Please turn with me in your Bibles now to 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter 2, we're going to read verses 13 to 17. That's on page 1015 in the Bibles provided for you. 1 Peter 2, 13 to 17 on page 1015. And then we'll be reading our theme verse for this series, chapter 1, verse 13, in unison after that. That's printed for you on the sermon handout if you want to read it off of there. But as we've been doing, after I finish the reading here, we'll read chapter 1, verse 13 together in unison. heard Peter instructing us to keep our conduct among the Gentiles honorable. In other words, living in an unbelieving world, we're to keep our conduct honorable. And in the next few sections of the letter then, next few topics in the letter, he is giving us specific examples, specific areas of life where we are supposed to live honorably and give glory to God by the way that we live. And the first area he addresses here is how we relate to the civil government. So as he talks about how we interact with the civil government, listen for what's motivating this lifestyle here. Why is it that we as Christians should act this way? 1 Peter 2, 13 through 17, this is the word of God. Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. And if you turn to chapter one, verse 13, read that with me here in unison. Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless the reading of his holy word. Be subject, for the Lord's sake, to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor supreme or to governors sent by him. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. Wives, be subject to your husbands, to your own husbands. You who are younger, be subject to the elders, Which one of these statements makes you most uncomfortable? All of them are from 1 Peter here. We'll be looking at them in coming weeks. All of them use the same word in Greek, to be subject, often translated to submit. And what I've just read here actually come from the next three sections. One of them comes from later on, but the next three sections in parallel, in order, He addresses being subject in three different areas, being subject to the civil government, wives being subject, excuse me, servants being subject to their masters, and wives being subject to their husbands. Brothers and sisters, it's easy to have blind spots in these areas. Those who seem most bent on throwing off the constraints of civil government often seem the most enthusiastic about wives submitting to husbands. or those who want to explain away the submission of wives to husbands, when it's mentioned several times in scripture, are often great proponents of state authority and government involvement in more and more areas of your life. Some who struggle most with being under authority in the workplace want to wield heavy-handed authority in the church. And conversely, some people speak in disrespectful ways to the elders of the church in ways they would never imagine speaking to their manager at work. Friends, these are fraught topics. These have been divisive topics. But God has not left us to figure them out by ourselves. And the Word of God that addresses all of these areas is true, and it's intended by the Holy Spirit for your good. So as we look at civil government here this morning, whatever preconceived notions that you or I may come into this passage with, but ask you to please be willing to submit yourself to the text of God's word as I have tried to do this week. Seek to understand with me both the meaning of these verses and the emphasis of these verses. Peter was writing in his own geopolitical context at that time to his readers in the first century, but the principles remain the same today. as people who have been saved by grace through Jesus Christ. We are his servants, his servants, first and foremost. And applying that service to Christ, it's this area of civil government. God's word calls you as servants of King Jesus to submit to your civil government. Brothers and sisters, as servants of King Jesus, submit to your civil government. Now to get at this idea of being subject or submitting to the emperor and governors, we're going to look at the what, the why, and the how here this morning. So first of all, what is Peter saying to do? We see first it's to submit to God's institution of civil government. First of all, submit to God's institution of civil government. Peter starts off here saying, be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution. That's how it's translated here in the ESV, every human institution. What does he mean by every human institution? Well, some commentators think that Peter is saying he's distinguishing between institutions that humans have come up with and what God has come up with, like the difference between civil governments that we just kind of figure out what to do and church government, where God has given us a form of government, elders in every church, what we call Presbyterianism, that's laid down in scripture. And they say, well, these are human institutions, just whatever humans come up with, as opposed to what God has actually instituted. This word translated institution in the ESV is the word that's usually translated creation or creature. And in every single one of the other 18 times it's used in the New Testament, it's always God creating. It's always God who created this thing. And so it seems to make most sense, letting scripture interpret scripture here, that this institution, this creation that's being talked about, is not something humans have made. It's something that God has made. God has instituted this civil government that we're talking about. And that's very clear in Romans 13. Parallel passage about civil government. In Romans 13, 1 and 2, it says, Different word for instituted, but same concept. And those who resist will incur judgment. God is the one who has instituted civil government, even though he hasn't given us an exact form of it like he has for church government. The existence of civil government is something that God put in place, that God created for the sake of humanity. And he's given, we see the purpose here in verse 14, to punish those who do evil, and to praise those who do good. So this is a human institution in the sense that it's made up of human beings, and it's for the sake of human beings, but it was given to us by God for our good. It's good for us to have government. And we wonder at that, don't we? You say, really, Lord, you want us to have a government of sinful people? People with all of our faults, a government made up of people like us, making decisions that are binding on us. And that's supposed to be for our good. Is that really how we think of civil government? People like the Roman emperor that was in charge in the day that Peter was writing. And you think of the debauchery and the wickedness of Caesar's court. And yet he's saying it's God's institution for us. And he tells us in verse 13 here to be subject to this emperor and his governors. This is the same word, as I said, that's translated submit, all through scripture, all through the New Testament. And as I mentioned, there's this parallel in these next three sections, submission to the government, submission of in the workplace, and then of wives to husbands later on in chapter five, to the elders of the church. And this is the same word that's used of Jesus in his relationship with his parents. In Luke chapter two, Verse 51, Luke 2 51, it says, and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. This is Jesus at age 12. He was submissive, was subject to them. It's the same word. Friends, whatever concept of submission we have in one area, we have to apply fairly. There are differences in how submission works, children to parents, us to the civil government, but you can't play games with this. If you believe submission applies in one area, you can't say it doesn't apply when the same word's used in another area in scripture. This concept of submission involves yielding to another person's will. Yielding to what someone else has decided, doing what the other person decides. Friends, if you only submit when you agree, that is not submission. Submission implies some form of a mismatch in will or some form of disagreement in the sense that you would not have chosen to do what the other person has chosen to do. Otherwise, it's just consensus. And that's not submission. Imagine that you're working in a wood shop of some kind. Your boss has set up this workshop with all the right tools and the right locations for the workflow that you're going to be doing. sets people up with their tasks, he gives you what he wants you to do, and he has to go do something and leaves for a while, and you're working away, maybe you're making furniture or something like that, but as you're starting to work, you get kind of annoyed at all these dust collection hoses that he's set up. There's this dust collection system that he has, they keep getting in your way, some of them have to be disconnected and reconnected to other tools, it's slowing you down, it's a waste of your time, and so you just start disconnecting them. Your boss comes back and he finds the woodshop covered in chips and dust and everybody's hacking and coughing. What do you think he's going to say? He's going to say, I put this dust collection system there for a reason. I know it gets in your way. I know it is kind of a pain sometimes, but it's for your good. Did you not trust me that I put it there for a reason? Friends, taxation and civil government Submitting to someone else's rulings in this area of your life gets in the way in your life. It is not convenient sometimes to us. We don't enjoy it. We don't like it. But God has instituted civil government for a reason, and if we flaunt it, if our default is a spirit of rebellion and ungovernability, we're acting like we're wiser than God, who has instituted this for our good. In this area of, in this topic, if your mind immediately jumps to exceptions, to how many ways you can avoid letting the government tell you what to do, is that really the spirit of this passage? The emphasis of this passage? If Peter could write, be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, without immediately jumping to listing all the ways you don't have to, and listing all the exceptions, all the reasons that you don't have to submit to government, then the general tenor of our attitude towards the government, our general way of life, should be one of submission to the civil order that God has put in place by his providence. Yes, there are exceptions. Yes, it's essential that we not confuse church government and civil government and matters that are given to the church to the civil government and vice versa. But if you spend all your time in this area thinking about how not to submit to government, are you really living according to the emphasis of this passage? The next time a thought crosses your mind, this regulation is dumb, remember that God honoring government involves making rulings that people disagree with and have to submit to. It's not a positive thing when judges says over and over again, in those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Maybe in this instance you're right. Maybe it is a dumb regulation. but part of honoring our King Jesus who instituted government is submitting even to wicked and foolish rulers when we can do so in good conscience. Praise God that we have a voice in our government, that we can lobby, that we can vote out wicked and foolish people, that we understand as a church we should prophesy to the civil government, tell them when they're doing wicked things, but watch yourself for that heart that wants to only do what is right in its own eyes. And that's the what in this situation. God commands being subject to this institution that he's put in place. Then Peter goes on to give us a reason, and it actually may be a more pragmatic reason than you might expect. Secondly, the why is that accusations of rebellion hinder the church. Secondly, accusations of rebellion hinder the church. He says, for this is the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. when Paul was preaching in the city of Thessalonica. There were many people coming to faith, and there were many of the Jewish people there that did not want to accept the Messiah and rejected the Messiah, and they became jealous when Paul started getting lots of followers in Thessalonica. And so they brought accusations against the Christians to the city council, to the leaders of the city, to the civil rulers, and listen to what the accusation was. This is Acts chapter 17. Verses six and seven, Acts 17, six and seven. He says, these men, or they say, this is the Jews bringing these accusations. These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. They're being accused of treason. They're being accused of sedition here. The accusation was civil rebellion. And this has been a common accusation against Christians all through history, that we, because we believe in King Jesus, that we are guilty of treason, we're guilty of rebellion. We shouldn't be surprised by this because this was the accusation brought against Christ himself. When Christ was put on trial before Pilate, in John 19, 12, it tells us that the Jews cried out, if you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar. I think actually this interaction between Pilate and Jesus is really instructive for us as we think about how to relate to civil government and how Christ's kingship and the kingdom of God relates to civil governments on this earth. When Jesus first came before Pilate, the first question that Pilate asked Jesus is John 18, 33. The first question was, are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus' response eventually there is, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews, but my kingdom is not from the world. And what does Pilate do after he hears that? He goes out to the crowd and he says, I find no guilt in him. He was investigating him for sedition. He was investigating him for treason, and he didn't find it. He said, this man is not promoting rebellion against the civil government. I find no guilt in him. If he had found any hint of treason at that moment, he would have acted on it. But he can't convince the crowd to release Jesus. And so he comes back to question him again. Comes back to question Jesus again. And he tries to emphasize his authority to Jesus. This is John 19, verse 10. He says, you will not speak to me. Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you? And Jesus responded and said, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Jesus is telling him, you're not the top dog. You only have this authority because it's been given to you. But he recognizes his authority. Jesus is not staging a rebellion against Pilate here. He recognizes his authority and submits to what's happening in that moment in that civil court. And again, Pilate comes out to the crowd and says, I don't find any guilt. It says, from then on, Pilate sought to release him. And then it's when the Jews cried out, if you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar. The reason that Pilate finally caved was not that Jesus was a rebel, but that Pilate was afraid of looking like a rebel for tolerating Jesus. He could see that Jesus wasn't committing treason. He could see that Jesus wasn't rebelling against civil authority, and so when he did finally crucify Christ, he was joining the ranks of the foolish ignorance that was bringing a false accusation against Christ, like this foolish ignorance that Peter is talking about here. Brothers and sisters, when we follow in Jesus' footsteps, we will silence the accusations of treason and rebellion that have no basis. That's the lifestyle that Peter is calling us to, a lifestyle that will silence those kinds of accusations. People are going to be unsettled because we say we have a king who's more important to us than the government of the United States of America, who's bigger and stronger than the United States of America, who's bigger and stronger than the People's Republic of China. People are going to be unsettled by that, that we have a higher allegiance, and they're going to try to paint us as rebels because of that, but we need to live in such a way that that slander falls flat. when people see what good citizens we are. And friends, the danger, the flip side of what Peter's saying here is that if we do rebel wrongly, if we're guilty of treason or rebellion, we bring harm on the church because if we refuse to submit to the government the way we should, we give the ignorance of foolish people fuel for the fire. The people who think that Jesus is advocating rebellion against governments are given good reason to say that about Jesus if we're guilty of it. And we bring shame on the name of our Savior when we unnecessarily refuse to submit to the civil government. The fans of the opposing team might scream all kinds of things about you while you're on the court. They might assume the worst things about you, but when you play a clean game, You don't take the bait, it takes the wind out of their sails. But the moment you make that unnecessary foul, the moment you lose your cool and you do something dumb, it's like pouring gasoline on the fire. Friends, relate to civil government in such a way that the critics of Christianity have nothing to criticize except Christianity itself. As Peter says a few verses later to servants, for what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. Are you eager for the church to be known as rebels? Maybe you've been tempted to think that a little persecution would be good for the church. Maybe it's not that important what we're being persecuted for, but it's more important that we're known to be the kinds of people who stand up to authority, to be the kinds of people who make a big splash and draw lines between Christians and non-Christians. Maybe you look at the persecuted church in the world today and you almost wish that our lives could be like that so then the church would really be holy. Then the church would really be pure. We should not, but friends, we should not be wishing for unrest and wishing for government persecution because scripture tells us to pray for the opposite. When we are told to pray for kings and those in authority in 1 Timothy 2.2, we pray for them that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. Persecution is only good for the church and purifying for the church if we're persecuted for good reasons. If we're persecuted for being seditious or for being rebellious without just cause, we're bringing pain on our own heads and we fuel the slander of Christianity. We go on allowing this foolish ignorance to continue. Brothers and sisters, there's a stereotype of us as American Christians that we don't know how to live under authority. And that means that when we do speak up against government when we should, when we refuse to bow the knee when it would require sin, we're slandered as just a bunch of cowboys who don't want anyone to tell them what to do. How can we dispel that notion? How can you dispel that notion by your public conduct? This week, this month, this next election cycle, how can you dispel the notion that we're just a bunch of cowboys who can't live under authority? We must choose and know carefully when we have to rebel, in the sense of when we have to not submit to the civil government, so that we know for sure we're doing it for the Lord's sake and in the name of our King, Jesus Christ. That's the practical reason that Peter gives here. He doesn't want the slander of Christians to have any fuel for the fire. But then he moves on to the how, in terms of how do we approach this? How should we be thinking about this in the context of our lives? So thirdly, how do we do this? By being servants of God in all relationships. Thirdly, being servants of God in all relationships. In verse 16, where the ESV says, live as people who are free, the word live there is supplied by the translators to help it make sense to us. It's one of these long sentences. We've had a bunch of these already in 1 Peter. From verse 13 to 16 is all one long sentence. And so verse 16 really just starts with, as free people. So the command is be subject and it's continuing to qualify that and explain that and you just get to verse 16 and it's as free people. So I think the Christian Standard Bible actually is a better translation here because it starts verse 16 with submit as free people. And that's actually the grammatical sense of the sentence, is submit, be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution as free people. That's how the grammar of the sentence works. And so Peter is anticipating the objection here that says, but Christ has set us free. Nobody owns us. We don't owe ultimate allegiance to this government. We don't have to do what they tell us to do. We don't have to do what anyone tells us to do except King Jesus. No king but King Jesus. The cry, no king but King Jesus, may have been part of our American revolutionary heritage, but that was not the view of our covenant or ancestors in the faith. That we don't have any kind of kings other than King Jesus. Peter's affirming our freedom. Yes, you are not owned by the government. You're not slaves of the government. You're not slaves of anyone in this world other than being a servant of Jesus Christ. You are not owned by the government. They don't deserve your highest allegiance. The state does not deserve your highest allegiance. The son has set you free and you are free indeed, but we're tempted to take that freedom and to run with it and use it as a cover up for evil, including the evil of treason and anarchy. as if being under Christ's rule exempts us from the order that he has put in place in the state and in the home and in the church. Instead of claiming freedom as the reason to do whatever we want, Peter wants us to remember we're servants of God. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. We're made to serve God, and that applies to all relationships of our lives. Government is not the only relationship we have in our life, but we are to serve God in all of these different relationships. And that's really where Peter goes here. He goes on to put this relationship with government in the context of the other relationships of life, some of the other relationships of life. He reminds us that God is supreme, and he has ordained various relationships in our lives, and civil government is only one of them. This puts some healthy checks in place for civil government. He gives us these four pithy instructions. Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. Honor everyone. It's central to our Christian faith, to our Christian outlook on human society particularly, that we believe every person is made in the image of God. Every person deserves our respect because of being made in the image of God. When James is calling us out for our hypocrisy and how we use our tongues, he says, with it, we bless our Lord. This is James 3, 9. With it, we bless our Lord and Father. And with it, we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. Friends, as part of human society, we live with and work with people of all kinds. And so we don't get to pick and choose who to honor. As servants of God, when we see God's image, whether that person's a believer or an unbeliever, we honor it and we show respect to all people. And so any allegiance to government that compromises the individual dignity of human beings, or that sees people as expendable as long as the nation prospers, is not honoring our God. Because servants of God honor the image of God. That has to be there in our lives. We can't allow government to be, our allegiance to government, to come into conflict with that. or to override that. He says, love the brotherhood. And notice here, he doesn't say love the brothers. That would be the more common way you would see this in the New Testament. He says, love the brotherhood. This doesn't just mean love other Christians. This means love Christians together, the collective unit of Christians, the brotherhood, the church, the gathered people of God. Love the church, the entity of the people of God gathered together. This means you have to give the church the rightful place in your life and the rightful place in our society, to love and care for it, to love and care for all your brothers and sisters who are in it. And this is one of those areas where we get ourselves into trouble. If you confuse the state with the church, and if you give over what rightly belongs to one to the other, going either direction, You are not honoring your God as a true servant of God because he's instituted these separate things of both the brotherhood of the church and the state. Servants of God love the church. Servants of God love the brotherhood. He says, fear God. This is a critical restriction on our duty to submit to civil government. We saw this in Daniel earlier, a man who served faithfully. and excellently under a pagan government, as part of a pagan government. But Peter himself, think of Peter himself in the book of Acts. But Daniel, when the moment came, refused to disobey God. Think of Peter himself in the book of Acts when he was forbidden to preach the gospel. What did he say to the civil leaders in his day? He said, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge. He says, I'm in the sight of God. You're in the sight of God. That's gotta be, we gotta fear God here. And then eventually what he's pushed, he says, we must obey God rather than men. Friends, any allegiance to the state that trumps your duty to serve God is idolatry. Only God deserves your ultimate fear and your ultimate reverence. Servants of God fear God rather than men. But then after all that, these important relationships in your life, what does Peter say here? He says, honor the emperor. Scripture is very careful in its use of this word emperor or king, and whether it's got the definite article on it or not, whether it's the emperor or an emperor. So actually, at the beginning of this passage, we're just to be subject to a king or an emperor. But when it says the, it's talking about a particular person. Peter's talking about the emperor who was on the throne of the Roman Empire at that moment. And he says, honor the emperor. Not fear, not reverence and worship the way that the emperor wanted to be reverenced and worshiped at this time, but still honor. Because of his office, because God is the one who raises up kings and brings them down, because God in his providence had given them the emperor that he had at that time, he says, honor the emperor. In God's providence, he has given you the president that he has given you at this moment. And you are called by God to honor the president. That's true today. That was true a year ago. That was true 10 years ago. That was true 50 years ago. Peter puts this honoring and submitting to the government in the context of these other relationships because we get ourselves in trouble when we deny or neglect any of them. Your God, your Lord, the one whose servant you are, has commanded you to give attention to all of these areas, to human dignity, to the church, to your ultimate fear of God, and proper honor to the civil magistrate. It's funny, I don't think I've ever seen wall art with these four phrases on it. It's punchy, it sounds a lot like do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God. You see that on walls all the time. But we're a little uncomfortable with this. Especially if you put the word president in there instead of emperor, which is really the meaning of this, the highest leader of your land. How would you feel about that? Honor the president. How would you feel about that depending on the administration? Friends, this is what the Bible is calling us to do. We should be able to honor leaders because of their office, even if they are immoral, even if they are self-glorifying like the Caesars of Peter's day. We should be able to honor and respect the office in service to our King Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, your elected officials, whether it's the president or your local school board members, are there because God has put them there in his providence. So whether you voted for them or not, they are your leaders. They should be corrected. The church should prophesy about the truth where the government needs to hear how it's dishonoring God, but we must show respect to the officials God has put in place for as long as they remain in office. Brothers and sisters, if your freedom-loving American alarm bells are ringing right now, if you have a particular difficulty with this instruction from God's word in 1 Peter chapter two, stop for a moment and consider who wrote these words. Think about Peter. Peter, who was the impulsive young man who brought his sword to the Garden of Gethsemane. who had the quick draw to get the jump on Malchus and cut his ear off, who had every revolutionary urge, who was chafing under the injustice and the paganism of this Roman government, who probably would have stormed the Antonia Fortress in Jerusalem if Jesus had told him to. But in that moment when Jesus said, put your sword away, He saw Jesus show patience and mercy and give himself up to save his people. To accomplish the plan of redemption. To die so the sinners like you and me could repent of our sins and be forgiven. So that even if you have been a rebel your whole life, not just against governments, but against God himself, If you are a rebel at heart who has been kicking against the creator of this whole world, your whole life, God has been patient with you, and he will receive you now if you come to him with repentance and faith. In that moment when Jesus told him, put your sword away, it wasn't that God was ignoring sin. It wasn't like God didn't care about justice, like Jesus didn't care about justice. Peter now understands that we are living lives of hope. We know who's going to win in the end. We know that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We serve him and his kingdom by spreading his kingdom like leaven, like yeast, from Roman colony to Roman colony, not revolting against the pagan self-aggrandizement of the Caesars. but slowly spreading the good news of mercy so that God's plan of redemption can continue to be worked out in his patients so that even members of Caesar's household came to faith during Peter's lifetime. Brothers and sisters, we are not fighting ferociously and desperately out of fear that we might lose. We don't have to because we're not going to lose. We know that Jesus is coming back. We know who wins the day, and we are his ambassadors honoring his order for society and sharing his good news. Let's pray. Gracious Father in heaven, we come to you recognizing the weakness in our own hearts and minds. our struggle that goes all the way back to the garden to recognize proper authority or to pervert authority. So Lord, please help us to honor you in this area of our lives, both in properly submitting and also in properly fearing you and obeying you rather than men when we have to. Father, please help us. And please, may your name be glorified by the way that we conduct ourselves before the unbelievers around us. Lord, may we not bring any shame to your name, all by your grace. We thank you for the grace and the mercy that you've given us in our King and our Savior, Jesus Christ. We pray in his name. Amen.