Sermon Brief
Date Written: October 13, 2007
Date Preached: October 14, 2007
Where Preached: OZHBC (PM)
Sermon Details:
Sermon Series: A Study in 1 Peter
Sermon Title: Living Out Our Faith Thru Submission!
Sermon Text: 1 Peter 2:18-25
Introduction:
Over the past several weeks in our study here in 1 Peter I have stressed the importance of living our faith out loud in the world around us… tonight I want us to look at living out loud our faith… through being submissive where we are supposed to be submissive!
As believers we are called by God to submit to Him, but also to submit to how He desires us to live our lives. For many of us submission is an ugly word that strips away all of our dignity and self-respect, but when we submit as Christ has called us to submit… just the opposite occurs!
When the believer relents control over his own life and submits to the control of the Holy Spirit and the control of God’s plan and purposes, what really happens is freedom! The paradox of serving as God has called us to serve is that we are freed by our submission!
The believer is called to be holy as Christ in heaven is holy, we are called to live as Christ lived, we are called to obey the commandments of Christ! In Matthew 28:20 (NKJV) Jesus told His disciples, “…teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age…”
You may say, I know all these things pastor, what do they have to do with living my faith out loud through submission! Well Jesus told His disciples that they would have to submit enable to serve in the kingdom.
Here in Matthew, we find Christ teaching them to teach others to observe ALL things that I have commanded you… Observing God’s commandments goes a great deal deeper than merely learning God’s commandments!
We must DO what Christ has commanded. Christ has commanded that we become a living sacrifice, perfect and holy and acceptable to God. For us to do this we have to learn HOW to observe the commandments of Christ…
Paul shares on many occasions that he believed himself to be a bondslave of Christ… a servant… fully submitted to God’s plan! And Paul calls all believers to submit in the same manner as Christ did on the Cross of Calvary! If the perfect Lamb of God can submit to the plan of the Father, surely we can submit to the plan of the Father as well!
After Christ bowed in submission to the will of the Father, we find that He was not debased, but He was exalted and lifted up! He was not put to shame but God gave Him the name that is above all names and that one day at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord!
So tonight as I begin to teach about submitting to the plan of God, we need to understand that when we submit to God’s plan, God is going to honor and bless our service and submission to Him.
We may suffer here in this world, as Jesus did, but we will be rewarded and exalted one day! So submission is something all believers should be striving for!
So turn with me this evening to 1 Peter 2:18-25 and let us read about what God desires of His children when it comes to living our faith out loud through submission to God’s plan and purposes!
18 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. 19 For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. 21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 22 “ Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”; 23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
(v.18-20)
18 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh, 19 for this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God…
It is difficult for us to relate to this verse in today’s society because we simply cannot conceive in our minds… the mindset of a slave or a slave society! And because of this it makes it hard for this verse to relate to our lives!
Well in the 1st century there were millions upon millions of slaves in the Roman Empire… wherever Rome conquered… they created slave states and some of the citizens were transported to other parts of the Empire to work for the Empire OR were sold to people to work for individuals.
Slavery was NOT necessarily a bad thing in the 1st century as many slaves were accountants and doctors and businessmen… and many slaves in Roman society lived in the house of the master! Slavery then was NOT like slavery was in the deep South in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries!
But even with that information it is still very difficult for us to imagine slavery or even comprehend it, so I am going to attempt to put this verse in a more contemporary setting so that we can all fully understand what God is telling us in this passage!
How many of you here have ever had a J.O.B.? How many of you have ever had a BOSS at that J.O.B.? Well if you have ever had a job, then you have had a boss, and even though this is NOT the same as slavery…it comes mighty close!
You may say, well my boss doesn’t ‘own’ me… I can quit and go anywhere, anytime I want! Well technically that is true, but how many of us find ourselves in a place where we feel ‘trapped’ in our job… kind of like a slave would be ‘trapped’ into service to his master?
With that in mind, let’s look at this verse one more time... When we look at this verse from this perspective it is saying, “Employees be submissive to your Employers!...even those bosses that are BAD BOSSES!”
So often we have NO problem being submissive to the boss when he treats us good and fair, but when our boss is ugly and mean, we find it terribly difficult to submit to his authority.
But not only are we to submit in a general sense, we are to submit in all facets of our service to our boss… let’s face it he is the boss because the company has placed him in that position, so in serving the company, we are actually serving the boss!
What about times when the boss is hard on you and maybe even disciplines you? Well God’s word shares with us that we are to be submissive in discipline regardless of whether we deserve it or not!
It is easier to submit to discipline when we know we have done something wrong, but when it comes our way when we have NOT done anything wrong… WOW! That is a hard thing to do!
But God’s plan for the life of the believer is to be submissive (not passive and weak) but submissive in the fear of the Lord to those ‘masters’ in our lives! Be submissive when they are good to you… be submissive when they are bad to you… be submissive when they correct you… be submissive when their correction is NOT warranted!
We need to remember what the Apostle Paul said about believers working for others… Paul relates that believers are actually NOT working for their employers but are working for God! Do all you do in the fear of the Lord as if Christ Himself was your boss! If Christ was your boss, could you submit to His discipline?
God has called us to submit to the ‘masters’ in our lives. We may not fully understand His plan or why we have to submit as He has called us to do, but we need to remember that God’s ways are NOT our ways… we are called to submit and we need to be obedient to God’s calling on our lives!
Peter uses v.21-25 to clarify WHY we are called to be submissive to God’s plan in our lives. It is here, in these verses, that we find Peter actually giving us a template for not only submission, but really ALL Christian behavior… because we are called to follow the example of Christ…let’s read what he has to say!
(v.21-25)
21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 22 “ Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth” [reveals that Calvary was an act of unjust suffering]; 23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten [remember what the Prophets and other godly men had told those who persecuted them…that God’s vengeance be poured out of them…but Jesus had taught not to do this but to actually pray for those who abuse you and revile you…], but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously [Jesus understood His role…it was not judge (at this time) but Savior, and that in due time God would prevail…]; 24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
I want us to notice what Peter says in the 1st part of v.21, “…for to this you were called…” what is the ‘this’ that Peter is talking about? The ‘this’ is our willingness and obedience in submission to God’s calling on our lives!
We are called to submit to God’s great plan for this world! We are called to do this because Christ was 1st called to submit and suffer because of His submission! Christ has given us a blueprint for obedience and submission to God!
Jesus was submissive, yet He was ridiculed and mocked by the ‘popular people’ of the day (religious leaders)! Jesus was obedient and submissive, yet He suffered greatly at the injustice of people who treated Him unfairly. And in the eyes of the world, Jesus was debased and viewed as something beneath them…
But we find that because of the submission of Christ to the plan of the Father, we can now know salvation! Because of His submission and obedience God exalted Him to a higher level! We are called to ‘submit’ as Christ submitted!
Peter reminds these believers that they are part of God’s family now and that they have been called to a new way of life… a life of submissive obedience that will bring about suffering!
Peter reminds them that they were once like sheep with NO shepherd and lost and could not find their way… but because Christ was submissive to the plan of the Father, they now had found their way because Christ had led them out of their ‘spiritual’ wilderness!
Do you remember the Garden of Gethsemane? It was there where Christ fully submitted to the plan of the Father and resolved Himself to do what He was called to do…
When Christ fully submitted to the will of the Father…
When Jesus was totally submissive to what God desired for Him…
We find that this is when Christ was able to face His captors and accusers with a godly dignity. V.23 tells us that, “…when He was reviled, [He] did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously…”
When we fully submit to the will of the Father…
When we are totally submissive to what God desires for our lives…
We will find that we are able to face whatever the world throws our way, and when we are abused, we do not return that abuse… when we suffer, we do not look at those causing our suffering and threaten them…
When we are focused on being submissive we are willing to fully and totally commit to Him… because we know in our hearts that God will judge ALL peoples on that final day, those who have reviled and rejected Him are going to be punished and put to shame! But to those who have accepted and submitted to Him, God is going to judge them as righteous and blameless on that final day…and they will not be put to shame!
CONCLUSION:
Tonight, where are you? Are you willing to be submissive in ANY area of your life? Are you willing to submit to that mean and abusive boss at work, even though you know you don’t deserve it!
I know that it is human nature to NOT want to submit, especially to someone we believe is in the wrong… but I can guarantee you that when you submit to that boss at work… God is going to honor it and bless it!
As believers we must realize that submission is NOT an option but a command of Christ! Are you submitting in your life today? As bro jerry comes let’s stand and if you are not submitting in your walk with God I call on you to come forward and make your surrender to God tonight…come as we begin to sing!
