“Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. 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.”
GODLY BEHAVIOR BEFORE THE UNGODLY (vs 11-12)
There is a letter written anonymously to a man named Diognetus somewhere between A.D. 130 and 200. Diognetus was a tutor of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, but there is really not much more known about him or why he received this letter.
I want to read just a portion of it to you; if you want to see more of it you can ‘Google’ the name, Diognetus, and you will be given a choice of several websites you can go to that have this letter and the sketchy information about Diognetus himself.
Here is a portion of what he wrote:
“Christians are not differentiated from other people by country, language, or customs; you see, they do not live in cities of their own, or speak some strange dialect…They live in both Greek and foreign cities, wherever chance has put them. They follow local customs in clothing, food, and other aspects of life. But at the same time, they demonstrate to us the unusual form of their own citizenship.
They live in their own native lands, but as aliens… Every foreign country is to them as their native country, and every native land as a foreign country. They marry and have children just like everyone else, but they do not kill unwanted babies. They offer a shared table, but not a shared bed. They are passing their days on earth, but are citizens of heaven. They obey the appointed laws and go beyond the laws in their own lives.
They love everyone, but are persecuted by all. They are put to death and gain life. They are poor and yet make many rich. They are dishonored and yet gain glory through dishonor. Their names are blackened and yet they are cleared. They are mocked and bless in return. They are treated outrageously and behave respectfully to others.
When they do good, they are punished as evildoers; when punished, they rejoice as if being given new life. They are attacked by Jews as aliens and are persecuted by Greeks; yet those who hate them cannot give any reason for their hostility.”
What struck me as I read over these words of this anonymous writer of long ago was that where the writers of the New Testament tell us how we should live and behave as believers, this writer was describing what he or she apparently witnessed.
Now since the letter is anonymous we cannot know whether this person was a Christian or not. I would lean toward the negative for just a couple of reasons. He says that Christians live wherever chance has placed them. I would think that most Christians would say ‘wherever God has placed them’.
The other side of that argument is that since he was writing to a Greek in the house of the Emperor perhaps he didn’t want to cause any confusion by talking of God to a pagan with many gods.
On the other hand, and this is my second reason for thinking this was perhaps not a believer, there is no mention of Jesus Christ in the letter at all, and he consistently refers to Christians as ‘they’, instead of ‘we’.
This is not a major issue, whether the person was a Christian or not. I only bring it up because what is important is that he is describing an entire counter-culture of people and he is attributing to them all these qualities and these distinctives as though he has not personally witnessed one case of contradiction among those he is describing.
Now if you think about it you will realize that the only possible way that an entire culture of people, not living in a community but scattered everywhere, could demonstrate this consistency of speech and behavior would be if the same Spirit was leading them and controlling them by their own submission to His influence and His will.
It might be an interesting exercise to give a large group of Christians in today’s church the task of writing a definition of believers as though providing the information to a prominent unbeliever and study the results.
What would be even more interesting, and probably more than a little disconcerting, would be to give the same task to a large group of unbelievers and tell them to describe us as they see us. I have to say with no small amount of displeasure that I don’t think their letters would resemble the one I just read to you at any point.
Now I’m not pronouncing condemnation on Christians of the 21st century. By and large I believe that the people described in this letter to Diognetus are still all over the world today. The difference, I think, is that where in the first and second centuries of the church there was a clear distinction between the church and the world, now, as Paul Harvey once said, ‘the world is getting more churchy and the church is getting more worldly’ and what the world, that is, those of the world generally witness is the worldly church, which has very little to do with true Christianity and real Christians.
Peter is continuing in his letter with practical admonitions. Having established the spiritual truths about them that should give them great encouragement that far exceeds the trouble and trials they find themselves in, he goes on saying fundamentally, ‘since you are this by the power of God who loved you before the foundation of the world, now, be this’.
If you look at verse 11 of chapter 2 you’ll see him repeat his address to them from the beginning of the letter.
“I urge you as aliens and strangers…” You don’t belong to this world, so don’t live as though you do!
You know the old saying, “When in Rome do as the Romans do”? Well that is patently and diametrically opposed to Christian world view!
What happens in Vegas, fellow believers, better be something you can bring home with you without shame!
Because Peter, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, calls you aliens and strangers here and says, “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles”
Why? Because even though they slander you in their ignorance as they witness your Godly behavior some of them will glorify God in the day of visitation. What does that mean? It means some of them will be won over by what they see in you and when Jesus returns to judge the world they will be Christians too.
Can I point out to you please, that Peter didn’t say “Keep your behavior excellent and stay away from the people of the world” – which is what is meant here by the term ‘Gentiles’ – he said, ‘among the Gentiles’… among the people of the world.
They can’t see our excellent behavior if the only place we exercise it is in church and then live just like them the rest of the week.
We are not of this world but we are not slinking around in some heavenly camouflage either. We are to keep our behavior excellent, Godly, Christlike, among the unbelievers so that they will not have a valid complaint against us, and more importantly, so that some of them will be saved and glorify God in their own lives.
In short, and referring back to something I said earlier, the only evidence of true Christianity the world will ever see will be in your behavior and mine.
SUBMISSION TO EARTHLY AUTHORITY (vs 13-15)
As we come to verse 13 we enter what will be, for many of us, very difficult territory.
Here we are, the American people, a nation that was founded on rebellion against tyranny; and having won our own freedom we as a nation have fought tyranny and oppression all over the world, almost non-stop since the late 17th century.
But the need for rebellion against evil has fostered in us as a people a spirit of rebellion against authority. Hence the 1960’s and the ‘drop out’ generation. The ones whose advice was ‘never trust anyone over 30’ are now in their 60’s, and they may not talk that way anymore but most of them raised their children, now America’s young adults and running most of the country, to have the same rebellious attitude.
Has this spilled over into the church? You bet it has. Roger Odegard preached about it at Calvary Baptist Church, Delta Colorado, October 15th 2006 when he said, “There is a general lack of respect for leadership; even for the office they hold. I am tired of all the public and private bashing of leadership instead of proper discussion with the person.”
I do not have a direct quote of what followed, but Pastor Odegard went on to say, specifically about the church, that people search for a pastor, they vote for him and say “You’re our leader”, but as soon as he makes a decision they don’t like or try to lead them in a direction they don’t want to go they say “You’re not our leader any more”.
Ironically, when this attitude is exposed from the pulpit we can all shake our heads in agreement and join in the ‘it ought not to be this way’ chorus; even those of us who, if crossed, would be the most guilty of rebellion against spiritual authority.
But Peter isn’t talking to his readers about submission only to their church leaders. He says, “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake…” That would mean as His ambassadors, as those who publicly name His name as His representatives in the world, as though in direct submission to Him… “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him…” that would be, as sent by the king, for the purpose of punishing evildoers and praising those who do right.
Now these were people under the oppression of Rome, specifically, the deranged Caesar, Nero.
Very shortly after this letter was sent to the churches, in A.D. 64, a fire ravaged the city of Rome. The city was divided into fourteen regions and only four of those regions escaped the fire.
Nero already had a bad reputation with the people. He was lewd, engaged in all sorts of perverted sexual practices such as incest with his mother and both homo and heterosexual rape.
He also murdered his mother, his sister, and many others whom he did not trust.
So following the devastation of the fire there were many who wanted to blame Nero for it and he needed a scapegoat. Christians were widely misunderstood as a religious order that they thought were just a new Jewish sect. Many thought Christians were cannibals because of the Lord’s Supper and the reference to drinking the Lord’s blood and eating His flesh, and it was also rumored that they performed human sacrifice.
So Nero blamed the Christians for the fire and began a persecution against them that lasted for years and was picked up and practiced even by his successors, Domitian, Valerian and Dioclesian.
Nero dipped Christians in wax and impaled them on poles around his palace. He would light them on fire and yell, “Now you truly are the light of the world.” He had them killed in the Circus Maximus in front of the large crowds of spectators. He would have them wrapped in animal skins and thrown to lions or wild dogs to be torn apart as entertainment between chariot races. At times he would crucify them and when the crowds started getting bored he’d set them on fire.
Yet Peter says to Christians, “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution…” and look at verse 15, “For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.”
That word rendered ‘silence’ means to restrain, muzzle, make speechless. In other words the Christian’s behavior should be such that those who are willfully ignorant, rejecting the truth with hostility, will not be able to say anything truthful against us.
We have to know and remember, believers in Christ, that God builds up and God tears down. He is the one who raises up nations and places men in authority. Even the evil ones He uses for His purposes, but He calls us to be “…subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle showing every consideration for all men.” Titus 3:1-2
Because this sort of Godly behavior, trusting God to deal with unrighteousness in His time, silences enemies and demonstrates Christlikeness before men so that some may be saved.
Nero’s efforts to exterminate Christianity backfired. Many people turned and became Christians as a result of his persecutions. Nero brought Christianity more into public notice and people began to learn more about what they believed. There were many who were killed by him because of their claim to have seen the resurrected Jesus.
You may remember that Paul told the Corinthians (1 Cor 15:6) that after His resurrection Jesus had been seen by more than 500 brethren at one time prior to His ascension.
So when people began hearing that these Christians, including Apostles, were going willingly to their death refusing to recant their testimony, they concluded that people would not go to these terrible deaths for a lie and they themselves believed. (Historical information about Nero and his persecutions taken from the Boise State University website)
Christians, the spirit of rebellion that marks our society must be purged from God’s church.
He is in control and when we rebel against the authorities He has put in place, whether it be church leadership or the authorities of any human institution, we rebel against Him.
HOW FREEMEN ACT (vs 16-18)
It’s interesting that Peter says ‘Act as free men”
It made me pause to let it sink in. I had to think it through because in verse 18 he addresses servants, telling them to be submissive to their masters.
Does that sound free to you?
Actually this whole section is about submission, isn’t it? So in saying ‘act’ does he mean as in playacting? Pretend to be freemen?
No! He’s writing to free men and women. He’s writing to the freest people who ever lived, no matter their earthly circumstances.
They are free from sin’s condemnation, free from the penalty of the Law, free from bondage to Satan, free from control by the spirit of this world, free from death’s power!
When someone knows that they are really free and in bondage to no one how do they act? Well, they act the way they feel. Unthreatened, unafraid, confident in their steps, contented with what they have and who they are.
So certain things are manifest in their lives. We find them listed in Galatians 5:22-23
“Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”
Rebellion and vigilantism didn’t make the list.
Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. That’s Christians. Fear God. Isn’t that funny? He tells Christians to fear God. Was that really necessary? Don’t Christians fear God?
I’m afraid that far too often we do not. We begin to take our relationship with Him a little to glibly. He is an awesome God who is just as well as merciful and we should never forget that it is only by His infinite compassion and grace that we were chosen by Him for life. Nothing sets us apart from those who are spiritually dead other than that. Apart from His intervention we are exactly like those who have no hope; we are not raised above them morally, we do not have any worth greater than they. We need to remember always that before He redeemed us we were like the rest, and tremble. Fear God.
Honor the king. Who is the king for us? Our President. Please remember that two years from now. We don’t know who it’s going to be then, but 1st
Peter 2:17 will still be in the Bible…
How do freemen act? Like bondslaves of God, unthreatened by the world and worldly circumstances unafraid of what may come whether in life or in death, confident of their stand on the Rock of ages which cannot be shaken, contented to know that there is laid up for them in Heaven treasure where thief cannot steal and moth and rust cannot corrupt, and walking in submission to both God and worldly authority, by their behavior shutting the mouths of ignorant accusers and earning the praise of the righteous.
CHRISTLIKE REACTION TO SUFFERING (vs 19-20)
“For this finds favor” that means it pleases God, “if for the sake of conscience before God a man bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.”
Now since Peter is addressing servants in relation to their masters we can make the application to the workplace without violating this passage.
Do workers today suffer unjustly? I think you’ll all agree that often they do.
It is amazing if you think about it, that over the past few decades so many laws have been passed, so many policies have been changed or implemented to protect the worker from injustice in the workplace.
There are laws concerning the number of hours an employer can demand, laws about when workers are to get breaks and time for meals, laws against harassment of any kind, policies for the protection of the worker’s sick time and vacation time and fairness in promotion and the list is just endless!
Yet unscrupulous employers find their way around these laws and policies very often, and many people live under a burden of stress and helplessness and even despair that makes their life absolutely miserable.
Please note that Peter did not give advice as to how to reduce stress, nor counsel them to report their evil masters to the proper authorities, or tell them to get up a petition with all the other servants so they could form a union and bring their grievances as one to the boss and back him down.
He just says to make sure that they were suffering unjustly and not because they were acting like knot heads.
He didn’t say ‘knot heads’… but if you’re acting like one don’t whine when you get picked on by the boss. It’s a no-brainer.
Verse 20 is pretty straightforward and easy. Just common sense. But in closing for today let’s talk about why it finds favor with God when you do what is right and suffer for it.
Well the answer is in the following verses which I won’t get deeply into because I want to address them more fully next week, God willing.
But take a quick look at verse 21.
“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,”
Fellow believers in Christ, this flies directly in the face of every attitude the world and your own sin nature tell you to have. Every where you turn you’ll find someone fighting for or demanding what they perceive as their rights. Specific rights because of their particular ethnicity. Homosexual rights. Immigrant rights. As we’ve just noted, workplace rights.
And if they don’t get those rights granted to them, my, oh my, you’ll see tantrums that would make a spoiled 4 year old proud. Boycotts, walkouts, deliberate vandalism, whatever it takes to get attention.
But you were called for this purpose. Isn’t that amazing? God didn’t call you so He could spoil you like a coddled child. You were called to walk in the steps of the One who suffered for you. Do you do that?
When you are treated unjustly, wherever that may be, in whatever setting, is your first thought to react to it with a Christlike spirit because Christ is in you and because that is the example He set for you?
When He was reviled, it says in verse 23, He did not revile in return. While suffering, He uttered no threats.
Think about it. Here was the One who in the beginning said, “Let there be light”, and there was light just because He said so.
Could He have said, “Let there be no temple in Jerusalem, no Herod, no Pilate, no Caiaphas, no Roman soldier in Judea, no Rome”?
The answer is absolutely ‘yes’! And it would have been instantly as He said.
But He entrusted Himself to the One who judges righteously, and that is what we were called to do.
My friends and family, forget the workplace for the moment. Forget school or whatever are the prevailing circumstances in your life on a weekday basis.
We are coming so very near to the end. As Christians especially we see it. We know the signs and we’re seeing them all fall into place.
We do not know how bad it’s going to get for the true church of Jesus Christ before the Lord calls us to meet Him in the air, but I will tell you with dreadful confidence that it is not going to get better.
Just like every other nation of the world that has turned its back on God this nation too can fall. Let’s not be arrogant. No nation of the earth is infallible.
I don’t like talking ‘doom-n-gloom’, but we need to open our eyes and acknowledge what we see and you see it as well as I.
If our wonderful America crumbles before the Lord raptures His church we have to have our hearts and minds and spirits prepared for oppression and persecution like we’ve never known before.
There may come a day, Christian, when you will not be allowed to shop for groceries. There may come a day when you are forced into a labor camp and made to do exactly what you are told, no matter how unpleasant that thing is, under threat of beatings or death.
It can happen to you and me and we have to face this truth and not shun it because only when we accept the possibility and even look at it as a probability can we reconcile ourselves to another truth and encourage ourselves with another thought.
And I’ll end with these:
1. We must reconcile ourselves to the fact that if and when a time of persecution and severe suffering comes to us as it did to ancient Christians, 1st Peter 2:17 will still be in the Bible.
2. We can encourage ourselves with this thought, the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls is still in control, and we cannot be snatched from His hand.
A.W. Pink (God is on the Throne) Banner of Truth, 1961
“As one sees the apparent defeat of the right, and the triumphing of might and wrong…it seems as though Satan were getting the better of the conflict. But as one looks above, instead of around, there is plainly visible to the eye of faith a Throne…This then is our confidence.”
