“Submit, Regardless”

Scripture: 1 Peter 2:18-25

Does anyone here believe that we aren’t in the midst of a post-Christian era? Christians in the Middle East and Africa are being attacked with an intensity unlike anything the Church has ever seen. While Judaism and Islam have always been the recognized communities who have been persecuted, Christianity has taken the lead when it comes to experiencing extreme and even violent opposition.
Even in our own nation, Christian beliefs are being denounced as a prime source of intolerance. Worship attendance is, for the most part, on the decline, and many pastors are beginning to preach a divergent theology in the hopes that they can revitalize their congregations. What are covenantal Christians supposed to do?

Are we to fight back? Are we to surrender some of our more stringent beliefs? Are we to quietly close our doors and join the world’s order? What are we to do? The truth is that there is only one thing that we can do!

Read 1 Peter 2:18-20

This section begins with what I believe is a mixed metaphor. “Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters …” The reference to “slave” implies our submission to authority – that of our God and that of the world. In this context, though, our heavenly Master does not operate as the earthly kind do. The Lord’s way always puts his people’s needs and blessings first, while the masters of earth see that their own desires and benefits come first, sometimes to the detriment of those who follow them. Our Lord offered himself in sacrificial death to gain the possibility of eternal life for the world. The worldly kind will sacrifice those who they have authority over to preserve themselves and their ways in earthly life.
“Slaves” – we - are to be submissive to all authority that is over us – either in the commandment itself, or in the consequences of failure to submit.

The second issue that may confuse this passage is the word “masters”. First, note that this is plural and not singular. Second, remember who our masters may be – our boss at work, governmental officials (those legal administrators of our towns, cities, counties, states, and nation), our church leadership – Church Council, pastor, District Superintendent, our Bishop - as well as the God of our faith. In Matthew 22:15-22, we find Jesus debating with the Pharisees over the issue of Roman taxation, and when the Lord is asked if it was lawful, under Jewish law, to pay these oppressive taxes. His response was “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” (NIV) The issue wasn’t just over money – it implies submission to the full extent of authority – either that of those who provide leadership for our lives, whether we like what they do or not, or, again, the consequences for disobedience.

And Peter clarifies the issue of suffering – both kinds. Interestingly, he has little compassion for the guilty who suffer those consequences! He says it is deserved, and that we shouldn’t complain. But he also offers up the suffering that comes from doing what is right.

There are times when the various “masters” in our life stand in conflict. Masters of the world enforce the rules and laws of the world, and many times, these create expectations that are directly opposed to the Lord’s thoughts and ways. So what do we do – do we acquiesce to the ways of earth, or follow the ways of God? Which do we choose?
In verses 19 and 20, Peter has established a priority for our conformity that puts the Lord’s ways firmly in control. There will always be times when we have to choose the “authority” that we submit to, and he is telling us that God’s must always take precedence.

Goodness always refers to God – in Luke 18:18-19, Jesus tells us that only God is good, which, quite honestly, doesn’t say much for the leaders of earth! Human leaders are fallible and fickle, but God’s way and thought is always right and perfect (Isaiah 55:8-9). If the world punishes us for following the right and perfect way of the Lord, we’re to accept it and allow it to become a sacrifice to God. And when we do, God will receive it and will commend us for our choosing him over the world.

Read 1 Peter 2:21-23

Acceptance of suffering and persecution is never easy, and it certainly is never pleasant! But remember that the ways of earth are so very temporary, and the way of the Lord is eternal! Choose easy and pleasurable now, or glory and rejoicing forever - it's our choice! Jesus was put in the same situation – Satan offered him “easy” simply by accepting the ways of Darkness (Matthew 4:1-11), and because he chose “goodness” over “comfortable”, he would be accepting the same persecution that we are subjected to. He is good in all that he taught and did, and the world hated him for it. And the only way that the Sanhedrin was able to convict him was by breaking the very laws that they demanded that Jesus follow, and by arranging for, and the condoning of, false testimony and contempt for their very own court proceeding.

Jesus was in the right, but he accepted the world’s condemnation without ever defending his teaching – not before the Sanhedrin and not before the Romans. Even Jesus’ motive for accepting the sentence handed down had a higher purpose than either the Jews of the Romans had. He did it, not for his own benefit, but for yours and mine – he accepted the world’s animosity and condemnation on our behalf, that our sinful lives might be forgiven and that we, be faith in him and his ways, might live eternally in his heaven.

This is what Peter was referring to when he wrote “if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.” Jesus didn’t suffer for his own glory – he did it to bring commendation to the ways of our Triune God.

Read 1 Peter 2:24-25

Jesus submissively went to Calvary to accept the world’s punishment for goodness, and to break the hold and consequence of our sinfulness. And by faith in Christ, and acceptance of the ways of Almighty God, the sinful ways of earth no longer have a death grip on our soul. Of course, we have to let go of our sin, too! We can no longer blame our sinfulness on Satan – Flip Wilson’s comic defense that “The devil made me do it” is no longer valid – sin is now our choice, and the concept of “Original Sin” no longer has to be a burden on our lives.

Do we still commit sin? Of course we do – we are fallible and fickle people, just as our human leaders are. But when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we can repent of our worldly allegiance and accept a new way of life in him.

Think about all that the Lord took upon himself – insults, humiliation, lies, excruciating pain, and the most horrible way of death – all that we might be freed from condemnation. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness”. That is what Jesus did for each and every person in the world, but we still have to “die to sin – we have to choose between the world’s contemptible lies and the Lord’s righteousness.

“By his wounds [we] are healed”, and by following the way of Christ, we can finally know the power and the blessing of Almighty God’s righteous life – for by faith in Jesus, the Lord’s righteousness will become ours.

Will you choose to submit to God’s goodness, or continue in allegiance to the world’s lies? Will it be easy and pleasurable, or right? This is a choice that every single person, throughout the earth, must make – and usually on a daily basis! Choose well.