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1 Peter 2:13-25, 3:1-7
13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution,1 whether it be to the emperor2 as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants3 of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. 19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
[1] 2:13
[2] 2:13
[3] 2:16
(ESV)
3:1 Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.
7 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you1 of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
[1] 3:7
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
A reading from 1st Peter 211 through 25 and 3:1 through 7. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, that when they speak against you as evil doers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 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.
Speaker 1: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.
Speaker 1:Honor the emperor. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure, but if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure? This is a gracious thing in the sight of God.
Speaker 1:For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you as an example so that you might follow in His steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
Speaker 1:By his wounds, you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be 1 without a word by the conduct of their wives when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be exterior external, the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry or the clothing you wear, But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.
Speaker 1:And you are her children if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. The word of the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:Thanks be to God.
Speaker 1:Let's pray. Dear father, we come to you right now and we are so grateful for this time. We too often take it for granted that we can come here and we can worship you with sons and daughters of Christ, and we can lift up your name in our city. And I know that there are people all over the world who are being persecuted right now for their beliefs, and I'm so grateful to be here with my church family and, able to hear your word. And I pray for Jeff as he comes tonight.
Speaker 1:I pray that You would remove any, distractions from his mind. You would enter his heart. You would speak through him and that we would hear the word and we would be doers of the word. Thank you so much for redeemer and this family, and we lift up this time to you. It's in your name I pray.
Speaker 1:Amen.
Jeffrey Heine:Thanks, Ashley. So last week, we began with the theology of submission. If you weren't here last week, we we spent a good bit of time thinking through these verses that were just read as a theology of submission. And if you haven't heard that, I would I would encourage you to go back and listen to it because we're gonna we're gonna pick up where we left off. We left off with the idea that the theology of submission is that submission is the will of God.
Jeffrey Heine:It's the way of the son, and it is the work of the spirit. The will of God, it's God's will that we would live in submission. And that Jesus gave us a way. He modeled this for us. He showed us what that looks like, and he did that for us as well.
Jeffrey Heine:And then it's the work of the spirit. Submission is the work of the spirit, because we need the fruit of the spirit to be submissive, to to be subject in different areas of our lives as Christians, we need the spirit to work this in us. Because it's not just enough to see Jesus as a model, and kind of gird up, and and try and do our best. This this bootstrap mentality that if I just try hard enough, I will do this work. We need the spirit of the living God in us, working this out in us.
Jeffrey Heine:So that was the theology of submission. And I said last week that we would begin today to look at the practice of submission. I kind of regretted saying that shortly after the service, when so many people said, I'm really looking forward to next Sunday. And I said, oh gosh. Now I'm not.
Jeffrey Heine:But but here we are. This is this is the moment that has caused anxiety and panic for the last week, so I'm glad you're here. Glad we can be together. But I'm, I'm mostly glad that that it is the spirit of the living god who transforms our minds in the way that we think and what we think about, and that we can come to his word, and we can trust him in this time. And knowing that we need to be changed, all of us.
Jeffrey Heine:We need to be changed. We need to be transformed. Whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not, we all need to be changed by God and for God. When I was in college, I took an acting class, mostly because I wanted to graduate. And I took that and and a chess class, and it was a wonderful semester.
Jeffrey Heine:And I had a number of friends that were in the theater department, and, and it was some of my roommates, were in in the theater department, and and did different plays, and and I would go see them. And it was it was always kind of strange to see them up there, because no matter what costume they were in, or, or makeup, I would look at them, and it's like, that's that's that's Andy, and he does not do the dishes. Like that would that's all that's all I could see up there. And and it was always really bizarre to to be in that context, but what's supposed to happen is you go into a play, and you establish the 4th wall. It's a barrier.
Jeffrey Heine:It's this invisible wall, and there's a suspension of disbelief. Like, I'm gonna agree that Andy is not Andy, and and I'm gonna pretend. He's gonna pretend to be someone else, and I'm gonna pretend that he's not who he really is. And we have this kind of agreement, and we keep this 4th wall. What I'm concerned with is that often that happens in church.
Jeffrey Heine:Like, this freaked a number of you out, like, really quickly. It kinda freaked me out. Like, what happened? Like, we have we have an agreement. I don't cross this.
Jeffrey Heine:You don't cross. Like, we have we have this agreement. This isn't a living room anymore. We're in a formal place. There are chandeliers, and and so we we have this agreement.
Jeffrey Heine:But but when we do that in church, I think that we we do a real disservice to our time, especially when we're getting into the word. When we think that it's something that we can just put a distance between ourselves and the preached word, and we're just gonna suspend disbelief. And that's a problem because we're talking about belief, And we just kinda think of submission is is not messy or complicated. It's something that I agree with or disagree with. It's something I can get angry about.
Jeffrey Heine:It's something I can argue about. It's it's that, but it's not something that has to be wrought in my life, in my soul. It doesn't do us any good to suspend disbelief in this place. We have to come to the word, and the word comes to us by the spirit of God, and we are changed. So theology of submission, it it's a messy thing, and it gets messier when it's not just an idea, but it's how we live our lives.
Jeffrey Heine:That's what we're talking about tonight, the practice of submission. It might be helpful for us to define what submission is. One of, one of my friends, a pastor, his name's Doug Webster, he phrases it like this, My life for your life. That's submission. My life for your life.
Jeffrey Heine:It's living out this ethic that Paul talks about to the Philippians that you would count others more important than yourself. When we define submission like that, when when we define submission like that, where we see Jesus as the way for that to happen, Because submission is like Jesus. It's that way. It's because of Jesus. He's called us by reconciling us to the father.
Jeffrey Heine:He's called us into that, and it's for Jesus. That our submission in these different context that Peter's gonna lay out, It's like Jesus, it's because of Jesus, and it is for Jesus. That's why culturally, this is always going to be problematic. Because unless you wanna deal with who Jesus is as he says he is, unless you wanna deal with that, it's always gonna be it's always gonna be forced. It's always gonna seem like domineering.
Jeffrey Heine:It's always gonna seem crazy, unless it's Jesus. So my life for your life, submission. What it's not, it's not always agreeing. It's not just like checking out and saying, I'm not gonna think about these things anymore. I'm not going to have any opinions or ideas.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm going to whatever is said, I agree. That's not submission. Another thing, it's not a loss of conviction. It's not a loss of the things that you feel passionate about. It's not letting go of those things.
Jeffrey Heine:It's also not letting go of the supremacy of God's will, his revealed will, what he says, what he commands, what he wants. It's not letting go of those things. So in whatever place, and and and this is something that I think is if I the the most significant thing that I've come to deal with in this study has been seeing how these elements in theology and practice of this theology of submission plays out in different contexts similarly. How there's kind of a synthesis of how we do this in different places. Unique places, It's not not every context is the same.
Jeffrey Heine:We're gonna get into that. But the aim of submission is universal. My life for your life. So it's not agreeing with everything. It's not losing your convictions, and it's definitely not forsaking the revealed will of god, what he has commanded, what he has decreed, what we are called to.
Jeffrey Heine:So let's let's look at all three of these contexts that Peter lines out for us. We'll try to spend, the same amount of time in each one. We're definitely not gonna cover everything and probably not going to address every question that you have. My email address is in your worship guide. Please contact me.
Jeffrey Heine:I'd love to talk with you. Any of our elders, their addresses are there too. Joel, our senior pastor, he would love to talk with you. Any. Theology is best done in in community.
Jeffrey Heine:It's not a solo activity. And so if questions come up tonight and I I don't address something that is on your mind, let's talk. Alright. Digging in. Citizens, verse 13.
Jeffrey Heine:We dealt with some of this, last week. Be subject to for the Lord's sake, to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to the 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.
Jeffrey Heine:Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. So at the context, what what's happened. Now we're we're gonna look at the context of each one of these, like the historical context.
Jeffrey Heine:I don't think that that's always critical when it comes to reading the scriptures and applying what what the Bible says to everyday life, but I do think it helps clarify what's going on here, what's being said, and even how it's being said. That will be important as we get to weaker vessels. Alright. But citizens first. So here here we are in Rome.
Jeffrey Heine:In Rome at this time. A couple of years after the death, resurrection, ascension of Jesus, a couple of years after that, as, the good news of the gospel is going out, Rome, the senate in, 35 AD decreed that the Christian religion, the Christian faith, was strana et elicita, strange and illicit. It didn't completely outlaw it, but it said these people are weird. The reason that they said that was there there there are 2 two praying, 2 primary reasons why they said strange and illicit. They're cannibals because of that, because they eat bodies, and they drink blood every time they come together.
Jeffrey Heine:That's strange, and then they call each other brother and sister. They're incestuous. So they're bizarre people. You probably don't wanna do business with them. I wouldn't hire one of them, neither should you.
Jeffrey Heine:That's That's the that's the kind of what what was going out at that time. It wasn't outlawed, but that was kind of the beginning of the persecution. Verbal abuse discrimination was happening. Then in 54 AD, Nero becomes emperor, 17 years old, the doogie howser of emperors. He he he except for murderous and all of those things, bad dougie.
Jeffrey Heine:And so he he's this this young emperor, and he's, he's carrying out his activities, and then a fire happens. A fire happens in 64 AD. Rome burns for 6 days. And during that burning, 3 districts completely destroyed. They all start pointing the finger.
Jeffrey Heine:Why did this happen? A number of people said it was because of Nero, either on purpose or by accident because he kept wanting to, build up these different areas that his negligence led to it. Well, Nero decides he's going to pin it on the Christians. And then at that point, for the next 250 years, severe persecution happens. That's a year or 2 after this letter is written.
Jeffrey Heine:Peter is talking to these Christians who have not experienced the full persecution yet. That's not that's not going on yet. They're being discriminated against that's not that's not going on yet. They're being discriminated against now, but persecution is coming. And god in his providence was not surprised by this.
Jeffrey Heine:He didn't say, I wish I hadn't sent that letter from Peter. Like, that this is problematic. Like, the game has changed. No. God and his providence knew this.
Jeffrey Heine:But this is this is the context that Peter is writing in, and he is these early Christians, they they become Christians. They're probably 1st, generation Christians. The the church has not been around for all that long, probably not to set not a lot of second generation Christians yet. And they're wondering, am I free? Am I free from Rome or from my my wicked boss, my unjust master?
Jeffrey Heine:Am I free from him? Am I free I married someone. They're not a Christian. Am I free from them? Do I run?
Jeffrey Heine:Do I stay? What do I do? And so he's giving this instruction to them. What do I do? And when it comes to Rome, he says, you don't run.
Jeffrey Heine:You don't run. He says, you honor everyone. You honor the emperor, the emperor who will lead all of this persecution in just a few years. Peter was instructing his readers on how to submit themselves, how to live under the order under the order of Rome. These recent converts were wondering, how does that play out?
Jeffrey Heine:Well, Paul has also talked about this before. He he writes, concerning the Roman government and governing authorities in general in Romans 13. Let me read this one verse to you. 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. Paul also encouraged this kind of ethic, this method of exilic living, this household code.
Jeffrey Heine:What do we do as Christians now? He wrote that to Timothy. In 1st Timothy chapter 2, he writes this. First of all then, I urge the supplications, the prayers, the intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God, our savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Jeffrey Heine:You see, hidden in that, the purpose of submission spelled out. That there would be this submission to the governing authorities, a prayer for them with the intention to live peaceably, to live quiet lives so that many would be saved. That's the desire. That's how my life for you is played out. The salvation of these people, that's what's motivating the submission here.
Jeffrey Heine:And our context is different. Right? Just as it's important to see the context of Peter and his audience, it's it's likewise very important for us to note our context and how different it is. No matter what your aunt has forwarded you, Obama is not Nero. He's not.
Jeffrey Heine:Not him. It's not not the context that we find ourselves. No. We don't have an emperor. We don't have a a context where if you speak out, you are immediately persecuted, or destroyed by your business being destroyed or whatever that might look like.
Jeffrey Heine:No. We we live in a different context, but think of this. Do the Iraqi Christians have first Peter? They do. In Syria, do those Christians have first Peter?
Jeffrey Heine:They do. We don't need to take just the fact that our context is different to think that there might be places where awful, terrible persecution is happening now. It's happening all over our world, and they have first Peter 2, and they are reading these words, wondering, what do I do? How do I live now? How are you honoring our government?
Jeffrey Heine:It's an important question. It comes to us because just because the context is different, there are principles that still apply. How are you honoring our government? How are you participating in it? What does that look like for you?
Jeffrey Heine:I think that these principles remain. We subject ourselves to the social order for the good of others, Chiefly because we long for the conversion and glory of god. The conversion of all and the glory of god. Because we care about that, we would participate. We would submit under the order.
Jeffrey Heine:Think about this. Think about Peter trying to process how, yes, we have votes that happen, and then administrations change, and there isn't blood in the streets. It's not a coup. There's not people looting and going crazy all over the place. No.
Jeffrey Heine:We vote. Men and women, they vote, and then there is this change. Except for a couple w's missing from a computer keyboard, there's not a lot going on as far as people rioting in the streets, but that doesn't mean that we don't disagree. It doesn't mean that we don't disagree. It doesn't mean that we let go of our convictions.
Jeffrey Heine:And that doesn't mean that we let go of what God has called us to in his commandments. But I will say that if you've said, he's not my president more than you've prayed for a president, you need to turn from that. If you said, he's not my mayor more than you've prayed for the mayor, You need to turn from that too. If you've hoped an elected official more than is biblically reasonable, you need to turn from that too. I check off all of these.
Jeffrey Heine:It's a call to repent from that kind of activity. It's also a call to repent from saying, it's too messy, it's too complicated, and I'm just swearing off all things political. That too is something we should turn away from. Why the common good? And why the common good?
Jeffrey Heine:The will of god. And why the will of god? The glory of god. That's why. Not to make too much out of these governments, because we can't hope in them beyond what is biblically reasonable.
Jeffrey Heine:These things will pass away. These things will fade. We know that. We have a king, and he is coming in glory. That doesn't mean that we stop engaging.
Jeffrey Heine:It's what we talked about with Daniel. We don't assimilate, we don't isolate, but we engage. And we keep our hopes and our expectations tied to the scriptures. Now application, really, reduced down. What what I would encourage from you, I don't encourage you to buy a bunch of bumper stickers or to go to a bunch of political rallies dressed like Benjamin Franklin.
Jeffrey Heine:If that's your deal, cool. Have at it. But what I encourage, pray for our leaders, local, federal, in other countries, foreign. You would pray for them. That God would give them wisdom by his spirit.
Jeffrey Heine:That they would look and see in Christians' that would be their chief concern. Pray for them. I would encourage you to just to write down their names, to be praying for governor Bentley, to be praying for mayor Bell, or wherever you might live in the city, where whoever your mayor might be, that you would pray for them earnestly. Disagree with them, please. No matter the party, I don't care.
Jeffrey Heine:Disagree that might even call for civil disobedience. That's under the order. Those things are permissive, often necessary. But we live under the order to the glory of God, for the purpose of God. Next, bondservants.
Jeffrey Heine:We read this, last week and we we read it a few times. So I will only be reading the first part. But look with me at verse 18. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and the gentle, but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when mindful of God, one endures sorrow while suffering unjustly.
Jeffrey Heine:Now in Peter's context, in his context, many people were servants. About a third of the population in Rome were servants. But we need to distinguish that different than maybe what some of our mindset might be, especially if your translation says slaves. They weren't slaves like you would have seen in the old testament with the Jews in Egypt, that kind of slavery. It wouldn't be like what we have seen in our American history with the Atlantic slave trade of the 16th to 19th centuries.
Jeffrey Heine:It's not like that, but it's more like this contract bond servant. Like I said, a third of the citizens would have been servants, and not all were manual labor either. Teachers or doctors, accountants, secretaries, they were all servants of this kind. They were contracted workers. They had a contractor with, an employer that they whether it's a number of years, a set amount of time, or a set amount of money that they would be earning, but they were not always good masters, and that's what Peter is talking about here.
Jeffrey Heine:Many of them were abusive. Many of them did take advantage of their authority. But Peter is instructing these new believers on what they need to do. So what should they do? If if Paul's teaching that, if you are a Christian that you don't, and and you are currently not a bondservant, that you shouldn't join into that, if that was still if that was kind of going around in the early church, then there's a good chance that these men and women were in these roles, these jobs, these contracts, this bondservant position.
Jeffrey Heine:They were in that when they heard the gospel, believed the gospel, and trusted in Jesus, and now they're asking that question, what do I do? Am I free? Now, I've heard about this letter, that Paul wrote where he says that I have a new master now. Can I quit this guy? Like, do I do I can I can I not show up on Monday?
Jeffrey Heine:And he's saying, no. You fulfill your obligation. Because in doing that, you will testify to Jesus. That's what he's saying. I think it is really interesting that in this letter, he does not address the masters, and I think that that's primarily because the audience, the church audience at that time was mostly made up of servants.
Jeffrey Heine:It wasn't because masters didn't need instruction. They did, definitely. But in this context, he's he's writing to a group of people that are made up of a lot of servants. And our modern work contexts are obviously very different than 1st century Rome. However, in our world, it's not like that everywhere.
Jeffrey Heine:A good example, a picture of this would be in Dubai where they are preparing for the World Cup 2022. I don't feel like it just ended, but now we're getting ready. 2022. They've been building this stadium. It's mostly made up of contracted workers from India.
Jeffrey Heine:About a 1,000 have died so far building these stadiums. They s the they project that if working conditions don't change and the death rate maintains, about 4,000 workers will probably die before the first kickoff. Their passports are taken from them when they arrive. Any form of communication as well, and they are indentured servants. They are there till the job is done no matter what happens, and their health is at stake.
Jeffrey Heine:Now here in America, we have the US Department of Labor. We have we have things that are in place to to try and keep these conditions from happening. There are whistleblower rules and rights. There are there's OSHA for safe environments to work in. It is much different than 1st century Rome.
Jeffrey Heine:I think that, again, there are principles that apply here. Principles for the places that we work and the people that we interact with, of what it means to submit or to live under an order, under the rules and the the setting that we are employed in. We need to be good workers. We need to be good employees who serve others rather than serving ourselves. Our work should be to the benefit of those around us, our coworkers, our community, our bosses.
Jeffrey Heine:You need to know the culture of your workplace. You need to know the culture of your workplace in such a way that you would know what living like an exile would mean. What it what does it look like to live as an exile in your job, in your workplace? Those need to be actionable things for you. It's not universal, but some of these principles are that you would be honest in your dealings.
Jeffrey Heine:You would be a good coworker, that you would be trusted, that you would honor the people that you spend your time with. A, a quote that I really like, Tim Keller said this in a sermon on living your faith out in a pagan society, in the early nineties. But he's quoting a Puritan pastor from the 1700, and he says this is the what the Puritan pastor said. The first person that should know that you are born again the first person that should know that you are born again is your horse. He should know the difference.
Jeffrey Heine:He should be able to notice that you're different. Now, I I'm not sure what your car would have to say about you, or the words that you say, or how you get so angry about moving your foot from here to here and applying the brake, so it's the worst thing that's ever happened to you. But your coworkers should see this difference. Now not because you like stealth mode, get in there early, and just put tracks on everyone's computer, but that but that as you deal with them, as you prioritize, as you define what success is, you go to God's word to define success. You need to know your workplace.
Jeffrey Heine:Just like you need to know your community and your culture for how you would engage politically and what that would best look like, how honor would be displayed. What does that look like in your workplace? I would really encourage you to think about that. In your workplace, what does it look like? Do they see your demeanor, your how you spend your money, your compassion, your humility?
Jeffrey Heine:Do do they see these things? Do they know the difference? A few years ago, I had lunch with, someone from our church, and we were talking about his work rhythm. He said, I get up before my family wakes up. I get in the car, and I drive to the office.
Jeffrey Heine:I sit in a cubicle all day and look at a computer screen, And I get back in my car, I drive home, I spend only a couple of hours with my family before they go to sleep, and then I'm back at it the next day. The monotony that he was talking about. He said, I feel like it's it's it's making it it has this ability to make me feel like I'm not as close to God. What was interesting is it reminded me of some places I'd seen before, monasteries. It reminded me about how men had, for a long time, for centuries, would remove themselves from society to enter a life of monotony and rhythm, To grow closer to god.
Jeffrey Heine:Not further away, but to grow closer to god. They would Desert Fathers, crazy stories in there from from the early Christian fathers, and but the the Desert Fathers, they would do things like weave a basket. They sit in a cave, weave a bunch of baskets. Once they were done, they would take all the baskets, and they would burn them. That's crazy.
Jeffrey Heine:That's worse than an an excel spreadsheet. Seriously. Like, you're it's gonna be okay. But this monanie, seeing that as a vehicle, as a way, if that's where God has you, then there is a way that you grow closer to him there. There's gotta be.
Jeffrey Heine:If your work is in your home, there is a way. It might not be an easy way. It might be a hard fought way, but there is a way that in that work, you grow closer to God and you glorify him. So some practical ones, it's know your culture, your work culture. Know what it's like.
Jeffrey Heine:Know what it looks like to be an exile there. Secondly, examine your interactions. The actual to the glory of God, and submit under the order there? Maybe it's to a client, whatever that case might might look like. How do you submit there?
Jeffrey Heine:How do you honor God there? How do you honor everyone there? And the last one. Pray for your coworkers. Pray for your boss.
Jeffrey Heine:Pray for your clients. Pray for the people that you interact with day in and day out. If you don't know how to pray for them, let me tell you, there's an easy way, and it's not Facebook stalking. There's an easy way to know how to pray for someone. You ask them.
Jeffrey Heine:You're you're not you don't have to start a a bible study in the break room, and and and, like, pressure and guilt people into it, and they don't even eat lunch because they're in there hearing you go through a new book. Like, it doesn't have to be that. Ask people how you can pray for them. Ask. And then, and here's the crazy part, do it.
Jeffrey Heine:Really pray for them. Take that time. Pray for them by name. Celebrate when the lord answers, however he answers. Celebrate with them.
Jeffrey Heine:Point to the glory of god. Alright. Spouses, you can wake back up. Are we good? Alright.
Jeffrey Heine:Yeah. Spouses, we're here. Alright. So verse 1 chapter 3. Let's look together.
Jeffrey Heine:Likewise. Likewise is there because he's continuing this train of thought. He's continuing. He's talked about citizens. He's talked about, servants in the workplace, and now he's talking about spouses.
Jeffrey Heine:He's talking about wives, and then later he will talk about husbands. Likewise, like, as I have been talking about, wives, be subject to your own husbands. So that even if some do not obey the word, they may be 1 without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair, the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear, but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. Now the context.
Jeffrey Heine:Historical context here, Peter is writing to a culture that is the, it's a Asian minor patriarchy. Women did have rights in this area. They had rights in this place, particularly, rights against abuse. And it's important to see where where Peter was previously in talking to the servants was talking about you would you would suffer under an abusive master even. He's not paralleling that with an abusive husband.
Jeffrey Heine:Again, to quote, Doug Webster, he says this. It's important to note that the contrast is between a slave's harsh master and a wife's unbelieving husband, not an abusive husband. Peter does not condone an abusive husband. Violence in the home is a form of marital unfaithfulness and cannot be excused under under any condition. He picks up on something that is really, really important for us to zero in as far as what is this context.
Jeffrey Heine:He's talking to women who are married to an unbelieving man. That's the first person that he's addressing here. It's gonna go wider than that, and we'll get into it. But first, he's talking to these women just like the bond servants before who heard the gospel when they were already in this role, or the citizen, they were already a citizen of Rome, and they heard the gospel, and they're wondering, am I free? Do I run?
Jeffrey Heine:Do I stay? What do I do? And so this church that he's addressing here that's made up apparently of a lot of servants and a lot of women who are married to unbelieving, unchristian men, he is giving this exhortation of what to do. Am I free? What does life look like for me now?
Jeffrey Heine:Peter is instructing them. He's addressing these women married to non Christian husbands. They do not obey the word. And similar to the servant who who, came to Christ, they were in this context before, and now they're wondering what they do. Take a moment and consider this.
Jeffrey Heine:A 1st century woman in patriarchal Asia minor. She hears about Jesus. She hears the good news about the forgiveness of sins, the kingdom of God, and she believes and follows that Jesus. Her husband hears, he does not believe. And she does the unthinkable.
Jeffrey Heine:She follows a god different than her husband. And what does Peter say? He says, be subject to your own husbands, but does he say, alright, follow the order, don't worship Jesus, don't follow Jesus, don't follow this god, follow the cultural norm. Stay with him, worship his gods until he repents, and he becomes a Christian, and then you can start worshiping with the followers of Jesus. You can worship with them then, but until then, submit.
Jeffrey Heine:No. He tells them to subvert the cultural norm and follow Jesus. Because remember that third thing that submission isn't, it's not forsaking the expressed will of god to worship him, to adore him, to follow Jesus. That's that's not what submission is. So he calls these women to stay faithful to Jesus with their unbelieving husbands so that they won't hate Christianity when she says, you know what?
Jeffrey Heine:I'm a Christian now, I'm out. You're an unbelieving husband, you're not gonna follow Jesus, I'm out of here. I'm forsaking this covenant commitment. I'm I'm I'm out of here. No.
Jeffrey Heine:He says, stay, follow Jesus, and respect your husband. That is remarkable, the courage that these women must have, because they are hearing this first they're hearing this letter read in a congregation of Christians in many ways who are subverting the norm of of being there that Sunday against the wishes of their husband. I think that's remarkable. He instructs her to adorn herself with the inward beauty, this imperishable beauty. This isn't a dress code, because if it was, if you followed all the way through, you wouldn't have clothes on, because it says the clothing you wear, which would be really strange.
Jeffrey Heine:He's saying, you're not emphasizing this outward appearance. That's not what this is about. It's not about the way you do your hair, or the jewelry you wear, or the clothes that you wear. It's not about the outside. It's not about those things.
Jeffrey Heine:But you will be adorned with beauty imperishable on the inside. Just like this history of women that you are now a child of. These were gentile women. They're being brought into this history of Jewish women. These women who stood beautiful and strong in righteousness.
Jeffrey Heine:And he's calling them into that. He's calling them into that heritage. He's saying, be like these holy women of God, adorned in this way. He does stay quiet. So what do we do with that?
Jeffrey Heine:Well, when Paul was talking to Peter earlier, and we said that we would, that we should live peaceful and quiet lives, it didn't seem like silencing there. Right? So it's not silencing here. It but it is this demeanor of being peaceful. It's it's the fruit of the spirit at play.
Jeffrey Heine:Be full of peace and patience and kindness that he might be 1. There is a direction here again for this submission. It goes somewhere. It does something. This submission is happening with the intent and the aim and the goal of the salvation of the husband, That he would not go on unbelieving, but that he would believe.
Jeffrey Heine:There is a direction and an aim. And in that, a beautiful picture, not only for the women married to unbelieving husbands, but for believing husbands, that they would all join into this heritage like that of Sarah. Sarah who followed and trusted god and called her husband, lord. Sign of respect, meaning sir. Disciples refer to Jesus as lord in those different circumstances of in the, new testament writings.
Jeffrey Heine:It's not it it is a sign of respect and a sign of honor. People who didn't even trust in Jesus as the son of God still called him lord. It's a sign of respect, And he's calling them into that heritage of holy women of god, who would live under the order to the glory of God. Like Jesus, because of Jesus, and for Jesus. And the goal again, salvation.
Jeffrey Heine:It is I mean, we could seriously spend a lot of time talking about, what what it this this outward adorning and and what that means. I'll just suffice it to say, if you've spent more time today getting ready on the outside than getting ready on the inside to be with your brothers and sisters in Christ, You need to think about that. Just think about it. How that shapes the way that we prepare to stir one another up to good works and faith in Jesus. We need to think about that.
Jeffrey Heine:The last thing is to the husbands, and it says likewise again, because he's continuing this strand of thought. He's continuing this logic on. He says, live with your wives, with your wives, in an understanding way. There's a chance he's talking to husbands who are married to unbelieving wives, but again, he's taking this broad approach of husbands and wives, that you would live in a way that is understanding or considerate, and that you would honor the woman as a weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you in the grace of life. Let me say that really quickly.
Jeffrey Heine:What does he mean by weaker vessels? What he means, it's a it's an idiom that is used in other places, in this time of writing to mean physical strength. The physical stature. And here's what he's doing. Catch this, because this is huge.
Jeffrey Heine:He is contrasting the physical stature of men being stronger than women, by and large. He he's he's contrasting that. We've got a lot of artists here. Okay? I have to say, bye, Marj.
Jeffrey Heine:Alright. So we did. Just saying. We got some anyway. Okay.
Jeffrey Heine:So as we my wife is tremendously stronger than I am. Tremendously. Okay. So the weaker vessel that that this physical stature, he's contrasting that with their spiritual status. He says you are heirs, co heirs with grace of life.
Jeffrey Heine:Co heirs of grace, which is from god. He's saying don't let this outward appearance fool you. There is a difference. Yes. But there is a spiritual status that you need to be mindful of in the way that you deal with your wife, as she submits to you in this way, that you would honor her because you are dealing with a daughter of the king.
Jeffrey Heine:Don't forget it. You don't use that physical strength to intimidate or to coerce in any way, Because your authority, your headship is life giving. Like, Jesus's headship is life giving to the bride. Don't forget that. It's a beautiful mutual service that happens here.
Jeffrey Heine:It's 2 Christians. Now, again, he's not he's not focusing in on 2 Christians throughout this entire thing, but he does get there. And this is where we turn now to the table, because this is the picture of submission that Christ would He would say to us on the cross, my life for yours. Submission always requires sacrifice, and we know the way of sacrifice. We know the way of submission because submission is cruciform.
Jeffrey Heine:It is shaped by the cross of Jesus. That's how we know what submission is. And so as we come to this table, as we take this bread, and we drink this wine, we come into contact with the one who poured himself out for us As we read in Isaiah 53, he was crushed for our transgressions. Crushed. And it was the will of God.
Jeffrey Heine:His submission was the will of God. And he lived that for us. And so as we come, I I do pray that this would be a time where we, all of us, men and women, that we would see what submission truly looks like. As we take of the bread, you'll come down these, 2 center aisles. You'll tear tear off a piece of bread, dip it in the cup, and take it.
Jeffrey Heine:I pray that as you do that, as you break it off and dip it in, that you would see Jesus saying, my life for yours, to the glory of God, now into the day of eternity. He took the bread that night when he was betrayed, and he broke it. He said, this is my body broken for you. He took the cup and he said, this is the blood, the new covenant, poured out for the forgiveness of many. Apostle Paul says that as often as we do this, we take the bread and we drink the cup.
Jeffrey Heine:We proclaim Christ crucified until he returns, and may we long for that tonight. Let's go to him in prayer. God, we thank you. We thank you for your word, and we thank you for this table. Lead us in this time.
Jeffrey Heine:Help us to meet with you. Help us to love you and to trust you. Help us to examine our own lives and how we might be submissive to your will and your way. And spirit, please work in us. Your fruit, that we would bear your fruit, That we might submit in a way that would count others as more important than ourselves.
Jeffrey Heine:We pray this in and for the name of Jesus. Amen.