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June 29, 2014 |
| Submission | ||
Our society teaches "I'm number one", "stand up for yourself", "fight back", "you have rights", "you deserve better than this", "who is he to say that to you", "don't let him disrespect you like that", "get even." It should not come as a surprise that the Bible teaches the opposite of what the world teaches. Ego is the word we use to describe this sense of our own importance. The world teaches us to take actions to ensure that our egos are not damaged because, after all, we are important - so says the world.
Living in an ego driven society like ours it is hard for us to accept that the Bible teaches submission. Those who can accept it and live it find themselves living like strangers and outcasts. But submission is critically important to the Christian life. Practicing and living submission is in fact how we fight against our egos. Conquering our egos in one area helps us to conquer our egos in other areas. Submission is like the yeast of Luke 13:20-21, it spreads through us and changes us.
In this lesson we will look at what God says through the Apostle Peter about submission.
The first verse in this set is the theme for this lesson but the verse has two parts that I'm going to separate. The first part sets the theme and the second part begins expanding on the theme. We'll take that in two steps.
13 Submit to all the sons of men for the sake of God; […]
These are hard words for Christians to hear; they are crazy words for the world to hear. Yet, Jesus said the same and lived the same. He taught it in words, in examples like the parables about the least being first and he demonstrated it by washing the feet of his disciples.
13 Submit […] to kings, because of their authority,
When you understand that God is in complete control of everything, you see also that he raises up kings, presidents, prime ministers, governors, and all the others in authority over us. He also deposes them as suits his will1. This doesn't mean that he has brought the best people, as we see them, to the job. Instead he has brought the people to the job that we need to learn from, if we will.
If God has given them authority, and he has, then we are to submit to them. This means we are to obey the rules they set down within their authority. The Bible says it this way in Romans 13 "2 Whoever therefore stands against the authority stands against the decrees of God, and these who stand against them shall receive judgment."
There is an exception to this when the rules they set down conflict with God's rules. God's rules always trump man's rules. Therefore if a ruler creates laws that are against God's laws we are not to follow the ruler's laws. This will likely bring us into conflict with the law.
We have a fine example of this from Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from Daniel 3. The king commanded that everyone would bow down and worship him, which was against God's commands. Their response was to disobey that command.
In such a circumstance we may think we are justified in trying to remove that person from office through illegal means. Nowhere in these verses nor in Romans 13:1-2 is a justification made for rising up against the authorities that God has put in place. The theme we do see is that God has raised them up; God will depose them.
This submission to authority applies even to the regulations that those in authority have created for driving our cars. It is an ego in control that says "You need to break the speed limit to get to the meeting on time." It is a rebellious spirit that says "The speed limit is 40 but the police won't stop me if I'm going 43." It is arrogance that says "There is no one at the 4-Way Stop so I won't stop" or "the speed limit is unreasonably slow here." Practicing submission is poison to the ego and to its fruits which are rebellion and arrogance.
We don't encounter tax laws, property laws, or most other laws every day, but most of us encounter driving laws every day. The foremost and most obvious of these is speed limits. Therefore this is a daily opportunity to practice submission. This practice will benefit us in other areas of our lives.
Also remember that we do not submit to the law because it is the law, nor because the law was made by people given authority by God, but because that's what God expects our hearts to desire if we are his.
14 and [submit to] judges, because they are sent by him for the punishment of wrongdoers and for the praise of the workers of good.
Neither judges nor anyone else gives you a star for following the rules. The praise from judges comes when the judge decides that the other party has done wrong. The praise you receive because you have done what was right is implied praise. It is the satisfaction that the judge said you did what was right. It is also the satisfaction you get when you see the police have stopped the guy who blew past you on the highway.
But even if the judge decides against you unjustly and you have no hope of appeal, you are to submit to the judge. What does this mean for us? We must respect his judgment. Saying the judge was wrong is rebellion against his authority - you make yourself a judge over him.
15For it is the will of God in this way that by your excellent works you may shut the mouths of fools - those who do not know God,
Notice how Peter is referring to acts of submission as examples of excellent works. Also note that when we live lives of submission there is no fault that anyone can successfully bring against us. Such lives stand out as being beyond criticism and leave the un-Godly with nothing to say.
Peter now takes a small side trip to make sure his readers haven't misunderstood.
16 As free children, and not as persons who make their liberty a cloak for their evil, but as servants of God.
By saying "free children" he is talking about those who live under the grace and forgiveness paid for by Jesus' sacrifice. He wants to make sure that those who live under this liberty do not use it as an excuse or opportunity to do evil. This is a concept that we now call "Cheap Grace."2, "the teaching that the call to salvation does not also include a call to repentance and holy living […] that one cannot have Jesus as Savior without also acknowledging Him as Lord"3. So Peter is talking about people who call Jesus their savior but use his grace to excuse their evils.
Peter introduces two ideas here that conflict, that we should live "as free children" and also as "servants of God". The world likes to think that it is free to do what it wants and therefore it is free, but we understand that true freedom is having the freedom to choose but choosing what God wants. That is what Peter is getting at here.
17 Honor every person, love your brethren, worship God and honor kings.
Peter sums up this section by restating his original point. Honor everyone, which includes everyone in the world. Love those who are brothers in the faith. Peter also wants to make sure that we understand that Kings are not to be worshipped, only honored.
Peter now continues with other examples of submission.
18 To those who are servants among you: submit to your masters in reverence, not only to the good and to the meek, but also to the severe and to the perverse;
19 For such servants have grace before God who, for the sake of a good conscience, endure distresses which come upon them by The Evil One.
Servants, which also includes slaves, are to submit to their masters. In a country that is still trying to recover from a time of slavery these are hard words to hear. Slavery in that time had a function in society and there were rules. You couldn't just go to another town and grab someone and declare that person to be your slave. There were various ways that people became slaves in that time, one of which was to sell yourself into slavery. Servants were really contract (limited term) slaves.
Peter is saying that it's easy to submit to a master who treats his servants and slaves well. But God's will is that they submit, even to their masters who mistreat them.
Because of the abolition of slavery we can't take much from these verses, only that we also have grace before God when we endure mistreatment that comes upon us. But even there Peter wants to make sure we understand correctly what he means so he clarifies in the next verse.
20 But what honor is it to those who endure suffering because of their foolishness? But when you do what is good and they afflict you and you endure, then it magnifies your honor with God.
If someone endures through suffering received because of his own evils, that's on him, there is no honor before God for enduring that. If you were stopped for speeding, even though you endure the officer, the judge, and the penalty in all humility, there is no honor before God for that. You shouldn't have been speeding.
Peter now comes to the foundational concept for submission.
21 For you are called to this, for even The Messiah died for our sake and left us this example, that you would walk in his steps, 22 he who did no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth; 23 He who was insulted and did not insult, and he suffered and did not threaten, but he handed his judgment over to the judge of righteousness.
The foundational concept is that Jesus is our role model, our example, in everything. The life he lived should be the life we try to live. He lived a perfect life yet he was insulted and mocked but did not return insults. He was crucified and did not threaten or curse. Instead of returning evil for evil he left the judgment up to God the Father.
Moving into chapter 3 Peter begins another example of submission. This is another one that is hard for some of God's people to hear but is pure lunacy to the world.
1 In this way, also, you women, submit to your husbands, that you may win without labor those who do not obey the word by your beautiful way of life, 2 when they see that you conduct yourselves in reverence and discretion.
God created man, woman, and marriage. He knows what works best and he says that it works best when the woman submits to the man. The world does not see it this way of course. In a few verses Peter will also have some words for men.
Peter begins this chapter with the words "in this way" showing that he is drawing a parallel with what he has just said. He means that what he said about others submitting also applies in this case.
Peter's particular point here is that, by living a life in submission, reverence, and discretion a woman can win a non-Christian or back-sliding man for God.
3 Do not be adorned with outward ornaments of your hair braids or of gold jewelry or fine clothing, 4 but be adorned in the secret person of the heart and in a humble spirit which is uncorrupted, an excellent ornament before God.
Peter's message is to not focus on dressing up your outward self but instead focus on dressing up your inward self, your immortal soul. He says, dress it up with a humble spirit that never fades or perishes - an ornament that God finds excellent.
This idea of dressing up the inner self in ways that are imperishable can also be understood in a different way. Outward beauty does not last for most people. Slowly the aging process takes it away. This is also true for men. A few men grow distinguished as they grow older but most become fat, bald, and dumpy. So a marriage should be built on two people's love for the inner selves of their spouses not the outer selves.
5 For in this way from the first, the holy women who hoped in God were adorning their souls and they submitted to their husbands, 6 just as Sarah was subject to Abraham and was calling him, "My lord", whose daughters you are by good works, when you are not shaken with any fear.
By this Peter is saying that he isn't telling them anything new. It has been this way since Sarah who showed her submission by referring to Abraham as "My Lord". "You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear"4
Submission does not mean slavery. A woman is a partner in the marriage even though each person has a different role. Now Peter has a few words for the men.
7 And you men, in this way dwell with your wives by knowledge, and hold them in honor as weaker vessels, lest you be subverted in your prayers, because they also inherit the gift of eternal life with you.
A wise husband will honor and care for his wife and consider her in all things. He should do this for fear that his prayers will be wasted or even turned against him. He should also remember you are both heirs of the gift of eternal life.
8 But the conclusion is that you should all be in harmony; suffer with those who are suffering, love one another, be merciful and humble. 9 And you should not repay a person evil for evil, neither insults for insults; but to the contrary of these things, give blessings, for you are called to this, that you would inherit blessing.
Submission is not part of our nature and the world surely does not teach it, but submission is centrally important to the Christian walk. Submission to God's will of course but God's will requires that we submit in other ways, which we have discussed in this lesson. Specifically we've covered submission
We submit in these things not just because it is God's will but also because it allows us to grow and our egos to shrink…
1 Daniel 2:21, John 19:11, Romans 13:1
2 from The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian, published in 1937
3 http://www.gotquestions.org/cheap-grace.html#ixzz35xHbBe8T
4 NIV