Living as Servants of God

“Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.” (1 Peter 2:13-17 ESV)

Context, Context, Context!!!

Context is everything for correct biblical understanding. When we freely interpret the Scriptures out of their appropriate context, we are in danger of possible misinterpretation of what the passage is actually teaching. So, what is the context of the book of 1 Peter so far? It is that of faith in Jesus Christ and of what that faith looks like. It begins by letting us know that our obedience to Jesus Christ is a necessary part of the package. And it lets us know that our salvation is of God and God is the one to define it for us.

And it lets us know that suffering persecution for the sake of the name of Jesus and for the sake of his gospel message, and enduring various trials and tribulations are also a necessary part of the whole package in that these persecutions and trials are used of God in our lives to test the genuineness of our faith, and to teach us perseverance, and to teach us to rely on God and not on ourselves, and to humble us, and to give us hearts of compassion and tenderness towards others who are suffering like we are.

See also: [Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

And then we are taught that, as obedient children (the children of God) that we are not to be conformed any longer to the passions of the flesh, in our former ignorance. But we are called to be holy in all our conduct, and to be holy is to be separate (unlike, different) from the world because we are being conformed to the likeness of character of Jesus Christ. So we are to be those who have put away all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander, sexual immorality, idolatry, lying, and cheating and the like. They should be gone!

And now, in this context, we are taught that we must be subject to the authorities that are over us, as a people. But this is in the context of us deciding not to do what is evil and us practicing what is good. And it says, “For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.” And we are to “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.” So the context is of submission to what is good, not to what is evil. Get this?

So, this is not a blanket order to us that we must be subject to everyone on this earth who raises himself up as some type of authority figure – whether he is a preacher, teacher of the word, pastor, elder, schoolteacher, parent, and/or government official, etc. For many people in positions of authority these days, inside and outside of the gatherings of what are called “churches,” are not instructing us in what is good and is of God, but they are leading us to do what is evil and is against God. We don’t submit to that!!

And we have biblical examples of that. I mean, one of the biggest reasons that the religious rulers of Jesus’ time hated him and wanted him dead is because he did not submit to them when what they were requiring of him required that he disobeyed God. And Peter and John did likewise when they told the authorities, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” Amen! And Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are our Old Testament examples of the same. Read them!

So, submission to authorities should never be done at the cost of disobeying our Lord and his commands, and it should never involve us sinning against God in order to submit to human authority. And it should never involve blind worship of a particular government or government leader or their military as part of showing them honor. But this is what many people in America have been taught to do from birth on up, and so many are giving their undying devotion and worship (vows of allegiance) to a human government.

But we can honor those in authority without worshiping them, and without giving them our blind loyalties and devotion, without question. For the submission that God requires has to do with submitting to what is right in his eyes and to what is good and not evil, and even Jesus and Paul and the other apostles questioned the actions of those in authority (read Matthew 23) and they did not yield to them when it came to choosing them over obedience to God. So obey God above all else, and all else will follow suit.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Courageous!  

An Original Work / December 24, 2013  

Based off Various Scriptures

The Word of God throughout taught.

Some people heard but did doubt.

Still others had faith in Christ.

By grace He purified them.

They turned from sin

And they obeyed Christ.

He opened up their blinded eyesight;

Turned them from darkness 

To the true Light;

Forgave their sin by His might.

He strengthened them in their faith.

He said, “Remain my faithful.”

He called them to obedience.

By faith, they were so grateful.

By faith, they were to follow Jesus;

To daily sit and listen to Him;

To have such faith 

That mountains could move;

To love those whom He gave them.

Be on your guard; courageous.

Stand firm in faith. Be thankful.

Take up the shield of your faith;

Protect against all evil.

Do not move from 

The hope that you have.

Your faith in Jesus let it endure.

Hold to the truth; 

Your conscience be clear.

Endure with perseverance. 

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