Let's open in prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for this gathering. And Lord, in this assembly tonight, may the Holy Spirit guide us and teach us as we continue to work through this section and how we're to conduct our lives in relation to so many things. And Lord, help us to see the text tonight and understand it and have the right interpretation and then have the right application in our lives. We'll ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, we're in the section of 2.11 through 25, which is the conduct of believers in relation to three things with Christ as the example. So the first thing about the conduct of believers is found in relation to daily living in 2.11 and 2.12. We've already looked at that. Last week we looked at the believer's conduct in relation to government, 2.13 through 2.17. And the third section in relation to masters, 218 through 20, and then he'll close this section out with Christ as the example, 221 through 25. We should be able to get through the third section there, 218 through 20 tonight. So let's read 218 through 25. which says, servants be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor if for the sake of conscience toward God, a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it, and you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example to follow in his steps. Now, speaking of Christ, 222 through 25, he says, who committed no sin. So there's a passage that deals with the sinlessness of Christ, his impeccability. Nor was there any deceit found in his mouth. And while being reviled, he didn't revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. So he entrusted himself to the father. He himself bore our sins in his own body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. For by his wounds, you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. So they have this Jewish remnant who has believed in Christ's return, but we're still waiting for the national return of Israel in the future when they'll be restored by Jesus in the kingdom. So now we come to the servant's conduct in relation to masters, that section in 2, 18 through 20. So let's look at verse 18. a little more carefully. It says, servants be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. Well, there's a lot of words to look at here. First of all, we have the word servants. Typically, you'll see the word doulos for a slave or a servant, not the word we have here. We have oikotes. Oikotes, it comes from a noun, oikos, which means house. And this word means a domestic servant or a household slave. It's used several times in scripture. But not the word doulos that we've been encountering earlier and in other parts of scripture, a more common word. When he speaks of these slaves or servants, most of us will never find ourselves in this slave-master relationship like they had in the first century. So what kind of an application could you at least draw from it? Yeah, employer, employee. I think there's principles that would apply, though there may not be a one-for-one exact relationship with a boss in a company today as there would a slave-master relationship. But there's some parallels that we could, I think, bring into application. So notice he says here, servants be submissive to your masters. Now, the word submissive is the word hupotasso. This is a typical Greek word meaning to obey or submit. It means to submit to the authority of another. And so we have, this word occurs several times in scripture. The Bible in Ephesians 5 says, we're to submit to one another. And then it says, wives submit to your husbands. And so you have that section in Ephesians 5. So we can submit to one another in humble servanthood. Wives have a special role to submit to their own husband. You'll find this word used in this way of submission every time you see it in scripture. And then he says, servants be submissive to your masters. This is an interesting word, masters despotis. Despotis is where we get despot. But a despotis is a master or one who possesses supreme authority. Or as some would say, just a despot. So there's the word masters. Anyone know the other word for master in scripture, in the New Testament? It's even used of Jesus. How about kurios? You ever heard of that word? That's a word that's also translated Lord or master. And that word can either be used for God, who is the absolute Lord, or it can be used for a human Lord. Remember Sarah called Abraham Lord, obviously not deity, but Jesus is the Lord Jesus Christ. So he is deity. This word goes both ways as well. It could be used of human masters. It's also used of Jesus. Revelation 6.10, 2 Peter 2.1, and Jude 4. Remember, the book of Jude will parallel 2 Peter 2. When you're reading Jude, you think you're reading 2 Peter 2, or the other way around. Very similar in their theology. So when we get done with 2 Peter, we're going to go look at the short book of Jude, one chapter, but it'll be pretty fresh in our minds after coming out of 2 Peter. But I want to do all the Jewish epistles, and then I guess I have to get to Hebrews next, right? Because we've done James, 1 Peter, we're going to do Jude. and then we'll attack the simple book of Hebrews. That's a tough book, but we'll look at that. But look at how this, I underlined it in blue. Every time the word despotis shows up for Jesus, Revelation 6.10 translates it Lord, but it is the same word as we find in 1 Peter. So Revelation 6.10 says of Jesus Christ, they cried out with a loud voice saying, how long O Lord despotis, referring to Christ, holy and true, will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell the earth. So again, Jesus is the ultimate master, the one who has supreme authority, which obviously ties into his sovereignty. 2 Peter 2.1. That'll be a while before we get there, but it says, false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, so among believers in our dispensation, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, and then it says, even denying the master who bought them. bringing swift destruction upon themselves. So Jesus here is called the despotes, the master who bought them. And that word bought is the Greek word for redemption. So Jesus paid the redemption price. And I would argue here, some don't agree, but I think Jesus even paid for those who reject him. So what doctrine would that support? Yeah, unlimited atonement. This is often used to support that, that even those who reject Jesus, he still paid the purchase price even for those who don't believe, all men. So there's a long list of verses that are used for unlimited atonement, and this is one of them that is thrown in there. Jude 4 uses it of Christ. For certain persons have crept in and noticed that those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny, are only despotes, our master and Lord Jesus Christ. I didn't look up the word Lord. I forgot to do that today. I was gonna do that, and I think, I'm pretty sure that's gonna be kurios there, but clearly master is despotes. So the synonym kurios is often translated lord or master and can be used for God and also human masters. Zodiotes, Greek lexicon, they made a distinction between despotes and kurios. They said kurios is lord or master, despotes actually wields unlimited authority, while kurios exercises morally restricted authority for good. Jesus is predominantly called kurios, Lord, because of his omnipotent concern. God is kurios, Lord, because he is despotes of all things. So Jesus is Lord. He has the highest authority because he is God. Now, often, just to kind of an aside, when you get to the word kurios, That will often translate in the Septuagint the word Yahweh. And so I think Yahweh, that's the name that only belongs to God in the Hebrew Bible. No one shares that name but deity. And so when Jesus is called the Lord Jesus Christ, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, he uses kurios there. This is a statement of his deity. And what gospel would you use out of the four to prove the deity of Christ better than all of them? If you had one to pick, John, John is your book that's really gonna focus on the deity of Christ. We're gonna talk more about Lord on Sunday morning because there's one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and that's the word kurios. We're gonna have to do some work on that because I think that refers to Christ. So our passage, servants be submissive to your masters with all respect, and not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. So this passage again describes the servant-master relationship. Now we noticed this when we studied Philemon, but we looked at some background on Roman slavery in the first century and maybe a little bit before. There's a lot of history on slavery in Rome and they had quite a practice of it in the time the Bible was written or when Peter writes this in the first century AD. Dr. Dan Wallace of Dallas Seminary said this, he says, as much as, now some argue about the percentage, some think it's too high, but I know it was very high, no matter what percentage you hold to, but he says, as much as two-thirds of the Roman Empire were slaves before the first century, it was actually as high as 90%. By the first century AD, an increasingly large number of slaves were being freed, So much that Caesar had to write up laws that govern the procedure. So in the first century, when you start talking about the slave-master relationship, this said something to this culture. They found themselves in these relationships. And who else said a lot about this? The slave-master relationship. Remember that man named, I think it's Paul? Maybe we ought to go through some of these scriptures. Now remember, apart from the slave-master relationship, slaves and masters didn't really associate with each other. But when both groups became believers in Christ through the gospel, what ends up happening? Well, now they're going to Christian congregations and they're meeting each other. Do you think there's going to be a problem there? And maybe some arrogance or some pride in relation to those relationships and who's better and who's not? So the scripture has a lot to say about that. Go to Colossians. So I have Colossians 3.22-4.1. Ephesians 6, 5-9 and Galatians 3, 26-28. We might as well turn to these. Turning Bible pages keeps you focused. We'll start in Colossians, which Paul writes all these books, including Philemon. And Colossians and Ephesians are close together, so we'll go to Colossians first and then jump over to Ephesians. Colossians 3.22, slaves, he says, this is Doulas, and all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. So you're doing, you're obeying your master for the Lord's sake. Then in 4.1, Masters, remember he picks on them too, masters grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a master in heaven. And when you look at the slave master relationship in the Old Testament, hey, the master, the owner could not abuse, under the law of God, could not abuse the servant. Same thing in the New Testament. Look at Ephesians. After he speaks about marriage in Ephesians 5, 22 through 33, he'll then go into the relationship of children and parents in the first four verses, and then he goes into the slave master relationship. So Ephesians 6, 5, again, he starts with slaves, doulos, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh. In other words, you're human masters. with fear and trembling, in sincerity of your heart as to Christ." In other words, all these relationships, whether they're marriage, family, in your job relationship, a slave-master relationship, Christ is always the center. He says, not by way of eye service as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. So wouldn't a master still have a master? He still has to follow Jesus Christ, his new master, after putting his faith in him. Verse seven, with goodwill, render service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. And masters do the same thing to them and give up threatening not, or excuse me, give up threatening knowing that both their master and yours is in heaven. So whether you're in a slave master relationship, no matter who you are, the slave or the master, you both belong to God and you're to submit to him. And then he says, because there's no partiality with him. So don't be partial. Either way, whether you're the slave or the master, you have to be humble. And then you have the book of Philemon. Well, hold on. I left Galatians out, let's look at it. Because it does mention, let me get over there. because it does bring up the slave or free man. Again, this would have been a very important thing to have understood in the first century. Verse 26, you're all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. What don't we understand about all? Well, he makes it clear, you are all, again, he uses the word all, meaning every believer, you are all baptized into Christ, or for all of you who were baptized into Christ, this would be spirit baptism at the moment of faith alone and Christ alone. You have clothed yourself with Christ, so like a garment you've put him on. So when you believed in Jesus Christ, Christ, by means of the Holy Spirit, identified you or baptized you into the body. So now you're a member of His body, and now you've put Him on. Verse 28, there's neither Jew nor Greek, but aren't there still Jews and Gentiles, even though you're one in Christ? Yes, a Jew is still a Jew, a Gentile is still Gentile, but he's making the point that we're all equally or spiritually equal in the body. There's neither male nor female. So there aren't men and women anymore? Of course there are. But the distinction of gender doesn't make anyone more in Christ than the other. That's the point. We're all equally in Christ no matter the gender. Then he says, slave or free, after Jew and Greek. So were there still those in the slave position and the free position? Yes, but we're equally in Christ and we need to treat each other in that way. And then he says again, for you're all one in Christ Jesus. So the unity of all the members of the body, which we talked about Sunday morning. And then the book of Philemon, which is at the bottom of the slide. Remember, Paul wrote an entire letter to Philemon appealing to him to accept his runaway slave Onesimus back as a brother in Christ, because Onesimus had come to faith. Paul sends him back to his owner and says, treat him as a beloved brother. And Paul appealed to that. He said, I want you to do it from your own heart. Now think about it, if you were a slave that escaped from your master, would going home be an easy thing to do? You better have a loving master. And so Paul appeals to him on that basis. And so you see a lot of scripture dealing with this subject. And then Peter brings it up. Here's one I don't think I've brought up in a long time. 1 Timothy, which Paul wrote to Pastor Timothy. One of what we call the pastoral epistles, 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus. But 1st Timothy 6, 1 and 2, Paul says to Timothy, all who are under the yoke as slaves, there's doulos, are to regard their own masters, there's despotes, our word in 1st Peter. So the slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor or respect so that the name of our God and our doctrine will not be spoken against. So living properly in the slave master relationship will bring honor to God. And Peter's saying the same thing. Verse two, those who have believers as their masters, So if your master is saved, he must not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren, but must serve them all the more. Why? Because those who partake of the benefit are believers and beloved. And then he says, teach and preach these principles. So over and over, this is emphasized in scripture. So notice there is a call for slaves to obey their masters. but also the constant warning for masters not to abuse their authority over the slave. This was true in the Old Testament. It's true in the Church Age epistles. You know, the more I looked at this, I think the only way these mandates could be applied properly would have to be from the divine perspective of Jesus Christ. You would have to have that to be able to do it. Our hearts are just so arrogant and we have such a problem with humility. that when somebody's over us, we resent it. If somebody's over somebody, they get haughty. They can't balance that very well. So who may I go to probably the best to get that perspective? And where? How about Mark? Let's blow the dust off of Mark a little bit. Go to Mark 10. It's probably large enough to read, but go ahead and turn over there. When Jesus walked the earth, he talked about the slave-master relationship in the world, and not even among believers, just how it is. And then he called them to service, humble service, and then he says, because I'm the humble servant. By the way, when you study the four Gospels, Most, all four of them have a strong perspective, a highlight. So Matthew's gonna highlight Jesus the what? What does he focus on the most? No, Matthew. King, yeah, Jesus the King. Mark is gonna focus on Jesus the servant. Luke, the son of man. Some have even said the Lord of the Sabbath. But he's son of man and then, John is son of God. He's deity. But Mark really focuses on Jesus, the servant. And remember, the book of Isaiah, in the context of the larger section of chapters 40 through 66, speaks of Jesus, the servant of Yahweh, the suffering servant. But Mark 10, 42 through 45, look what Jesus said to his believing disciples. In verse 42, he called them to himself and he said to them, you know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their great men exercise authority over them. Now, even Peter, what did he say in first Peter five? Pastors are not to do what? Lord their authority over the congregation. Do they have it? Yes. Anyone who's been given divinely delegated authority has it just because God says that's the position. but we're never to lord it over anybody. A marriage, a husband has authority over the wife, but he's not to lord that over her, even though he has the position. I think there's something about humility we have to recognize, and the Gentile rulers do lord it over them. He says, their great men exercise authority over them. Verse 43, but it is not this way among you believers. Whoever wishes to become great shall have a bunch of servants. Good, somebody looked up. No, he says, those who wish to become great among you shall be your servant. So greatness in this world is not being served, it's the one who serves. And whoever wishes to be first among you shall be the slave of all. So what are we to one another? We are all servants or slaves of one another. That's just the way it is and that's the way it should be. Do all actually live that out? No, but we should. So whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. Didn't the disciples ask a lot, who's the greatest in the kingdom? They keep asking this question and Jesus keeps telling them it's the humble person, the servant. Then he closes with himself. For even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. So he would come to serve, which he did his whole life. His whole three-year public ministry was one of service. but also he would go to the cross to bear the sins of the world. I think the ultimate demonstration of humble servanthood. Remember Ephesians 2.8, he humbled himself even to the point of death, the death of a cross. So he pays the ransom price for the sinner. So Peter heard these words. He writes 1 Peter, and he seems to now have it understood, but in the meantime, did he struggle? I think he did. I'll take you to John 13, let's go there. I didn't look up the chronology of Mark 10 versus John 13, but I'm gonna put John 13 after Mark 10 because John 13 is in the upper room when they're having the Passover meal before Jesus dies. So Peter has heard the words of humble servanthood and Jesus had taught him. He's about to give his life as a ransom for many on the next day. But at the Passover meal, which celebrated the Jews coming out of Egypt and by putting the blood of the Passover lamb over the door, now the Passover lamb is having the meal that commemorates himself with his disciples. And so we'll get up to these two verses here, but in John 13 one, Now, before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come, that he would depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And during the supper, the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray him. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come forth from God and was going back to God, he got up from the supper, laid aside his garments, and taking a towel, he girded himself. Then he poured water into a basin and he began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with a towel with which he was girded. So he comes to Simon Peter. Now watch Peter's struggle. Has he heard about the greatest as the one who serves? Yes, and look what happens. He comes to Peter and he said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? Now what is he thinking? I mean, obviously you're the Lord, not the servant, especially the menial task in a home of washing the feet of a guest. And that's exactly what Jesus is doing. So what's he teaching him? Obviously humble servanthood. Jesus answered and said to him, what I do, you don't realize now, but you will understand hereafter. I think he should understand now at this point, but he doesn't. So Peter said to him, and now watch how strong he gets. In the Greek, it's very emphatic. You shall never in any way wash my feet. Now Jesus gets his attention with this. He said to him, if I don't wash you, you'll have no part with me. Now that's under a lot of interpretation of what part means. Some think it means you won't be saved. I don't think that's what he means at all. I think it deals with the word meros there does refer to an inheritance. Or it could just mean you won't participate in fellowship with me. I think those are your two best options. Now, so far, did you see the word wash? Verse six has it. Verse eight, you never shall wash my feet. Jesus says, if I don't wash you, you'll have no part with me. Every time that's the word nipto. Nipto means to wash. Keep your eye on that. So clearly Peter has a problem with understanding Jesus being this humble servant. And then Simon Peter said to him after that statement in verse eight, Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head. Again, nip toe to wash. But now what did he say to wash? Everything, head to toe. Then Jesus said, he who is bathed, only needs to wash his feet because he is completely clean and you are all clean, plural, but not all of you. So who's not clean? Judas. So Nipto every time, wash feet, wash feet, wash feet. And then Jesus said, after Peter wants the whole body bathed, he says, you've already had a bath. You only need your feet washed. Now, this is my interpretation of this. In Exodus 29 and also chapter 30, the priest washed one time to initiate into service. Subsequently, to serve in the tabernacle, before he could go back into the tabernacle itself, what did he have to wash in? His hands and his feet in that bronze basin with water called the laver. If he didn't do that and he skipped that step, what happened? God would kill him dead. And I still don't know if in history if anyone thought, I'm kind of sleepy, I think I'll just skip the labor today. You don't want to do that. I mean, God says, I will kill you. He's said it more than once. And so they wash their hands and their feet. Why? Because they're going into the presence of a holy God to minister. But he's already had the one-time washing. So Jesus says to Peter, you've already been bathed. Perfect tense, it's a past completed action. He switches from niptoe to wash to the word bath, luo. What would the bath be then in verse 10? Wouldn't that be salvation? You're completely clean. through faith in Christ, I think that's what he's saying. So what does a believer need to do? Does he need to get resaved, rebathed? You only do that one time. But how many times do you need to wash your feet? In terms of when you sin, you get your feet dirty, you need cleansing. Just like the priest before he goes in to minister before a holy God, he needs cleansing too. Well, that could be quite often. If you don't let me wash your feet, you'll have no part with me. I think fellowship with God requires that. Again, I would argue 1 John 1, 9 is our foot washing. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We don't literally go through a foot washing, but when we confess our sins to God, we're now cleansed. But it's not salvation cleansing. We already have that. We've already had the bath. You can't ever be bathed twice. That's how I'm kind of going beyond my scope here. Again, this humble servanthood relationship, the Bible demands it, Jesus taught it, he demonstrates it, and Peter still is struggling. But you get past this and Jesus goes to the cross, lays down his life humbly, raises from the dead, goes back to the Father, and he starts to understand this. By the time he writes 1 and 2 Peter, I think he's, as they say, by Joe, I think he's got it. So principle. Submitting to authority as the servant requires humility. Also, being the master requires humble servanthood. So can somebody be the boss of a company and still a servant? You have to learn how to do that. Some people think it's contradictory. It's not. You can still serve those who serve you. Jesus did. And he's the living God, so we don't have a better example than him. So now we're in the 1st Peter, years later, Peter's writing this by the Holy Spirit. And he understands. I think he's got some balance now. So back to 1st Peter 2.18. It gives clarification on the extent of the submission in the slave master relationship. It says, servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle. Oh, not that last part. but also to those who are unreasonable. It's kind of like we're supposed to love all, no matter who they are, right? Even the unlovable? Oh, come on, God. No, he says them too. So not just the good and gentle, but also those who are unreasonable. So I really wanted to focus, the word good is kalas, a common word for good, or gentle is the other word. But the word unreasonable, this word unreasonable is scolios. What word do you think we get from that, or what malady? Scoliosis, the curvature of your spine. The word means to be crooked or bent. Bent or warped from dryness, so it was used of wood, because when wood gets moist and then temperature changes and so forth, it can warp. But it has a figurative use. I mean, don't we use the word crook figuratively? Oh, he's a crook, meaning he's a thief. He's crooked, he doesn't walk straight, meaning his character's bad or something. So they had a figurative use of this, which meant crooked, perverse, or wicked. Peter used this word actually himself at Pentecost. In Acts 2.40, look what he called the nation Israel. He describes the Jews who demanded Jesus to be crucified, this whole generation that put him to death. After the Holy Spirit comes upon them and the apostles start speaking in tongues or other languages, Peter goes into this long dialogue with the men of Israel in that chapter, the Jews, at the wheat harvest there at Pentecost, explaining that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah whom they killed. He says, you nailed him to a cross, even though it was God's predetermined plan, you're still guilty. And so after using all these Old Testament quotes to prove that Jesus is the Messiah, Acts 2.37, they were cut to the heart, and they said, what shall we do? My interpretation of that, since Luke is writing this, he's writing the words of Peter. In Luke, when somebody says, what shall we do? I think they're already believers. And the reason I believe that is because in Luke 3, when they're being baptized for repentance by John the Baptist, Luke is the only one that records that men came to him asking questions. And they all start with, what shall we do? Remember the soldiers? What shall we do? Well, don't take anything by force. The tax collectors come. What shall we do? What do you say? Yeah, don't rip people off in the modern day. That's how you get to heaven? No, that was repentance. They said, come back and obey the law. Obey God and get the blessing of the land. So, they're all asking, what shall we do? I think they're already believers. Now they're repenting. So, remember tax collectors? They couldn't even charge interest on a Jew. And what had Zacchaeus done by Luke 19? He had charged interest on the Jews, and so what does he do? He gives everything back. He says, if I've ripped anybody off, I pay you back. And Jesus said, salvation's come to this house. He's not saying the man got saved because he paid people back. I don't think that's the theology. But Luke records people asking, what shall we do in repentance? Well, what does Acts 2.37 say? They were cut to the heart. What shall we do? What was Acts 2.38? Peter said, repent and be baptized. That's what they were doing in the Jordan in Luke 3 and also Matthew 3. And you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and the remission of sins, which was the new covenant forgiveness for the nation Israel in Jeremiah 31, 31 through 34. So they had come to faith. Now they're repenting. They want to go back and do what God said. These are Jews. They knew they should be going back to obey God. And then how many got baptized? 3,000 got baptized in one day. Could you imagine being the guy that had to baptize 3,000? I don't think it says that he had any help. Maybe he did. But I do know guys that have gone to Israel, and they say around the temple there are mikvahs, these pools that have steps where you can go in and out. And there's a bunch of them all around the temple. And some of them are probably gone now by this time in history, but a bunch of them are still remaining. And it was Robbie Dean that shared this with me, showed me those slides, which I have shown you. But he said, there's where he baptized all those people. But how long did that take to run? I mean, look at this pool. It's something like that, where you walk in, you can walk out the other side. But to do 3,000 people, that's a lot. But they came to faith and now they're doing the baptism of repentance, just like Luke three taught. And now Peter says about them, to them, with many other words, he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, these now Jewish believers, be delivered or saved from this crooked generation. Who is that? The Jews who have rejected Christ, crucify him, he's wicked, let his blood be on our head and our kids' heads and so forth. And so he called them crooked, stay away from them. Why though? Because the hammer's gonna fall. And Jesus said that not one stone will be left on another in the temple. Remember before he entered Jerusalem? Well, who's gonna do that? Roman, 40 years from the day Jesus was crucified in 30 AD, Nisan the 14th, on Passover. He dies on the day of the festival. Forty years later, the Romans come in and do that. And so he says, get out of the way, the hammer's going to fall. Now that you put your faith in Christ, don't associate with them, because they're under judgment. Paul will talk about, he'll use skolios to describe the world of the first century. And he told the Christians at Philippians 2.15, so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a skolios, a crooked and perverse generation. Diastrephos, the word perverse there, but a crooked generation among whom you appear as lights in the world. So do you see what our job is? We're to take God's word, live it out, reflect the light of Christ, because Christ is the light of the world. His word is light. And therefore, when we take Jesus's word and live it out, we're shining light to the world. And so that's what Paul tells us to do. He even said in Ephesians 5.8, you were once darkness, unsaved. Now you're light in the Lord, you're saved. So walk as a child of light. Well, how do you do that? You obey the word and it shines light to the darkness, into the darkness. Hey, and every time light hits dark, what happens to darkness? It goes away. Just turn a light bulb on anywhere and it gets light. So 1 Peter 2.18, servants be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are gentle and good, but also those who are unreasonable. So believers are to obey and submit to their, in our day, I would say employers, masters in that time, even if they're unreasonable. So have you ever had a boss that was harsh, maybe a little overbearing, unlikable? I had a boss, a very short time. If you're in the business world for 20 years, you're going to have a bunch of them. There's something about going into management. It's like becoming a head coach of a football team. Your time is short. I told one of the guys in my company, he was thinking about management. I said, do you want to leave the company? You'll be gone in five years. They fire everyone in management. Being a salesman, if you're good and successful, then you'll probably keep your job. And sure enough, he took the job, and within three years, they got rid of him. And I thought he was doing a great job, but anyway. But I had a boss one time that, I mean, I remember he warned on the, when he became the boss, he warned on the first sales meeting, if you're one minute late, you're fired. And I think he meant it. And he yelled it, though. I mean, why do you have to scream it as loud as you can scream? I mean, it's like, wow. And if you ever questioned anything, the way he would yell at you, I was a horrible management style. It was total fear. That was my opinion. But should I have submitted to him? Should I have said, nah, I'm going to be late now? What if he would have fired me? Oh, I'm suffering for Jesus. No, he told me to be on time and I need to be on time. I thought he was unreasonable sometimes, overbearing and harsh, but I was supposed to submit to that. So maybe you have those similar conditions. How about if your boss is an unbeliever? I hear people say, well, I'm only going to work for a believer. Is it wrong? Is it sinning to work for an unbeliever? No. Now, if you have a Christian boss and he's a great boss, good. That's a blessing. But he might be an unbeliever. They may even serve a false god. I remember in my company it took, I'm not a real in your face, I'm going to evangelize the whole company in my office in a day. I figured over time I would have that opportunity and over several months, because I was an unbeliever in the business world at first and then I became one, a Christian later. So I ended up leading Bible studies at my company. And through that I got to minister to those that didn't even come to the Bible study. And occasionally they would have a big problem in life, a family crisis, and they'd come to the desk weeping, can we go talk? And we'd go into the conference room and talk about it. Why did they come to me? Well, you're the Christian and you have maybe divine guidance, maybe I can get some help from you. And I got to evangelize, even some of their, I remember one lady brought her child up for lunch. And I sat with him in the conference room because he was having terrible nightmares. every night about going to hell. She goes, would you talk to him? And yeah, I'd love to talk to him. And so I went home that night and I'd see him, I think, in the next few days. And I wrote all these verses about the gospel and eternal security. And I wrote them all down. I talked with him about 30 minutes. A teenager, loved baseball, really good athlete. But he was terrified about going to hell. I've never seen a young child at that age worried about that. And so I gave him all those scriptures. I said, just keep reading those if you ever feel like you're lost. And if you trusted Christ, he has you forever. And just read these verses if you ever get in trouble. And she said he keeps them under the bed and pulls them out sometimes. He's probably 30 now. I don't know how he turned out. So you might have people in your company that your boss may be a pagan who serves a false god. But, hey, I don't have to serve your false god. Now if my boss says you have to serve my false god and bow to him three times a day on the job or you're fired, what do you do? You say, okay, fire me. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Daniel, Joseph. We're not going to disobey God. If we violate the law of God, We won't do it. God comes first. But hey, if your boss is another religion, don't quit. Maybe you'll bring him to the Lord. I don't know. But if he tells you to sin or he says, hey, come here, I need you to help me embezzle money for the company. Well, no, that's a sin. Thou shall not steal. Don't covet and so forth. I can't do that for you. Well, if it costs you your job, well then so be it. Serve the Lord. So note carefully, submission to the crooked master does not mean that Christian servants should carry out wicked commands or actions demanded by their master that violate the will of God. Otherwise, if they change the hours, I remember when I first started in the business world, the hours were 9 to 5. That was just kind of the, wasn't that the American 9 to 5? Wasn't there a movie 9 to 5? But then the more time went on and times got tougher, now what are the hours? 8 to 5. Then it started getting 7 to 6, or it may have been 9 to 5, but you needed to get there at 7 and sometimes stay until 6.30 to get your work done. But if the boss said you have to come in at 8, what do you do? You come in at 8, if that's what the company says to do. That's not sin for him to change the hours. I think you get my point. So we have 219 now. Well, for 18, servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. Oh, and by the way, if you are the boss, be a good one, be a pleasant one. The people want to come to work for you, because you're like Jesus, you're a humble servant boss. But they still know where you stand, that you still are the boss. I mean, Jesus, they knew where he stood. You're still the living Lord God, but yet you're still a servant. But you can't, you have to always recognize there is that line of authority. So verse 19, then he says, for this finds favor for the sake of conscience toward God, a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. So verse 19 indicates that God looks with favor on the believer who for conscience sake bears up under sorrow when notice suffering unjustly. So he uses the word Pasco, which is the word to suffer, also use the Jesus suffering, but then he uses the word Adikos, which is the word unrighteously or unjustly. So suffering unjustly is enduring. personal injustice or unfairness. Boy, have you ever worked for a company and you didn't get the promotion that you should have gotten and somebody else did because of some personal favoritism with the boss with someone else or some other reason? Now, things aren't always fair. How was Jesus' life? Was everything fair? Were the Jews fair with him? Were the Romans fair? He went through terrible injustice and suffering, and yet he just committed himself to God all the way through it. So he mentions, it finds favor for the sake of conscience toward God. So I think that means that we're living with a consciousness that we're living to please God in every situation, even in the worst adversity. So obeying an authority God has put over us, finds favor with him, and involves a testimony of God's rule, of his right to rule in our life. It's a testimony to others around us that we're recognizing that God has the right to rule over us. And so when we submit to God, that's a powerful testimony to others. Sometimes they don't like it at first, and some people will come around. By the way, who came around? Was it Darius? King Nebuchadnezzar, blessed be the God of Daniel, blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They saw those men demonstrating God's right to rule in their lives, and then the result was praising the Lord. And then verse 20, for what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure that with patience? But if when, and obviously none, But if when you do what is right and suffer for it, and you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. So in other words, what credit is there if a Christian sins and does wrong, and then suffers as a result? Now remember, sins against God are often punishable by who? God himself, but what was in context? Who does he also use? divine establishment, the government. That's why we went through that in probably a couple hours, the previous section. So 1 Peter 2, 13-17 covered that. So stealing, does that violate the Word of God? Yeah, and in our state of Texas, anywhere in the United States, they have a penal code against stealing. Crimes may vary, or the penalty may vary, but stealing violates the laws of government in most places, usually it does. But hey, the law against not stealing is Exodus 20, thou shall not steal. So if somebody steals, violating the law of Texas, well, you violated the law of God too. so you're guilty. So that doesn't count. What credit is there if when you sin you're harshly treated and endure it with patience? And those kind of sins, depending on what it is, can bring even the government to punish you. I guess an easy illustration is if you go rob a bank and you're thrown in jail, don't say, I'm suffering for Jesus. That one doesn't count. No, you're suffering because you violated God. but suffering deservedly for doing wrong or suffering for identifying with Christ and obedience to God's word, that actually finds favor. So he says, so if you do what is right or righteous and suffer for that, and you endure that with patience, this finds favor with God. By the way, Peter has a lot to say about suffering, which is what we're gonna start looking at as we get into 221 and following with Jesus. We're gonna spend a lot of time on that. Sorry, I don't have a slide for it, but jump ahead to 1 Peter 3, 14. Look what he says there, almost the same thing in the next chapter. So we're gonna, it's again, suffering. 1 Peter 3, 14, Peter says, but even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you're blessed. That's what he just said here. If when you do what is right and suffer for it, that finds favor with God. So verse 14, if you should suffer for righteous sake, you're blessed, righteousness sake, excuse me, you're blessed. Don't fear their intimidation, don't be troubled. Look at verse 17, for it's better if God should will it so that you suffer for doing what is right rather than doing what is wrong. Just what he said in first Peter 2.20. So the command to bear up under unjust treatment reflects the attitude and actions of Jesus Christ during his earthly life. The very example Peter gives us to follow in 221 through 25. We're gonna see this next week. I'll just read you verse 21 of 1 Peter 2. For you have been called for this purpose, to suffer, is what he means. Since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example to follow in his steps. So when Jesus washed their feet, what did he say after that? I have given you what? An example to do to others as I have done to you. So when Jesus suffered on the cross, there is an example that he set for us. Now, does that mean you have to go out and bear the sins of somebody? Because you can't do that. Only Jesus can do that. However, he does say greater love has no one than this, that one lays down his life for his friends. So there is a parallel in the crucifixion of humble servanthood and an example of suffering that we can follow in the earthly realm, obviously not identical to what Jesus did because no one can bear the sins of the world. only Christ alone did that. So next week, we'll start in verse 21, working through 25, that section about Christ, and that's going to be loaded with stuff, because now we have the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross. 224, He bore our own sins in His own body. He's going to talk about them.