06.06.17 - Submitting to Earthly Authority

Tuesday Night Bible Study  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  42:08
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Pastor Wells shares Peter’s command to believers to submit to earthly authority. He says doing so gives God the glory, honor and praise!

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Introduction

The New American Commentary: 1, 2 Peter, Jude (1) Submit to the Government (2:13–17)

How should believers respond to the social structures of the day? Since God is their Lord, should they ignore human and governmental institutions? Peter argues here that believers should submit to the emperor and those governing authorities appointed by him.

The reason they are to submit is:
First, for the Lord’s Sake
Second, it is due to their relationship to God, for in obeying the government, they are in effect, carrying out the will of God. It is for the Lord’s sake.
Third, they are contradicting the claim that the believers and followers of “The Way” were practicing evil.
By submitting to government, Christians demonstrate that they are good citizens, not anarchists.
Fourth, God was the final word! This was Peter’s perspective because he did not see the government or the emperor as the last and ultimate Word for him to obey. The final Word for him to obey came from God and to obey the governing authorities was the will of God. This was premised on the fact that the believers are free in Jesus Christ, and slaves of God! (vs. 16– “bondservants of God.”)
1 Peter 2:12 NKJV
having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Lastly, this section closes with four imperatives. They are:
Respect Everyone
Love the Brotherhood of Believers
Fear God
Honor the King
1 Peter 2:18 NKJV
Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Five: Somebody’s Watching You! (1 Peter 2:11–25)

It is important that we respect the office even though we cannot respect the man or woman in the office. 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.

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Five: Somebody’s Watching You! (1 Peter 2:11–25)

If we are sincerely submitted to authority “for the Lord’s sake,” then we will show honor to all who deserve it. We may not agree with their politics or their practices, but we must respect their position

Jesus Is Our Standard (vs. 21-23)
John 18:33–38 NKJV
Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.
Jesus Is Our Substitute (v. 24)
Isaiah 53 NKJV
Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.
Jesus is Our Shepherd (v. 25)
John 10:1–18 NKJV
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them. Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
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