The First Letter of Peter-10

Subtitle: Our Witness before the World- Part 2

1 Peter 2:16-20.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, January 25, 2026.

We continue in this first letter of Peter.  He is focused on how we follow Jesus, and how that affects the world around us.  God wants those who are following Christ to be a witness and a testimony to the world.

This witness will save some.  We will be a witness that they receive.  However, others will not receive our witness.  The things we share and do are then evidence against them.  Of course, this is not our goal.  Our goal is to help them see Jesus.

In many cases, it may seem unfair that God expects us to be a witness for Him to people who do not deserve it.  The rub here is that we are the ones determining who doesn’t deserve it.  No one “deserves” the Gospel, but the grace of God has chosen to make it available to all.  We either agree with that and help, or we disagree and ignore the commands of Christ.

It is common that Christians end up suffering for their active witnessing to the world.  This too may seem unfair.  Why should we suffer so that they can be forgiven?  The answer is Jesus.  He suffered death for you and them so that forgiveness could be possible.  If we believe in him, then we can agree that his purposes are worthy of the greatest of sacrifices.

Let’s look at our passage.

Submit to every human institution of authority (v. 16-17)

We had to stop in the middle of this section last week.  The main point comes from verse 13. We are to do this for the Lord’s sake (not ours), without respect to the level of authority, and in order to silence the ignorance of foolish men.

There are going to be people who reject God no matter what His decision is.  It is God’s will that we submit ourselves to the governing authorities in order to shut the mouths of those who would ignorantly accuse Christians of rebellion.

Of course, it is a spiritual rebellion.  We will not serve the devil and his angels.  However, our goal is not to fight the governments of this world.  It is to silence their mouths through righteousness.

Verse 16 then adds the instruction that we should use our freedom to be slaves of God.  Now, some of them are free people and others are slaves.  There is even a spectrum of from the least freedom to the most freedom.  It would start with those who were slaves and move up to those who are simply servants.  We then would come to those who are free but have no Roman Citizenship (the Apostle Peter) and move to someone like the Apostle Paul who had both freedom and Roman Citizenship. 

However, Peter is not talking about our natural freedom.  He is talking about the spiritual freedom that we have in Christ.  All Christians have been spiritually set free from the guilt of their sins and the rebellion of humanity.  We have been also set free from any claim that the devil may have on us.  Those who were Jews were set free from the Law of Moses.  This doesn’t mean that Christians are lawless.  Instead, we are under the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2).

Many Christians make the mistake of using their situation as an indication of what they truly are in Christ.  If my circumstances are bad, then I am a loser in Christ, a failure.  If my circumstances are good, then God loves me, and I am a blessed winner.  Isn’t our Lord Jesus a rebuke to this kind of thinking?  Of course, he is!  There is no more victorious person who has ever lived than the Lord Jesus.  Yet his circumstances were so bad that “we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.” (Isaiah 53:4 NIV). 

Peter warns against using our freedom as a “covering for evil.”  We can sweep a lot of things under the carpet of freedom that are not in character with the freedom that God has given us.  Another way to describe this is to use grace as a license for immorality.  Did Jesus free us so that we can continue to sin, or God forbid, do even more sinful things?  Of course, he didn’t.

Those who protest the loudest that they are free from being judged are in bondage to the vices and lusts of their heart.  In fact, all of us have recognized how particular sins can get a hold on us.  We want to be free from it, but it seems to have powerful control over us.

This brings up the issue of political freedom.  What good does political freedom do for those who are in bondage to sin?  Only people who are spiritually free can remain politically free.  Those who are not will find their political freedom disintegrating before their eyes.  How much political freedom are we going to lose before we repent?  I don’t know.  God will let us lose it all, if we don’t do so.  It is up to us how far we will fall.

God will goad us along the way, trying to get our attention.  He doesn’t want us to be destroyed, but He may let it happen. 

So, Peter started this passage calling believers to abstain from fleshly lusts (v. 11).  Now he has described that further as not using your freedom in Christ as a covering for evil.

Peter then gives a quick list of the kinds of things we can do as free people who are serving God in verse 17. 

The first is to honor all people.  Honor is something that is nobler than submission.  At its root is the idea of value.  It can be a person who has value, or it can be a person who is in a valuable position of authority.  Of course, a high position is not needed for a person to have great honor (value).

A person who has no honor is a person who has become worthless.  Many worthless people end up in positions of honor.  This can be a difficult and oppressive thing to endure.

To honor someone who has honor requires me to see beyond myself.  It really should be easy to do.  Yet a person of honor who is in a position of honor should see the value of the people for whom they are responsible.  Shouldn’t a king see the value of the people he serves, even the peasants?

Ultimately, value comes from God.  It is He who has made us and not we ourselves.  It is a common occurrence that we do not live up to the value that God has given us.  Peter challenges us to see the value in all people and give the honor that God wants you to do.  We must use our freedom to honor all people appropriately.

The second thing in verse 17 is to love the brotherhood.  Brotherhood here contemplates the family of God as a band of brothers, which includes both men and women.  The devil loves to tempt Christians into the path of hating one another, or at least not caring to love one another.

We are called to love one another as Christ has loved us.  This is not a fake honor and not a fake love.  We should not love sparingly or begrudgingly.  We are to use our freedom to love our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Love always begs the question, “What does it mean to love now?”  I know a man whose son ended up in prison for a period of time.  When the son was released, the dad tried to help the son get back on his feet by giving him a place to stay and a job in his shop.  It is clear that the dad loved his son when he could have written the son off.  I’m sure the dad wrestled with what the love of Jesus would have him do.  After some time of working in his dad’s shop, the son began to dip into the till.  At some point the dad suspected it and eventually caught his son’s sin.  What can the dad do now?  He is faced with the hard question.  What does love do now? Yes, you want to help your son, but his problem is clearly far deeper than just needing a helping hand.  What would you do in that situation?  Loving people is difficult, but it is what Jesus calls us to do.  Love doesn’t always do the same thing.  Sometimes love has to say no more.  Sometimes it has to tell someone to leave before they can be received back in repentance. 

Peter also tells us to use our freedom to fear God.  This may sound like a contradiction, but God has not set us free so that we can live a life of not having proper respect for who He is, and what He has done.  He is our Father, but He is also our Judge.  He will not pervert truth in order to make you feel good.  He loves you too much to do that.

We are told in the Bible that the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  Yes, you are free to be a moron, but that is not what God had in mind when He gave you freedom.  We will all give an accounting to God one day.  There will be consequences for the way we have lived our lives.  However, there is more to the Fear of the Lord than just being afraid of hell.
Moses, when confronted with the idea that God might not go with along the way to the Promised Land, feared not having relationship with God.  God, You must come with us.  Otherwise, people will not know that Your favor is upon us.  Can you imagine eternity without Him Who is the greatest good?  Lack of relationship with God should be a far more fearful thought than eternity in a Lake of Fire.

Peter also tells us to honor the king.  This is clearly added to deal with the obvious question that would follow the earlier command to honor all people.  Should we honor even a wicked man like Nero?  We are to treat the king with respect and the honor that is due to his position and authority.  Again, that is in order to shut the mouths of foolish and ignorant people.

Household servants are to submit to their masters (18-20)

This word for servants has the idea of a household servant of various types.  Some may have greater freedom, but some may be actual slaves.  This is similar to the previous category under the king, or civil authority.  Even free people are under some authority in life.  Yet slaves and servants would have an extra layer of authority over them.

Peter calls slaves to use their freedom to submit to their earthly masters.  They are to choose to take their proper place under the master’s authority.  It may not be proper in the sense that God made them to be that way.  However, under the laws of the society, they are under a master.

Now there were some Christians who had slaves.  The letter of Philemon is written to a master asking him to receive a run-away slave back and treat him as a brother.  However, most Christians were not masters.  In fact, quite a few were slaves themselves.  You could understand that a slave might hear the Gospel and rightly think to themselves, “Christ has set me free!  No man can own me.”  Of course, God did not make any person to be the chattel property of another.  Yet this is not a perfect world.  In this imperfect world, God does not ask us to kill the masters with a slave revolt.  Instead, He calls the slaves to show the masters Jesus by giving them respect.  In fact, Peter calls them to show “all respect” in the way they submit to their masters. 

This term can mean something like terror.  However, the emphasis is on being very careful in your submission.  What if the masters are not respectable?  We are to respect them for Christ’s sake.  It is the respect of Christ that overshadows the whole issue.  I do it because I respect Christ who asks me to do it.

Jesus will not force us to submit to our master with all respect.  But He will work on our hearts by His Spirit.  He will call you to this and challenge you in it. 

The average American is no longer dealing with actual slavery.  Yes, there is some underground illegal slavery happening, but this is not what is being talked about here.  This best maps over to our relationship with an employer in this life.  Do you have a “good and gentle” boss?  It does happen!  The same thing was true of slaves in the first century.  Some of them had good situations and were happy to work for their master.  Even if they were told they were free, they might choose to stay.  However, many slaves had bad situations, even oppressive situations under masters who were evil men.  These slaves didn’t have a choice about their master.  He was who he was.  Peter challenges them to submit especially to the unreasonable masters.

It would be easier to serve someone who is good and gentle.  Anyone in the position of a lord over another person should have the qualities of being good and gentle because these are the qualities of Christ.

However, when a master is unreasonable, it seems unreasonable to expect a slave to submit to them.  The word unreasonable has the sense of being crooked, perverse, or wicked.  How can God expect us to serve a wicked master?

Many people in our society rail against the Bible and the God of the Bible.  Yet they are often using their political freedom as a license of sin, and a cover for evil things.

Freedom is a puzzle that is much more complex than we would like to admit.  Being politically free is one thing, but being spiritually free is quite another.  God is concerned about bigger issues than rather we are politically free or not.  Yes, He did not make us to be under tyrants and dictators.  However, the only way to break through to hard hearts is to remove their freedom and put them under the heavy hand of another sinner.  God is speaking to our hearts in these times, calling us to turn back to Him.  This is why nations rise and nations fall.  It is something that this rising nation should take to heart.  We have only risen because God has allowed it.  Yet He may cause us to fall as well.

God can help us through oppressive things, like a master who is unreasonable, if we will ask Him.  Rather than complaining, we can choose to trust God and submit to trusting Him.

Peter explains that a slave who endures the unreasonable actions of an evil master will find the favor of God.  Just like Noah found favor (grace) in the eyes of the Lord, we are called to be people who put their trust in God’s way and not our own.

To put a finer point on this, imagine a slave being able to choose between two doors.  Behind one is political and economic freedom and behind the other is favor with God.  Which would you choose?  In truth, it would be suicide to choose freedom over against the favor of God.  What good does freedom do for a person who has drawn the ire of God?  It does none whatsoever.

Verse 19 is somewhat choppy in English, but let’s work through it.  The point is not just suffering unjustly but also enduring under the suffering.  A person will only do so for one of two reasons.  They either have no hope and have been beaten into submission, or they have hope in God.  This latter reason is the testimony of slaves throughout history, even those in America.  They had faith in God and were able to endure great suffering.

African American slave culture had developed great faith in God.  It is the wellspring of the Negro Spirituals that surfaced in that era.  If you read the words to “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the “Black National Anthem,” you will be surprised at the level of faith and prophetic warning to America and black people themselves.

In the time of suffering, they learned something about God that was invaluable.  Yet they also knew that it could be lost.  This is a challenge for all people of all races.    God is found in times of suffering if we will put our trust in Him.  However, we can lose Him in the comfortable times that follow.

Peter tells us that there is no credit before God when we endure harsh treatment due to our own sin.  As free people, we may not have to suffer an evil master punishing us for our sins.  But we can suffer evil men due to our sins.  If I want God’s favor in such a situation, then I need to repent of my sin.

But, if we suffer for doing what is right and patiently endure it, there is favor with God.  Do you remember the Beatitudes of Matthew chapter five?  Jesus listed things that make us feel like we are not favored with God and told the people that they were blessed if they fit into those not so blessed categories.  Why are those who mourn blessed?  They are blessed because they have a Heavenly Father who has determined a time of comfort for them, at least if they will hang on in faith, continuing to draw His favor.

These unreasonable masters (and unreasonable, evil men) will stand before their Master one day.  They will be judged with a stricter judgment because they were in a position of power and authority.  They abused their power and will thus be treated with their own harsh treatment.

This is not an instruction that makes our flesh feel good.  It is an instruction that delivers our soul from our own sinful tendencies.  You can either be concerned with what you are getting out of life, or you can freely serve God and His purposes.  One thing is certain, you can’t do both!

Our Witness 2 audio

What Does God Really Want from Me? Part 5

Matthew 20:24-28.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, February 13, 2022.

What does God really want from Me?  That is the question we are continuing to look at.  The third purpose that God has for us is to serve.  He wants us to serve selflessly through the natural and spiritual gifts that He has given us.

Serving should not be seen as a level that we achieve, or cannot start until we finish growing to be like Jesus.  In truth, serving is part of our spiritual growth.  Yet, it is a part of our spiritual growth that is worthy of its own focus because serving others moves the emphasis from me to others.

Yes, I need to grow, but everything that I do cannot be only focused on whether or not I get something out of it.  Spiritual growth is not some sort of competition or point of comparison that we can brag about.  I used the word focus because this is a key issue.  Spiritual growth cannot become stuck in the quagmire of self-improvement.  Learning to serve like Jesus did is the only thing that can save us from this elitist’s box canyon.  Our focus is first and foremost on the will of Jesus Christ, and then he focuses us on the need of others around us.  This is part of our spiritual growth.

Of course, you will get something out of service.  You will become more like Jesus, and that is all we should ever need.  However, once our flesh realizes that we are serious about spiritual growth, it will quickly move to make that spiritual growth all about you.

Thus, we are using the adverb “selflessly.”  Of course, I am using my self to serve you, but I need to serve without my own desires and needs getting in the way of what God is wanting to do.  Serving others is part of our spiritual sacrifices.  Just like the Israelites under the Law of Moses could have used those bulls and goats for their own purposes, we also could use our time, money, and gifts for ourselves.  Yet, we help others as a free-will offering to Jesus.  In so doing, service becomes a true act of worship that shows God that He is worthy enough for me to sacrifice myself for the sake of the others to which He points me.

Lastly, we all have natural and spiritual gifts that come from God.  There are strong people and there are weak people.  We have trouble processing why “God made me weak.”  However, God in His wisdom is teaching us that we need others.  None of us can “do it” alone.  Some are strong to help the weak, and yet in so doing the strong learn something from the weak that they could never learn without them, and vice versa.  James 1:17 tells us that “Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”  Remind yourself often that you have gifts because God gave them to you for a purpose, and that purpose is to serve others.

Let’s look at our passage.

The human desire to be great

For the sake of time, I have jumped into the middle of this story.  The 10 disciples are the others besides James and John.  They are greatly displeased, or riled up, because they found out that the mother of James and John had brought them to Jesus and asked him to let them sit on his right and on his left when he rules in his kingdom.

Their anger is most likely not coming from a true sense of what is moral.  All of them were spending lots of time arguing about who was the greatest among them.  This is what was at the root of asking for the sons to sit on the right and left of Jesus.  Whether it was the mom’s idea or the sons thought it would be more appropriate coming from her, they are asking for the top two spots in the coming administration of King Jesus.  Of course, we can debate about whether or not those two positions are to be given to the greatest.

They all wanted the greatest spot for themselves, and they are probably angry that James and John beat them to the punch out of pure audacity.

Now, there is nothing wrong with wanting to be great and to do something great, especially to be and to do so for God.  However, the fly in this ointment is that our definition of greatness generally involves me being greater than others.  We find it practically impossible to separate the idea of greatness from being an indirect reference to others.  What if everything that every person ever did was intended by God to be great?  Could it be possible that the Great Creator God of every human being intends for each of us to be great in our own unique way?  Wouldn’t it be greater if we learned to dovetail perfectly together in honor of our great Lord, Jesus?

Yet, sinfulness often pushes us to want to stick out as better, or more important among our peers.  Ask yourself this.  What makes a mom or dad great?  Is it to be defined by those who get the “Mom of the Year” award?  Is it defined from society’s perspective, the child’s perspective, God’s?  How many moms and dads do a great service to their kids, and for society, by training their kids to follow Jesus?  Let us always remember this.  It is generally our desire to be great in all the wrong ways that gets in the way of doing the truly great things.

So, the key is in separating a desire for greatness from being attached to others around you, and then recognizing that we are lousy at knowing what is truly great.  We need Jesus to teach us.  Humility is saying, “Jesus, I know nothing of greatness.  Please teach me!”

In verse 25, Jesus takes them all aside and uses this moment to teach them (to teach us) about greatness.  He uses the fact that Israel has been under the thumb of Gentile empires for centuries.  Their desire for Messiah to come was heavily influenced by their desire to be out from under this “boot in the face” that they had endured for a long time.

Jesus warns them that those in the top spots among the Gentiles lord it over those under them.  He says the same thing twice, but uses two synonyms for this concept of lording over others.  The first word is a combination of the words down and lord, and means to lord down on others, or to force others down under your lordship.  The second word does the same thing with the words down and authority.  It would mean to exercise authority down on others, or to force others down under your authority.  Notice the emphasis is that the Gentile way of being a lord and having authority is to emphasize that they are higher and you are lower.

Now, Jesus could have easily pointed out that the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Herod all suffered from this same world view, but instead he focuses it on the Gentiles.  You see, the problem with Israel’s leadership was not Rome, but that they had become too much like Rome.  Really, it started for them under the Greeks before Rome came to power.  The Persians had allowed them to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild, but under the Greeks, the leaders had begun to adopt the Greek ways of thinking and doing many things including leadership.

Nothing has changed so much.  Even today, our world is focused on who is on top and who is on the bottom.  Pastors and Bishops can be overly concerned with this vertical challenge that actually comes from an unbiblical world view.

Christians are not to copy this

Jesus basically says that this kind of thinking and action is not to happen among them.  He doesn’t deny that it can happen, or will happen, but that it is not supposed to happen.  His command is that none of us ever do this.  Of course, we have tragically failed in this matter throughout much of the history of the Church.  So then, what form should authority take among the followers of Christ?

In verse 26, Jesus speaks to those who wanted to be great in his kingdom, which again was not a bad thing.  He instructs them on what they should do.  Whoever wants to be great should become the servant of the others.  Notice that there is still a vertical aspect here, but that the great one should lower themselves to serve the others.  Isn’t that exactly what is wrong with many of our political and spiritual leaders today, that they refuse to lower themselves in order to serve?

Now Jesus uses the nice Greek word for servant here.  Its focus is on performing a service, but that service can be done by the king’s right-hand man, or by the helper of a village blacksmith. We could say that it is the respectable term for a servant that does not focus on how high the position is.  It is where we get the word for deacon in English.  Thus, serving is not a position that is about being above others, even though some servants may have servants that are under them.

Jesus is refocusing their concept of greatness from lording over others to humbling themselves in order to serve others.

In verse 27, Jesus basically says the same thing, but he changes a couple of the words.  Here are the two statements back-to-back.

You who want to be great should become the servants of the others.

You who want to be first should become the slaves of the others.

Being first is about being the greatest of the greats.  Jesus then uses a term for serving that is not the nice term, and is why most translations bring it over as slave.  So, it repeats the same concept, but calls for one to get even lower, to become a slave who has no rights and no self-purpose, only the master’s purpose.  This is what it means to have the first place in Christ’s kingdom.  The highest position is reserved for those who would take the lowest place among them.

Wow, that is sobering.  This is why the Apostle Paul would call himself a slave of Christ Jesus, and a slave of God.  He understood that he was the Lord of no one.  Jesus is the Lord!  Paul was simply serving God’s people on His behalf, even becoming a slave among God’s people.  Notice that God’s slaves don’t peel His grapes and fan Him.  Rather, they serve His purposes among His people.  Thus, Paul served believers, but they don’t get to boss him around because he is their slave.  He is following God’s orders.  However, no task is too menial for someone who is a slave.  Slaves do the dirtiest of jobs without complaint.

If spiritual growth is all about becoming like Jesus, then serving others is not enough.  I must learn to serve others like Jesus did, and in the way that he wants me to do.

In verse 28, Jesus points them to the example that he was living out.  Jesus was the fulfillment of all the promises of God, not just to Israel, but also to the nations.  He was the Messiah.  He was destined to rule from the throne of David over Israel and the nations.  Yet, he didn’t come to be served by others.  Of course, he was served by others.  People gave money so that he could travel and preach.  Others gave places to stay and food (often for 13 of them).  Later, certain ones would serve him by taking care of his body and placing it in the tomb.  These very disciples would serve him by taking the Gospel to the nations.

However, Jesus himself was not focused on what others should be doing for him.  Instead of making us serve him, he first served us in the role, not just of a servant, but of the lowest slave of all mankind.  The one who would take all the sins of the world upon himself and carry them away, if we would just believe on him.

Can we get real for a second?  No one deserves first place, but Jesus because no one can take a lower place than the one Jesus took.  Even to speak of who then is second place behind him is to actually diminish the perfection of our lord.  When Jesus is first place, no other place matters.  He became the ransom in the place of the many who would believe upon him.  They would live because he would die for their sins in their place.  These are the many who would believe on this lowest slave, and ask the Father to forgive them for such heinous sins, and such heinous lack of faith in Him.  These are the many who would be enabled to have eternal life because he laid down his eternal life for them.

This is our example.  The God of heaven humbled Himself and took on the nature of a human.  He then humbled Himself further by becoming the lowest slave to all humanity. 

It seems impossible that religious leaders throughout history have seemingly not understood what Jesus is saying here.  Yet, that is how sophisticated we can get.  We can rely upon a system of thinking and operating that blinds us to what our Lord is saying.  It doesn’t matter what tradition says.  What ultimately matters is what our Lord says, and he is asking you, “How great do you really want to be?”  Maybe even more pointed, “Do you really want to be like me?”  God forgive us for being selfish in the face of His amazing unselfishness!

Serve Part 5