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Subject to Caesar (1 Peter 2:13-17)

Scott Kercheville
12/13/20 - Sun AM

For thousands of years people have lived under the mediocre and often oppressive reigns of the kings of earth. But the prophets have promised for a long time that a trustworthy king will come to truly do justice. And he has finally come — Jesus Christ. When the first Christians gave their worship and allegiance to Jesus and his kingdom, the world quickly realized that the reign of King Jesus rivaled the reign of Caesar. Jesus was building an unstoppable Kingdom, inheriting the nations and instructing all kings to bow before him, but that’s what Caesar was trying to do too. And as Christians began hoping in the justice that King Jesus would bring, they started seeing the insufficiencies and evils of Caesar and his cohorts — as we do today. 

What should they do about that? How should Christians relate to the powers over us in this age while we hope in the government of Jesus? Let’s read 1 Peter 2:13-17 and see four points. (1) Be subject. (2) Use your freedom for slavery. (3) Love, fear and honor. (4) Silence the ignorance.

1. Be Subject and Do Good (vs. 13-15a)

Peter instructs us plainly and simply to be subject to all these human powers over us. It may be a king or a president, a dictator or a governor, a policeman or a tax collector. Regardless, we are to live in subjection to them and do good. Later, he tells us to honor them.

This is easy to say in theory, but this quickly becomes challenging when we don’t feel like governments are doing what they are supposed to do. That can be extra difficult because we can vote and we have the right to free speech. Think about it. We are sojourners, visitors and exiles, and yet our vote and the right to free speech can give us this feeling of power in a way that most Christians haven’t ever had. In theory, this would be great since we can vote for people we think will do justice. But it also means we can be easily manipulated. Furthermore, most Christians have always just prayed for God’s kingdom to come, but it is possible that our vote and free speech could put us in an impatient mindset. We want justice now. Maybe we rise up, rebel, take matters into our own hands.

But Peter focuses us: be subject and do good. I wonder if it was easier for Christians to just be subject, honor their leaders and focus on doing good — doing justice and showing kindness to the people outside their front door — when they had no say in who led them. To be clear, I speak and I vote. But let’s recognize that these rights come with a challenge. These rights can lead us to hope more in the kingdoms of this world than we recognize. These rights can cause us to lose focus on real, tangible ways that people’s lives can be impacted.

Family, it has never been easy for Christians to be subject. Not long before Peter wrote this letter, the Emperor Claudius had ordered that all the Jews leave Rome, probably because he perceived they were the cause of unrest. And they had to go. From an earthly perspective, they lost everything.

But Peter motivates us to be subject in two ways. First, he says the emperor sends governors to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good. I am painfully aware that there is corruption and injustice even in our governments here. But, as one writer put it, “Even the most oppressive governments ... hold evil in check to some extent, preventing society from collapsing into complete anarchy.” No, it’s not the perfection of God’s justice. But it’s something.

Second, Peter says in verse 15 that it is the will of God that we be subject. We might be thinking that if we participating in this riot or revolt that we working for real justice and we are going to make things better for the sake of God’s name. We aren’t. What God wants us to do in his name is to be subject and do good. We don’t have to trust them. But we obey them.

Now, of course, that does have a limit. We may find that limit in our lives. We will not stop praying, singing, preaching, reading God’s word and assembling. We will not stop spreading the good news. We will not change our teaching based on societal norms. But we will be subject.

2. Use Your Freedom for Slavery (vs. 16)

Peter tells us to live as people who are free. This contrasts with Peter’s later conversation about slaves in verse 18. We like our freedom here. We aren’t just in America where we are free from the Brits, we are in Texas where we are free from everyone and everything.

But notice what Peter says. “Not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil…” Isn’t that precisely what the world does? The world claims we are all free so we can do what we want to do. I can say what I want, live where I want, spend my time and money how I want, and sleep with who I want. But just because we have freedoms — just because it is legal — doesn’t mean it isn’t evil.

If we want real freedom, that’s found in doing what Peter says next. “Live as people who are free... as servants [or slaves] of God.” The means of true freedom is actually slavery. God has released us from being slaves to our passions, pleasures and selfish mindsets. But freedom does not mean, “Do whatever I want because this is ‘Merica.” That’s the same as the old slavery — selfishness. We are to use our freedom to become God’s slaves. And by the way, when we promote that people should do, spend, sleep with and worship whomever they want, we promote their slavery.

Do we fully grasp the idea of being God’s slaves? I think we can be so used to always getting a say in things that we can forget that when it comes to God, this isn’t a democracy. He’s the master and we are the slave. Our world has a real problem with accepting anyone’s authority over us — let alone God’s. It blew my mind how much disagreement, disrespect and disobedience people got away with when I worked in the restaurant industry. The world’s problem with authority can effect us. We can start to paint God as someone who has no interest in being our master. Fellow slaves, we don’t have a choice. God doesn’t intend for us to be mindless followers, but if God says jump, we say “How high?”

But take cheer! Slavery to God is not a negative. We are going to be slaves of someone — whether to Satan via our own passions or to God via his eternal purpose. Slavery to God is meant to grant us peace and freedom. In the Law of Moses slaves were supposed to be freed every 7th year. But there was a provision for slaves who loved their masters. They could freely choose of their own will to be a slave of their master forever. The master would take the slave to the door and pierce his ear as a signal that he would stay there forever. 

Let’s be sure we don’t fight our master and long for the wrong kind of freedom. No matter how much freedom the government gives us, freedom and legality give no one an excuse for evil; we use our freedom to become slaves of God. Some ramifications of that are found in verse 17.

3. Love, Fear and Honor (vs. 17)

We are to honor everyone. We don’t just honor people we think deserve it. Every single person was created in the image of God, and that demands respect for all: man or a woman, rich or poor,  well-educated or not, red-brown-yellow-black-or-white, Republican, Democrat, Independent, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim. We may not agree with them and often times we shouldn’t. But we should honor them. Be kind. Treat them with respect. May I add — it is especially when we disagree with them that we should be careful to show honor. We are not “more equal” than anyone. By the way, we are to honor waiters, store clerks and customer service agents.

But we love the brotherhood. Here, there is to be an even deeper affection that we are building for one another. In a year when we have been driven apart by the pandemic, I hope we will see so clearly that God has purposed that we be united together in a bond of love. I know we all feel it: love isn’t virtual. As we start moving towards normalcy, let us take these words seriously, put our differences aside and love the brotherhood. Love the brothers and sisters here and elsewhere. Let’s get in one another’s lives and enjoy community together, serve one another, counsel and encourage one another. Let’s weep and rejoice with one another.

Finally, we are to fear God and honor the emperor. Sometimes Caesar does and says things that may make us afraid, but God is the one we are to fear. But Peter specifies that we are to honor the emperor out of all people because there can be such a temptation to dishonor and disrespect authorities. We don’t agree with them. We didn’t vote for them. They said something foolish the other day. Their policies are poor. But we honor them. We don’t slander them. We may disagree with them, but brothers and sisters, can’t we disagree nicely? Disagree, but don’t be disrespectful!  If we resist or even dishonor governing authorities, Paul tells us in Romans 13 that we ought to remember we are resisting what God has appointed. 

4. Silence the Ignorance (vs. 15)

The center of this passage in verse 15 offers us one reason why all this is so important. We are exiles, foreigners, sojourners. We aren’t like everyone else. People who are different stick out and are often misunderstood, made fun of and even falsely accused. The world is going to say foolish stuff about Christians and we ought not give them a good reason to do it.

But we are Christians! How could people get the wrong idea about us? It’s easy. We profess to worship the man who will one day be king of everything. We profess that one day we will no longer be underdogs, but victors reigning alongside the king. We profess that there is a coming judgment. People might think we hate our leaders, that we think they are illegitimate, that we don’t appreciate anything they do. They might think we would prefer completely disconnecting from society and that we would prefer anarchy. But that’s not what we want. We hope in the government of God, but we recognize that God has put these powers here in this age for a reason.

If we don’t want people to get the wrong idea about us, that means we should be careful how we talk. The gospel is shocking, radical and offensive enough, we don’t need to add extra offense to it. Let’s speak boldly and clearly about what Christians believe, but carefully, respectfully and lovingly so people don’t misunderstand us and think we are something we are not. Don’t try to be so clever that we forget to be kind.

When our Lord Jesus was before Pilate and Herod he was almost silent. He didn’t respond to most of their questions because responding would have meant he agreed to the terms of the game they were playing in the first place. He was so bold in other situations to speak the truth, but when he was on trial, he let the power of a quiet, respectful attitude do the talking.

But let’s hear Peter’s words: if we will focus on being subject and doing good, the foolish talk with be silenced in the long run. That’s the challenge of these votes and this free speech. I imagine it could be a blessing, but more and more I’m struggling to see that. It can cause us to pick and wholly identify with a dog in a fight that is only one by laying your life down. It can distract us from real, tangible action. What if we put all that energy we lost into political conversations into conversations about our hope in King Jesus and actions that show his love to the people around us. Let’s not see it as our life’s aim to get a particular president in power, but to show the power and love of King Jesus in our lives by helping our actual neighbors.

Conclusion

We are foreigners living under powers that are completely foreign to our way of thinking. But God has called us to live in subjection to them and to honor them along with all people. The day may come where they may try to make us fear them, but we will fear God alone. But while we still live as free people, let us faithfully live as God’s slaves. For then, we will be free. For then, Caesar and the powers he has sent will not see us as evil, but they may actually even praise us as those who do good. I offer this reminder from Jeremiah. “But 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 find your welfare” (Jer. 29:7 ESV). Be subject. Honor everyone. Do good. Silence the foolishness.