Living under Authority
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Have you ever known someone who you might just call a “contrarian”? Although this term started in investing, it has the basic idea of doing the opposite of what everyone else is doing.
Whatever the group wants to do, they want to do the other thing. Whatever you think, they think the opposite.
They remind you of Grumpy from the story of Snow White. Remember what he said about women and their wicked wiles? “I don’t know what they are, but I’m again’em.”
If you are like most people, you probably get in those kinds of moods occasionally—You might have wanted to do something, but if someone asked you to do it, you didn’t want to just because they asked you to.
We can get like this at work—whatever the boss thinks is obviously wrong because he is an idiot.
You may have had days like this when you were growing up—you had thought about cleaning your room, but now they were making you, you weren’t going to do it.
We can get like this toward our government—the wrong people are in charge, so I am not going to do what they say just because they told me to do it.
Let’s be clear about what the Bible teaches here: a contrarian attitude toward authority is not a Christian attitude.
In fact, the clear call that Peter is going to give us today is this: Submit to the authority God has placed over you.
This morning, we are going to see how that applies to our relationship to the government and even to those who would be our masters if we were enslaved.
For some of you, submitting to authority isn’t that difficult. That can be for a variety of reasons: Maybe you already have a high view of authority, maybe you would rather not think about things or make a fuss, so it is easier to go with the flow. As we will see, Peter has something to challenge you with this morning as well. We don’t submit out of weakness; we submit out of freedom and a different allegiance.
For others of you, this concept chafes at you. You are so mad at this politician or party, or this boss, or this person that you just can’t bring yourself to submit to them. You may also have a stronger independent streak that makes this more challenging in the best of circumstances.
Remember: the entire book of 1 Peter is about living as exiles, and that requires us to do difficult, uncomfortable things to honor our true king.
When we finished last time, we were looking at the command to live in such a way that those who don’t know God will glorify him through what they see in us as we conduct ourselves honorably among those who don’t know Jesus.
What we see in these verses is that one of the main ways we live honorably is by submitting to the authorities God has placed over us.
There are three reasons given in this passage of why we should cultivate an attitude of submission to the authorities that are over us. I pray God will use these to challenge all of us to serve him well be submitting as he leads.
Let’s dive in and see first that we....
1) Submit because of God’s rule.
1) Submit because of God’s rule.
Read verses 13-17 with me.
Start back at verse 13— “Submit to every human authority...”
Before we talk about what this does mean, let’s go ahead and get this caveat out of the way: The Bible does not call us to unquestioning, absolute submission to any human authority, whether that is in our government, our workplace, our church, or our home.
If there is a time when a person in authority over you in any capacity calls on you to do something that goes against what God has commanded us in his word, you are called to obey God rather than man. We will see that as we go through the text both this week and next.
However, what the Bible does call us to is to cultivate and live out an attitude where our default position is to submit to authority instead of rebel.
The Bible doesn’t tell us that we are allowed to rebel against authority because they are bad people or they are making decisions we don’t like. The only time God calls us to rebel against authority is when that authority asks us to do something that contradicts what God says is right.
That will come into sharper focus in a minute when we look at what Peter says to enslaved people.
Peter makes it crystal clear that we are to submit to the governing authorities who are in place over us. In those days, the highest authority in the land was the Roman emperor.
Keep in mind that the church existed in the Roman empire for almost 300 years before one of the emperors claimed to follow Christ.
Scholars believe this letter was written in the early 60s AD. If that’s the case, then the insane and vile Roman emperor Nero was the one Peter was saying we should submit to.
He was the one who may well have set Rome on fire to burn down some of the poorer sections of the city, and in a matter of a few years, Nero would be responsible for having Peter killed for preaching Christ.
And yet, Peter says that we are supposed to submit to him and the governors and other rulers that are in place.
He even goes as far as to say that we are to honor them—Look back in verse 17...
Let that sink in for just a minute…Would you be able to use the word “honoring” to describe the way you talk about those in authority?
He doesn’t say “Go along with” or “agree with” everyone, but he does say that we are to honor them.
How? How on earth can God call us to submit to and even honor godless leaders like this?
Again, look back at verse 13 — “because of the Lord.”
Other translations render this phrase as, “for the Lord’s sake”.
We aren’t submitting to and honoring these leaders because we agree with them or think they are good, godly people.
No; we are submitting to them because we have first submitted ourselves to the Lord.
Look at verse 16...
Do you see the paradox here?
We are submitting as free people who are enslaved to the Lord!
As citizens of the kingdom of God, he is our king.
That means that, in a real sense, we are free from the leaders who rule us—they do not have ultimate authority over us.
Even if, like Peter, they should kill us for following Christ, we are still free because all that does is release us from our exile here and let us go home to our King.
With that in mind, though, our true King has called us to submit to these leaders.
Our submission, then, isn’t cowering in fear or passivity. Instead, we actively, willingly submit to authority when possible to demonstrate the goodness of our God.
Go back to verse 15.
In those days, Christians were being accused of trying to undermine Rome, and that would only get worse as emperor worship became mandated across the empire.
To fight that accusation, Peter called the Christians to submit whenever possible so that when they did have to take a stand, there was less ammunition for enemies to use against them.
It is similar to advice on parenting that I heard from Matt Chandler — “Say yes whenever possible so your no’s matter”.
Let’s use a biblical example to make this more clear.
If you were to look back at the first chapter of the Old Testament book of Daniel, you find a terrible scene.
God’s people had rebelled against God, and he sent an evil king, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, to destroy Jerusalem and carry its people into captivity.
Some of the best and brightest Israelites were selected to enter Nebuchadnezzar’s service. These men were likely teenagers, and there is every possibility that Nebuchadnezzar’s army had killed their parents. Either way, they had been traumatically removed from their homeland and taken to Babylon. Daniel, the writer of that book, was one of these young men.
As a part of serving the king, they could eat from the king’s rations. The problem with that was the king’s food was not in line with the Jewish dietary laws and likely had been offered to idols. As a matter of obeying the Lord, Daniel and his friends refused to eat it.
They didn’t rebel against being taken captive, and they didn’t fight. Instead, they honored the Lord by submitting until they no longer could.
In fact, they even handled their stance respectfully:
Daniel determined that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine he drank. So he asked permission from the chief eunuch not to defile himself.
As they honored God by submitting until they couldn’t, God worked to show himself strong and even allowed them to serve in prominent, influential government positions.
In another instance where Daniel had to disobey the king to honor God, it upset the king to have to punish Daniel because of the way Daniel had served him.
That’s what God is calling us to do with the authorities he has put in charge over us. We are called to honor our king by submitting as we can and giving God’s enemies as little cause to doubt and deny him as possible.
This is hard, but it is what God has called us to do.
In case you aren’t convinced yet, let’s move on to the next reason Peter gives us to submit...
2) Submit because of God’s favor.
2) Submit because of God’s favor.
Read verses 18-20 with me...
As we read these words to enslaved people in Peter’s day, let’s be clear that this verse does not teach that the Bible condones slavery.
Think about Peter’s purpose in writing this letter: He is writing to help Christians know how we individually and communally live in the world as exiles.
Sweeping social reform was going to take time, and the early church needed to know how to respond now.
Here’s how Paul would talk about it in another passage:
Let each of you remain in the situation in which he was called.
Were you called while a slave? Don’t let it concern you. But if you can become free, by all means take the opportunity.
For he who is called by the Lord as a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called as a free man is Christ’s slave.
You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of people.
We are both free and enslaved, so our earthly status as a slave or a freedman doesn’t impact our standing before God.
If an enslaved person could secure their freedom, Paul says go for it. However, many could not.
This is the situation Peter is addressing—those who were saved while enslaved and cannot be freed.
So, to those who found themselves enslaved, Peter calls them to submit to their masters.
Here’s where he makes it clear that we are called to submit to people even when they are evil and wicked themselves. Look back at verse 18...
Did you notice that there is more to this than just doing what you are told? We are to submit “in all reverence”. This goes back to verse 17 where we are told to honor everyone.
Let the radical nature of this command sink in: Even if you found yourself as an enslaved prisoner of war, beaten for following Christ, you are to submit in all reverence to those who are in authority over you.
This runs completely counter-cultural to our self-preserving worldview. I should look out for me, and no one should ever be allowed to treat me like that.
In one sense, you are right—every human being is created in the image of God and has intrinsic value and dignity, and no human being should be enslaved or treated as less than the divine image bearer that he or she is.
However, for those who are in Christ, our identity, our value, and our allegiance is settled in Christ and his love for us. Nothing anyone can do will ever lessen who I am, because I am a child of the living God, chosen and preserved by him.
That frees me to submit to people, even when they are unreasonable and harsh and cruel. I can take the freedom of my identity in Christ, and through his strength, continue to show honor to those who show me nothing but shame.
This is one of the most challenging commands I can think of off hand, and yet, God makes it clear that honoring him in this way has a reward.
Look back at verse 19-20...
Suffering for doing the wrong thing isn’t valuable, but suffering wrongly for Christ find’s favor with God.
It sure may not feel like it during the moment, but that has been a major theme throughout this letter.
We saw all through chapter 1 that God has an inheritance in heaven waiting for us. We have been told to fix our hope on that future grace God is giving, and that we will receive honor one day.
Here, those enduring the worst treatment humans can endure are encouraged that suffering will for Christ will result in a reward when we stand before him.
When we are suffering injustice because of we honor Jesus as our king, we know that he is going to reward it one day.
So, we submit because God is our king now, and we honor him by submitting to the authorities he has put over us.
Not only that, we submit because enduring injustice for his sakes brings a reward.
Still not enough for you?
There is one more reason given for why we should submit:
3) Submit because of Christ’s example.
3) Submit because of Christ’s example.
Listen to verses 21-25...
You were called to submit, even when it involves suffering and pain. Why?
Because Jesus already suffered for us.
The way Jesus endured mistreatment and injustice serves as a model for those who follow him.
Throughout his earthly ministry, people misunderstood and maligned Jesus.
This came to a head when the Jewish leaders had him arrested, tried, and eventually crucified.
Throughout all the injustice he endured, Jesus didn’t sin, he didn’t lie or deceive, he didn’t insult people back, and he didn’t threaten.
The God who created the world let himself be treated like that.
If Jesus could do that for me, then what could I possibly endure that would be worse?
I am not saying that the injustices we face are not real—I am saying that Jesus faced worse and still trusted that the Father would judge and reward accordingly.
Why, though? Why would Jesus endure all that?
Look again at verse 24-25...
He endured all of that to save us…to heal our spiritual wounds and draw us back to himself.
Maybe you have gotten the wrong impression thorough this message. It seems harsh that God would require slaves to submit to wicked people, or call us to endure injustice while he sits in heaven, doesn’t it?
Perhaps it would be. However, this very same God who is calling us to submit and suffer has done exactly what he is calling us to do.
Not only that, he did it for us! He suffered to take our sin and our shame and heal our hearts and draw us to himself.
It isn’t out of harshness that God gives these commands; it is out of the love he has shown us extravagantly by dying in our place and making us his own.
He knows it is hard—he’s done it! He is still the God who judges justly, and for now, he calls us to submit and honor those he puts in authority over us.
How are you doing with that? Is there a political leader, an employer, or someone else God has allowed into a position of authority that you have a hard time submitting to and honoring?
Would you ask your king this morning to give you the strength to follow Jesus’s example and submit as he leads?
Have you accepted his sacrifice on your behalf and surrendered to living in his service? The first authority you need to submit to is him.