Sermon Title: Free To Be Slaves
Sermon Text: 1 Peter 2:13-20
Ralf HT Bergmann
Bethel Christian Church
Date: November 12th, 2000
Scripture Introduction:
The elections are now over. For some, they are still in the throes of celebration, others are yet licking their wounds in defeat. It does not make any difference what side we find ourselves on, as Christians we are given a Biblical mandate – we are to be obedient to those in authority, we are to be in submission to their authority. We now have the hardest portion of the process yet in front of us. We must lift the present government to the Lord in prayer.
I found myself convicted of failing to do that many times in the past eight years. I chose to criticize instead of intercede in prayer for President Clinton. I chose to pass judgement on his morality all the while forgetting about the plank in my own eye. If the rulers, or officials are not of the caliber that God would like them to be, we need to petition the Holy Spirit to do a mighty work of cleansing in their hearts and minds and turn them into the leaders that they need to be.
In the Old Testament there is a story of someone who despite their less than desirable circumstances chose to seek the best for someone whom we may see as very undeserving of this kindness. We read in 2 KIngs 5:1-4 Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man with his master, and highly respected, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man was also a valiant warrior, but he was a leper. 2 Now the Arameans had gone out in bands and had taken captive a little girl from the land of Israel; and she waited on Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, "I wish that my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his leprosy." 4 Naaman went in and told his master, saying, "Thus and thus spoke the girl who is from the land of Israel."
How many of us could act in such a manner, and yet, this is one of the many facets in the section of Scripture written by Peter that we are about to read? Let us open our hearts and see what our almighty God has for us today, right here, this morning.
Please join me in the reading of God’s Holy Word!
Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 2:13-20
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. 15 For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. 16 Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. 17 Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. 18 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. 19 For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.
Introduction:
I think of when I was growing up, and of course Jeremy seems to think at times that this time period coincides with the age of dinosaurs, I had to follow the instructions of my parents, and I see somewhat of a comparison to this section of Scripture. I was required to submit to the authority of my parents. This is something that simply does not change when we reach the magic age of adulthood. To often as kids we imagine the freedom of being older and when then monumental moment of adulthood arrives, after the uniqueness has worn off, we find ourselves in a situation where we are accountable for more then we had imagined.
It is a well accepted fact among those that have reached and acknowledge that they are indeed adults, that we must heed the laws of those appointed over us! Now for many this becomes a problem. Some may point to the American Revolution and say “The founding father didn’t obey the monarchy”. But if you take a careful look at the history that led up to the revolution, there were numerous attempts to rectify the problems that were the catalyst that led up to the war. There were methods and manners and customs regarding negotiations that were followed and only then after those failed was the process taken to the next level.
The leadership that is appointed over us, and this appointment is by the process of voting, isn’t the only authority that we have over us, there are those that we work for as well. We must also deal honorably with our employers. In the workplace, what sets us apart from our fellow man that does not claim Christ? We often times think of those that steal at the workplace and we clearly set ourselves apart from them. If we are paid for a certain job are we doing it in a manner that brings credit to the Lord that we proclaim?
We have a Christian responsibility to follow the legitimate commands of our leaders and we are obligated to deal honorably with our employers. What this means is that we have to set an example for others to follow. Why does it seem that the way that we project our Christian lifestyle comes up in so many sections of Scripture? I think there are two very good reasons and I think if we all put our minds together we could come up with an almost endless list. The first reason that I see is that there are not going to be many people won to the Lord simply by putting a Bible in their hands and telling them to read and be saved. It is not impossible because the Holy Spirit can influence even the most distant from Christ. The second reason is that the days of people streaming through the church doors in search of salvation are over. We must go out and win them ourselves. How are we expected to do that? Much of the decision that people make for Christ has to do with the example that we set by the way that we live.
Let us go to the Lord in prayer!
POINT 1:
The first thing that I would like us to consider is that we must heed the laws and commands of those appointed over us. In the days of the Bible there were kings that were anointed by God and there were those that weren’t anointed. I don’t care how you look at this particular section of Scripture we are to obey. Peter writes in verses 13-15,
“13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise for those who do right. 15 For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.”
Just like the Scripture that we read out of 2 Kings, we are to be submissive to our government. This statement raises the hackles on many a back and mine is included in this as well. Now I look at the time period when this was written and I compare it to now, and we have a great potential advantage over those that were living in that time period. They had no choice over who their leadership was and we just had the opportunity to exercise our privilege to vote. We have a choice of leadership and our form of government is designed in such a way where we can remove them if needed. In this section of Scripture we are clearly told that we are to submit for the Lord’s sake to every human institution. In Paul’s letter to Titus in the first verse of the third chapter we read an interesting slant on this thought, “Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed.”
Let’s look at that last segment again, we are to be ready for every good deed. We are to expect the best and we are to look for what is good. I have to slap my own hand in this respect because too often, especially with our nations leadership I don’t look for anything good especially if it is not someone I have voted to put into office. We are to expect and look for the things that are good. Unless we open our minds a little at this point what I think we are supposed to glean from this will escape us. How successful are we at finding things when we are not focused on looking for them? Let’s try a practical example, if we are not looking for our car keys, are we going to find them? If we are not looking for them they are obviously not lost, or are they? If we are not deliberately searching for the good then we will not find it.
Now let’s look at the other side of the coin, if people are not expecting great things from us then what is the driving force that is going to make us perform? If there are no standards for us to strive for then why should we? Now for those with a serious commitment to God we answer with We should do all things for the glory of God. However, let us be honest with ourselves, do we actually always follow through with that? When our leadership is as far from God and His direction as they can be do we point out where they are in error or do we go to our knees and ask for the intervention of the Holy Spirit in an effort that the will of God be the future direction that the helm of our government steers toward.
Are we willing to pray for our leaders without ceasing?
I find the next section of the Scripture extremely interesting, Peter writes, “15 For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.” It is the will of God that we submit ourselves to every human institution or it’s governors. Why are we to do this? Because in our proper setting of an example we will show the proper manner in which the rest of our civilization should live. Our living testimony of what God has done for us will make a great difference in our world today. Peter continues on, “16 Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. 17 Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.” We are free of the bonds of the day to day necessity to sin and that is the way in which we should act, however in light of this difference that we proclaim we should not use it as a smoke-screen for worldly goals. We had in previous Scripture covered the need to choose our battles wisely, were the factors that drove us forward in the best interest of our heavenly goals or were they worldly goals that we have cleverly disguised as a heavenly crusade. We are to be willingly enslaved to Godly principles, we are to love our neighbors as ourselves and we are to be held in an awestruck respect of all things Godly, and finally we are to honor those who rule over us.
POINT 2:
Those that are in political power isn’t where this stops, we find that Peter also directs us to the point where we need to realize that we must deal honorably with our employers. Now in the text there is the word master but I am going to use the concept of the employers/employee relationship instead. Peter tells us that as 18 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. Now for many there have probably been times where it wasn’t that difficult for us to make the connection between our relationship with an employer to that of a master and his slave. We are to have respect for not only the good boss but to that boss who at times isn’t so easy to like. We need always remember that it is our doing that we come to this particular boss for employment, and we are more times than not compensated in the form of wages for the services or labors that we perform. We have the option of saying that we quit if the situation is beyond tolerance, however, there is also the awesome opportunity to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the soul of this lost man in the process of our being in his employ. There are many other sections of Scripture that back this up. Let’s examine some of them:
Paul writes in Ephesians 6:5-
Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; this tells us that we are to have the same heart sincerity with those that we work for as we are to have with Christ.
In Paul’s letter the church in Colosai 3:22-
Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. We see once again that we are to have that sincerity of heart in respect to the Lord.
Paul writes to his favorite student Timothy 1Ti 6:1-
All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against. Once again it is the example that we set in our actions and behavior that will allow others to draw there conclusions about the differences that can be found in living for Christ or living for the world.
In Paul’s letter to Titus 2:9-
Urge bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative. Now perhaps the word bondslave fits the employee/employer relationship better, since this is an arrangement that we entered into willingly, we are to be pleasing and not the opposite of that through being argumentative. Does that mean that we shouldn’t argue? Hardly, the word argumentative is basically defined as a trait, a person who argues by nature.
And finally in the Gospel of Luke 6:32-
"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. To love those that love us is easy, but to love those that don’t necessarily feel that way about us is another story entirely.
POINT 3: Peter tells us that we have a task that is set before us - We have to set an example for others to follow. Lets take the remainder of this Scripture a verse at a time:
19 For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.
In the Beattitudes, Matthew retells of Jesus’ words on the mount in chapter 5 verse 10 - "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This is one of the greatest promises in the Bible and we can all take comfort in it when things get tough. When we are standing up for things that have been proclaimed as right and honorable by God, although we may face persecution and even death we still have our reward, the kingdom of heaven, a treasure that we know will not rust, corrode, be eaten by moths, or rot.
We continue on:
20a For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? If we have done something wrong and we get punishment
20b But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.
Conclusion:
We must heed the laws of those appointed over us
We must deal honorably with our employers
We have to set an example for others to follow
