BE SUBJECT TO... 1 PETER 2:13-3:7

Be Subject To - Government
2:12-17

Part of living among the lost as those who bring honor to God is living within the structures God ordained. Believers who live as servants of God must be willing to be in submission to others. Because we know who we are in Christ, we do not need to cherish our dignity and honor in society.

One of these structures is human government. Peter tells us to be subject to (or submit to) every human institution for the Lord’s sake. That is, Christians should obey their governments so that they will not be seen as lawbreakers who are dangerous to the society.

For example, there is a group in Africa known as the Lord’s Resistance Army. They are known for abducting children, slavery, and terrorism. They do not bring glory to the Lord when they commit atrocities. They bring shame. In contrast, Christians who obey the law and are good neighbors bring glory to God. Peter wrote “…by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people”. (15)

Paul wrote about this subject in Romans 13. He likewise said to be subject to the governing authorities. He went on to say there is no authority except that comes from God and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. He said to obey, respect, and pay taxes to whom they are due.

Jesus said “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”. (Mark 12:17) The context was paying taxes. The Pharisees wanted to know if it was lawful under Jewish law to pay taxes to Caesar.

The question first asked is “when does the government get so bad that a Christian does not have to obey it?”. As context, we should remember that Peter wrote to people under the rule of the Roman Emperor Nero who would ultimately execute him. Peter knew Nero was evil, but most of the Roman law was acceptable and had to be obeyed.

Ultimately, Nero demanded that Christians renounce, or at least minimize, Christ, and worship the emperor. This they could not do, so they refused and were punished for it.

The key here is Peter’s statement that the Christian’s freedom is not a license to do evil, but to live as servants of God. (16) We should weigh all of our actions in terms of obeying God’s will and bringing glory to him.

Verse 17 has an all encompassing instruction on how to live with other people. First, honor everyone. Treat everyone with respect and dignity. Second, love the brotherhood. Have genuine love for your brothers and sisters in Christ. Third, fear God. We treat other people with respect, but we only express reverent fear toward God. Only he deserves that level of honor and devotions. Fourth, honor the emperor. That was a difficult one for Christians in the Roman Empire at times. It is difficult for us at times also. Yet, it is the will of God for us.

Be Subject To - Masters
2:18-25

The second human institution Peter deals with is slavery. He specifically directed his message to slaves who had become Believers. Peter instructed them to be subject to their masters with respect, whether the masters were good or not. It is similar to the instruction regarding the government.

Peter acknowledged that they may suffer, but says when they suffer and endure with a Christ-like Spirit, God sees it as a gracious thing. It is gracious because they suffer in order to be a witness to others.

Christ is the example in this, for he also suffered although he did nothing wrong. (22) And, though he suffered unjustly, he did not retaliate or revile. (23) He simply trusted himself to the Father.

He even did this for us, dying on the cross so that we could be forgiven and live in righteousness, even though we had been in rebellion against God. (25)

Be Subject To - Husbands
3:1-7

The third institution Peter mentions is marriage. As with the other two institutions, Peter begins with “be subject to”. (1) (Many versions say “submissive”, but the Greek word is the same.) He said for wives to be subject to their husbands even if the husbands are not living in obedience to God’s word. The reason is that they may be won to Christ by witnessing the conduct of their wives. He also advised making their gentle and quiet spirit their main adornment rather than their clothing and accessories. That is not to say women cannot makes themselves look pretty. But that the thing that will witness to Christ is character not physical appearance.    

There is a cultural element here. As people came to Christ, they had to figure out to deal with their Christian freedom in the context of their daily lives. At that time, most societies were patriarchal. A woman who realized her freedom in Christ, married to an unbeliever, might feel free to disrespect him. But, that would not make her look good, nor would it make her religion look good.
But the same basic principle applies today. If a married woman becomes a Christian, is she more likely to lead her husband to Christ if she is nice to him and respectful to him, or if she constantly argues with him and disrespects him?

Peter also had an instruction for husbands. He does not use the phrase “be subject to”, wanting to maintain the Scriptural structure of marriage, but sets a high standard of behavior. He said to live with your wives in an understanding way. (7)

Men need to understand that women think and feel differently than they do. Men usually love that when they are dating. They love a woman’s tender heart, her affection, her emotional makeup. But, sometimes, after marriage, men find those things annoying and lash out at their wives. Peter said, live in an understanding way. Understand she is different. Enjoy the good parts of that and tolerate the difficult parts of it. Realize that her differences can help you. God made woman to be a helper to man. That implies that he needs help. I know I do.

For example, my wife can ascertain if someone is troubled within seconds of meeting them. She can get people to tell them their troubles and comfort them. She has taught me to do this much better than I ever did on my own.

Peter also said to show honor to the woman as the weaker vessel. There was a time when men held the door for a woman, carried her packages, and did the more physical things. It was not because men did not believe women could do those things. It was to honor them.

The most important thing to remember is that women, wives, are equal to men, husbands before God, both heirs of grace. Failure to honor your wife in this way will even hinder your prayers.

Christian life is not lived by demanding our rights, but by giving them up for the sake of Christ. 

LIVE LIKE A STRANGER IN THIS WORLD - 1 PETER 2:6-12

The Old Testament temple and priesthood were types of the church, a people among whom God dwells and who praise God and live for him in witness to the world.

Peter refers to Isaiah 28:6 to make his point. It was from that verse that Peter learned and taught that Jesus, the cornerstone, is chosen and precious. He was chosen by the Father and he is precious to the Father.  Both at Jesus’ baptism and transfiguration, the Father spoke and said he was pleased with his Son. He also loved the Son. The Father called the Son his “beloved Son”. (Mark 1:11) And the Father loves us and is pleased with us because we are in the Son.

Isaiah also wrote that whoever believes in the living cornerstone will not be put to shame. That is, at the end of this age, we will be honored as Jesus’ sons and daughters. (6) Peter reiterated that truth saying this honor is for you who believe.  This is the promise Jesus made in John 3:16: whoever believes in the only begotten Son shall have eternal life.

Those who reject Jesus in this age are those who fulfill Isaiah 8:14. To them Jesus is a stone of  stumbling and a rock of offense. We certainly see this in our age, don’t we? It is hard to imagine that you would be offended by someone dying to save you, but the doctrine of penal substitution (Jesus dying for our sins) is under attack in many quarters. Some even call it cosmic child abuse. Many actually find it offensive because it shows how bad our sin is before God. Only the sacrifice of a perfect one could pay the price for us.

Many in our time also find Christianity offensive because it is exclusive, it says only through Jesus Christ can you get to heaven. Jesus himself said that the only way to the Father was through him. (John 14:6) And you would think it would be common sense that an all powerful God could say how you get saved. But those in rebellion to God find it offensive. That is why Isaiah wrote that those who disobey God would stumble and be offended at God’s word.

Peter also said those who stumble, who reject God and his word, were destined to do so. (8) Many find this to be a difficult truth.

They also find the opposite to be difficult, when, as Paul says, God chose us (believers) in him before the foundation of the world. (Ephesians 1:4) Or as Peter says here, we are a chosen race. (6) On the other hand, I find it to be comforting and the source of great gratitude.

Peter uses several phrases to describe the body of believers, the church. He said we are:
a chosen race
a royal priesthood
a holy nation
a people for his own possession.

A Chosen Race
As Israel was “God’s chosen people” in the Old Covenant, believers are now the chosen race.  In Deuteronomy 7:6, God said “the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” But now Peter writes that believers are a chosen race.

Royal Priesthood
In Exodus 19:5-6, God said that, if Israel kept the covenant, Israel would be a kingdom of priests. Israel had such close fellowship with God that their access to him was priestly. They would show the nations that they were the people of God by living according to the covenant, witnessing to the greatness of God as he blessed them.

Peter says believers are the royal priesthood, meaning that we now live as members of the new covenant, showing the world by our faith and our holy lives how great God is. We have that same close fellowship to God, made possible through our faith in Jesus. We are a priesthood that not only offers sacrifices of praise to God, but represents him before the nations.

A Holy Nation
Also in Exodus 19:6, God said that Israel would be a holy nation if they obeyed the covenant.  They would be holy because they were set apart to God and lived according to his principles. The church is now that holy nation, which makes it all the more important that we do not conform to the principles of the world. (Romans 12:1)

A People for His Own Possession
Again in Exodus 19:5, God told Israel that if it obeyed his covenant, Israel would be his treasured possession among all peoples. The Old Testament history books show us that, when Israel obeyed the covenant, God blessed them with prosperity and safety. But, when they broke the covenant, he took away those blessings. Finally, he thrust them out of the land and sent them into captivity.

Peter says that now, in the New Covenant, the church is the people of God’s possession. He goes on to say that once we were not a people, but now we are God’s people. We were not a people because we come from al different peoples, or races. But now, in Christ, people from all the nations and races make up the church, the spiritual house. (10) We receive all of these things through God’s love and mercy. He dwells with us because he loves us and chose us. Why? He loves us because he loves us, because of who he is, not because of who we are.

God called us out of darkness and made us a chose race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people for his own possession, so that we might proclaim his excellencies. (9) We do this in our worship and in our witnessing.

After making these grand theological statements, Peter gave several instances of how we live as God’s people, not as the world. The rest of the book is about this: how to live as one of God’s treasured possessions. He reminds us that we are sojourners and exiles, not citizens of this world.

First, we are to abstain against the passions of the flesh that wage war against our souls. (11) In Peter’s time, and now in ours, there is much encouragement to revel in the passions of the flesh. Movies and books make that the norm. We have holidays devoted to partying. These are all weapons of the devil to wage war against our souls, to corrupt us from holiness. If we are God’s we live holy lives because he is holy. If we are the world’s we live lives devoted to passions of the flesh to the detriment of our soul’s sanctification and fellowship with God.

We also want to live lives that testify to unbelievers, whom Peter refers to as Gentiles. (12) Our lives show us to be honorable, so even our enemies have to admit we lived to glorify God. The media loves few things more than touting the fall of a spiritual leader. But all had to admit that Billy Graham lived a Godly life, even if they did not accept his message.

Live this week as a citizen of another kingdom, reflecting the one who made you part of his kingdom, so that others can know him and you can enjoy the full fellowship of the Father.
   

A Sacrifice of Praise

The writer of Hebrews says that we should continually offer up praise to God, and that it is a sacrifice of praise. Hebrews 13:15. We used to teach kids a song about this:

“We bring the sacrifice of praise
Into the house of the Lord.
“We bring the sacrifice of praise
Into the house of the Lord.

And we offer up to You
The sacrifices of thanksgiving,
And we offer up to You
The sacrifices of joy.”

Thus, the Old Testament temple and priesthood were types of the church, a people among whom God dwells and who praise God and live for him in witness to the world.

THE SPIRITUAL HOUSE - 1 PETER 2:4-5

The Spiritual House
2:4-5

In these two verses, Peter gives a summary of argument he presents in the whole passage. He used a metaphor of a temple (spiritual house) built of stones. He switched from the metaphor of infants needing nourishment to the metaphor of stones used to build a temple.

Christ is a “living stone”. He is the first building block of the spiritual temple. He is alive because he was resurrected from the grave and will live forever. Peter got this language from Psalm 118:22, which says the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Psalmist was thinking of Israel. But Peter applied it to Jesus, the true Israel.

Jesus applied this language to himself in the “Parable of the Tenants” (Matthew 21:33-46). That parable involved God rejecting the original tenants who killed his son. He took the vineyard from them and gave it to those who would bear fruit. He removed his kingdom from unbelieving Jews and gave it to those who believed in him and followed him.

He was rejected by men. Many have rejected him. But God chose him. He chose Jesus to be the savior of those who believe in him. That is why he is called Christ, or Messiah, the Anointed One. Those chosen by God for a special role were anointed as a sign of their being chosen.

God chose Aaron to be the high priest. Leviticus 8:12 shows Moses, as God’s representative, anointing Aaron with the anointing oil to consecrate, or set him aside, for his role. Samuel anointed David with oil to show God had chosen him to be king. (1 Samuel 16). God chose Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, to be the savior, so he was the Anointed One.

The Greek word for chosen is “eklektos”. It is also translated as “elect”.  

Not only did the Father chose, or elect, him, but Jesus was “precious” to the Father. He was precious to him because of their relationship in eternity in the Trinity, but also because Jesus agreed to come to earth in human flesh to reconcile men and women to the Father.

Those who come to Christ are built into a spiritual house, a temple. When we come to the Living Stone, we ourselves are as “living stones”. Jesus is the cornerstone upon which the spiritual house is built. We are built on top of that cornerstone as part of the house that is constructed. Paul instructed us that the foundation of this building is made up of the apostles and prophets. (Ephesians 2:20)

The builder of the church is Jesus. He said “I will my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18)

Not only are we the stones that are built into the temple, we are the priests who serve in it. Peter said believers are a “holy priesthood”. (5) A priest serves as a mediator between mankind and God. In the Old Covenant, the Levites, or tribe of Levi, were set apart to be a holy priesthood. They continually offered sacrifices to God.

New covenant believers are to offer spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

What are the spiritual sacrifices we are to offer? Peter does not say. Romans 12:1-2 tells us that our bodies are living sacrifices when we live holy lives that are acceptable to God. When we are called out of the world, and do not conform to it, but are transformed by the Holy Spirit, we live lives that please God. This also makes us priests in the sense that our lives witness to the lost about Christ and his saving power. We represent God to the nations.

The writer of Hebrews also says that we should continually offer up praise to God, and that it is a sacrifice of praise. Hebrews 13:15. We used to teach kids a song about this:

“We bring the sacrifice of praise
Into the house of the Lord.
“We bring the sacrifice of praise
Into the house of the Lord.

And we offer up to You
The sacrifices of thanksgiving,
And we offer up to You
The sacrifices of joy.”

Thus, the Old Testament temple and priesthood were types of the church, a people among whom God dwells and who praise God and live for him in witness to the world. 

From Fear to Joy

Luke tells us in Luke 2: 8-14: 

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

I love this story because it has lots of things I’m interested in. It has unusual characters, glory, fear and joy. 

Unusual Characters.

I do not know why God chose to announce the coming of Christ first to some shepherds. But, it’s interesting. 

These guys were camped out with their flock of sheep in the fields, bedded down with the sheep. Shepherds were not that well thought of. They were transient, moving from field to field. They were not bathed or well-groomed a lot of the time. Even though they took care of animals that would be sacrificed at the temple, the priests and Pharisees would not associate with them. Yet, angels appeared and told them the Messiah had been born.

It is an interesting parallel: those who took care of sacrificial lambs were the first told of the birth of the lamb without blemish that would be the perfect and complete sacrifice for sin.

Glory

When the angel of the Lord appeared, the glory of the Lord shone all around them. Angels are the messengers of God. This angel came from the presence of God to deliver God’s message of salvation, and he brought, or reflected, God’s glory with him.

We give glory to God in the sense that we extol his great attributes. But, God possesses glory in himself. We do not add to that. 

His glory is an expression of his holiness, his worth, and his perfection. It is expressed in the Bible as overpowering light. 1 Timothy 6:16 says he dwells or lives in unapproachable light and no one can see him. Angels often reflected his glory when they appeared, showing that they had come from God to deliver his message.

Fear

The response to God’s glory if usually fear. Men and women fall to the ground. We are told to fear the Lord. Those who encounter his glory do fear him. Here are many examples in the Bible. 

For example, in Isaiah 6, the pre-incarnate Christ appeared to Isaiah in the temple. The seraphims were calling out “the whole world is full of his glory”. And Isaiah cried out “woe to me. I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty”. Isaiah’s encounter with God’s glory revealed his sin and sent him into despair and fear. 

When Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James and John, his clothes shone with radiant, intensely white light and they were terrified. (Mark 9:2-8)

Sinful men and women cannot bear the glory of the holy God.

Joy

The good news is, fear is turned to joy by Jesus. The angel told them not to fear, for he was bringing them good news of great joy. That joy came from the news that the Messiah had come. The one that had been expected since the Fall had finally come! 

Jesus would be the bearer of God’s wrath, the perfect sacrifice for sin, and the mode of reconciliation of sinful children to their heavenly father. 

Salvation brings joy. The end of the story shows the shepherds praising God and giving him glory as they walked down the road. There was joy because there was salvation.

We sing a lot about joy at Christmas. I want us to experience it. Meditate on this passage. 

Lots of people think God is permanently mad at them or out to get them. Notice the last statement in this passage. God is please with those who have put their faith in Jesus. He is pleased with us. 

That should bring us joy. 

1

LOVE! 1 PETER 1:20-2:1

Love
1:20-2:1

There is a bit of a shift in emphasis here that will continue through verse 10 of chapter 2. The shift is from the call to personal holiness to instruction on how to live in the Christian community.

Our salvation should not only lead us to live in holiness, but to live in love, loving especially other believers. When Peter wrote “having purified your souls by obedience to the truth” in verse 22, he referred to their salvation. He could have said “now that you have been converted or saved”.

The impure (unregenerate) heart finds it difficult to love because it is often against one’s self interest to love another person. For example, Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13:4, says “love is not arrogant”. But, it is human nature to be arrogant if you are successful. We all know arrogant people. Believers should not be arrogant, however, because they know all that they have or do is a matter of grace from God. Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful man on the planet in his time, found this out the hard way when God drove him out of his senses to act like an animal until he repented. You can read the story in the book of Daniel.

The pure (regenerate) heart can love sacrificially because God loved us and saved us.  We love our fellow believers (brotherly love) especially. This love flows from Christ our Savior. God puts his love in our hearts (Romans 5:5). The fruit of the Spirit is love (Gal. 5:22) God gave us a spirit of love (1 Timothy 2:17).

It is a love that gives grace, compassion and selflessness. This love does not insist on its own way (1 Corinthians 13:6).

We love earnestly (stretched\strained-as Jesus when Jesus prayed in Gethsemane). It is not always easy to love our fellow church members. We may have to work at that, praying earnestly along the way. But that is what Christ calls us to do.  

It actually is the command of Christ, not a suggestion. He said “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this’ll people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34-35) The converse, or opposite of this statement is also true. If we do not love our fellow believers, no one can tell that we are disciples.

The command to love is based on God’s saving work in our lives. (23) We have been born again (begotten) by the seed of God’s word (the gospel). (23, 25) It is imperishable.   We should love one another because we have been begotten by God.

Peter proved his argument with an Old Testament quote, from Isaiah 40:6-8. The context of Isaiah 40 is a word of encouragement, that God’s word that he will restore Israel will be fulfilled because God’s word stands forever. To use Peter’s term, it is not perishable.

Peter is also saying the word of the Lord, recorded in Isaiah 40, represents the promise that God will restore is people from exile and fulfill his promises to Abraham (as in Genesis 12:1-3, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed”). That promise is ultimately fulfilled in the proclamation of the Gospel to these Gentile churches in Asia, bringing the families of the earth into the family of God, the greatest blessing of all.

In loving our fellow believers as a product of our salvation, we must put away some characteristics of our former selves: (1) malice; (2) deceit; (3) hypocrisy; (4) envy; and (5) slander.

Malice is the desire to do harm or evil to another person.

Deceit involves misrepresenting or concealing the truth.

Hypocrisy is a false appearance of virtue.

Envy is wanting something someone else has and resenting them for having it.

Slander is making false statements that harm another person’s reputation.

All of these things are destructive. They can easily destroy a local church. We need to rid ourselves of these traits, both personally and congregational. They are the opposite of love. In fact, Paul, in Galatians 5:19, refers to these things as works of the flesh.

Instead we should long for the “pure spiritual milk” of God’s word. (2:2) The image here is of an infant seeking nourishment. The new believer is like a baby. He needs nourishment to grow. That nourishment is the Word of God. We never outgrow the need. As we understand more, we long to understand even more.

You cannot go wrong immersing yourself in the study of God’s word.

 So, this week, examine yourself prayerfully. Do you love your brothers and sisters as you should? Are there attitudes or actions you need to confess and correct? Dedicate yourself this week to God's word and to loving your brothers and sisters in Christ. 

HOW SHALL WE THEN LIVE? PART 2

Having this mindset, we should set our hope fully on our eternal life, our inheritance. Peter here calls it the grace that will be brought to us when Jesus returns, when he is revealed. (13) Our hope is not in our job, our wealth, or our friends. Those things are nice, but perishable. Our hope is in the imperishable, eternity with Christ.

Further, having this mindset, we do not conform our thinking to the passions of the world. Specifically, Peter refers to the Gentiles in their former ignorance. (14) We do not follow our selfish passions. We are obedient to God, as children to holy father. (15) That means we are called to be holy, knowing that God is holy. Paul put it this way: do not be conformed to the world, but transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Romans 12:2)

We live in the knowledge of God who judges each ones deeds, so we live in reverence\fear of him. We know that heavenly rewards will be proportionate to our faithfulness.

Paul explained this in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. He spoke of his work of laying a foundation, as in a builder laying the foundation of a house. Some else will build on it. It must all be built on Christ. If one's work is genuine, Jesus will reveal it when he returns (the Day). If it is genuine, the person will receive a reward in heaven. If it is not, that person will experience the loss of reward. The person does not lose salvation, but does lose rewards in heaven.

We also live in appreciating that we were saved out of sin by the blood of Christ. The penalty of our sins was paid for by our Savior. (That is the doctrine of penal substitution.) Knowing that, we live holy lives in his honor.

This idea is intensified by knowing that Christ was foreknown before the foundation of the world. God the Father chose him to be the savior of mankind before mankind was created. He was kept a mystery for ages until the Father manifested Jesus as his Son and Christ in the last times for our sake. We know he did this. Therefore, we put our faith and hope in God.

We were also foreknown in Christ by the Father (1 Peter 1:2; Eph. 1:3-4)

This grand plan of God, conceived in eternity before this world was created, revealed when Christ was born, consummated when he returns, was for your benefit, your salvation.

Live in the light of this truth!