Be A Model Citizen (1 Peter 2.13–17)

In this passage from 1 Peter chapter 2, the main idea is that Christians should submit to every human authority for the Lord's sake. This means obeying and respecting those in power, whether they are good or bad. The purpose of this submission is to honor Christ and be a model citizen. However, there is a caveat. If the authorities are using their power in an abusive or sinful manner, Christians may need to actively fight against unrighteousness, while still representing Christ and being respectful. The overall message is to submit to authority, but also to honor and respect everyone. Open your Bibles in 1 Peter chapter 2 and we are going to read verses 13 to 17. Verse 13, Submit yourselves, for the Lord's sake, to every human authority, whether to the emperor as a supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong, and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil. Live as God's slaves. Show proper respect to everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Let us pray, dear God. Thank you for this opportunity we have once again to open your word and to meditate. May your spirit speak to us. Thank you. We pray for these things in the name of our Lord. Amen. It is interesting how God works things providentially. We've been studying this first epistle of Peter for quite some time, and I've never planned to preach these verses on July 4. I didn't. As a matter of fact, I was going to preach this passage on Father's Day, but the Lord put in my heart, you know, you need to talk to the men of the church. So I set aside this passage, the sermon was mostly done, and I began to write another sermon that Friday afternoon, which was a very long Friday and a very long Saturday. And I spoke to the men on Father's Day, not knowing that God in His sovereignty was arranging and moving all the pieces so that today on July 4, I get to preach this passage to you. This is a very important passage. It's misunderstood sometimes, or taken, I don't want to say literally, but we should take it literally. But sometimes we take some parts of the commandment, but other parts we don't. And Christians throughout the ages have used this passage to make political statements, and things like that. This morning, I do not want to talk about politics. You know, in this church, I refuse to talk about politics. That's not the place of the church and of the pulpit. Sometimes we misuse the Bible. So my hope is to explain and to study this passage with clarity, to the best possible way, at least the best way I understand it, as I've worked through it, studying and examining the different words and the different constructions, grammatical constructions, there are a few of them that are very important. This passage, above all things, is not about submitting to the authority. Yes, the main imperative in verse 13 is that, submit to your authorities. This passage, above all things, is about being a model citizen. Not just in regard to the authority, but in regard to everybody. Notice that verse 13 says, submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human authority. But verse 15 says, it is God's will that by doing good, you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. And then 16, leave us free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil. Leave us God's slave. Show proper respect to everyone. So that's the first thing that we must say. This passage is not about only submitting to the authorities. It's about actually honoring everybody. Everybody. The authorities and your fellow human being. So that's the premise, honoring everybody. And how that breaks up within the different strata of our society, we'll look at that in a minute. How many of you have read the Pilgrim Progress or heard about it? It's one of the most beautiful books written by a Puritan preacher, John Bunyan. Who went to jail because he was a stubborn preacher. And the state wanted to quiet him down, the authorities. And he did not submit to the authority. He continued preaching and he was jailed. I quote him because this passage, submit yourself to the authority, is not an absolute white-blanketed passage. There are conditions and we look at that. And any thoughtful Christian understands that. And John Bunyan did. While in prison, John Bunyan wrote this beautiful metaphor, if you want to call it that way. Similar to this, the Pilgrim's Progress. And the Pilgrim's Progress, it's about Christian. Christian traveling to the heavenly city. And he's going to face several obstacles on his way. In this book, John Bunyan describes how Christian and faithful travel through the world to the celestial city by way of Vanity Fair. By way of Vanity Fair. Okay, by way of Vanity Fair. And as they reach Vanity Fair, both Christian and faithful, they are seized because they are not interested in the wares for sale, but only in truth. The point of the Pilgrim's Progress is that, and John Bunyan rightly, to a certain extent, understand that Christians, we Christians, are foreigners and aliens in this world. And that's what Christian is. He's a pilgrim and he's traveling to his home. But because he's a pilgrim, John Bunyan describes Christian as someone who has no interest for this world. When he goes to Vanity Fair, they are not interested in the wares for sale, but only in truth. However, that representation of a Christian is not completely accurate, as much as I like the book. Based on passages such as the one we just read, Bunyan thought that since Christians are aliens and foreigners, they should not want anything to do with this world. Is this, however, a true representation of what it means to be a Christian? The answer of this question is a definitive no. Both truths are clearly taught in this passage. On the one hand, Christians are to be aliens and pilgrims in this world. That is, we are to maintain a different lifestyle from the rest of the world that results from a different worldview. We have a different mindset. We have a different belief system. We have a different way of life. And we must separate ourselves, set aside from the sinful practices of this world. In that sense, we are aliens and pilgrims. And by the way, Peter's readers were not just metaphorically aliens and pilgrims. As you would remember, they were literally foreigners in the land. They were refugees, literally. They had escaped, they've been driven out of their land, and now they are scattered across the Roman Empire. And they are literally aliens, pilgrims, refugees, without anything. Rejected and ostracized because both of their belief system, but because of their non-citizen status. Maybe we don't like to hear that, but that's the case of Peter's readers on this epistle. But Peter takes advantage of their real situation to explain a spiritual truth. Just like you are a refugee right now and a foreign alien in this Roman Empire, so you are in this world. We're aliens. Our citizenship is in heaven. That is true. Therefore, we should not get in love with the practices of this world. And young Bunyan in The Pilgrim's Progress gets that right. However, that does not mean that we are not to be engaged with the affairs of this world. And that is the point that Peter is going to make today. We are to be actively engaged with this world. And the way we are supposed to do this is by being a model citizen. So, the way I understand the metaphor is sort of like me. I don't mean to give this as a bad example, but I want you to understand. Here's more or less how I think Peter is thinking. You see, I entered this country one time as a foreign citizen. I was a foreign and a resident alien. I was born in Peru, if you didn't know that. I know it's hard to tell because of the pristine way I speak English, right? But I was born in Peru, came here, enter, and I was a foreign alien. There were things that I could not do. I couldn't do certain things because I didn't have a U.S. passport. I am an American citizen, by the way, legally, having followed all the right steps, okay? Just to make sure there. So, I was an alien. That's what Peter has in mind. At the same time, he understands his readers that even though they are aliens, they have to develop this love for this country, even though it might be against them and different things. They have to develop this love for this country, and sort of they have to reacquire that relationship with this country. And that's what I did. I developed a love for this country. American has been nothing but good to me. Very good to me. And I love the culture and different things. There are some things that I, you know, I would like to change, but hey, that's what it is, right? We all do that. So, and I love my wife, and I had to love her tradition and her culture. So, I did. I reacquired this. I sort of became a citizen. We're not told this in the text, but I think that's sort of the best illustration that Peter has in mind here. You are an alien. So, in certain regards, you want to be an alien. You don't want to have anything to do with certain things, but on another regard, you have to revive this love for this world. You have to resubmit for citizenship or something, but in this regard. So, something like that, I think. It's not a perfect analogy, but I hope you get what I'm trying to say. And that's what Peter says. So, on the one hand, we have to separate ourselves. We have to be foreign and aliens, but on the other hand, we have to be engaged with this world. And we're supposed to do this by becoming a model citizen. Both things are true in the scripture and in this passage. Christians are to be strangers as pilgrims, so far as the sinful ways of life in this world is concerned. But where it is a case of doing good, they are to take an active part as model citizens. That's in the text. Peter is going to challenge us with the following imperative. Be a model citizen for the sake of Christ. And how do we do that? Simply, respect the authorities and honor everyone. It's simply stated. It's very complicated to apply. Complex. There are many nuances. And I don't want to give you the impression that just because there's a statement, it is this simple. There's a lot of nuances that we need to understand. And I hope, with the help of the Spirit, to help understand some of these things. The first thing we come, and it's very evident in the passage, is that as Christians, we are to submit to the authorities, for they do God's work. And that's what we're told. You come to verse 13, Peter writes, Submit yourselves, for the Lord's sake, to every human authority, whether to the emperor, and to the supreme authority, or to governors who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong, and to commend those who do right. So, as you can see, the command is straightforward. Submit yourself to every human authority. Now, in this passage, submitting oneself literally means placing oneself below another person out of respect. Out of respect that is expressed in obedience appropriate to the relationship. You know, I submit to my father out of respect of him, in obedience. In an obedience that is appropriate of this relationship, father and son. That's the idea of submission. Now, this submission could be compulsory, that is, you are forced to do that, or voluntarily. Christians should never submit people out of compulsion, at least not from our part, to the authorities. Even if they do so, we should do it voluntarily, because we are called to do so. Now, there's a few things in this commandment that we need to understand. And here comes something that I have to say on the authority of Scripture that not everybody might like. The first thing is that obedience is to be rendered to every authority, whether Republican or Democrat. I mean, I have to say that, right? I mean, it's clear. He says in verse 13, Submit yourself for the Lord's sake to every human authority. Those are not my words. That's Peter inspired by the Holy Spirit. To every human authority, whether to the governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong, and commend those who do right. Whether to the emperor, supreme authorities, or to the governors. The idea is, you know, there are different people in place in our country who have been placed in places of authority. Whether it's the president, the senators, the mayor, the police officer, the school teacher, the whatever. There's no exception. We all have people placed upon us who have been given authority by God. We think it's the state. We think it's us, the voters. When we go into the poll. No, it is God. It is God who's placed the people in authority. Some of these people might not be the nicest people. As a matter of fact, when Peter is writing, the authority in place, the emperor in place at that time, is Nero. When Nero threw a party to celebrate, because he didn't like Christians, he hanged them outside his palace or whatever, and he lit them. That's the emperor, I believe, he has in mind when he says, honor the emperor. He says, submit yourself, for the Lord's sake, to every authority. All authorities have this God-given right. And we have to submit to them. The second thing that it's clear though, and this is the most important one, is that obedience is to be rendered for the sake of the Lord. Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to everybody. That means that obedience should be rendered to all authorities at all levels, but it should be rendered for the Lord's sake. This means that Christians, as servants of Christ, must honor Christ in this world by behaving in appropriate ways, in this context and relationship to the authorities. You don't submit to the authorities, because he's a wonderful person that you like very much. You might very much like that person. And that's great, it makes it a little easier. But you might dislike the person. It might not be of your taste, of your political allegiance. But you don't do it for the party. You don't do it for whether they're great or bad. You do it for the Lord's sake, to honor the name of Jesus, to exalt Christ in the community. It says submit, which is obedience, but later he's going to use honor, honor everyone. Now that changes a little bit. You see, when you think of honoring, things change a little bit. It's not just submitting, I do what they say, but it's the way you talk about them, the way you tweet about them, the way you share a post about them, the way you do a lot of things, to honor. In this second part, obedience, In this second part, obedience should be rendered for the sake of the Lord, there is another reason given. And I want to spend a little extra time on that, because that needs a lot of nuancing. The first reason why we should submit to our authorities, is not so much because of how charismatic they are, you know, how wonderful they are. It's because of the Lord's sake, but we are given a second reason. In addition to submitting to the authorities for the Lord's sake, Peter tells us that we must submit to the authority because they have been appointed by God to do what? To punish those who do wrong, and to commend those who do right. That, those words are so important, because it shows to us that our submission has some caveats. Our submission has some, if you want to put, exception clause. It's not absolute. Our absolute submission is to God. Notice that in the passage, we are told that we are slaves of Christ, not of the emperor, not of my master even. Submit yourself for the Lord's sake to every human authority, and then you come in 15, for it is God's will that by doing good, you should silence the ignorant talk of people, live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil, live as God's slaves. The only one we owe absolute obedience and submission is God. And under that, we submit to the authorities as we follow God, but it's not absolute. And you might have not heard this before, but the Bible does support civil disobedience sometimes. Civil, what do I mean? Well, the authorities were placed in a place of authority to do one thing. This is their God-given role. Their God-given role is to punish those who do wrong, and to commend those who do right. But what do we do when the authorities punish those who do right? And commend those who do wrong. What do Christians do when the authorities become despot, evil abusers? Sometimes we have the impression that because the Lord Jesus has told us to turn the other cheek, we must not do anything, but just hold all of the beatings. We forget that the Lord Jesus also told his disciples when they went to the road to preach the gospel by tooth, he told them, take sandals, take your sandals, take this, take a coin, take a bag, and then he's done this twice. On the one occasion, he tells them, don't take this, just take the bare necessities, don't take that. But on the second occasion, he tells them, take these basic necessities, take a sword. Jesus tells his disciples, why would the Lord tell the disciples to take a sword? And some interpreters don't like these words, so they spiritualize that, well, the sword refers to the gospel, to the word of God. Well, if we're going to go that route, if we're going to spiritualize the sword, we must spiritualize the sandals too, you know. They must be the sandals of righteousness. We must spiritualize the bag too. That must be the bag of what? Provision. But they don't do that. They take all the other things, literally, sandals, bag, but not sword. And this sword, by the way, is not a butter knife. Why would Jesus tell his disciples to take a sword? On the one occasion, he tells them, don't take a sword. On the other occasion, he tells them, take a sword. What has changed? Well, in the first commission Jesus gave to his disciples, he sent them to the people of Israel. Pretty much safe territory. But the second commission, when he sends the 70, he sends them beyond the limits of Israel to the Roman world. You've read the parable of the good Samaritan, right? What happened to that man of the road was an everyday thing. That happened to people. They were robbers, would go and kill them and beat them and do things like that. Jesus is aware now that the situation is changing. Now, they have to have some sort of way to protect themselves. And that's why he tells them that. I use just that as an illustration. I'm not going to preach. One day I'll preach from that passage and we'll examine more. But the point that I'm doing here is that God has placed the authorities to punish what is wrong and to commend those who do right. But if the authorities fail to do this, we Christians do have a right to start thinking about these things. So, we have to think about this. Now, granted, he's writing believers in Rome under the emperor and he's a wicked man. But that doesn't mean that Peter is telling them just, you know, suffer, just be lit and all of that. That's the wrong impression. Actually, if a Christian can't escape suffering and persecution, the Bible never says don't do it. The problem is that they are in a situation where they have no choice. Being in this situation, they have to make the best out of this and always represent Christ well as a citizen. So, what is the caveat of this commandment to submit to the authority? Well, we do. We do, at best, we can. I am against violence. I don't think the Bible encourages any Christians to take up violence to do that. But, like Martin Luther King did at one point, sometimes we have to actively fight against unrighteousness if unrighteousness is coming from our authorities. And we do it being a model citizen and representing Christ. Because the authorities could use their God-given power in an abusive and sinful manner. So, we have to understand both things in this passage. But nevertheless, the call to us is to submit to our authorities. This caveat is not telling us that you are disrespectful to the authority for any mistake that they might make. They're human beings. They will make mistakes. We should be very careful not to use the caveat as an excuse. No, here the caveat is that they have refused to do willingly the call that God has given them, which is to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. And instead, they have become the wrongdoers themselves. That is the caveat. So, to the police officer, you must honor. To the teacher, you must honor. To the president, you must honor. To every authority. And we do it for the sake of the Lord. And we hope and pray that they would do the task they were given. And that's what I mean. You must be a model citizen for the sake of Christ. You must respect the authorities. You must honor everyone. And one more thing in this passage is obedience to the authority. It's to be rendered by actively pursuing good. In verse 15, he says, For it is God's will that by doing good, you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. So, there's two things here. You see, the state might be persecuting you, as is in the case of these believers, because of your faith. But you gotta shut them up, if you want to say. Not by just fighting or being an activist and all of that. And I'm not denying that there's a place for that. I just explained that. But you might do it by shining as an amazing, good, model citizens, pursuing good. Because what happens, these people are saying a bunch of foolish, stupid things about yourself. About you Christians. Oh, those Christians, they are a bunch of, you know. I don't know, hard necks. I don't know. You know, whatever they are, ignorant people. They're saying a bunch of things. In the case of this, in the early church, they were accused as being cannibals. As being an incestuous people. If you read the first century. Yeah, because they married their sisters and their brothers. You know, because that was the language. It wasn't true. They were using this foolish talk to persecute them. Oh yeah, they eat the blood and the meat of their Lord. They're a bunch of cannibals. These were the accusations in the first century. Foolish talk, nonsense. What do you do? You are a model citizen. You pursue good actively. Not passively. Actively. Okay. It is God's will that by doing good, you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Again, be a model citizen for the sake of Christ. Respect the authorities and honor everyone. My second point, and I'll take only five minutes for this. But it's important. It's the second thing. Submit to the authorities as free people. He says in verse 16. Live as free people. But do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil. Live as God's slaves. Show proper respect to everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Live as free people. You know that he's writing to... Most of the people that he's writing to are slaves. Do you know that? Later he's going to say... He's going to ask different people in different groups to submit. And the very first one after he talks about submitting to the authorities is to slaves. He writes in verse 18. Slaves, in reverent fear of God, submit yourselves to your masters. We'll talk about that because that's also a very debated passage sometime. First thing he writes to slaves. But you know, to the slaves, Peter says, live as free people. Some people who read and criticize the Bible because of verse 18. Yeah, the Bible promotes slavery. Submit to your masters. Never read the verse before. Live as free people. No, the Bible never promotes slavery. What Peter is doing is telling the people the best way to live in a way that honors why. Given the terrible situation they are in. That's what he's doing. But God wants us to be free. So he says, live as free people. And in Christ you are free. You've been delivered from your sins. And live in light of that freedom. But what does it mean to live as free people? Where it means that your freedom is a freedom to do that which is right. Right? He says, 16, live as free people but do not use your freedom as a cover up for evil. You know, you don't have this word in English. You do have debauchery is the equivalent. Freedom and debauchery. In Spanish we have two words. One is libertad, freedom. And the other is libertinaje, which we translate with the English debauchery. They both have the same root which go back to freedom. Freedom, libertad, libertinaje. But freedom, libertad in Spanish means that you are free to do a lot of things within the limits of that which is right. Libertinaje, debauchery, means that you think you are free to do whatever you want. And that is a complete misunderstanding of what freedom is. That's not freedom. That's slavery. That's debauchery. So, you are free, yes, but you're free to do that which is right. Do not use your freedom as a cover up for evil. I heard that, a lot of people in this country. I'm free, we are excited of our freedom, I can do whatever I want. No, you can't. No, not if you're a Christian, because above your freedom you're God's slave. Your freedom is a freedom to do that which is right. And that's, I keep saying, be a model citizen for the sake of Christ. Respect the authorities. Honor everyone. Your freedom is not a freedom to disobey God. Your freedom is not a freedom to disobey God. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover up for evil. Live as God's slave. You know what a slave does? He does everything that the master says. And God is our master, but he's a good master. He loves us. He's a good master who appreciates freedom, interestingly, and wants our freedom. So, our freedom is not a freedom to disobey God, but a freedom to take advantage of all the resources that we have available to us and the opportunities to bring honor to Him. And lastly, and most importantly, your freedom is a freedom that values the worth of everyone. Show proper respect to everyone. And in your Bibles, after that, you should put a colon or a semicolon. Watch the two dots. That's a colon, right? So, you show proper respect to everyone, colon. This means, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor, and you can add more things to that. Show proper respect on everyone. Peter doesn't give us the reason here, Paul will, and other places, because everyone has been created in the image of God. Whether they believe in Christ or they don't, they bear the image of God. They are special. Human beings are unique and special. I am a pro-life person. I am a pro-life person, convinced pro-life, but I am pro-life from the moment of birth or, as somebody said, from the womb to the tomb. I think that was Martin Luther King, too. From the womb to the tomb. I'm proud of many of you. I know, I know many of you are pro-life, but I want to challenge you to be pro-life, not just during the nine months of pregnancy. Be pro-life after. Promote adoption, if you can. Use your money to help people who want to adopt if they don't have money. Be engaged in looking for the benefit and the welfare of people who might have needs, whether they are children, teenagers, adults, elderly. Don't abandon your parents when they are in their old age and get rid of them because they're a nuisance and put them in the nursing home. I'm not saying the nursing home is a bad place. It could be a good place. But don't abandon them. Be pro-life, not just during nine months. Don't abandon your parents when they are in their old age and get rid of them because they're a nuisance and put them in the nursing home. Don't abandon your parents when they are in their old age and get rid of them. Don't abandon your parents from the womb to the tomb, and we do it because people were created in the image of God. Honor people. They are people with worth. Watch your social media posts, how you talk about others. Don't diminish people. Don't undermine truthfully, but there are ways of doing those things. I deleted my Facebook account a few months ago. You know why? I was sick of reading some of my brothers in Christ posts. I couldn't bear it anymore, and I was sick of a lot of things, you know. But I couldn't bear it anymore reading my brothers and sisters in Christ insulting others because of their different political views. And it degraded to the point that it was, I just couldn't. I'm done, I said, and I left. You won't find me on Facebook anymore. I don't regret it, not yet. Honor everyone. Treat people with respect. Yes, they might not have the same values, moral values. They might be so far from Christ. They might be doing awful, terrible things. You can call that out. You can challenge them. But treat them as people who bear the image of God. Honor them. Respect them. They have worth because they bear the image of God. It's interesting that in this passage, we're called to honor the authorities, but we're not called to fear them. When you read the passage at the end, he says, Show proper respect to everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God and fear the emperor. Is that what he says? No, right? Fear God and honor the emperor. There is no restriction to honor. You must honor everyone. See their worth. There's restrictions to fear. You must fear only one. God. So, again, our call to submit and to be a model citizen is always conditioned upon our higher call to honor God. Dear God, thank you for this opportunity. On the freedoms we have in this country, help us to be a model citizen. Yes, we are foreigners and we are aliens as far as sins and temptations in the system of this world goes. But we are also model citizens of this world who represent Christ with dignity. Help us to treat other human beings, no matter their background, their social status, their ethnicity, no matter what, Lord, help us to treat them with honor and respect and worth knowing that they bear your image. May your name be honored as well, Father. We thank you for these things. Amen.