"Be Subject to...Part 2"...1 Peter 2:18-25...Peter's Pattern emerging


The food pantry pile is growing and so is our understanding of what Peter is trying to get across to his readers of persecuted Christians of the 1st century.  This pile represents many families in our county who are walking through a tough time right now.  They need assistance to carry them through.  Peter is writing to Christians who are walking through a tough time right now.  They need assistance from the Scriptures of how to respond to this persecution from not saying "Caesar is lord" and proclaiming the excellencies of Him who brought us out of darkness into His marvelous light.  Their cry is "Jesus is Lord" and "He is alive!"

Peter now speaks to the group who are servants/slaves of others and they have become born again and therefore ultimately free before God.  They now have a new Master over their physical masters.  How are they to respond to those physical masters as a saved servant/slave?  Does it change if the physical master is good and decent or the master is curved and crooked?  Peter says no.  They are to keep the general instruction given of keeping their conduct, manner of life, honorable and excellent before them and to continue to do good.  This is Peter's pattern to all the groups he will say, "Be subject to...for the Lord's sake."

What probably is noteworthy as a 21st century Christian reading this passage is the hurdle we have to get over about our own past with ungodly slavery that went against Scripture and the value of all.  Our slavery dealt with the degrading of others.  It was even within the church and needed to be purged so that we would follow the "one anothers" no matter the color of the skin.  Prejudice needed to be purged like the prejudice found in Acts 6.  Peter doesn't address this.  Peter zeros in on the saved servant/slave and encourages them to keep focused on the salvation of their masters and even the ones who treat them unjustly at times.  He tells them the greater report is to remain like Jesus did following His Father's will when being treated unjustly.  Jesus, our prime example, continues to entrust Himself into the hands of His Father.  We are to do the same, entrusting ourselves to the very words of God on how we are to be in the good times and the bad times.

Peter was zeroed in on salvation and the born again Christian's opportunity to share Christ with others.  They needed to see something different to silence some of them and shame some of them so that some of them might be saved.  He doesn't address slavery but rather instructs the saved slave to reach out to his or her master with the eternal consequence of their soul.  What struck me was how much this has taken a back seat in many churches.  We are concerned about so many other things that seeing people get saved is regulated to a special service once a year or maybe a study session.  Peter puts it front and center for the persecuted Christians.  "Is it bad?"  The answer would be yes but Peter says its an opportunity to share Jesus with them by keeping your conduct honorable and continuing to do good.  Let the Holy Spirit transform them from a saved position.  First the master gets born again, he goes from Group #2, those who do not believe, to Group #1, those who do believe and then the Holy Spirit starts to polish that salvation.  I think we get to polishing before the heart has been purchased by Jesus and planned by God.

Adam



A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 40th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1 Peter 1:3-12...How great is our salvation? Peter is going to let us know.

Image
Do you see the snow cross on the mountain in the left stain glass above?  Do you see the dove in the right stain glass?  The dove is harder to make out. Its wing is a darker shading of the stained glass.  (You might need to zoom in on it.)   When I think of the dove, I think of the provision of God shown to Noah after the flood.  I think of the Holy Spirit coming down upon Jesus like a dove at His baptism and the coronation of His earthly ministry.  When I think of the cross, I think of the provision of God shown to the world that He created and loved manifested by the giving of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.  I think of Jesus' words "It is finished" at the completion of His earthly ministry.  All that is required has been done. Peter takes us there in this passage when he expands on the "according to the foreknowledge of God" who "has caused us to be born again."  What is included in this salvation?  What do we need to remember w...
Read more

Sermon prep and maybe a video...

     James 4 has brought up some interesting study.  First, "the quarrels and fights among you."  Those are usually worse than you think even though we try to minimize them.  The source is simpler than you think because it is coming from within you.  The solution is easier than you think because the solution that James gives is that we need to humble ourselves before the Lord.  Any sincere resolution is specific and brief.  Beware of lengthy resolutions that usually include explaining it away or excusing some of the behavior.      As I have seen before, the words are a sign of the heart.  I read this week that if we have a critical heart we usually start by speaking evil of another to ourselves.  Then we progress to speaking evil of another to that person with a running tally in our heads of all their wrongs.  Finally, we speak evil of another to others and broadcast in a way that we are thinking that we are h...
Read more

The Last Tag In...Matthew 22:34-46...Testing Done!

Image
Probably the last snowshoe hike for the season.  I will have to deal with mud, ice and snow here and there if I venture up the trails.  I think I have snowshoed more this season than last even though we didn't have the snow depth of last year.  As I put away the snowshoes I will start dreaming of next year! We finished up chapter 22 this Sunday.  The testing is done!  4 different groups get into the ring with Jesus.  They are testing Him but soon they realize that He is testing them.  Jesus never really goes into the defensive mode that is normal if you are being questioned or tested but stays in the offensive mode to bring about a bigger issue than the one raised. Group #1:  Chief priests and elders They questioned Jesus' authority.  Jesus turns it back upon them to question their discerning authority regarding the baptism of John the Baptist.  They gave a non-answer. Group #2:  Pharisees and Herodians They questioned Jesus' loyalt...
Read more