A Life of Submission

Text: 1 Peter 2:13–25 ESV

Originally, when I set out to do this section, I was actually hoping we could start getting into chapter three. There was no way, maybe a better man than I could do it. There's so much in this section, and it was so challenging to my soul, that I thought, you know what, let's just finish chapter two. I think I found it so challenging because much of this text feels counterintuitive. Let me just show you what I mean by showing the road map of where we are going this morning. 

Submission should be our impulse. Towards the government: submission. Towards those in authority: submission. Even when we are unfairly treated by them: submission. 

• Submission towards the government (13–17)

• Submission to authority, even unjust authority (18–20)

• Only hope for living a life of submission (21–25)

Could there be a more loaded word right now than the word submission? Submission, at least for many of us, is not our default. I remember in college my friends and I used to say this phrase often as a joke, we’d say, “I do what I want.” But let’s be honest, submission to authorities, and especially showing honor in that submission, has fallen on hard times. I think most of us have this phrase, “I do what I want.” playing in our heads more often than we’d want to admit. 

Knowing that this is such a challenge for us, turn to God in prayer. Ask him for help to not only see what is in this text, but to apply it to our lives. 

Here’s a quick reminder of what we’ve read so far in Peter. In chapter one, Peter addresses strangers and exiles. These were Christians who felt like they were living in a foreign land just because they were trusting in Jesus. They are being excluded and mistreated because of their faith. Peter wanted to remind them of the hope they had. They had a hope in an eternal inheritance with God. And in chapter two, Peter makes it really clear that even as we feel like we're not at home in this broken rebellious world, we do have a home, and we do have a people. It's the church. It's God's people. We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation. 

Now, he's going to get into some specifics on some of the ways that our conduct can be honorable among the Gentiles. Let’s begin with his first example: 

Submission towards government authorities

Look at verses 13–14

“Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.” (1 Peter 2:13–14 ESV)

I think you can see why the summary is “submit to the government.” Peter has two very specific examples of who to be subject to — emperor as supreme or king (or president in our case) and to governors. 

Those are his two very specific examples, but I do think he has in his mind that we are to take this principle and make it more broad. This is important because I think he is setting out the theme for not only the next paragraph, but even to the next verses in chapter 3. 

Look how he starts in verse 13, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution.” Then he just gives two very clear examples. Here's what’s important to see, Peter’s trying to say is there's hierarchies established in this world. And we're, as Christians, supposed to live in line with those hierarchies. Meaning, if the king is the king, you should relate to him as a king, and you should relate to the governors as governors and so on and so forth. Your boss should be related to you as a boss. And we shouldn't be bucking that system.

Let me put it this way. Our God is a God of order. And when there is an order established on earth, he wants us to live in accordance with it. 

Turn with me to Romans 13, and we'll begin in verse one. I want to go here to help show you what I mean. Because here's the thing, I feel like this is a pretty loaded topic. We don’t care much for authority. And certainly don’t care much for government authority. So I want to give us ample Bible to make sure you know this isn’t coming from me, but from the word. Listen to Paul though in Romans 13: 

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities [And now he gives a reason for submitting]. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” (Romans 13:1 ESV)

I want you to catch that there is no ruler, no king, no president that gets to his spot, his point of authority, unless God allows it to happen. Like in 1 Peter, Paul uses the government as his specific example. But notice how he broadens the principle when he says, “no authority” that is, any authority, government or non-government. Now listen to how Romans argues in the next verse—Romans 13:2:

“Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment” (Romans 13:2 ESV)

We are to see those in authority as ones who God allowed to be in a position of authority. The logic goes, we obey their authority then, not because we think they're always right, not because we even think that they should be the ones in authority, for example, maybe we voted against them in the election. But we obey them because we see God as our supreme authority. God then allows them to have that position, and then God calls us to honor them.

We honor what God has put into place to whatever extent we can. Now, go back over to First Peter, and I think you'll see that logic play out in how he finishes this paragraph. Look at verse 15:

“For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.” (1 Peter 2:15 ESV)

Here's the context. These exiles, they were living in a place where they felt like strangers because they were Christians in this world. People were accusing them of rebelling against the government, of rising up insurrection, because they said they had a king, a true king that they followed. It sounded like they're not going to follow the king of the land. And Peter saying, that's foolish talk. That's not how Christians act. That's not how we live. We live in submission to the authority God's put there, even as we have a higher authority. Listen to how he talks. Look at verse 16: 

“Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.” (1 Peter 2:16 ESV)

Here's the logic. You are servants of God. You are slaves of God. Which means you're free. You don't owe allegiance to anyone because your service, your ultimate service, is to God. But in light of that freedom, in light of the fact that you are under God's authority, how does Peter say we should react? Look at verse 17:

“Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.” (1 Peter 2:17 ESV)

The idea is that our allegiance is to God. We are free because of him. We therefore use our freedom to willfully submit to the authority he put in place —  that's the king, or the governors. 

This might feel pretty counterintuitive. Because what we think often in our minds is, “Hey, we're free, so I do whatever I want.” But the biblical logic says, “I'm in God, I'm a slave to God. So I'm free from all these other things. Therefore, I'm going to submit. I'm going to submit not because I owe allegiance to them, but because I owe allegiance to God.” He is calling me to honor the authority that's been placed in front of me in whatever way I can, so I will. 

Let me try to give an example to see if this clarifies how I think the biblical logic flows here. I heard this from another pastor in California, and I thought it was really helpful. Let me see if it helps you grasp this.

Imagine you get a babysitter for your kids. The babysitter says to your kids, “Hey, can you clean up?” And your kid says to them, “No, you're not my mom. You're not my dad.” Now, what do you as a parent feel when you come home and the babysitter says, that's what they said? Do you think, “Oh, Little Johnny, that was so precious. You get it. You get that I’m your dad?” No, that's not your reaction. Your reaction is, yeah, I am your dad. And I've put someone in authority. Your job is to honor me by honoring them. That's what you do. I think you can imagine the kid saying, Yeah, but dad, she was making me clean up the toys before showers, but that is not the way we do it around here. What’s your response? “No, no, when the babysitter says to do something (unless it is breaking a rule) you follow.”

Okay, now go back to how 1 Peter talks. God is our God. He's our Father. He's put people in authority. One way we honor God is by honoring, to whatever extent we can, what they are calling for. We don't go to them and say, “Hey, God's my authority. So I do what I want.” No, we try to submit in every way possible. 

Let me see if I can summarize what I think Peter is saying is that as Christians, we should take every opportunity we have to submit to the authorities, in this case, governmental authorities. The way I said it in the beginning: “Submission should be our impulse.” We are going to get to his next examples of submission in a minute, but let me say this real quick about government authorities. 

Our impulse should be submission. Not, I do what I want. But rather I'm looking for opportunities to obey. Some of you are thinking, wait, aren’t there exceptions to our submission. Yes, there's exceptions to when we should submit to the government. We're going to get to them in a second. But before we get there, I just want to challenge you with this. 

If you look at this, and quickly say, “Wait, there are exceptions.” I just want to challenge you, how often are there exceptions for you? Do you have more exceptions than not? Here's the question I would ask, is this call for submission in the Bible changing your life? Or do you have so many exemptions to submitting to government authority, that if you were to look back at your life you would say, “Yeah, it's not making any difference in my life?” Have you effectively cut these verses out of the Bible? 

Let me remind you. This is not calling you to submission just when you agree. Peter was not living in a society that had a Christian Emperor. The emperor's name was Nero. Nero, as best we know, him and those who worked for him, are responsible for Peter's death years after this letter was written. Peter’s submission to the government's authority was not to submit because they were following Christ. He submitted to anything he could so that he could honor God. 

I'm no historian. But Biden is no Nero, meaning Nero was far worse. I'm not saying you need to agree with him. And neither was Peter. But if Peter could write in a context in which the Emperor was Nero and call Christians to honor to submit to be subject to the Emperor, then surely we have many ways today we can live this out. He was not saying be subject to the Emperor because he's making a bunch of Christian choices. He wasn't making Christian choices. And Peter was still saying, you can try to do everything you can to honor him, even when it doesn't feel like the right decision.

If your list of exceptions is a mile long, your list of times that you rebel against authority is this huge, I think you're missing what Peter's trying to get at. Look, you may have been right that it was unnecessary to wear a mask in Walmart. You might be right that we shouldn’t need to go 30 mph up Protest Hill. Maybe you are right, but Peter is still calling for submission. 

I just want to say, I saw many of you honoring this by wearing masks at services here. It’s okay to disagree. But look for ways in which you can obey and honor, even when you disagree. Now, are there moments when you need to practice civil disobedience? Yes. But as we talk about that briefly, I want you to notice how rare the exceptions are. Look quickly with me at Acts 5:28–29, probably the most famous passage on this issue. The religious leaders of the day asked Peter and the apostles not to preach. Here is what they said to him: 

“We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. (Acts 5:28–29 ESV)

There are times when you don't obey the government authorities, because you owe your primary allegiance to God. You can think of the story like the Hebrew women in Exodus. Pharaoh asked them to kill their babies. They didn't. You can think of Daniel. He was asked not to pray, and he prayed. Here's the principle. This is the exception if I’m trying to boil down what I see in Scripture. 

When the governing authorities ask you to disobey God's word, God’s law, you disobey them and you obey God's word. I'm trying to look at Scripture and say, I don't know that there are other exceptions. When you are asked to disobey God's law, that's when it's clear, you go with God. Outside of that, our impulse should be submission, honor, humility, deference towards those in authority. 

Now, we're going to go to point number two, to submission to authority in general. I think Peter zeroed in on government authority, and now we're going to get even a little bit more broad, in verses 18 through 20. Let’s begin by looking at verse 18:

“Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.” (1 Peter 2:18 ESV)

Before we get into unpacking that, let me just clarify something. The topic of slavery. The text says “servants.” Another word is slave. Or in this case, it specifically refers to a household servant. But let me really clearly say, when the Bible is talking about slaves, it has nothing to do with chattel slavery in the south that was race based. And it's so far from what the Bible is talking about. So I want to be really clear this morning, that slavery was an abomination. Not holy. Not righteous. 

Let me read and set the context for what it means to talk about slaves or servants in Peter’s day, by quoting an African American Pastor named H.B. Charles Jr. He says:

“In the Roman Empire, slavery was status-driven, not race-based. One was born a servant. Prisons of war became servants. Unpaid debt also led to servanthood. Others were sold into slavery by kidnappers. But being a slave did not mean you were doomed to a miserable life. Many servants were more educated than their masters and were professionals with servants of their own. In the Greco-Roman world, slavery was not a permanent status. Through manumission, a slave could buy his freedom. But none of these “perks” changed the nature of their status as servants.” (source)

This is a society where war looked far different, taking captors far more common. There weren't even bankruptcy laws. So often you had people in slavery because they just owed someone money. It was not related to race, ethnicity, status, education, or even how much money you make. I mean, you have doctors who were slaves, estate managers, household servants, all for different reasons. 

In some ways, it's not that different from a boss and employee relationship. It is different. But not radically. Peter is trying to look at those who are going to be mistreated the most — slaves. He's trying to say that when slaves were mistreated as Christians here's how you should act. 

What I think he's trying to get his readers to see is if that's true about slaves, then for anyone else who's mistreated, should you not respond likewise? He's arguing from the greater or extreme to say if that's true there, then it should be true in every other scenario.  

What's his call? How does he want them to respond to mistreatment? Look back at verse 18–19: 

“Masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.” (1 Peter 2:18–19 ESV)

If you thought the word submission was a pretty loaded word, how about submitting to authority when it's unjust? That's about as counterintuitive as you get. Now, I think in Peter's mind, principally, they're getting treated unjustly because of their faith in God. But this unjust treatment could extend more broadly — to just general mistreatment. Listen to how Peter continues: 

“For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.” (1 Peter 2:20 ESV)

Notice, he just talks about when you do good. I think, though he has honoring God in his mind, it also seems that he means any good that you do that a crooked master would unjustly punish. 

In a world that does not love God, there are times and there are days and there are moments when you will be treated unjustly and unfairly. Peter is calling for a specific response to that — be subject to your masters. 

But let me be clear. Peter is not saying you should seek out unjust scenarios. He's not saying that every moment of injustice is something you just grit your teeth and go through. After all, he just talked about the role of the government is to punish those who do wicked things and to reward those who do good. I'm not saying this morning that you should not go to the police when someone is doing something wrong, far from it. You should go to the police.

If you are experiencing injustice, you are not wrong to seek help and the justice that God has given to governmental authorities. Hear me clearly, there are exceptions to enduring unjust treatment. You don’t stay in an abusive relationship because of 1 Peter. God has given authorities to handle these things. 

But let’s be honest: most of us feel injustice in our lives in ways that no government authority is going to care one bit about. If someone slanders you at work because you are Christian, the police don’t care. If your boss subtly treats you poorly because you have a stance as a Christian that disagrees with him, you have no one to appeal to. If these types of moments feel few and far between, I think you will begin to feel them more and more. 

If you live in this broken world, you will be treated unfairly and your impulse is going to be to retaliate. To push back, to not endure, to fight, and he's just trying to say, the Christian impulse should be to endure, to submit. 

In your workplace, you're going to have moments in which you are mistreated. You are going to have these moments everywhere. You are going to experience it from your family, from your friends, from your church. You will get mistreatment everywhere. I don't know where the line is when you need to say something or endure. But I do know, as I'm looking at this text, saying, there are going to be times when you're mistreated, and your reaction is to endure the suffering, even when it's hard. 

Remember back to the principle behind the submission in this section. The Bible seems to be calling us to do what we can to submit to authorities that God has placed. We submit, not because they are right, or they are always doing the right things, but because we are honoring God by submitting to them. In other words, our submission has little to do with the person in front of us, but rather with our relationship to God. We submit because we fear God, not man. And sure enough this is exactly what Peter talks about. Look again at verse 19: 

“For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.” (1 Peter 2:19 ESV)

Our obedience in these moments comes because we are mindful of God. Let me see if this helps. Here is how Paul gets at a similar idea in Ephesians 6:5–6:

“Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man,” (Ephesians 6:5–6 ESV)

In all our service to others , we do it because we are serving God in those moments, not man. In 1 Peter, they were called to endure unjust treatment being mindful of God. 

Now, that may still seem to be odd, but this is exactly what Peter says Jesus did in verse 23. He says that Jesus endured unjust treatment by “entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” (1 Peter 2:23). He was mindful of God, both what God would do in the end and how it would glorify God to not rebel in the moment. 

Whatever the reason for unjust treatment, the universal response, in my opinion, is not endurance. What's our response when we're treated unfairly? Vengeance. It seems like every fiber in our being is to retaliate, to get justice, to clear our name, to bring them down to make them feel hurt and punish them for treating us unfairly. 

Is there any place where this is more obvious than sports? Every sports fan in this room has that one play, that one moment, when the referee made a terrible call. It haunts them. Now when that call happens, what are people’s reaction, “Hey, no worries, that’s his call. He has been appointed to make those decisions. Let’s roll with it because that’s his job.” Yeah, right. No way. I’ll spare you from describing the typical reaction because it's not appropriate. 

Peter is calling Christians to have a radically different response to mistreatment than anyone would expect. He is calling them to endure. Peter is saying to those who are following God, endure even when it's unjust. His specific example is work — in this servants to their master, but I think we can expand it.

In order to do that, you have to have a big-God theology that says you don’t need to control everything. You can endure mistreatment knowing that God will take care of it. 

One of things I love about being at Table Rock is how I’ve seen this practiced in the church’s impulse to pray. It happened the other day at a Members’ Meeting, an impulse to pray.  There's a group of people who meet every other week, and they just pray for an hour. They don’t just pray for the church but about other things. Behind this conviction, is the fact that we don't need to solve everything. God sees God hears. 

If you are at all like me wishing that your reaction to any feeling of injustice was not vengeance but patience, endurance, and prayer, then track with me on our final point: our only hope if we are going to live this life of submission.

I really think a movement to this kind of life is a change in our impulses. Our impulse is vengeance, so how do we get help to change impulses? Well, I think we go to God for help. I think we go asking why we should respond like this and how we can get help to start responding like this.

Think about it this way, soldiers are trained to go against an impulse. Our impulse is to run away from flying bullets, and they're trained to go in. Firefighters - I mean, our natural reaction is to run away from the fire. But what's a firefighter's impulse? To run into the fire. 

When you retrain those impulses, you have to have a motive, like a reason you're running into the bullets. And you got to have some training, like you've got tools and resources to understand how to engage. So let's look at our only hope, if we're going to live this kind of life that submits to kings you don’t agree with and authority that mistreats you, you're going to need help. Look at verses 21 through 25. Beginning verse 21:

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2:21 ESV)

The example of us enduring unjust treatment is Christ, as the Son of God, he was treated unjustly for who he was. We as believers should just assume that's going to happen to us. So we should assume the world will treat us unfairly. What should our reaction be? The same as Christ’s. Here’s what he did, look at verses 22–23:

“He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” (1 Peter 2:22–23 ESV)

Every moment that Jesus was mistreated was unjust. He had no sin, no reason to be mistreated. Then he had every reason to call out for justice, every reason to respond with vengeance. But he didn't. Why?  Look at the verse 23 again:

“He did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” (1 Peter 2:23 ESV)

In retraining our impulses we now see a tool to help us: God will judge. God will judge justly. He will make things right. You don’t need to. 

Here’s what I know. Whatever mistreatment you might be experiencing, God sees. God knows. God will respond. If your boss treats you unjustly while you are doing good, God sees. God will answer that unjust treatment one day. Here is Romans 12:19: 

“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”” (Romans 12:19 ESV)

How do you retrain yourself not to react with vengeance? Remember that the Lord will take care of it. And if that is a tool, God has also already given us a motive in verse 19–20: 

“For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.” (1 Peter 2:19-20 ESV)

God not only sees and will bring justice. He prizes your endurance in unjust treatment as a believer. Now finally, he gives us the most important ingredient: fuel. Look at verses 24–25: 

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:24–25 ESV)

As Christians, I know we're fighting this fight. We all stand here, imperfect in this fight. But you have hope. All the times that you have failed to rightly honor the Lord in this kind of honoring of the emperor or enduring mistreatment as a believer. I want you to hear this: He Himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. Your shortcomings are washed away. I also want you to hear that his forgiveness has given you what you need to live in righteousness.

I want to end by addressing those of you who haven’t put your faith in Jesus yet. If you hear about this and you don’t know Jesus as your savior yet, who is this Jesus? And what is this example you're talking about? I want to say to you, just like all of us, you're going to face things that aren't fair. And if you hear this comfort that says well, that there'll be a God who would see that and  would render justice rightly. I want you to be able to have that promise over your life. And if you would come to Jesus today, you would receive from him the promise that you are his beloved child, and he sees you.