Submission In The Home 2

Peter has been speaking to believers in general and in specific subsets about the virtue of submission.  All believers need to demonstrate submission in their life to the proper authorities within the biblical boundaries that we have mentioned in the past.  All “horror” stories of submission can be traced back to sinful authority, and a lack of understanding of the biblical boundaries of that authority and the purpose of that authority.  So those who immediately break out in hives at the mention of submission need to reconcile the fact that no society can function without a proper understanding and functioning of authority and submission.  There really is a healthy and proper way in which this virtue can be lived out and it starts by recognizing that those in authority are under the authority of God and His Word.

Peter clearly speaks to husbands in order to balance the previous word to wives concerning submission.  Though he doesn’t explicitly state it, he expects husbands to “submit” to the instruction that he gives to them on behalf of the Lord Jesus.  He doesn’t treat the husband’s duties as fully as Paul does in Ephesians 5 because marriage and its duties is not his main point. 

For God to speak a word to husbands and wives that will enable them in every possible cultural condition to properly reflect the very nature of God is challenging indeed.  Thus we need to be careful that we do not reject God’s Word simply because it doesn’t reflect 21^st century American thoughts.  Would American thoughts work in Iran or Saudi Arabia?  More than likely they would bring women further suffering or even death, and lead no one to give the gospel of Jesus a second thought.  So let’s look at the Word of the Lord to husbands in 1 Peter 3:7.

Husbands, Live With Your Wife In Understanding

Peter begins by giving husbands the duty of living with their wives in understanding.  His first word is “likewise.”  In the same way that wives were given instruction that they needed to humbly receive, so husbands need to receive this instruction.  They need to have that same godly, respectful fear of God concerning these words.

It is easy to focus on the duties of those next to you more than you focus on your own.  This is a common problem in marriages.  It is easy to make performance by your spouse a prerequisite to your own duties.  However, you do this at the peril of displeasing the Lord who has given you this duty.  We are called to do our duties to the fullest without requiring the spouse to perform first.  Neither can we think that the lack of perfection on our spouse’s part excuses us from our duties.  Both are directly answerable to God.  Now Paul adds to this duty, to live in understanding, the duty to love your wife in the same way Jesus loved the Church.  So my words and actions need to reflect Jesus and his willingness to die to his own flesh considerations in order to help the Church live in a way pleasing to God.

The words “dwell with them” are the idea of doing life together.  This is more than sharing the same address.  Your wife is not a part of your “stuff.”  You are doing life with her.  You have left the single life behind and become a new “one” or union with her before God.  This takes a working together as a team in order to please God and bring honor to Him.

Now to live together in understanding is not referring to your own understanding.  Every husband has his own understanding of his marriage and wife.  But we are to have the mind of Christ concerning our marriage and our wife.  This requires a mental discipline of rejecting the selfish understanding that we come up with on our own and embracing the understanding of God’s Word.  That understanding starts with the purpose of marriage.  The two genders and propagation of humanity all flow from the husband-wife relationship.  However, God’s purpose was more than propagation.  In Ephesians 5 Paul makes clear that the main purpose behind God’s design of two genders coming together in a relationship to make the next generation, is to be a picture of the relationship between Jesus and his Church.  So a husband needs to understand that his actions to his wife need to be a picture of Jesus.  Your marriage is supposed to be a witnessing tool.  What is it witnessing?  Is it sending the wrong message?

Another part of dwelling in understanding is realizing the heavy weight this relationship will have on your ability to please God.  In most cases you spend more, intimate time with your spouse than anyone else.  That means your rewards from God or lack thereof are going to be more heavily impacted by your dealings with your wife.

You also need to have an understanding of her individuality.  Is the relationship safe enough for her to share her inner-most secrets and the things of her past that affect her present?  It is your duty to create such an atmosphere that you can more perfectly minister God’s love to her.  Jesus knew exactly the very heart of believers and what they needed in order to be set back to “rightness.”  It required his death and he embraced that duty like a warrior.    Ignorance will not be an acceptable defense before God.  You are expected to draw her out by the love of Jesus.

You should also be aware of the abuse of women in general.  It is clear that historically men have taken advantage of cultural norms and Scripture to abuse their authority.  God was not hardened towards our situation.  Rather, he empathized with our weakness and put his great power aside that he might come alongside of us.  Why do we run from such things in fear? 

Husbands, Honor Your Wife

The next command Peter gives is for husbands to honor their wife.  Without control our words and actions will often be dishonoring.  A husband’s duty to honor his wife will take focus and work.  Honor at its foundation is about value.  It is the opposite of demeaning.  Do my actions and words make clear that my wife is valuable?  She is not just valuable because she is my wife.  She is a child of God who is quite capable of holding us accountable for how we treat her.  You will stand before God one day and give account for how you treated her.  Are you ready?  Anything you think you might want to change?

It is interesting that in the same society that talks about the equality of women we see some of the most degrading things imaginable all the time in our entertainment, music, movies etc…  And these are things that women willingly choose in degrading themselves.  Marriage is not a merely sexual relationship.  A woman’s value is not based upon her “sexiness.”  If it did we would be worthless when our beauty fades.  This woman is valuable and your relationship with her is of incredible value.  A divine purpose is at the very foundation of your relationship with her.  As marriages have increasingly failed, so the reputation of God has been tarnished increasingly.

Now Peter uses a phrase that some may think of as degrading.  He refers to a wife as the “weaker vessel.”  First of all, it is a fact that women in general are not as physically strong as men.  In that sense only are they the “weaker sex.”  However, Peter is taking this concept of the weaker sex and pulling it into a metaphor.  The Greeks did use “vessel” as a way to refer to the body.  However, in Romans 9, Paul’s use of vessel is clearly connecting the body to the analogy of household items such as cups or dishes, etc…  Notice too that Paul was pointing out the issue of honor and dishonor in that passage.  I believe that Peter is pointing husbands to recognize that any perceived and real “weaknesses” on their wife’s part should be honored in the same way that we see in our household items.  Notice that the really expensive household “vessels” are made of more fragile material, and the common everyday “vessels” are made of far more durable material.  We honor the “weaker” vessel because there is something special about it that is beyond its physical strength.  Thus a husband, who would be tempted to only honor a wife who is “strong” like him, needs to listen to God’s instruction.  He needs to honor her especially because of her difference from himself.  She was made by God to be a complement to him.  A complement by definition must not be the same as that which it complements.  The wife has strength in ways that a husband does not.  It takes understanding to see that and honor it.

Peter reminds husbands that their wives are co-heirs with them in Christ.  Jesus died for her just as much as for you.  She stands to receive eternal reward before Christ for her activity while on earth.  She will not be “your wife” in the after-life.  She will stand equally before God.  So you can work together with her for the eternal good of you both, or, you can fight each other to your eternal detriment.

Lastly, Peter reminds husbands that there are spiritual consequences to rejecting or ignoring the Lord’s instructions here.  It sounds tough that our prayers could be “hindered” as a result of mistreatment of our wife.  However, the word behind the translation “hindered” is far stronger than that.  It is used by our lord when he says, “Every tree that does not bear fruit will be cut down (“hindered?”) and thrown into the fire.  I have this picture in my mind of a jerk husband who prays for something and when it is brought before the Lord he says, “Throw that prayer in file 13.”  Of course file 13 is a huge burning barrel.  God will not receive your prayers if you are falling down in your duty.  We are not talking about perfection here.  However, the Lord knows those who are working to understand their wives and honor them.  The Lord knows those who seriously are working to properly reflect Jesus and his Church in their marriage.

Final Thoughts:                                                                                                          

Let me just remind us of what I said last week.  Satan has wedged himself between men and women since the very beginning.  However, a Christian marriage can be a beautiful thing for both husband and wife if they both love each other in heart and action.  Instead of being driven by the desires of your flesh-self, choose to be led by the Holy Spirit’s desire to properly reflect the Lord Jesus and his Gospel through your marriage.  So get to work husbands.  It truly is a challenging proposition.

Submission Home 2 Audio

Submission In The Home 1

As we begin 1 Peter chapter 3, I recognize that as a man it would be easy to tune me out at this time.  A lot of garbage has washed under the bridge of submission in the home.  So let me first try to bring us back to Peter’s main point.  He is concerned with our ability to submit because of the way in which our refusal to do it will cause Jesus to be seen as a rebel.  If we rebel against authorities in the name of God’s Word then we can give the wrong impression of who God is.  In fact we will attract all the wrong people to the Church (rebels).  Jesus, who was God in the flesh, submitted himself to wicked authorities because he trusted the plan of the Father.

Yes, we can use God’s Word to justify rebellion against governments, and we can use God’s Word to justify a slave’s rebellion against his master.  But the goodness of the government or master was never the question.  It was an issue of the heart.  It is hard for modern man to hear these words, especially Americans.  We are so used to getting our way that we don’t understand how we more easily embrace rebellion and despise submission.  Submission as a virtue does have boundaries.  But even then our response needs to be more about submitting to God’s will above the will of an earthly authority, rather than one that is about my flesh rebelling against authority.  America was not founded upon a rebellious “no one will be in authority over us.”  It was the desire to submit to God over the top of a wicked king.

So as we approach this subject of wives submitting to husbands, let’s approach cautiously and with a listening heart.

Wives Should Be Submissive To Their Own Husbands

It doesn’t take rocket science to see Peter’s first instruction.  He tells wives to “take their place under” the authority that a husband has been given.  The gospel taught that in Christ there was no longer slave and free, Jew and Gentile, or male and female.  Such teachings could naturally lead to strife in the homes of Christians.  It is important that we represent Christ well in this world.  If we send the wrong message in order to get our justice now, then we have sacrificed God’s reputation and ability to draw people unto him for ourselves.  Peter speaks against such selfishness in each of the cases of submission he has brought up.

Now notice that the context is not men and women.  Women are not told to be submitted to men in general.  But a wife should not strive with her husband for authority in the home.  Why would he say this?  Paul makes it clearer in Ephesians chapter 5.  Paul pointed back to creation and explained that God made the species of man as male and female on purpose.  He wanted the relationship of marriage between a man and a woman to be a picture of Christ’s love for the Church.  Thus when we marry we are not just agreeing to love each other.  We are also entering into an agreement to work together to model the relationship between Jesus and his Church.  Thus God gives man, not just the authority, but also the responsibility for the home.  Religion is not the “woman’s” place.  Each husband will be responsible before God for how he lead his family in worship of God or lack thereof.

Peter recognizes that a believing woman married to an unbelieving husband would be tempted to divorce him, or at least fight his authority and ungodly leadership.  Peter asks the wife to submit to the ungodly husband in order to win him over to Christ.  Imagine telling your husband on one hand that he should turn from his sins and believe on Jesus (who submitted to death on a cross) and yet you are unwilling to submit to something far less.  Now are there obvious exceptions to Peter’s point?  Of course there are, however, Peter is not dealing with submission in the home as his main point.  It is a side point to the greater problem of Christians embracing rebellion and justifying it with God’s Word.  If a husband is physically abusing his wife then God is not telling her to submit to it.  However, it would be foolish to tell her to fight back.  In fact without repentance a divorce may be the only solution.  Can we hear the heart of Peter’s point without trying to completely dismiss it?

Wives Should Have Virtues Of The Heart

Peter turns to women more fully and speaks to them as daughters.  Verse 3 begins to challenge them to be more concerned about their inner heart than their outer appearance.  This is not just about adornment but is connected to the issue of submission.  Must I force the conformance of my marriage to an outward appearance that I want, all the while losing the transformation that Christ is doing in my heart?  Peter is not asking women to “stuff it” and submit.  Rather he is asking them to focus on their inner heart and make sure it is following Jesus and not their own flesh.

Now verse 2 encourages “chaste conduct accompanied by fear.”  Let me just say that God does not want women to be afraid of their husbands.  This is simply a misreading of what is being said.  Part of that is a cultural issue and part of it is our own sinful nature.  The Hebrew people had an understanding of fear, far more broad then we do.  It is the same with love and hate.  Do you remember in Genesis 29 when the Bible talks about Jacob loving Rachel more than Leah? The very next verse says that when God say Leah was hated he opened her womb.  Now we reserve the word “hate” for a strong revulsion against something.  But the context clearly shows that Jacob merely loved Rachel more.  Rachel was special to him.  He didn’t hate Leah in the way that we would think.  But he did love Rachel more than her.  This word for Hate can be exactly what we are used to it meaning, but it can also mean to love less.  This is the same with fear.  It can mean to be scared and in terror of something.  But in the context of authority it usually means respect for the job or position the person in authority has.  So the point is not to be afraid of the husband but rather to respect the gravity of the position he holds.  He will be accountable to God one day for how he leads.  Are you helping him to understand that and not be condemned or are you pushing each other to further error, in which you will both give account before God?  So a Christian wife should have chaste conduct that flows from a heart of respect for the duty God has placed on her husband.  She should be working with him and not against him, even when he is making poor choices.  Again, submission does have its boundaries and God is not calling women to be slaves.  Historically this has been misinterpreted and taken advantage of by men, for which they will give account.

Peter points to the importance of inner beauty over the top of outer beauty.  This is not a prohibition against outward adornment.  But rather, it is a call to spend more time on inner beauty than outward.  Outward beauty is fading.  You cannot spend enough money to counteract the effects of aging forever.  You will lose it.  What will you be left with?  If you spent all your focus on outer beauty then your life will be crushed and there will be no inner beauty within.  You can grow more beautiful with age.  God’s plan is not for men to have a mid-life crisis, divorce their wife, and marry a 25 year old.  His plan is for us to recognize the beauty in each other that is beyond the skin.  Will I be desirable when I am 50, 60, 70, 80….?  I will only if I focus on the inner above the outer.

Next he mentions a gentle and quiet spirit.  The word gentle is fairly clear.  It is basically strength under control.  A strong person can learn to be gentle and still strong.  We do not look for the weakest people to be our brain surgeons; rather we train them to be extremely careful and gentle in their movements.  The word “quiet” does not mean silence.  It actually means peaceful and tranquil.  Even when we disagree with one another we can interact in a peaceful way rather than with a rancorous fight.

Peter then gives an example of Sarah the wife of Abraham.  The main point is that she trusted God.  Her trust in God enabled her to peacefully walk with Abraham through some mighty, stupid plans of his.  I can hear Sarah now.  “We are moving, but God hasn’t told you where we are going yet?  O, great plan, Abram.”  Or, “I’m supposed to pretend to be your sister?  Please, do you think that cockamamie plan is going to work?”  Sarah trusted God and in the end God was faithful to her.

Lastly, Peter mentions that he doesn’t want the wives to be in fear and terror.  Mostly likely he is referring to the duty of submission although it could apply to their husbands as well.  Terror is not God’s plan for women.  He wants them to embrace it out of love to him.  But also out of a love of him, because God is not a rebel.  He is a submitted being at heart.  Historically, men have used strength to terrorize women into submission.  Is that Christ?  No, it is sin that will be judged by Christ when he comes.

Final Thoughts

Satan has wedged men and women against each other since the garden.  It is time we recognized that and fought back by uniting together in love.  A Christian marriage can be a beautiful thing for both husband and wife when they love each other in heart and action.  We should never justify horrible marriages under the banner of submission.  Rather, we should correct each other according to the word of God.

Don’t be driven by the desires of your flesh.  Rather,  be driven by the desire to properly represent the Lord and his gospel.

Submission Home I Audio

We Give Thanks To You, O Lord

We will take a break from 1 Peter today and focus upon this week’s topic of Thanksgiving.  It can be easy to lose hope, joy, and peace as things get difficult in our life and our nation.  However, for us in America, it is important to remember that the first century believers were in circumstances more difficult and under governance that was far more oppressive.  In other words God’s Word can take us through whatever is ahead of us.  Paul wrote the letter of Romans to the believers in Rome.  As he closed that letter he encourages them.  Let’s look at the passage in Romans 15:5-13,

May God Grant Us the Mind of Christ

When you boil verse 5 down you see that Paul is praying for them to not just be like-minded but “according to Christ Jesus.”  Thus the mind we need to share is not yours and neither is it mine.  Rather we are to share the mind of Christ.  Back in verse 3 he had reminded them of this mind that Jesus had.  He did not please himself but rather laid his life down that we might live.  Notice that it is God who “grants” or gives this to us.  How we ought to pray and seek God for the gift of having the mind of Christ with one another.  This very same God is the God of patience and comfort.  Both of these are necessary if we are to live out the mind of Christ.  When it says that he is the God of comfort, it doesn’t just mean that he has a lot of it in his kingdom.  Rather, his very nature is patience and comfort.  Let’s look at patience first.  To remain under a situation is to be patient.  We all will draw the line and say that we will not put up with anything beyond it.  However, the mind of Christ is willing to die in order that others might live.  Are my “lines” from God?  No, they are from my flesh.  As the God of patience, this is what he is building in us, helping us to see our need of patience and its value.  We also need comfort.  Literally the word means to come alongside.  So it can refer to help in any sense: instruction, aid, encouragement, help, defense, or correction.  His nature is to come alongside of others to help.  Thus we can trust God to come alongside of us and wait for his perfect timing in our lives.

The “like-mindedness” is defined by Christ’s words and his actions.  Unity is good, but not in a bad thing.  The Nazi party was unified, but we reject that it was a good thing.  Psalm 2 tells us that there is a global rebellion against God and his Messiah.  This is not a good thing.  Do not join it.  Rather, repent and turn back to God so that you may be saved.  Be patient and receive his help so that we can be the body of Christ in this world.  We need to be unified around Christ, his truth and his actions, so that we can speak with his voice to this world.  Then God will be glorified by us.  Ask yourself do you accept other believers in the same way that Jesus received us?  Think about what that really means.

Jesus Became a Servant

In verses 8-13 Paul reminds them of that mind of Christ.  He served.  First he served the nation of Israel.  Paul refers to them as the “circumcision” because they took great pride in this act of the flesh and how it separated them from the rest of the world.  They thought God accepted them merely because they had cut some flesh off their body (outward action).  Jesus served them by verifying and protecting the truth: God had always received them only because of the faith in their heart.  Jesus had come to confirm that the promises of God were real and would be completed.  Even today, there is recognition that God is raising up Israel, once again, so that he can draw her heart to him and save them.  Why? Because the life of Jesus confirmed God’s love for us all.  Jesus also was a servant to the Gentiles (the nations other than Israel).  Jesus teaches us the glorious mercy of God.  While we were yet sinners Christ Jesus died for us.  We didn’t deserve it.  Paul points this out in chapters 9-11 of Romans.  Romans 11:15 says that if Israel’s being cast away allowed the world to have peace with God then what will be their acceptance back, but life from the dead?  Why will God show his mercy to Israel in these last days?  He will do so, precisely because it is a metaphor of his Resurrection nature.  He is Life.  Outside of him there is no life.  He is not afraid of death and even incorporates it into his plan because he is life.

He has done all these things that we might abound in Hope.  Our hope is both behind us and ahead of us.  But let us never forget that our greatest hope is still ahead.  That hope is Jesus ruling over the world.

Paul prays that God will fill them with “all joy and peace” in their faith.  If you are not joyful and peaceful then ask yourself what exactly is robbing you of it?  Part of our joy is to fellowship with the Holy Spirit and to fellowship with fellow believers.  God wants us to have joy and peace as much as he wants us to serve the lost.  May we learn to find true joy and true peace in him.  Notice that it can only happen by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Perhaps we need to spend some time praying in an upper room until we know for sure that with the Holy Spirit we can have joy and peace in every circumstance.  Whether it is Paul and Silas in a jail cell singing praises to God, or believers singing while they are being burned and fed to the lions, we can boldly stand against the destroyer and refuse to give up our faith.  We can stand against the destroying lion and that destroying mountain and know that the God of the universe holds us up.  If he is for us then who can be against us?  None, for greater is he that is in us then he that is in the world.

Final Thoughts

When things get difficult we tend to lose our sense of hope.  This happens when we have pinned our hopes on things of this world.  We forget that the Scriptures promised us that this world will pass away.  We forget that we were told to not love the things of this world in a way that would compromise our faith.

Also, according to the Keep-It-Simple-Stupid principle (KISS), we should focus on the simple task our Lord has given us.  Keep your faith fully upon Jesus and fully love your Christian brothers and sisters.  Believe and Love as Jesus did.  Not in the way that others tell you or your flesh wants to believe.

Lastly, our greatest hope is ahead of us not behind.  Quit looking at the decay of society around us and giving up.  Start looking up for our redemption is drawing near.  Our leader is not of this world and the kingdom that we inherit is not one that we have built.  Trust God and love your brothers and sisters.

We Give Thanks Audio

The Virtue of Submission 2

We will finish up 1 Peter chapter 2 as Peter continues talking to us about the virtue of submission.  Last week we looked at how our response to government can send the wrong picture of what Christ is.  He was not a rebel trying to take over the earthly kingdoms of this world.  But then neither was he a sycophant who was in love with human governance.  The passage today deals with the area of slavery.

The term here could be literally translated as a house servant as opposed to a lesser slave.  However, I’m not so sure that would make a difference in the instruction given.  There were many reasons why a person may end up as a slave.  Many ended up in slavery through indebtedness.  Depending on the size of that debt they could be slaves for less or longer periods of time.  Others were captured in wars and thus had little opportunity for freedom.  Others were born into that class.  Some hired themselves out as house servants with a contract for service.  Lastly some were in an apprentice relationship and thus took care of the master’s needs in return for instruction in a trade.  Notice that even in America we still have these types of relationships.  Have we truly abolished slavery?  We may have abolished a certain form of slavery, but no economic system can completely remove the principle of slavery.  Some men will always be at the economic mercy of others, whether through fault of their own or not.  Even the false hope of communism that called for all the workers to unite and cast off their oppressors, soon itself made everyone slaves to a system that was ran by the elite in the government.  Now put yourself in God’s position.  You have to give a word of instruction to people who will live under every kind of government conceivable and under every possible variation of leadership from evil to good.  What would you say that would serve your people or children well under every circumstance?  It is easy for modern people to hear this instruction to slaves and scoff like we are somehow more righteous than God.  May we approach His Word with the understanding that God is less concerned with meeting 21^st century America’s approval and more with helping his people not lose their faith in this society.

Servants Should Submit To Their Masters

Peter speaks to those in the lower class of society who are being told through the Gospel that Jesus has set them free and they are children of God.  Instead of promoting a revolt against Rome and all governments that supported slavery, he tells them to take their proper place under their masters with fear.  Instead of despising their master and abandoning their post, they need to serve him and not assume that God would look kindly on any insubordination.  Because we get stuck on the word slave, we refuse to move on to the deeper point.  True slavery is never about your circumstances.  It is about your heart.  We see submission and service as slavery when in fact a free man is most able to serve.  God can set us all free in the natural, but will our hearts still be slaves to pride, arrogance, and selfishness?  If we attack God for speaking to this heart issue then we must at least own up to the fact that we are seeking temporary trinkets over the top of eternal joys.

Peter then speaks to the obvious question about a good versus bad master.  The good and gentle master is compared to the “harsh.”  The Greek word is skolios (where we get the word scoliosis).   It means twisted and perverted, curved towards self.  God is not pleased when his people use the errors and sins of others to justify their own error and sin.  We are not to deceive ourselves and cloak our sinful attitudes.

Peter reminds them that suffering because of doing good will be commended by God.  When we are aware there is a God, we are not so quick to try and take justice into our own hands.  Do you remember Jesus talking to his disciples in Matthew 5:46?  He said if you love those who love you what credit is that to you?  Don’t sinners do that too?  But if you love those who hate you, then you will be rewarded by God.  The same is true here.  If you submit to a good and gentle master that is not a credit.  But to lovingly serve a twisted, perverted master is to give him a picture of Christ.  Evil will not help a wicked master.  Only good can break through if it is possible at all.  However, our flesh is tempted to not care about God’s reputation or the wicked master’s soul.  We have a day of eternal reward coming, but he has an eternity suffering ahead.

Servants Must Remember Their Calling

Peter then reminds them of the Lord Jesus who has called them to follow him.  Our master, Jesus, suffered.  How can we be above suffering?  Even those who are not servants in the natural need to recognize that, we are called to follow Jesus in his sufferings.  He suffered injustice on our behalf because he loved us.  Am I refusing to do the same?  My flesh certainly does.  We need to learn to step in his steps and follow his lead.  Remember the passage of Isaiah 52:13 through chapter 53?  He is the suffering servant who is well acquainted with sorrow and grief.  When his disciples were asleep, his two constant companions, sorrow and grief, were wide awake.  However, we also need to follow Jesus in his response.  He didn’t use injustice as an excuse for sin or deceit.  He didn’t pay back wrong for wrong.  The word “revile” literally means to heap abuse upon someone.  He had the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back and more piled upon him verbally, physically, and emotionally.  Yet, he didn’t threaten.  Can you imagine being threatened by God?  But Jesus didn’t do that.  He committed himself to God’s judgment and submitted himself to the judgment of men.  He was free to suffer injustice because he knew in his heart that he was right before God.  God would vindicate him and reward him.

Peter then reminds them that Jesus died because of our sins.  Imagine, Jesus carried your sins on himself.  He suffered your punishment.  The true believer has felt the repugnant effect of his own sin and died to it.  On the other hand he has seen the beauty of Christ’s love and come alive to his righteousness.  The suffering of Jesus (his stripes) makes us whole.  Who might be made whole through my suffering?  I can’t satisfy the punishment of other’s sins.  But Jesus has already done that.  However, we can be a vehicle for demonstrating and revealing Jesus to them.

It is clear that Peter had Isaiah 53 in mind as he wraps up this instruction by referring to them as sheep.  Isaiah said that all we like sheep have gone astray, but God has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  Peter reminds them that they were wayward sheep who have come back to the good shepherd.  Only this shepherd is not watching over your flesh to help it be well fed.  He is watching over your soul.  Many a soul is lost for the sake of the pleasure of our flesh.  Always remember that rebellion destroys the soul.

Final Thoughts

Ask yourself, is my life reflecting Jesus or am I following a Jesus of my own making?  It is important for us to often remind ourselves of our sin and what it did to Jesus and yet his love is still towards us.

Lastly, ask yourself, do you trust God to deal with the injustices done to you in this life?  When we keep our “station” whatever it may be, even under the threat of evil, God is pleased and promises to reward us in the coming judgment.  God help us in the days ahead to understand that Jesus was not a wimp and yet he submitted.  Jesus was not a slave and yet he served us.  Let’s follow him!

Submission II Audio