If you haven't opened your Bibles yet, would you please do so to 1 Peter 2 as we continue our study. Indeed, this morning we continue our study of 1 Peter in the section where Peter is teaching how the citizens of this new holy nation, which is comprised of both Jew and Gentile, as sojourners are to interact with the various authorities within society. Christians will find themselves in various parts of the world where neither the people nor the governments will necessarily be the same from one nation to another. So they would naturally need to know how are they to behave, how they are to respond wherever they may find themselves. Last week we began the first major arena of society, that was the government authorities. Peter referred to the emperor and the local governors, if you recall. This week we will look at the economic relationships, and next week we will look at relationships within the institution of marriage. In each of these three layers of society, Peter begins with us being subject to the authorities that have been placed above us. We are to obey and do good, especially when we are being persecuted for our faith. Last week, when we studied about the government, we were told that, as God installed, the authorities had an important role in society. It was to keep the peace and facilitate justice, and secondly, to publicly honor those that did good deeds. Peter now enters the second type of relationship, and that of the economic relationship of household masters and house servants and slaves. In a hypothetical situation, when the government intercedes and punishes someone, it is well understood that it is for improper or subversive actions. In verses 2, 13, and 14, Peter's expressed a general belief that it is the desire of governmental authorities to be fair and just. It is, after all, in their best interest to do so. However, what is acknowledged and well-known by historians is the fact that cruel masters were common enough and their unjust behavior was something that household servants and slaves could relate to. Knowing how God would want us to respond in those situations would be helpful. One of the things that we must always keep in mind is that we are to obey those in authority over us only as far as we are not being asked to commit sin, anything that is against God's law. With that in mind, let us now turn our attention to our text this morning, which is from 1 Peter 2, verses 18 to 25. Would you please rise for the reading and hearing of God's infallible and inerrant word? This is now the following from 1 Peter 2, 18 to 25. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 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. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself wore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed, for you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. This is the word of God. Amen. Please be seated and join me in prayer as we seek out the Holy Spirit to illumine our minds. Holy Spirit, your word is a light to our spiritual eyes and shows the path to our Savior and how we are to live in this life. It is the power of God that leads us unto salvation. Be with us now as we study at your feet. Help us to see our Savior in all His glory, and may it lead us to greater faith in our Heavenly Father, and even a greater desire to serve Him in His glory. Amen. Peter addresses servants. He uses a word that is less commonly used, oiketes in the Greek, than the one more commonly used for slaves, which is doulos. However, they are synonymous for the most part. The nuance for the word Peter uses is for house servant. The dreadful institution of slavery in our country's experience can sometimes impact the way we look at slavery in other times and in other cultures. See, in the first century, within the Roman Empire, I understand that approximately half of all the subjects of the Roman Empire were actually slaves and house servants, one out of every two. Life of a slave back then, although lacking many, many freedoms and rights of a Roman citizen, was a little bit different. No doubt they were unskilled laborers for the empire needed them. But if they demonstrated aptitude, they would be trained as doctors, as nurses, skilled artisans, educators, accountants, managers, and so forth. It was not uncommon for some servants in a household to be literate. Meanwhile, their masters to be illiterate. They were able to do as they pleased when they were not needed to perform the tasks that they were called to do, and they were also paid for their labors. And there was an extensive code, a Roman code, for how one was to treat their servants, which included their ability at some point to buy their freedom. But this is not to say that mistreatment of slaves was not uncommon, nor was it even rare. So once a slave was converted to Christ, now a sojourner within the kingdom of God, how was he to interact with his master? Now one may ask, what does this have to do with us? Yes, we have governments and yes, we have marriages, which we'll be talking about next week, but we don't have the type of institution or this type of institution in our country today. This is true. But there are principles that we can apply here to our lives within the economic sphere, for those that are employed, for those who are employers. These are things that we can learn from. How are we to respond when we are being treated unfairly, unjustly, being overlooked, or being written up for following our faith? Having said that, let us dive into the context of Peter's Rome. Dr. Peter Davids, in his commentary on 1 Peter, points out an interesting thing. I quote, it is an unusual fact that biblical writers address servants and slaves at all. Most Jewish and other moral codes don't put moral demands on slaves and servants. The reason for this is that societies at large did not consider household servants and slaves as full persons or members of society. And this, as a consequence, led to a perspective that they did not have moral responsibility. Now, as I reflected on this biblically, the truth of the matter was that in the Pentateuch, the emphasis was not on how the servant was to be treated. God expected them, the emphasis was on how the servants, I should say, were to be treated. God expected them to be treated with respect and dignity. But it is true that in comparison that there really isn't much in the way of what was expected from the servant. However, the reason why biblical writers of the New Testament like Peter and Paul did so was because the church considered slaves and servants as full and equal persons. They were fellow living stones who were just as much a royal priest offering sacrifices to God as any other Christian who was a full Roman citizen. In fact, in James' writing, he excoriates any church who offers a good seat to a wealthy citizen and shuns a poor, presumably slave or house servant to go sit in an undesirable location of the church while the community is worshiping. Although the corpus of the New Testament writings didn't address the institution of slavery within society per se, what was clear was that no social status was to be allowed within the church community, because we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. Galatians is quite clear on this, is it not? It tells us that there is no social advantages, no ethnic advantages, no racial advantages. God sees all of his children as equal under Christ. And that is how we should see each other as well. It says in Galatians 3.28, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. There is no upper class, there is no middle class, there is no lower class Christians in God's economy. Yes, of course, we do have different responsibilities and roles within the church, but that does not make one more elite or more important or less important than the other Christian. Now, in verse 18, Peter calls servants to be respectful of their masters. For us, it means that those of whom we are employed by. We must respect and we must obey those that are in authority over us. Not only those that are good and gentle, but also the unjust. The idea of unjust has in mind that those who are oppressive or ill-tempered individuals. A reminder for us is that when we are being obedient to harsh, unkind managers, we should remember that we are doing so because we are doing it as if unto God himself. And in turn, he who sees all things in secret will honor us for our good and godly behavior. Now, as a consequence, and I think that this is important, our response should not be determined whether those in authority are gentle or kind or compassionate, fair or unjust, evil or oppressive. We do the right thing. We do the good thing because we are doing it to please God and not man. The Greek word used for unjust here is literally skolios. It means crooked. They are not behaving properly or upright. And by the way, that is where we get our word for skoliosis. So God is honored when we obey whether we are treated nicely or poorly. Look, I got to say that it is so difficult to be obedient to someone in authority over you when they're crooked or they're unjust or oppressive or just a nasty personality. When I look back at the bosses, or the number of bosses I've had over the years, and just in case some of you younger folks may not realize, I have not been a pastor since I was three years of age. I have had many secular jobs with many bosses or managers. And I can think of some that were pleasant to work for. And I can think of a couple of bosses that were hard to work for. And I think that, in the end, we all can probably do that, can't we? But the reason why it could be either difficult or a joy is because we have them in mind. It is because we have them in mind. What helps in whatever situation you're in, you should try to remember that we as Christians are ultimately serving God. And serving God should always be a delight. God is watching, and he's going to reward and honor you whether you obey a good boss or a bad boss. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see how potentially painful it was for Christian slaves, as Peter himself knew of how poorly Christian slaves could have been and were treated. Let's focus on this and sharpen it a little bit. Peter was faithful in teaching what his master, the Lord Jesus, what Jesus taught. What I'm referring to is in Matthew chapter 5, beginning with verse 43, and this is from the Sermon on the Mount. As you hear this passage, you'll see it's resonating through this passage itself. You have heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? This is followed up in verse 19, which needs sort of a little bit of unpacking, but it begins to get at what the Lord is teaching. What is ultimately getting to here is that God is pleased with Christians who happen to be slaves, who endure unjust suffering, not because there's no other option or because of their optimism that things may change for the better in the future, but because they know this pleases God and conforms to the teachings of Jesus. Let's take a brief moment to look at the word for gracious in this text. The Greek word there is charis, charis or charis, I don't, I'm sure you may have heard it in a variety of different ways. But the charis can also mean credit or benefit. We can see this in Luke 6, verses 23 and 24. I'll make that clear for us as we go through this. It states, and this is Jesus speaking, if you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? It's haris, grace there. For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit, haris, is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And then finally, and if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what haris, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. I think this passage also seems to be in Peter's mind as he is using this lesser used meaning of grace. The point then in verse 19 is the following. For it is beneficial. for you when you have God in mind and you endure sorrows for your faith while suffering unjustly. God sees and understands and he is pleased by your obedience. There's even more. So in verse 20, Peter expands upon what he said in the previous verse. He asks, what credit is there, presumably before God, if when you are punished and you endure for when you've done something wrong? Benefit is referring to fame or reputation. That is to say, what positive fame or reputation will you bring yourself as before God, and frankly to God also? It's like stealing supplies at work, and you've been written up for it, and your response is to take your punishment graciously, as if it is a badge of honor. You're being gracious and accepting punishment will not bring honor to yourself and certainly not to God. It's when you haven't done anything wrong and you accept the unjust punishment for your faith. That is when it brings honor before God as well as to God. Peter transitions in verses 21 to 25 to provide a reason and motivation to do good even in the presence of unjust behavior. The transition, however, is referring to the works of the son which brought pleasure to the father. Our imitation of the son becomes the basis by which we bring pleasure to our heavenly father also. Christ's example points to two things. The first is that in his obedience and desire to trust his heavenly father, Christ also suffered. We are linked to Christ because he suffered for doing what was right in the sight of God. We should also be prepared to suffer for our faith if God calls us to that. Secondly, it is the example that he left for us. It was through his suffering that brought glory to God. to his father, and the most obvious is to the glory of God's grace and his mercy and his kindness and his generosity. Perhaps our suffering could be the instrumental cause by which the Holy Spirit will use to bring someone to saving faith. Perhaps on a day of visitation, God may save the very same persecutor in your life. The word Christian itself literally means little Christ. In essence, the early Christians understood and saw themselves as the offspring of their father, Jesus. And as such, they understood that they were to be like their father, Jesus. Paul encouraged the church in Ephesus to imitate Christ in their lives. Ephesians 5.1, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. He did the very same in Thessalonica. First Thessalonians 1, 6. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord. It's interesting. For you received the word, the word of the gospel, in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit. For Jesus did say, follow. He said, follow me. And to follow Jesus means that he has by his suffering for obedience paved the road for us to follow. His life is the pattern by which we are to live. His suffering in justice in the light of righteousness sake is something that we as followers of Jesus must reconcile ourselves to. Please note, Peter ends the sentence in his footsteps. We are to follow Jesus in his footsteps. Now having set the pattern for our lives, he takes a step back in verse 22 and describes what he specifically has in mind and what he has been teaching. I think he has a poetic reference to Isaiah chapter 53 in verse 9. The idea of the suffering servant, which is really a primary focus of the Isaiah chapter, I think it's woven throughout the rest of the book of 1 Peter. The notion that Jesus is the suffering servant was so vital, was so essential to the teachings of the early church. Today, we don't see it the same way. It's sort of evidentiary proof of Jesus and very helpful for us to understand the bimodal aspect of eschatology, the already and not yet. It helps us to understand the two advents of Jesus, that he came in peace and yet he will also be coming back in judgment. This teaching was so foundational that when one actually takes the time to read verses 22 to 24, it kind of sounds like an early church creed. When memorized or perhaps even put to music, there's a precision in the verbiage and it teaches us much about the person and the work of Christ. But in this verse, we see that it was not just avoiding breaking man-made laws, but he was innocent before God. There was no sin committed by him. This means that his obedience was acceptable and brought pleasure to his heavenly father. This teaching fits well for suffering servants of God. Whether one is a slave or not, we should count it a privilege to be called by God to suffer for righteousness, to suffer for our faith. Now, I know that it's easy to say this when you're not going through it, but if you are, Those are the times when you can relate and engage Jesus in his love for his heavenly Father and his love for you. Verse 23 adds additional detail for us to consider. It is how Jesus responded to the unjust suffering for his faith. The point is that Jesus followed his own teaching on loving one's enemies when they mistreat you or treat you unjustly. This takes a great deal of faith, does it not? Embedded in this faith is a great deal of trust in God. Specifically here, it's trust in God as the perfect judge who will judge rightly and justly in his own time, in his own way. Jesus did not take up his own cause, but he entrusted himself to his heavenly Father. Verses 24 and 25 should, I think, birth gratitude in us. It should birth gratitude for Christ and motivate us to obey commandments even in difficult circumstances, even for those who are above us who are unkind. However, in this passage, We are to see that he bore our sins upon the tree. This tells us that the punishment he received, the death he experienced was vicarious. Vicarious means that it was done on behalf of another. Jesus bore the cost. The punishment for our sins when he was upon the cross, the death that he received was the death that we deserve. But he died in our place, so we won't have to. You see, the death of Jesus, the death that Jesus experienced was that of estrangement from his heavenly father. That is what we deserve. Let me be a little bit more clear here. The death we're talking about is not the consequences of an eternity being separated from a loving relationship with God. You see, that was the death that we escaped. Not that we won't physically die, but we will not experience the eternal consequences of suffering for our sins. Now, if Christ died in our place, then as Paul says, we are dead to sin. And if we're dead to sin, then we have arisen alive to righteousness. This means we no longer have to live like before we were saved. We can obey God. We can suffer unrighteousness, imitating our Savior. Isaiah 53.5 must be in mind, I think, when he ends the verse saying that our wounds have been healed. I'll read that for us. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. being physically punished by unjust masters, as Jesus was, by a fist to the face or a whip to the back would have resonated with Christian slaves that were punished for their faith. It is through Christ's suffering that we have now already experienced healing, healing with God. Please note, it says that you have been healed. He is absolutely and definitely speaking about something the believer has experienced, healing. Because of something that Jesus experienced, pain and suffering. This is not some ongoing future physical healing. It's something that has been accomplished in the life of the believer. The healing, the reparation with God. This is not some passage that can be twisted to mean that there's some sort of physical healing that God promises you if only you have enough faith. Verse 25, Peter uses the past tense, you were. But now returned is a reference to having lived, sorry, is a reference to having lived pagan lives. That's whom he's writing to. Again, this is a reminder that this is a letter written not only to Jews, who became Christians, but also the Gentiles that converted to Christianity. But Peter does it again. The imagery of the sheep going astray was one used for Israel in the Old Testament. And here, Peter applies the images reminiscent of the old Israel to the new nation, the new Israel. And to whom is it that they have come to? Peter says, the shepherd and overseer of your souls. This ties us right back to Jesus and what he said about himself. Do you not recall? John chapter 10 and verse 11, he said, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. It's so easy to think that when you're experiencing pain and isolation for your faith or perhaps even the threat of it, you may think maybe you've made a mistake. In those times, doubts creep in about our faith in Christ. This is natural. But the word teaches us that Christ has experienced this suffering and persecution for his obedience to his father's will himself. He told us that we may undergo similar things instead of feeling alone and lost. Know that Jesus is the great shepherd and overseer of your soul. He's always with you. He's always with us. I can't help but wonder if our beloved brother, our beloved brother Peter, the Apostle Peter, knowing what happened in his life, even as he was penning this verse, I'll read it back to you so it's fresh in your mind. for you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. I just can't help but wonder if our beloved brother found great comfort in this sentiment himself in a very personal way. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you for your Son, the Lord Jesus. We thank you for your Word. And we thank you that your Holy Spirit resides within us, moving us, granting us the grace that we need, even in those very difficult times when we are persecuted, persecuted for our faith. We pray, Father, that although in our society, in this part of the world today, we don't experience persecution as much as other Christians do throughout this world. There are areas of this world that our brothers and sisters are persecuted for their faith. We would ask that not only would you be with us, but that you would be with them, that you would grant them the grace that they would need to see Jesus in the midst of this persecution, to draw closer to him, knowing that the Lord Jesus himself was obedient. while he suffered for unrighteousness. Because it pleased you that he trusted you and that he didn't take things into his own hands. He trusted that you were God who kept his word. that you are a God who would exact justice in your own way and in your own time. We pray, Father, that you would help us in those times to remind us that indeed you are a God who is just and right and that you care for us and that you will vindicate us at the appropriate time and place. And we ask that you would do these things for your glory and in Jesus' name.