Grace Under Fire - A Proper View Of Authority

I am so privileged to be able to bring the Word of God to you from 1 Peter.

We're in the middle of a sermon series called Grace Under Fire, and Neil did a great job last week of sharing about the importance of our lives being built on the cornerstone of Jesus Christ.

Isn't that the truth?

That's the most primary thing.

And then he also talked about because the passage of scripture mentioned it that we are living stones that are being built together into the body of Christ, and so God places us in walls within communities so that we can make a difference, and so we are so grateful for the body of Christ and, in particular, this church, trinity Community Church, because that's where he's placed us, in a wall here, as a part of the building of what God's doing.

So this week we're going to look at 1 Peter, chapter 2, and I'm going to be talking about a proper view of authority.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

And I just would ask, because a lot of times when we look at these kinds of passages, we immediately want to jump to contextualization, which means making it make sense in our culture, in our day.

We are going to get there, but I ask that you would always let the principles of the Word of God instruct us first, if that makes sense.

So, as we go through this, I know that our Western mindsets are going to be thinking about America and how things are done in America, but let's not forget that there are really important principles that are found in these scriptures that need to be applied regardless.

If they fit perfectly within our system of governance and things like that.

Does that make sense?

All right?

So let's look at 1 Peter 2, verses 13 through 25, and this is the word of God through 25, and this is the word of God.

1 Peter 2:13–25

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.

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 and honor the emperor Servants, be subject to your masters, with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust, for this is a gracious thing when, mindful of God.

One endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.

For what credit is it If, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?

But if, when you do good and suffer for it, you endure?

This is a gracious thing in the sight of God, for to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps.

He committed no sin.

Neither was deceit found in his mouth.

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return.

When he suffered, he did not threaten but continued entrusting himself to him.

Who judges justly?

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

By his wounds you have been healed, for you were straying like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

Let's pray together this morning.

Father, I thank you for your precious word and, lord, I thank you that your word is life and light, and I ask that you would give me the ability to communicate the things that you want me to share from your precious, timeless word with the people that are listening.

I pray that each of us, lord, would have open hearts and open minds to see and to understand areas in our lives where we need to be transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Give us grace that we need the working of the Holy Spirit to change us and especially to change our desires.

Father, we cannot do that without you, and so we just ask that you would bless this and cause it to be used for the building of your kingdom and for your glory and honor.

In Jesus' name, I pray Amen.

So for any of us who have had any dealings with small children, if you've raised children of your own or if you've been involved in activities where children were growing, one of the things that's interesting is when they just start to begin to learn some words, right?

And so what do you, what do we as parents do when our kids are starting to learn a few little words?

Well, all the moms are saying what Mama say, mama, and all the dads are saying dada or whatever the words are.

They're trying to get them to mimic, to say their name back to them, right?

And why is that?

Because they want a closer connection.

They want a personal connection with their child, right?

And they also want bragging rights, to be able to say they said my name first, or they said you know, whatever the case is, but how many of you know there's one word that none of us as parents or grandparents by the way, my wife and I now we teach our babies Pops and Mimi, because that's who we are.

We're not mom and dad anymore, we're Pops and Mimi, so that's what we try to get them to say, but mom and dad anymore.

We're pops and Mimi, so that's what we try to get them to say.

But anyway, regardless of all of that, how many of you know there's one word that you do not have to teach your children how to say, or what to say, and what is that word?

That word is no, and there are varying degrees of the word.

No, right.

So, for example, bedtime no, can be particularly exciting, right.

All kinds of patience to be embraced during that.

There's nap time no.

There's diaper change no.

There's sharing with friends no.

You know, there's all of these things that we are teaching our children how to be obedient concerning, and yet they find this one word that seems to be just deposited within them and they use that word over and over and over again.

Thank God, that's only children that deal with that, right?

Somebody just said no, all right, thank you for my point.

But you know this starts out.

It can start out when your kids first say no, it's kind of cute.

You know it's a cute thing.

Look at them, we laugh at them.

Oh, how cute they're being so silly.

But if left untrained and untouched by the grace of God, how many of you know that mindset, the no mindset, can lead to a life full of resistance to authority, and the Bible calls it rebellion, rebellion, right.

We don't have to look far to see the evidence of this and the way things are going in our culture.

Consider the college students across this country who are becoming radicalized to the point of insanity.

In the name of protest, many are spewing hate, rage and prejudice against people simply because they are Jewish.

This is insanity and it starts as simple as no.

These same individuals are not only shouting out and protesting against people based on their race, they are cursing those who are sworn to protect them and attacking the very institutions that have espoused the coddling mindset that has unleashed this kind of hellish behavior.

It's going to be a great message, but we have to start with truth, don't we?

But in the year 2024, none of us should be surprised by this.

This shouldn't be something that we are amazed by, or that we are shocked by.

Troubled, yes, discouraged, yes, encouraged to pray more than ever before, yes, all of those things.

But we shouldn't be shocked or surprised.

Before we lose all hope and think that this is just a 21st century problem, let's go back a little ways, like a long ways, back to the very beginning, when God created Adam and Eve and placed them in a garden.

He gave them one rule you can eat from every tree in this garden that produces fruit, except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Don't eat from it.

And so what, do we know, happened?

Satan came and tempted them and they took from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

They ate from it and they received a curse and they died physical deaths over time.

Right, they died physical deaths, which was not the original intent.

We were built and made and created to live forever, and so sin came upon this earth.

And that would be one thing if it was just Adam and Eve, but how many of you know that every person born after them, except for Jesus Christ, has been born dead?

In our trespasses and sins, all of us have found the word no easy to say, because we are born dead to God.

We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

So against that backdrop, let's talk now about what Peter says in these verses.

That is really impactful to not only the people he was speaking to but to us as well.

He starts by kind of talking about the fact that God is our supreme authority.

He says be subject, for the Lord's sake.

So why are they supposed to be subject or be obedient to those who are in authority over them?

Because of God, the supreme authority, the ultimate ruler of heaven and earth.

You see, the supremacy of God is his state of being that is superior to all others in authority, power and status.

There's no one and nothing that even comes close to God in his authority.

Do you believe that what he says goes period?

It does not matter what I think, what anybody else thinks.

If God says it, that settles it.

He has that kind of control and authority and rule and he has the ability to do that and he does do that based on what he feels is right.

So, whether we agree with him or not, how many of you know he's in charge?

He is in charge and father knows best, he does know best.

So not only is he supreme in authority, but he also.

Nothing comes close to his power.

In all of creation, in all of time and history Anything that comes to your mind right now when you think of power none of it is anything in comparison to the power that our God has, is, is and manifests.

His power is greater than anyone can dare to imagine, and when it comes to his status, there aren't even titles that are appropriate.

Especially, it seems that we're lacking in the English language to find enough words to be able to declare, to say, to sing, to express the greatness of our God.

We are so limited.

Even just the word love is so seems so small when we talk about the love that God has toward us and the love that we have in return toward him.

His status is greater than that Toward him.

His status is greater than that.

Peter has already expressed in earlier chapters in his book the fact that we are sojourners in this world, we are aliens, we are citizens of another kingdom, and so, before we even consider the fact that God has placed us under certain rule here in this life, in this earth, we must understand that, first of all, as believers in Jesus Christ, we are not of this world.

We have a king that is above all kings and a Lord that is above all Lords, and he is supreme, and our allegiance must be always first and foremost and last to him.

We are resident aliens in this earth as we await the kingdom of God to be fully recognized at the soon coming return of Jesus Christ.

How many of you know that there will be a day when Jesus will return to this planet and he's going to make everything right, the way that it's supposed to be, and everything that is crazy and out of whack and insane and stupid about the way that this life and this earth exists is going to be fixed.

Peter goes on now to expound upon how God exercises his authority in the earth.

He uses examples here of government and workplace.

Next week we're going to talk about the family as well, but you could put anything that equates to authority that God has placed in our lives.

You can use these verses kind of as a roadmap, as a means to an end as far as understanding the attitude that we should have towards those who are in authority and the way that we respond to authority in our lives, because, you see, god places rulers and authority.

Peter goes on to say 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.

Who is Peter writing to here?

Who are the recipients of his words?

Are they under what governance are they under?

They're under Roman governance, aren't they?

And Nero happened to be the emperor of the time.

He was emperor from AD 54 to 68.

He was not exactly the type of leader that you and I would choose if we had a choice to make.

In fact, in his latter years, he became a cruel persecutor of Christians.

And yet Peter is writing these words, inspired by the Holy Spirit, to people who found themselves, at this current stage in their lives, underneath a government and a governance that was not conducive to them being Christians.

It's a very difficult thing that he was asking from, even from an attitudinal standpoint of the Christians that he was writing to, but we must understand that human governments are instituted by God.

Rulers are God's servants first, even if the rulers are not believers or they're worse than that, they are anti-believers.

They are against everything that we believe in.

They are still God's leaders, officially, officially, even if they are dictators and tyrants.

Their rule is often better than no rule at all, and all of us right now are thinking of the exceptions, and please, let's not get lost in that mindset or mentality, because that will take us away from the basic principles that we're needing to talk about today.

The complete absence of rule is anarchy.

How many of you have ever experienced anarchy?

If you don't believe me, take a trip to Haiti right now, and as you enter into Haiti, you will understand.

There is no governing authority that's in control here, and because of that, there's literally utter chaos.

You do not know from day to day whether you're going to live or whether you're going to die, whether you're going to be able to work, whether you're going to be able to earn money, whether that money is going to be taken away from you, whether you're going to be able to work, whether you're going to be able to earn money, whether that money is going to be taken away from you, whether you're going to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It is a country that has been overtaken by mob mentality and mindset, and it's a cruel place to live today.

So, even though government at times can seem very bad, any government is usually better than no government at all.

Order is better than chaos.

So let's look at the passage again.

Peter goes on to say that governments have two roles.

According to this passage, first of all, those in authority should punish those who do evil, and we all say amen to that right, unless we see some blue lights in our rearview mirror.

And then what do we say?

Those people who do evil over there?

Not this one right.

But it's true.

Governments are placed in positions in order to create a means to punish those who break the law.

Law and order are some of the seminal principles of any civilized culture.

Even when men and women do not fear God, often the fear of repercussions that come from disobeying the law will keep them in check.

Currently in America, we are seeing the lines get blurred, aren't we?

Criminals are becoming emboldened because of the fact that, in many cases, they are not being held accountable for their crimes, and so this is creating the kind of mindset that says if nobody's going to punish me, if it doesn't matter what I do or don't do, then I might as well do whatever it is that I want to do and Jesus even said that in the last days that there would be many, that their heart of love would grow cold and that they would cast off all restraint and they would do whatever was pleasing to them.

The second thing that those in authority should do, according to this scripture, is should praise those who do good, those who do well, those who are good citizens.

Those who display citizenship and are subject to the laws of the land should be celebrated and looked upon as examples for others to follow.

They should be considered for positions within the governments where needed.

Locally, regionally and nationally.

Those who do the right thing for the right reasons should be exalted, should be praised and should be encouraged, and those around them should see them as an example.

The next step in Peter's discourse is he says believers should obey authority whenever possible, and those last two words are important and we're going to get to the definition of that in just a minute.

He says for this is the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a coverup for evil, but living as servants of God Powerful.

Paul goes on in Romans, chapter 13, speaking to Roman citizens about their very government, and he says let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

Romans 13 · chapter mention

There's a doubling down, and we see this carried out throughout a lot of scripture, especially in the New Testament, over and over and over again, this same sort of thought.

We're supposed to pray for our leaders, we're supposed to be submitted to those that are in authority over us.

We're supposed to maintain the proper attitude right.

We're supposed to maintain the proper attitude right.

Believers should submit to every human institution whenever possible, for the Lord's sake.

In doing so, what are they doing?

What are we doing?

We are fulfilling God's will and doing the thing that pleases him.

It's interesting here, because you heard that word freedom, as Peter was describing who we are, that we are free people, and we know that in this country in particular, freedom is something that is seminal, that is of highest importance to us.

But Peter gives some definition to that.

We are free people in the sense that Christ has set us free.

Let's not forget what true freedom is.

True freedom is not legislation necessarily.

True freedom is a gift from God, and I don't care if you're under the harshest government on the face of the earth.

If you have been born again, you have received the greatest freedom that is possible to humanity.

I care, I don't mean to say that I don't care that people are under that.

I'm saying that it is the greatest freedom of all to be free from the bondage of sin, to be free from Satan's dominion, to be free from the wrath of God.

That is the freedom that we should cherish, honor and celebrate all of our days.

But we shouldn't use our freedom as an excuse to live rebellious lives.

We shouldn't use our freedom to stick our thumb in our mouths and to join with the choir of babies as we sing no, no, no.

Sorry, I just pictured myself doing that.

It was really funny.

After all, even our master, even if our master is not the government, christians do have a master, don't we?

Even if our master is not the government, christians do have a master, don't we?

Our master is God, our master is God, and he is the one who we serve and he is the one who we ultimately answer to.

So freedom does not mean getting to do whatever you want to do.

Freedom means getting to do what you ought to do.

We have been made free so that we can say no to no and say yes to yes.

We have been made free so that we can be obedient to the commandments of God and to his word and by his spirit.

Obedience to authority is a good witness, and that's one of the reasons that we should obey.

If you think that Judaism and its followers are the only group that is under attack, you are very wrong.

How many of you know that around this globe today, there are millions of people who are in dangerous situations simply because they named the name of Jesus Christ?

How many of you recognize that for years and years, the universities of our nation have become a breeding ground for attacking Christianity in every aspect?

They are attacked in the classroom, they are attacked in the science laboratory, we are attacked even from pulpits who are preaching false gospels in this nation and around the world.

And if you think that the mob mindset that we are seeing across our nation today is the end of things and you think Christianity is going to remain away from that and out of it and out of the scope of it, you're I believe you're completely mistaken.

My friends, persecution is coming to the church of America and our job as leaders within this church is to do the very best thing that we can, the very, very, very best things that we can to prepare all of us to face persecution when it comes and to stand, having done all to stand.

Stand, therefore, in the evil day.

Words of Peter should speak volumes to us, not because of the situation that the believers found themselves in in the early century, but because we're facing similar things even in our life and in our time.

We need to be ready for it.

Ancient Roman society condemned Christianity because of the fact that Christians wouldn't worship the gods of Rome.

How many of you know that the emperors even set themselves up and the people deified them?

They considered them to be of the gods, or even God little g, god themselves, and because of that, christianity was under attack by the Romans and by those that were in authority.

The general population viewed Christians as enemies of the state.

Because of this, without giving into societal pressures to worship false gods, peter urges the believers to be model members of society as much as possible.

So what is the antidote?

Be the best citizen that you can possibly be.

Such godly behavior will serve to shut down the ignorant criticisms leveled against Christianity.

You know, what's disturbing to me is that you can take any kind of statistic that you find in the culture of this world and apply it to the church and almost all of the statistics find themselves pretty equal within the realms of the church world.

Negative statistics I'm talking about marriage and divorce, sexual abuse you could name all of the different things that you can name and, unfortunately, because the body of Christ has not been filled with people who are truly converted, one thing and the other thing is because we have not experienced the fear of God in our lives, the way that we need to the church in America looks not very different from the world around us, and how many of you know?

We have a chance, we have an opportunity to not be like that, to not live like that, by the grace of God.

Titus 2, 7 and 8, this kind of fills this out.

Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works and in your teaching, show integrity, dignity and sound speech that cannot be condemned so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.

The next thing is that we should respect the position that a person has.

That's an authority, even if it's hard to respect the person in authority.

I remember just a few years ago when people stopped calling the president by that title and started using last names in the place of that.

And I'm here to tell you I found myself at times in that same place and it's not a healthy practice.

In my opinion, we are supposed to honor and respect the position of authority, even if we are not able to completely respect the views of the person who finds himself in authority.

Peter was careful to point out that Christians in society are representatives of Jesus Christ first and foremost.

We should respect.

Because of that.

We should respect the office, even when we can't respect the person.

For example, remember when Jesus was questioned about taxes.

Remember they brought and they questioned him whether we should pay taxes or not.

And what did Jesus say?

It was brilliant.

He said show me a coin.

And what did he say about the coin?

Whose picture is on it?

Whose inscription is on it?

And they said Caesar's.

And what did he say about the coin?

Whose picture is on it?

Whose inscription is on it?

And they said Caesar's.

And what did he say?

Those powerful words give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God.

And not only that.

You think, oh, that's just a great something that he said for the crowd to hear, because there were people that were listening trying to catch him with messing up.

No, jesus then sends Peter fishing.

And what does he send Peter fishing to do?

To catch a fish with a coin in his mouth so that he could pay taxes as well.

Jesus was not only preaching, and Peter and all of the rest were not only preaching these concepts, but they were also living them.

If Jesus himself could say of Caesar what he said of Caesar, how much more should we be able to do the same?

And then this one is one that we're all hoping that we could get to.

So just breathe a little bit.

When authority is in conflict with God's word, we should obey God.

We should obey God.

This one's a little bit easier to embrace because it's right up our alley right.

As much as possible, we should seek to cooperate with the government and obey the law, but we must never allow the law to make us violate our conscience or disobey God's word.

You can say amen to that.

That's the truth.

Peter was very familiar with this exception clause.

Do you remember the story of Peter and John when they were going up to the temple to pray and they passed by a lame man who was a beggar?

And I'm sure that they had passed by him many times before Jesus probably even passed by him.

But on this day the man asked them for some alms.

He asked them to give him some money.

And what did Peter and John say Silver and gold we don't have, but such as we have we give to you in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk.

And what did the man do?

Did he shake his can again and ask for some alms?

Or what did he do?

It says he went walking and leaping and praising God.

And here's the problem.

The Jewish rulers didn't like it.

And so what did they do?

They arrested Peter and John.

And what did they say to Peter and John?

What were the consequences of their actions?

They said we're going to have to release you because this has become such a popular thing that this man that everybody had walked by all of these years knew that he was lame.

And now that he's walking around, we can't dispute that.

So we can't really keep you in prison, but we're going to release you and command you to never use the name of Jesus again.

What did Peter say?

Yes, master, no.

Acts 4, 19 and 20.

Peter and John answered them.

It's kind of interesting that they even used some.

They were careful in how they said this.

Even Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

You know what they were actually saying.

You'd have to kill us because we can't help it.

Jesus has impacted our lives so much that, no matter where we are, no matter what we're doing, we can't help it.

We're going to be using the name of Jesus, to be using the name of Jesus.

Please remember this today.

Christians are never required by God to compromise our loyalty or obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.

We're never required by God to do that.

So obviously, context matters, and we've been talking about the Roman emperor and the government that was in place during Peter's time.

It's obviously much different than the American government.

What the emperor said was what was law, so whatever he said was the way it went.

Everybody did what the emperor said, or there were repercussions right.

We, because of the foresight of our founding fathers, are part of a representative government that gives we, the people, the power to let our voices be heard about the things that we feel are good for the nation or bad for the nation.

We have the ability to speak up for the things that are good and godly for the nation and for the things that are bad and not godly for the nation.

That was the foresight of our forefathers.

That gave us that right and ability, and I don't care what iteration we find ourselves in.

How many of you know that was the original intent.

That's part of our constitution and our declaration of independence.

And we should, because it's within the realm of the law of our land.

We should take advantage of that.

Christians at times should speak out against the decisions of the government in the United States of America.

Does that make sense?

Let me give you an example.

How many of you have ever been involved don't raise your hands but how many of you have ever been involved in a peaceful protest about abortion?

Many of us in this room have marched for life.

We've done prayer walks.

We have stood in front of abortion clinics and prayed and begged God to change the hearts of individuals.

We have also heard stories of people who were getting ready to enter into the abortion clinics that have had a chance to talk to somebody who was there, that was praying for them and made a decision.

Many, many, many people made decisions not to enter into the abortion clinic because there was light that was shining in the darkness of that scenario.

Does that make sense?

So peaceful protest in that way is something that our government allows for.

It's a part of the very fabric of who we are as a nation, fabric of who we are as a nation.

But how many of you know?

If some justice freak enters into an abortion clinic, it begins to kill those who are performing abortions.

That is not lawful and that is not something that should be applauded or should be.

That we should say is a good thing.

Does that make sense?

Do you see the difference in the distinction there?

Civil disobedience remains a right within the governmental policies of most Western democracies, which we are, and it is considered legitimate social behavior.

Some acts of civil disobedience are even perceived by society as a good thing.

It's a good thing.

It enables us, as Christians, to be both non-compliant to those things that are against our conscience or that are also against the word of God primarily.

Yet within the parameters of good behavior, we can still act as good citizens of this nation, even though we are protesting or standing up against something that we disagree with, that the government is either allowing for or that is attempting to bring about a change within our nation.

We have the chance to talk to our representatives.

We have the chance to write letters.

I remember when our church recently, when we had the I wish that I could think of all the terms right now but basically they were trying to pass something within the city of Knoxville that was to basically say that the Jewish people in Israel were involved in genocide, and so they were wanting to pass a like a what's the right word?

Resolution, yes, and so many people within our church stood up against that, and also our eldership wrote a letter that was sent to the commissioner's office that stated biblically why we were in disagreement with that, and that was something that we felt like that we were supposed to do as an elder team, as a part of this community, and I'm not saying that we do everything exactly right when it comes to that, but there are times when the church needs to be heard and not just be seen right and again, that letter was written very respectfully.

It was written with not any malice or hatred or trying to blame anybody in the scenario.

It was just saying we don't believe that this is the right approach to take and thankfully, that thing was snuffed out twice now, right, twice now.

That thing was taken out of the.

It was not allowed to move forward.

Thank God for that.

That's an example of what I'm talking about.

So the key to all of this is, by the grace of God, to maintain the proper attitude.

How easy is it for us to transition to having the wrong attitude?

And here's a good way to define that when you hear the name President Biden, where does your mind go?

Are you praying for him or are you just spouting out words of hate?

I believe the Lord spoke to me back in 2020 that he was going to be elected into office and I said Lord, why would you do that?

And I felt like the Lord spoke to me that he was going to use it as a means to expose more things, to cause more things to come into the light, and I believe I'm shocked, looking back on that now, how true that has become.

And I don't mean exposing things just based on one party.

I don't mean that.

I mean exposing the depravity of human beings and also the grasp at absolute power and control that all of humanity faces on a daily basis.

If you and I were in the same condition and had the same potential, who knows what you and I would do?

Hopefully we would represent Christ.

So Peter gives four exhortations.

I got to move here Number one.

He says to honor all people.

Honor or value all people.

We cannot always honor their words or their behavior, but we can remember that every single life matters to God and it's of more value.

Every person's life is of more value than all of the world combined.

Every person was made in the image and likeness of God.

Every person was made in the image and likeness of God and we must never forget that Jesus Christ bled and died for even those that are the most unworthy, just as we are and were, must honor all people.

Secondly, we must love the brotherhood.

Love is a stronger word than honor.

Love is something that is a word that describes a connection that is not willing to give up on something.

We are to love all people, but we're especially obligated to love the members of our spiritual family.

This is a love like God's love for us.

It is utterly undeserved, it looks for no reward and it is stronger than death itself.

My friends, if there's ever a time that we needed the body of Christ, it is now.

It is now.

Do not allow yourself to become an isolationist that says it's just me and Jesus.

How many of you know that the predators of the animal kingdom itself understand that the way to get fed is to single out the isolated, weak, sick, individual animal and take them out?

Satan is a predator and that's what he attempts to do.

Do not find yourself in this moment of time, wavering on whether or not to be a part of the body of Christ.

Third, fear God.

We fear him when we reverence him as the supreme Lord, glorifying him.

When that then becomes our number one priority, we fear doing anything that would displease him.

Not because we're concerned that we're going to fall out of good standing with him because Jesus paid the price for that, but because we have his heart so much as a part of our heart that we want to do everything that we do for him, for him and for his glory and for his honor.

And we also should fear misrepresenting him before men and before people.

And fourth, honor the king.

Peter returns to the subject of human rulers for a final reminder.

We are to respect our rulers as officials appointed by God for the maintenance of an ordered society.

God is to be feared, but the emperor is to be honored.

There is a distinct difference between the two.

Right Kind of moving towards our conclusion, believers should face persecution with grace.

Servants be subject to your masters, with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust.

For this is a gracious thing when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.

For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?

But if, when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

So Peter moves on here from government and he's talking about household.

He's talking about working underneath the authority of somebody else as a master and a servant relationship.

In our context this would be an employee relationship, right, peter goes on to address these things, but the principles apply to all kinds of people.

The basic appeal is to submit to the master.

With all respect, obedience should not vary according to the temperament of the employer.

How many of you have ever defined your boss as a jerk?

How many of you are the boss that others define as a jerk?

Right, just because your boss is a jerk does not mean that you have the right to not be a Christian.

Does that make sense?

God's given us his grace to be an example in the middle of all of that stuff.

Anyone who can submit to an employer who's good and gentle, but believers are called to go beyond and be respectful and obedient to the harsh, overbearing boss.

This stands out as distinctly Christian behavior.

Now I want to make clear one thing, because this is an absolute truth If there are people that are in violent situations and they are victims of violence, especially in the home life, with children and things like that, we are not saying that the Bible is teaching that that person should remain under that form of abuse.

Does that make sense?

We believe that there are other scriptures that, in line with this one, give reasons why there needs to be a way of escape made for somebody that finds themselves in that situation.

So we're not talking about taking abuse.

That is unjust in that way.

If that makes sense, right, but it does mean that we should put up with a boss that has a bad attitude sometimes or that overlooks us or that, you know, says something about the fact that we're Christians and persecutes us in that way.

Says something about the fact that we're Christians and persecutes us in that way.

One thing that has always struck me as an interesting thing is that people often call persecution something that isn't persecution at all because it's self-inflicted.

So if you are a bad employee, for example, if you steal from the company, if you say that you're working while you're playing what's the new game on the phone?

Is it still the old game, solitaire?

I don't even know.

Right, I'm not saying I'm holier than thou.

I sometimes play spades on my iPad, but whatever the game is that draws you in and you seem like every moment that you're awake, you've got to get to that game, even if you've got a few minutes left on the clock, right?

So persecution isn't persecution if it's self-inflicted.

My first job was at Toys R Us and, as I was there, one of the things we were taught this is a strange time for our young people Back then, if people came in to steal from the store, we were supposed to stop them, attempt to stop them from stealing and call them to account, and so we did that.

There was a couple of guys that came in, young guys that came in.

It was in Florida in the summertime and they had winter jackets on.

So here's your first thought that popped into my head Something's not right here.

So I was following them around and they went to the model aisle.

This was hilarious to me, because you could steal anything, right, if you're going to just steal something.

But they went to the model aisle and they started sticking airplanes and remote control cars underneath their jacket, and so you can imagine how funny that would have looked.

Right, I don't care how big the jacket is, a rectangular box that's underneath it is still going to be pretty obvious.

Then the other thing that they did is they started running towards the entrance to leave instead of the exit, and so I followed them and pursued them and stopped them.

And they were young, don't worry.

If this would have been a 20-something year old, I'm not sure what I'd done it, but these were like 9 or 10-year-olds, right.

So I wasn't as brave as I'm coming across as.

But my manager called the police, called the parents, the parents came down and you know what the parents said.

Why are you being mean to my kid?

Seriously, they got mad that we had attempted, that we had called the cops, that we had called in the parents, that we had stopped these children who were just playing.

That's self-inflicted and we as believers can't do things.

I'm not saying that exact thing, but we can't act in that way and then blame everybody else for the persecution that we're getting.

God is pleased when we endure suffering for his name's sake, anticipating that their masters might persecute them.

Peter reminds the servants that God finds favor with those who endure suffering that stems from doing what is right.

Faithful endurance when suffering for doing good is something to which God has called all believers.

This is clear why?

Because Jesus himself walked this very road.

He was perfect in every way.

He didn't deserve any of the ill treatment that he received, and yet he took it as a servant of Almighty God.

When we meekly take unjust treatment, we display Christ this supernatural way of living gains.

God's well done.

We're going to take communion together here in just a minute.

Peter ends this whole passage by talking about the fact that Christ is our perfect example of grace.

Under fire, he says for to this.

You have been called.

Listen to these words Because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps.

He committed no sin.

Neither was deceit found in his mouth when he was reviled.

He did not revile in return.

When he suffered, he did not threaten, but he continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly?

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live for righteousness.

By his wounds you have been healed, for you were straying like sheep but have now returned to this shepherd and overseer of your souls.

You know before you and I came to know Jesus Christ.

And, by the way, if you're here this morning and you've not yet said yes to Jesus, I encourage you to do that right now, just between you and him.

Just have a conversation.

Just say to him I've messed up, I'm a sinner and I need a savior and ask the Lord Jesus to come into your life to change you, save you.

But all of us before we were Christians, before we were converted, we were like sheep, going astray.

We were lost and torn and bruised and bleeding.

Peter talks about the straying sheep as he talks and quotes from the Old Testament, in Isaiah 53,.

All of the references that you find here that Peter's re-quoting in the Old Testament, in Isaiah 53, all of the references that you find here that Peter's re-quoting in the New Testament, are references from Isaiah 53, which is all about the suffering servant.

In verse 21, peter says that Christ suffered for us.

That's found in Isaiah 53, four and five.

He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth Isaiah 53, 9.

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return Isaiah 53, 7.

Who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree?

Isaiah 53, 4 and 11.

Verse 24, by whose stripes you were healed Isaiah 53, 5.

By the way, just as a little aside here, many people have used this verse to speak exclusively about physical healing.

But in the context of what Peter's saying here, he's talking about eternal life.

I'm not saying that these same truths can't apply to healing, because we know that they can, but let's not downgrade the importance of what he's saying here.

He's talking about eternal life.

Verse 25, for you were like sheep going astray Isaiah 53.

Verse 6 when we are saved, we return to the shepherd.

The good shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep.

The great shepherd who tends with sweet, unwearied care for the flock for which he bled and died, and the chief shepherd who will soon appear to lead his sheep into green pastures from which they will never stray.

One of the hardest things for me to change from a theological standpoint was the idea of suffering.

To reconcile was the idea of suffering, because I grew up in a church that believed that any form of suffering was meant that you were out of the will of God.

So what that meant for me and others like me was that if we were ever sick or had something difficult happen in life, that we didn't have enough faith to overcome that.

What I discovered as I took the time in my early 20s to research the scriptures for myself as a whole, not just one piece here or one piece there what I discovered is that God never promises us that we will not suffer in this life.

In fact, he promises us that we will, but you know the promise that's greater than that that he'll be with us.

The great shepherd of our souls never asks us to do anything that he is not promising to do with us, and he does it by the work of his holy spirit.

That's what grace is.

When you think of the word grace, it can be some kind of like religious term that we throw around, but it's really god intervening in our lives to give us the strength to do what we can't do in our own ability.

Saying no to sin and saying yes to Jesus is only by the grace of God.

Being willing to suffer for righteousness' sake is not something we can do in our own just willpower.

It must come by the work of the Holy Spirit, because of the price that Jesus paid.

So today, let's stand to our feet and we're going to take communion together, and I want us to, as Jesus in the upper room with his disciples in the last supper he instituted this and when he gave the bread, he said this is my body, which is broken for you.

When you take and eat of this, do this in remembrance of me.

So, my friends, I want to encourage you.

If you hear nothing else today, I want you to hear that we can say yes to God.

We can say no to this world and the things of this world that are sinful.

We can submit to the authority that's around us, even if they're not perfect or if they are conflicted in the reasons why they do what they do.

We can do all of these things because Jesus loves us and he's with us, and so my prayer for all of us is that we experience a very present revelation of the presence of the Lord Jesus even now as we partake of the bread and the cup.

So, father, we thank you for the broken body of Jesus Christ.

We don't take it for granted today.

We understand that your life and your example is a motivation and the power that we need to be able to live out the words of truth that are found in your Bible.

So, lord, we pray that your presence would be found, especially huge and big and impactful, in our lives today.

So we take this bread in remembrance of Jesus Christ and on the old covenant, the prescription that God gave for the sins of the people, so that there could be just a semblance of relationship kept with him, was that animals would have to be sacrificed on a regular occurrence and that that blood could be applied to cover over sins.

But Hebrews tells us that we have a far greater sacrifice in the person of Jesus Christ, because not only does the shedding of his blood once and for all cover over sins, but it removes them from us.

The Bible says that our sins are cast as far as the east is from the west, cast into the sea of forgetfulness.

That is the truth, that is the gospel that we believe.

So when we take this cup today, let's remember and be thankful with gratitude for the precious blood of Jesus.

Lord Jesus, we do this in remembrance of you.

Thank you, lord.

I pray that the Lord would bless you and keep you, cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.

He would lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

In Jesus' magnificent name, I pray Amen.

God bless you guys.

Have a great week in the Lord.