Submission Series

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Speaker: Rev. Shine Thomas

Scripture: 1 Peter Chapters 2, 3

INTRODUCTION

Joke: An Indian and an American went fishing. The American kept the lid of his worm box tightly shut. Every time he took a worm he kept the lid tightly shut. The Indian on the other hand kept the lid of his worm box open and he had no worry about the worms escaping. Finally, the American asked the Indian, “Why don’t you close the lid.” The Indian said that it is easy. You have American worms, I have Indian worms. If one of my worms gets higher than the other, others will pull him down.

We are never submissive and we always rebel against the person above us.

Today we are going to see what is biblical submission? To whom are we to submit to in the Lord?

Submission meaning: Voluntary attitude of giving in, putting others first, to obey. The act of submitting to the authority of another person.

TO WHOM ARE WE TO SUBMIT TO?

The Bible clearly points out at least different aspects where we need to submit to.

Submit to God James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Submit to Church Leaders. Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Submit to one another. Ephesians 5:21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

You are very good at this, but I would like to concentrate on 3 other aspects of submission.

1. SUBMIT TO THE GOVERNMENT.

1 Peter 2:13-14 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.

Even though our citizenship is in heaven we are to still accept the authority of our government. See what Jesus said about paying taxes. We are supposed to respect our government, its policies, vote, pay taxes to the government, pray for the government and the list goes on.

Background:

Peter wrote this epistle while the church was in persecution and a year or 2 before the great persecution under the Roman Emperor Nero in 64 AD. Nero was one of the most notorious rulers of all time and he was the person who did the maximum damage to Christians in all time. He did not only want to kill Christians, he wanted to make them suffer first. During his reign there was a big fire that destroyed a great part of the city. It is said that Nero started the fire as he brought huge properties after the fire. When the rumour spread that Nero started the fire he had to find a scapegoat, so he blamed the Christians for the fire and persecuted them. Peter and Paul both were died during this period.

I would like share with you one more hobby of Nero to show how evil he was. Nero was a great chariot racer. He built race tracks and raced all day. Soon Nero decided to race even at night but there was no electricity for visibility. It is said that Nero came with a very wicked plan. During the day Nero would send his solders to find Christians in the city. They would cover these Christians in pitch and tie them to the poles around the race track. As the sun set, these Christians were set on fire and became human torches.

Now, In spite of these persecutions Peter is saying to submit to the government authorities and kings. No matter who bad our Chief Minister or Prime Minister is we feel, it is much easier to submit to them than to the government of Nero.

1 Peter 3:13-14

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. Peter says the government is to punish the wrong and commend the right; however, there are exceptions where the government is corrupt like in the time or Nero. Still as children of God we are to submit to the government authorities.

Why should we submit to the authority of the government?

Romans 13:1-7 1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.