1 Peter: How to Glorify God by Submitting to Your Authorities (2:13-25)

Hi, I'm Pastor Creighton, and thank you for tuning into Newsong Churches Podcast.

We're a biblically faithful, gospel-centered Anglican church in Port Perry, Ontario, proclaiming the true and life-giving word of Jesus as we love and serve our neighbors.

You can learn more about us at Newsongportperry.ca.

May God bless you today through his life-giving word.

The second lesson is taken from 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 13 to 25.

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.

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 you 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 have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.

And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

The word of the Lord.

Be subject, dear friends, so that you may follow in Christ's steps.

Let's pray.

Gracious Lord Jesus, we give you thanks for your true and life-giving word.

We give you thanks for your humility, for your heart of generosity towards us, for your willingness to go to the cross and back to redeem your people.

And we pray, Lord, that you would give us grace to take up our cross and follow you, knowing that the way of the cross is the way to true glory.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Now, as I've been working on this sermon through the week, I started to think this is probably a sermon that has something to rub just about everyone the wrong way.

Because not only are we talking about politics, we're talking about the workplace.

And not only are we talking about politics in the workplace, but we are being challenged to consider our attitudes towards both on the basis of the gospel.

So we've been working our way here through the letter of 1 Peter.

We have come to understand with Peter's help that the Christian life is the life of a faithful exile.

It's being in the world, but not of the world, and yet for the world, in the way that God's heart is truly for the world in Christ.

So we're here, not quite at home, on pilgrimage to the world as it will be, fully renewed at Christ's return, seeking to be faithful to the work and mission that God has given us to do.

And so as we uh have been working our way through the letter, we've been considering what that means.

What does it mean to be faithful exiles?

And last Sunday, Pastor Matt brought us through the first part of chapter two, where we concluded by looking at gospel conduct.

Faithful exiles bear witness to the gospel by putting the gospel into action.

Let me pull up uh verses 11 and 12 here, because I don't have it written down in my notes.

How handy is that?

Beloved, Peter writes, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul.

Keep your conduct, he says, among the Gentiles, among non-believers honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Refuse sin, Peter says, and choose conduct which will glorify God, which in fact will inspire others who've yet to believe the gospel to give glory to God.

That's the opportunity we have as faithful exiles to put the gospel into action, day by day, letting our light shine before others.

So the question for us is this: what do I trust more?

Do I trust my own purposes, my own intuitions, my own agendas for my various spheres of life, or do I trust God's will in these spheres of my life?

God's will for the greater good, for my greatest good, for the greatest good of those whose spheres of life intersect with mine.

Here's the Peter's point in our passage for today.

Faithful exiles glorify God by their willing submission.

Faithful exiles glorify God by way of their willing submission, their submission to their authorities.

Now, Peter has two authorities in particular in mind that we're going to look at here.

The authority of the state and the authority of our superiors.

Maybe we could think about the sphere of the state and the sphere of our workplace.

And the more I read this passage and go through this passage, the more I'm struck by kind of how seemingly ordinary this all seems.

At least it's not, it's not the sort of like sensational, I don't know, sound bite that's going to win the YouTube algorithm or something like that.

I feel like if we wanted to win the YouTube algorithm, you say something like, like, it's time to, I don't know, revolutionize the state or something.

It's time to take it to it as Christians.

And yet Peter, in the midst of his context, is saying, Christians, your job is to respectfully honor those whom God has placed in authority over you.

The gospel is, I wonder if the gospel is often most effectively lived out in the most ordinary of situations.

I wonder if it's something like that.

And that's the opportunity you and I have.

In these particular spheres of life, which intersect with all of our lives, the state and our superiors.

So, let's open up 1 Peter chapter 2.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

Let's start at verse 13.

By the way, there's a bit of a copy-paste error in the bulletin today.

Those last couple of verses, all flesh are like grass, belong to a previous passage.

A good reminder, nevertheless.

But we'll look right up till uh verse 25 there for today.

Okay.

Faithful exiles glorify God by their willing submission, both to the state and to their superiors.

Let's look, let's begin verse 13.

Be subject, Peter says, for the Lord's sake, to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor, maybe some translations say to the king, as supreme, or to governors as sent by him, to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

So, how do Christians glorify God with honorable conduct?

Well, Peter says, be subject.

Literally, place yourself under, right?

Acquiesce, be obedient, submit to every human institution which includes the head of state and any appointed authorities.

In other words, glorify God by submitting to the state's lawful authority.

Perhaps this sounds a little strange to us.

I wonder if it sounded similarly strange to the Christians Peter was first writing to.

We've noted that Peter's readers were not necessarily facing fierce persecution, but rather social discrimination and slander.

Still, Roman authorities were hardly sympathetic to this new Christian sect.

At best, they were suspicious.

At worst, they were outright hostile.

Given that relationship, Peter's first readers may have wondered, are these really the guys we're supposed to submit to?

This might give us some perspective for our own moment here in 2026.

Many Christian commentators today suggest that Christianity is facing a renewed hostility, and perhaps in some ways that's true.

Bill C9, which is currently debated in Parliament, could render portions of Scripture and historic Christian teaching as hate speech if it's passed without amendment.

But here's my point.

Roman authorities were comparably suspicious in Peter's day, and yet Peter instructs believers to adopt a default posture of good faith submission rather than defiance.

So why should we submit, we want to ask?

Well, Peter gives us two reasons to consider.

First, we submit for the Lord's sake.

Did you see that in verse 13?

Our foremost reason for submitting to governing authorities is because we owe the Lord our obedience, not because we owe earthly authorities unthinking compliance.

We submit to earthly authorities only in light of God's eternal character and purposes.

So if a clear contradiction, let's say, arises between governing law and God's law, then for the Lord's sake we obey God first.

Peter himself faced authorities who forbade him to preach the gospel, and his response in Acts 5 was clear.

We must obey God rather than man.

Christians, therefore, must be careful in two directions.

We must not submit to legislation that contradicts God's word, but neither should we assume that every law contradicts God's word.

Living as faithful exiles requires a great measure of patience and wisdom and careful judgment.

And friends, I find YouTube videos on this subject often don't convey those things.

We need to be mindful as Christians.

Submit because it glorifies God.

Second, we submit because God has a purpose for the state.

So notice Peter's description here.

Authorities are to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

So, in other words, government exists to restrain evil and to encourage good in society.

That's God's design for government.

Of course, no government fulfills that role perfectly, does it?

But perfection is not a prerequisite for Christian submission.

We are called to submit to a governing authority so far as God's law allows, for God's glory and for the common good.

So why is this all important?

Verse 15, for this is the will of God, that by doing good you should silence the ignorance of foolish people.

It's this posture of willing submission, not coercion, but willing submission, as far as God's law allows, that fulfills God's will for the government, fulfills God's will for the common good.

It brings God glory, it silences slander and false accusations that can be made against Christians.

In Peter's day, perhaps that slander was something like they're nothing but a seditious sect, insurrectionists.

Well, being the best sort of citizens has a way of silencing that kind of slander, doesn't it?

The godly lives of believers will be put, pardon me, the godly lives of believers will put to silence any false charges raised against them, writes one commentator.

So, how do we glorify God with regards to how we relate to the state?

Is it compliance?

Do we just do what we're told?

Well, verse 16 is very interesting to me.

Verse 16, 17.

Live, Peter says, 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.

Live, Peter says, not on the basis of compliance, but on the basis of freedom.

But we have to consider this, friends.

What does freedom mean for the Christian?

Is freedom something that we are owed, the maximizing of our autonomy and self-determination, or is freedom what we owe to others?

The rendering of someone their their goodwill their best interests.

See, I think the gospel elevates a vision of freedom, political or otherwise, beyond our own self-interest to where it belongs, which is devotion to the good, to the common good, to the well-being of the other.

There is a paradox here, isn't it?

Freedom means we are bound to one another.

And therefore, true freedom is acting in the best interest of one another.

I love the way that church reformer Martin Luther sort of captures this tension and paradox.

He writes in one of his treatises: a Christian is a perfectly free Lord of all, subject to none.

A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.

Do you see that side by side?

Somehow the gospel illuminates the fact that this is what true freedom looks like.

I really like the former.

The latter is less appealing to me.

I like the idea of being in charge of my own life and calling the shots, but the gospel elevates my vision of freedom beyond my own selfish self-interest and instead points it towards the good of the other, the common good of society.

As Christians, we can model a freedom that doesn't just benefit our interests but everyone's by loving our neighbor as ourselves.

So we live on the basis of freedom.

We live also on the basis of respect and love towards others.

Did you see that in verse 17?

Twice we're told to pay honor.

We honor everyone, and Peter says we honor the emperor.

Honor everyone.

Everyone is created in God's image.

There is not a human being you can meet who does not deserve respect and dignity and honor.

What an equalizing idea that is.

Doesn't matter what a station in life is, everyone is deserving of honor.

And because of the emperor's particular station, yes, honor the emperor as well.

If nothing else, an emperor still qualifies as one created in God's image and therefore deserving of the right sort of honor.

So, friends, I pay I spend a lot of time in coffee shops.

Many of you know that.

Many of you have met me in a coffee shop.

I spend a lot of time in coffee shops, and I gotta confess, I spend a lot of time overhearing conversations.

Sometimes by accident, sometimes not so much by accident, but the thing I overhear more frequently than anything else is um this the subject I hear more than anything else is politics.

We've all got thoughts on politics, don't we?

I've got my thoughts on politics, surely.

But it's amazing to me, maybe it's I don't think it's a distinctly Canadian thing, I think it's probably just a living in 2026 thing, but we can spend endless time cycling through the same political conversations over and over and over and over again.

And it's not to minimize the concern that we have in these areas.

Certainly we're concerned in some of these areas.

But sometimes I wonder this, if as Christians, not that we don't have things to complain about politically, but I wonder if there's a perspective we're missing here.

Sometimes I wonder if for 10 minutes we spent complaining in a coffee shop about politics, let's say for an hour we spent complaining about politics in a coffee shop, if we spent one minute praying for those same leaders, praying for those same political parties, I wonder if an eternal perspective, taking an eternal perspective into account, if that one minute would be far, far, far more valuable than any other time we could spend complaining.

I'm not saying that there aren't times we voice our concern or work things through with friends, but it's our first instinct to pray.

Because if nothing else, we can honor our superiors, our authorities in that way.

Right?

Live on the basis of respect and love towards others.

Honor everyone, honor the emperor, fear God above all, love the family of God, the church, right?

Now, this could raise questions about well, what do we do in a moment if we're faced with a truly corrupt or tyrannical government?

And that is a fair question to ask.

And there have been Christians in history we can learn from who have lived through exactly that.

What I want to say is this, because that's probably a whole other sermon that I just don't have time for, though I wish I did.

What I want to say is this.

Christians are called, first and foremost, to honor those in authority and to love their neighbor.

So our prayer should always be, God, how can I do these things?

And even when circumstances make that exceedingly difficult, God, please show me how.

Perhaps the way we love our neighbor, perhaps the way we honor true authority is we voice our concerns publicly.

Perhaps we protest, perhaps we write our MP, perhaps we do what we can.

It's amazing as Canadians that we get to participate in this political process, right?

We do whatever we can, always with a heart for the common good, right?

Anyway, that's a whole other sermon.

Let me summarize by saying this: Christians are called to be the best kind of citizens that we can be, those who graciously and thoughtfully submit to governing authority in such a way that our government may better accomplish the good for which God has ordained it.

Glorify God by submitting to your state.

Let's continue on.

Glorify God next by submitting to your superiors.

Verse 18.

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

So how do Christians glorify God with respect to their conduct in the world?

Well, again, the imperative here is to be subject, to submit.

Peter first addressed Christians as citizens, now he's addressing Christians, uh Christians among his readers who are slaves.

And to our modern ears, this is surely a difficult passage.

Because it calls to mind the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade and the abuse of texts exactly like this to justify brutal human subjugation.

So the question we modern readers want to ask is this what possible wisdom could Scripture offer in calling slaves to be subject to their masters?

Well, let's make a couple of quick notes before we go.

First, the Bible sometimes addresses existing social institutions without endorsing them.

See, like other ancient laws, biblical laws about slavery characteristically have the well-being and dignity of the slave in mind.

The second thing we should note is this that slavery in the Roman world differed in a few important ways from the transatlantic slave trade.

It was not based on race, nor was it always lifelong servitude.

Brutal, though its realities could be, Roman slavery functioned more like a limited social welfare system.

So because Peter is addressing the attitude of Christians towards those from whom they take orders and where their income comes from, I think the closest modern parallel here would be the relationship between employers or supervisors and their employees.

So if that's the case, then just as Christians should be the best kind of citizens, we should endeavor to be the best kind of employees that we can be, marked by our respect for our authorities.

But what kind of authority?

Only the good kind?

Only when our boss likes us?

Well, Peter answers quite plainly, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust.

Why?

Two reasons.

First, it's a matter of gracious endurance.

For this, Peter says, 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.

See, bosses are not bad when they discipline poor behavior or bad behavior.

They might not be might not do that perfectly, right?

But when they discipline employees, they are doing their job.

The problem is when bosses punish us even for good work or for good behavior, right?

Peter's challenge is to refuse retaliation and instead to cultivate endurance as a Christian virtue.

Endurance does not mean we become a doormat, but it does mean that the strength of our character outmatches and outlasts our desire for retaliation.

It's a matter of gracious endurance.

The second reason for submitting is this we submit to unjust authority because we are following Christ's example.

Verse 21.

Before we share in his glory, Christians, we have to share in his cross as well.

We have to take up our cross in our daily living.

And if that's so, we might ask, why would we follow Jesus in the first place?

And Peter's answer might be something like this Jesus didn't just suffer so that we could imitate him in our sufferings.

Jesus suffered for you.

Did you see that in verse 21?

Verses 22 and 25, he works out the implications here.

Jesus suffered for you and for me, the sinless one, bore our sin away.

He was wounded so that we might be healed.

See, it's by the great love that Christ showed us while we were still enemies, we now are enabled to show love to our enemies.

Because of the love Christ showed us, because of Christ's willing submission at the cross, we follow him by refusing to revile when we are reviled.

We refuse to threaten when we suffer.

We refuse to retaliate and instead entrust ourselves to God who ultimately judges justly.

How do we glorify God with regards to our superiors?

Peter wants to give us a few things to consider.

Cultivate gracious endurance.

Some of us know how infuriating it is to work for a boss who is impossible to please, or perhaps has it out for us.

Some of us are thinking that's the office I get to go to on Monday, right?

Yes, we should avail ourselves to every option available to us.

I'm not trying to suggest that it's a Christian's job to just take on as much suffering as we can, just heap it on, let's do this.

We have options available to us that a first century slave did not.

We might have an HR representative that we can talk to, or another superior, or we can look for work elsewhere.

These were things that first century slaves could not do.

And we should avail ourselves of the every wise option available to us.

But as we work, for as long as we work, we are called to practice a humble, humble, willing submission and gracious endurance, refusing to hold resentment, refusing to retaliate, refusing to slander, whatever that is.

We refuse to mistreat others in the way that we are mistreated.

And so we live out the gospel in our workplace, right?

We follow Christ's example when we do this.

And yes, there's an important difference in why Christ suffered, right?

Needlessly seeking out whatever suffering we can find is not a way that we honor God.

Christ suffered for us and for our salvation, but when we suffer, like Jesus suffered, not if we suffer, when we suffer, we have an opportunity, don't we?

We have a choice to make.

We can either choose to retaliate, to take justice in our own hands through our revenge, or we can leave the outcome with God.

We can trust Him to be the judge.

We can pray for the well-being of those who mistreat us.

When we do these things, we are giving shape to the gospel and our place of work.

And perhaps we are beginning to break down a cycle of retaliation and revenge and resentment which would otherwise set in.

Friends, none of this is to suggest we should enable cycles of abuse, but this is the power of the gospel to transform both our hearts and our places of work.

When we grasp the love of Christ and entrust ourselves to God as the one who judges justly, we gain the perspective to submit faithfully to the authorities that God has placed over us.

And it's that posture of willing submission, so far as God's law will allow, that brings God glory.

So, if there's a little something that rubs you the wrong way here, probably that's because we're taking God's word seriously.

Probably there's something about God's word that will always rub up against my own self-interest, selfishness, self-determination, and will begin to work the gospel into the fibers of my being slowly over time.

And as I choose to love my neighbor, perhaps it'll do the same for them.

In how we relate to our state and its authorities, and how we relate to our workplace and our authorities there, we are called to keep our conduct honorable and so to bring glory to God.

And we, faithful exiles, can do that, exactly that, glorify God by willingly submitting to our authorities, to the state, and to our superiors.

When we do that, we are following the path that Christ Himself has blazed for us, Christ who is our substitute, Christ who is the one who has submitted perfectly for us.

We glorify God when we live out a cruciform life in imitation of Him, when we bring the shape of the gospel to bear in our politics and in our workplace.

So, friends, this is ordinary gospel work, challenging gospel work.

There's a lot more to be said on both of these things, surely.

But our call is to honor our government, to pray for our leaders.

Would you do that?

Would you ask God for the grace and wisdom to be the very best citizen that you can be and labor for the common good of others?

And those of us who are employed, would you honor your employers?

Would you pray for them?

Would you ask God for grace to endure mistreatment and misunderstanding and to will their very best as Jesus endured mistreatment, to will your very best.

Friends, be subject so that you might follow in Christ's steps.

Amen.

We hope that you've been blessed by God's word today.

If you live in the area, we hope that you'll come and worship with us in person on Sunday at 10 AM.

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Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.