. I will fill their hearts and minds with respect for me so that they will never again turn away from me. I will take delight in doing good to them. I will faithfully and wholeheartedly plant them firmly in the land.’

Jeremiah 32:42–43 NET 2nd ed.

“For I, the Lord, say: ‘I will surely bring on these people all the good fortune that I am hereby promising them. I will be just as sure to do that as I have been in bringing all this great disaster on them. You and your people are saying that this land will become desolate, uninhabited by either people or animals. You are saying that it will be handed over to the Babylonians. But fields will again be bought in this land.

Jeremiah 32:44 NET 2nd ed.

Fields will again be bought with silver, and deeds of purchase signed, sealed, and witnessed. This will happen in the territory of Benjamin, the villages surrounding Jerusalem, the towns in Judah, the southern hill country, the foothills, and southern Judah. For I will restore them to their land. I, the Lord, affirm it!’ ”

God was referring to His solution - the fulfillment of His dream...

Revelation 21:1–3 NET 2nd ed.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, and the sea existed no more. And I saw the holy city—the new Jerusalem—descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Look! The residence of God is among human beings. He will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them.

Revelation 21:4–5 NET 2nd ed.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more—or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist.” And the one seated on the throne said: “Look! I am making all things new!” Then he said to me, “Write it down, because these words are reliable and true.”

Refuse to get revenge, be humble that they may be saved.

Philippians 2:5–7 NET 2nd ed.

You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature.

Philippians 2:8 NET 2nd ed.

He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death —even death on a cross!

Philippians 2:9–11 NET 2nd ed.

As a result God highly exalted him and gave him the name, that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will 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.