Free to Serve 1 Peter 2:13-17

Last Sunday we began our study of 1 Peter 2:13-17. Those who received the letter from Peter were living in difficult circumstances. They were looked upon with suspicion because of their commitment to worship and serve Jesus instead of worshiping the emperor. How were they to respond to the circumstance of their situation? Peter urged them to honor those in authority over them.  They were to honor the emperor, who at this time was Emperor Nero, who in just a couple of years would behead the Apostle Paul, crucify Peter upside down, and kill many of the followers of Jesus living in Rome following the great fire that destroyed much of Rome. 

Tacitus was born about 56 A.D. and died around 120 A.D. He is the most famous of the Roman historians who also had a successful political career as a senator, consul, and later a governor of the Roman province of Asia. He described what happened to the followers of Jesus following the great fire in 64 A.D. in his writing called Annals.  

Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty, that they were being destroyed. (Annals 15:44)

As I was studying our Scripture for today I had a question: “If Peter and Paul would have known what was coming, would they have still told the followers of Jesus to submit to those in authority over them?” There is no doubt in my mind the answer is “Yes!” an emphatic “Yes!” The command to submit to those in authority was not Paul or Peter’s political ideology or philosophy, it was God’s command. The early church fathers, those who were next in line after Peter, John, Paul, and James, men like Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, Ignatius of Antioch, Clement of Rome, and Cyprian of Carthage all taught and lived out the command to submit to the governing authorities. All of these men were also executed because they were unwilling to worship the emperor and renounce their faith in Jesus. 

During our study time last week we talked about how we, as the followers of Jesus, are called to submit ourselves to those who govern us. We are called to be the very best citizens of our city, state, and nation. We don’t have to like them or agree with their policies, but we are to submit to them, honor them, and show them genuine respect. The only time we are to refuse to submit to those who govern us is when they command us to do that which violates what God commands us to do or if they prohibit us from doing what God commands of us. We covered this last week. This week I want to continue our study by focusing on verses 16-17. Let’s go back and read our entire Scripture for this morning and then we’ll focus on verses 16-17. 

13 Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God's slaves. 17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. (1 Peter 2:13-17 NIV)

I do want to correct something I said last week that pertains to verse 15 where Peter writes, “For it is God’s will that by doing good you will silence ignorant talk of foolish people.” I said this didn’t quite work out according to plan because Emperor Nero executed both Peter and Paul as well as many other Christians. Those things are true, but there is a bigger story, a more long lasting story. With their eyes set on Jesus and walking in His steps as humble servants, the followers of Jesus had an impact on those living under the Roman Empire. Not only did millions come to know Jesus who were living in the Roman Empire, but the impact of Jesus has been, and continues to be felt around the world, long after the last emperor died. 

Bart Ehrman is a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Ehrman is not a follower of Jesus, but he fully acknowledges the global impact of Jesus upon most every aspect of our culture. In his book, The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World, Dr. Ehrman describes Roman culture as one which is best characterized by dominance. Those with power asserted themselves over those who were weaker. Dr. Ehrman writes, “Rulers are to dominate their subjects, patrons their clients, masters their slaves, men their women. …This ideology affected both social relations and governmental policy.” We know this is true and that Jesus’ followers suffered under the dominating rule of the emperors up to the time Emperor Constantine made persecuting Christians illegal in 313 A.D. Yet, the followers of Jesus continued to follow Jesus, to do good in their communities, and to submit to those who ruled over them as long as they didn’t command them to renounce their faith or force them to bow their knee to the emperor as god. Alongside the Roman ideology of dominance, Dr. Ehrman writes,

Christians, however, advocated a different ideology. Leaders of the Christian church preached and urged an ethic of love and service. One person was not more important than another. All were on the same footing before God: the master was no more significant than the slave, the patron than the client, the husband than the wife, the powerful than the weak, or the robust than the diseased. …As Christians came to occupy positions of power, these ideals made their way into people’s social lives, into private institutions meant to encapsulate them, and into governmental policy. The very idea that society should serve the poor, the sick, and the marginalized became a distinctively Christian concern. (Ehrman, Bart. The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World.) 

I think this is important to point out for us because we tend to live for immediate results. If something doesn’t seem to be working in the present then we need to abandon it and try something different. God’s promises do not fail. We are to be faithful to the Lord in living the life He has called us to live, regardless of what happens. Let’s turn our attention to verse 16 where Peter writes,

16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God's slaves. (1 Peter 2:16 NIV)

What does it mean to “live as free people?” We celebrated Independence Day here in the United States this week. The 4th of July is a national holiday, a day set aside to celebrate the sacrifices made by our founding fathers to secure our freedom and rights as citizens of this great nation. We are the land of the free and the home of the brave, but what does freedom mean? Free to do what? I’m afraid that for many people today being free means the freedom to do whatever we please. That is a totally different understanding of what Peter meant when he wrote to the followers of Jesus in the first century. It is also quite different from what the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers meant when they spoke about being free. To be free was to be virtuous, to be morally upright and to be a slave was to lack virtue and morality. The Stoics, men like Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Arelius taught that virtue is how we live happy and free lives. What a contrast to how most Americans would describe freedom in our day. 

I was reading about a woman who grew up in a Christian home, but as a young adult rejected her faith. She found Christianity confining, it didn’t allow her to be free, so she walked away. She wrote,

Someone once asked me if I would trade in my childhood for another, if I had the chance, and my answer was no, not for anything. My reason is that, without that childhood, I wouldn’t understand what freedom truly is — freedom from a life centered around obedience and submission, freedom to think anything, freedom from guilt and shame, freedom from the perpetual heavy obligation to keep every thought pure. Nothing I’ve ever encountered in my life has been so breathtakingly beautiful. Freedom is my God now, and I love this one a thousand times more than I ever loved the last one. (Rachael Slick)

I would say Rachael is expressing what many, if not most people in America believe about freedom–it is freedom to do what we want, when we want, and how we want, totally unencumbered by any outside influence. This understanding of freedom, this desire to be the captain of our own ship and free to do whatever we want is nothing new. It’s an ideology that transcends time and is pervasive in the hearts of people to this very day. In 1952, C.S. Lewis wrote the classic, Mere Christianity. In it he writes,

The moment you have a self at all, there is a possibility of putting yourself first—wanting to be the center—wanting to be God, in fact. …What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’—could set up on their own as if they had created themselves…invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy. (Lewis, C.S., Mere Christianity (New York: Macmillan, 1952), pp 53-54.)

When Peter writes, “Live as free people…” he has something very specific in mind. When the Bible speaks of freedom it is speaking of the freedom we have in Christ, not to do as we want, but to do God’s will. When we become followers of Jesus we are freed from the slavery of sin and become slaves of God, the God who loves us and created us to be more than we ever dreamed of being. Jesus spoke to some of His followers one day and said, 

31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32 NIV)

So you see, it is not in casting off all restraint that we become free, but it is in clinging to Jesus’ teaching and then putting them into practice in our daily lives that we truly become free. Just a few verses later, Jesus said,

36 Therefore, if the Son sets you free, you really will be free. (John 8:36 CSB)

In Christ we are free from bondage to sin. That doesn’t mean we will never sin again, but it means that we are now free, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, to serve the Lord and not our sinful fleshly desires. In Christ we are free from the condemnation that comes from the guilt and shame of our sin. I know this to be true from firsthand experience. Before I was a follower of Jesus, before I knew a single word of Jesus’ teaching from the Bible, I would find myself laying in bed at night and feeling guilt and shame over things I had done. There must have been some folks in Rome who had the same experience because Paul wrote,

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4 NIV)

When we become a follower of Jesus the Holy Spirit leads us, guides us, convicts us, and gives us a desire to live the life God desires for us to live–a life that brings Him glory and honor and a life that is a blessing to those He has placed in our lives. Last of all, let me say it once again, the freedom we are given in Christ is not freedom to do whatever we want, but it is the freedom to become slaves of righteousness. Turn with me to Romans 6:17-18. 

17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. (Romans 6:17-18 NIV)

To be a slave to anything or to anyone sounds like something none of us would ever desire, and yet we find the greatest freedom when we become slaves to God and to doing His will for our lives. How could that be? How could becoming a slave to God and His will for our lives be better than calling the shots for ourselves, being who we want to be and doing what we want to do? Let me explain by telling you about what I witnessed last week. I love track and field. I watched every minute of the Olympic Trials in track and field. In the trials for the last Olympics there was an American woman named Anna Hall who was the rising star in the Heptathlon. Things were going according to plan until she tripped over a hurdle and broke her foot. Her hopes were crushed. She eventually healed and began training for the 2024 Olympics. Then, in January of this year she injured her knee and required surgery. Anna thought she would never be able to get in shape for the trials. She was discouraged and thought about quitting, but her family, her coach, and eventually her idol, Jackie Joyner Kersee rallied around her and convinced her she could do it. 

What did “doing it” entail? Well, it meant giving up most things that you and I enjoy. She gave up her freedom to do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, and however she wanted. She listened to every word from her doctors about how to rehab her knee and then she followed those instructions religiously. She listened to her coach and followed his workout plan each and every day. Her time was no longer her time. Her schedule was set for her by others and not by Anna. The freedom that was taken away enabled Anna to win the Heptathlon last weekend and now she is going to the Olympics in Paris! You should have seen the tears of joy when they placed that gold medal around Anna’s neck! Tim Keller writes,

Submitting to the right rules and the right leader can bring all sorts of great freedoms. If we see this to be the case, then how much more liberating will it be to submit to the true king of our souls? (Keller, Tim. Preaching.)

Total submission to the true king of our souls leads to the greatest freedom in all the world! There were some in Peter’s day and still some today who use the freedom they have in Christ as a means of what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called, “cheap grace.” Peter writes to remind them,

16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God's slaves. (1 Peter 2:16 NIV)

Do not use the freedom you have in Christ as a means for doing evil. I’ve witnessed this over and over again as pastor after pastor has been forced to resign and left their churches in shambles because of their sin. I’ve seen families torn apart, marriages shattered, and children’s lives destroyed by those who said they were followers of Jesus, but lived as if they never knew him. These same people were around in Peter’s day and he alerted the church about them in his second letter. Peter writes,

17 These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity-- for "people are slaves to whatever has mastered them." 20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. (2 Peter 2:17-20 NIV)

Jude warned the followers of Jesus about these same people who pervert the grace of God for their own twisted cause in Jude 1:4. Read it with me.

4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. (Jude 1:4 NIV)

We’re going to have to end our study so let’s take a look at verse 17. This is such an important Scripture which has just as much application for our day as it did for the followers of Jesus in Peter’s day. Read it with me.

17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. (1 Peter 2:17 NIV)

In this verse, Peter not only teaches the followers of Jesus how they are to relate to those who govern over them, but he teaches them how they are to relate to all people. 

First of all, they were to “show proper respect to everyone.” The word for “respect” here is the same word as “honor,” which appears at the end of the verse. The Greek word “τιμάω” (timaō) means to “honor or to esteem another.” What’s interesting is that Peter places “everyone” on the same level as “the emperor.” This was a revolutionary idea in the first century. In America we say we believe in the dignity of all people, but we certainly don’t treat everyone the same. 

In the Roman Empire there were certainly different classes of people and the lowest of all classes were the slaves. It has been estimated that there were up to 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire. Roman law defined slaves as things and not people. They had no rights whatsoever. Peter knew that everyone, from the emperor to slaves were created in the image of God, they possessed inherent worth and dignity, and were to be treated accordingly. We are to honor and respect all people regardless of who they are or what they have done. We are to show no more honor and respect to those who possess the power in our community than we are to those who are powerless.  

Second, they were to “love the brotherhood.”  There is a unique relationship between brothers and sisters in Christ. To highlight this uniqueness Peter uses a word for “love” that sets it apart from all other forms of love. He uses the Greek word “ἀγαπάω” (agapaō) to describe and define the type of love we are to demonstrate for one another who are part of the family formed by Jesus Christ. This Greek word for “love” means love with no strings attached. It is not dependent on how one behaves or what another person can do for you, it is a conscious choice to love, period. Before Jesus went to the cross He told His disciples,

34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35 NIV)

Same Greek word used four times. And what does this type of love that we are to have for one another look like? Jesus answered that question when He said, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Are you loving your brothers and sisters, those who are followers of Jesus in the same way that He has loved you? Let me ask you another question, “Think of some brother or sister in Christ who you have distanced yourself from for whatever reason. What if Jesus loved you in the same way that you are refusing to love him or her?” It is so important that we allow the Lord to love our brothers and sisters in Christ through us when we are incapable of loving them. 

Last of all, Peter says to “fear God.” We need not confuse the kind of fear we hear about when children are abused or we fear the doctor is going to give us bad news. Biblical fear is an awe, a reverence for God that leads to full and total submission. Biblical fear of God overwhelms us when we truly consider who God is, what He has done, and the magnitude of His holiness and righteousness. When we grasp these important biblical truths there is no other response than to fall on our faces and worship Him, the One who has loved us with an everlasting love. 

It is time for us to go, but before we leave this sanctuary this morning I want to encourage you, those of you who are not followers of Jesus, to surrender your heart to Him this morning. Confess that you believe Jesus is the Son of God who died for the debt you owe because of your sins. Confess that you need Jesus’ cleansing to wash away your guilt and shame. Confess that you want Jesus, you want to know Him and serve Him for the rest of your life. Will you do that this morning?

Mike Hays

Britton Christian Church

July 7, 2024