back to indexWed Bible Study (1 Peter) Lesson 5 - 02-08-17
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- Alright, by way of thinking through where we're at now in this passage last time, Apostle 00:00:10.920 |
Peter really gave a description of who we are as people and gave us a capacity, a category 00:00:21.120 |
to make sense of the experiences that they were going through, right? 00:00:31.480 |
This is who you are, the holy priesthood that God has been preparing for his service." 00:00:36.880 |
And through those means, he's able to say, "And so, the experiences that we're having 00:00:42.740 |
He's doing a mighty work in you even if you don't feel like it." 00:00:46.640 |
Now on top of that though, the experiences that they felt, nonetheless, it's a tricky 00:00:53.520 |
It's one thing to feel a sense of, "I'm okay.", but then there's another question, "But what 00:01:00.920 |
And in many ways for us too in this generation, it's not as though, I mean life in a sense 00:01:07.080 |
is easy, but really the tension between ideologies, the tension between what we believe and what 00:01:12.880 |
the world believes is going to continue to come a conflict. 00:01:17.600 |
And there's going to be rising tension, as scripture would say, over time to the degree 00:01:22.400 |
that as it gets closer and closer to the time of Christ's return, it's going to be quite 00:01:29.720 |
So, in order to navigate through that, the tension and the kind of hostile environment 00:01:38.240 |
Well, the section that we're getting into is, after he said, "This is who you are, this 00:01:43.000 |
is who you are," he's going to say, "Since this is who you are, here is how you should 00:01:53.640 |
So please turn over to chapter two, and we're going to start reading from verse 11 down 00:02:05.480 |
And he says, "Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts 00:02:14.000 |
Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles so that in the things in which they slander 00:02:17.920 |
you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God 00:02:25.440 |
Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as one 00:02:30.120 |
in authority or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers in the praise 00:02:37.320 |
For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish 00:02:42.880 |
Act as free men and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond 00:02:54.520 |
Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good 00:02:59.480 |
and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. 00:03:04.480 |
If for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering 00:03:11.240 |
For what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with 00:03:16.560 |
But if when you do what is right and suffer for it, you patiently endure it, this finds 00:03:23.800 |
Father, we thank you for the scripture truth. 00:03:27.600 |
We ask God that you would continue to open up our eyes, illumine the word to our hearts, 00:03:34.080 |
and allow us also to be exposed to your word. 00:03:37.400 |
God, that there wouldn't be anything reserved by which your spirit cannot change. 00:03:45.840 |
So again, Apostle Peter is going to be giving an exhortation. 00:03:52.960 |
And so now he's giving this exhortation and plea. 00:03:58.960 |
And this exhortation is actually going to span all the way to chapter 411. 00:04:03.280 |
So from here forward, you're going to feel a sentiment where maybe before there was a 00:04:07.920 |
lot of descriptive, like this is what God's doing. 00:04:12.200 |
This is who you were meant to be, that kind of talk. 00:04:19.680 |
Well, let's take a look at verses 11 and 12 together. 00:04:24.120 |
And the scripture again says, "Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain 00:04:29.240 |
from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul. 00:04:34.000 |
Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander 00:04:38.200 |
you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God 00:04:46.200 |
As we look at passage of verse 11, let's do a two minute grammar session. 00:04:53.560 |
We're going to do two minutes of boring stuff. 00:04:57.680 |
Here, what I mean by a grammar session is this. 00:05:01.200 |
Grammar matters a lot because it helps us categorize, outline, and divide thought. 00:05:09.800 |
When you look at these, it says, "Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers." 00:05:16.320 |
You actually can put a comma after the word you and after the word strangers. 00:05:22.520 |
That little phrase, "as aliens and strangers," in grammar is called a positive clause. 00:05:28.920 |
That a positive is giving you a redefinition of that preceding pronoun, of that preceding 00:05:37.120 |
So examples of that is if you say, "Hey, there's Karen, the girl sitting behind me, is wearing 00:05:44.000 |
It's just a clause that redefines Karen or gives a greater definition of it. 00:05:53.560 |
Because actually, Apostle Peter uses that kind of language where he uses a positive 00:06:04.160 |
So as you notice his style of writing, he'll say, "As living stones, as this, as aliens 00:06:10.360 |
and strangers," you can say he's giving us a redefinition and a paradigm by which we 00:06:15.360 |
can redefine and interpret what we're experiencing. 00:06:21.480 |
And what's more, even in his own eyes, okay, even in his own eyes, as he sees the people, 00:06:28.600 |
he'll begin by saying, "Beloved, you are aliens and strangers, right? 00:06:37.680 |
And so I want to begin by having this first point, the perspective. 00:06:44.280 |
The perspective that Apostle Peter is encouraging us to have is a perspective as aliens and 00:06:51.680 |
That you are supposed to have a perspective like, "I'm a foreigner here." 00:06:57.400 |
By way of hands, how many of you are first generation, aka FAB? 00:07:06.560 |
All ashamed, like, except for Chris, he's like, "That's fine, you know?" 00:07:15.960 |
The whole idea here is there's a sense by which in reality, yeah, I mean, you know, 00:07:20.680 |
our culture is all about like, "There's no difference. 00:07:22.480 |
We're this and this, and we're all bleeding into one." 00:07:25.000 |
No, the reality is we're different, you know? 00:07:28.560 |
For me, I had two instances when I was very clearly different is when I, right in the 00:07:33.760 |
middle of high school, changed schools, and my school was about 96% Jewish, and I was 00:07:41.860 |
And then my senior year, another Asian kid come in and came in, and everyone's like, 00:07:46.560 |
You know, like, "That's not my brother, okay? 00:07:48.560 |
And it was just this kind of like, the difference was very clear, you know? 00:07:57.160 |
Now from that analogy, I mean, we know the scripture teaches us many times. 00:08:02.400 |
Every time the scripture calls us holy, you know, a royal priesthood that's chosen, God 00:08:08.600 |
is constantly saying, "I am consecrating you and setting you apart." 00:08:14.380 |
As a foreigner, there should be something distinct about you, clearly distinct about 00:08:21.160 |
So the paradigm and the kind of redefinition is like this idea of clearly you're different 00:08:27.320 |
than all these people, you know what I'm saying? 00:08:30.240 |
And your attitude and mindset should be that of not just like, "Oh, but I want to belong 00:08:41.440 |
You're not a tourist going through this life saying, "I want to experience that. 00:08:46.440 |
You know, I want to put that in my little scrapbook." 00:08:54.100 |
Your paradigm is, "I'm an ambassador with a message of God from a foreign nation." 00:08:59.780 |
You should be thinking on the level of like, "I'm a representative from a foreign nation 00:09:04.120 |
coming in with a message from a foreign king." 00:09:11.680 |
Other paradigms, it's similar, you know, there's that book Pilgrim's Progress, all that kind 00:09:16.560 |
As much as scripture is telling us, you take the example of Abraham. 00:09:22.120 |
He was called as a chosen nation, but what's weird is he was called as a chosen nation, 00:09:26.080 |
but most of his life he lived as a foreigner walking through towns, God constantly telling 00:09:34.840 |
That he had a destination far beyond what he was seeing, far beyond where he was stepping. 00:09:42.760 |
And Hebrews chapter 11 tells us we have to have that mentality, constantly understanding 00:09:51.520 |
As a matter of fact, we are still thus waiting for that country of our own. 00:09:59.560 |
So, he says, "You beloved, as aliens and strangers, as foreigners." 00:10:06.240 |
I want to ask you this question then, and you guys can jot it down on your blank next 00:10:12.640 |
From the analogy that he gives and the metaphor that he gives, what application can you draw? 00:10:18.840 |
Aside from the one that I just said, what application can you draw? 00:10:24.400 |
The second part to that is, specifically for you. 00:10:29.200 |
When we make applications as we do our own Bible studies, if you just make applications 00:10:33.800 |
of like, "Yeah, generally we should all believe." 00:10:42.240 |
But you have to make sure that application is personal. 00:10:45.200 |
Please take two minutes and jot down some application in that so you can share it later 00:12:27.200 |
Okay, then moving forward, we take a look at the passage again. 00:12:32.200 |
He says, "I'm urging you to abstain from fleshy lusts which wage against your soul, and keep 00:12:37.080 |
your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the things in which they slander 00:12:40.700 |
you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify 00:12:47.400 |
Real quickly, this is a toss-up, easy, home run. 00:12:53.200 |
What are the two main commands in verse 11 and 12? 00:13:15.600 |
You can just do the two, "Abstain," and then verse 12, "Keep." 00:13:26.600 |
And if I was doing a sermon, right, if I was doing a sermon, I kind of share with you guys 00:13:30.920 |
how I prepare sermons, because I never want you guys to feel like, "Oh, you know, we're 00:13:36.280 |
never going to really," like, you personally, as you do your own Bible study, aren't going 00:13:40.040 |
to get to, like, that, I don't know, like, um, arrive at some of these points unless 00:13:49.280 |
Like, you read a passage, and you're like, "I don't know, I don't, I'm not really getting 00:13:52.840 |
anything, and I feel like I can't get these points out unless I read commentaries that 00:13:58.920 |
But I want to share, like, no, the, if you sit, and then you dissect, and then you organize 00:14:03.760 |
the thought, the points kind of jump out at you. 00:14:06.720 |
So essentially, you have two main commands when he says, "I'm urging you in this hostile 00:14:15.040 |
"In this hostile generation, I've got two commands for you," you know? 00:14:19.840 |
One is "Abstain," and in order to make it cute, you make it rhyme a little bit, right? 00:14:23.480 |
So I'd be like, you know, "Abstain and maintain," you know, or something like that, I don't 00:14:28.520 |
So what you do here is, you've got your negative command, and then you've got your positive 00:14:32.760 |
And so those are my two outlines underneath this passage in terms of the second part, 00:14:38.800 |
One is to abstain from fleshly lusts, and then second, maintain, or keep a good way 00:14:46.800 |
Now, let's talk about those two things a little bit. 00:14:49.440 |
First, I want us to see what he's saying here in terms of the description that he gives 00:14:59.240 |
He says, "You have to abstain from the lusts in your life because these things wage war 00:15:09.720 |
"The desires that exist in our hearts wage war against us." 00:15:19.200 |
You might see it as like, "I'm just kind of struggling." 00:15:27.200 |
The desires in our hearts that are, and it's not just reserved for sexual lust, you know? 00:15:33.720 |
Because other passages in scripture tells us that the desires and lusts of our heart 00:15:40.840 |
So sometimes we might see these things as more docile, problematic hurdles in our lives, 00:15:47.400 |
but the way that Apostle Peter is describing them is, "Guys, the desires in our hearts 00:15:52.600 |
and the lusts of our flesh is actually waging war. 00:15:56.000 |
It's hostile, malicious, and it's trying to dominate us." 00:16:00.760 |
Did you know that ever since the beginning in the book of Genesis, when the scriptures 00:16:04.600 |
describe sin, it talks about how sin's desires for you as by way of wanting to overtake you. 00:16:14.640 |
And I'm sure you guys have felt that maybe at some point or another in your spiritual 00:16:19.080 |
Where the kind of monster of sin, so to speak, is really powerful. 00:16:26.240 |
Whenever there's a desire in your heart, whenever there's a lust in your heart, it continues 00:16:30.360 |
to grow, it continues to feed, and then it will decay your soul. 00:16:39.080 |
There's a passage in 1 John 2, 15 through 17. 00:16:42.760 |
He says, "Do not love the world or the things of the world. 00:16:45.440 |
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 00:16:49.600 |
For all that is of the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes, 00:16:53.360 |
the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is of the world. 00:16:57.320 |
The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." 00:17:04.840 |
So here's this passage that's describing for us the sin that exists, and he says, "Abstain." 00:17:14.040 |
On the flip side, he says, "Keep a good way of life." 00:17:18.080 |
If you guys can, I'm gonna have some of you turn to your Bibles and read correlating cross 00:17:24.040 |
surfaces that teach us the same kind of idea of how we should live as priests, as a chosen 00:17:30.600 |
nation, as people who are living in a hostile world. 00:17:38.880 |
Stephen, can you look up Matthew chapter, or yeah, can you look up Matthew chapter 5, 00:17:46.800 |
And then from this table right in front, Rachel, can you look up the James chapter 3, verse 00:17:54.840 |
And then from right in front, Aaron, can you look up Luke chapter 6, verse 32 through 36? 00:18:03.600 |
So in that order, Stephen first, go ahead and please read that. 00:18:22.840 |
Nor do people light up the world sitting under a basket, but understand, it gives light to 00:18:40.840 |
The light of the world is what you show, words and a meekness, no wisdom. 00:18:49.840 |
But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not boast and be 00:18:51.840 |
This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly and spiritual wisdom." 00:18:52.840 |
And then, "If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? 00:18:54.840 |
And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? 00:18:56.840 |
And if you lend to those from whom you expect to learn, what benefit is that to you? 00:18:58.840 |
And if you lend to those from whom you expect to learn, what benefit is that to you? 00:19:00.840 |
And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? 00:19:03.840 |
Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. 00:19:04.840 |
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward 00:19:06.840 |
You will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to them, grateful, and merciful. 00:19:10.840 |
So, we just read several cross references saying exactly the same thing that Apostle 00:19:33.640 |
Words from Christ teaching us, we have to be a light. 00:19:41.440 |
But, when we are in the midst of struggle, our temptation is to go hide under a rock. 00:19:47.960 |
When we're in the midst of persecution, our temptation is to run away. 00:19:51.200 |
When we're in the midst of difficulty that we can't seem to overcome, then we stiff 00:19:55.220 |
arm them and say, "You're a pagan, I need to be holy." 00:20:02.320 |
The greater challenge is for you to actually not only simply resist the temptation, but 00:20:11.640 |
Live a lifestyle that's good and godly, so that people may see it." 00:20:16.520 |
And we're reminded of this fact, not only do people naturally, they get their idea of 00:20:24.580 |
People naturally get their notions of God from reading other people who claim to be 00:20:30.060 |
Not only is that simply the case, that's how God designed it. 00:20:37.320 |
That you would be, in many ways, to the unbelieving world, the book that they read to get a notion 00:20:44.400 |
And so quickly we move to this idea of purpose, and it's very clear, he says, the purpose 00:20:49.160 |
is that they would recognize your work and glorify God. 00:20:55.080 |
That this is an immense opportunity in the moments when it's most unlikely, highly improbable, 00:21:01.960 |
Here is this great opportunity to glorify our Heavenly Father. 00:21:06.800 |
And truthfully, in this past week, when we're talking about the Indian pastors, while the 00:21:10.800 |
team was out in India, and the thing that they experienced, right? 00:21:15.800 |
And then, you know, the whole team, when they came back, they would keep mentioning, like, 00:21:19.720 |
God used that thing, which seemed really unsettling, ultimately for his glory. 00:21:25.680 |
But just imagine, just imagine if the officials came with the culprits and said, "What do 00:21:36.040 |
And in their minds, they thought, "Yeah, what were you guys thinking?" 00:21:40.120 |
In their revenge, in their sense of, like, "Oh, this needs to be justice. 00:21:46.240 |
Well, what happened is, yeah, maybe justice might prevail, so to speak. 00:21:58.280 |
But the opportunity there is, but is God glorified? 00:22:01.960 |
And how awesome was it that there was an opportunity to describe? 00:22:05.920 |
This is what's going to empower us to be merciful and forgiving to you, right? 00:22:11.320 |
This is the name of the Savior who empowers us to do something that you might not expect. 00:22:17.140 |
So if anything, when there's persecution, when there's suffering and difficulty, we 00:22:21.720 |
shouldn't be surprised, because we expect it. 00:22:36.120 |
That's the way that Apostle Peter is describing the situation. 00:22:39.760 |
The strategy here is, rather than withdraw, rather than isolate, we are to maintain and 00:22:45.560 |
keep a lifestyle, speaking truth into individuals' lives. 00:22:49.720 |
I remember there was a time when I was stressed out, a long time ago, when I was driving up 00:22:57.960 |
On my way down, I would just visit, like, little lakes to kind of, you know how, well, 00:23:04.480 |
I kind of have an old soul, so I like going out and just kind of sitting there with my 00:23:08.160 |
hands behind my back and thinking if I'm stressed. 00:23:10.920 |
So I'd go visit the Cerritos, like there's this man-made lake in Cerritos, I'd stop by 00:23:16.320 |
And then there's this really nice lake in Fullerton, I think it's called Laguna Lake. 00:23:21.080 |
If you guys have never been there, it's worth just kind of walking around, it's super nice. 00:23:25.360 |
Very secluded, people are fishing there, you know? 00:23:28.120 |
And I was all stressed out, so I just went there and did one of my, you know, usual old 00:23:32.300 |
man thing, but my, you know, just had me on my back and was just kind of strolling along, 00:23:36.400 |
and then there was this guy who was fishing and stuff. 00:23:39.080 |
And so I just kind of chit-chatted with him a little bit, I was like, "Hey, you come here 00:23:43.120 |
And then, you know, you know how fishermen have a stereotype? 00:23:47.520 |
They're kind of crude, you know, like, they joke, kind of, even their joke and all that 00:23:55.240 |
Like this was the stereotype guy who was, you know, he was all stressed out, we were 00:23:59.760 |
just kind of being sympathetic towards each other and there are like stresses of life 00:24:05.200 |
And then he started making these crude jokes about how, you know, "Yeah, my wife thinks 00:24:08.520 |
I'm at the auto shop, you know, getting my brakes fixed, ha ha ha," you know? 00:24:11.880 |
And he was making all these jokes about how marriage is this, and that whole concept of 00:24:19.640 |
Now there was this temptation in me, you know? 00:24:22.680 |
And I'm sure you guys have experienced that temptation, where to be funny with him, I 00:24:28.400 |
wanted to be like, "Oh yeah, I know what you mean, man," you know? 00:24:31.720 |
But I just sat there and then I started having this weird battle in my head, you know? 00:24:38.320 |
You know, I can't laugh with him because that's wrong. 00:24:42.080 |
But should I be like, "Hey man, you should go home to your wife," you know? 00:24:47.920 |
What was really funny is I just kind of had this idea of saying like, "Dude, man, it'd 00:24:53.320 |
be cool if our wives could join us," you know? 00:24:55.680 |
And he just kind of stopped and he was like, "Yeah," you know? 00:25:05.840 |
And we just, as soon as I said that, like his crude joking just stopped, you know? 00:25:13.000 |
And I think for us, there's a sense in which we could always just jump on the bandwagon 00:25:20.080 |
We could always at our workplace just jump on the bandwagon and gossip. 00:25:23.260 |
We could at our workplace just jump on the bandwagon and do everything, run exactly the 00:25:29.500 |
But I'm sure you have experience in your workplace, once you become that source of light, not 00:25:33.240 |
all of a sudden people who are like in their own struggles, they come to you. 00:25:38.280 |
You're the guy at your office, like we can trust that guy, you know? 00:25:41.800 |
You're the guy at the office where like everyone's cursing and stuff, you walk in, they're like, 00:25:48.440 |
It's not a bad thing when people all of a sudden feel an aura of holiness around you. 00:25:56.060 |
Remember, alien and stranger, you're going to be different. 00:25:58.660 |
And by your lifestyle, you need to make that kind of environmental impact around you. 00:26:05.500 |
And Apostle Peter is saying, "Especially now, especially when now when the world is looking 00:26:12.460 |
at you to persecute you, make this opportunity to glorify God by abstaining from your own 00:26:19.300 |
selfishness and keeping a lifestyle that's good and holy, even in the eyes of pagans." 00:26:27.260 |
Next, we take a look at the next section and he moves for another command, verse 13 through 00:26:38.340 |
And then in this passage, I'll read it for us, it says, "Submit yourself for the Lord's 00:26:44.940 |
sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority or to governors 00:26:51.900 |
as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. 00:26:57.180 |
For such is the will of God that by doing right, you may silence the ignorance of foolish 00:27:06.540 |
So when I read my Bible and I just mark it all up, whenever there's a main command, I 00:27:11.900 |
just put a fat C right there and I just kind of meditate on that. 00:27:18.620 |
And I'm just sitting here thinking, "Oh man, he's telling them to submit." 00:27:23.660 |
And I just, I want you guys to just put yourself in their shoes, you know? 00:27:30.820 |
So if you can imagine, you know, maybe like, I don't know, a scenario where someone comes 00:27:35.900 |
to you and they're just like, "Oh my gosh, my parents are just beating me down. 00:27:42.260 |
My parents are coming off and they're just controlling my life. 00:27:45.460 |
They're just, you know, pressuring me so much and I'm bottled up and I just can't take it 00:27:55.820 |
How do you say that to people who are suffering in that fashion? 00:27:58.820 |
Now I just gave a parental, I'm just trying to put it in our day. 00:28:01.980 |
I mean, think about job situation, think about marriage situation, family situation, whatever 00:28:07.480 |
situation you can imagine where the worst case scenario, somebody is above you and you 00:28:13.660 |
And then your encouragement is, "Uh, we gotta submit." 00:28:21.060 |
Well, in here, if you look at this, I think there might be people who, because of their 00:28:29.980 |
Christian faith, they're like, "You know what? 00:28:39.740 |
Their solution is, "Because I have God as my God, forget that. 00:28:47.340 |
You can imagine that could happen because he talks about it. 00:28:50.420 |
You think that because of your allegiance to God, now there's an excuse to deny any 00:29:00.380 |
The term for submit is the Greek word, "Hupotasso." 00:29:07.640 |
Just as a commanding officer, when he gives an order, the soldier is expected to fall 00:29:12.820 |
The word literally has the idea of falling under somebody. 00:29:21.700 |
So the term there is not a euphemism for something other than that. 00:29:26.060 |
You have to go underneath somebody and submit to their command. 00:29:31.060 |
That's what Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 13. 00:29:35.900 |
A lot of other passages talk about authority and the fact that Christians should understand 00:30:00.540 |
Church other situations where it is difficult for you to yield? 00:30:07.620 |
Do you have circumstances where it is difficult for you to yield to somebody else? 00:30:12.620 |
Do you have a micromanaging, you know, department manager and he is always telling you, "Do 00:30:20.980 |
And you are like, "Stop telling me what to do!" 00:30:24.220 |
Do you have a big brother boss who is always asking, "I want to report, I want to report, 00:30:29.380 |
And he is like, "I don't want to have to answer to you!" 00:30:33.780 |
Do you have one of these self-promoting co-workers who is always taking credit for your work? 00:30:39.460 |
Do you have people who are trying to control you? 00:30:42.640 |
Maybe a nagging mom, a control freak parent who is always like, "This is how you eat, 00:30:46.420 |
this is how you dress yourself, this is how you do your hair. 00:30:51.460 |
I am sure we have people who are pressuring us in that fashion. 00:30:58.720 |
These things tend to really hit the button for a lot of us. 00:31:02.900 |
I remember as I was preparing this, thinking about, yeah, like, imagine the anger of people 00:31:08.780 |
who are oppressed and pushed up against the wall. 00:31:12.180 |
You are back up against the wall, someone is pressuring you real hard, hair bots just 00:31:17.420 |
Now, I consider myself a pretty patient guy, you know? 00:31:21.540 |
But I do remember distinctly one time in high school where I just blew up. 00:31:24.900 |
And because I am Korean, I typically don't ever show my anger in front of an adult, but 00:31:28.800 |
it was out on the field and I just blew up and cursed at an adult. 00:31:32.120 |
It's like, I don't know what came over me, okay? 00:31:34.880 |
But what happened was, me and this buddy were messing around and one of the teachers saw 00:31:39.160 |
us messing around and she didn't like how we were play fighting and stuff like that. 00:31:46.240 |
And then he came over and grabbed us by the neck right here, like this, you know? 00:31:51.360 |
And I don't know, that just like instantly caused my blood to boil. 00:31:56.960 |
And I just like slapped his arm and just went off cursing at him. 00:32:00.400 |
Like, don't touch me like that ever, you know? 00:32:07.960 |
But the feeling of someone's hand on the back of my neck made me feel very dehumanized. 00:32:22.200 |
Now the thing about it is, you think about moments when it's so hard to submit to that 00:32:29.520 |
authority, it's these times when we're going to react with anger. 00:32:34.720 |
But I want to ask, how hard would it have been for these people to hear this? 00:33:08.480 |
The degree to which Apostle Peter is challenging these individuals to submit is quite incredible. 00:33:14.140 |
As a matter of fact, later on, he's going to say the exact same thing, or kind of on 00:33:25.040 |
"Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good 00:33:30.240 |
and gentle, but to those who are unreasonable." 00:33:46.200 |
Okay, I asked you guys this question, and I wanted you guys purposely to discuss this 00:33:53.440 |
When we hear certain things in the scripture, we like to kind of keep, we want to be able 00:33:59.120 |
to accept it in a certain category in our hands, so sometimes we like to set boundaries. 00:34:09.040 |
But the reason why I had you guys talk about it is because look at the terminology, and 00:34:14.600 |
look at the context, and then ask, what is the limit? 00:34:19.400 |
Does he say, submit so long as they're nice to you, so long as it makes sense, so long 00:34:28.320 |
He says, submit to all human institutions, right? 00:34:33.760 |
And then think about the context and realize, man, whatever boundary I just drew when I 00:34:38.000 |
read that, that context to which he's speaking to blows my context out of the water. 00:34:44.200 |
I'm having a hard time applying that with my boss. 00:34:48.320 |
I'm saying if I were you, if I was you, you know, okay, okay, I'm just going to move on 00:34:57.760 |
I'm having a, you know, we might have a hard time applying it in this context. 00:35:02.240 |
When we think about their context, it just completely blows it out of the water, right? 00:35:11.640 |
Stephen was a man filled with the Spirit, so full of the Spirit. 00:35:15.200 |
Everyone can look at his face and they're like, man, that guy is so full of the Spirit. 00:35:20.880 |
Everybody recognized him as an incredibly godly man. 00:35:30.880 |
He had a level of authority, a level of capacity to speak truth. 00:35:36.560 |
And then when the priests, the rulers, they came to judge him, he was submissive. 00:35:55.400 |
Did he start running off and, you know, starting to attack, like Peter take a sword? 00:36:11.800 |
Now, I'm not saying that this application is for every single circumstance, no matter 00:36:19.200 |
You have to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. 00:36:22.240 |
But the level to which we should have a capacity to yield is quite surprising. 00:36:31.000 |
I might be at your limit, but I'm exhorting you, I urge you, learn to submit as Christians, 00:36:37.320 |
as those who understand what it means to surrender and yield your spirit to God and entrust yourself 00:36:46.200 |
And as you proclaim your allegiance to Him, learn to submit to human authorities as well. 00:37:04.320 |
With such a difficult to apply command, what are the reasons he gives? 00:37:10.880 |
So with this one, can you guys, you know, contribute by just calling it out? 00:37:17.260 |
When you guys discussed in your group, what reasons does he give to submit? 00:37:35.680 |
Please take a look at the verse from verse 13 through 20. 00:37:38.920 |
And when he says, "Submit yourselves," and then he's going down, just scan your eyes 00:37:43.080 |
through the thing and start circling real fast. 00:37:45.600 |
What do you see as reasons and motives to submit? 00:38:03.520 |
The one that should pop out to you is to bear a good witness. 00:38:37.520 |
And just read it as you see it in that passage and then just highlight it out. 00:39:20.520 |
As we take a look at verse 13, immediately he gives reasons. 00:39:24.520 |
When he says, "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake." 00:39:30.520 |
Those little prepositions "for" should immediately, you know, kind of give a hint to you. 00:39:40.520 |
And he says, "Whether kings as one in his authority, or governors." 00:39:49.520 |
So here, you can just highlight "as sent by him" as another reason. 00:39:52.520 |
That the reason why we're supposed to submit is because this is God's doing. 00:40:02.520 |
These governments, these institutions are sent by God? 00:40:10.520 |
That's what the nation of Israel needed to get for so long. 00:40:13.520 |
Remember, when the prophets came to preach, when Jeremiah came to preach to the nation and says, 00:40:18.520 |
"You guys need to surrender because God is using these nations." 00:40:23.520 |
That's actually the absolute opposite is true. 00:40:26.520 |
God is absolutely in control and that's why you need to surrender, give up. 00:40:32.520 |
Every institution, there is nothing out of that control of God. 00:40:37.520 |
He says, "For the punishment of evil doers and the praise of those who do right." 00:40:44.520 |
Again, you see the word "for" gives you another reason. 00:40:49.520 |
And that should really, again, continue to shake you up. 00:40:57.520 |
You want to know something that's even crazier than that? 00:41:04.520 |
So if you take a look at verse 19 and 20, "For this finds favor." 00:41:10.520 |
"That if for the sake of conscience towards God, a person bears up under sorrow when suffering unjustly. 00:41:16.520 |
For what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? 00:41:21.520 |
But if you do what is right and suffer for it, you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God." 00:41:28.520 |
Why should you suffer for your own stupidity? 00:41:33.520 |
If you're going to suffer, He wants you to suffer for the name of God, for the sake of righteousness, for the sake of your faith. 00:41:46.520 |
So if you, we stopped over at verse 15, "For such is the will of God." 00:41:52.520 |
"That by doing right, you may silence the ignorance of foolish men." 00:41:56.520 |
So essentially when He says that, you can circle that, it continues to link the causation or the motive and reason by which you must submit. 00:42:07.520 |
Because by doing so, you're going to make everybody silent. 00:42:15.520 |
how does your submission, your surrender, and your good behavior, 00:42:19.520 |
and you bearing up under all these sorrows, silence the people around you? 00:42:34.520 |
you know, what's happening in the context is people are slandering Christians unfairly, right? 00:42:44.520 |
Even though when you're doing right, people are going to try and attack you and call you and slander you stuff, right? 00:42:50.520 |
Now, this, I don't know why, but this reminded me of a lady. 00:43:00.520 |
In 2009 on Britain's Got Talent, you know, with the judges there, 00:43:06.520 |
this lady who was frizzly haired, short hair, you know, 00:43:12.520 |
She was, you know, like pretty unkempt, very plain dress. 00:43:15.520 |
She like came up walking off funny and she took the mic and she had a little bit of a spunk to her, kind of an attitude, you know? 00:43:21.520 |
So Simon initially already is just kind of rolling his eyes. 00:43:24.520 |
And, you know, he asked in his little British accent, he goes, "How old are you, my dear?" 00:43:31.520 |
And Simon's just kind of like, "Man, let's get this over with," you know? 00:43:35.520 |
And the other judges is like, you can hear them laughing. 00:43:38.520 |
And then Simon asks her like, "Oh, what's your dream?" 00:43:40.520 |
And she's like, "To be famous singer," you know? 00:43:44.520 |
Everyone's just sitting there like, "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha," you know? 00:43:48.520 |
And then she's like, "I'm going to sing 'I Have a Dream' from Les Miserables," you know? 00:43:54.520 |
And then she starts singing and everyone's just jaw drops like, "What? What happened?" 00:44:03.520 |
Have you guys ever been in any kind of performance or music where like everyone's just talking to each other? 00:44:10.520 |
They're eating their food, making all this noise. 00:44:11.520 |
And then they start singing and you're just like, and everyone's quiet. 00:44:19.520 |
Your submission and ability to yield and die to yourself is so different from this world. 00:44:28.520 |
But that should be the thing that's grabbing people's attention. 00:44:33.520 |
Okay? Your good, pleasing, godly style of life should be like a beautiful song that quiets people. 00:44:40.520 |
When people are slandering you, for example, if I say like, "Why are you so lazy? 00:44:45.520 |
You never do anything. You never help around the house and you never do this." 00:44:48.520 |
And then if you've ever been on the flip side of that and you're like, "Yes, I do," you know what's going to happen? 00:44:52.520 |
All you're going to do is get in a verbal fight. 00:44:54.520 |
"No, you don't. You didn't do this and you didn't do that and you're just going to go at it." 00:44:58.520 |
How do you silence the other person? By the beauty of your life. 00:45:05.520 |
You're proving your faith. You're proving the transformation in your life. Right? 00:45:10.520 |
Likewise, Apostle Peter is saying, "You don't need to sit there defending yourself with words. 00:45:15.520 |
What you need to do is make sure you maintain and keep the holiness and purity of your life. 00:45:20.520 |
And if anything, you should be a people who know submission to the degree, honor the king." Right? 00:45:27.520 |
And he has a list of little commandments there in verse 17. 00:45:30.520 |
Respect all people. You of all people should know how to do this because you're Christians. 00:45:35.520 |
You know how to honor the king. You know how to give respect where respect is due. 00:45:42.520 |
It's not righteous for you to sit there and be like, "I don't give respect to nobody." You know? 00:45:48.520 |
You know how to heal when yielding is necessary. 00:45:51.520 |
And you know how to absorb when absorbing is necessary because God has given you the ability to do so. 00:45:58.520 |
We're going to experience that kind of oppression. Not oppression, but maybe pressure. 00:46:02.520 |
Pressure from the workplace. Pressure from family. Pressure from people around us. 00:46:07.520 |
But we will be a people marked by an ability to keep our composure and holiness before God and men. 00:46:23.520 |
Father, we want to thank you, God, that you empower us and that you continue to challenge us and exhort us. 00:46:30.520 |
We ask, God, that as you have set such a high standard in Christ, that you would give us such a desire to pursue after Him. 00:46:38.520 |
God, to look squarely at Christ and see Him as our goal, as our answer, as our ambition. 00:46:45.520 |
Lord, that by keeping our eyes fixed on Him, we would all the more resemble Him in our lives. 00:46:51.520 |
Father, we thank you that Christ set the example for us. 00:46:54.520 |
That, Lord, He did not defend Himself where He could have, but rather He yielded Himself, rather emptied Himself as well. 00:47:02.520 |
Lord, I pray that if there is any arrogance in our heart, if there is any ambition, 00:47:07.520 |
if there is any stubbornness that desires to preserve everything about us, 00:47:12.520 |
I ask that by your Spirit you give us the strength to let that go. 00:47:15.520 |
And that, God, we would know what it means as Christ commands us to lose our life, that we'd find it in you. 00:47:21.520 |
We thank you, Lord, it's in Christ's name. Amen.