Preached Sunday, April 28, 2013 from 1 Peter 2:13-17
Theme: We are to submit to temporal human government in a way that both pleases and proclaims our heavenly King.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
This morning, I’m planning to preach about the government.
And now that I have your attention, I also need to assure you that it won’t be about partisan politics. What we will be considering from God’s word this morning—from 1 Peter 2—is something that completely transcends political parties. It’s something that is applicable to us as Christians no matter what party we may align ourselves with—or even if we don’t align ourselves with any party at all. In fact, it has less to do with the government itself than with what we are to be toward it.
In this passage, the apostle Peter teaches us how we—as followers of Jesus Christ—are to live-out our temporal citizenship under this earthly government in such a way as to both please our heavenly King, and proclaim Him to the people of this world.
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Now; not long ago, I was in a second-hand store—digging around in the bookshelves. A particular book caught my eye and I quickly grabbed it before anyone else got it. I probably didn’t have to act so quickly though. I’m pretty sure that I’m the only person around that would have been even remotely interested in it. (That’s probably true of a lot of books I grab.)
It’s an old book about a particular series of ancient coins that had been minted during the reign of Caesar Augustus—the Roman emperor who was ruling at the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry. It contains several pages of photos of these coins. Now; I’m no numismatist. (In fact, I only just learned how to say ‘numismatist’ the other day!) But the reason I’m so fascinated by this book—and the pictures it contained of these various ancient coins—is because one of those coins may be very much like the one that inspired the greatest political statement in all of human history.
You might remember the story. The religious leaders of the Jewish people were trying to trap the Lord Jesus in a controversy. They gathered around Him and asked, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” As Roman-occupied territory, ‘Caesar’, represented a foreign, ruling governmental power over the land of the Jews. They knew that if Jesus answered yes, then He would lose favor with much of His own Jewish kinsmen; and that if He answered no, He would be considered a trouble-maker and a rebel by the Romans. He also knew all of this; and so, in answer to their question, Jesus called for a coin—much like one of the coins pictured in the book I bought. He held up that coin in the sight of all and said, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” And He told them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:19-21).
To my mind, that is the greatest and most profound political statement in all human history. It sure puts things in perspective! I was sharing that story the other day; and someone said, “Well; I’ve already paid my taxes, so I guess I’m good.” But I believe that “rendering unto Caesar”—that is, to our human government—means much more than simply paying our taxes. And because the Lord Jesus said that we are to render to both God and Caesar what is properly their due, I am also taking it that if I do not faithfully render to the government all that it should properly receive from me—just as the Lord Jesus has commanded us to do—then I cannot say that God Himself has received all that is due from me.
In obedience to God, I owe the government all that God says I owe to it. So; how do I properly relate to my human government in such a way as to truly honor my primary duty to God? How do I, in obedience to the Lord Jesus, render all that I legitimately owe to Caesar?
That, I believe, is what this morning’s passage teaches us.
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This was a very relevant question to the believers to whom Peter was writing. Peter began by letting them know what they are in this world. In 1 Peter 2:11-12, the apostle wrote,
Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, 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 (1 Peter 2:11-12).
Look at what Peter said we—as God’s redeemed people—are. As followers of Jesus, we are “sojourners and pilgrims” on this earth. We’re not at home here. We’re just passing through. We have another homeland to which we are traveling; and we have another King that we serve while on our way there. And as “sojourners and pilgrims”, we’re to live faithfully to our true identity. We are to abstain from the sinful things of this world, and to live carefully in the sight of the unbelieving people around us. We’re to so live that, even though they may speak against us as ‘evildoers’, they will—if God gives them the grace to do so—look a little closer at our lives, see our good works done in obedience to our Savior, and end up praising God in the end.
And Peter then goes on from there in much of his letter to explain what it means to live carefully before the unbelieving people of this world. He speaks of how we are to conduct ourselves on the job and in our employer/employee relationships, how we’re to conduct ourselves in our marriage and family relationships, and how we’re to conduct ourselves even in relationship to those who persecute us and do us wrong.
And the first bit of instruction he gives has to do with the believer’s relationship to the human government in which they’re living for a brief while as “sojourners and pilgrims”. He tells us what it is that we owe to Caesar. In 1 Peter 2:13-17, he writes;
Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king (vv. 13-17).
It’s hard to think of something more relevant and practical to our own times than what Peter tells us in these few verses. These words—inspired by the Holy Spirit—show us how God wants us to impact our world for Christ in whatever political situation He places us. They give us authoritative principles that are applicable to God’s people aenlt all times and in all nations. In them, Peter shows us how we are to submit to this temporal human government in a way that both pleases and proclaims our heavy King.
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Now; let’s notice carefully what the apostle Peter tells us about . . .
1. THE NATURE OF OUR DUTY TO HUMAN GOVERNMENT (vv. 13-14).
Peter describes our relationship to governmental authority in two levels. He speaks of “the king as supreme”. In the case of the people to whom Peter was writing, this would have been Caesar Nero. There were, of course, lesser kings scattered across the known world; but they were all under Nero as “supreme” leader of the ruling world empire. And then, Peter speaks of “governors”. These are the subordinate authorities that were set in place for service under the emperor. They are sent by him to execute the proper, God-appointed functions of government—that is, to punish evil and praise and protect those who do good. This is also true of our government and its political structure today.
Then, notice how Peter mentions the believer’s duty to government. He says, that we are to “submit” ourselves “to every ordinance of man”. To “submit”, as Peter is using this word, means to ‘subordinate one’s self under’, or to ‘rank one’s self under’ the authority. It’s not a matter of walking around timidly—feeling like an inferior. Rather, it’s a matter of making a conscious choice of action. We are to willingly “submit” ourselves—subordinate ourselves—to legitimate governmental authority. And this isn’t simply to be understood in vague terms. Peter makes it specific. He says that we are to do this in respect to “every ordinance of man”, or “every human institution”—whether from the king, or from those who are sent in his name.
Now; this needs to be understood carefully. I believe that even Peter himself would tell us that we’re not to take this to mean ‘absolute obedience to the governing powers in all cases and without any exception whatsoever’. To relate to the government in that way would be to render unto Caesar what only rightfully belongs to God. Rather, Peter would mean that we are to submit ourselves to every institution of human government so long as it does not require us—at the same time—to disobey the clear commands of God contained in His revealed word.
You might remember that, just before He ascended to the Father, Jesus commanded His disciples to go out into the world and make disciples in His name—baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that He commanded. But it wasn’t very long before Peter—along with the other apostles—was confronted by the duly constituted civil authorities, and was ordered to stop preaching and teaching in the name of Jesus. The resurrected Lord Jesus had commanded them to preach; and the human government was commanding them to stop doing what the Lord Jesus told them to do. A choice had to be made: Who’s authority should be considered ‘ultimate’?
We’re told;
But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20).
The apostles—respectfully—disobeyed their human leaders! They had been commanded by God to proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ; and they continued to do as God had commanded—even though the leaders told them not to. Later on, they were arrested once again; and the leaders asked them, “Didn’t we command you not to teach in this name?” And Peter answered—in what I, personally, believe is the second greatest political statement in all human history:
“We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
In other words, when we’re put in the position of choosing to obey either a clear commandment of God or a contrary commandment of men, we must be sure to choose to obey God every time. That is what we owe to God. But unless we’re actually commanded by human government to disobey God, we are to be sure to submit ourselves to every ordinance of man. That is what we—in obedience to God—owe to Caesar. We don’t owe the government absolute obedience; rather, we owe it submission under absolute obedience to God.
And do you notice that Peter says we’re to do this “for the Lord’s sake”? This is because it is the Lord Himself who has granted authority to human government. If we would obey Him, then we would submit ourselves to those He places over us—even when those He places over us don’t always obey Him as they should.
The apostle Paul has put it this way;
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil (Romans 13:1-4).
That’s the nature of our duty to the human government God has placed over us. We are to submit to its authority in full obedience to the absolute authority of God. That’s what we owe to Caesar.
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Now; I recognize that the things that I have just said would go against the grain of a lot of people of our culture. We are, by nature, an independent, self-reliant people. And if we weren’t thinking as we should, we might feel as if God was commanding us to allow ourselves to be enslaved to mere men, and to place ourselves helplessly under the authority of those who would thoughtlessly use us. It sounds risky.
But to think that would be to fail to see the bigger picture of what God is doing through our faithful submission to constitutionally instituted human government. Did you know that our submission to governing authorities has an ‘apologetic’ purpose—that is to say, a purpose that works toward the defense of the Christian faith? Peter goes on next to show us . . .
2. THE REASON WHY GOD HAS GIVEN THIS DUTY TO US (vv. 15-16).
Peter writes in verses 15-16, “For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.”
You see—and I know that what I’m about to say sounds terribly insulting, but please bear with me—the unbelieving people around us are “foolish”. That doesn’t mean, of course, that they are unintelligent or dim-witted. It doesn’t mean that at all. Often the unbelieving people around us are highly intelligent and very cleaver. Rather, it means that they are “foolish” in the sense that, even though they know outwardly about God’s existence and know inwardly what it is that He requires of them, they deliberately turn away from it. Foolishness is primarily a ‘moral’ characteristic rather than an ‘intellectual’ one. Foolish people suppress the truth about Goo in unrighteousness. The word that Peter used for “foolishness” is agnōsia—the word from which we get “agnostic”. It’s not a matter of being unable to know the truth. Rather, it’s a matter of not being willing to know it—a matter of refusing to know it.
The truth about God is condemning to the sinful and rebellious human heart. And so, people who are committed to their sin and rebellion refuse to know it. That’s what is meant by “foolishness”. To make a choice to knowingly reject and suppress the truth is truly “foolish”. And from out of a heart and mind darkened by foolishness, unbelieving people often speak in ignorance against those who follow Jesus. They refuse to understand our Lord or our devotion to His word. They think of us as trouble-makers who won’t go along with the crowd. They call us ‘intolerant’ and ‘backward’. They associate us with some of the most wicked and evil acts done on earth. We ought to be careful about shaking a finger at such folks, though. We were like them once. We too were once very foolish—before God poured His grace on us, changed our hearts, and renewed our minds by His word.
And so, how do we go about silencing that kind of talk? How do we—as Peter literally says—’put the muzzle’ on such foolishness? It’s not God’s will that we answer back in kind. Nor is it God’s will that we simply pull ourselves away and become hermits. Rather—as our passage this morning shows us—it is God’s expressed will that we silence such talk “by doing good”. And “doing good” in this context means, among other things, being submitted as much as we possibly can to all institutions of human government, and being cheerful and faithful in fulfilling all our civil duties as if unto the Lord. It’s God’s will that His people—His sojourners in this world—be the very best citizens of all, under whatever human government He places them, to the glory of His Son Jesus Christ. And when the unbelieving people see us behaving that way, we go a long way toward silencing their ignorant accusations.
Now; notice that Peter goes on to say that we’re to do this “as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God”. We always need to live carefully; and make sure that the accusations that are laid upon us by unbelieving people are not justified; but are because we are living righteously before God and are shining a light on their darkness.
Sadly, we have to admit that this isn’t always what we do. Later on in this letter, Peter writes;
If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter (1 Peter 4:14-16).
It’s good to suffer as a Christian—if that’s truly why we suffer. But sometimes, we like to think we’re suffering because we’re Christians when—in reality—we’re being looked down upon because we talk badly about others, or because we take what doesn’t belong to us, or because we do evil, or because we meddle in other people’s affairs. We don’t have a right to claim that we’re ‘suffering for the name of Christ’ when—in reality—we’re experiencing the just results of wrongdoing.
Dear brothers and sisters; the world is watching! The whole life of each one of us is a ‘gospel tract’ that is being placed under the scrutiny of the unbelieving world. If unbelieving friends and family members and neighbors hear us say that we are ‘free in Christ’—and then watch us as we express that freedom by badmouthing our leaders, compromising obedience to the law, working the system to our own advantage while treating other people unjustly, and fussing and fighting whenever we’re called upon to do our civic duty; and all under the cloak of ‘freedom’—then we really can’t expect them to be much interested in hearing about our Lord.
Let’s live in such faithful submission to the governing powers that God has placed over us that, when unbelieving people take a closer look at our lives, their accusations are proven to be a result of ignorance—and perhaps their hearts would become open to the saving grace of God that they see at work in us.
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And finally, look at verse 17. Some of us were talking the other day about how this is a verse that needs to be ‘dusted off’ and brought out into the open more often. It’s truly an amazing verse, in that it shows us . . .
3. THE WAY WE ARE TO KEEP THIS DUTY IN PRACTICE (vv. 17).
Peter writes—in profoundly simple terms—”Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.”
I am taking that first phrase—”Honor all people” to be a general commandment that teaches us to give to everyone what is due them in their proper sphere of civil and social life. We are to, as followers of Jesus, honor the God-appointed roles of all who are around us. This is to be our prevailing practice in relation to others. Honor all people. Treat all people—in all positions of life in this world—with the respect properly due to them.
And then, I believe that Peter goes on to break this principle down into three specific applications. And when all three of these types of relationships are kept in place like a ‘three-legged stool’—and when we are faithful to consistently give what is due them in their proper spheres—then we live as the stable, balanced kind of citizens on this earth that please God and point others to Him.
First, we are to “love the brotherhood”. This is speaking of our Christian brotherhood—our connection together as the body of Christ. We are to give priority to our brothers and sisters in Christ; and obey our Lord’s command to love and serve one another as He has loved and served us. Did you know we are to give priority to each other? Galatians 6:10 says, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” The Lord Jesus said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
Second, we’re to “fear God”. “Fear” here can have the idea of ‘being afraid’. But I tend to believe that the intention is that we hold God our Father in reverential awe and respect. We give Him the chief place of reverence in our hearts and lives that we give to nothing else on earth. But I believe it would also mean that we so respect and honor Him that we would truly ‘be afraid’ of disobeying Him. As the Lord Jesus told us, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). If we ‘fear’ our heavenly Father as we should, then we need fear nothing else.
And third, we’re to “honor the king”. And I found it interesting that, in the original language, the word that’s translated “king” is a different word than was used in verse 13. There, the word means a “monarch”; but here, it means something more like “the monarchy”. There, it meant “king”; but here, it means something more like “the kingship”. In other words, Peter is telling us that we are to honor the office of king or emperor or president or public servant—even if the person who occupies that office might not be particularly worthy of it.
Did you know that, in Exodus 22:28, God gave this command?—”You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.” We’re eager to obey the first half of that command; but quick to forget the second half. It is never appropriate for us as followers of Jesus to curse our governmental leaders. We can address their wrong behavior or bad decisions; but we’d better be careful how we do so. Something is very wrong whenever we find ourselves talking one way about our leaders in daily conversation, and then forcing ourselves to change the way we talk about them when we pray for them. God doesn’t honor prayers from mouths that issue forth both blessings and curses. We should always “honor the king”; and talk about our political leaders in every day life was we would when we pray for them. That’s to be true of us no matter what party we belong to.
Now; look at those three things together. We’re not commanded to “love” the king as we are to love the brethren, or “fear” the king as we are to fear God. But if we obey the command to “honor all people”—and do so by making sure we habitually love the brethren and we should, and habitually fear God as we should—then we will honor the king as we should. We will not give more honor to our rulers than is due them, or give them less than we ought to give them. We’ll be in perfect balance.
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Dear fellow sojourners and pilgrims; the world is watching. Let’s make sure we please our God—and testify to His love in this world—by being submitted to our governmental leaders. Let’s be sure—in obedience to God—to render to Caesar all that is properly due to him.