1. Submission is not a popular word in our society.
a. Everything screams at us to do what WE want, the way WE want it, how WE want it, any way WE want it.
b. It could be something as simple as the slogan, “Have it your way.” Or still another “Just Do It!”
c. And when we hear that, it feeds a selfishness in us that says, “YES… your right what about me? What do I want?”
NOTE: The real question for us is not “What Do I Want?”
• That will lead us nowhere. The question to ask is:
• ‘God, what do you want?’
• And part of the answer that God will give is “SUBMISSION”
IT makes sense to us… we no longer live for ourselves but now we live for God? Flip over to Galatians 2:20
NOTE: That’s what God desires from us… Submission.
• Submission to His will, His ways, His Word.
• Submission in marriage, in singleness, in society.
• Notice v13…
I. (2:13-17) AS A CITIZEN
1. (13-15) Submit yourselves to EVERY ordinance.
a. Therefore submit… the word here means ‘to fall in line’
b. It’s a military word speaking of order & staying in line.
NOTE: YES, A lot of people have a hard time with this.
• It’s not easy for them to accept. Maybe even you struggle here.
NOTE: There are a lot of people who just have a hard time with authority and they like questioning & challenging any authority.
• We’re seeing even the president of our nation challenged in ways that would have never happened 40-60 years ago!
• “But the government is corrupt… it’s out of control”
• It’s leading us into the end times… submit?
• Some say, No way, we’re supposed to overthrow it.
c. But Peter says here to SUBMIT to EVERY ORDINANCE of man for the Lord’s sake.
NOW wait a minute some say, what if the government is wrong and the laws are corrupt? What should we do then?
• I think Peter said it best back in Acts 5 when the religious rulers were forbidding them to preach the gospel.
Acts 5.29 But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men.
This isn’t the only time in the Scriptures that we’re called to obey the laws of the land and submit to governmental authority:
• Look back at Romans 13:1-7 & Jesus in Matthew 22.19-22
WHAT’S REALLY interesting with Peter is that he’s writing to a group of Christians suffering under the evil hand of Nero!
• He wasn’t just a bad or mean leader, he was evil incarnate!
• He came against the church in a very vicious way.
• Peter says submit to the laws of the land. WHY?
Well… he gives us a few reasons. BECAUSE:
#1 – v16a - It’s is the Will of God! Ok, that’s good.
#2 – v16b – It’s a tool to wins souls!
• One of the greatest witnesses to a change life is a life lived in submission to God and in submission to authority!
• It silences the critics & gives an open door for the gospel to be shared when they ask U why you pay your taxes… on time!
2. (16-17) Using our freedom not for ourselves!
a. Yes, you’re free in Christ… oh what wonderful freedom!
b. BUT don’t use your freedom to stumble someone else or to enslave yourself! It’s not for a cloak!
1 Peter 2.16 (NLT) You are not slaves; you are free. But your freedom is not an excuse to do evil. You are free to live as God’s slaves.
FREEDOM is not to be used for ourselves, but for others.
• It’s not to be used as an EXCUSE for our sin, but as an EXAMPLE.
APP: I try to instill in my kids, and with us here as a church.
• If you get good at making excuses. If you’re really working at it and every time something comes you have an excuse.
• If you get good at making excuses, that’s all you’ll be good for!
Someone once said, AN EXCUSE IS the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie”
SO ALTHOUGH we have this tremendous freedom in Jesus Christ.
• It’s not a freedom that we can use to sin, to hurt, or to harm.
• It’s a freedom we exercise in submission to those in authority.
3. (17) A few simple reminders.
#1 – Honor All People: you know we can’t always agree with their words or behaviors, but we can remember that Jesus died so that they might have life. They matter to God.
#2 – Love the Brotherhood: We’re to love all men, but especially those in our spiritual family! – Look back at 1:22
#3 – Fear God: Here’s the key, live with a healthy respect & reverence for God and His will in your life! Glorifying Him becomes our #1 priority. We fear doing anything that would displease Him or misrepresent His love & grace & holiness to others!
#4 – Honor the King: So pastor Peter returns to the submission to human rulers… we are to respect, to submit to all gov’t authority.
• If human laws contradict God’s laws, then we follow God.
• But our time is not to be invested in overthrowing the gov’t, but in overthrowing the kingdom of darkness!
II. (2:18-25) AS AN EMPLOYEE
1. (18-19) Oh yes, submit at work too.
a. 60 millions slaves lived in the Roman Empire.
b. Many of them, attracted to the love of Jesus became Christians. The gospel gave them hope & meaning in life.
c. And Peter’s word to servants? Submit.
d. If you have a good master? Submit. A harsh one? Submit.
NOW in our society, praise God there is no more slavery!
• But the application from this section is clear to employees.
• Yes it’s one thing to submit to the government, but now let’s bring it home a little… really let’s go to work!
NOTE: Work is where it’s at! Where what’s at?
• Work is the theater of God. His movie screen if you will.
• AND Who’s the main attraction? Who’s the star? YOU!
• Work is where the world watches…
• Work is where the Christian is on display.
YOU SEE with all the stress & strains, all of the tensions & tests…
• As you face the deadlines and the demands…
• The world gets to see one of Jesus’ own in action!
• Why don’t you let that bother you… they think.
• Why do you work so hard… they wonder.
• OUR WORK IS OUR OPPORTUNITY TO WITNESS…
• Yet it’s not what they see, it’s what HE SEES.
SO WHAT’S BEFORE US is a matter of our perspective…
• Is work a place of drudgery & pain?
• Or is it a place worship & devotion?
NOTE: Someone coined the phrase: MONDAY MOANING.
• Rather than getting up charged and ready to run off to work…
• Oh, man, I hate Mondays… Oh God please bring on Friday.
• I’m waiting for the weekend… I don’t like my job, I don’t like my work, I don’t like my boss, I don’t….
• Monday Moanings, Monday Miseries, Monday Madness
“OH ED… you’re out of touch man. I wish I had you’re job.”
• You work IN THE MINISTRY… You work with the angels, you’re in the Bible, you get to pray, everyday all day.
• No problems, No hassles, No stress, No nothing!
• I mean what DO YOU DO Ed?!!! What exactly is your job?
• I bet Monday’s you’re out golfing. Tuesdays Tennis. Wednesdays Bike Riding. Thursdays Video Games.
• That’s not true… I don’t ride bikes!
• 45 minutes of teaching… Man, you’ve got it made!
• You work for the LORD!
• You’re in the Sacred places and I’m in the Secular world…
• It’s hard being a Christian in the REAL WORLD…
Q: Did you know the Bible never makes that separation?
Col. 3.22-24 Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. 23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
Whatever we do… God is using us to draw people to His Son…
Everything you touch is sacred, set apart for the Master’s use!
John 12.32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself."
Even if, v19, your workplace is wearisome & your boss is a bully!
• Not NOT EVEN, but ESPECIALLY if… look at v20:
2. (20-25) Why submit at work?
a. Look, you’re on display when things are wrong.
b. Suffering because you deserve it brings no glory to God!
NOTE: If you deserve it then what is that really in the eyes of God?
• You can’t say, well I’m in a serious trial at work.
• Really, why? Because I yelled at my boss and ripped up a report right in His face! YEH!!!
• Hey, that’s no trial, it’s something you brought on yourself.
• Return, Repent, and Restore that relationship!
BUT if someone says something about you, against you, tries to overthrow or undercut you… you get overlooked or underpaid.
• Hey, you find favor with God.
• Listen guys, listen closely. Don’t throw in the towel so quickly if you did what was right and now you’re in trouble!
• No stand strong not in your own strength, but in the power of Jesus that is in you! Notice v21… the example!
NOTE: Jesus, He’s done everything for us!
• We were like sheep, going astray, but now we are with the shepherd and if we’re obeying the shepherd…
• Sometimes that just hurts… and we’re treated wrongfully.
Jesus… V22… He committed no sins, no deceit was in His mouth.
Jesus… v24, Himself bore our sins. Why?
• So that we might die to sin, die to ourselves, our agendas, our feelings, our wills, our desires…
• And life for what is Right as a vessel for Jesus to use in a world that so desperately needs Him.
• First the cross… then the crown guys.
It was William Penn who said, “No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory, no glory; no cross, no crown.
And it was Jesus that taught us: TURN THERE…
John 16.31-33 (NLT) Jesus asked, "Do you finally believe? 32 But the time is coming--in fact, it is already here--when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. 33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world."
