Sermon Tone Analysis

“Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.” [1]

Being free and living as one who is free are two entirely different concepts.

People who have been incarcerated for extended periods may have difficulty adjusting to life outside of prison walls.

Through long confinement, these individuals have been conditioned to avoid making decisions on their own.

Throughout the period of imprisonment, they were told when to wake up, when to go to bed, when to eat—essentially, they had no freedom to make decisions for themselves.

In a more pragmatic sense, they have not been required to accept responsibility for any decisions related to the minutiae of life.

Thus habituated, they discover that freedom is an intimidating concept.

It is frightening to be responsible for one’s own decisions.

However, freedom always carries the burden of responsibility.

The command to live as people who are free comes in what many today find to be a puzzling context—a call to submission.

The only free people within contemporary culture are those who have learned the secret of subjection to institutions ordained for human good—government, labour and family.

So that no one need be confused as to his concern, Peter identifies the principle institution in view as the government.

Specifically, he names the emperor and governors.

It does not seem wrong to take his point as meaning that we who are Christians are to work to foster an attitude of submission toward government—federal, provincial and local.

In the verses that follow, Peter will continue with his exposition naming specific institutions to which Christians are to subject themselves by naming (in the modern context) relationships to employers [1 PETER 2:18-25], marriage [1 PETER 3:1-7] and even the cultural milieu in which we live [1 PETER 3:8-12].

The general principle is that we are to first arrange ourselves under the reign of God, then in so far as there is no conflict to human institutions, we are to subject ourselves willingly to these other institutions.

I acknowledge that such voluntary subjection can be messy.

Having experienced some conflicts in life, I can imagine the necessity of judgement calls requiring a conscientious Christian to act obediently to a human institution, even when other equally conscientious Christians disagree with the submission.

At other times, a believer intent on honouring the Lord will find himself or herself in conflict with various human institutions, perhaps gaining the disapproval of fellow believers.

Whatever the situation, if we will honour the Living God, our response must reflect humility, even while soliciting the support of other believers.

Each of us as followers of the Son of God must show consideration for our fellow saints.

We will do well to recall the apostolic admonition, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

[EPHESIANS 4:1-3].

Above all else, we must ensure that we endeavour to know the will of God and boldly do that which pleases Him and honours Him.

*LIVE FREE* — The Christian can live as free because the Christian is free.

Before we move into the text proper, think of several rich verses that speak of the freedom we have in Christ the Lord.

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” [GALATIANS 5:1].

“You were called to freedom, brothers.

Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” [GALATIANS 5:13].

Jesus pointed to a rich promise of freedom for those who followed Him.

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” [JOHN 8:31, 32].

Soon after this, the Son of God spoke again, promising, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” [JOHN 8:36].

This promise is iterated by Paul, when he wrote, “The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” [2 CORINTHIANS 3:17].

In light of where we will be going shortly, consider a couple of other verses of Scripture.

“Thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness” [ROMANS 6:17, 18].

Paul followed this statement with another emphasising the identical point.

“Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life” [ROMANS 6:22].

Mankind is enslaved; each individual is either a slave to sin or a slave to Christ.

The former speaks of thralldom that leads to death; the latter points to life and in what from the outside appears to be incongruous, freedom.

The freedom of which I have been speaking leads to this summation: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” [ROMANS 8:1, 2].

Before thinking of how to live as people who are free, pause to think of the freedom we now possess as followers of the Risen Son of God.

The believer is free from condemnation.

“The free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin.

For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.

For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ” [ROMANS 5:16, 17].

This affirmation is but an expansion of the words recorded by the Apostle of Love.

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” [JOHN 3:18].

In turn, this expression of truth anticipates the words of Jesus spoken on another occasion.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.

He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” [JOHN 5:24].

The child of God is free from the sentence of death.

What a powerful sermon in a sentence Paul has written in the Letter to Roman Christians.

“The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” [ROMANS 6:23].

The Apostle’s exultation still thrills the child of God.

“I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

Behold!

I tell you a mystery.

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’

‘O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?’

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” [1 CORINTHIANS 15:50-57].

The Christian is free of fear.

In the Letter to Hebrew Christians we read, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” [HEBREWS 2:14, 15].

What a contrast!

Elsewhere, the Apostle has written, “All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba!

Father!’

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” [ROMANS 8:14-17].

We who believe in the Lord Christ are free to come into the presence of the True and Living God, knowing that we will be received as dearly loved children.

Access to God’s throne, promised in the Letter to Hebrew Christians, serves as a soft pillow for weary heads.

“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” [HEBREWS 4:14-16].

We believers are free to call on Him at any time.

There is a powerful affirmation of our ability to come before the Saviour that is found in Hebrews.

“Jesus [is] the guarantor of a better covenant.”

The reason this statement can be made is that “The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but [Jesus] holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.”

Now, get the practical implication of this truth!

“Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” [HEBREWS 7:22-25].

We modern people often require some succinct, pithy statement on which to hang our lives.

Let’s attempt to construct precisely such a statement enshrining this truth.

Peter is urging us as believers, not to see freedom as liberty to do what we want; rather he is urging us to consider that we have freedom to do what we ought.

These primitive believers took Peter’s words to heart in a manner that should humble us in this day.

Tertullian contrasted the Christians of his day with the pagans.

The heathen delighted in bloody gladiatorial shows presented in the amphitheatre; but a Christian would have been excommunicated if he went to such a show.

When the pagans deserted their relatives in a plague, Christians ministered to the sick.

The heathen would leave their dead unburied on the field of battle and cast their wounded into the streets; the disciples would hasten to relieve their suffering.

[2] In this way, the Christians would, through doing good, “silence the ignorance of foolish people” [1 PETER 2:15].

The seeming conundrum arises when we attempt to substitute contemporary ideas of freedom for the biblical concept of freedom.

We moderns define freedom as the absence of responsibility; and in a measure, that is a freedom.

However, biblical freedom speaks of liberty to fulfil ideals rather than the absence of responsibility.

Peter pointedly addresses this very real conflict by cautioning believers in these words, “Not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as bondservants of God.”

What is in view is the attitude of Christians—believers are to “live as people who are free.”

Having been freed from sin’s dominion, Christians were free to choose to live in a way that honours God.