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I invite you to open your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 2.
! He came home from a trip to France on business.
And while he was in France, he did kind of the normal thing in regard to buying souvenirs. He bought some souvenirs so that he could bring them home and give them as gifts to his wife and family.
And some of them were just little knick-knacks, you know. We kind of do that when we go on trips like that. And one of these little knick-knacks was a matchbox that supposedly glowed in the dark.
Kind of a convenient thing, I would think. You know, you'd find the matches when the lights go out so you can light the little lamp or something. If you don't have a flashlight. And so he brought that home and after showing it to the family, they decided they would turn all the lights off and see if it worked.
And to their disappointment, it didn't. It didn't glow. And so he said, you know, I've been cheated. And, you know, sometimes we do get cheated.
We buy things and you couldn't return it. But on further examination, his wife discovered that on the side of the box, there was some French words. And she didn't know French.
And so she took the box to a friend of hers who did know the language. And her friend translated it and it read as follows. If you want me to shine at night, keep me in the sunlight all day.
That's pretty smart. So she took it home, put it there in the window so that it could just absorb all the light of the day. And that evening when she turned out the lights, guess what?
It glowed brilliantly. And her husband said, what did you do? How did you do it? And she said, well, I just learned the secret. And he said, secret?
What secret? She said, the secret is before it can shine in the dark, it must be exposed to the light. That's a pretty good little story.
And the application of it, of course, is pretty obvious. As Christians, we need to be exposed to the light. If we're going to shine in the darkness.
And the darkness, of course, being this world. And so before we can shine as lights, we need to be exposed to the light of the gospel. First and foremost, in the light of God's word on a continuous and continual basis.
The light of God. The light of his presence. The Lord Jesus Christ. The light of the Holy Spirit operating in our lives. And so forth. Now, I tell that little story and make that very brief application.
Because I think that aptly introduces the subject of this series of messages out of 1 Peter. At least this portion of the letter.
In our study of this book, we have, as I reminded you last week, we've now kind of moved in to a kind of a different focus.
And the focus is ethics. Or Christian ethics. Or what I would rather call practical Christianity. That is connecting.
This is what Peter's doing. Connecting who we are in Christ. That's what he's been telling us from the very first verse of chapter 1.
But he's going to now connect who we are in Christ to how we are to live. How we live. Where that meets and connects this world.
This context of life. And the two. You know, who we are ought to make a difference, shouldn't it? In how we live our lives. And that's his focus. You see, we're really peculiar people.
We really are. More ways than one. But we're peculiar people, certainly in this sense. In that we possess two citizenships. I don't know if you've ever entertained that thought or thought about that truth.
Maybe you were unaware of that. But as Christians, we really are citizens of two worlds. We are first and foremost eternal citizens. That is, citizens of the world to come.
Heaven. And I say first and foremost, that is where our citizenship is. It's in heaven. Heaven. Now, our citizenship there. That is, being citizens of heaven.
We're not of this world. We're in this world. But not of this world. Certainly that citizenship ought to make a difference here. In the citizenship here.
Because we're not only eternal citizens. We are also temporal citizens. Temporary citizens of this world. Of this earth.
Now, Peter's focus then, at this point in the letter, is directed toward our temporal citizenship. That's our focus here. Again, how we ought to live as citizens of this world.
And he points to three contexts of life that we might argue really encompass our entire life.
And those three contexts of life are the government. How we are to relate to our government as citizens of this world.
Temporary citizens of this world. And that's what we're going to focus on this morning. And, by the way, next Sunday as well. But also, the workplace. He's going to move then into our relationship in the workplace.
How we're to live there. Now, if you've read ahead, you might be saying that Pastor Peter starts talking about slaves and masters. Well, the way that crosses over into our culture, into our society, our context of life.
The best match is work and employer relationships. So, we'll talk about that. And then he also points us to the home.
Or specifically to the married life. Alright, so. The way we are to conduct our lives in each of these three contexts of life.
Is, as I said last week, is qualified by a word that we really don't like very much. Do you remember what that word is? I kind of heard it out there.
Submission. That's how he qualifies this. When Peter goes to relating or teaching us how our eternal citizenship should cross over into our temporal citizenship.
How we're to live out who we are in this world. He qualifies it. In each of the three contexts. He qualifies it with the word submission. Submission.
I don't have to explain again that that word is not really one of our favorite words. And especially when we attempt or know we need to apply it to our own lives.
Submission. But that's what it is. Now, last Sunday I attempted to build a foundation for what Peter is going to teach us here. And focused on God's principle of authority. Or more specifically, God's principle of submission to authority.
And now, we're ready to consider Peter's application of that to the three contexts of life. The first one being the governing authorities.
That's our focus this morning. Submission to our governing authorities. If we don't like the word submission or even the word submission makes us uncomfortable, we certainly don't particularly enjoy applying that to our government.
Governing authorities. But that's the focus here. And this is really a very important topic, isn't it? Especially of late when it seems like we have people protesting and rebelling against their governments all around the world.
But it's not a new thing. But it is a current type of issue. And even in our own nation. I'm not going to make a lot of applications directly to the current events of our day.
But I think you can make some of those connections. And should be able to make the connection between the teaching of God's word here to some of the things that are going on in our society as well as other places in the world today.
All right. So let's read our text. 1 Peter chapter 2. And starting with verse 13. Therefore, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake.
Whether to the king as supreme. Or to governors as to those who are sent by him. That is by the king. For the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.
For this is the will of God. That by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. As free.
Yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice or sin. But as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood.
Fear God. Honor the king. Now we're going to stop right there. And this morning we're going to get really through verses 13 and 14. And cover the rest of it next week.
Because I've divided this text into three parts. I think it divides itself quite naturally that way. And the first part is what we'll focus on this morning.
And it's this. There is in this passage that I just read a moment ago. There is here a sacred precept to obey.
Just put it down like that. A sacred precept that we are to obey. And when I use the word precept I mean God's law. There's a law here.
Very specific law. Though we would like for Peter to be even more specific. That is in the details. How this is to work out. How we're to apply it in every situation.
Now he does not. Although I think we can learn. Here from even what Peter tells us. How we're to apply this precept. This law to every given situation.
But there's a precept here. A law. That we are to obey. And Peter communicates this law. This precept. In a threefold way.
And that's what I want us to focus on this morning. First of all. And this is very natural. First of all. It's identification. The identification of the precept.
That's how he identifies it. Or what is the precept here. Given in the text. And then second. We'll get to its application. That is. To whom.
And how far do we take it. That's a pretty important. Part of the teaching here. Certainly. Hopefully we'll answer some of our questions. And then thirdly. Its motivation.
Its motivation. That is. Why should we submit? That. That's also important. In our understanding here. So. Its identification. What is.
The precept. Well. It's right there in the first few. Verse. A few. Words. Submit. Yourself. There it is. Submit. Yourself.
And then he's going to apply it. To its context. But submit. Yourself. Now we spent all of last Sunday. At least my time. And it was the larger part of it.
Talking about submission. And so. Hopefully. If you were here last week. We understand. The principle of submission. The principle of authority. But this is the precept.
And. The word that Peter used here. That's translated submit. Is. Hupatasso. It's a. It begins with a preposition.
And this helps us understand the meaning of the word. Hupa. Hupa. Huma. That's a preposition. Means. Under. Now that makes sense. Doesn't it? When we understand. Even in our understanding.
And. Definition of the word submit. We are. Under. Under. Hupatasso. Means. To. Line up. Under.
And by the way. It is. Or originated. As a military term. And still would be used in that context today. Military term. And so it means to.
Line up. Under. Your. Commander. That's the. Just the. Bald. Meaning. The. Bare. Meaning. Of the word submit.
And so the idea. It really is very clear. We don't really need. To think a lot about it. Or. Consult. Commentaries. And dictionaries. We understand the word. Just by the very definition of the word.
To line up. Under. Your. Commander. Or your. Authority. And so the idea. Is very clear. We're talking about. Or Peter's talking about. An attitude.
Of submission. To authority. We are to. Be. Under. As we. Spent a lot of the time. Last week.
Talking about. We're to be. Under. Authority. Now. We must put this. Though. In the context. Of who Peter. Says. We are.
We need to understand it. In that sense. According to verse 11. And we studied this. Some weeks ago. According to verse 11. Here in. First Peter. Chapter 2. We are sojourners. And pilgrims.
Do you see that? If you still have your Bibles. Open there. We're sojourners. And pilgrims. At least. Those are the words. Used. By the New King James Version. The idea. Is that we're aliens.
Christians. That's who we are. As Christians. We may not feel that way. We don't conceptualize it that way. We don't live day in day out. Thinking. You know. I'm just really an alien. In this world. Now.
There are things that take place. In our lives. And in. Events. Taking place. Around us. That remind us of it. And maybe. We do entertain the thought. From time to time.
That you know. We realize. I'm just out of place here. I'm an alien. I just don't think. The way the world thinks. I don't live the way the world lives. I don't react the way the world reacts. And.
And. You know. These things are just so alien to me. And. In that. We are. Sensing. The reality of our lives. As born again believers.
Because of. Our faith in Christ. We've been birthed into the kingdom of God. And so. Our citizenship is in heaven. And so. Maybe you have thought about yourself as an alien.
And maybe you haven't. But if you're a born again believer here this morning. I assure you. You're an alien in this world. You are.
Maybe to use another word. That is even more descriptive. You and I are refugees here. We have some idea what it means to be a refugee. Though.
I don't think we have any here. But. To be in a foreign country. Away from your home. Away from your country. You know. You know. You don't belong here.
And you belong there. But you're here for. For a time. And you. And so. You're a refugee. And along with that. Comes the. The. The feeling. And the reality. Of not only.
Being out of place. And being a refugee. But also being. In a country. That is. By and large. Hostile. To you. And to your way of living. And to your way of thinking.
And to your belief system. And so. We have that idea. And so Peter. He's writing to people like that. Remember. Let's keep this. Always moored to the context.
Here in first Peter. Peter's writing to. The. The dispersion. Those who have been scattered around. A certain part of the world. Who have been fleeing. And are now living.
In the midst of. Intense persecution. And I. Believe me. They feel like aliens. They're. Refugees. In a hostile world. And so he's writing to people like that.
And he's already reminded them. And us. That really. We don't belong here. That we. Really are citizens. Of another world. And.
We're just here for a short time. And then we're going to be moving. From here. And. He says. Well. But for a time. We're here. And we're so. So. He's already reminded them. And us. That yes.
Indeed. You don't belong here. Your citizenship is in heaven. That's your true citizenship. And so in reality. You and I are kings and queens. Walking around in beggars clothing.
Because the world really doesn't know who we are. Not who we really are. So that's the context. That's what Peter's. Addressing here. And.
And. And. Then. He attaches this. That. That does not mean. That we can just live. Any way we want to here.
If our citizenship is in heaven. And it is. First and foremost. And so. Our. Our ruler is God.
Our laws are his laws. And so then. Maybe we don't have to submit to the authorities here. And that is.
Not the case. And that's why Peter's writing. The way he's writing. I think you could add to that. That. The Christians of his day. Had the.
Idea. The notion. Certainly the hope. Hope. That Jesus was coming. At any moment. And so therefore. They just need to kind of. Bide their time. Until he comes. And not be too concerned.
About. Connecting with their civilization. Or. Or submitting to their authorities. And Peter says. That's not the case. As temporal citizens.
Here. God. God. Commands us. To submit. To authority. To authority. I want to show you something. In Jeremiah.
If you take your Bibles. And turn there. Jeremiah chapter 29. This is very interesting. Again. Keeping. Squarely in your mind. That.
We're aliens. We don't belong here. We're sojourners. Refugees. So how should we act here? Well. Look at Jeremiah chapter 29.
Verse 1. It begins. Now. These are the words of. The letter. That Jeremiah. The prophet. Sent from Jerusalem.
To the remainder. Of the elders. Who were carried away. Captive. To the priests. Where were they carried away to? Well. He tells us there. Later part of verse 1. Carried away captive. From Jerusalem.
To Babylon. Alright. So. Here are a bunch of God's people. Carried away. From their home. To a foreign land.
Babylon. And so what are they? They're aliens. Refugees. Skip on down to verse 4. Because this is what he tells them. Thus says the Lord of hosts.
The God of Israel. To all who were carried away captive. Whom I have caused. To be carried away. From Jerusalem. To Babylon. To Babylon.
They are refugees. You see. Refugees in a foreign land. What does he tell them to do? Build houses. Dwell in them.
Plant gardens. Eat their fruit. Eat their fruit. Take wives. And beget sons and daughters. And take wives for your sons. And give your daughters to husbands.
So that they may bear sons and daughters. That you may be increased there. And not diminish. Verse 7. Do you see that?
Seek the peace of the city. Where I have caused you to be carried away captive. And pray to the Lord for it. What?
The city. For Babylon. Pray for its welfare. For in its peace. You will have peace.
For thus says the Lord of hosts. The God of Israel. Do not let your prophets and your diviners. Who are in your midst deceive you. Nor listen to your dreams. Which you cause to be dreamed.
For they prophesy falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them. Says the Lord. By the way. What were these prophets telling them? We have to go to some other place to find out. The prophets were basically telling them.
And just bide your time. We are just going to be here a short time. Just a short time. You don't have to worry about this. This babbling. Don't have to worry about obeying their laws.
Don't have to worry about connecting in any way here. Just don't do anything. Just sit tight. God is going to deliver us. In fact I think they said just a few years we are going to be gone. Huh?
Yeah. What did Jeremiah tell them? It's going to be 70 years. That made him real popular with them. But the false prophets were telling them.
Basically. You don't have to worry about this. This government. You're aliens here. Just here for a short time. You know there are a lot of Christians today. Who are acting like that.
Just biding their time. Disconnecting themselves from. From their society. And their culture. And some of them even openly rebelling against them.
Thinking that they have always a higher authority. And yet God says for them to connect with their society. Build houses.
Plant gardens. Eat their fruit. Take wives. Beget sons and daughters. And take wives for your sons. And husbands for your daughters.
And have grandchildren. And live. And more importantly. Seek the peace of the city. The peace of your society. What society?
Babylon. This pagan culture. You think. We're living in the midst of a pagan culture now. You have no idea compared to Babylon. Babylon. And what does God say?
Pray for them. Pray to the Lord for this city. And pray for its peace. For in its peace you will have peace. Don't listen to your false prophets.
For I know. He says in verse 11. I know the thoughts that I think toward you. Says the Lord. Thoughts of peace and not of evil. To give you a future.
And a hope. See. It's very interesting to me. That this describes. In kind of a microcosm. The whole of our lives. Here as God's people.
Birthed into his kingdom. And we're aliens here. For now. And what are we to do while we're here? Seek. The well-being and welfare. Of the society.
That God has placed us in. Now that's not all that hard for us. Because. We don't live in a Babylon. Not certainly in the sense. Of the Babylon and Jeremiah.
God's day. And it's moving that way. You see. The idea. Here. As he identifies. The precept. We are to submit.
Submit. To come under. Authority. And yes. We are. Citizens of. Of another world. The world to come. We're citizens of heaven.
But that does not give us any right. To be rebels in this civilization. We're to submit. And then notice. And this is important. It's application.
So we have the identification. What's. What is the precept? Submit. Yourself. And then the application. To whom. And how far.
Do we go with it. And really. From the get go. That's been our question. Not so much the who. We can read that for ourselves. But what we want to know. Is how far do we go with that.
And that's what we'd like to hear first. But. See. We've got to learn. What the precept is. What the law is first. To submit. And then. We'll cover.
The exceptions. But we want to start with the exceptions first. Because we think. There are many exceptions. Well. You know. I don't always have to obey. What about that. Pastor. Well.
We'll get to that. And we're about to. The application first. We need to understand. To whom. Are we to submit here. In the context of these verses.
And how far. We are to go with it. And what does Peter say. Well. What he says. We don't really like. He says.
To every. You might just underline that word. Every. To every ordinance. Of man. That's how it's translated in the.
New King James translation. You may have another one. But that's pretty straightforward. Isn't it? Not a lot of. You know. A lot of confusion there.
Though in our minds. We want to know. What the exceptions are. But just a straightforward. Forward precept. What. What he says.
Every ordinance. Of man. Seems pretty straightforward. But now. In reality. This is somewhat. Difficult to translate. And. One of the proofs.
Of that. Or the evidences of that. Is that nearly every. Translation. You consult. It's worded. A little bit differently. All of them carrying. Somewhat. The same idea.
But it's really not an easy. Thing to translate. And most translations. Do not do it justice. Not complete justice. The word. Ordinance.
They. At least. That's. What we have. In the new King James version. And King James. Ordinance. The word ordinance. Is. A word. In the Greek language.
That is. Generally. Translated. Creation. They say. How do you get. Ordinance. How does. Ordinance. And creation. How do those things.
Go together. Well the word. Does mean creation. As a matter of fact. It's translated that way. A number of places. Sometimes it's. Translated. Designed. And here's the clincher.
Everywhere. You find it. In the new testament. It refers. To the work of God. God. That's it. I'm telling you. There's more.
To this. Than. Just. The surface. And I think. Peter's readers. Understood. What Peter was getting at. In our English translation. We may. Be a little confused. And so. Just remember.
That the word. Can be translated. Creation. And everywhere. You find it. In the new testament. That Greek word. It is. In reference. To God's work.
God's work. And so. Peter uses it here. In reference. To. Human institutions. That's how the ESV. And NASB. Translated. And so.
What's the idea? The idea. Is that. All. Human. Institutions. Are. Designed. Created.
By. Whom. By God. By God. God. And in the context. Of this passage. God.
Created. Civil. Government. Not just ours. God. Created. Civil. Government.
Romans. Chapter. Thirteen. And. Verse. One. You might turn to it. With me.
It's. Certainly. The most profound. Support text. For what Peter is saying. Or.
If you're reading. Romans. Thirteen. You would say. Peter is the support text. They go together. Saying the same thing. Though. Paul really expands. A little bit more on it.
He says. In verse one. Of chapter thirteen. Let every soul. Every living soul. Be subject. To the governing authorities. That is. Submit to the governing authorities.
For there is no authority. Except. From God. And the authorities. That exist. In Paul's world.
Peter's world. Our world. The authorities. That exist. Are appointed. By God. Therefore. Whoever resists. The authority. Resists.
The ordinance. Of God. The creation. Of God. There's that word. And those who resist. Will bring. Judgment. On themselves. For rulers.
Are not a terror. To good works. But to evil. Do you want. To be unafraid. Of the authority. Do what is good. And you will have praise. From the same.
For he is. God's minister. That is. The authority. The governing authorities. Are God's minister. To you. For good. But if you do evil. Be afraid. For he does not bear.
The sword. In vain. For he is God's minister. And avenger. Now. They don't carry swords. So much anymore. But Tom Holland.
Over here. Does not carry a pistol. In vain. And God has ordained that. Therefore. You must be subject. Not only because of wrath.
But also for conscious sake. For because of this. You also pay taxes. For they are God's ministers. Attending continually. To this very thing. Render therefore. To all their due.
Taxes. To whom taxes are due. Customs. To whom customs. Fear. To whom fear. Honor. To whom honor. Oh. Well we'll stop right there. That's pretty clear.
Isn't it? Though we may produce. Some questions. In our minds. And again. Our natural. Reaction. Is to. Think of exceptions.
Because we can think of them. Paul. As well as Peter. Does not qualify it. Based upon exceptions. Now we're going to look here. And Peter.
Does. Show us an exception. I believe. Implies it. Anyway. They do not qualify it. As to whether the government. Is worthy of it. Or whether or not the government. Is.
Is. Moral. Or corrupt. Or whether it's leaders. Are good leaders. And. And competent leaders. There's no qualification. For that. And what Peter.
Says. And commands us. To do. And what Paul. Also. Commands us. To do. As citizens. Of this world. Is to be done. Without question.
That's the command. And it's applied. To every. Ordinance. Of man. Every ordinance.
The NIV. Comes close to it. Every authority. Instituted. Among men. Inplication. Being. That it was instituted. By someone other than man. And indeed it was.
And so that's it. We're to submit ourselves. To every. God ordained. Human institution. That's how we could translate. This passage. And we would be. In keeping with the meaning.
Of the words. Peter used. Or to even expand it. More than that. Submit yourselves. To every institution. Designed by God. For man's well-being.
And that's the idea. That's the application. Every. Ordinance. Of man. And in the context. Of the verse. Of course. Peter's referring. To the government. Isn't he?
To the government. To the governing authorities. And he says there. In verse 14. To the king. Or verse 13. To the king. Now. Do we have a king? No.
We don't have a king. Does that apply. To the president? Yes. Yes. To the president. As supreme.
Meaning what? He's the head. Head. Head. Of the government. And. To. Governors. As to those.
Who are sent by him. Sent by whom? The king. Or in our case. The president. All. Who govern. Under him. Governing.
Authorities. At all. Levels. This is the. The application. Of the precinct. We're to submit. To all levels. Of authority. In our government.
From the president. All the way down. To Tom Holland. The sheriff. And those under him. We are to submit. Again.
You're thinking. But. But. But. But. What about this? What about that? Now. Let's forget about the exceptions. Right now. What's the clear command. Of scripture? It's simply. To submit. To all.
Governing. Authorities. To every. Governing. Authority. No matter whom. They may be. Now. You know. Of course. Someone will. Inevitably. Object. Surely.
Peter. Did not mean. Every. Did he? Well. That is what he said. If you have an argument.
About that. You have to take it up. With him. More important. You have to take it up. With God. Because God. Was the one. Who inspired him. To write it. This is the word of God.
And he surely did mean. Every. Every. Governing. Authority. Not just. Every. Member. Of that. Governing. Authority.
Certainly means that. But. Also. Every. Government. The kind of government. We have. Day. Which was quite a foreign thing.
To Peter. Peter. Was speaking of a different government. Wasn't he? By the way. Who was the governing authority. In Peter's day?
Was Rome. Was Rome. And their leader at the time. Was Nero. And I think most of us know.
How. Corrupt. Morally. And in every other way. Was Nero. He was a madman. King. And Peter said.
Submit. To the king. And that would be Nero. So we're talking about. The sacred precept. That we are to obey. It's identification.
Quite simply. Submit. Yourself. It's application. Is also. Really. Very straightforward. Very simple. Though. We don't really like it much.
But it is. To submit to all. Governing. Authority. Without qualification. Third.
It's. Motivation. And this is very important. That is. Why should we submit. To our governing authority. Why should we do that?
What does Peter say? He says. For the Lord's sake. He said. That doesn't sound like. Much of a motivation. Well shame on you.
That is the. Supreme of motivations. In fact. A right understanding. Of that. Will not only.
Tell us. Why we should. But it will also. Give us. The power. To do so. And to do it. In the way. That God would have us. Obey. Because we're doing it.
For the Lord's sake. For the Lord's sake. What does that mean? Well. Just basically. It. Means. We do it. Because we belong to him.
We do it. We do it. We do it. Because. We. Bear his name. We as Christians.
Citizens of heaven. But citizens of this world. We. Submit to our governing authorities. Because somehow. This honors God. Somehow.
This. Brings him glory. I'm going to give you. Or. Kind of spell this out. Into. Four simple ways. Don't miss this.
This is. Key to the entire thing. I tell you. That little phrase. For the Lord's sake. Is key.
To the whole thing. For us. It may not work. For the unbeliever. In fact. It won't. The unbeliever. Is not going to submit. To his or her government.
For the Lord's sake. It's key. To our obedience. To it. For the Lord's sake. Let me spell it out. In four ways. Number one. Submitting ourselves.
To the governing authorities. And this is very basic. It is a righteous. Act of obedience. And obedience.
Honors the Lord. Obedience. It's a righteous. Act of obedience. Now let's. Put this. Again. Or.
Keep putting this. In it's right. Context. Right. Perspective. That is. From the perspective. Of those. Whose real citizenship. Is in heaven. We've got to keep it. Right there.
We're talking about. Christians here. Why. Why. Should we. Submit. To our governing authorities. Out of.
Passion. That is. Because it makes us feel good. We submit to our authorities. Because.
It makes us feel good. It. We feel like doing it. It makes us feel good. To do it. Is that why. For the most part.
We would be lying. If we said that. I mean to say. You know. You know. It just makes me feel good. To pay my taxes. This year. I just feel.
All warm inside. About that. Write out that check. To Uncle Sam. I just feel good. About that. And I. I like that.
I'm very passionate. About that. You know. It's just a wonderful thing. To me. That. Sixty percent. Of every dollar. I earn. Goes to the government.
It's just a wonderful thing. It's probably more than sixty percent. I don't know what. It makes you feel good. And we don't do it out of passion. Or if not that.
Then what? Out of passivity. That is. You know. We. We just. Naturally. We're just naturally. Peaceful.
And. And. Compliant. Kind of people. As Christians. We're just kind of like sheep. That why we do it.
A lot of unbelievers. Think that of us. Remember that famous line. From. Ted Turner. A number of years ago. Christianity. Is for wimps. We're just kind of like.
Sheep. Being led. Passive. Gentle. Humble. That why we are to submit. To our governing authorities. For the Lord's sake.
Out of passivity. No. I don't think so. That's not why. Why then. Maybe. It's because of. Perfection. That is.
The perfection. Of our form of government. That's why we submit. We got the greatest government. On the planet. Maybe the. The greatest form of government. That has ever existed.
Among men. Maybe that's true. And so we. Submit. To our governing authorities. Because it's perfect. It's a perfect government. And also.
By the way. We submit. Because our. Authorities are perfect. Our laws are perfect. Our. Lawful leader.
The president. Is perfect. Our. Lawmakers. Congress. Is perfect. I know you're agreeing with me.
Right. Our. Law. Interpreters. Judges. Are perfect. And always right. They abide by.
And uphold the constitution. Interpret the constitution. Constitution rather. They're not changing the constitution. They always do everything right. And so. I'm submitting to this government.
Because it's perfect. Our law. Enforcers. Are perfect. Perfect. Perfect timing.
I didn't pay him to do that. Tom Holland is a great guy. Great. Great sheriff.
Or. Police chief. He's a lousy sheriff. He's a great police chief. He's not perfect. Perfect. Yeah.
Well. Diane told me this morning too. So where do we submit? Because of perfection. Right? Everything about our government.
And all of our government. Leaders do everything right. And good. And perfect. And so. We just submit. On that basis. No. I don't think so. I don't think that's it. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now we're getting close. Out of fear.
Of punishment. Maybe that's it. Because the governing authorities. Have the power to punish us.
If we don't submit. And they do you know. Don't they? I mean. God ordained them. Peter said.
For what? Verse 14. For the punishment of evil doers. And for the praise of those who do good. That's the government's chief role.
By the way. To do those things. I understand scripture. And you know. What Peter of all people knew that. He got a personal lesson from the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
About that. Matthew chapter 26. And it's a familiar story. It's the story about the. When Jesus was arrested.
Before his trial and crucifixion. You know. They're in the garden. The Romans come. And. They bring.
You know. Very likely. Hundreds of people. Hundreds of soldiers. To come and arrest one man. Expecting. I guess. To face some kind of army.
That he had marshaled together. To protect himself. So they came to arrest Jesus. And you. Remember. Well. Let me just read it. Verse 51.
Matthew chapter 26. Verse 50. Excuse me. No. Verse 51.
Aren't you following along? Verse 51. But Jesus. 51. And suddenly. One of those. Who. Were with Jesus. John tells us it was Peter.
But. He stretched out his hand. And drew his sword. Struck the servant of the high priest. And cut off his ear. But Jesus said to him. Said to Peter.
By the way. Who. Who. Who. Who. Gave us the command. Here. That we've been studying. In this letter. By the name of. Peter. It's Peter. Peter learned a lesson here.
What did he learn? Jesus said to him. Put your sword. In its place. For all who. Take. The sword. No matter what the cause. How.
How worthy the cause. Those who take the sword. It was a good cause. Wasn't it? That Peter drew his sword. Who's he protecting? His Lord.
His Savior. The Lord Jesus. Is he being falsely accused? Yes. Is he going to be. Falsely arrested? Yes. And so the cause is great. Isn't it?
But Jesus says. Does not qualify. He says. Whoever takes up the sword. No matter what the cause. Will. Perish. By. The sword.
What does he mean there? I believe it's a. Clear. Reference. To capital punishment. You take up the sword. Against your government.
Or take up the sword. In any kind of cause. And kill. And murder. Then the government. Will use their sword. That was given to them. By God. To punish evil.
And the government. Will use that sword. To strike you down. That's capital punishment. You can argue with me. About that later. If you want. That's not really my point. The point is.
That Jesus. Is clearly. Sanctioning. And approving. The right. Of the government. Of that day. It being the Roman government. To strike Peter down. If he takes his sword.
Up against them. He is ordaining that. He is approving that. He is saying. Peter. If you take that sword. And murder with that sword. The government.
Will. Take your life. By the sword. That was given to them. And it is right. That they do it. That's the idea here. I tell you.
We should obey. Out of fear. Of punishment. Definitely so. It's ordained. It's ordained. But.
Even that. Is not the primary. Reason. The primary reason. Is. Because of. Our profession. Our profession.
Of faith. In Christ. Now we're getting down to it here. In fact. This is it. Why we are to submit.
It is a righteous. Act. Of obedience. We don't submit. Because. We just. Love doing it.
We don't submit. To our governing authorities. Because. We just don't know anything else. We're just passive.
Little things. Blowing around by the wind. We don't submit to our government. Because we think it's perfect. It's not perfect. We do submit.
Out of fear of punishment. And that's right to do that. But that's not the primary reason. So what is the primary reason? Our profession of faith. In Christ. We are disciples.
Of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as such. We are to. Always strive. To do what is right. According to him.
Is that right according to him? Well. You know. Peter says there. In the very next verse. In verse 5. For this is the will of God. But I can take you back to Romans.
You don't have to turn to it. If you don't want to. But let me go back to Romans 13. And look there. At verse 5.
Therefore he said. You must. Be in submission. To the governing authorities. Not only because of wrath. Wrath. That's the fear of punishment.
And he's already explained that. Earlier on. In the chapter. For. You know. For he does not bear the sword in vain. For he's a. God's minister. An avenger. To execute wrath.
On him. Who practice evil. So. Therefore. You should submit. Because of the fear of wrath. But not only because of wrath. But the very next thing he says.
But also. For conscience. Sake. What is that? For conscience. Sake.
We're to submit to our governing authorities. Even when we don't agree with them. Even if and when they are corrupt.
And abuse their power. And are oppressive. As they were in Peter's day. We're to submit to them. Not just because we're going to get it. If we don't.
But because we want to clear conscience. Before God. Because he has commanded us to obey. And when we disobey God. Our conscience is not clear before him.
We're to do. The right thing. Before God. No matter what it costs. I know this is not popular. This is not what we want to hear. We'd rather find some passages in the Bible.
That give us some kind of permission to rebel. But it's not here. We are to submit. To our governing authorities.
Because. It is a righteous act of obedience. Number two. Submitting ourselves to the governing authorities. Emulates.
The life of Christ. That is. It expresses. It puts on display. To all around us.
The life of Jesus in us. You say. Where do you find that? Well. In first Peter chapter two. Back there in our text. Skip on down to verse twenty one. You ever heard the expression.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Well. That certainly applies in. Our imitation of Christ. Imitate him.
And Peter gives us. An illustration. Something to. Fortify the truth. That he's teaching. Verse twenty one. For. To this. You were called.
To what were you called? Well. In the context. It's submission. Submission to our governing authorities. In the next submission to our. Bosses. Our masters. And then he gives this illustration.
He backs it up. With Christ. And he says. For. To this. That is submission. You were called. Because. Christ. Also suffered for us.
Leaving us. An example. That you should follow his steps. What is the. The example. Verse twenty two. Who committed no sin. Nor was deceit found in his mouth.
Who. When he was revived. Did not revile in return. When he suffered. He did not threaten. But committed himself to him. Who judges righteously.
Now let me explain this. Because someone might say. A Christian might say. I just. Cannot submit. To this. Liberal government.
Just can't do it. I cannot submit myself. To this. Anti. Christ. Anti. Christian government. Well. If Jesus can.
You can. And he did. And his government killed him. Do you understand?
Peter didn't throw that little thing about Jesus in there for no reason. He's not digressing. He's not digressing or moving off or chasing a rabbit. This applies to what he's talking and teaching about concerning submission.
To government. Governing authorities. Take Jesus as an example. Jesus did not rebel against his government. Listen. Two governing authorities conspired together to murder Jesus.
Rome and Israel. And yet. He never attacked their rulers. He never led a protest march. He never committed civil disobedience.
He always obeyed the laws. He paid his taxes. Obeyed he was able to get the money out of a fish's mouth. But that's just. That's Jesus. We can't do that. But he paid his taxes.
Jesus. And when they came to arrest him. There in the garden. He went without a fight. Now Peter tried to bring up a little fight there. Jesus stopped that.
He went without a fight. And even during his trial. As they. Violated all rules of law and jurisprudence.
As they. Corrupted the witness stand. With liars and deceivers. Receivers. Peter says. When he was. Abused verbally.
That's what the word. Reviled means. When he was abused. Verbally. He did not. Revile in return. He did not abuse. His accusers.
Verbally. He did not. Return insult for insult. When he suffered. Peter said here. And. Dear people. How he suffered.
He did not. Threaten. That means. He did not. Promise any retaliation.
He did not threaten. Revenge. Upon his. Captures. What did he do? Well this is the most important thing.
Verse 23. Don't. Don't. Don't miss this. He. Committed. Himself. Or.
He. Kept. On. Entrusting. Himself. To whom? To him. You see that in verse 23? This is so important.
He submitted to his authority. Even as they. Lied against him. And. Beat him. And passed.
False. Judgment. All throughout that. He. Kept. On. Entrusting. Himself. To him.
That's God the father. Who. Does what? Judges. Righteously. Judges. Judges. Whom? Well in this context.
He judges. The judges. He judges. The authority. When? Ultimately. That's the idea here.
What Peter means. Verse 13. Submit yourselves. For the Lord's sake. God. Knows. How to square things. In his timing. He may not do it in this life.
For you. You may be falsely accused. There may be a time as Christians. When we'll be thrown into prison again. I don't know. And maybe we'll die there. But God will.
Settle the account. One day. He judges. Righteously. He'll square things. There'll be a day.
I believe very clearly. At the end of the age. At the coming of Christ. When God's church. The true church. The true redeemed of the Lord.
The true bride of Christ. Will be revealed. And we will be at that time. Vindicated. For all the things we claimed. All will see us for who we really are.
And God's wrath will be poured out. Upon those who persecuted us. For Jesus sake. God knows how to deal with travesties of law.
He knows how to do that. When's he going to do it? That's his business. We're just to submit. God knows how to punish those authorities. Who have abused their God-given roles and offices.
He knows how to do that. Third. Very quickly. Submitting yourself to the governing authorities. Gives God all the glory. And that's what we want.
Or should want. He said for the Lord's sake. Not mine. Not my sake.
For the Lord's sake. For him. For his glory. And whatever happens at that point.
Is all up to him. I trust him. As I submit. To my authority. No matter what the authority.
Let me move on to the fourth one. And we'll be finished. Number four. And finally. Submitting yourself to the governing authorities. And this is the one you've been waiting for. Has a limit.
It has a limit. And that too is for the Lord's sake. The very same Peter.
By the way. Who commanded us here. To submit to our governing authorities. That was the same Peter. Who defied. His governing authority. But. Only under a certain circumstance.
Only for a certain reason. Acts chapter four. You don't need to turn to it. Acts chapter four. Verse eighteen. Tells us. The Bible says.
And they. That's the authorities. Called them. And commanded them. That's Peter and John. Commanded them. Not to speak at all. Nor teach. In the name of Jesus. But Peter and John.
Answered. And said to them. Whether it is right. In the sight of God. To listen to you. More than to God. You judge. For we cannot. But speak. The things. Which we have seen. And heard.
And I can skip over there. To chapter five. Acts chapter five. Verse twenty-eight. Did we not strictly command. This is what they said. To Peter and John. Because they went right out. And started preaching again. Did we not strictly command you.
Not to teach in his name. And look. You have filled Jerusalem. With your doctrine. But Peter. And the other apostle. As John. Answered and said. We ought to obey God.
Rather than man. That's the one you've been waiting for. Isn't it? Hold on now. If our government.
Enacted a law. That prohibited the preaching. And sharing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then Christians must disobey that law.
That's very clear. Because. We have a higher law. We have a. A superior commandment. To go into all the world.
And to. Make disciples. Of Christ. And that divine law. Supersedes any man-made law. That might outlaw the proclamation of the gospel.
But now. But now. Wait a minute now. Don't take that too far. If you are. Obeying God.
And proclaiming the gospel. Of Jesus Christ. In the public square. Or wherever it may be. And the authorities come to arrest you. You go with them.
Without a fight. The apostle Paul.
Was arrested. Numerous times. For preaching the gospel. And do you ever remember. Reading that Paul.
Resisted. I hear the wheels turning. Oh yeah. You do read. Of when he fled. But even in those instances.
It was primarily. To flee. Mobs. Who had taken the law. Into their own hands. And his life was threatened. The authorities.
You see. Have no right. Before God. To outlaw preaching. Of the gospel. And Paul did not submit. Peter did not submit.
Jesus did not submit. To that. But. They still have that same law. That same authority. Has the right to arrest. Those. Who disobey their law. And Peter submitted.
To them. Now. Grant you on occasion. Especially in Peter's. Case. God. Kind of superseded. And delivered them. Miraculously.
From the prison jails. And things like that. If God wants to do that for you. He can do that for you. But they submitted. To their authority. And if word reached us right now.
That Congress had just passed a law. That it was illegal for me to preach. That I would continue to preach. This morning. And. I would defy the law.
Because I have a higher law. I would rebel against my government. And if they came to arrest me. I would go with them. I wouldn't lie down here on the floor.
And make them drag me out. In protest. I wouldn't chain myself to this pulpit. In defiance of their right to arrest me. I wouldn't call upon the elders and deacons.
And other able-bodied men. To join me up here. To resist. Those who would try to arrest me. I would have to go with them. I would have to obey the law. Of the land.
Now. You know. Connect this with some of the current events. Taking place today. Now. You may not like this. But I'm telling you. That. A congressman. Or woman. Especially if he or she.
Professes to be a born-again Christian. Has no right before God. To defy. His or her governor. And flee the state. And not do.
Their job. There's no. Right. Within scripture. To disobey God's law. Of the law of this authority. I'm sure we have.
I know we have some teachers in here. But. Christian teachers. Should not abandon their classrooms. And then. Obtain fraudulent.
Excuses. No Christian doctor. Should falsify absentee excuses. You know. For fictitious medical reasons.
And so forth. They're disobeying. Rebelling. Against the laws of the land.
You say. But pastor. You just don't understand the issue. The issue has nothing to do with it. God's. Precept. For his people.
To submit. To the governing authorities. And leave. Judgment to him. Supersedes any issue. Let's remember that.
Very clearly. We live. You know. In a rather unique. Kind of situation. In relation to governing authorities. Don't we? I tell you. Peter didn't know anything about. A civil government.
That we have. And have enjoyed. For nearly all of our history. As a nation. Peter didn't know anything about that. We're the freest nation. In the history of the world.
And we do not. Have to deal. With laws. That force us. To. Directly disobey God. Do we? You say.
Now wait a minute. Pastor. Wait just a minute. Our government. Condones and sponsors. A whole lot of things. That are immoral. And things that are contrary. To biblical teachings. I mean like. You know. And they require.
That we pay taxes. That go to support. Some of these bad things. Like sex education. In the schools. And the handing out. Of contraceptives. To our students. And the national endowment.
For the arts. And Planned Parenthood. And abortion on demand. Don't I. Pastor. Don't I have the. Moral obligation. And therefore. Biblical permission.
To defy my government. And not pay my taxes. No you don't. No you don't.
Listen. Let me remind you. That the first century world. Jesus world. Peter's world. Paul's world.
Was ruled by. A government. That was corrupt. And immoral. To its core. They murdered. Children. Abused women.
Promoted homosexuality. Prosecuted God's people. And persecuted them. Propagated slavery. Forced. Idolatry. On its people.
The very people. They required. And demanded. Taxes from. And they taxed the people. Beyond their limits. So that their gods. Including their Caesars.
Could live. In palatial. Houses. And live. In utter luxury. And Jesus said. Concerning taxes. What? Render. Render.
Under Caesar. What is Caesar's. I know we don't like that. But that's what he said. And Peter said. Or Paul said in Romans 13.
Pay. Taxes. Render therefore. To all their due. Taxes. To whom taxes are due. Customs. Or revenue. To whom revenue is due.
Fear. Or respect. To whom respect is due. And honor. To whom honor. See. We don't refuse. To pay our taxes. As Christians. We don't.
Bomb. Abortion clinics. And murder. Abortion doctors. We don't. Lie. To our employers. And call in sick.
So that we can attend. Some kind of protest march. We obey. The laws. We. Avail ourselves. Certainly. Of the freedoms. That. God has ordained.
That we have. In this great country. We certainly do that. We engage ourselves. In the political process. We had better do that. We have the freedom. To do that. An obligation. To do that. Wonderful privilege.
To do that. We better do that. We communicate. Our biblical views. Through those forums. That are available to us. And we promote. Civil obedience. And peace.
And we pray. For our leaders. And our nation. We pray for them. And we submit ourselves. To the governing authorities. And the laws of this land.
And we do it. For the Lord's sake. For the Lord's sake. Leave. Judgment. To him. Transcription by CastingWords