"18 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. 19 For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. 21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 22 who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; 23and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously"
I believe it goes without saying that as everybody who is a Christian, certainly to those of us who know the Word of God, understands that this world is a battleground. I realize that there are many ways in which to define the battle of the world, however, as your pastor, I am called to teach you from a spiritual perspective, and not from popular worldly views or my own personal opinions. But solely from the perspective of God's Word.
You see, as great as all of creation is, there is nothing that can compare with God's plan of redemption. Christ's work of redemption was set in motion even before creation was brought into being.
From Genesis chapter 3, there has been an unending, an immense, pervasive conflict, a spiritual battle. A warfare between the people of God and the people of Satan; the children of God and the children of the devil. This spiritual warfare became clear and into focus during the time of Jesus Christ. From the moment He came into the world until now, there would be a battle of Satan against the children of God, those who belong to Christ.
Jesus said in John 15:18-19, "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world the world would love its own, but because
you're not of the world but I chose you out of the world therefore the
world hates you."
The children of God are defending themselves against the world who hates us because we are associated with God, associated with Christ. We are a threat to the world system, a system that is predicated on sin. There are people who have killed the people of God, all in the name of God. In fact, one of the greatest persecutors of the true church, the people of God, has been false religion.
If you are a parent, from the moment your children were able to talk, you have likely heard them complain, "But that's not fair!" We were created with a strong inner sense of fairness and an ever strong desire to rebel, to fight for our rights when we feel that we have been treated unfairly. However, Scripture call us when treated unfairly, we should submissively endure by entrusting ourselves to God, the righteous Judge.
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
Father, thank You for Your much needed Word for us today. Lord, help us to realize that there are some who have You have ordained to be in authority over us. Then, help us to be submissive and to maintain a purity of testimony. Help us to serve our earthly authorities as if we were serving Christ Himself, with an attitude that is proper, not only with duty that is proper.
When we are abused or treated unfairly, may we commit ourselves to Your resolution and not stooping to rebellion, taking matters in our own hands, which You have taught us through Your Word has no place in the life of a true follower of Christ.Instead, help us to demonstrate the love of Christ to those who oppose us, having faith that You will set all things right. And, in doing so, may we even reach those who treat us unkindly. Help O' Lord, to follow Christ's example, that we may live our lives as His servants, bringing honor and glory to You. For Christ's sake and Your increase in the kingdom.
We ask and pray In His precious name.
Amen
Today's Message: Finding Favor With God
Remembering what our Lord has done for us, our redemption should be the highest motive for godly living. May we never forget that the price paid for our redemption was so great that only God Himself could pay it.
In the world today, everybody wants to fight, to get what they think they're due. Rebellion, mutiny, protests and strike have simply a part of our society. It has, in fact, become a means of gaining gratification for those who demand their rights in the social structure. Whether passive or active, we have been conditioned to selfishness. We are all, to one degree or another, impacted by this in our society.
May I remind you that since we come into this world with nothing, we will indeed leave this world with nothing.Yet, many today are deceived into thinking they are living full and happy lives. When in reality, their lives are meaningless, empty and lacking any real value. We can only pass down the temporary things of this life from one generation to another. Whether we realize it or not, all that we have gained in this life will be lost except for the eternal salvation for those who have trusted in the living Christ.
Open with me your Bibles, as we return to the second chapter of Peter. Though we are examining verses 18 through 23 today, we are really looking at the section that began in verse 11 and continues to flow through the end of the chapter.
As I stated earlier, we are in a war. A spiritual battle that has gone on since God's people were first begun. The people of Satan do not know the true God or Christ. They have a false sense of religion. One of Satan's favorite weapons to devastate the work of God, to wound the kingdom of God, to debilitate the church, to cripple the true message of the gospel. Because we are constantly under attack, Satan looks to find the failures of the people who say they belong to God, identity those failures, and then parade them around before the watching world.
He does this in a number of ways, through scandals over sex, scandals over money, scandals over power and
authority, all of these types of things and many more are the tools of
Satan, by which he readily uses to discredit the church. That said, allow me to take my point a bit further, Satan also plants his people in the church. He has them assume the label of Christian, and then live such completely non-Christian lives that they can be used to
destroy the credibility and the integrity of Christianity. Bringing reproach on the name of Christ.
Not only uses the real failures of real Christians, he also uses the
failures of hypocrites, those who are planted in the church as tares among the
wheat. He does this for no other purpose than to scandalize and discredit the church and destroy its testimony. The world loves to see the church exposed as sinful, wicked, money hungry, power hungry, sexually deviated hypocrites. Therefore, the church is under attack and the constant scrutiny of the world's system, orchestrated by none other than Satan himself.
In case you haven't noticed, every time a scandal hits the church, it is headline news, it's all over the front-page newspapers and magazines everywhere, so that they fallen world can justify their unbelief by saying we are all corrupt. Therefore, it is absolutely crucial that as Christians demonstrate godly lives, above reproach and criticism. Because it is vital to the Christian testimony in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.
I invite you to follow along with me as I read to set the text in our minds, while we prepare our hearts for what the Spirit of God has to say to each of us. Listen for the voice of our Lord. I Peter 2:18-23.
"Servants,
be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who
are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For
what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you
endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For
you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for
you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously"
Our text today, significantly stresses the necessity for submission. The importance of submission in work relationships and that when we suffer we’re to remember the Savior. More importantly than what we say, is how we live. It is the heart and soul of the church's credibility. Because we scandalize the church, we bring shame to the work of Christ with our unholy life. Shame is not a small matter in the Bible. The word "shame," or "ashamed," appears 354 times in the Old Testament and 77 times in the New Testament. While the subject of shame can be a hard subject to talk about, the Bible has quite a lot to say on the topic. I won't belabor the point, I'll just point out a few examples.
Jude 1:11-13, "Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.
And Philippians 3:18-19, "For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things."
So, to put in boldly, how we live our lives as Christians is essential to the testimony of Christianity, to the testimony of
Christ, to the believability of the gospel and the transforming power
that it has in one's life. Tragically, the church has come to think that the way to make hurting people feel better is to simply eliminate the categories of sin and shame altogether. Surely, this is no coincidence!
Spiritual conflict is one of Satan's favorite weapons to discredit the church by the failure of its own members. And the way in which he does this is by finding "Christians" in the church whose lives that are not consistent with the Word of God. This is the most devastating thing that can happen to the church, namely because it discredits us at the very foundation of our existence and that is the
gospel that says Jesus Christ transforms the lives of unregenerate, sinful people into redeemed and holy people.
Verse 18, "Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable." Peter calls us to live out our position as servants. In other words, Christians should not only be the best citizens but should also the best employees! He is saying it is very important how you conduct yourself there as well
if you're going to silence the critics and lead people to Christ and if
you're going to avoid discrediting Christianity.
It means we are to have a healthy desire to avoid their displeasure by showing deference and even reverence. This is not always easy to do. In fact, many Christians appear to conform on the outside as they grumble and complain on the inside. Now, this does not mean that we are to be Christian doormats, however, there is a proper time and place for respectful communication that seeks to clarify falsehood and promote the truth.
It does mean if you are working for someone, submit to him. And moreover, do it with all respect and endure faithfully, even when it’s not fair. Contrary to the popular current cultural belief, Christianity does not free slaves. Christianity does not give equal
social rights. Christianity does not guarantee to you that you no
longer have to submit to any earthly employer or leader. Jesus did not propound equal rights nor He did not upset the social order.
I want to make something very clear, it is far more important to God that you maintain a faithful, Christian
testimony than that you get what you think you have coming to you in
this life. It is more important to God for you to show that you submit to Him in
everything and you give your life over to His control than that you protest
against whatever it is that you dislike.
In other words, Christian conduct is what matters to God because the only reason you're
in this world is in order that God might use you to bring someone else
to Christ. If the reason you were saved was only for the purpose of you getting to heaven, He couldn't taken you at that moment. Think about that. We remain on this earth for the purposes of God, not yours or my own. It is not significant that you or I get what we think we're due in this life.
Many people today have an extremely sensitive justice meter, we want to let people know what we think, especially when we think something is unfair. I really like what C.S. Lewis was once said, when he was asked, "Why do the righteous suffer?" I believe that his answer is profound, he said "Why not? They’re the only ones who can take it."
Jesus, Peter, John and Paul could have led the greatest insurrection the world has ever known. All they would have had to say is "Now that you are a Christian, you're superior to everybody else because you're a child of God, now take your rights." And there would have been an unbelievable rebellion that would have devastated the world. However, it would have also devastated the Christian testimony!
Understand, I'm not saying that you shouldn't do everything that is provided within
the employee proper channels to gain whatever would be considered fair. What I am saying, is that you never go outside of God's standards on those things, you never disobey your employer, rather you submit. And, it doesn't matter if he's kind or whether he is completely unreasonable. You are to submit.
The Apostle Paul said that a believers is to be obedient to his master and he is to be obedient to him with the right kind of behavior. That you are to do it with fear and trembling because you hold God in awe, who will punish your disobedience. You are to do it with the right motive, and you are to do it as unto Christ. You have a spiritual calling and your calling is to reach the people
where God has placed you and you never do anything to demonstrate anger,
hostility, dissatisfaction, discontent, pride, ego, selfishness. The key is to be mindful of who your Master really is.
In verse 19, is the mandate to the motive, "For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly." The Greek says "This is a grace, this is a grace." When we submit in order to honor God, it is favorable. Peter uses the word "charis," which means a gift or blessing brought to man by Jesus Christ. We are called to endure grief and even wrongfully suffer, however, when we do, we receive God’s favor. To act in such a way that is attractive to God, finds favor with God.
There are a number of television preachers who tend to over sue the word favor, they tend to only focus on health, wealth and happiness. It makes God grateful. Look at the end of verse 19, "If for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly." Peter uses the word "suneidésis," it means that you're consciously aware God is there watching. You know He's watching, so you endure, confident of His total control.
The people to whom Peter was writing, some of them were being beaten as slaves by those who were taking advantage of them. There was no labor union, no Better Business Bureau, there was no recourse. There weren't even any civil lawsuits open to them against employers.
In verse 20, Peter expands the thought with a negative and positive statement. "For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God." The implied answer is there's no credit when you sin and are treated harshly and endure it with patience. There's no virtue in that, you deserve it.
Then he says "But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God." In other words, God is very pleased when you patiently endure and you don't deserve it. This finds favor with God. God isn't particularly pleased when you're patient and you deserve the pain. The motive is it pleases God to see us accept the earthly difficulty with complete faith in Him, trusting Him. Even if they mistreat you, if you're doing what is right and noble and excellent, you're blessed.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:11, "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me."
Verse 21, " For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps." Here, he's talking about the call to salvation. As you live out your Christian life in the world, the worlds system will resent you and come against you. And, in the process, some critics will be silenced, some will even become saved. That is what you have been called to. You were saved to this purpose.
Christians may not complain when we do something wrong and have to pay the price. However, we might be tempted to believe that every time we do the right thing we should be rewarded. "Leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps," is very rich. Jesus left us with a transcript of His life that we are to trace. When we study the Word, and see how He suffered, we’re to duplicate that in our character.
The phrase to "follow His steps," gives us the beautiful picture of us putting our feet where Jesus walked, to strive to do what He did, to reach out to those that He reached out to.
Verses 22-23, Peter draws on Isaiah 53, "who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously."
The primary reason for submitting is to please God, knowing that our attitude will impact our workplace. When you were saved you were saved to this purpose, you were called to patiently endure suffering you do not deserve. While we don’t always know in advance how much we’re going to suffer, we do know that if we’re serious about following Christ and serving Him wholeheartedly, we will face difficulty. To put it another way, it comes with the territory, that's just the way it is and you don't want to cave in. Christ not only suffered for you, He did it in an exemplary way, in meekness and humility, committing Himself to God.
Let me encourage you with Paul's word in I Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."
In Closing..
Beloved, when you sign up to follow Jesus Christ, you’re signing up to suffer. Because as soon as you became a Christian you became an enemy of the
world, and so you will, as you live out your Christian life, be unjustly
and unfairly attacked.
God gives His grace to the humble, not to the defiant and disobedient. Beyond the redemptive work of Christ on the cross is the pattern of His suffering. Christ set the pattern for you to follow in His steps. When He was reviled, He didn't revile back. He suffered He uttered no threats.
Guard what comes out of your mouth, makes sure your lips line up to your life. Trust God to right the wrongs, committing yourself to the ultimate judge, just as Christ did.
Do you think that you have rights? They cannot begin to come close to the right that Jesus had, yet, He asked for none!
Since we have died to sin, may we live for righteousness, clinging to the Savior.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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