Let's turn again to Peter's first epistle, chapter 2, 1 Peter chapter 2. I'm going to read this morning from verse 18 through to verse 25, 1 Peter chapter 2. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. 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. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow his steps. Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return. Suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. 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. For you were like sheep going astray, but now have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Amen. Let's begin by asking for God's help in the study of his word. Father, we begin by humbling ourselves at your feet and asking, O Lord, for your blessing upon our study. Lord, keep us from being like that man who looked at himself in the mirror and went away and forgot all about what he looked like. We pray, Lord, this morning as we come and we look to your word that we would see ourselves, our need, that we would see our need of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, we would see his beauty and his glory, and we would go away reflecting upon him and praising him. We ask for Jesus' sake. Amen. A few years ago, not long after we got married, we moved into the parsonage over there and my dad, knowing what a totally useless handyman I am around the house, sent me an email listing 40 amazing uses for WD-40. And I don't have the list here, but it was things like this. Revives dead spark plugs in your car. Removes tomato stains from clothing. Kills cockroaches and insects. Removes tea stains from the countertop. Very useful for an Englishman. Gets chewing gum out of your hair. Prevents grass clippings from clogging up your lawnmower. Removes scuff marks from the kitchen floor. Polishes leather seats in the car. Prevents squirrels from climbing into the birdhouse. I guess they kind of slip down. And also, it will loosen a tongue frozen to metal in winter. That's useful if you live in Michigan. But the point is, it will pretty much do anything. This stuff will work just about anywhere you put it. This stuff works in the most difficult of places. Now, if that's what my dad was saying about this amazing WD-40, this is really also what the Apostle Peter is saying here about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This thing will work just about anywhere. Anywhere you put it, any kind of situation, the Gospel will work. A country with an oppressive, secular, anti-Christian government, the Gospel can work there. a difficult marriage relationship to an unconverted spouse, the gospel can work there. Or the workplace itself, you're laboring for a pagan, heathen master who treats you with little or no respect, the gospel can still work there. Wherever you take this thing, wherever you present this thing, wherever you live, According to this thing, you will see it's powerful, it's effective, it can bring salvation. Even the most difficult, the most demanding, the most desperate of situations, still, the gospel works. So that's what we want to think about this morning, the kind of the WD-40 of the spiritual realm, if you like, the Christian gospel, how powerful it is, how effective it is in the most difficult of situations, especially the workplace. That's what Peter is dealing with here, particularly in these verses. Slaves working for masters. Pagan masters who had no time for the truth and no sympathy for those who believed the truth. Harsh, oppressive treatment of their subjects. You know, what do you do? How do you respond in a situation like that? Well, he says here, live according to the gospel. Follow the pattern of your master and you will find the gospel works. The gospel can work even there. So that's our theme then for this morning, a gospel that works in the workplace. Three headings, the expectation of hard service, the commendation for honorable suffering, and then the imitation of a humble Savior. Firstly then, our first point, the expectation of hard service. Verse 18, servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. Peter is addressing these words to servants or to slaves and there were many people who were in that condition in the first century. Estimates have it that there were as many as 60 million people who were in a condition of being slaves. So that's between a quarter and a third of the Roman Empire. People were living as slaves. Now when we use that word slave, perhaps in our mind we think of the very worst kind of slavery, maybe like a galley slave who were aboard those ships and had to be manacled to each other and rode the ship, the kind of people that William Wilberforce worked so hard to set free. The word we actually have here is not talking about the lowest form of a slave here. This is a word which would refer more to somebody like a servant or a domestic servant. It could even be somebody who has a profession. Somebody who has some particular skills. Doctors. nurses, private tutors, administrators, musicians even. These kind of people could in those days be described as servants or slaves because they were in the full-time service of someone else. One commentator points out that really there's something in between a servant and a slave. The word slave is too strong but the word servant is not really strong enough. It's somewhere in between. They're contracted out to give their time and skills to somebody else in exchange for an allowance and the meeting of their basic needs. I suppose today you might liken it onto a scholarship. You know, sometimes the military will make these available so that they will pay the education fees, they will give a stipend and in return that student then agrees to give maybe five, six years of their life afterwards to the military, to the Navy. It's that kind of a situation. Or really if you think about it, a number of commentators say this, that really it's not that different today to the employee-employer relationship, whereby you, if you're out in the workplace, you are contracting to give 40 hours of your life every week to your employer and in return he will give you a monthly or a weekly salary. So there are some parallels between the two. And what Peter wants to say to these people here is that in that situation of subjection and servitude, the attitude you are to display is one of submission. Submission. Just as we thought last time when we looked at his words concerning government and authorities, our attitude towards them also is to be one of submission. You know, you think about what Peter's been telling them so far in this letter. He's been telling them about the wonderful privileges, the benefits they have as believers. They're a royal priesthood, they're a holy nation, they're a chosen generation, they're a special people. They've been called out of darkness into his marvelous light. Amazing, wonderful benefits and privileges. The temptation for them, having received such a liberating message as that, might be to think, well, you know, we don't have any responsibilities anymore. We don't have any obligations towards the government or towards our employers. Look, we're a special people. We're a chosen people. We're not beholden to anyone anymore. But to that Peter says, no, no, don't think like that, don't act like that, don't be the rebels, or the outlaws, or troublemakers, be submissive. Be submissive to those in authority, we saw that last time, and now here he's saying be submissive to those who are your masters, those who are your employers. Out of submission to the Lord, who is your heavenly master, you must be submissive to those who are your earthly masters, whoever they may be. and indeed however they may act as well. Look what he says about them, servants be submissive to your masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the harsh. So Peter's recognizing that with so many of his readers out there in that master-slave relationship not only will they be doing a wide diversity of work but also they will be serving a wide diversity of masters. And some of them will be good and gentle but others of them won't. They will be very harsh. That was very common in the first century, harsh treatments of slaves and servants. Now that word harsh, the Greek word is the word in English, we get our word scoliosis, which as you know refers to a curvature, curvature of the spine. So in essence what he's saying is they are bent, they are crooked, maybe a person who's dishonest or unethical or immoral in some way, maybe someone who's very awkward and uncomfortable to deal with. Jacob, he had a master like that, didn't he? Remember what he said about Laban? You know, he's talking to Rachel and to Leah, he said about their father, he says, you know how I've worked with all my might for your father and yet he's deceived me, he's changed my way just ten times. Some employers can be like that, they can be tricky and slippery and they're always moving the goalposts, always changing the targets, always trying to get more and more and more. Or maybe there is hostility towards your faith. That's the kind of thing that Daniel experienced in his office there in Babylon. The king and the co-workers, they didn't like his faith in Yahweh. They wanted him to abandon faith in Yahweh and to give worship to the king. Daniel wasn't going to be moved and life got very uncomfortable for him. It would be the same for these people as well. Some of them would serve slave masters who would be antagonized by their Christian faith. They would become very unnerved by slaves who become Christians. You know, where's this slave suddenly got this new dignity, this new purpose in his life? Where's this come from? Has he got a new master? the slave master himself is going to become very antagonized by this and might cause him to ramp up the persecution and the pressure upon his slave. So life then could be very difficult for Christian slaves in those days. Yes, there were some who had good and gentle masters, but there are others who had harsh masters. And you know, again, we can see parallels today. Can't we? Some of you here in this church, you serve good and gentle masters. I know you do, because your employers are also members of this church. And I've heard you speak of what a blessing it is to work for them and to have a Christian master. or I think of somebody like Jaime Mejia who's now working over there at Wheaton College and I saw him just a couple weeks ago and one of the things he said to us, he said he gets up every day thanking God for his job, praising God for his job, that he works for people like that. Some of you are in those kind of situations. But others don't. Others don't have good and gentle masters. Some of you have harsh masters who want to squeeze more and more time out of you for less and less pay with fewer and fewer benefits. Or maybe they despise your Christian faith. Perhaps they even, in various ways, persecute you for your faith. That kind of thing is becoming increasingly common these days. I had an email on Friday from an organization called Christian Voice in England and it was giving details about four separate Christians who are actually taking their case to the European courts because they've been forced out of their jobs on the grounds of their faith. Two of them simply for wearing a cross around their neck and in this article, Lord Carey, who's been taking up their case, he said this, Believers are being treated as bigots while many face being fired from their jobs simply for expressing their Christian beliefs. And he blamed this on a secular conformity of belief and conduct which is resulting in the Christian faith being effectively banned from public. He went on to say, in a country where Christians can be sacked for manifesting their faith, are vilified by state bodies, and are in fear of reprisal or even arrest for expressing their views on sexual ethics, something here is very wrong. So that kind of thing is becoming increasingly common in England and probably the way things are going will become more and more common in this country as well. We then are to expect in these days hard service. Let's move on to our second point and that is the commendation for honourable suffering. For this is commendable, if because of conscience, verse 19, toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. 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. So Peter is saying here that there is a certain type of suffering that is commendable or it finds favor with God and that is to suffer or to endure grief and to do it patiently, submissively, out of a conscience towards God. That could be translated out of a consciousness of God, an awareness of God, that He is there. that he knows, that he sees that situation, he understands all the circumstances surrounding that situation. If a person does that, if they suffer wrongly, harshly in that situation, but they do it patiently, submissively, with an eye to God, then such a thing as that, Peter says, is commendable. Literally it means they find grace, they find favor, that's how it reads, for this is grace if because of conscience towards God one endures grief and suffering. Or verse 20, if you take it patiently this grace before God. So it's an evidence of grace, it's a manifestation of God's grace, also it's a means of grace. God will give you grace to bear up in that kind of situation if you suffer wrongly. innocently. That's the key. You have to suffer innocently. There's no commendation or favour if the suffering is warranted. If you've got a bad attitude, if you're lazy, if you're unmotivated in your work. Sometimes we can bring a whole load of trouble on ourselves just because of our own bad attitude or our sloppy work. One of the commentators talks about a situation when he was in business and he worked alongside an older man and he is a new man, he was working very hard and conscientiously, very feverishly to get his work done and this older man came over to him and he said to him, son, son look, we're not being paid the kind of wages we should be earning for this kind of work and so what we do here is we slow down the pace to the level where we think our work matches our wages. Now that's a bad attitude, isn't it? You shouldn't be surprised if you get suffering if you have an attitude like that. And there's no credit in that and there's no credit for suffering for that. That's your own fault. But if you suffer wrongfully for something that's not your fault, you haven't been lazy, you haven't been disobedient, you haven't got a bad temperament, and you suffer, and you take that patiently and submissively, then, out of a conscious awareness of God, then that's acceptable. That's pleasing, that's favourable with God. There will be favour, there will be blessing for you if we bear up in that way. Now why would someone want to bear up in that way? Why would somebody want to suffer injustice in that kind of way? Well, Peter's saying in this letter for the same reason that they would suffer harsh treatment from the government. The same reason, that you'd submit yourselves to those in authority. Ultimately, because we aren't just their servants, we are servants of God. Bond servants of God. And so it's out of our submission and our subjection to Him that we freely, gladly render submission to them, to those in authority and to those in the workplace. Paul makes that point in Ephesians chapter 6. "'Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart as to Christ, not with eye service as men pleases, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will doing service as to the Lord.'" Not to men. So that's why you're to serve them. That's why you're to submit to them because ultimately you're serving the Lord, not men. He is your master. You're His bond servants. You submit yourselves to them because first of all you've submitted yourself to Him. That then is the secret. That's the key to faithful living in all these areas of life that Peter's talking about here in this letter with regard to authorities, with regard to marriage relationships, with regard to your employers. In all of these areas you submit to them because you've already submitted yourself to Him. If you haven't done that, or if you don't do that, if you don't see yourself in that way, as a bond slave of Jesus Christ, a servant of Christ, bought for him, for his own service, his own special possession, if you don't see yourself in that way, then you will. You will become angry. You will become resentful. You'll become frustrated when your boss asks you to do extra work, when your boss doesn't appreciate the quality of your work, when the boss doesn't appreciate your faithfulness and loyalty to the firm. You will. You'll become angry if you don't see yourself, ultimately, as a servant of Jesus Christ. But when you do, when you do realize that you're His slave, you're His willing bond servant, then everything you do, mopping the floor, typing a report, teaching class, laying a bathroom tile, selling a tire, everything you do, it's all invested and infused with a whole new glory and light and luster because everything you do, you're doing for the King. George Herbert, the English poet, he once put it like this, "'Teach me, my God and King, in all things thee to see "'and what I do in anything to do it as for thee. "'All may of thee partake. "'Nothing can be so mean which with this tincture, "'with this motive, for thy sake, "'will not grow bright and clean. "'A servant with this clause makes drudgery divine. "'Who sweeps a room as for thy laws "'makes that and the action fine.'" It's kind of quaint old English, I know, but really he's saying the same thing. When you see Jesus as your Lord and Master, then that puts a whole new light and glory upon everything that you do. You'll even see the people that you work for in a different light, and the criticism, the harsh remarks you receive, you will see those in a different light as well. Howard Hendricks, he tells the story of being on an airliner. It was delayed on the ground and the passengers on board the airplane were becoming very frustrated, very impatient, and abuse was being directed at the stewardess. But she took it with great grace and courtesy. And eventually the plane got off the ground and things calmed down a bit. And Howard Hendricks called the stewardess over and he said, can you give me your name? He said, I'd like to write a letter of commendation to your supervisor on the way you handled that situation. And she said, actually, I don't see myself as working for American Airlines. I said, oh? She said, no, I see myself as working for my Lord Jesus Christ. And every morning my husband and I pray that I would be a good representative for him. And that's the kind of thing that Peter's speaking about here. A willingness to suffer reproach and injustice, to do it submissively out of a conscious awareness of God and that we serve Him. Now does that mean to say then that we should never make any kind of protest? Does that mean to say we should never ever speak out in self-defense? Does that mean to say when you come to a new firm you've got a name badge on the front and also you have the word doormat written across the back? Is that what it's saying here? No, no, Peter's not saying that. Paul certainly didn't think like that. In fact, there were a number of times in Paul's ministry, weren't there, where he felt he was being mistreated, unfairly, unjustly treated, and so he spoke out. The book of 2 Corinthians is really all about that. The book of Galatians as well. Certain people had made unfounded, unwarranted criticisms about Paul and his ministry and his qualification to be an apostle. And so Paul, then in those books, he felt it was appropriate, it was necessary for him to give a response. He didn't want to do it, he says, you're forcing me to do this, I don't want to have to do this, but he did it because it was necessary for him to defend himself. Also, when he was before, was it Festus, I think, in the book of Acts, we looked at a few weeks ago as well, he made appeal to his rights as a citizen. Didn't just let them walk all over him, he made an appeal. And as Pastor Chansky pointed out to us in that situation, there are times when it's right, it's necessary for us to stand up and defend ourselves. But, in this situation, in the workplace, still we need to remember that we are under authority. And so, though we can make an appeal, we can make a challenge, it's always to be done through the proper channels and it's always to be done with this prevailing attitude of submission and respect. We can do that, there's nothing wrong with that. Nor, we have to say, is there anything wrong with looking to change your situation. Paul said that to the slaves in Corinth, didn't he? He said, if you can gain your freedom, then by all means, do so. If you're suffering terrible, gross mistreatments, then first of all, be conscious of God. Be aware that God is with you in your sufferings, but, you know, it's legitimate. You can look around. You can change your job if you can. It's legitimate. If you can change your lot in the workplace, then do so. Don't feel that because you're a Christian, you're duty-bound to stay in the same place. If there's a legitimate way for you to get out, then you can take it. But, and this is a big but, this is the but that Peter here is really speaking to, if there isn't, if there isn't a way out for you right now, then remember the gospel works. The gospel still works in a situation like that. You have a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate the grace of God in your suffering, there in that situation. Peter's words here are very similar to Jesus' words in Luke chapter 6. Peter heard these himself. Do you remember what Jesus said? Luke 6 verse 32, If you love those who love you, what is that to you? Or what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same. But, he says, this is where you show the difference, But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great. And you will be sons of the Most High, for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men." So he's saying you have a wonderful opportunity to show the grace of God, to show the difference. When you don't respond the way the world responds, when you don't fight back the way the world does, you have opportunity there to show grace, that you're a child of the Most High God. You're showing His grace. He who is compassionate and forbearing towards evil men, you're showing His grace to them. That could be what Peter's driving at there in the first part of verse 19 and the second part of verse 20 when he says, for this is grace. When we bear up patiently and submissively under suffering, this is grace, he says. It's favor. It's a demonstration of grace to the world. You're enfleshing it. You're living it out. When you don't answer back or when your boss passes you by in promotion and you don't become bitter. Or when you go through countless trials and still you count it all joy. When you're falsely accused and you don't retaliate. In all of those situations you are showing grace. Grace to the world. If you don't do that, you know, if you get involved in a fight, you retaliate, you fight fire with fire, then there's no room for grace. The circle just continues and goes on and on. But when we patiently, submissively endure that suffering, then there's room for grace to break into that situation. Then the gospel really begins to work. A bit like a Korean man called Yang Won-sun. He was pastor in a town called Suncheon in 1948. And a band of communists had come into the town, they'd taken over, and they captured Pastor Yang and his two sons, Matthew and John. And they executed his two sons. They were martyred. They called their persecutors to repent and to believe even as they were being killed. Now eventually the communists were driven out of that town and the authority was restored and they found the man who was responsible for executing those two boys. And it was a young Korean fellow called Chai Soon. And so they ordered for him to be executed. But at his trial, Pastor Sun stepped forward, and he asked if Chai Sun could be taken into his custody so that he could adopt him as his own son. And then his daughter, Rachel, as well, a 13-year-old sister of those two boys, she came and supported that testimony. And they agreed, and Chai Sun was taken as an adopted son of Pastor Yang. And eventually, he, too, became a believer in Jesus Christ. That's grace, the grace that the world knows nothing of, grace there being released into that situation, grace allowing the gospel to work in even the worst of situations. So we've considered an expectation of hard service, a commendation for honourable suffering. Thirdly, imitation of a humble saviour. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps." Peter then is calling us to imitation, to follow in Jesus' steps, because Jesus himself suffered unjustly. Peter knew that. Peter was there. He saw it. Peter heard it, didn't he? He was there in the courtyard that night in the house of Caiaphas when Jesus was taken away. And those religious men, they came down and they beat him, they blindfolded him, they abused him. Peter was there. And then when he was taken through the courtyard, Peter was there. He saw Jesus being led away. And the soldiers then, they put a robe upon him and they whipped him to within an inch of his life. And then they pressed a crown of thorns into his head so the blood ran down into his eyes. And yet in all of those situations, he said nothing. No threats, no insults, no retaliation, no revenge, and he was taken out to the cross, hoisted up on a Roman cross, nailed to it, passers-by railed at him, even thieves on either side abused him, and yet he said nothing. He didn't retaliate. He didn't call for revenge. He could have called for a legion of angels to come and take him down from that cross and to leave all his enemies' bodies strewn across the ground like a battlefield. He could have done that, but he didn't. He did nothing. He was the model of a submissive servant. That's why Peter here quotes Isaiah chapter 53, the servant's song. He was absolutely sinless and he committed no sin. No deceit was found in his mouth. He was perfect. This was the worst form of injustice the world has ever seen. And yet at no point did he cry out. No point did he protest his innocence. like a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth." Being reviled, he reviled not again. In all of those situations, before the high priest, before Herod, before Pilate, before the soldiers, before the jeering mob, in all of those situations, he kept his silence. When they spat at him, he didn't spit back. When they threw a punch at him, he didn't throw one back. He was the perfect example of the submissive, suffering servant. Don't you think this is going to speak loudly to his readers here, suffering servants? Is this going to speak to them? He's calling them to follow in his steps, to bear their own sufferings with meekness and with dignity. To do what he did. To suffer injustice because he was conscious of God. That's what we read here. It says, when he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. He committed himself. That's a word which elsewhere in the scripture is translated, delivered over. He handed himself over. Really he's talking about the situation. Jesus handed the situation over to God. And it's in the continuous sense. So he did this continually throughout his ordeal. He kept on handing it over to God. When he was abused, he didn't hand it back. He handed it over. When he was reproved, when he was abused by the passers-by, he didn't give as good as he got, he instead gave it to his God. Kept handing that whole situation back to his Father. He did it continuously, that's the verb tense. And sometimes that's all a Christian person can do. Sometimes a Christian is in a situation, that's the only thing he can do, you just have to keep handing it over to God. Just leave it with Him. I trust that He will judge the situation righteously. One day, it may not be till the day of visitation, I may have to wait till then, but I know God will judge that situation righteously, and so I just have to keep handing it over to Him. And that's what Jesus did. That's what he calls us to do as well because, he says, Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example. That means an example that we are to copy. The word example there, it's actually a word that's taken from the classroom. It refers to the way that little children in those days would learn to write. And the teacher would write the letter up in big letters on the board and then the child would come and take the chalk and would follow and follow that pattern. That's what Peter is saying here. Learn your ABCs. Learn the rudiments of the Christian life. Hardship, persecution, and suffering. Learn to bear up by following his example. By following in his steps, is what he says. Again, you might think of a child in Michigan in winter, making their way through deep snow. And what they do is they follow their father. They put their steps in the footprints of their father. And Peter's saying that when you're going through the deep snow of suffering in this life, it will help if you can put your steps in those that Jesus has taken before you. Make your way down that path seeking to walk as He walked. It's not easy. You know, Peter knew it wasn't easy. Peter himself was very reluctant to walk down that kind of path at first, wasn't he? Do you remember how he first reacted when Jesus told him about the kind of pathway that he was on? When he was going down to Jerusalem and how he would have to suffer many things at the hands of religious men and eventually they would put him to death? Do you remember how Peter reacted? He almost jumped out of his skin. He took Jesus to one side and began to rebuke him and reprove him for that. Why? Why did Peter almost burst a blood vessel when he heard about that? Probably because he knew what it meant. Probably because he knew that if Jesus was going down that kind of path, it was very likely that they, his disciples, would also have to go down that kind of path as well. A servant is not above his master. And Peter wasn't ready for that at that time. You see that again in the courtyard. Jesus is getting very near the end of that journey and Peter is there. He sees where Jesus is going. Now there's a likelihood Peter might have to do the same. The servant girl comes up, hey, hey Peter, I know you, I've seen you before. You work with him, aren't you? One of his friends. And Peter, of course, becomes very animated and denies it three times. I tell you, I don't know the man. He denied him even with oaths and with cursings because that wasn't a pathway that he wanted to go down in a hurry. That wasn't the kind of example or pattern that he was willing to copy at that point. But here we see Peter now as an older man. He's a more mature man and he sees that this is something that he must do and it's something that he calls all of us to do as well. That's what he says, for to this you were called. Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving an example that you should follow in His steps. You are being called to this as well, this pathway of suffering. He's taking up that theme again. You know, we thought about the living stone a few weeks ago. The living stone, He makes us to be living stones. The living stone is rejected by men, so we, as living stones, we will also be rejected by men. He suffered, we must suffer. Peter's picking up that theme again. So these people who are about to go through tremendous suffering, these servants who are about to go through deep suffering, and he's saying, don't be surprised that you're suffering servants because you're following THE suffering servants. And so, when you're in those kind of situations, He's to be your example. He's to be your model. You are to follow Him. He suffered the greatest injustice of all. Mankind, as it were, became His master. And they inflicted the greatest injustice on the most perfect servants. And He bore it with meekness. He bore it with submission. When He was reviled, He reviled not again. Matthew 27, He answered them not a word. Like sheep before His shearers, He opened not His mouth. That's to be your pattern. your inspiration, also your motivation as well. Think about it, why was it that he said nothing? Why was it that Jesus didn't retaliate? Why didn't he strike back? Because he was conscious of God. He was conscious of God's plan. Of all that was riding upon his submission. All the things that you see there in verses 24 and 25. That he might bring to us a work of salvation, wasn't it? That we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness. That we, by his stripes, might be healed. That we might have a shepherd and bishop and overseer of our souls. All of those things. then were riding upon his submission. That's why he opened not his mouth. Now think about it, if he had opened his mouth, if he had struck back, if when the High Priest mocked him, he'd mocked him back, or if when he was punched, he'd thrown a punch back, or when he was railed upon by passers-by, he'd abused them, what would be the result? The result would be our damnation. The result would be there'd be for us no salvation, it would be our condemnation. The result would be us in eternity in hell suffering God's wrath and indignation. That's why he didn't open his mouth. That's why he didn't retaliate. That's why he didn't strike back. How thankful we should be for a silently suffering Savior. How thankful we should be that he opened not his mouth. We have heaven because of his silence. We have forgiveness because of his submission. We will be in heaven because Jesus didn't lose his rag. And that has very powerful implications for us. Not that there's any redemptive merit in our suffering. We can't earn salvation for ourselves or for anybody else by our suffering. But the way we suffer and the way we model Jesus in our suffering, it can be used by God to bring salvation to others. Our silence, for example. Silence can actually speak very, very loudly. When the Christian keeps his mouth shut, sometimes that speaks as loudly as anything that he might say. People have been converted by that. A Christian who refuses to laugh at the smutty jokes, a Christian who refuses to join in gossip in the workplace, or when they receive hurtful, cutting remarks, they don't answer back. That can be very convicting, that silence. People have been converted even through the silence of a Christian. but especially when we remain silent under suffering, when we refuse to give vent to our rage and to our rights, but instead we keep quiet in submission and trust. It's very powerful. It's telling people, we really do believe in God. We really do trust Him in this situation. Not just in the good times, but in the hard times as well. We trust God. We know He's there. We know He understands the situation. We know that one day He will righteously judge that situation. That's very powerful. That kind of thing is very convincing and convicting and converting even. Many people in the persecuted world these days, through their silent submission, is leading to the conversion of their persecutors. I read a book some while back. It was about a guy who used to be in the KGB. His name was Sergei. And this was in Moscow in the 1950s or 60s. And he was a very strong, very powerful man. And he would go to these underground meetings of the Christians. And he would find out where they were. He would go and break in with his team of troops. And then they would viciously beat the Christians. and he went to a number of these meetings and he kept seeing this teenage girl who would always be at the meetings no matter what kind of abuse and beating she took she'd still be there at the next one and she took it all with submission and this huge powerful man he was totally unhinged by her he couldn't see how she had a greater inner strength than he had and in the end he had to have it for himself and he fled the KGB and he became a believer in Christ and eventually he had to flee from Russia for his life but it was because of her quiet submission And this is happening in many parts of the persecuted world. So you can imagine how relevant this is for Peter's readers here, about to go through this fiery ordeal. How powerful then this would be for them. What a word for them. And it's a word for us today, isn't it? The power of quiet submission. Not that we'll be able to convert KGB agents, but maybe your employer, or maybe a family member. You know, Bill Gothard, this is just a final illustration as we close, he tells the story of a Christian boy he knew, and this boy had an unbelieving father. And the boy, he wanted to go to the midweek prayer meeting at his church, and his father kind of very reluctantly allowed him to go. After the meeting, the boy was walking back home, and one of his friends picked him up to bring him home. And his father looked out the window and saw him getting out of his friend's car. And so when the boy came in, he said, you lied to me! You told me you were going to the prayer meeting, but you went out with your friends instead. And the boy protested. He said, no, I didn't father, I went to the prayer meeting. He said, don't you lie to me, you're going to get a double beating for that. He thrashed him, twice. And the boy, he loved his father, he wanted to see his father converted, and he said nothing. Well, a few days later, apparently the father was in the hardware store and he bumped into the pastor of the church, who knew nothing of what transpired there in the home, and the pastor said, you have a very fine son. Oh, it was such a blessing to have him at the prayer meeting on Wednesday night to hear that word of testimony. And the father was broken by that. He realized how his son had just silently suffered. And Gothard says that led to that man also being converted. The Gospel works. It's the WD-40. It works in the worst of situations. It will work in Jerusalem in 30 AD. It will work in Turkey in the first century. It works in Moscow. It will work in Holland in the 21st century. follow in his steps, copy his pattern, entrust your situation to God who judges righteously, you'll see the gospel works. Let's close with praise. Let's take our hymn books and sing hymn 171. 171, my dear Redeemer and my Lord, I read my duty in thy word, but in thy life the law appears drawn out in living characters. 171, let's stand to sing. My Redeemer and my Lord, I remind you in my word. Such was the truth, and such lies here, Such difference, too, that all may know. I would to strive and make them mine. O mountains and palm-leaf-lined air, witness the fervor of thy birth. ♪ Patience do ♪ ♪ Thy conflict and thy victory too ♪ ♪ E'en thou my pattern may be there ♪ ♪ O'er of thy gracious image clear ♪ Let's remain standing for prayer. Father, we pray that these truths would be written upon our hearts this morning. Be Thou my pattern, make me bear more of Thy gracious image here. Lord, in whatever sufferings we are called to go through, we pray that the Lord Jesus would be our example, that He would be our copy pattern, and that we would, by Your help, be enabled to follow in His steps, for Your praise and for Your glory. Amen.