The Duties & Dynamics Of Dual Citizenship

Well, I'm thankful and excited to be able to ask you to open your Bibles to one Peter. We're going to get back into our study this morning of this great letter that Paul wrote one Peter chapter two, and we're going to be looking at verses 13 through 17, just picking up where we left off one Peter chapter two, verse 13. Let me just read for you the words of the Apostle Peter. Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority or to governors is sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and the praise of those who do right for such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as a bond slave of God. Honor all people love the brotherhood. Fear God, honor the king.

Father, we come to you in reverence and awe and we express our dependence upon you even now in prayer as we've just sung, that we desperately need you right now to help us understand your word and to make application of it in our lives and so would you're illuminating work accomplish its purposes in our lives and also the sanctifying work of your spirit have its way in our hearts today that we would be more and more conformed to the image of Christ and it's in his name we pray. Amen. Well, it's been over a month or so since we've been in one Peter, so a quick review is an order we are calling this book A pocket Guide for Pilgrims, how to Live holy Hope filled lives that can win over others in a hostile world That is not our home. I couldn't fit all that on that title. Slide a little something extra there to remind us of the evangelistic emphasis that Peter has in this letter as he was writing to believers who were scattered throughout Asia Minor and who were being persecuted for their faith in Christ. He wanted to provide them an eternal perspective on suffering so that they would have hope and they would stand firm. And so he exhorted these suffering saints to not just hunker down or to huddle up or to hide out until they get to heaven.

In fact, it was the exact opposite. He presented with them with an offensive strategy for how earthly exiles can evangelize the lost and win over a watching world that is growing increasingly antagonistic toward the gospel. And so he exhorted them to leverage their lives for the spread of the gospel by behaving in a way that is noticeably different than everyone else in the world so that unbelievers will be convicted of their sin and they'll be convinced of the transforming power of the gospel and they will perhaps commit their lives to follow and obey Jesus Christ.

And so for us, instead of being shocked and or scared by the growing opposition and oppression against Christians in the church in our day, we need to take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity that we have to share with others the hope that we have in Christ. I recently came across a book titled Evangelism as Exiles Life on Mission as Strangers in our own Land, and it was written by a guy named Elliot Clark who lived for many years in a Muslim majority nation in Central Asia and he just kind of guides his readers through Peter's letter, this letter that we're studying and reminds us that we're all called to live and witness as exiles in this world. That's not our home. In fact, I think the heart of this book perhaps is found in the verses we looked at last time. First Peter chapter two verses 11 and 12 where Peter says, beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lust which wades war against the soul, keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles so that the thing in which they slander you as evil doers, they may because of your good deeds as they observe them glorify God in the day of visitation.

And so he uses this word behavior an trophe a number of times in this letter, verse 15, he says, of chapter one, like the holy one who called you be holy yourselves also in all your behavior. He uses it again in chapter three verse one. In the same way you wives be submissive to your own husband so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be one without a word by the behavior of their wives as they observe your chase and respectful behavior. And then chapter three, verse 16, and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior and Christ will be put to shame.

The point is unbelievers are constantly and carefully listening to what we say and watching what we do and seeing how we react to things and how we cope with things and maybe even hoping that we'll blow it so they can mock our commitment to Christ and feel justified in why they haven't committed their lives to Christ. But as they observe our words and our actions and attitudes over a long period of time and take mental notes and review them, they draw conclusions of whether or not Christianity is real and it may take years, but a family member or friend may finally come to Christ after seeing the beauty of Christ displayed through the lifestyle of someone who faithfully follows Christ and God will graciously and mercifully visit them. As Peter says here on the day of visitation, God will visit them by granting them repentance and faith and they will honor God and give him thanks particularly for the testimony of that faithful believer who God used to lead them to Christ even though they may have criticized them and mistreated them and even killed them. I think of the example of the centurion at the foot of the cross who oversaw the crucifixion of our Lord and savior Jesus. And when it was all said and done, he declared truly this man was the son of God.

I believe we're going to meet that man in heaven that he came to Christ by observing Christ sacrifice on the cross. Well, that's the background and the context of what we're going to see as we continue our study of one Peter. And in verses 11 and 12, which I just read, Peter gave a general exhortation of how we're to live as aliens and slaves on the earth. And now he goes on to give particular examples of what those good works look like in three broad areas in society, in the workplace and in the home. And he specifically focused on those who were under authority and who were most likely to be mistreated. He talks about citizens, he talks about slaves and he talks about wives.

I find it interesting that when Paul addressed these same social settings in his letters, so the Ephesians and the Colossians, he gave equal time to those in positions of authority. He addressed husbands, he addressed parents, he addressed masters and exhorted them not to abuse their authority, but Peter chose to emphasize the duty of citizens, slaves, and wives to submit to the authorities God placed over them. And the word here, the key word is submit, which is commanded three times. Here we see here in verse 13, submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution. Verse 18, servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect and then in chapter three, verse one, in the same way, you wise, be submissive to your own husbands. Well, today we're going to look at the first of these three commands and in verses 13 to 17, Peter addressed the relationship that Christians are to have with the governing authorities who rule over us.

And while we're supposed to be detached from this world, we are never supposed to disdain or disregard its leaders or its laws. Just because the world is not our home and we are pilgrims who are merely passing through doesn't mean that we have no obligation to the leaders and laws of this world and just because we've submitted our lives to Jesus Christ as our heavenly king, that doesn't mean we don't have to submit to earthly kings and rulers and as exiles here on this earth, we qualify for dual citizenship. We're citizens of heaven and we are citizens of the country in which we live. Philippians chapter three, verse 24, our citizenship is in heaven from which also we eagerly wait for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Take your Bibles and turn back to Jeremiah for a second, and this may seem like a random cross-reference for us in the book of first Peter, but I want you to see something here which I think you'll find helpful. Jeremiah's counsel to God's people during the Babylonian exile I think is instructive for us. Jeremiah chapter 29 verse four, Jeremiah chapter 29 verse four, thus says The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Again, this is after the nation of Judah had rebelled against the Lord and God sent the nation of Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar to come and take them off into exile, and now they're there in Babylon. What are they to do now? Sit in sulk, sit and wait notice verse five, build houses and live in them and plant gardens and eat their produce.

Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters and take wise for your sons and give your daughters to husbands that they may bear, sons and daughters and multiply there and do not dece decrease. Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf for in its welfare you will have welfare. For thus says the Lord of hosts the God vi, do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you and do not listen to the dreams what they dream for. They prophesy falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them declares the Lord for thus says the Lord. When 70 years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill my good word to you to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you to declares the Lord, plans for a welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope, then you'll call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. I'll be found by you declares the Lord and I'll restore your fortunes and will gather you from the nations and from all the places where I've driven you, declares the Lord. Then I'll bring you back to the place where I sent you into exile.

Now, Jeremiah was obviously addressing the nation of Judah here, but in principle I think this provides a helpful example of how we should conduct our lives as exiles while waiting for God to bring us to our heavenly home. He's made some promises to us. In fact, Jesus said, I'm going away to prepare a place for you in my father's house. There are many mansions and if there weren't, I wouldn't tell you, but I'm going to come back and bring you so that we bring you there so we could be there and live there for all eternity. And so we have that hope, we have that promise. And while we wait, what are we supposed to do? Well, we're supposed to live our lives here in this foreign land and we're to have kids and get married and have jobs and go on vacations and pray for our city and our nation, and that's what a good exile does.

Well, back to our text, I think we find more helpful instruction here specifically regarding the duties and the dynamics of our dual citizenship. And in these verses, Peter explained what we as pilgrims are supposed to do that are duties, but also what happens when we do them. This is what I've chosen to call dynamics. And dynamics can be defined as the forces or properties which stimulate growth or change within a system or process. In other words, when we do certain things, when we're faithful to certain duties, certain things happen as a result. Those are the dynamics of our dual citizenship. Well, rather than breaking up our text here or outlining this passage, exegetically just kind of the way it flows here, I've chosen to break it up more logically or thematically and hopefully this will make sense as we go through this. But everything in this passage falls under one of two headings, the duties of dual citizenship verses 13 and 14 and 16 and 17, and then the dynamics of dual citizenship, which is verse 15.

So let's look at first of all the duties of dual citizenship. And Peter begins by giving a very clear command. He says, submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority or to governors that word submit who PSO in the Greek, which means to place yourself under. It's a military term which was used to describe someone falling into rank under someone of higher rank. So a soldier submitting to a superior officer. And so Peter was commanding here. Every believer is to gladly and willingly submit to government of officials who rule or reign over them. And I think this applies to whatever part of the world you're in and whatever form of government you're under, whether it's a dictatorship or a democracy, which is our context here in America, those who exercise authority over us include what federal, state, local leaders who have either been elected or appointed to that position. The president, the vice president, the members of congress, judges, governors, mayors, county commissioners, city council members, school board members, police officers, you fill in the blank. Everyone from the president and on down to us, everybody in between.

And I think again, in principle, this command really applies to anyone who's got his place and authority over us. He says, submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, which would include marriage. So this applies to wives submitting to their husbands, the family, children submitting to parents, the workplace, employees submitting to their boss in the school, students submitting to their teachers, even here in the church members submitting to the elders. You say, what's up with all this authority submission stuff? Well, that's how God ordained and established the world to run. I mean authority, submission, relationships are all over the place. You can't get away from it. Everybody is under some authority of some kind.

In fact, there's authority and submission even within the trinity. If you have issues with it, the son submits to the father and the spirit submits to the son. Again, this is all part of God's design for order instead of chaos. And that's why God instituted government was to maintain order law and order notice. He says here, submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one of authority or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and the praise of those who do right? And so government exists to restrain evil and reward good.

The other main passage that teaches this principle is of course, Romans chapter 13, which we recently studied. Romans chapter 13 verse one, every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority as opposed to the ordinance of God and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil, do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you'll have praise from the same. In other words, if you don't want your heart to jump when the police officer all of a sudden shows up on the side of the road, then go the speed limit, right? But if you freak out like all of a sudden there's a police officer behind you and your heart starts to race, right?

Well, maybe there's a reason for that. He says, for it is a minister of God to do you for good to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid for. It does not bear the sword for nothing. For it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore, it is necessary to be in subjection not only because of wrath, but also for conscience sake, for because of this also you also pay taxes that's relevant right now. April 15th is coming for rulers. Are servants of God devoting themselves to this very thing, render to all what is doing taxed to whom taxes do custom to whom custom fear, to whom fear, honor to whom honor? Another important passage that we should be familiar with is Titus chapter three, Titus chapter three. This is what Paul said to Titus to pass on to the believers on the island of Crete. He said, remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign, no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men.

So there's plenty of evidence in the New Testament that as Christians, we need to be law abiding citizens who honor those men and women that God has placed over us even if we didn't vote for them or didn't like them or don't like them, I should say or don't agree with them. And I think it's good for us to remember that Peter gave this exhortation to Christians who are living during the reign of neuro. And this cruel, corrupt dictator was notorious for slandering Christians and slaughtering Christians. In fact, shortly after Peter wrote this letter, he was put to death by Niro himself.

In other words, our submission to authority does not depend on the moral virtue of those that God has placed over us. And I will add this caveat, I guess while we must obey them, our obedience to them is not unlimited or unconditional. Since the authority of government officials is delegated to them by God, that means it's also limited by God. And if they overstep their divinely delegated authority, I think that is the one exception when we don't have to submit to them. So if anyone in authority over you commands you to do something that God forbids or forbid you from doing something that God commands, you must disobey them in order to obey God. As simple as that, when men's laws contradict or come in conflict with God's laws, civil disobedience is unavoidable and justifiable, viable. And we have lots of examples in the Bible of civil disobedience.

You have the Hebrew midwives back in Exodus chapter one when Pharaohs told them to kill all the boys, right? Because the Jews were populating like so quickly, they were growing, they were afraid of them. So they told 'em, Hey, if it's a boy, kill it. If it's a girl, let it live. Well, that was obviously a violation of their conscience and a violation of the law. And so they chose to not do that and hide these baby boys, Moses being one of them. You've got the resolve of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they were commanded to bow down and worship the statue of Nebuchadnezzar, they said, we're not going to bow. We only bow to one God. And of course they were thrown into the fiery furnace had to deal with the consequences of their decision, but God delivered them as he did. Daniel, in Daniel chapter six, when he refused to stop praying when the decree came out that you could only pray to the king, he said, oh, I don't think so. I'm only praying to God and I'm going to keep doing that and I'm going to do it in full view. I'm going to open up my windows and let everybody see what I'm doing.

And of course, God vindicated him because he was not wrong to defy the king's decree. Even Peter himself models for civil disobedience. You remember back in the book of Acts, Peter knew of what he spoke Here Acts chapter four, he and John were arrested for preaching in in Acts chapter four verse 19, when they were commanded not to speak, teach at all in the name of Jesus. Peter and John answered and said them to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than the God you be the judge for, we cannot stop speaking about what we've seen and heard. And when that happened again, they were rearrested in chapter five, verse 28 and again told not to preach not to share the gospel. In Matthew chapter five verse 28, it says, we gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in his name, and yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. But Peter and the apostles answered, we must obey God rather than men.

And by the way, that may sound valiant, but if you're going to take a stand against the government, you got to be willing and ready to pay the consequences. And in verse 40 it says, after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and then released them. And so they went out on their way from the presence of the council rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for his name. Again, if you're ever in a position where you must obey God rather than men, you need to also be ready prepared to incur men's wrath and be willing to pay whatever penalty they impose on you.

Now as long as I've lived, whenever the subject of civil disobedience comes up, people typically launch into some historical or hypothetical discussions of when and when not to obey those in authority over us. And we talk about the American revolution, hiding Jews during the Nazi regime smuggling Bibles into closed countries. Well, the last two years, covid has been anything but hypothetical. I mean Christians and churches have been forced to do a deep dive into these passages about submitting to governing authorities due to the mandates of the national government along with certain state governments which contradicted clear commands in God's word and violated the consciences of many Christians.

And there's been a slew of books that have just come out in the last couple of years that I've just because I wanted to educate myself more on this subject. So here's one by Matthew Trula, the doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates, a proper resistance to tyranny and a repudiation of unlimited obedience to civil government. Most Christians for years have just said, at least in our generation, oh yeah, if the government says to do it, you got to do it. It was just very simplistic understanding of all these verses. Here's another one, God versus government taking a biblical stand when Christ and Compliance collide. This is a very interesting book. It tells the story of what happened at Grace Community Church out in California along with Grace Life Church up in Canada, where that pastor was arrested for keeping his church open during covid. And very fascinating testimony here, it's another good resource.

Here's one from a friend of mine from South Africa, Tim Cantrell, he's a pastor there and it's called Resisting Tyranny Covid, the church and Christian Duty, very helpful resource. He and his elders, man, they had to go through all sorts of things and even had to go underground as a church to be able to meet in South Africa. And then this is the book that I've spent the most time in. It's called Caesar and the Church, a Biblical Study of Government and Church. This was written by a pastor in Burbank, California who was a smaller church living in the shadow of Grace Community Church. We all heard about Grace Community Church and the stand they took against the governor of California, but this church and this pastor took the same stand and he wrote about it. And as I started reading this book, I had to admit that I had never had thought this deeply before about this sensitive subject, at least as those who pastor churches and states and in countries that place restrictions on them, like not meeting or not meeting indoors or not singing. And I think you'd agree we had it relatively easy here in Texas compared to places like California and Canada and South Africa.

But the point of these books is that when a government oversteps or overreaches, it's God delegated authority and intrudes in the realm of the church, it becomes tyranny and must be opposed. Like the priest stood up to King Siah. Remember that in two Chronicles chapter 26 when the king thought it'd be a good idea to go into the temple and offer the sacrifices and what do those priests do? Oh, he's the king. We got to back off and let him come in and let him do what he wants and tell us what to do. They said, no way, king, you're out of bounds. You got no business being here in the temple. And they oppose them. And of course you know what happened to the king? He ended up getting leprosy, right? God judged him for that. But anyway, just really fascinating to read this book and I think what I found most challenging and convicting were all the quotes they included from Christians throughout church history who had to face the overreach of their government in their day, unlike we really have never had to deal with until perhaps this last Covid pandemic, the recent Covid pandemic, the there's a lot in church history about Christians and churches that took a stand against the government.

For example, here's one quote from a confession back in 1550 and it says this, the magistrate or the king is an ordinance of God for the honor to good works and terror to evil works. Therefore, when he begins to be a terror to good works and honor to evil, in other words, he flips it around, he's no longer honoring the good, but he's promoting evil. There is no longer in him because he does thus the ordinance of God, but the ordinance of the devil. So no longer is he working for God like he was originally intended to be. Now he's working for the devil and he resists such works, does not resist the ordinance of God, but the ordinance of the devil. So it's okay, you're resisting the devil, you're not resisting God at that point. Interesting logic there.

The state is to be an agent of justice, to restrain evil by punishing the wrongdoer and to protect the good in society. When it does the reverse, it has no proper authority. It is then a usurped authority, and as such, it becomes lawless in his tyranny. Acts of state which contradict God's laws are illegitimate and acts of tyranny. Tyranny is ruling without the sanction of God. To resist tyranny is to honor God. The bottom line is that at a certain point there is not only the right but the duty to disobey the state. If the state becomes a terror to those who do good and rewards those who do evil, it is again in flagrant violation of God's command and ordinance. And Christians have at that point a duty to resist an authority that is ceased to be God's deacon.

Maybe I'll just read one more. This is from 1879. Abraham Kiper government should not turn against the nation's religious beliefs that only intensify in times of epidemics. Interesting. Rather, when God's judgment breaks out, the government ought to share in the spirit of awe that stirs the souls before the majesty of God. Rather than prohibiting prayer services, it should itself proclaim a day of prayer. Other words, instead of shutting down churches, they should encourage churches to meet in this way. Its solemn decisions and actions will underscore the impression that as a government, it is powerless to ward off the plague that is visiting the nation and that it knows no better refuge for deliverance than to humble itself before Almighty God.

Fascinating. I would encourage you to consider getting this Caesar in the church by Anthony Forsyth. Well back to our text and we've got a ways to go, so we have to hurry up now, but what should motivate us to submit to the governing authorities? Okay, back to okay, we get that. We get, it's not unlimited, it's not unconditional. There is an exception to the rule, but generally speaking, we are to submit to the governing authorities what should motivate us to do that. Notice he says, submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution. What does that mean for the Lord's sake? Well, number one, I think it means that we honor the Lord by acknowledging that he has sovereignly ordained every leader who was over us and by submitting to them we're ultimately submitting to him. So we're honoring the Lord. It's for the Lord's sake. We obey and we submit these people.

Secondly, I think for the Lord's sake means that we follow the example of the Lord who even though he denounced the sins of those in authority during the time in which he lived here on this earth, he never opposed them or sought to overthrow them, but submitted to them and taught his followers to do the same. He told his disciples to pay their taxes on two occasions. Matthew 17, Matthew 22. I even thought Matthew 26 is a good example about if there was anyone who had the right and the power to overthrow human government, it was Jesus himself. But notice in chapter 26, verse 52, when they came to arrest Jesus and Peter thought, here we go. It's going down right now. Whipped out his sword, cut off the ear of one of the slaves of the high priest, and Jesus said to him, put your sword back in its place for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot appeal to my father and he will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels?

So he was teaching Peter, don't be a zealot, don't be a freedom fighter here. And also for the sake of the Lord or the Lord's sake, I think it's seeking to bring unbelievers to the Lord. The reason why we do this, and we're going to get to that when we get to the verse 15, is the reason why we do this is we want to bring unbelievers to the Lord and by submitting to those in authority over us and acknowledging that it's not about political and social reform, but it's about spiritual transformation. Jesus understood this. Of course, John 18 verse 36, talking to Pilate, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm.

We don't want to make it about the government, we don't want to make it about America. We want to make it about Jesus. Sometimes we get so wrapped up around the axle about America and what's happening to America, our country, that people think it's all about being an American rather than being a Christian. And do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? We're going to see in a couple of weeks how God intended for wives being submissive to their husbands, even if they're disobedient to God's word, that they'll be won over without a word. In other words, the idea is winning here for the Lord's sake, we want you to come to know the Lord for the Lord's sake.

Notice verse 16, act as free men and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond slaves of God. Now, this verse is typically interpreted and implied as a general reference to not using our freedom in Christ to cover up our sin. I've often used it as a cross-reference for this, that when we come to Christ, we're freed from all sorts of things, from captivity to sin and the penalty and the power of sin, the bondage to keeping the law to earn God's favor, the fear of dying, the fear of going to hell. We're liberated from all these things and sometimes this newfound freedom in Christ is abused by Christians to justify some sinful behavior that's unbecoming of those who have been set apart from sin and set apart from this world. And they reason that as long as something isn't sinful, that it's lawful, which becomes an excuse for license or self-indulgence. One Corinthians six 12, Paul says, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

In Galatians five 13. You are called to freedom only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh. One Corinthians eight, nine, take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. Is all that true? Absolutely. But based on the context of this verse, which is submission to authority, it seems to me that what Peter was saying is that while we shouldn't live in bondage to or in fear of civil authorities, we aren't free to rebel against them anytime we feel like it. In other words, this verse is not so much about indulgence as it is about insubordination.

We must never obey civil laws that contradict God's laws. We've already made that point, but at the same time, we must be careful not to break God's laws by acts of resistance or rebellion. Again, this is where it gets a little more tricky, right? We may be free to participate in peaceful protests and file legitimate lawsuits, but under no circumstances should we resort to violence or seek to overthrow the government. And if you look all the way back in church history, that was what the Holy Crusades were all about, that the Christians in Britain or Europe saw the Muslims taking over the Holy Land and they took on the mantle of Old Testament Israel and they were going to go down to Israel and they were going to reclaim the land for Christ. And so as they wrote into conquer the Muslims and slaughter the Muslims, they were singing imprecatory Psalms and becoming violent in the name of Christ. We saw that on a much lesser scale with the Capitol riots, people taking matters into their own hands trying to do violence and overthrow the government. Proverbs 24 21, my son, fear the Lord and the king do not associate with those who are given to change for their calamity will rise suddenly. And who knows what ruin the ruin that comes from both of them in others. Be careful. Don't get involved in some kind of insurrection, people that are mulling around and wanting change to happen because sometimes calamity results from that.

Now again, looking at the example of Paul, I think there are times when setting aside our rights is the best thing to do, and there are other times when insisting on our rights to citizens is the better thing to do. You may remember in Acts chapter 16, Paul was willing to be unlawfully unjustly jailed by the in Philippi. He just went along with it, but he was unwilling to be released without the proper escort. Do a Roman citizen. I'm not about just to walk out of here and with my tail between my legs and sneak out of town. You're going to give me an escort because I'm a Roman citizen and you did me wrong again, when he was arrested on false charges, he used his Roman citizenship to protect himself. Acts chapter 22 and insist on a trial before Caesar Acts chapter 25.

And so honestly, I've never seen this verse in this context before. Act as Freeman and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, I think in regards to how you relate to the governing authorities, but use it as bond slaves of God. We must never forget that we are no longer slaves to sin, but we are slaves of God and the passion of our lives should be to serve and please our master, one Corinthians 7 22, for he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord's freed man, likewise, he who was called while free is Christ's slave. As long as we live as Christ's slave or as slaves of God, I think our relationship with governing authorities will simply fall into its proper place when ultimately we are reporting to submitting to God above all.

Notice how this passage ends in verse 17 for rapid fire commands which are in the present tense, which indicates that we should be doing these things constantly. We should keep honoring all people. We should keep loving the brethren. We should keep fearing God. We should keep honoring the king. What did Peter mean by honor all people? Well, every person is created in the image of God and is worthy of respect and honor, and God wants us to view and to treat our fellow human beings with value and dignity the same way he does. We're not to discriminate against anyone because of their race, their nationality, their economic status. In fact, we're going to see in the next section how in Peter's day there were 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire and under Roman law, they were not considered persons. But commodities I think inherent in this honor, all people we need to keep in mind, even those who are lost and living in rebellion against God are still objects of his love and he desires them to come to repentance. And so we should never view unbelievers with scorn or contempt, nor should we be rude or make snide remarks about who have chosen a sinful lifestyle or who don't share our opinions or our convictions or our beliefs.

And it's easy to get caught up in the culture, especially the conservative culture that trashes everyone who doesn't agree with us. This is what the media does all day long. And I appreciate Steve Veers, who pastors a church in Indiana had to deal with some overreach of their local government in recent months and years ago I heard him say this. He used to tell his people, Hey, turn off rush. Just turn off Rush Limbaugh. Not that he had anything against Rush Limbaugh, his views per se, but his concern was that too many of his people sounded like Rush and they were proud and they were cynical in their attitude like so many of the cultural commentators on the radio and on tv. And so rather than reaching out and providing compassionate care to unbelievers, churches and Christians become self-righteous subcultures that judge and condemn the lost.

So we need to honor all people. And I think Peter had in view unbelievers because his next command is to love the brotherhood. And we know as Christians we're commanded to love all men, but especially we're especially obligated to love our fellow Christians. Galatians six 10 talks about doing good to all men and especially to those who are the household of the faith. It's interesting, Peter never uses the word church in his letters. He uses this term brotherhood, which is his word for the body of Christ. So this includes everybody in the body of Christ. We should be genuinely and actively concerned about those in our local church and as well as those in the universal church.

And we're going to see this is a recurring theme in this letter about the importance of loving the brotherhood. Jesus himself said, this is what distinguishes us as his followers. John 13, verse 34, A new commandment I give to you that you love one another even, even as I've loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. So honor all people, love the brother and fear God. And again, Peter wasn't talking about being afraid of God or cringing in fear before him. He was simply referring to how we approach God and relate to God with an attitude of reverence and awe. He already said this in verse 17 of chapter one. If you address us, father, the one who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct ourselves in fear during the time of first day on earth. So knowing that God is our supreme authority, he's our final judge that we're going to stand before someday, is a powerful incentive to not do anything to dishonor him or displease him. Ecclesiastes 1213, the conclusion when all has been heard, Solomon said is this fear God and keep his commandments because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act of judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it's good or evil.

And then finally he comes full circle back to his initial command that he gave in verse 13. He says, honor the king, honor the king. And I think this is next level submission because what I mean by that is we're not just to submit to those in authority over us, but we're to honor them as well. It's to have a respectful attitude. It's like what we all teach our children. Ephesians six, one and two, children obey your parents and the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother and it will go well with you and you'll live long on the earth. So it's not just the right action, it's the right attitude because you could take out the trash when you're told, but you could do it kicking and screaming and cussing under your breath, right? You're missing the point, right? You not only need to obey your parents, you need to honor your parents. It's an attitude thing. And so he's saying here, we need to have a respectful attitude toward those who are over us and it dishonor the Lord when we dishonor the authorities, he has sovereignty placed over us. Just because we disagree with their political positions or their personal choices doesn't mean we can disrespect them. Even if we're at odds with their policies and their practices, we must still respect their position.

Are you listening? This next little section is particularly convicting for me as I've been thinking through how I've been treating and talking about our present government. Christians should never speak in a derogatory way about any authority, even if we think they're failing miserably. That's what we're talking about here. Honor the king. Don't speak in a derogatory way even if you think they're failing miserably and don't even deserve or belong in that position. And let's be honest, it's easy to bash Biden because if his low approval rating and is tempting to be amused, by the way, so many insult him by chanting, let's go Brandon, but it's a bad testimony when we as Christians badmouth our president or our vice president or the speaker of the house, and I'll be the first to confess, it was very hard to maintain a respectful attitude during the last state of the unit address, having to listen to and watch that unholy trinity of Biden, Harrison Pelosi. And we didn't make it through it. I'm sorry, we turned it off.

What are we saying here? It is one thing to humbly critique our leaders and the decisions they make, and it's another thing to harshly criticize them and constantly chafe under them and complain about them. It's a bad witness for Christ. And what a simple way to stand out in our culture right now while the whole stadium is chanting. Let's go Brandon, and we're deciding to not do that and we're seeking to honor at least the position and somebody might notice, Hey, why aren't you chanting with us? Okay, this is hypothetical now, right? Well, let me tell you why. Because I'm trying to be a good citizen, a good citizen of heaven. I'm actually not from here. I'm actually from heaven. But while I'm here on this earth, I need to do what my king says, which is honor this king, even though I may not agree with him. And I guess the bottom line is if you can't say anything nice about 'em, then just pray for 'em. First Timothy chapter two talks about praying for those in authority. Those are the duties of dual citizenship quickly to dynamics. It's really simple. Verse 15, for such as the will of God, that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.

God wants us to live our lives in such a way that our unbelieving critics have nothing bad to say about us. And if they do, no one will believe the lies that are being told about us. And I've said this already, but back in the first century when Peter was writing all sorts of suspicions were going around about Christians. Lots of unfounded rumors were traveling around the Roman Empire about them. They were falsely accused of holding secret gatherings, of having subversive beliefs, being disloyal or to the present king. They were loyal to another kingdom that they were making plans to lead some kind of insurrection.

But when we submit to the governing authorities and show them honor and respect, we silence those who are saying all these stupid slanderous things about us. Literally, when it says that you may silence the ignorance of foolish men, that word is the word for muzzle. You put a muzzle on 'em, it just shuts them up and it shuts them down. Whether that's in the classroom at your university where you're trying to take a stand for the truth of God's word, whether that's in the boardroom at the oil industry where you're taking more of a young earth view and people are looking at you going, what school did you go to that you graduated from that school? What's your problem? Or maybe the neighborhood in which you live.

And again, what's the point? Not just that they would be shut down and shut up, but they might be saved. Not only will the ignorance of the charges made against you be exposed, but unbelievers will be evangelized. Why? Because it makes our faith credible. I got an update sent to me in my email this week from a missionary in Croatia. In fact, a guy I went to the master's college with, I still remember sitting in the Hotchkiss lounge with this guy. Now he's been faithfully serving the Lord in Croatia for many, many years with his wife, and he was talking about how they were helping evacuate and care for the Ukrainian refugees. All the people that are fleeing Ukraine, they've got a van and they're loading them up and they're taking 'em to safety and helping them get into apartments and places to live. And this is what he said, and I'm just going to quote from his newsletter.

I thought this was so perfect. He said, I went out to check the mail this morning and I met our 79-year-old neighbor in the street as neighbors in our neighborhood do. We greeted one another and chit chatted for a bit in the middle of the street talking about our new Ukrainian neighbors. He and his wife donated some things for their apartment. He then patted my stomach and said, I look forward to a little warmer weather and we can barbecue again. Absolutely. I greet with a chuckle. Whenever you're ready. I then patted his stomach, I'm ready. We laughed and turned to part ways. As he went through his gate, he turned around to look again, and then he called out to me, Hey, I turned around and saw that he wanted to say something more, so I made my way closer to him. I want you to know that what you're doing and helping these poor people come to Croatia is really well, it really is something else. He paused. It's admirable.

My missionary friend said, well, we're just very thankful to God to have this van and our physical ability to do this. I smiled. He said, my hat's off to you, neighbor. But then he got real serious and said this, this means that your faith is not fake. It's real. He no more laughing, no more joking. He was dead serious. He wanted me to know that he understood that our faith, our faith, and the Roman Catholic faith of many around him was very different. This means that your faith is fake. It's not real. The missionary said these words made me think of Matthew five 16, which says, let your light shine before men, that they might see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this text that is so relevant for us in our day and age. There's lots of application for us to work through, and I just pray that we would humbly submit to what your word has told us this morning and that we would seek to live it out for your honor and glory and for the salvation of those around us who were seeking to be a light for.

We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.