Faithfully Submit Series

1. Submission is not a popular word in our society.

a. Everything screams at us to do what WE want, the way WE want it, how WE want it, any way WE want it.

b. It could be something as simple as the slogan, “Have it your way.” Or still another “Just Do It!”

c. And when we hear that, it feeds a selfishness in us that says, “YES… your right what about me? What do I want?”

NOTE: The real question for us is not “What Do I Want?”

• That will lead us nowhere. The question to ask is:

• ‘God, what do you want?’

• And part of the answer that God will give is “SUBMISSION”

IT makes sense to us… we no longer live for ourselves but now we live for God? Flip over to Galatians 2:20

NOTE: That’s what God desires from us… Submission.

• Submission to His will, His ways, His Word.

• Submission in marriage, in singleness, in society.

• Notice v13…

I. (2:13-17) AS A CITIZEN

1. (13-15) Submit yourselves to EVERY ordinance.

a. Therefore submit… the word here means ‘to fall in line’

b. It’s a military word speaking of order & staying in line.

NOTE: YES, A lot of people have a hard time with this.

• It’s not easy for them to accept. Maybe even you struggle here.

NOTE: There are a lot of people who just have a hard time with authority and they like questioning & challenging any authority.

• We’re seeing even the president of our nation challenged in ways that would have never happened 40-60 years ago!

• “But the government is corrupt… it’s out of control”

• It’s leading us into the end times… submit?

• Some say, No way, we’re supposed to overthrow it.

c. But Peter says here to SUBMIT to EVERY ORDINANCE of man for the Lord’s sake.

NOW wait a minute some say, what if the government is wrong and the laws are corrupt? What should we do then?

• I think Peter said it best back in Acts 5 when the religious rulers were forbidding them to preach the gospel.

Acts 5.29 But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men.

This isn’t the only time in the Scriptures that we’re called to obey the laws of the land and submit to governmental authority:

• Look back at Romans 13:1-7 & Jesus in Matthew 22.19-22

WHAT’S REALLY interesting with Peter is that he’s writing to a group of Christians suffering under the evil hand of Nero!

• He wasn’t just a bad or mean leader, he was evil incarnate!

• He came against the church in a very vicious way.

• Peter says submit to the laws of the land. WHY?

Well… he gives us a few reasons. BECAUSE:

#1 – v16a - It’s is the Will of God! Ok, that’s good.

#2 – v16b – It’s a tool to wins souls!

• One of the greatest witnesses to a change life is a life lived in submission to God and in submission to authority!

• It silences the critics & gives an open door for the gospel to be shared when they ask U why you pay your taxes… on time!

2. (16-17) Using our freedom not for ourselves!

a. Yes, you’re free in Christ… oh what wonderful freedom!

b. BUT don’t use your freedom to stumble someone else or to enslave yourself! It’s not for a cloak!

1 Peter 2.16 (NLT) You are not slaves; you are free. But your freedom is not an excuse to do evil. You are free to live as God’s slaves.

FREEDOM is not to be used for ourselves, but for others.

• It’s not to be used as an EXCUSE for our sin, but as an EXAMPLE.

APP: I try to instill in my kids, and with us here as a church.

• If you get good at making excuses. If you’re really working at it and every time something comes you have an excuse.

• If you get good at making excuses, that’s all you’ll be good for!

Someone once said, AN EXCUSE IS the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie”

SO ALTHOUGH we have this tremendous freedom in Jesus Christ.

• It’s not a freedom that we can use to sin, to hurt, or to harm.

• It’s a freedom we exercise in submission to those in authority.

3. (17) A few simple reminders.

#1 – Honor All People: you know we can’t always agree with their words or behaviors, but we can remember that Jesus died so that they might have life. They matter to God.

#2 – Love the Brotherhood: We’re to love all men, but especially those in our spiritual family! – Look back at 1:22