Sunday, July 10, 2016

Pilgrims in a Fallen World: On Respecting Police and Kings I Peter 2:13-17

Following Jesus in a Fallen World
I Peter 2:13-17
Introduction: This week we saw someone who decided that his answer to cases of apparent injustice that were revealed through media reports, that intentional violence against police in Dallas would be a valid response. So twelve policemen were shot, five of them killed. My father was a policeman in New Jersey during the riots in the mid 1960s. As a young boy I remember him going on duty, to help preserve order and keep the peace in the midst of protests. And I remember being afraid if he would come home that night. He was not perfect in what he did on the job. But he was my dad.  Where fallen humans like us are asked to put on a uniform and preserve order there will always be isolated cases of prejudice and injustice, and even cases of people becoming frustrated and losing their temper, maybe even some abusing their authority. And those things need to be investigated and addressed. But violence against the police is a step toward anarchy. Where would we be without the “thin blue line” between us and the criminal element?  Every time these guys put on a uniform, every time they walk up to the window of a car or investigate a complaint in a home or a place of business they put their lives on the line — for us. They deserve our support and our respect, and as Christians, they deserve our prayers…
       In an election year with perhaps less than exciting options before us we may wish we had more options! Even so we can find comfort in remembering we are pilgrims and exiles, and we know and are known by the King of kings! He knows your name! He knows your every thought! Last week in our “God and Country Day” service, Carroll Conley reminded us from I Timothy 2:1-4 of our obligation to pray for those who are in authority over us. That seems like the Christian thing to do!  Today, “just by chance,” as we return to our study in I Peter, we are reminded further of our obligation to government.  Not only are we to pray for those in authority, but we are to respect and submit to them as well.  This section in I Peter will deal with some sticky issues, and a dominant part of that is submission to those in authority. He starts talking about the king and governors, he will talk about respecting our supervisors and employers in the workplace, he will talk about line of authority in the family, and he will even talk about the authority that God delegates to leaders in the church.  The point is that we recognize God as the ultimate authority, and our conduct “among the gentiles” will lay a foundation for our witness and for the mission of God.
The Maine* Idea: Voluntarily acknowledge and accept every authority God has put in your life... including government.
I. Believers are to respect and submit to government authorities for the sake of the Lord (13,14).
13 Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme,  14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 
       The call to “be subject” or to “submit yourselves” to all human authorities has its roots in the idea that God has delegated authority to certain people and institutions to maintain order and to make it possible for Christians to carry out His mission in the world. It  is a military expression (hupotassōliterally meaning “to arrange in formation under the commander.” (MacArthur,  First Peter).  As armies have a line of command, so God has ordained government to bring order in society (see Rom 13:3,4). I remember Dr. Dobson telling the story of a stubborn little boy who finally gave in and sat down at the table. Then he announced, “I’m sitting down on the outside, but I’m standing on the inside!” With my dad I wouldn’t have been able to sit after that!  Peter is talking about submission that is not the result of compulsion, but stems from the recognition that God is in control, and that no one has authority unless He allows it.
       Remember that as we have been reading I Peter, at least three times the apostle already has reminded his readers that they are exiles, sojourners, and pilgrims in this world. How then are they (and we) to live?  Remember the previous verses,
11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.  12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation… (I Peter 2:11,12).
600 years earlier, the prophet Jeremiah was writing to the nation that would soon be swept into exile. This is how he told them they should live during their time in exile in Babylon (Jer 29:4-14):
4 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:  Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 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. For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD. "For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.  For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart,  I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile... (Jer 29:4-14).
They are to build houses and have children and plant gardens, they are to make it their home while they are there.  We were not exiled to Brazil when we went there as missionaries. But we were foreigners, resident aliens. It did put us in an odd position, especially after our first five year term. We owned no property in the US (or Brazil).  We always lived in church or mission owned housing!  By the time we came on our first furlough, Sarah said something like, “I don’t want to leave home!” For her, home was where we lived, not where we were returning. We asked ourselves that question a few times over the years, and Mary Ann always determined to make a “home” wherever we were. We are thankful that now “home” is in Boothbay! Jeremiah told his countrymen that they were not only to make a home, but notice v.7 again,  
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.
As we heard last week from Carroll Conley as he shared from I Timothy 2:1-4, they were to pray for those in authority, they were also to seek the good of the country to which God had sent them! Yes, we are citizens of heaven, we are pilgrims, but this country is our home (for now!) and we are called to pray for our leaders and seek the welfare of this place.  Remember, God is in control, He is sovereign, the Lord of history.  As Paul said in Rom 13:1,  Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God…” So we should voluntarily acknowledge and accept every authority God has put in your life... including government.
II. Being a good and respectful citizen is one way that we silence accusers and give a good witness (15).
15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
       Verse 15 begins with the phrase, “For this is the will of God…” That should get our attention! We all want to know God’s will and do God’s will if we are His children. We want to obey Father, not because we are afraid He will hurt us if we don’t, but because we know our rebellion will hurt Him.  Remember this passage immediately follows verse 12 where we read,
12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
This is one more way that our conduct among the nations is revealed to be honorable, one of the “good deeds” that characterize us, and so “silence the ignorance of foolish people” and ultimately bring glory to God.  Paul gave similar instruction to Titus as to how he was to admonish the believers in Crete to live:
Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,  2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.  3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another (Titus 3:1-3).
Fallen humanity rebels against authority. That is our sinful nature. As new creatures in Christ we are to respect authority, including government authority.  Peter would one day be put to death by Nero, the emperor, yet here he is saying the submitting to kings and governors is one way that we silence the ignorance of foolish people. This is the will of God.
       Like some of you I’ve felt a little discouraged at times at how the primary process has gone in this presidential election year. It could be worse!  This week a former classmate at WTS who recently returned to Australia after about 30 years in the US voted for the first time in his country of birth after so many years.  He posted last week about his voting options included 121 candidates to choose between in last week’s senate election! Nothing as boring as our two party system for the aussies! Some options included: the Pirate Party, the Australian Cyclists Party, the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, the Family First Party, the Secular Party of Australia, the Australian Christians Party, the Rise Up Australia Party, the Australian Sex/Marijuana Party, the Mature Australia Party, the Animal Justice Party, the Renewable Energy Party, the voluntary euthanasia party, the Australian Motoring Enthusiasts party, the Non-custodial parents party, and the upgrade Democracy party!  Our choices are a lot more limited. But be comforted that God is in control. Be informed. Vote as wisely and prayerfully as you can. And respect (and pray for) those in authority.  That’s the Maine Idea: Voluntarily acknowledge and accept every authority God has put in your life... including government.
III. We are free, not to do whatever we wish, but to serve God by serving others (16).
 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.
       Freedom is something we cherish. The New Hampshire state motto says, “Live free or die!” In Maine it’s “the way life should be!” And if we are in Christ we are free, just as the Lord said, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, you are free indeed!”  How has Christ made us free?  First of all, we are no longer slaves of sin,
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin (Rom 6:6).
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death (Rom 8:2).
Related to that idea, we are no longer slaves to Satan…
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (I Jn 4:4).
His point is that we are no longer in bondage to sin, we are not slaves of Satan or in bondage to our fallen nature.  We are free. Not free to sin, God forbid. We are free to live in a way that brings glory to God. We are free to obey, free to choose righteousness. Freedom is not license to sin. We are free to serve God, by serving others. And so we are to voluntarily acknowledge and accept every authority God has put in your life... including government.
IV. Respect for human authorities flows from our reverence for God, the ultimate authority (17).
       Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
     Peter makes a general, overarching statement first: “honor everyone.” Respect each person, recognize they too are created in God’s image, however hard it might be to see. They have value. Yes, ALL LIVES MATTER.  Humans are unique, and all human life is precious.  Our Declaration of Independence agrees that “All men [all humans] are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights…” Race, nationality, social standing, income, people are people. They deserve respect.
       “…love the brotherhood…”  What is true of our attitude toward all people, takes on a deeper, more personal element among believers in Jesus. It stems from the Lord’s own words in John 13:34-35,  
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
Peter has called his readers to this already in 1 Peter 1:22, Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart…”
John speaks about it repeatedly in his first letter, for example in 1 John 4:7-12,   
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.  10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
We are to honor all, love the brethren, and thirdly “…fear God…” We’ve spoken enough about that that we needn’t dwell here. God is God, our creator, the all-powerful, awesome, infinite King of the Universe. We are His creatures; once lost and in darkness but now brought near by the blood of Christ. We tremble when we grasp that, but not because we are afraid, rather because, by His grace, we are His (I Jn 3:1). As Peter said a few verses back, in 1 Peter 2:9-10,
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession… Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy…”
          So it is proper for us to “fear God.” Paul put it this way to the Philippians...


12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,  13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.  14 Do all things without grumbling or questioning,  15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world... (Philippians 2:12-15).
And He, the Lord of the universe, the absolute authority to whom we owe everything, has delegated authorities in the world, and He calls us to “…honor the emperor…”  Carroll reminded us last week of who the emperor was from the mid-50s to the mid-60s A.D., Nero. Whatever authority he has, it is because God has allowed it. So honor the emperor.
What is God saying to me in this passage? Voluntarily acknowledge and accept every authority God has put in your life... including government.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage?  We’ve seen a change in our country since 9/11 and more people, when they see a veteran or active duty military, they will thank them for their service. That is respectful and good, and a few veterans have told me it means a lot to them. The law enforcement officers need to be reminded too that we are thankful for what they do to keep order, and to keep us safe. We respect them and should be highly appreciative. Show it, and say it if you agree. God gave us government, let’s respect the authorities He has established.     AMEN.

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