Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Peter 2:13-17

Baptist Foundations — Christians in the Modern State

 

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 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.

Honour everyone.

Love the brotherhood.

Fear God.

Honour the emperor.[1]

One aspect of Christian teaching that contemporary believers appear to find odious is the command to cultivate a submissive spirit.

Submission is neither natural, nor is it a popular characteristic for contemporary Christians.

We resist even the thought of cultivating a submissive spirit.

We are assailed with constant insistence to exalt individual “rights.”

Consequently, we admire assertive individuals, counting those who reveal a submissive attitude as wimps and wusses.

Any message that calls for a submissive attitude is inimical to a generation imbued with the concept of self-esteem and that is so thoroughly indoctrinated in personal rights.

I well recall a wedding I performed some years ago.

The bride-to-be informed me at the first counselling session that she would not publicly state her willingness to submit to her groom.

I suggested that perhaps she should refrain from marriage, in that case, since submission is a biblical mandate for wives.

In the Ephesian encyclical, Paul writes, Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord [*Ephesians 5:22*].

She decided against calling the marriage off, and she did express commitment to submit to her own husband.

Submission is certainly a virtue expected of a Christian wife; but that same attitude of a submissive spirit is expected of all Christians.

In the verses preceding his instruction to wives, the Apostle wrote: Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ [*Ephesians 5:15-21*].

Wise saints are careful about how they live.

They are thankful, joyful, serious, and they will be submissive to one another.

Church members are to be submissive to church leaders, and Christians are to submit to governing authorities.

Submission to Government Reflects Understanding of God’s Will — 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 to praise those who do good.

Christians must respect the governing authorities.

This is not to say that every law produced by Parliament or that every piece of legislation passed by a provincial legislature is good and worthy of respect; but it does mean that we are to make every effort to be obedient so long as that obedience does not bring us into conflict with the will of God.

This is not a plea for Christians to blindly submit to every state-sponsored idea; there are official positions that a Christian must conscientiously reject and refuse to obey.

However, the Christian must willingly accept the consequences of his or her actions.

Recently, I have been listening to some of the speeches of Doctor Martin Luther King.

I am humbled to have arrived only lately at a full appreciation of the thoroughly biblically saturated position Doctor King promoted in resisting a moral cancer in his nation.

What made Doctor King so powerful against his foes was the moral correctness of his position, a position strengthened by resolute willingness to suffer the consequences that attended civil disobedience.

I am not saying that Doctor King was a good man, his propensity toward sin is too well known to argue for that, but I do say that he was a great man because he fought the right fight, and he fought it in the right way.

In one extemporaneous speech that stands out in my memory, he speaks quite plainly of the consequences arising from civil disobedience.

He warned that some listening to him that evening would be jailed—and they were jailed.

Some would be beaten—and they were beaten.

Some, he said plainly, may be called to die at the hands of cruel and callused assassins.

Only days before he spoke these words, Medgar Evers had been murdered—shot in the back before the eyes of his children waiting their daddy’s return.

The following summer, three young civil rights workers—James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner—were murdered and their bodies buried in an earthen dam.

The power of Doctor King’s words lies in his willingness to accept the consequences of disobedience.

The deliberate nature of his actions coupled to the willing acceptance of the consequences shamed supporters of those wicked and unjust laws.

So, there is a time to disobey some laws.

We must be cautious, however, that we do not fall into a trap of thinking that we can pick-and-choose which laws we will obey or which laws we will ignore.

On the whole, civil disobedience is exceptional, and it is this exceptional nature that gives power to the action.

If disobedience were the usual course of action, it would have no significance when it was practised.

This begs us to ask: why should a Christian obey the law, and especially a bad law?

Why should we as Christians obey our leaders?

At any given time, some among us will dissemble at obeying laws passed by a given government.

We live in a democracy, and the government of the day does not always represent our personal political leanings.

When a government other than that which we desire to be in power passes legislation, why should we be obliged to obey their edicts?

It would be correct to speak of the need for political stability, though Scripture is silent on that particular issue.

I could even speak of the fact that we have agreed to accept the terms of the constitution, which compels obedience to the laws of Parliament, demanding obedience even to laws that are odious and not entirely to our liking.

That, also, is true.

However, the Apostle clearly identifies the reason for our obedience when he writes, Be subject for the Lord’s sake to governments.

The child of God accepts that no government exists without God’s permission.

Because we are citizens of heaven [*Philippians 3:20*], we make every effort to be good citizens of our natal land.

Government, in God’s economy, is a gift to ensure stability.

Paul maintains that government bears responsibility to commend what is good and to punish those who do evil.

Protection of citizens from wickedness and from foreign invasion is a biblical mandate.

It is somewhat more difficult to justify regulatory activities through appeal to the Word of God.

Nevertheless, Christians must be obedient for the Lord’s sake.

The Apostle urges us to offer supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings … for … all who are in high positions.

The reason we are to pray for those in authority is so that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way [*1 Timothy 2:1, 2*].

We pray for the welfare of government so that we can enjoy peace.

There is an immediate benefit resulting from government, and we are to obey the law so that we can enjoy peace.

However, if we stop reading at that point, we miss a vital reason for obedience.

In *1 Timothy 2:3-6* Paul continues: This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

In other words, we seek good for governing authorities, and we demonstrate obedience to those in authority, because it permits us to do what we are supposed to do, which is point men and women to Christ.

Paul gives the same instruction with a differing twist in *Titus 3:1, 2*.

Remind [believers] to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarrelling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

These passages from Paul’s pastoral letters supplement what Peter has written.

Together, they become a corpus of general instructions for how a Christian is to conduct himself in society.

The basis under girding this particular “household code” is recorded in the verses preceding the text.

I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honourable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation [*1 Peter 2:11, 12*].

Holiness is accomplished through living honourably.

We must not live only for the moment, accumulating goods that are destined for dust.

It is not our purpose to live solely to avoid upsetting anyone because we are godly.

God left us on this earth after giving us His salvation so that we could glorify Him.

For those who wonder what it means to glorify the Father, it means that we demonstrate the transformed life that reveals the presence of Christ and that we live self-controlled, godly lives that exhibit the will of God for all people.

God’s will is for His people be holy, and in particular for His people to abstain from sexual immorality [*1 Thessalonians 4:3*].

We live in a day in which we might well wonder if there is an exception clause to such narrow statements, but all sex outside of marriage, all infidelity, all refusal to seek a life demonstrating righteousness and self-control are condemned.

God’s will is for His people to be thankful in all things [*1 Thessalonians 5:18*].

This is simply a statement that we are to recognise the good hand of our God ruling over this fallen world, understanding that He is in control.

Thanksgiving is nothing less than the response of a soul at peace with God because that individual recognises that our God is too wise to make a mistake and too good to needlessly hurt His child.

Gratitude flows from confidence in God’s reign both over the world and in our own life.

The will of God for Each Christian is salvation and preservation.

Having been saved, you are now kept secure in the Master.

There is, in John’s Gospel, a powerful statement concerning the will of the Father.

This is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day [*John 6:40*].

It is God’s will that all who look to Christ will be saved.

Jesus has promised His own, it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish [*Matthew 18:14*].

Those who are born from above are forever preserved in Christ.

Because you are redeemed, the Father wills that you reflect the transformed life He has invested in you.

The way in which you reveal that transformed life is through being thankful and through deliberately choosing to be holy in your manner of life.

Now, in our text, we are given one further expression of the will of God for His people.