No Immunity

Good morning. My name is Matthew Capone and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church

and it's my joy to bring God's Word to you today.

If you are new or visiting with us, welcome.

We're glad that you're here.

And we're glad that you're here not because we're trying to fill seats,

but because we're following Jesus together as one community.

And as we follow Jesus together, we're convinced that there's no one so good,

that they don't need God's grace, and no one so bad that they can't have it.

And that's the reason that we come back week after week

and we spend a large part of our worship service looking at what God has to say in His Word.

We believe that God has something to say to everyone.

If you've been with us, you know that we are in the book of 1 Peter.

And the book of 1 Peter is actually a letter.

It's a letter written by a man named Peter.

And he writes it to Christians who are living in the first century in what is now modern-day Turkey.

And he writes to these Christians to encourage them and instruct them.

And he does that because they are facing opposition in the world

because they're living lives that reflect Jesus Christ.

And they're also feeling out of place in the world

because they're living lives as Christians.

Peter writes to encourage them that Jesus is worth it.

Jesus is worth them living for and loving for.

He's worth them suffering for and dying for.

And he also writes not just to encourage them but to instruct them

that they would know how they should live in the world as Christians

and that they would know how to respond when living as Christians leads to opposition from the world.

Last week, he gave them something of a mission statement.

He told them that they were priests among the nations.

And we talked about what that means.

Essentially, it means that these are people who are meant to represent God to the world

and represent the world to God.

That people would know about God and his goodness

because of the way that his people live.

Now, Peter, in doing that, was just laying the groundwork,

the framework for what's to come in this letter

because now he's going to tell us specifically how we can act as priests.

How can we live in a way that would bring honor and glory to Jesus Christ?

And how can we live in a way that would reflect what's true about God to the world

and bring other people to know him?

In fact, that's how we left off last week in verse 12.

Peter says,

So the goal is that the people receiving this letter, by their actions, would bring glory to God.

This week, Peter's going to get practical.

We're going to look at how Christians bring glory to God

in the way that they interact with the government that's been given to them.

And so it's with that question about government that we're going to turn to 1 Peter 2.

We're in verse 13.

You can open up your Bibles to that.

You can open it up on your phone or you can follow along.

It's near the end of your worship guide.

Remember as we come to this passage that this is God's word.

And God tells us that while grass withers and flowers fall,

his word will remain forever.

And so that's why we read now beginning at verse 13.

Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution.

Whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil

and to praise those who do good.

For this is the will of God,

that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

Verse 16.

Live as people who are free,

not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil,

but living as servants of God.

Honor everyone.

Love the brotherhood.

Fear God.

Honor the emperor.

I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.

Father in heaven, we thank you again that you've given us another week to live

and you've also given us another Sunday to hear from you with your people.

We ask that you would send your Holy Spirit because we confess that we need help.

Without your help, we will not be able to hear from you or understand what you had to say to us.

And so we ask that you would do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

That you would speak clearly.

That we would understand and believe and act.

We ask all these things not because we have earned them,

but because Jesus has earned them for us.

And so we ask them in his name.

Amen.

If you've been following the news recently,

you know there's been a very controversial story

about the relationship of the United States to the United Kingdom.

And it all started at the end of August

when there was this woman, an American citizen named Ann Sackalas,

and she ended up having a tragic accident in her car with a motorcyclist

who was a citizen of the United Kingdom.

And that man named Harry Dunn ended up passing away pretty quickly after the accident.

And there are, of course, all kinds of motor vehicle accidents all around the world,

all the time, that we don't hear about.

But this one made the news because Ann Sackalas' husband works for the U.S. government.

And so instead of staying in the country to see this case prosecuted,

she fled and returned to the U.S.

and she made a claim that she does not have to face any consequences

because of something called diplomatic immunity.

Now, if you're familiar with diplomatic immunity,

you know that it's a way of protecting foreign diplomats

when they're in other countries.

So if you're representing the United States, say in France,

the government can't harass you as a representative of another government.

And it's to avoid all kinds of conflicts of interest.

But there's been a controversy now over whether this is,

first of all, an appropriate use of diplomatic immunity,

and second of all, whether it even applies to Ann.

There's some controversy since her husband apparently was not stated

to be an official diplomat.

He was working for the U.S. government,

but whether he's a diplomat or not is controversial.

Now, in that situation, no one was trying to use diplomatic immunity

to get away with doing wrong, right?

This was an accident.

Ann Sackalas didn't think,

I'm going to collide into this motorcycle

and I'm going to get away with it.

However, there are people who do abuse diplomatic immunity.

I had a classmate in college.

He thought very highly of himself.

And his parents were both very high-level political operatives

in Washington, D.C.

And he went to a very elite private school in the city.

And he had a classmate

who was the son of a foreign diplomat.

And so he would tell us stories

about when they wanted to have parties,

they would throw them at this individual's house.

And so there'd be all kinds of illicit and illegal things

going on at these high school parties

and the police would show up

and this classmate of mine,

he would tell stories about how he would walk out of the house

and he'd come up and approach the police.

And they would ask him,

what's going on at that house?

And he would say, you know what?

That's the house of the ambassador.

It doesn't really matter what's going on in this house.

And as frustrated as they would be,

the police in that situation had to accept that answer

because they had no authority

to go into the home of a foreign diplomat

and start arresting people.

That man was covered by diplomatic immunity.

Now I mention that in 1 Peter

because Peter has just told these people

in our passage from last week, verse 9,

that they are a chosen race and a holy nation.

They're their own group of people.

And it would be tempting for them hearing that

to think, that sounds amazing.

We're our own nation.

I mean, God has given us these rules that apply to us.

We don't have to worry about

what the government has to say about anything.

We're just going to follow God's laws.

And if the government requires us of something

that God doesn't require of us,

well, we don't have to worry about that.

We're Christians.

We're a holy nation.

Peter comes making sure at the very beginning

that there is no possibility for these people

to have that misunderstanding.

There is, in other words,

no diplomatic immunity for Christians.

Just because we belong to God

and have been chosen by God

does not mean that we get to disregard

the authorities that he's put over us.

And so he tells us, verse 13,

be subject for the Lord's sake

to every human institution,

whether it be to the emperor as supreme

or to governors as sent by him.

They have a purpose.

They're punishing those who do evil

and praising those who do good.

Even more than that,

so they're not just people

who are keeping the law.

Verse 15, this is the will of God.

By the way, people spend enormous amounts of time

trying to discover God's will for their life.

And you have the great fortune

of being here this morning

and getting to skip all of that.

Because this passage is going to tell you

very clearly what God's will for your life is.

This is it.

You don't need to search anymore.

This is the will of God.

That by doing good,

you should put to silence

the ignorance of foolish people.

In other words,

Christians are not just people who obey the law.

We're not just people who pay our taxes.

We're not just people who respect police officers.

We're not just people

who try to obey and follow the laws

that have been given to us.

We're not just people who follow the rules of the road.

We're also people who are seeking to do good.

And so Christians are also serving their community.

They're also caring for the poor.

They're also actively promoting good

in their communities,

in their neighborhoods,

in their cities.

Not only do Christians not have diplomatic immunity,

not only are there people who are obeying the law,

even more than that,

like we talked about last week,

there are people who are promoting good.

They're not just seeking to do

the very minimum necessary

to get by in their society,

but they're actually looking for ways

where they can promote God's goodness

and his justice in the world.

As Peter's writing to these people,

then he's encouraging them

that that's how they respond

when they face opposition.

When we face opposition from this world,

we don't respond by saying,

well, we don't care anymore.

We don't care about your rules.

We don't care about your government.

But instead, they double down on doing good

and living as citizens

who are models to the world

and are a pleasure for their governors

and their emperors.

Now, we don't have emperors

in the United States, right?

This was written to first century

people in the Roman Empire,

but we still have a government.

We still have government officials,

people who make laws and rules,

and as much as we're able,

as Christians, we obey those things.

Now, there's other parts in the Bible

that talk about this.

There's times, right,

when the government's going to ask us

to do something that God says is a sin,

and Peter's not talking about that.

We see that in Romans chapter 5.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

The people in Romans are told,

or not Romans, Acts chapter 5.

Acts 5 · chapter mention

The disciples are told in Acts chapter 5

Acts 5 · chapter mention

to stop preaching the gospel,

and they say,

well, we can't do that.

God's commanded us to preach the gospel.

That's not a rule we can obey.

But that's not what Peter's talking about here.

He's talking about the basic rules

in the world

that help society to function.

So one question is this.

If we, I mentioned last week,

a church that's come under fire,

not from the government,

but just in their general culture and society

because of some of their views

about human sexuality,

and that church is also doing

what Peter talked about last week.

They're doing good works.

So people are on the one hand

criticizing them.

On the other hand,

they can't help but notice

the good that they're doing.

Peter repeats that here.

Verse 14,

these governors are punishing the evil,

and praising the good.

If we came under fire

here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church

because of our views

of agreeing with the Bible

and what it teaches,

would our governors be able

to praise us for doing good?

Would they be able to say,

you know, we really wish

that those folks would get in line with us

and some of their beliefs,

but we can't help but notice

the blessing that they are

to their community.

And as much as we'd love

for them to stop operating,

we also understand

the tremendous devastation

that would happen

if this church pulled out

of our community.

Can our governors praise us

as people who do good?

Even more than that,

verse 15, he says,

this is the will of God

that doing good,

you should put to silence

the ignorance of foolish people.

And I mentioned last week

this church that's come under fire.

By the way,

there's a second church

that I learned about this week

that's a little closer to home.

It's actually not a sister

denomination of ours,

but it's in our denomination

that's come under a lot of fire

for holding true

to their biblical commitments.

And so this is something

that's coming closer

and closer to home,

and the question is,

how do we respond

and how are the people

outside going to view us?

Peter's telling them

that those who are outside

of the church

should view the church

as a place

where people do good.

And no matter what criticisms

they have about our beliefs

or our practices,

they cannot argue

with the benefit

that the church is

to the world

because of the way

that they are reflecting

Jesus and his character

as priests.

Peter tells us

that we have a reason

for doing this too.

Verse 13,

it's for the Lord's sake.

And then in verse 16,

he tells us

that we are servants of God.

In other words,

our primary purpose here

is to represent God

in the world,

whatever we do

that it would serve him.

Our goal is to make

Jesus famous

by the way

that we interact

with government.

And our goal is

that Jesus would be famous

because of the ways

that we serve

the community around us.

And so what would we do?

Let's just think about it

for a second.

Thought experiment.

There was a politician

recently

who suggested

that churches

that hold faithful

to certain biblical

commitments about sexuality

should have their

tax-exempt status removed.

What would we do

if our tax-exempt status

was removed?

By the way,

if it was,

we'd still be more privileged

than most Christians

in the history of the world.

But what we would do

is we would be

1 Peter kind of people.

We would recognize

1 Peter 1,

1 Peter 1:1

verse 1,

that we are elect

and exiles.

We've been chosen

by God,

but we're exiles

in the world.

We would know

that our hope

is not in this world,

but we have a king

who's coming back

for us.

We have a salvation.

This is chapter 1,

Isaiah 1 · chapter mention

still ready to be revealed

in the last time.

And we can rejoice

in our trials

because we know

that it's confirming

that we belong

to Jesus Christ.

And then,

still in chapter 1,

we can prepare

our minds for action

and set our hope

on what it is

that really matters,

the kingdom of God.

We can remember

that Jesus is the one

who was foreknown

before the foundation

of the world

but was made manifest

for us.

That's chapter 1,

verse 20.

And then,

what else would we do?

Well, chapter 2,

we'd put away malice

and deceit

and hypocrisy.

And we'd continue

to this section

realizing,

as we saw earlier

about the stone,

that there are people

who are going to stumble

on the stone.

And then,

we would give praise

and honor

and glory to God.

And we would continue

serving Him,

submitting to the authorities

in the world,

and also,

the mission statement

that we saw last week,

proclaiming the excellences,

this is verse 9,

proclaiming the excellencies

of Him who called you

out of darkness

into His marvelous light.

In other words,

if our tax-exempt status

was removed,

what would we do?

We would praise God

for the goodness

of His grace,

and we would continue

doing good in the world

for the sake of His name.

How do we represent God

as priests

when it comes to our relationship

with the government?

We submit to them

as much as we can,

and we do it

for the sake

of Jesus Christ.

We do it

so that verse 12

from last week

would be true,

that some might see

your good deeds

and glorify God

on the day of visitation.

Our goal,

in other words,

when it comes

to government

and our relationship

with it,

our number one goal

is that God

would be famous,

that He would receive

honor and glory

and praise,

because of the way

that His people

submit to the authorities

that are over them.

That is our number one goal,

that God would be famous

in the world.

I had a,

you all know,

I was a teacher before,

I've mentioned that

a few times,

and I,

at one point,

was teaching a high school

Greek class,

and I had a student

who was in the class

and also

her family was at my church,

this was back in Virginia,

and at one point,

her dad came up to me,

and this was,

you know,

on a Sunday,

and he said,

you know,

we've really been

digging into the Greek

and we've been studying

Revelation chapter 4,

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

and we've been looking

at that section

in Revelation chapter 4

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

where the elders

cast down their crowns

before the throne of God.

And you know,

I was,

I'm really trying

to figure out,

what's the possessive nature

of the word there

when it comes

to the crowns?

Because I want to see,

do those crowns,

do they help support

the view

that the Bible

supports private property?

Now,

don't get me wrong,

the Bible's in favor

of private property.

If you don't believe me,

look in the book

of Proverbs.

The point

of Revelation chapter 4

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

is that people

are so moved

by God's honor

and his glory

and his majesty

that private property

has no place

in their mind

because they have

no choice

but to take their crown

and give it to God.

Our goal

when we think

about government

not primarily

is to figure out

different philosophies

and theories

and ways of thinking

about it.

I'm not saying

those things are bad,

those are good,

but our primary goal

is to bring

honor and glory

to God.

Our primary goal

is that people

would see

and know Jesus

because of the way

we interact

with government

and the way

we think about government.

It's not wrong

to ask questions

about what the Bible

teaches about private property.

It's just that

there's something

so much more important

and glorious

than that.

There is something

better.

And so it's not

that we don't do

those things

or those things

don't matter

but what we do first.

The first question

we ask

is how can I

interact with the government

in such a way

that people

would praise God?

How can I interact

with the government

in such a way

that people

would praise God?

Finally,

Peter tells them

that they're putting

together,

verse 15,

not finally

but in the middle

that they're putting

to silence

the ignorance

of foolish people.

In other words,

if people are going

to speak ill about you,

if they're going

to speak poorly

about you,

let them speak

poorly about you

because you follow Jesus.

Don't let them

speak poorly

about you

for any other reason.

Don't let them

speak poorly

about the way

that you talk

about politicians

that you don't like.

Don't let them

speak poorly

about you

because you're someone

who doesn't seem

to care about

your neighborhood

or the community

that you're in.

Give them only one reason

to speak poorly

and give them

every reason

to speak well

of Jesus.

You're free

in Christ.

Verse 16,

live as people

who are free,

free from the penalty

of sin

and the power

of sin

and so live

in a way

that brings honor

and glory

to the person

who freed you

from sin.

Yes,

you're free

but you're a servant

of God.

Peter's really

giving two

main instructions

here about

how to live

faithfully

as priest

in relationship

to the government.

Instruction one,

obey the authorities

that are over you

and do good.

And then he gives us

another instruction

here at the end,

verse 17,

one about honor.

Honor everyone,

love the brotherhood,

fear God,

honor the emperor.

Remember,

you're living

in a world,

recipients of 1 Peter

and also Christians

in America,

where some people

are not going to like

what you believe

or do.

And how you respond

to each and every

one of them

is with honor.

We make Jesus famous,

we make God famous

and bring him honor

and glory and praise

when we treat

every person

with dignity,

whether they agree

with us politically

or not.

That's part of how

we are priests

to the nation.

That's how we make

God known

to the world

and represent

the world

to God.

Christians bring shame

to the name

of Jesus Christ

when we pick

and choose

which politicians

we'll speak well of

and which ones

we won't.

Now I'm not saying

we can't disagree

with someone.

I'm not saying

we can't criticize

someone.

But we speak

about someone

with honor

and we honor

their position

even if we disagree

with them.

And we honor

the people around us

even if they have

different convictions

about all sorts

of things

in this world.

And we do it

not because we're

doormats

but because we want

God to be honored.

And so we want

them to see

that even as they

walk away from him

we see the image

of God in them.

I've been reading

through this

book that I've been

loving called

Evangelism as Exiles

which is based on

the book of 1 Peter

and he says it

much better than I am

so I'm going to read you

I will so I'm going to

read you a short quote

here talking about

this idea of how

we interact with

the world.

It's written by a man

named Elliot Clark

and he says the fact

is ridiculing your

opponents is the

privilege of the

powerful.

But now as an

excluded minority

American Christians

no longer have

the upper hand.

Maligning our

cultural and

religious adversaries

is therefore no

longer an effective

strategy.

The days of

mocking atheists

crash joking about

homosexuals

slurring Muslims

and making

derogatory remarks

about political

rivals need to

end.

They should have

never existed

but the church

could get away

with such impudence

when we were the

cultural majority.

Not anymore.

And of course

what Elliot Clark

is doing is

not introducing

something new

but calling the

church back to

what 1 Peter wrote

in the first century.

that Christians

would be known

as people who

submit to their

authorities and

obey the laws of

the government

they find themselves

in.

That they'd be

people who would

be doing good

seeking the good

of the community

and the city

and the world

that they're in.

And finally

they'd be people

who honor everyone.

That we would

surprise the world

around us because

unlike them we

refuse to engage

in that sort of

behavior.

But we disagree

with people with

tremendous respect

and honor and so

they have a sense

of what God's

love to them

could look like.

Finally Peter

tells us that the

way that we

interact with God

is different than

the way we interact

with everyone else.

We honor

everyone

and we honor

the emperor.

We love the

brotherhood by the

way so we're

committed, we're

faithful to the

church in a

special way

but we fear

God.

part of the

way that we're

able to honor

everyone is

because of our

fear of God.

We know that

there's something

more than this

world.

And so if we

lose something in

this world because

of obeying our

authorities

that's a small

loss compared to

the future that

God's prepared

for us.

And we also

know that as we

obey the

authorities,

God is the

only one who

can bring true

and full and

final justice.

Matthew chapter

Matthew 10:28

10 verse 28

says this,

And do not

fear those who

kill the body

but cannot kill

the soul.

Rather fear him

who can destroy

both soul and

body in hell.

And of course

that's talking

about God,

right?

That God is the

only one that we

truly fear.

God is the

Lord.

Because there's

no government

or power even

as we submit

to them that

can destroy

our souls.

Peter's

recipients are

able to receive

this and honor

their authorities

even when it's

hard because they

know everything

that Peter has

already told them.

They've been

chosen by God

and they belong

to God.

They've been

sprinkled by

Jesus' blood.

They're servants

of God.

They're not under

the power of sin

anymore and they're

servants of God

because of what

Jesus has done

for them.

The sprinkling

of Jesus' blood

comes from

Jesus' death

on the cross

when he suffered

the penalty

that we should

have suffered

for our sins.

And he lived

the life that

we should have

lived and he

gave his

righteousness to

us and took

our sin upon

himself.

And so he's

given them not

just that forgiveness

but as we've

talked about a

true and full

inheritance that

they have to

look forward to

in the world to

come.

And so because

of that there's

nothing that they

can lose,

there's nothing

they can't afford

to lose to these

authorities as long

as they remain

faithful to God

because they have

everything that is

coming for them to

inherit in the

world to come.

And so that's how

they can be priests.

They're willing to

suffer.

They're willing to

love and live for

Jesus, representing

him to the world

even when it's

hard and

representing him

to the world by

the way that they

interact with

government.

How do we

represent God as

priests when it

comes to the

government of

Colorado Springs

and Colorado in

the United States?

We obey our

leaders as much as

possible unless they

tell us to sin.

do good so that

they would see

God's character

even as they

oppose God.

And we honor

them and treat

them with dignity

that they would

have one small

glimpse of God's

goodness and his

love.

And we do all

of it, verse 13,

for the Lord's

sake, verse 16,

because we're

servants of God,

and verse 17,

because we fear

God.

That's how we can

be priests,

bringing people who

don't know Jesus to

know him and bring

praise and honor and

glory to God.

That's what we're

going to do in our

closing hymn in

which we're going to

sing, all hail the

power of Jesus' name.

So I invite you to

pray with me.

Before we do that,

please pray with me.

Dear Father in

heaven, we thank you

that you speak to us

clearly in your word.

Lord, we ask that

you would help us

to represent you

well in this world,

submitting to the

authorities you've

given to us for the

sake of your name.

And we ask these

things in Jesus' name

because he has

earned them for us.

Amen.