Submission in the family, 1 Peter 3:1-7

As we begin our exposition of chapter 3, it’s necessary to remember the greater context of Peter’s epistle, the theme of which I believe is sanctification.  Sanctification is to be holy, to be conformed to the image of Christ.  To become Christlike.  And as we have seen submission is one of the primary means by which God produces sanctification in us.  

Peter talked about submission to government in chapter 2 vs 13; he says submit to every human institution. He is talking about human and societal government.  As Christians, the principle is that we are to submit to government.  Now there may be exceptions to that rule, but Peter is stating the rule and not the exceptions.  We must be careful not to look at God’s decrees in light of what loopholes we might utilize to get out of it, but remember the over arching principle.

Secondly, Peter talked about submission in the workplace in chapter 2 vs 18.  And in both of these situations, both government and the workplace, the emphasis is on being submissive even when such entities are not reasonable, even when they may seem undeserving of our honor.  

The third area of submission that we are looking at today is in the realm of marriage, or the family, the home.  And again, though I think the principles contained here are clearly applicable to Christian marriage, yet the emphasis of Peter in regards to the woman’s role, especially, is in a marriage in which either the husband is not a believer, or is not walking with the Lord.  So in all three situations, whether in government, or in the workplace, or in the home, the goal is that your living testimony by submission serves to bring such people to Christ.

When a person becomes a Christian it’s perhaps tempting to feel that now that they are a child of God they are superior to society.  They might feel superior to government, superior to their employer, superior to their unsaved mate.  But an attitude of superiority is not what we are supposed to be expressing in this world. Our purpose in being here is to be a testimony, to evangelize the world for Christ. And counter intuitively, God uses submissiveness to human institutions as a means of winning them to Christ.

Notice then a key phrase in vs one as well in vs seven.  Do you see it?  The key phrase is “in the same way.”  First to wives and then to husbands he’s reaffirming the principle of submission.  And if you will remember, the preceding supreme example given of submission in chapter 2 was the submission of Christ.  The ultimate illustration of submission is that of Jesus Christ.  The Apostle Paul states in Phil. 2:5-8 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, [and] being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  

Jesus, though equal with God in all respects,  was submissive to the will of the Father, and even became a servant unto us, that He might bring us to God, even to the point of submitting unto death on the cross.  And so Peter presents Christ at the end of chapter 2 as the ultimate example of submission which is to be the pattern for us. 

So in the same way that Christ is our pattern for submission Peter says, wives should submit to their own husbands.  Notice though it says to their own husbands.  Peter is speaking specifically of wives being in submission to their own husbands.  Not necessarily to all men in every circumstance.  But to their own husbands.  This isn’t talking about women in the workplace. It’s not a principle for women in government.  Women may well be superior to men in the workplace.  A woman may be in a position of authority in governmental office and not be out of line with scriptural dictates.  This is in reference to a wife and her husband.  

I don’t  want to explore every possible Biblical nuance in regards to feminism in this message.  Peter isn’t addressing all of that here, and so I think it’s better to stick with what he is saying than use this text as a trampoline to go jumping off into all different directions and try to take on the whole subject of feminity. Peter is talking about marriage, and that’s more than enough for this morning. 

Peter says in vs 1, wives be submissive to your own husbands.  The word submissive in Greek in the word hypotassō; which  means to be in subjection, to line up under.  It’s often used in a military context as lining up under rank.  It means to realize that you are to take your place as subordinate to the leadership and the headship of your husband.  This is God's design for marriage. The husband has been given the responsibility to be the spiritual leader of the home. 

It doesn’t mean that women are inferior, but that they are to be subordinate. In the military, for instance, the soldiers in a unit may be of varying degrees of strength or abilities or intelligence, but one has been given the responsibility to lead.  And in a similar way, in a marriage it doesn’t mean that women are inferior in character or in intelligence, or virtue or ability, but they have been simply given a role that puts them in the place of submission to a headship which is given to their husband by God.

Paul speaking of this principle in 1Cor. 11:3 says,  “But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.” So God has ordained this order of subordination. This principle of submission fits into a greater principle which theologians refer to as complementarianism.  Complementarianism is the view that God has created men and women equal in their essential dignity and human personhood but different yet complementary in function, with male headship in the home and believing community being understood as part of God’s created design.  In God’s design, the woman has strengths to complement the man’s weaknesses and the man has strengths to complement the woman’s weaknesses.  They are better together.  Yet man has been given the responsibility of headship. 

So there is equality but yet different roles, different responsibility.  There is equality but one has been given authority.  And we see that illustrated in the trinity.  That is why Peter used Jesus as  an example of submission; Jesus was equal with the Father, but He submitted to the Father’s will. And in the same way, wives are to submit to their husbands. 

Now again, we are quick to point out the problems with this arrangement.  We’re quick to point out the fact that the husband may not doing as he should.  And so Peter goes to that possible objection right away by applying it to those wives who live with a husband who is not living in obedience to the word.  Now on the other hand, the argument from silence might be that if a husband is living according to the word, then submission to such a husband would not be an issue.  But to the point that a husband is not living in accordance with the word, either because they are unsaved or backslidden, Peter says, “In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.”

The point Peter is making is that submission is not dependent upon the merit of the husband.  It is not reciprocal.  The excuse that he isn’t nice, or he isn’t godly, or he doesn’t treat me the way he should is not an excuse for insubordination.  Paul makes the case in Ephesians chapter 6, that you are to submit to your husband as unto the Lord.  Eph. 5:22-24 “Wives, [be subject] to your own husbands, as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself [being] the Savior of the body.  But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives [ought to be] to their husbands in everything.”  So in submission to the Lord the wife submits to her husband.  Submit to him as you would to the Lord.

Notice also Peter says that by your actions you might win your husband without a word.  So the salvation of the husband is accomplished not by preaching to him, or nagging, or through words but by your behavior. The submission of a Christian woman to her unsaved or disobedient husband is the strongest evangelistic tool she has.  It's not what she says that will win him, it is what she is.  This is a principle that has even broader application in the church; our lives are our greatest testimony, not what we say or preach, but how we act.  And the goal of  submission to an ungrateful, unloving husband is that they may be won to Christ.

So the first duty of the wife then is submission to her husband, even if he is not living the way he should.  There's a second responsibility which is given in verse 2; the responsibility to  faithfulness.  Verse 2 says, "As they observe your chaste and respectful behavior." Chaste means irreproachable conduct, especially in the area of extramarital relationships.  There is never an excuse to be unfaithful as a wife in this area.  That may sound like something that doesn’t even need to be said if you’re talking about Christian wives.  But unfortunately, infidelity happens just as frequently in the church as it does in the world.  

But faithfulness also extends to respectful behavior.  It’s interesting that in Ephesians 5 when Paul is giving instructions to both husbands and wives, he places the responsibility on the man to love his wife, and the responsibility of the woman to respect her husband.  Eph. 5: 33 “Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must [see to it] that she respects her husband.”  Respect is to give him honor.  To respect him as a man.  To respect his authority under God. 

The third principle comes in verses 3 through 6 and it is modesty.  verse 3 it says, "Let not your adornment be merely external, braiding the hair and wearing gold jewelry or putting on dresses.”  I think it’s fair to say that in our society today the normal perception of beauty in  women is concerned with the outside, with adornment. How they look, and what they can do to make themselves look beautiful.  And that’s nothing new, really.

The same was true in Peter’s day.  In ancient Rome, it was fashionable for women to dye their hair, they wore wigs.  It was popular to make wigs from hair gathered in Germany.  So I suppose it was blonde wigs.  They wore it in elaborate designs, piled up on their heads.  They wore perfume, decorated their clothing with jewels and so forth, showing their wealth in their clothing. 

And it wasn’t just the Greeks and Romans.  Listen to Isaiah 3:18, as the Lord rebukes the women of Israel.  “In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of [their] tinkling ornaments [about their feet], and [their] cauls, and [their] round tires like the moon, the chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers,  The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings,  The rings, and nose jewels,  The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, the glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails.”  I don’t know what all those things are, especially the “tires of the moon” but I can ascertain that they were all gussied up in the finery of the day.

And let me just clarify something.  Peter is not saying that such outward adornment is in and of itself a bad thing.  There has been a lot of misapplication of this verse which has been interpreted to mean women shouldn’t wear makeup and things like that.  I personally am not a fan of a lot of makeup.  But like my dad used to say, if the barn needs painting, then paint it. The point though that Peter is not an indictment against looking your best, but a preoccupation with only the outward appearance,  instead of a focus of the wife on her inward beauty, which is more important.  

So what is it that the wife is to do in adorning the inner person?  Look again at verse 4, “but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.”   “Gentle” means meek, humble.  And “a quiet spirit” means a calm disposition. The opposite of that would be prideful, cantankerous. So the desired inward beauty of a wife is the woman with a humble, peaceful, calm disposition.  That is the inner virtue that a woman is to pursue and that is what wins the heart of a man.   And note that it wins the heart of God as well; “which is precious in the sight of God.”  This is the virtue that is pleasing to God. 

Then Peter, like a good preacher, gives an illustration.  And as I said last week, the best sermon illustrations are from the scriptures.  Look at verse 5.  “For in this way in former times the holy women also who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands."  What does he mean by saying holy women?  Well, he’s talking about the women of the Old Testament who are given for our examples.  They hoped in God.  in other words, they were true believers.  They put their trust in God rather than in their own beauty or their own resourcefulness.  And he says, they’re the models we are to follow.

I can’t help but compare that to the models of contemporary women.  Just looking around at the magazines at the checkout stand in the grocery store you get bombarded by the models that society puts out there for the women to emulate. Granted, they might have external beauty, but if you ever read any interviews with them about their attitudes and perspective about life, you should quickly discern that they are no proper model for a Christian woman. 

But Peter gives us one who is worthy of emulation, who is Sarah. Now the Bible tells us that Sarah was a beautiful woman.  When she was even 80 years old, Abraham was worried that he might be killed so that someone else could take her as a wife.  That’s how beautiful she was.  But that’s not the virtue that Peter says women should be concerned about.  Look at vs 6, “just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.” 

So Sarah’s submission to her husband is a model that women ought to pattern their life after.  Peter says her defining attribute was that she obeyed Abraham.  She's a model of obedience.  She called him "lord." Lord was a title of respect, of obedience.  It was a title of submission. The record of that is found in Genesis 12vs 18, where Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”  I”m sure that this is not the only time when she referred to him that way, but it’s an example of the way in which she commonly spoke of him. And what it indicates is an attitude of submission to her husband.

Peter says if you follow Sarah’s example you will “become her children, if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.”  I think what might be indicated there is that there can be a fraternity among women that encourages independence and ridicules a woman who accepts the role of a godly wife, submissive to her husband. And far too often it’s this fear of ridicule, of not measuring up to this fraternity of feminism, of independence, that sometimes prompt women to “stand up” against their husband, to reject the God given role that has been appointed.  And that is a grave mistake.  Because there is a greater blessing in following the Lord than in following the world’s dictates.  And a good marriage is a great blessing that God has ordained for all men.  That’s what is indicated in vs 7 in the phrase; “fellow heir of the grace of life.” One interpretation of that is the common blessing that God has given to men and women through marriage.  I think that there is nothing better than a good marriage.  There is nothing better than having someone who loves you and whom you love, and to be able to share life together.  Life is not better alone.  And a lot of women who have listened to the world and rejected the authority of their husbands for the sake of what the popular culture has told them is better, and a lot of them eventually found that there is no comfort in an empty house in your old age.  Marriage is a God ordained grace of life, or gift of life that God extends to all who will accept it.

Now finally, in vs 7, Peter addresses the husbands. He spent six verses on wives and only one on husbands.  There is some disparity there, I suppose, but you can take that up with Peter, not with me.  However, the opening phrase includes a lot of what has already been said and applies it to the husband by saying, “In the same way…” In this same attitude of submission you husbands live with your wives…” 

Paul, back in Ephesians 5 talking about marriage, starts off by saying “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.”  So there is a sense in which husbands are to submit to their wives as well.  How does that look?  Well, it’s not submission to her authority, or to her  leadership, but we submit to her needs.  We submit our world and our priorities for the sake of serving her and meeting her needs.  And a woman has different needs than a man.  As Paul addressed in Ephesians 5, her primary need is love, and all that entails.

And so Peter gives three attitudes that a husband should have towards his wife.  The first is consideration. He says “live with your wives in an understanding way.”  The word for understanding is the word gnosis in the Greek, which has more meaning than what we might realize in our language.  It’s talking about experiential knowledge. It’s talking about being sensitive to her feelings, to her needs, and ultimately to know her physically, intimately.  In the scriptures to know a woman as your wife meant to consummate your marriage sexually.  

Additionally the word for live is sunokeon, which means to dwell together with someone in the same house, to be intimate, to be close physically. It’s used in the Septuagint to indicate intercourse.  So there is an injunction to live together, to love her intimately, to understand her needs and supply those needs on an emotional and physical level. 

Secondly, in addition to consideration, there needs to be chivalry in your relationship with your wife.  That’s a word that has fallen out of favor in modern times, but it means to act as her protector, her provider.  Peter says “live with her as with someone weaker, since she is a woman.” Now this is not a put down, but a realization of her comparative physical weakness. Contrary to the view of popular media that wants to portray women as superheroes today, it should be pretty apparent in real life that women as a whole are weaker physically than men.  Men are generally bigger and stronger physically than women.  Women may have all sorts of advantages over men in regards to endurance or perhaps intelligence or discernment or able to withstand pain or whatever.  I am not going to debate that.  But what the scripture is saying is that a woman is weaker physically.  The KJV says a weaker vessel.  That refers to the outward, physical nature of a woman.  Not the inward, but externally.  And that’s a general rule.  I’m sure there are exceptions to that as well.  But one look at the roster of any major NFL team should be all the confirmation that we need on that subject.

So a wife benefits from the physical strength of the husband. She is to be protected, provided for.  She should be cherished.  The third injunction to husbands is that of companionship.  

"Grant her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life."  As I said earlier, the grace of life in one sense means the gift of life.  Not necessarily eternal life, but the blessings of life.  Marriage is God’s gift to mankind. Peter says you are heirs together in this blessing of God. 

I just read briefly an article on Fox News yesterday in which someone wrote an opinion piece about the benefits of marriage over living together.  And how a recent study showed four major advantages of happiness and contentment that came as a result of being married as opposed to living together or just shacking up.  This is what is called a common grace.  It’s a grace of life that is given to all mankind to enjoy.  It’s unfortunate that instead people would rather believe the lie of the devil that they can have intimacy outside of marriage, that they can find happiness in one night stands.  Marriage is a gift of God to man that increases our happiness and contentment in this world. 

In closing, I would point out that there is another blessing of a godly marriage and particularly of submission in marriage, and that is your prayers are unhindered.  Sinfulness hinders prayer.  But James says the prayers of a righteous man accomplishes much.  You want your prayers answered?  Then make sure you are living in submission to your husband or wife in a godly manner.  Make sure you are not putting a stumbling block in front of your mate by your rebellion or by your insolence.  God will not honor a person who is not submitting to His word.  And ultimately, our submission is to the Lord first.  We submit to one another as unto the Lord. And when we have that kind of harmonious relationship in our family, it  results in an open communication with the Lord as well, which will enable our prayers.  

I hope we have come to understand today that submission is not a bad word in the church.  In fact, as the church is likened to the bride of Christ, we must submit to the Lord in all things, recognizing His authority, His provision, His sovereignty over our lives.  That’s the significance in calling Jesus Lord.  I pray that you have submitted to Him as Lord of your life.  That’s the way to receive the grace of life that God has given to all who believe in Him.  

The Example of Sanctification, 1 Peter 2:21-25

We continue today in our study of 1 Peter.  And as I have stated previously, I believe that the theme of 1st Peter is our sanctification.  Sanctification means set apart for holiness.  The same word in the Greek, hagiasmós, hag-ee-as-mos’, is translated equally as both holiness and sanctification.  Peter states in the opening verses of this letter that we are chosen of God by the sanctifying work of the Spirit to obey Christ and be sprinkled with His blood. In effect, he’s saying that we are chosen by God for sanctification.  The Spirit working in us produces obedience to Christ which is sanctification.

He then goes on to quote the Lord in chapter 1vs 16 saying, it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”  If we are God’s people, then we should model the character of God, which is holiness. Sanctification is holiness.  Peter adds to that in vs 22, “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart.” There we see that sanctification is the purification of the soul.

In chapter 2 vs 5 he says we are to be a holy priesthood, offering up spiritual sacrifices unto God.  To be sanctified then means we are a holy priesthood offering up righteous lives to God. In vs 9 he adds to that we are a holy nation. To be sanctified means we are a chosen, set apart, righteous people.  And as such we are to abstain from sinful lusts of the flesh.  We are to set aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.  And we can do this by the sanctifying work of the Spirit in us as we obey the word and grow or mature in our salvation. 

Now we should understand that we are credited with Christ’s righteousness or holiness at the moment of our justification, and then with the empowerment and leading of the Holy Spirit in us we work out our salvation, or live out our salvation in holy living.  So sanctification is both imputed and learned.  It is a process in which we live in obedience to Christ, even as Christ Himself is said of in Hebrews 5:8 that He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.

Now last week we looked at the steps to sanctification as we walk after the Spirit in the light of God’s word.  And to follow up on that today we are looking at an illustration of the path of sanctification in the person of Jesus Christ.  Peter, like all good preachers, uses an illustration from time to time in order to better explain a doctrine.  And Peter gives us the best illustration possible in the person of Jesus Christ.

And let me just add that I believe illustrations are best when they are taken from the word of God. I I’m very aware that there are many resources available online or in print with suitable illustrations for sermons.  They are arranged by topic and are very easy to copy and paste into your message.  BUt as someone who grew up in church, and have attended thousands of services, and heard thousands of messages, I have noticed that often people remember the stories but not the message. So over the years I have depended less and less upon such things, and instead have looked in the Bible itself for illustrations.  The Bible is full of great illustrations.  The Old Testament in particular is a great source of illustrations for New Testament doctrines. And so I find that there is very little need to go to outside sources, in hopes of providing a suitable sentimental story that will hopefully capture people’s attention.  So  a lack of stories or jokes or poems is hopefully not an indication of my lack of preparation, but a desire to preach the word and very little else.

So Peter has been laying out the doctrines of sanctification, of holiness, and now in vs 21 he says we have been called for this purpose.  The question is, what purpose?  At first glance it would seem he is saying that we are called for the purpose of suffering, because he immediately begins talking about Christ has suffered for us.  Or is it that we have been called for the purpose of following in HIs steps?  I believe that is a better interpretation.

Let’s read the verse again, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.”  Suffering is a necessary part of sanctification, but suffering is not in and of itself the goal of sanctification, nor of our salvation.  There was a time, particularly in the Middle Ages, when the Roman Catholic church practiced asceticism or monasticism.  And perhaps they still do to some extent.  Their view was that by deliberately making themselves suffer they could achieve some degree of righteousness or holiness.  Martin Luther, the great Reformer, suffered all kinds of things in hopes of finding justification with God and it was in his failure to find true satisfaction, that he finally discovered the scriptures which helped him to understand that justification is by grace through faith.  We are not called to suffering, but to sanctification.  Suffering may be necessary, but the goal is sanctification.

So I believe the correct interpretation is that we are called for the purpose of following Christ. Jesus said to the disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” If you are going to be a disciple, a Christ follower, then you must do as Jesus did.  That is the essence of what it means to be a Christian.

Paul said in 1Cor. 11:1 “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” Eph 5:2 says, “walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”

Phil. 2:5 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.”

1John 2:6  “the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”

So the gospel teaches us that we are to follow in the footsteps of Christ.  And I believe that Peter is saying  here that our purpose of our salvation is our sanctification,  which is accomplished by walking as Jesus walked, in His footsteps.

What Peter is saying is that since Christ suffered for you, that is since Christ accomplished your redemption, you are to follow in His footsteps.  So you see that Peter is not saying that holy living is the means of salvation.  That was accomplished by Christ’s suffering on the cross.  But since our salvation has been accomplished by Christ’s suffering, let us now walk as He walked, act as He acted, and have the same attitude which He had.

And to emphasize  that point, Peter uses a specific word which is only used here in the entire New Testament.  It’s the word translated “example.”  It comes from the Greek word “hypogrammos” which means a writing copy, including all the letters of the alphabet, given to beginners as an aid in learning to draw them.  It’s a wonderful word picture of how we are to walk as Jesus walked.  We follow His example, tracing our lives in the pattern which He gave for us by His life here on earth.

Peter than gives us five specific examples of how Jesus acted while He was on this earth. And these are obviously examples in which we are to imitate when faced with similar circumstances.  The first he says is that Jesus  committed no sin. He was holy, righteous, spotless.  Now that’s a pretty high standard right there.  We might say it’s impossible.  But God wouldn’t tell us to do something that is impossible.   From a practical point of view we might realize that it’s improbable, but not impossible.  With God all things are possible.  With the Holy Spirit to lead us and to help us it’s possible to live righteously.  I will agree that no one in the who is still in the flesh will be able to live without sin all the time, but I will also say that as sanctified people of God who are the temple of the Holy Spirit, sin is something we should be committing less and less.  It’s no longer our practice and it should become more and more of an anomaly as we progress in sanctification.  As Paul said in Rom. 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?  May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”  So when we follow after Jesus, and become His disciple, we deny ourselves, die to sin, and live for Christ.

Secondly, Peter says nor was any deceit found in His mouth. Jesus didn’t lie, He didn’t deceive. He spoke the truth.  Even His enemies said about Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth.”  It’s important that we are people of the truth.  Jesus said let your yes be yes and your no be no.  Don’t make deceitful deals in the workplace.  Don’t try to sell something that isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.  I remember when I was an antique dealer, this was constantly something that was a temptation to me.  And when I didn’t represent something exactly as I should have, it seemed that the Lord always made it come back to haunt me.  Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life.  So if we are to follow Jesus’s example, then we must speak the truth.

Thirdly, Peter says about Christ is that while being reviled, He did not revile in return. To revile means to criticize, to insult, to retaliate.  I’ve often said that the fault of us Harrell’s is that we don’t have a normal sense of humor.  We think it’s funny to insult someone.  We tend to make fun of people and think that’s hilarious. Well, it may be funny to us, but it often isn’t to others. Isaiah 53:7 says, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.”  So Jesus did not retaliate when He was attacked and scorned and insulted, and that should be our attitude as well.

Jesus said in Matt. 7:3-5  "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.”  So don’t criticize others, but perhaps even more to the point, don’t give a tit for tat.  Don’t retaliate at others criticism of you by doing the same to them.

Fourthly, Peter says that when Christ suffered, He uttered no threats.  Paul says in Ephesians 6 in addressing masters, to give up threatening.  That means when you have a position of authority, don’t use that authority to threaten others.  But in the case of Christ, He was suffering unjustly, and yet He still  did not threaten those who were mistreating Him.  For instance, He didn’t respond to the Roman soldiers who were nailing Him to the cross, “Just you wait.  I’m going to cast you into the deepest dungeon of hell for what you are doing to me today.”  No, in fact, Jesus prayed for them, saying “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

The fifth example of Christ Peter says we are to emulate is that He kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.  Peter will go on to say in chapter 4:19 “Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.”  God will one day judge all men according to what they do and say on this earth.  If our accusers or persecutors are doing wrong towards us, then God will judge them and we should trust God to take care of them.  “Vengeance is mine, I will repay says the Lord.”  But in like manner, if we are righteous, then let us act righteously in all circumstances, knowing that God will bring all into account, whether good or bad.  2Cor. 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”  The example of Christ is that because He was righteous and did the works of righteousness, He could trust God to judge Him favorably.  And so we who also suffer in doing right can trust the righteous Judge to judge us favorably as well.

In vs 24 then Peter recapitulates what he has previously stated in vs 21, by expanding upon it.  He said in vs 21 that since Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example to follow in His steps, and remember we said that referred to Christ’s dying on the cross for your salvation, that you might receive His righteousness.  Now in vs24, Peter restates and expands on that idea, saying “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.”  

This is our salvation and sanctification in a nutshell.  If there is any doubt that we are to live holy lives, this verse puts an end to that.  Since our sins were born away by Christ, we are no longer to live in them.  We die to sin.  We crucify the flesh and it’s sinful desires.  That’s what Jesus meant when He said to “take up your cross and follow Me.” Deny yourselves. Die to sin.  Consider those things as dead.

Paul speaks of dying to sin in Rom. 6: 11 “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus”. …then in vs 16 “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone [as] slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?”  and then in vs 22 “But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.”

So sanctification is not just dying to sin, but living righteously.  Consider how John speaks of it, in 1John 3:7 “Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.”

Back to our text, I especially want you to notice the last phrase of vs24: “for by His wounds you were healed.” This is a verse that has been taken out of context by many contemporary teachers today.  And it’s important that we truly understand what is being said here.  First look at the context of how Peter uses it. “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”

Is not the context of this verse our salvation and sanctification?  Does it not mean that since Christ was wounded for our sins, we might saved to live in righteousness?  Thayer’s Greek Lexicon says of the word “iaomai”  which is translated healed, as meaning to cure, heal, to make whole, to free from errors and sins, to bring about (one's) salvation.  So contrary to the popular interpretation that Christ suffered on the cross to bring about our good health, I think the clear meaning in context is that of salvation.  Metaphorically, it’s speaking of spiritual healing.

Furthermore, I would have you to turn to the Old Testament passage which Peter is quoting from in Isaiah 53, vs 5, “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being [fell] upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.”  Notice He suffered for our sins, our transgressions, our iniquities, and by His scourging we are healed.  It does not say He was pierced through for our illness, He was crushed for our diseases, but rather that He suffered for our sins, that we might be saved.  He was our substitute, who died in our place on the cross, so that we might live in Him.

Notice also the next verse of Isaiah 53, vs 6, “All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.” Isaiah is still talking about our sins being put upon Christ, so that we are not punished but rather made right before God.  And Peter takes the thought of this passage, and adds to it saying in vs 25,  “For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.”  

This is the purpose of our salvation, even our sanctification.  That we die to sin, since Christ died for our sins, and that we live for righteousness, even as He is righteous. What do sheep do in relation to their shepherd?  They follow Him. He leads and they follow.  He speaks and they obey.  And it is good to obey the Shepherd, because He knows the best way.  He knows the way of life.  He is the Guardian of our souls, even as the Shepherd is the Guardian of the sheep from marauders, from robbers, from wolves an lions who go about seeking someone to devour. 

Sanctification is simply walking where Jesus leads.  Walking where He walked.  Acting like He acted.  Having the attitude that He had.  Treating others as He treated others, even to the point of not only forgiving His enemies, but dying for His enemies. What an example.  What a Savior. The secret of holiness is to stay close to Christ.  To walk with Him day by day, moment by moment.  And when we walk in His footsteps, following in His example, we become like Him, conformed to His image, and we shall have life more abundantly, a life pleasing to God, a life which will be considered an acceptable sacrifice.  

Rom. 12:1-2 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”  Walk in the Spirit, so that you may not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. 

Sanctification by submission, 1 Peter 2:11-20

The last few weeks we have been talking about sanctification as described in Peter’s first epistle. Though Peter doesn’t refer to it as sanctification per se, he does state his thesis as “Be holy, even as I am holy.”  Holiness is sanctification.  Sanctification means to be set apart for a sacred purpose.  The Apostle Paul said in 1Thess. 4:3 “For this is God's will, your sanctification.”  Hebrews says as well in chapter 12:14, “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”

So sanctification is the purpose for which we live now that we are saved.  However, just to be clear, it’s not a means of justification.  In other words, it’s not a bunch of things we do in order to be justified before God.  We are justified by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  But sanctification is the response of one who has been saved, who has been given new life, transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God.   We are to be holy, even as He is holy.  And as holy  people, we serve God as priests to God in His temple, offering our lives as a holy sacrifice unto Him.

Holiness then is the way we are to live.  We live by faith. And holy living requires faith.  Holy living is the works of faith. As James says, you show your faith by your works.  It take a lot of faith to live holy, because it goes against our nature.  It often goes against human reason.   It takes faith, for instance, to do right when the world says it makes more sense to do wrong. It takes faith to let the Lord be the judge and your defense when being ridiculed for your faith.  And so a lot of things that we see in this section are counter intuitive to human reason.  But it’s walking by the Spirit and not in the flesh.  It’s walking by faith and not by sight.  It’s acting like God wants us to act, instead of how we would like to act.

So the title of my message then is Sanctification through Submission.  Submission is not a very popular word today in our culture.  Our culture believes in standing up for your rights.  Our culture admires independence.  It’s popular today to be an activist, to rebel, to resist. To claim what you think you deserve.  But as we will see today, sanctification comes by way of submission.

I want us to look today at six steps to submission, on the path to sanctification. Sanctification is a process between justification and glorification. In between is the process of becoming holy as God is holy.  And the first step Peter gives us can be categorized by the word  separate.  As I said a minute ago, sanctification means set apart.  Peter said in verse 9 that we are a chosen race, a royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, called out of darkness into His light. 

So in light of our calling, though we are in the world, we are not to be of the world.  Much in the way a ship may be in the water, but it’s not of the water.  The boat may be in the water, but the water is not in the boat.  

Peter likens this separation to us being aliens and strangers in the world.  Vs.11, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.” Abstain, or separate yourselves from the lusts, or love of the world.  We shouldn’t love the things the world loves.  Consider your calling, as strangers and aliens in the world, and don’t participate in the lusts of it.

John said in 1John 2:15 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”  As citizens of another kingdom we don’t participate in the works of darkness as the world does.  Peter says the lusts of this world wage war against the soul. War is destructive.  And the lusts of this world are destructive.  They promise to satisfy, to make you happy, but instead they destroy and deceive and make you enslaved all over again.  

The lusts of the world attack your mind and bring it back under subjection to sin, and sin destroys.  I’ve said it before, the spiritual battleground is in your mind. The soul; that is the mind, the heart, the seat of our emotions and will is the battleground between the Spirit and the flesh.  We are to walk after the Spirit, and not by the flesh.  So control of the soul is the source of addiction, captivity.  And all sin is addictive.  And all sin destroys.  So the first step is to separate yourself from the world. You’ve been set free from sin and washed by Christ’s blood, continue in that holiness by abstaining, fleeing, moving away from those sins which would seek to enslave you again.

Secondly, the next step Peter says, we are to be superior. That doesn’t mean to be snobby or conceited.  It’s means our behavior is held to a higher standard than that of the world. Peter says in vs12 “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.”

What Peter is getting at here is don’t respond to slander, to accusations, to insults, or to injury from the world with a tit for tat. Don’t stoop to their level.  Don’t answer insult with insult.  But here is the counter intuitive will of God - do good to those who mistreat you. Jesus said in Luke 6:27-30  "But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.  Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either.  Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back.”

Now that really goes against our nature, doesn’t it?  Somebody steps on our toes, somebody treats us unfairly, what do we do? Our nature tells us to let them have a piece of our mind, doesn’t it?  We aren’t going to let someone get away with treating us like that.  So we take our own revenge.  But Romans says, “‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.”

Peter says rather than retaliate, our goal should be that by seeing our good works they might turn to the Lord and be saved.  Overcome slander by superior behavior and deeds, so that they might give glory to God when Jesus comes back for His saints.  That means that they will be converted as a result of our actions when they mistreat us.   You know, according to Fox’s Book of Martyrs, one of the amazing things about martyrdom was that many times the people witnessing the way the martyrs went to their death immediately responded by committing their lives to Christ as well, even knowing that it insured their own death.  And they did so because of the incredible testimony of those saints while being persecuted. Our greatest testimony is often how we act, our behavior.  It’s not necessarily because we witnessed verbally to someone at some point, but through the testimony of our behavior and our good deeds, in spite of the attacks from the world.

The third step to submission is simply to submit.  Submit is not something that comes naturally, as I said earlier. In fact, the whole principle of submission is looked upon even by many in the church as something patriarchal, or legalistic, or even masochistic.  But in fact, submission is a key doctrine of the church that the Bible teaches is essential to God’s will. 

Peter says starting in vs13, “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.”

First of all, notice that he says submit for the Lord’s sake.  That’s the key.  Submit as unto the Lord. Our rationalization of whether or not we have to submit is that we compare people to our own personal standards and then if they don’t match up, if we deem they are not worthy, then we believe we are justified in opting out.  

But God says submit to them as unto Him.  And first on the list is to submit to the government. When Peter wrote this, Nero was Emperor in Rome.  Nero is one of the most evil dictators the world has ever seen.  He married a castrated teenage boy in a public ceremony.  He burned Jerusalem and blamed it on the Christians.  He tied Christians to poles and lit them on fire in order to light up his garden parties.  He was ultimately responsible for beheading both Peter and Paul.  And yet Peter says under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, submit to the king and to the governor.  

Peter’s going to say in the next chapter “In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.” That kind of knocks a lot of the objections of women to staying with our husbands right out the window, doesn’t it?  Compare your husband to Nero.  

So we submit to the government, we don’t resist.  We submit, we don’t rebel.  We don’t stage a revolution.  I’m sorry if I offend the founding fathers.  We submit.  God has not given us license to rebel. We submit for the Lord’s sake.  Submit as unto the Lord.  The ruler may be a crack pot.  He may be a jerk. He may be an atheist.  But we submit to them not because of their merits, but because their authority comes from the Lord.

Notice that we have a Lord that we obey, and He has told us to submit.  Lord in this verse is kyrious in the Greek, which means, he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord; the possessor and disposer of a thing, the owner; one who has control of the person, the master.  That doesn’t leave a lot of room for argument, does it? If Jesus is actually your Lord and Savior, not just your puppet, then you will obey Him because you belong to Him.  Your will is not your own.  Ultimately, we are to submit to the Lord.

The fourth step of submission is silence.  We silence the objections or criticisms of the gospel by doing right.  Peter says that when we submit, even to foolish men, we silence them by doing what is right.  Vs.15, “For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.”  Notice most importantly that Peter says this is the will of God.  Submission is not negotiable.  The opposite of submission is rebellion, and if you are to submit as unto the Lord, then when you rebel you are rebelling against the Lord.  You’re not rebelling agains the human authority, you’re rebelling against the Lord.

Doing right.  I hope that needs little clarification.  Peter’s whole epistle here is really about how to live right.  How to live holy lives.  How to act like Christ.  I went to a Bible college once that had pithy sayings by the founder on the wall in every classroom.  One of them was “do right until the stars fall.”  Just that simple.  Do right. No matter what the world is doing,  what everyone else does, Do Right.  Another saying related to that was, “it’s never right to do wrong in order to get a chance to do right.”  

Well, when we submit, when we do right, we silence the critics of the gospel.  We silence the critics of the church.  The biggest complaint of each generation is that the church is full of hypocrites. We say one thing in church and do another outside of church.  Peter says, do right outside of church.  Do right in the world.  Do right when everyone around you is doing wrong.  Your right actions will silence the critics, and convict the world of their sin.  That’s God’s will.

The next step to submission is to be a servant.  A servant, or a slave, is the key word.  Wow, this is just going from bad to worse, isn’t it?  Well, let’s try to understand God’s perspective on being a servant.  Sanctification is becoming like Jesus, isn’t it?  What did Jesus do?  Paul tells us in Phil. 2:5-8 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,  who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant,  being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” 

 Jesus was equal with God but submitted to the Father.  Then He took the form of a bond servant and became a man like us.  And after that He even humbled himself to submit to death on a cross. And yet we resist the idea of being a servant?  Is a servant greater than His master? Is it ok for Jesus to be a servant, but we are not?

Peter says you are free, you’ve been set free from the captivity of sin and the devil.  He says in verse 16 “As free men,  do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.”  A bond slave  is one who was set free by their master, and yet who chose to stay in that servant relationship because he loved his master.  That’s what Peter is saying we are to be like.  Like freed slaves who willingly choose to serve their master for the rest of their life, because they love the Lord.

So we love the Lord more than our freedom.  We choose to serve the Lord.  And Peter gives the negative here; which is don’t use your “freedom” that you received by grace as a covering for continuing in sin.  Jude speaks of such people in the church in vs  4 saying,  “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”  He doesn’t mean that they deny that Jesus is the Christ, but they deny Him Lordship over their lives.  They have never truly renounced their sin and made Jesus Lord of their lives, to live for Him, to serve Him, and as such they are still in captivity to sin.

Peter recaps if you will who we are to submit to with a servant’s heart; “Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.”  To honor is to give preference to. To put them first.  That  is the attitude of servanthood. Honor, love, and fear or reverence are all the attitude of a bondslave of the Lord.

That attitude we are to have then is respect to those in authority over us.  Notice vs 18, “Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable.”  Peter has been indicating this principle all along.  It’s not a reciprocal relationship that he’s talking about. It’s not when they are deserving of your respect.  It’s irregardless of whether or not they are good, or honorable, or deserve anything.  Notice the word translated unreasonable literally means perverse.  Peter isn’t giving us a way out, is he?  Give honor to perverse people.  Actually, the original says give fear to perverse people.  Give reverential fear, that’s what honor means there.  A holy fear as unto the Lord.

By definition, grace came to you when you didn’t deserve anything.  And we are to be gracious even as God is gracious. Look at the next verse and I want you to notice the word grace in that verse.  19, “For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.”  The word favor there is charis, which means grace.  Notice also the word “finds” is in italics, which means it’s inferred, its not in the original language.  So if we read it again we might read; For this is grace, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.” 

I find hope in that rendering that God is going to be gracious to those who suffer unjustly.  God sees, and God will reward each man according to his deeds, whether good or bad.  So trust your soul to a faithful, gracious Master who will render justice on that day.

And in that context, Peter gives us the last step to submission, which is suffer.  Suffering is the refining fire which produces holiness.  Suffering is a necessary part of sanctification. Peter says suffering finds favor with God.  Again the word means literally grace.  Suffering finds grace with God. What may have been intended to you as evil, what may have caused you to suffer, God will use for good.  Rom. 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to [His] purpose.”

Jospeh when he was unjustly mistreated by his brothers and sold into captivity, later found himself in a position as the second in command of Egypt.  And one day his brothers came to beg bread during a famine, not recognizing him at first.  When he finally revealed himself to them, they expected him to take revenge upon them.  But what did Joseph say?  “You meant it for evil, but God used it for good.”  And Joseph’s response was to do good for his brothers, and feed them and exalt them to a status of favor in the kingdom. 

Peter says, vs.20 “For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer [for it] you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.”

There it is again, when you do what is right.  Do what is right.  This is God’s will.  This kind of behavior finds grace with God. Suffer in submission, as unto the Lord.  The Lord sees.  The Lord will take vengeance.  The Lord will one day judge justly.  In the meantime, let us be gracious to others, even as God was gracious to us even when we were in rebellion against Him,  in hope that by seeing our good works, they will be converted and bring glory to God in the day of His visitation.