The word “submit” is the key to this section. This word is very closely related to the word “humility.” To submit requires humility. Today we are living in days of pride and rebellion. My wife and I were given a book on parenting written by Dr. James Dobson, and he states that there are twice as many strong-willed children as there are compliant children. And he also says that this rebellion against parents’ rules often starts very early in life. Rebellion, though, is not only a characteristic of the child and the adolescent. Most people, regardless of age, find it hard to submit to others.
Who do unsubmissive people despise the most? Government officials, employers, teachers, police officers. What is the one thing that all of these people have in common? They all have a position of authority. These people are often not liked because people naturally don’t want to submit to their authority. In the passage we will be covering this morning, Peter talks about submission to government, submission to employers, submission in marriage, and submission to other Christians.
I. A citizen should submit to his government (2:13-17).
Even though a Christian’s citizenship is in heaven, we are to still accept the authority of our government. Jesus said “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s” (Matthew 22:21).
Peter probably wrote this epistle only a year or two before the great persecution under Roman Emperor Nero in 64 A.D. Nero was one of the most notorious rulers of all time. During his reign there was a fire that destroyed part of the city of Rome. There was a rumor that Nero had started the fire, and this rumor was so widely accepted by the people that Nero had to find a scapegoat. He diverted feeling against himself to the Christians by accusing them of arson and by persecuting them. Peter and Paul both died in this period.
There is one story of Nero which shows how evil he was. Halfway through his reign, Nero got the idea that he was a great chariot racer. So he built a track and raced all day. Soon he decided that he should race at night too, but electricity had not been invented yet. So Nero came up with a very sick plan. During the day he would get his soldiers to go into the city and find Christians. They would cover these Christians in pitch and tie them to poles around Nero’s track. As the sun set, these Christians were set on fire and became human torches.
No matter what we think of Prime Minister Chretien, our leader and government are much easier to submit to than the government in Peter’s day.
Peter says that governments are to punish those who do evil and reward those who do good. Generally, this is true; however there are always exceptions. Obviously, Peter was not saying that we should compromise our beliefs in our submission to government. In Acts 5:29, when Peter and the other apostles were told by the Jewish leaders to stop preaching the gospel, they said, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” In Canada today, though, I can’t think of anything that our government tells us to do that would cause us to go against our Christian beliefs. We probably don’t agree with everything the government does, but that is not an excuse for not submitting to its authority.
Why should we submit to the authority of government?
A. God has appointed them—“sent by him” (v. 14).
In Romans 13:1 we find these words: “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” There is no governmental authority except that which is ordained of God. Proverbs 21:1 says, The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.” God controls the actions of rulers in the same way He controls the flow of the water in the rivers. This truth was strikingly illustrated by the Lord Jesus. In his anger Pilate said, “Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?” Jesus put Pilate in his place when He answered, “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above” (John 19:10-11). Since all power comes from God, the believer is to be subject to that power.
B. It is the will of God (v. 15).
Why does God want us to submit to government? Because it is a good testimony to the unsaved. Last week on the t.v. show “America’s Most Wanted” there was a case involving a shooting of a doctor who performed abortions. While we believe that abortion is wrong, it does not do any good to shoot someone for it.
C. We are God’s slaves (v. 16).
You would think that the Bible would attack and denounce the terrible practice of slavery, but it doesn’t. God does not deal with society as a whole, but with individuals one by one; not with the abuses, but with the spirit out of which they arise; not with politics, but with principles. Instead of denouncing slavery, Peter borrowed from it by referring to Christians as God’s slaves.
As Christians, we are free from the law. We no longer live in fear trying to obey it perfectly. However, this is not an excuse to do evil. We are free to live as God’s slaves. That may seem like a contradiction, but it isn’t. We are God’s slaves not because we have to be, but because we want to be.
II. An employee should submit to his employer (2:18-20).
Peter is talking to household servants who received wages for what they did in the household. It would be easy for them to submit to masters who were gentle and kind, but Peter encouraged loyalty and persistence even in the face of unjust treatment.
The closest equivalent today is the employer/employee relationship. Some people have good bosses and some have bad bosses. I would guess that the majority of workers do not particularly like their bosses. Why? Because the boss tells you what to do, and we don’t like to be told what to do. We want to do our own thing.
Today we have many more rights than the servants whom Peter was addressing. Often a servant was beaten by his master. Many times they were beaten wrongfully. What does Peter say about this? Is a servant to be excused from submitting if this happens? No, he is to submit regardless of how he is treated. Peter writes that it is “thankworthy” when a servant endures wrongful suffering. That word “thankworthy” means “pleasing to God.”
Sometimes we may suffer wrongfully on the job. Are we to get back somehow at our boss? No, we are to endure it, and if we do, God will be pleased. However, sometimes we can bring suffering upon ourselves. If a person is caught stealing from his boss and is fired, his suffering will not be pleasing to God because he deserved punishment.
Why should we endure unjust suffering? If we take our eyes off our own circumstance and look at the big picture, we may see some profit to our suffering. What better way to exemplify Christ to our fellow employees and even our boss than by submitting to the authority of our bosses even when he may be wrong?
Consider what Christ endured (3:21-25).
We have the example of Christ’s submission to help us. Whose authority did Jesus submit to? The authority of the Father. It was the Father’s will that Christ die for the sins of the world.
• Christ suffered unnecessarily (v. 21).
We read in verse 21 that “Christ also suffered for us.” That word “for” means “in behalf of” or “instead of.” Christ suffered instead of us, and none of us could ever suffer as He suffered.
• Christ suffered wrongly (v.22).
He did not suffer for anything He had done. He was falsely accused.
• Christ suffered silently (vv. 23).
Despite being falsely accused and insulted, He did not try to get back at His enemies with His words. Of course, He could have, but He chose not to.
• Christ suffered purposefully (vv. 24-25).
He suffered not for His own gain, but for ours. He suffered so that you and I might have eternal life.
I am sure that in the past you have suffered for someone else’s mistake or been blamed for something you didn’t do. How did you react in that situation? Did you follow the example of Christ and endure it? What will you do the next time you find yourself in a similar situation?
If others see you endure unjust suffering you will be witnessing for Christ in a way that speaks much louder than words.
III. Wives are to be submissive to their husbands (3:1-6).
Many feminists today say that the Bible degrades women, but nothing could be further from truth. Nothing has done so much to raise the status of womanhood and motherhood than the teachings of Jesus Christ. He came into a world where women were considered only one step above animals. Many were traded for cattle and few enjoyed personal rights before the law or the marriage altar. Where the message of Christ has permeated, women have been ennobled and respected as human beings made in the image of God.
Today it is not politically correct to say that a wife should be submissive to her husband. But this is God’s plan, and God’s plan is always best. For the sake of order in any situation, there must be headship. This does not mean that the husband is superior to the wife because he is the head of the home. There is equality between the husband and wife despite a difference in rank. In the military there are differences of rank. A general is higher in rank than the private, but the private may be the better man.
A. It is voluntary.
It is not the husband’s job to make his wife submit. This submission is to be voluntary on the part of the wife. In Ephesians 5:22, Paul says, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.”
B. It is a good testimony to an unsaved husband.
It seems as though Peter is talking to a woman who has an unsaved husband or a husband who is saved but not living for the Lord. Having an unsaved husband does not excuse a woman from submitting.
J. Vernon McGee told the story of a woman who found herself in this situation. “[A] lady came to me when I was a pastor and said, ’Dr. McGee, I bring my husband to church every Sunday. He is not saved, and every Sunday I think he will make a decision for Christ but he doesn’t. On Monday morning I sit at the breakfast table just weeping and telling him how I wish he would accept Christ. When he comes home from work in the evening, again I just sit there at dinner and weep and beg him to accept Christ.’ I got to thinking about what she had said. How would you like to have dinner every evening and breakfast every morning with a weeping woman? I wouldn’t care for it myself . . . . So I called her up and said, ’Suppose that for a year’s moratorium you simply do not talk to your husband about the Lord at all?’ She said, ’Oh, you mean that I’m not to witness?’ I said, ’No, I didn’t say that. Peter says that if you cannot win your husband with the Word, then start preaching a wordless sermon. How about your life? What kind of life are you living before him?’ I want to tell you, that put her back on her heels because she wasn’t living as she knew she should live. But she agreed to my suggestion because she did want to win him, and she was a wonderful woman in many ways. I was amazed myself when, in six months’ time, her husband made a decision for Christ one Sunday morning. The wordless sermon had won . . . .”
Some women may think that they can win an unsaved husband with sex appeal. But Peter says that’s not the way to do it (vv. 3-4). Some people try to twist these verses to condemn the use of cosmetics or jewelry. But if this verse is saying that a woman should not use cosmetics or wear jewelry, then it is also saying that a woman should not adorn herself with clothes. Theses verses are not dictating how a woman should look, but rather they emphasize that, as far as God is concerned, it is more important to have a meek and quiet spirit. We all ought to look the best we can with what we’ve got to work with, although some people don’t have much to work with. However, God is not very concerned with physical beauty. He is looking for spiritual beauty.
IV. Husbands are to be submissive for the good of the marriage (3:7).
“Giving honour to the wife” may imply a great deal of humility and self-sacrifice in order to show this honor. In this way the husband can submit without neglecting leadership.
The husband should honor his wife because . . .
A. Husbands and wives are different.
The woman is referred to as “the weaker vessel.” This probably refers to physical strength.
Illustration: a box marked “fragile” is given more honor.
B. Husbands and wives are equal.
A husband and a wife are “heirs together of the grace of life.” They are equal partners in receiving God’s blessings.
C. His prayers depend on it.
This is the husband’s responsibility. If he is not honoring his wife, God will not hear his prayers. All of the responsibility in this verse is with the husband; all the blessing and honor belongs to the wife.
In the book of Genesis we are told that God made man, and at that time man was alone. Perhaps the Lord let Adam be alone for a long time to let him know he was missing something. Then Scripture says that God took man and from man He made woman. Genesis 2:23 reads, “. . . she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” She is called a “help meet for him” (Genesis 2:18); that is, a help that was fit for him. In other words, she was to be the other half of him. He was only half a man, and she was to be the other part of him. With that in mind, you can see that the marriage relationship is not to be one of a man insisting on treating his wife like a little child who has to jump every time he says so. She is there to help him. She is there to be part of him. She is there to love him. And he is there to love and protect her. That is the ideal relationship in marriage.
V. Every Christian should be submissive to other Christians (3:8-12).
A. Strive for unity—“be ye all of one mind” (3:8).
B. Sympathize with one another—“having compassion one of another” (3:8).
C. Love one another—“love as brethren” (3:8).
D. Watch your reactions—“Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing” (3:9).
E. Be careful with your words—“let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile” (3:10).
F. Seek peace (3:11).
Our relationships with other Christians affects our prayers (3:12).
Conclusion
Why should we be submissive Christians?
1. It is a good testimony to the unsaved (other citizens, employers, husbands).
2. It pleases God.
3. It makes our relationships better.
4. It affects our prayers.
Our submission actually shows our submission to God.
jonathanrmcleod@yahoo.com
