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1 Peter 2:13-25
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)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Hey, everybody. The kids are gonna make their way. If you wanna go ahead and grab your bibles, we are going to be continuing our study in first Peter. We're also gonna be in Romans 6 and Galatians 5, if you wanna flip there and and put a piece of paper there, your worship guide, something like that. We're actually gonna read a little bit more than what your worship guide has in it, so heads up.
Jeffrey Heine:You might wanna grab one of those, real Bibles or or computer Bibles on your phone, something like that. We're gonna be continuing this study. We've been doing in first Peter, this letter to exiles, and we're we're we're gonna be entering into a pretty difficult section of this letter, and we're gonna break it up into the next 2 weeks. Peter's gonna start talking about submission here, and he's gonna talk about some different context where submission is applied. And the way that we're gonna approach this together is that this week, we're gonna be looking at a theology of submission.
Jeffrey Heine:A theology of submission, part 1. Part 2 next week is the practice of submission, And the reason being is that these they're they're dependent on each other. It doesn't really do us any good just to have a theology of submission, nor does it do us any good just to have a practice of submission without the theology. We we need to know how to approach this topic and and to walk through it holistically. And then, so next week, we're gonna look at these specific arenas that Peter gives us for applying this theology of submission.
Jeffrey Heine:Submission as citizens and servants and spouses. But this week, 1st, we will turn our attention to a theology of submission. So let's look now to first Peter chapter 2. I'll begin with verse 11. We'll dip in a little bit into chapter 3.
Jeffrey Heine:We all there? Okay. Let's listen carefully for this is god's word. 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.
Jeffrey Heine:So that when they speak against you as evildoers, 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. Live as people who are free. Not using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but living as servants of God.
Jeffrey Heine:Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Servants, be subjects to your masters with all respect.
Jeffrey Heine: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 when you do good and suffer for it, you endure. This is a gracious thing in the sight of God.
Jeffrey Heine:For this 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. 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.
Jeffrey Heine: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 submissive 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. Don't let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothing, but let your adorning be the hidden person in the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which god's sight in god's sight is very precious.
Jeffrey Heine:For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their husbands. As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, 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 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:Let's pray. Triune god, we need to hear from you tonight. We need you to transform our minds, to change our hearts, to strengthen our will, that we might desire your will above all else. In this time, by your spirit, help us to submit to you. Continue to bind us together as a household of faith, And teach us, Lord, in this time, what it means to be an exile.
Jeffrey Heine:Teach us what it means to trust you in all circumstances that you might be glorified now and in the day of visitation. We pray this in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit. Amen. When I was 7 years old, my dad and I went on an RA, Royal Ambassadors, father son campout. That's the 2nd or 3rd RA shout out that we've had in a couple of weeks.
Jeffrey Heine:So there's that. So we went we went on this campout, royal ambassadors. My dad and I, we go. It's wonderful. Campout.
Jeffrey Heine:Capture the flag. We're cooking out over an open fire. I had on camo, you know, for only a handful of times where that's occurred. It was mostly this and and then some, poor spring break cargo short choices. But anyway, camo didn't happen a lot.
Jeffrey Heine:And and so we're out there camping, father, son. We've got our little 2 man pup tent. And about midnight, 1 AM, a huge storm came. This big storm came rolling in, and, like, thunder crashing right it seemed like right next to us. Just getting pounded with water, and and I remember I started hearing, like, car doors slamming, trucks being fired up, people peeling out of there, tents just being, like, tossed in the back of the trucks.
Jeffrey Heine:And, other dads coming and, like, kind of tapping on our tent and asking, like, if we needed help to get out. And my dad kept waving them off saying, nope. We're staying. And I was it was a I had never been that terrified in my entire life. In 7 years, that was the scariest thing that I had ever faced.
Jeffrey Heine:And, and so as I was in there really scared, he he just kept saying, I'm I'm with you. Or we're gonna see this through. We're gonna ride it out. You're gonna be glad in the morning. And in the morning, after this torrential rainstorm, we open up the tent, and there's mud and abandoned tents, and no one else.
Jeffrey Heine:We were we were the only ones, brave? We'll go with brave. Brave enough to see the storm through. And he was right. I was glad.
Jeffrey Heine:I I There are so few nights that I remember being a 7 year old. I remember that night being a 7 year old. And I was thankful. I think there are places in scripture that seem like a pretty big thunderstorm. There are places that seem pretty dangerous.
Jeffrey Heine:Places that we might want to avoid. Places we don't want to hang out too long. Maybe if you're doing your devotional reading, you just kind of skip over. And I think that first Peter chapter 23, there's some potential storms brewing. And I hope that in this time, that you can hear the voice of God through the spirit of God saying, I'm here, and I'm with you, and I'm gonna see this through.
Jeffrey Heine:So come bring bring your questions or your doubts. Come bring your concerns or your fears. Bring bring them bring them in. Because I will be here, and I will see this through. I hope you hear the spirit saying that to you now.
Jeffrey Heine:Where he says, bring your fears, and I will comfort them. Bring your confusion, and I will bring clarity. Bring your hardened hearts, and I will lead you to truth. So as we approach this, this theology of submission, the way that I'd like for us to process it, to really walk through it, is through this kind of Trinitarian view. These 3 three steps, 3 concepts in this theology of submission.
Jeffrey Heine:The 3 parts. The first is this, submission is the will of the father. Submission is the will of the father. Number 2, submission is the way of the son. Submission is the way of the son.
Jeffrey Heine:And the third one, submission is the work of the spirit. The will of the father, the way of the son, and the work of the spirit. So the first one, Submission is the will of the father. Look with me back at verse 13. Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or the governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.
Jeffrey Heine:For this is the will of God, that by doing good, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Peter says that it's the will of God for us to be subject to authority. Later, he's gonna bring up and kind of clarify that he means both the just and the unjust authority. And since it's human authority, we can already acknowledge it's a fallible authority. It's it's a broken authority.
Jeffrey Heine:It's not a perfect authority. There's not going to be a perfect human authority. Parents can give me an amen on that one. So there's not gonna be there's not gonna be a perfect authority, and so we can acknowledge that. But he's also saying that you would subject yourself to, you would be subject to both just and unjust authority.
Jeffrey Heine:And Peter says that this is the will of God. Peter calls his listeners to be subject to every human institution. Every human institution. Some of your translations might read like this. Every human authority, every ordinance of man, or every law of government.
Jeffrey Heine:Now like I said, we'll get into the practice next week, so we'll talk politics then. Believe you me. We'll get there. But but but not this week. We're we're gonna stick with the theology.
Jeffrey Heine:Verse 13. For the Lord's sake sake isn't a word that we use very often. Sometimes we do it with like namesake, named after. But really what's what's getting what he's trying to get across here, that's for the Lord's sake, it's for the cause of the Lord, or in the regard for the lord that we would be subject to these human authorities. It's for him.
Jeffrey Heine:It's it's in regard to god that we would do this. But why? Why for his sake? Verse 15. Because this is the will of god.
Jeffrey Heine:We submit because it's God's desire that we would submit. It's his will, because submission does something. It it has a result. By doing good, verse 15, by doing good, you put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Peter is saying that submission has to do with the will of God in doing good.
Jeffrey Heine:And that doing good does something. When we do good, that does something. What it does is it silences. It silences ignorance from the foolish people. We see this in in verse 12 as well.
Jeffrey Heine:Keep your conduct amongst 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. What's being said here, that silencing that Peter is talking about in verse 15, is the Greek word there. And and it's used also in Mark when it talks about Jesus in the storm coming out on the boat and silencing the storm. He says, be still. He hushes the storm.
Jeffrey Heine:And what Peter is saying is that when we do good in our communities, in our neighborhoods, in society, when we do good, that good hushes ignorance. Think about that. Take take the take the vision, that image of of Jesus hushing the storm, that raging storm, and see the church doing good, being honorable, kind, fulfilling obligations, submitting to order, even unjust authorities in such a way that the ignorance of foolish people would be hushed. Now something that we should note here in verse 12, That they would see your good deeds and glorify god and glorify god. That's so if we can follow the logic here, follow the progression, see how this is unfolding, that it's the will of god.
Jeffrey Heine:It's the will of god, and it's for God that we would submit. And in doing that, we would do good, and that doing good would silence and hush ignorance of the foolish people, and then ultimately lead to those foolish people glorifying god. That that that's when we know that we've kind of like made it to the end of a theological equation when it hits the glory of god. We've made it to the end. That that's why.
Jeffrey Heine:Why is it the will of god the glory of god? Now something worth noting. When. Because I don't see a lot of hushing. I don't turn on the news and see a lot of hushing around the world, of ignorant people who are being foolish and and saying that Christians are evildoers and wicked and all these well, I don't see a lot of hushing happening, so when?
Jeffrey Heine:Peter says the day of visitation. Seems like it might be a while. So if we don't see that immediate result, if we don't see that immediate hushing of ignorance, when we don't see that immediate, I'm gonna glorify god because you have acted righteously. And when we don't see that or hear that in our societies, in our neighborhoods, on your block, in your workplace, when when that friend says, no, I understand why you can't come to my wedding. When when when you don't really get those kinds of reactions, when you don't have the those interactions within your own family, the hushing isn't happening, take heart.
Jeffrey Heine:It might be a while, but take heart. Because God promises that it will come. It might not happen in the form that we wish right now in the here and the now, but it will come. Doing good does something, and that something is the will of god. It is the glory of god.
Jeffrey Heine:That's what it results in. You you do this good, and it does something. Now Peter anticipates a concern. He he anticipates that that there might be a problem or a question coming up from his listeners, where they might say something like this. I understand that it's God's will that I submit, and that it does something good, But aren't we free?
Jeffrey Heine:Isn't that a big promise in this gospel that that I'm set free now? That I'm not subject to all of these things. I thought we were free. He he anticipates that, and so he speaks to it. Verse 16.
Jeffrey Heine:He says, live as people who are free. Not using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but living as servants of God. He says, yes, you are free, and you should live as people who are free. But know that it is because of this freedom that you can submit and do good. It is because you have been liberated and set free.
Jeffrey Heine:It's not in spite of this freedom. It's because of this freedom that you now can submit and do good. John Chrysostom, an early church father, he, he, wrote this. He was a 4th century church father. He wrote this.
Jeffrey Heine:This is the rule of most perfect Christianity. Its most exact definition. Its highest point, namely the seeking of the common good. For nothing can so make a person an imitator of Christ as for caring for his neighbors. That we would we would seek that common good.
Jeffrey Heine:That we would seek that welfare of the city. That that would be important to every Christian. You can participate in the common good because you are free. You're free from the pursuit of power, the pursuit of control, the pursuit of authority. You are free from selfishness and greed.
Jeffrey Heine:You are free from envy and malice. You are free from slander and deceit. You are set free so you can serve. Because the things that should entice the world should not entice us anymore. That power and authority to lord over other people, to make other people subject to us, to dominate other people, to abuse power that we don't desire that anymore.
Jeffrey Heine:So we might serve not only the household of faith, but the community at large. Calvin, John Calvin said it like this, we obtain freedom in order that we may more promptly and readily render obedience to God. That freedom has a direction and a purpose and a point and a plan. It goes somewhere. And when we do that good, when we are obedient to God, and we do that good, that good does something.
Jeffrey Heine:We are free servants. That's the way that Peter puts it here. We are servants of God. Live as free people, servants of God. Those go together.
Jeffrey Heine:Free servants. We have freedom in Christ, freedom from sin, and we are free to be servants of God. The apostle Paul talks about this quite a bit in his letter to the Romans. He talks about it in chapter 6, where he he's, discussing how you were once slaves to sin, and now you are slaves to righteousness. There's not an opting out of servanthood.
Jeffrey Heine:It's a it's a servant to sin and the master sin or righteousness with the master Yahweh, God. And that is what is set before us. Submission is the will of God. It is for his sake and his glory. And we have been set free to be servants of God and to do good that hushes the storms in our culture.
Jeffrey Heine:Number 2, submission is the way of the sun. Submission is the way of the son. Look at verse 21. Verse 21. For this, you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps.
Jeffrey Heine:He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. Let me, let me highlight something. Verse 22 all the way down to 25, Peter is gonna be citing and kind of rephrasing Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 about the suffering servant. So when when as I read through, 22 through 25, have have that in mind.
Jeffrey Heine:He is quoting at some points just like verbatim, at other points kind of rephrasing, and he's actually, primarily working in, like, descending order. Isaiah 53 verse 9 and then kind of walking, I guess, upwards or it's Hebrew. You start to lose your footing with how you're reading it. Anyway, 22. He He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
Jeffrey Heine: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. 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.
Jeffrey Heine:Here, Peter tells us that submission to authorities, even unjust authorities, is not only the will of God, but it is the way of the son. The way of Christ, the messiah. Because he did this for you, Peter says. He suffered under unjust authority for you. He submitted to unjust rulers for you, And he is the suffering servant.
Jeffrey Heine:He is that picture, that example that we are to follow in his steps. This is one of the most explicit places in the new testament where it talks about, doing as Christ has done. Follow his steps. He is an example. Now Jesus isn't always an example.
Jeffrey Heine:That's not always why we're being taught the different things that he did. He's not just an example, but he is an example. He's not only an example, but he is an example. And Peter is calling our attention to that. Submission isn't just a rule of God, it is a way of Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:Peter outlines the submission of Jesus in his trial and his execution. And these words from Isaiah, one that he doesn't reference is Isaiah 53:11, which says that it is the it was the will of the lord to crush him. See, Jesus wasn't just submitting himself under the the You see, when we submit to any authority, in any order that is established, when we submit, we're gonna get into as a citizen, as a worker, as a spouse, as we're we're gonna look at all of those next week. But when we submit, we're not merely submitting to those authorities in flesh around us. We are always submitting to god the father, and we see that displayed in Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus was able to subject himself to unjust authorities. Don't miss this. Because he was entrusting himself to the just judge. He was entrusting. He was committing himself to the one who is just, God the father.
Jeffrey Heine:Submission to any authority, any order requires us. It requires us to commit ourselves, to entrust ourselves to god, to know that he will vindicate, to know that he will have the final say, that he will hush the ignorance ultimately and finally. Some of you are exhausted because you are trying to submit to people in various areas of your life. You're trying to do good and submit, but you're burning yourself out because you have forgotten to entrust yourself to him who judges justly. You you've forgotten to go to him who is just, who is the perfect authority, who is sovereign over all.
Jeffrey Heine:And that happens because submission is hard. And we get distracted, and we get tired, and we can forget. I recently read, a book. It was a collection of letters written by Martin Luther, And he wrote this. It it really stuck out in all of these different letters.
Jeffrey Heine:He who will not help and assist another until he can do it without danger or injury to his own person or property will never help his neighbor. For that will always appear to him to involve loss, danger, injury, or neglect of his own interests. See, doing good is costly, and it is hard. And we will always seem like we're going to lose something, something we want to hold on to. And some of you, even just like as we read the the verses, like, you had some walls going up.
Jeffrey Heine:You had some problems with what was being said. You were hoping that it was just translated wrong. Like, you you had a we had a problem. That's all right. Bring your problem.
Jeffrey Heine:But we have to see that we are freed up, that we might serve the people around us, just and unjust alike. And we can take those losses. Because everything that we need, everything we need to become, we find in Christ. And as we are hidden in him, we can take any loss. But submission is hard, and it brings those losses.
Jeffrey Heine:So how do you endure suffering that comes through submission? How do you endure? Do you entrust yourself to the one who judges justly? And how do we do this? How do we even begin?
Jeffrey Heine:May maybe this is a concept that I tell you, I I don't think that there's been a sermon that I've studied for before that has that has, pierced my soul as much as this one. I feel like I'm kind of grasping here because I I really just, like, kind of was submerged in all of this, in studying and preparing because there's so much, and I'm glad that I get next week too. So, but but there's, there's so much here, but we really if you're, if you're coming into this and you're thinking, okay, but how do I start? Where does this begin for me? That's the third thing.
Jeffrey Heine:Submission is the work of the spirit. Now our first Peter text does not get into this concept, but it's critical in developing a holistic theology of submission. It is possible to hear these first two concepts. It's the will of God. It's the way of Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:And to think, okay. Well, I guess I bet this is this is some good moral activity. This is some virtuous ethic that I should endeavor in. Like, I can be a disciplined person and submit, but we really need to come back to the fact that submission requires more than just a disciplined attitude. It requires the divine work of God.
Jeffrey Heine:Galatians 522 through 24. Here, Paul is talking about a life lived by the spirit, a life entrusted to God, and he says these things. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such things, there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Jeffrey Heine:The fruit of the spirit. Submission requires the fruit of the spirit. You cannot submit without kindness and peace and gentleness, without self self control. We can't do it. It requires the work of the spirit.
Jeffrey Heine:Submission isn't just self denial. It's finding yourself in Christ and in his steps, and the spirit of the living God transforming your mind, not just what you think about, but how you think transformed. So what does this look like? And we're gonna talk about the what does it look like in detail next week, but I wanna jump back to verse 17. He says, honor everyone.
Jeffrey Heine:Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Kind of has this bookend structure of honor and honor. It works kind of the outside and then the inside.
Jeffrey Heine:The outside, everyone, emperor inside the brotherhood, meaning the church, the brothers and sisters in the church and god. That we would honor everyone. We would treat everyone with dignity and respect. That we would fulfill our obligations. That we would be in this in the order that is around us.
Jeffrey Heine:We would honor everyone. There I mean, it's it's pretty phenomenal, the all of these little statements, because it's just so clear cut. It's honor everyone. Yeah, but what about this guy? He's everyone.
Jeffrey Heine:Your relative, your, neighbor, yeah. Them. That's exactly who he's talking about. Everyone. The Greek there is everyone.
Jeffrey Heine:So just honor everyone. You don't get an out. Love the brotherhood. That's agape. That is that divine love.
Jeffrey Heine:This is the work of God. The work of God. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Fear him.
Jeffrey Heine:Give him this reverence. Give him this honor, this holy reverence. Give that to him. Fear him. Jesus says in Matthew, don't fear the one that can just kill your body.
Jeffrey Heine:Fear the one who can kill and destroy body and soul into hell. Fear God. You don't fear the emperor. You honor the emperor. You don't fear the emperor, but you do honor the emperor.
Jeffrey Heine:We'll get into this more next week, but this is this is phenomenal to me. Honor the emperor? That's probably Nero, the one that's gonna oversee Peter's death, and Paul's, and scores of Christians. And he says honor him. But we fear God, we love the brotherhood, we honor everyone, even the emperor.
Jeffrey Heine:I wanna close with this. There was a 2nd century writer, Diognetus. He he wrote these words. He's describing Christians in the society at that time. I just wanna close with this.
Jeffrey Heine:I want you to think about this description. I want you to parallel this with today and hear these words. Christians are not different because of their country, or the language they speak, or the way they dress. They do not isolate themselves in their cities, nor use a private language. Even the life they lead is nothing strange.
Jeffrey Heine:Their doctrine does not originate from the elaborate disquisitions of intellectuals, nor do they follow as many do the philosophical systems, the fruit of human thinking. They live in Greek cities and foreign cities as they may be, and they adapt themselves to the local traditions in dress and food and all usages. Yet they testify to a way, which in the opinion of many, has something extraordinary about it. They live in their own countries, yet are strangers. They loyally fulfill their duties as citizens, but they are treated like foreigners.
Jeffrey Heine:Every foreign land to them is like a fatherland, and every fatherland is like a foreign land. They marry like everyone. They have children, but they do not abandon their newborns. They have the table in common, but not their beds. They are in the flesh, but they do not live according to the flesh.
Jeffrey Heine:They obey the laws of the state, but their lives, in their lives, they go beyond the law. They love everyone, yet they are persecuted by everyone. No one really knows them, but all condemn them. They are killed, but they go on living. They are poor, but they enrich many.
Jeffrey Heine:They have nothing, but they abound in everything. And in contempt, they find the glory of god. They honor when they are insulted, but their justice is acknowledged. When they are cursed, they blessed. When they are insulted, they answer in kind words.
Jeffrey Heine:They do good to others, but they are punished like evildoers. When they are punished, they rejoice as if they were given life. The Jews make war against them as if they were a foreign race. The Greeks persecute them, but those who hate them cannot tell the reason for their hatred. Are we those kinds of exiles?
Jeffrey Heine:Are we that connected and separate? Are we that engaged yet distinct? Are we serving that common good out of this for the sake of god, because of his will, and for his glory? Are we following that way of the sun? And are we praying for earnestly the work of the spirit that we can live as exiles.
Jeffrey Heine:That is the theology of submission. Next week, we will consider the practice of submission. Let's go to our suffering servant, Jesus, in prayer now. God, we thank you for your word, and we pray that you would stir us up to good works and to faith in Christ. Help us to stir up one another.
Jeffrey Heine:Help us to love one another. Help us to care for one another this week. May we look for ways that we can serve each other with this agape love. Help us to look for ways to serve the just and the unjust around us, in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces, in our own families. Help us to see and to know and to love your will.
Jeffrey Heine:We pray this in and for the name of Christ.