Submitting & Serving (sermon notes)

Yesterday we had a technical problem with our recording of the worship service. I've posted my notes for the sermon with the hope that they would be beneficial to anyone who wished to finish the sermon. 

For the last few weeks we’ve studied together serving in the church. The whole sermon series is available on our Youtube channel and linked on Facebook. Today we will finish our series on serving in the church by opening God’s Word, and seeing what our attitude and actions should be in serving God’s church. The summary word that Peter uses is “submission” or “obedience”. 

Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 2:11-17

Prayer: 

Today we will see three primary things. First, the call in 1 Peter 2 to submission. Second, the goal of submission. And third is the example of submission in Christ. So, three points, the Call, goal, and example of submission. 

(1) The Call to Submission:

Peter very plainly puts forward the call for Christians to submit, to obey, to honor, and respect authority. What does this word “submit” mean? Plainly, it means to obey. To do as we are told. So Peter puts forward this ethic, but it shouldn’t sound like a new ethic. This shouldn’t sound like a new command to us, but rather a reiteration of a long standing principle present in the lives of many God fearing believers, both of Old Testament days, and New Testament days. Submission to authority, obedience, in general is a good thing. 

Our minds race to find nuance and exceptions when we hear words like “submission” or “obedience”, and there are plenty. But the general call is still to obey and submit. This is to be the default position of the Christian, submission and obedience. Peter uses this word for submission 7 times throughout his letter. He uses this word for Christians to submit to authorities, slaves to submit to masters, wives to submit to husbands, describing how angels, authorities, and powers submit to Christ Jesus, and how those younger in the church should submit to those older.

I said a moment ago, that as soon as we hear the word “obedience” or “submission” our minds race to think of exceptions. A part of us screams out “No, I don’t want to” as soon as we hear a call to surrender our agenda, our will, our desires, or our priorities. Let me assure you of a few exceptions. Peter, in calling God’s people to submit, does not command that believers ever disobey God or go against God’s Word. We submit first to God, and one of the very daily common ways that we submit to God, is to submit to the human authorities around us in so far as that submission does not mean we must sin. Biblical submission is: Obedience to God, and in obeying God, obedience to the earthly authority around you as long as that does not force you to disobey God. 

    In other words, if earthly authorities issue an order, direction, law, or expectation, we should obey it, unless it leads us to violate God’s orders, directions, laws, or expectations. So our basic governing principle for life, and for serving in the church, is to be submissive, and obedient as long as we are still able to be faithful to God. 

At this point we may have an objection, some of us might be thinking: Does the Bible say we are to obey everything, all the time, without question, pause for thought, or consideration? 

The answer is, No, the Bible doesn’t say that! The Bible clearly says that we should obey God first, never obeying any human authority which would cause us to sin. In obeying God first, we also then obey every human authority which decrees we do something, or abstain from something, which is not sinful. In other words, we first, and primarily obey God’s Word. If the command, instruction, law, ordinance, mandate, or policy doesn’t cause us to violate God’s Word, then we obey it. Obedience is a mark of the Christian life. 

Let’s remember for a moment that this passage was written by the Apostle Peter. This is the same Peter who suffered and was beaten for preaching Christ (Acts 4:15-20). He knew when to disobey. When the leaders called Peter and John to give an account, they obeyed. When ordered to speak, they spoke. Peter and John disobeyed when they were told to no longer preach or teach about Jesus. Later on they obeyed when they were arrested. They didn’t fight, or flee, they submitted to their chains and went to prison. They submitted to the beating and mistreatment they received. And then they went out rejoicing for they had been “considered worthy to suffer dishonor for speaking about Jesus. 42 Every day in the temple courtyard and from house to house, they refused to stop teaching and telling the Good News that Jesus is the Messiah.” (Acts 5:41-42)

Peter knew this very simple principle; submit to every human institution. Obeying them as long as they are not requiring you to sin. The Bible is filled with these sorts of examples of people obeying even terribly wicked rulers, but not obeying them to the point of following in sin. 

Daniel refused to give up praying to the one true God (Daniel 6). 

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego disobeyed the command of King Nebuchadnezzar to worship his statue (Daniel 3). 

The Hebrew midwives of Exodus 1, Puah and Shiphrah, were ordered to kill the new born male children of ancient Israelites. They disobeyed Pharaoh in favor of obeying God. 

So what does it mean to submit? It means to obey. We obey every human institution as long as it is not compelling us to sin. We obey the authorities over us. There are exceptions, and we should actively and eagerly search through God’s Word, to know when we need to submit to earthly authorities, and when we need to disobey earthly authorities. 

(2) The Goal of Submission:

What’s the point you may be wondering. What is the point of doing all this submitting and obeying? What is the payoff? Each time Peter brings up submission he also brings up a goal of submission. Look with me again at verse 13 of 1 Peter chapter 2.

    “For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men”. By submitting, as long as we are submitting without sin, we are doing good. And this good silences the talk, the accusations, the gossip, the slander, that Christians are sources of trouble. Let us live such good lives, that the accusations that are brought against us, prove to be lies on the day of judgement before God. Peter gives us several reasons in very straightforward ways each time he instructs us to submit or obey. 

When Peter instructs slaves to submit to their masters, he says the pay off is to trust in God’s judgement just as Christ did. (That’s found in 1 Peter 2:19-24)

When Peter instructs wives to submit to their unbelieving husbands, he makes it clear that the husbands have already heard the Word of God, and chosen not to believe it. He puts the payoff, the hope of submission in that by submitting, wives might win over their husbands. Not through their physical beauty or attraction, but instead through the “unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is of great worth in God’s sight” (1 Peter 3:1-4). In other words, the payoff for the believing spouse is that in their attitude and actions of submission and obedience they might be instrumental in their spouse coming to know Christ. 

A quick word for husbands. While Peter doesn’t use the word “submission” for husbands, he uses another word for how Husbands are to treat their wives. “Respect”. Respect your wife. Honor her, cherish her, delight in her. This word that is used is the same word that is used by Peter describing Jesus in chapter 2 verse 4 that Jesus, the living stone was rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him - that word, precious is the word used by Peter to instruct how husbands are to treat their wives. Is your wife precious to you? One reason why some of our children disrespect their mothers is because they see their father’s disrespect their wives. Christian husbands, respect your wives, hold them precious. This is the only time in the epistle that Peter makes a threat. He doesn’t threaten slaves, wives, citizens, or young church members. He does threaten husbands. He puts the fear of God on them by saying “treat [your wife] with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that (here is the threat) nothing will hinder your prayers”. Do you want your prayers to be heard my brothers? Treat your wife as the precious co-heir of life with you, or risk your prayers being hindered. 

When Peter instructs the younger parts of the church to submit to the older parts of the church, he quotes Proverbs 3:34 “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble”. The payoff here is that God’s grace is given to those who are humble. Humility is not the natural gift of the young. Arrogance is the flower of youth. And yet for you young people, for us young people, we are to submit in humility to the authorities placed over us. As we crave God’s grace poured out, we should humble ourselves by casting all our worries upon him. 

What is the goal of submission, what is the payoff of submission? Nothing less than pleasing God through serving him with obedient lives. God has called us to submit, and his pleasure is something worth pursuing! 

If you just want to serve your own interest, your own pride, your own wealth, your own priorities, your own immediate fleshly desires, there are plenty of lifestyles to choose from. Yet service in the church and life as a Christian is lived for the explicit purpose of delighting God and delighting in God. That’s the payoff. If that does not sound like a payoff to you, then may I solemnly say you are one of two things: First, you are potentially outside of Christ. You may not be a Christian at all if pleasing God is outside of your priorities. Second, you are so down a rabbit hole of sin that pleasing God does not bring you joy. In either case, I invite you to come have a conversation with Pastor Sydney or myself. Let’s chat about where your priorities are, what allegiances you have, and what lasting and eternal delights Christ Jesus offers. 

(3) The Example of Submission

Our third and final point today is focused on the example which Peter sets forward for submission. Do you want to know what submission looks like? What sort of persecution submission may bring you? What sort of payoff there is for the one who submits? You do not need to consider any other example than Christ Jesus. 

    Peter recounts in chapter 2 verse 23 “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead he entrusted himself to him who judges justly”. When someone in the Roman empire saw a person carrying a cross, they knew that person was on their way to death. The person who bore a cross had no rights, no dignity, no status, no earthly power. Like a bully making someone hit themselves and then saying “why are you hitting yourself”, so too was a person carrying their own cross. Being made to bear the weight of the last thing that would ever bear your weight. Christ Jesus’ torture prior to his crucifixion was so cruel, that he was not able to carry the cross the whole way. Simon the Cyrene was compelled by the Romans to carry Jesus' cross for at least part of the way. I say all this only so that we might understand the service that we render in the church and in our lives as Christians. Jesus said in Matthew 16:24 “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”. One way we take up our cross and follow Christ, is through Christ-like submission. 

    Does submission open you up to persecution? Absolutely. Simply because we are being persecuted does not mean we deviate from God’s call. Remember Peter was beaten for preaching Christ and on the night Jesus was betrayed he denied any affiliation with Christ. Peter had lived a life that experienced both the pain from persecution and the pain from deviating from relationship with God. After having had both experiences Peter declares in chapter 3 verse 14 “But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed”. Christ Jesus suffered for what was right. Every injury, mockery, and insult he received was utterly underserved. Yet he submitted to the persecution of the crowd, of pilate, of the sanhedrin, of the soldiers, all for the sake of the glory which was to come. Serving in the church faithfully requires a Christ-like submission. A submission to God, and a submission to God’s word. God’s word instructs us and Christ’s example shows us to submit to earthly authorities as long as submission to those earthly authorities does not require us to sin against God. 

        Last week I wrapped up the sermon by telling a short story of a young man who at one time was not a believer, but that he came to faith in Christ Jesus. His fictional name was Phil and he lives in the Mountain time zone. As we close our series on serving in the church, I’ll ask you who it was in the church who served Phil? Was it the Bible study leader? The preacher at church he first began to attend? The people praying for him?

Service in the church is much larger than that. Phil was served by Christians who opened up their home and had him over to watch football games, Phil was served by Christians who baked cookies and brought them to a college campus Bible study. Phil was served by Christians who he had never met, but we're praying for the good news of Christ Jesus to be heard and believed by college students on that campus. 

Service in God’s church means a whole lot more than what we would typically think. It means serving and submitting in ways that in our own strength we wouldn’t be able to do. It may mean submitting even to things we might otherwise dislike or disagree with. And yet, if it is for Christ’s sake, we can look to his example, and as long as submitting doesn’t lead to sin, we can submit with confidence that we are serving God and in that service, bringing delight to him, and knowing that, finding joy in our submission. Amen let's pray.