William Jackson was a slave in the home of Confederate president Jefferson Davis during the Civil War. It turns out he was also a spy for the Union Army, providing key secrets to the North about the Confederacy. Jackson was Davis' house servant and personal coachman. He learned high-level details about Confederate battle plans and movements because Davis saw him as a “piece of furniture.” Jefferson Davis ignored his slave, William Jackson, and would discuss military plans and strategies because he just simply ignored his presence. Jackson, in turn, took this information across enemy lines to the Union forces in the North. The use of slaves and the place of slavery has been an blight on the history of America. Abraham Lincoln and the Union rightly fought for the end of slavery more than a century ago. We like a story like this one of slave William Jackson and Confederate leader Jefferson Davis. We think to ourselves that Davis got exactly what he deserved by his actions. Yet, what about those slaves who never got a measure of revenge against cruel treatment?
Readers of the Bible will find no blanket condemnation of slavery. Instead, what you’ll find are ethical guidelines for slaves and slave-owners to adhere to. What you’ll also find is as surprising as it is revolutionary.
“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” (1 Peter 2:18-23).
This text is bigger than slavery itself. If you are a follower of Christ, God has called you to endure unjust suffering without bitterness, anger, or the desire for revenge, but instead you are to do good to those who hurt you. How do I know that this applies to everyone and not just slaves? “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing” (1 Peter 3:8-9). This message is to be applied to all believers in how they respond to injustice. This is not to say that Christians should not seek justice in society by working in the legal systems. Paul demanded an apology from the Roman authorities in Philippi when they wrongly beat Silas and Paul in Acts 16:35-40. We cannot conclude that Christians should simply absorb injustice when legal recourse is available. This is a very different way to respond to pain and injustice than the world. Speaking of suffering and pain, one individual was quoted as saying: “This isn’t a philosophical issue to me. This is personal. I won’t believe in a God who allows suffering, even if he, she, or it exists. Maybe God exists. Maybe not. But if he does, he can’t be trusted.” Those are chilling words.
How you react the inevitable pain and suffering in your life will be a telltale sign of what you really believe. Timothy Keller says, “If you have a God great and transcendent enough to be mad at because He hasn’t stopped evil and suffering in the world, then you have (at the same moment) a God great and transcendent enough to have good reasons for allowing it to continue that you can’t know. Indeed you can’t have it both ways.”
Let’s say it another way. Alvin Plantinga has said: “Could there really be such thing as horrifying wickedness [if there were no God and we just evolved]? I don’t see how. There can be such a thing only if there is a way that rational creatures are supposed to live, obliged to live…. A [secular] way of looking at the world has no place for genuine moral obligation of any sort … and thus no way to say there is such a thing as genuine and appalling wickedness. Accordingly, if you think there really is such a thing as horrifying wickedness …, then you have a powerful … argument [for the reality of God].”
Let’s remember the context. Verse 9: you are an elect, or chosen, nation, and a people for God’s own possession. Your reason for existence is to “proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Then, verse 11: Therefore you are strangers and aliens in this world and your goal is to live such a life that people would glorify God. So verse 9 and verse 11 give the same goal for Christians: live in a way that shows God.
A Christianity that makes no visible difference simply cannot show God. It is not true Christianity. If you have added on Jesus Christ and He doesn’t change the way you spend money… if He doesn’t change your goals after graduation…. if Chris doesn’t change the way you spend your downtime… if Christ doesn’t make a difference in your life, then it is likely you just received an inoculation of Christ and not the real thing. If you are a Christian, Peter says that it shows. For you will exist to: “proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Peter gives some examples of what true Christianity looks like in the hostile world of his day.
Last week we saw how he showed Christians to relate to the state (vv. 13–17). Today, Peter takes up another tough situation: what if you are a servant with an unbelieving master or even a crooked and abusive master? What does radical Christianity look like in that situation? In a few weeks on Mother’s Day, we’ll see what Peter says radical Christianity does to motherhood. Suffering has a sense of smelling salts under your nose or a cup of cold water in one’s face. Like intense heat with silver, the impurities of one’s thinking and philosophy came to the top. We’re able to recognize the problems. David Brooks, New York Times columnist, confessed: “Like a lot of people these days, I’m a recovering secularist. Until Sept. 11, I accepted the notion that as the world becomes richer and better educated, it becomes less religious. This theory holds that as history moves forward, science displaces dogma, and reason replaces unthinking obedience. It’s now clear that the secularization theory is untrue.”
1. How Do I React to People in Authority Over Me Who Hurt Me?
There are at least two reactions to being done wrong and both are very common. First, they are those who don’t just get mad, but they get even. This first reaction often begins with resentment and bitterness and grows to rage. Soon you’ll find yourself building plans for revenge and there is an incredible amount of hostility grows within us. We are determined to get back at anyone who has done us wrong. Maybe you heard about the man who went to the doctor. The doctor confirmed that man did indeed have rabies. The man immediately took out a piece of paper and began writing. The doctor thought he was writing out his will. He said, “Listen, this doesn’t mean you are going to die.” The man responded, “Yes, I know this. I am making a list of those I am going to bite.” You tend to do this when you an opportunity to get back. Some of you are making lists right now and you are wanting the strength to get back.
Secondly, there is the passive pattern. This is the exact opposite of the first reaction. You do not open yourself to be vulnerable to anyone again. Pastor Chuck Swindoll tells about the military men who were in the Korean War. They had hired a your Korean man to be their house servant. He was placed in charge of taking care of their household chores. The men would have their time with him as they would like to play practical jokes on him. For example, they liked to place Vaseline on the stove so that when he would turn the stove on, he would get grease all over his fingers. They would place water buckets over the door so that when he would open the door, water would fall on him. They would nail his shoes to the floor so that when he would put his feet in them, the shoes would not move. Finally, one of them felt terrible and couldn’t live with the guilt of what they were doing. So they called him in at Christmas time, and said, “We’re sorry. We’re never going to take advantage of you again.” “Oh,” said the young Korean man, “No more sticky on stove?”
“No more sticky on stove,” replied the men. “No more water on door?” “No more water on door, ” was the men’s reply. “No more nail shoes to the floor?”
“No more nail shoes to the floor.” Then the young Korean memorably said, “Ok, no more spit in soup.” In a passive mode, you can just spit in the soup.
You will not find either of these reactions in Peter’s letter. Peter’s prescription to react against unjust suffering is very rare today. You’ll not hear it in the counselor’s office or in many pastor’s studies. It’s wrapped up in one word, SUBMIT. These Christians are scattered out throughout modern day Turkey around the beginning of the early 60’s: “To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia…” (1 Peter 1:1b). They have been removed from their houses and are away from home. Unfair persecution has come from an insane emperor, Nero. Their names are being slandered and they were being targeted for mistreatment.
“Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust”(1 Peter 2:18). “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” (1 Peter 2:13-14). “Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct” (1 Peter 3:1-2). “For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands…” (1 Peter 3:5). “who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him” (1 Peter 3:22).
This word “submit” or “be subject” means to arrange one’s self under the authority of another. Submission is not about your worth, instead it is about your role.
“Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For ‘God has put all things in subjection under his feet.’ But when it says, ‘“all things are put in subjection,’ it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).
How much harmony could be gained in our homes, if we learn about submission? Our attitudes are instead, “I’m not giving in. I am not letting him get his way…” Now look at verse nineteen: “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly” (1 Peter 2:19).
Last week if you remember, we submitted to governing authorities because… “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” (1 Peter 2:13). God is the unseen factor for the world. They will never understand our behavior when we live to God. The mistreatment and the injustice would not stop with Nero’s day. The injustice for Christians continued through the first several centuries of the church.
One early leader of the church, Justin Martyr, wrote Apology, which was a defense of Christianity to correct misunderstandings. Christians were targeted because they would not worship Caesar as would other Roman citizens. Roman citizens were to burn incense to the emperor’s image… or swear by the emperor’s name to prove loyalty by the state. Christians refused to do this. Justin Martyr wrote that Christians were exemplary models of civic virtue, paid their taxes, and submitted to civil laws. Yet, they were unable to worship Caesar because only the Lord was worthy of worship. Or Polycarp is another fine example. During a persecution of the early Christians, the Roman proconsul begged the eighty-six-year-old bishop to give in because of his age. “Say ‘Away with the atheists’” the proconsul urged. Polycarp calmly turned to the face the crowd, looked straight at them, and said, “Away with the atheists.” The proconsul continued to plead with him. When he asked Polycarp to swear by Caesar to save himself, Polycarp answered, “If you imagine that I will swear by Caesar, you do not know who I am. Let me tell you plainly, I am a Christian.” Finally, when all else failed the proconsul reminded Polycarp that he would be thrown to the wild animals unless he changed his mind. Polycarp answered, “Change of mind from better to worse is not a change allowed to us.” Because of Polycarp's lack of fear, the proconsul told him he would be burned alive but Polycarp knew that the fire that burned for an hour was better than eternal fire.
Look at the attitude that we are to have while doing this: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4). “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:13).
2. Why Can’t I Retaliate?
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ;Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head” (Romans 12:19-20).
2.1 You Cannot Retaliate Because You’ll Lose Your Reward
“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” (1 Peter 1:20)
2.2 Because You Are to Follow Christ, Your Example
“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” (1 Peter 2:21).
3. How Can I Do This?
“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” “1 Peter 2:23). “The sufferings which Christ endured in His body on the cross … were … the least part of his … sufferings …. If it had been only the sufferings which He endured in His body, though they were very dreadful, we cannot conceive that … [they] … would have such an effect on Christ. Many of the martyrs have endured as sever tortures in their bodies as Christ did … yet their souls have not been so overwhelmed.” To understand Jesus’ suffering at the end of the Gospels, we must remember how Jesus is introduced at their beginning. The Gospel writer John, tells us that Jesus was not created but has lived throughout all eternity “who is at the Father’s side.” – that is, in a relationship of absolute intimacy and love. But at the end of His life He was cut off from the Father. There may be no greater inner agony than the loss of a relationship we desperately want. If a mild acquaintance turns on you, condemns and criticizes you, and say she never wants to see you again, it is painful. If someone you’re dating does the same thing, it is more painful. But if your spouse does this to you, or if one of your parents does this to you when you’re still a child, the psychological damage is infinitely worse.
The prophet Jeremiah had this very problem. “The Lord made it known to me and I knew; then you showed me their deeds.?But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me they devised schemes, saying,?’Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.’ But, O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause. Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, and say, ‘Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand’— 22 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine, and none of them shall be left. For I will bring disaster upon the men of Anathoth, the year of their punishment” (Jeremiah 11:18-23). We cannot fathom what it would be life to lose the infinite love of the Father that Jesus has from all of eternity.
Jesus’ sufferings would have been eternally unbearable. The Bible tells us that Jesus suffered the endless exclusion from God that you and I earned by our sin. Bill Lane writes of Jesus’ experience at the Garden of Gethsemane: “Jesus came to be with the Father for an interlude before His betrayal, but found hell rather than heaven opened before Him, and He staggered.”
“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” (1 Peter 2:23). Christ handed over to God the whole situation including Himself and those abusing him He handed over the hurt done and all the factors that made it a horrendous outrage of injustice where the most innocent man who ever lived should suffer so much. He trusted it all into God's hands as the one who would settle the matter justly someday.
