for lead us in prayer. I think that taking a step back and reviewing where we are for a brief moment is helpful for us to orient ourselves to our text this morning in First Peter. The Apostle Peter, having defined our status as the Israel of God, which is made up of citizens from every nation, Jew and Gentile together as a holy nation, a new race of people who are a royal priesthood offering sacrifices to God. Each citizen is a living stone being built up into the temple of God where God, the Holy Spirit, has returned and resides. Last week, Peter returned to the idea of us being sojourners on this planet, reminding us that we have a homeland elsewhere with a king who saved us from death, with values and personal ethics that, depending upon where we may find ourselves on this planet, we may have anywhere from a little to much in common with their ethics. But wherever we are, we are to do good. even when we are being slandered, because us returning good for evil may be used by God, should he visit them for the purpose of salvation. Now, as we digest what God has done to us personally, as well as corporately through the span of redemptive history theologically, then seeing ourselves ontologically as the new Israel of God, Our sojourners, the question that arises in people's minds are then, how are we to interact? How are we to interact with all sorts of institutions, governmental institutions, economic institutions, personal institutions? Well, we've already gotten some teasers, if you will, by Peter. He tells us what not to do. We are not to be deceivers. We are not to be hypocrites. We're not to be slanderers, and we're not to be malicious. and our conduct amongst the Gentiles to be good. That, of course, means those that are unbelievers. Beginning in verse 13 and all the way through chapter 3 and verse 7, he will address a variety of relationships within the context of order in society. Not that one institution is more important than another, but for the purposes of maintaining order and peace. He tells us what God's will is related to these institutions in society. It is submission to authority. If you look at your Bibles, he uses the word submission and then defines the type of relationship. First, it's subjection to governmental authorities, starting in verse 18 and going to the end of the chapter. He then talks about economic issues within the context of the institution of slavery within the Roman Empire. In chapter 3 and verse 1, Peter turns to the institution of marriage and submission within the household. We will look at each of these three in turn that run through chapter three and verse seven. Let's tackle the first of the three today. How are people, how are the people of God to interact with the authorities that they may find themselves in? Before we do, if you would turn your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter two and rise for the reading and hearing of God's word. The following is from chapter two of 1 Peter verses 13 to 17. Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and 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. This is the word of God. Amen. Please be seated, and as you do, please join me in a prayer as we ask the Holy Spirit to illumine our minds. Holy Spirit, give us eyes to see as we gaze into the Word of God. Give us ears to hear and unstop any desires that would prevent us from listening to our Heavenly Father's will for our lives. And grant us the grace to repent so that we may live lives as sojourners with every breath, glorifying our great God. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. So Peter begins with how we are to live out our lives as Christian sojourners in whatever country we may find ourselves. So this really applies to whether you live in the United States or whether you live in Canada, Bulgaria, or Romania, or anywhere in the world. We are to be subject. Now, we have to be careful here not to water down the meaning of subject. I have heard people say that it's another word for citizenship. For example, for those that reside in nations that have kings, people say that they are a subject of the royal crown of whatever the kingdom may be. Peter simply doesn't have this in mind here. He's already told us that we are sojourners of and citizens from another place. What he has in mind here is submission to an authority. He uses the same word for the next two sections and he doesn't have in mind an economic or marital citizenship. Peter is telling us that we as Christians must submit to those whom God has put in governmental authority over us. He continues and tells us that the submission is guided by and limited to on account of the Lord. Other ways of saying this is because of or for the sake of the Lord. This is required for the Lord's sake. God has set these patterns of authority for the orderly governing of life. For God is not a God of chaos. It is God's way that there be order in creation. He is a God of order and his household is designed that way. The basis is that it is what brings joy to the Lord. What brings joy to us as Christians is when we imitate our Savior. Being like him more and more should be a consistent goal of our lives. And as we look to the Lord, we see that he was obedient to the authorities himself. The Bible makes it clear that it is God who places or removes authorities. It is his right as the sovereign of the universe. And since we know that as it is his sovereign right, he tells us that we must obey them. In the book of Romans, Paul really explains this head on and very clearly. Romans chapter 13, verses one through three states. let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. Although Peter is writing to the newly created nation without borders, it is important to note that empires and governments have changed, and along with that, geographic boundaries may have changed as well. Wars, for example, have caused this. The point is that this submission to governmental authorities applies to countries that we are established in. So for example, we are not subject to the laws of Japan unless we are visiting or vacationing or working there. We living in Maryland are, however, to submit to the laws of the United States. So to make this clear, Christians in Abu Dhabi are not subject to obey the laws of Malaysia. We are to submit to the authorities that have been placed over us jurisdictionally. We are to submit to the authorities. Now, there have been times in the life of God's people who have disobeyed those placed over them. Let me give you two examples. The first one is from Exodus chapter 2 and verse 51. If you recall, it says, but the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. They were, if you recall, told to kill the male children. The second example of this is from the Book of Daniel. We have another example there where in Chapter 3 we have Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego disobeying the emperor and not bowing down to the idol that he had constructed of himself. The thing that these have in common is the obvious forcing of God's people to commit sin. to do something that is against God's law. And so we see that the first priority of God's people is to obey God. And if they're being forced to do anything that is in direct contradiction to the clear teaching of God's word, they are not to submit. But we are to do so winsomely. Now, an important aspect to this is that we are to obey all the laws of the rightful authority, whether we like them or disagree with them. We all have personal preferences, don't we? We all have our likes and we all have our dislikes, and we have Christian liberty as well. And they, by definition, fall within preferences also. When we have Christian liberty in an area of life, God gives us the freedom to participate or not, choosing one thing over another with a free conscience. The thought here is that we don't get to say, I don't agree with my governmental authority's decision to build a bridge in another part of the county or state. I think instead the funds should go towards building a hospital wing at the nearby hospital. Therefore, I will not obey the laws of the states, one being paying my taxes. We don't get to choose to do that. Let's go down a little bit deeper down this rabbit hole. Building a bridge over a wing at a hospital seems like an amoral, not immoral, amoral decision. It's neutral, if you will. Now, I recall having a conversation with a believer who asked this question in another way, which frankly was much more morally correlated. She said, I don't want my tax dollars being sent to pro-abortion related entities. Can I protest by declining to pay my taxes? Now, I personally sympathized with her sentiment regarding, you know, funds being sent to pro-abortion entities. However, in the end, I told her that we don't get to make that decision if something is an option. So, if we're forced to abort children, we should disobey. In this case, no one is being ordered to do this. And even if we were, it is not a consequence that we now get to choose which laws we no longer wish to obey. What I mean is that because they disobeyed the king in not bowing down to an idol, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that they now had a license to disobey other laws that are not in clear disobedience to God's laws. Well, then maybe you might be asking, well, what about if the president or the emperor or the prime minister is immoral? Do I have to obey then? Many believe that Peter wrote this letter under the administration of the Emperor Nero, who reigned from AD 54 to 68. Anyone who knows even a little about the Emperor, Emperor Nero, knows he was not anywhere near being what we would call salt and light to the world. But yet, Peter is writing during his administration. We are called to be subject to leaders who may not be believers, or for that matter, morally upright. Now, in verse 14, Peter tells us that our subjection is not only to the top leader, it is also to all levels of authority within that country. Now, not only does he define the comprehensiveness, but then gives us the purpose or function they have in God's plan. The reason why, for example, a governor or bureaucrat had been sent by the emperor is that they are to, first, to judge those who do evil and punish them. Secondly, to publicly praise those that do good. The authorities are really sort of an extension of God. I think it's fair to say that they're the instruments that God uses to administer justice and to maintain peace. One of the functions of the governor is to vindicate the reputations of those that have been falsely accused. You all see the tie-in here. They are to keep the peace. Dr. Peter David says in his commentary, Governors deserve submission because even the worst of them preserve some semblance of conformity to pagan standards of good. And that is better than chaos. Now, I understand and I agree. that there are overlaps in what believers hold as moral and what, sorry, unbelievers hold as moral and what Christians hold as moral. This means that they will prosecute things like murders and theft and so forth. But I think that ultimately we must obey God because he has commanded it. As Peter states, for the sake of the Lord. we should take comfort in knowing that wicked leaders will be judged by God for their evil. As we look back at the Assyrians and the Babylonian empires and their leaders, we can show that they were actually called servants of God, executing justice, but they themselves were later judged because of their sinful motives. In my lifetime, And in many of our lifetimes, I can point to a morally wicked leader who was toppled by other servants of God. I have in mind Saddam Hussein of Iraq, who was a very morally wicked man and did a lot of evil things. Although the authorities are given the power of the sword to administer justice, that same power is not something that other members of society are privileged and tasked to exercise. In fact, yet again, as we look at the Book of Romans, Paul explicitly prohibits it. We are not to take the sword into our own hands. That's called vigilantism. The Lord says that the act of vengeance is reserved for him. And he will exercise vengeance through his means, the authorities. Or at other times, he may just do it directly. The authorities are also to praise those who do good. Now, this is a little different than what is normally thought of as a reward or praise. We know that political patronage is a reward for support, political support. Being successful in commerce tends to be a cause of praise and celebrity by politicians. Being successful here for doing good, Proper moral conduct is supposed to be a source also for praise. Now, it may seem kind of sort of odd to us to hear this, but let's not forget that Peter is writing within a culture and a historical context where public honor is a very important thing. What about working for governments? Is it okay for Christians to work for governments? Yes, it is good for Christians to work for governments that act according to God's will. And we can see this in 1 Timothy 2 verses 1 through 4. He says, first of all then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people. for the kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. In fact, we pray for our leaders, and we pray that they are surrounded by believers that are given godly counsel as they make their decisions. The presence of Christians in these positions can be the exact instruments by which God uses to answer our prayers. Verse 15 begins with a sort of like a look backward. or referring to what God commands. He says, for this is the will of God. Looking backwards. Our translations don't end with a period. The verse continues with a comma. The rest of the sentence is giving us further rationale and an example. So then we are to see that God wants us to be obedient to the officials that he's placed over us, because the authorities, when they address your complaint or address slanderous complaints against us, God's chosen instrument of justice will silence the slanderer, which Peter rightly points is out of ignorance, not knowing the truth. Many times, it was not slander that arose from ignorance. It was malice against the Christians at the time, especially in the first several centuries. Let us learn from Peter, who was well aware of this reality, and he chooses instead to be charitable with his conclusions. We also should be charitable with our assumptions about other people's motivations as we don't have the gift of mind reading. Please note that in Peter's expressing charity, nowhere does he say that we should ignore what others are saying about us. It is that our approach to address wrongs should be kind and charitable. charitable and that person makes slanderous remarks against us may just be ignorant of the truth or perhaps misled himself or herself. It is foolish behavior to not really know the truth and begin to make things up upon ignorance, is it not? This can very easily become slander. Persons should not expose themselves to slander. Everyone should do their due diligence, for when the truth comes out, it can harm the slanderer's reputation instead, and be subject to civil penalties. Not only that, but we must remember that the fool, by biblical standards, is defined as the unbeliever. The one that does not believe in God is a biblical fool. because the fool in his rebellion against God is ignorant of his ways. The biblical fool looks at Christians as if we're strange because we act in unexpected ways. An example of this ignorance that led to slander early in the life of the Christian church was over communion. Since the unbeliever didn't know what was going on, bits of information like eating the body and drinking the blood was understood as the followers of this executed rebel from Nazareth were murdering unsuspecting innocent people so that they can practice their cannibalism in their worship service. Obviously untrue. But it was a very harmful slander against the church. When this was finally investigated by the authorities and it was proven untrue, it shut the mouths of foolish people. When people speak falsely against God's people, it harms God's reputation. And so the way we are called to deal with it is to be obedient to the authorities, be honorable, and do good things that naturally flows out from the gospel. Now, if you're sitting there and thinking, you know, being subject to the ruler is going to be oppressive and limiting to what I want to do in life, Peter assures us and reminds us that we are a free people. The type of freedom that Peter has in mind is not the type of freedom that the zealot party had in mind in the first century. They believed that they were to obey God and God alone as their god and king. And for them, freedom meant political freedom from Rome. Peter, it's not clear exactly what he means by this, but when we consider for a moment that we are free from having to do good works to earn righteousness, that we are free from abstaining from sin, that we are free from the guilt of sin and from the reign of sin in our lives, We certainly do have freedoms, don't we? And if this is what Peter has in mind, then we can understand that he is telling us that our salvation in Christ does not mean that we have freedom now or a license to practice unrighteousness. Instead, we are to live lives as godly servants of God. An example of the misuse of freedom, which became a slogan for a cover for evil, was when Paul had to deal with it in Corinth. In 1 Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verses 1 and 2, it was very obvious. He says, it is actually reported. I find it interesting that he uses the word actually. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you. and of a kind that is not tolerated even among the pagans. And you are arrogant. Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from amongst you. One of the things that we must remember is that when God saves us and gives us freedom, it is freedom from sin and Satan's realm. It is not a freedom to or towards autonomy. It is not a freedom towards autonomy. The word literally means self-law, a law unto yourself, self-governing. What God the Holy Spirit frees us to is obedience to God. We go from being slaves to sin to slaves to righteousness. We are freed up now to joyously obey God. Verse 17 seems like a summary of what has been said with an important caution. Now, at first reading, you may not catch that caution. It's not so obvious. It may seem as if it begins with honor everyone as an introductory summary statement that is later broken out by the following three categories defined as everyone, So if we are to understand in that way what he is saying, then we are to see it as it including the brethren, God, and the emperor. Now the reason why I think we shouldn't see it this way is that the list does not include unbelievers. We are to honor everyone, and that does include unbelievers. And given the context in this passage, they should be on the list. I think we should see it as honor everyone. This includes all sorts of people in general, including the unbeliever. With that being first, he takes it up a notch. So not only are we to honor the brotherhood, he calls us to love the brotherhood. This is to fellow believers. Then he takes it up yet another notch. Fear God, he says. This is a healthy type of fear that we have in approaching our great God. Then he returns down again by using the word honor a second time. And this time it is towards the emperor. What we have to note here is that it's like he's crescendoed at God. You follow? Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God, he's crescendoed, and then he returns back to the same level as where he was before. Honor all human beings, and puts the emperor on that same level. In fact, he's not in the same level the emperor is as the brethren when you see it this way. Now, this is not to say that he is being disrespectful towards authority, but he is concerned that the people of God do not lose sight of the priorities in their lives, in our lives. Now, this is significant because for those who have studied the cult of Roman emperors, you would know that the emperor was considered a deity. and was honored, feared, and praised, not unlike other small g gods. And if you didn't offer worship to the emperor, you were liable to being labeled a traitor. Peter has inserted a guard. By repeating the word honor again, a guard for us not to have an idolatrous love for our state leaders, our congressmen, our senators, and our president. We are called instead to be submissive, obedient, and honorable towards those whom God has placed an authority over us. These leaders are not the saviors of our souls. We already have that in our king, the Lord Jesus. We have to be careful to not stumble in either direction. What I mean is that because we're called to honor, on the one hand, we have to be careful to not dishonor, put down, slander, or anything of that ilk for and towards our leaders. And on the other hand, to not blindly love, fear, and follow our leaders like we should our heavenly fathers, heavenly father. If you're asking what do you mean by this, we don't have to go back to Peter's first century. Let's go back to the previous century and look at Nazi Germany and how the people elevated Hitler in their hearts. We are prone to do the very same thing. We have to be careful, brothers and sisters, not to commit idolatry in our hearts. We should all look internally and see if we're doing that. Either are we doing in one direction or are we going in the other direction? And we have to ask God for the grace to conform to his will. We should give honor to those in authority over us, but we should love the brethren and fear our God. Please join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, for it is a corrective in our lives in every possible way, so that we may lead lives that is honoring to you, that is glorifying to you. And we ask, Father, that indeed, as we have searched the scriptures this day, that if there's anything in us that your spirit needs to isolate, bring out, that you would. and that we may conform to your word. May we honor all men. May we love the brethren, and most importantly, fear you in a healthy and proper way. And most importantly, to love you back. And we ask this in the name of the Father.