Living Under An Unsavory Government

Old Testament reading today is in 1 Samuel 24, 1 through 15.

When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, Behold, David is in the wilderness of Enjeti.

Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the wild goats' rocks.

And he came to the sheepfolds by the way where there was a cave. And Saul went in to relieve himself.

Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. And the men of David said to him,

Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.

Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul's robe. And afterward David's heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul's robe.

He said to his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the

Lord's anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord's anointed. So David persuaded his men with these words, and did not permit them to attack

Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way. Afterward David also arose and went out of the cave and called after Saul, my lord, the king.

And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth and paid homage.

And David said to Saul, Why do you listen to the words of men who say, Behold, David seeks your harm.

Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you today in my hand in the cave, and some told me to kill you, but I spared you.

I said, I will not put out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord's anointed. See my father, see the corner of your robe in my hand, for by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands.

I have not sinned against you, though you haunt my life to take it. May the

Lord judge between me and you. May the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you.

As the proverb of the ancients say, Out of the wicked comes wickedness, but my hand shall not be against you.

After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog?

After a flea? May the Lord therefore be judge and give sentence between me and you, and see to it and plead my case and deliver me from your hand.

The New Testament reading is Titus 3, 1 -8. Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by washing of generation and renewal of the

Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. So that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.

Those things are excellent and profitable for people, but avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, disillusions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.

Let's take our Bibles this morning and turn to the book of 1 Peter. Now, Lord willing, next week we'll start an exposition of the book of Hebrews.

I've been kind of trying to get things down before we go there, but time to quit putting it off.

Next week is Hebrews, and we start preaching through that book. But today we want to look at something in particular, and so I'm asking you to turn to 1

Peter 2. We'll begin reading in verse 11 of that chapter and reading through verse 7 of the next.

You follow along. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify

God on the day of visitation. Be subject, for the Lord's sake, to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

For this is the will of God, that by doing good, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover -up for evil, but living as servants of God.

Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor.

Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust.

For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.

For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?

But if, when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps.

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return.

When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

By his wounds you have been healed, for you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives when they see your respectful and pure conduct.

Do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry or the clothing you wear, but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed

Abraham, calling him Lord. And you are her children if you do good, and do not fear anything that is frightening.

Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Let's pray. Father, would you now direct our thinking. Father, we're not here to play games, we're not here just to listen to another sermon, another lecture, we're here to hear your voice tell us how we ought to be and how we ought to act and what we ought to believe, what we ought to do in the world in which we live.

We thank you for a word that addresses all of those issues that we face.

Now help us, give us hearts that are willing to learn, give us hearts that are willing to bow before your word, so that we can be the people you've called us to be.

God help us in this hour, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. A new president was inaugurated into office this

Wednesday, as our Constitution requires. Most of us thank God that it was a peaceful transition of power, something that we have experienced in the whole history of our country.

But many evangelical Christians are also fearful, and not a little angry.

They feel that way because they believe that this administration will pursue policies that are clearly ungodly and unbiblical, from abortion rights to LGBTQ policies.

Many believe that this administration marks the radical erosion of our religious liberties.

And that may be the case. So how should believers respond to a government that is hostile to them?

How should we respond to a government that is not our friend, but expresses hostility towards us and the things that we believe?

Well, we don't have to wonder, because Scripture tells us how to respond. In fact, in the text before us, we find in the text before us a written word from God to believers facing a hostile pagan government, one even more hostile than the one that we face at present.

Now, let's get our bearings before we dive into the particular text that we want to look at.

This is the book of 1 Peter. Peter is writing to those that he considers exiles and sojourners in the world.

We live in a world like exiles. This is not our permanent home, at least not this age.

It's not the age that is our permanent home. And you recall, if you remember, and if you've read through 1

Peter, you know that the very first part of this epistle speaks of our salvation.

It speaks of our new life that we have. It speaks of our glorious position as the people of God, as the spiritual temple of God in which

God lives. And now, beginning in chapter 2, verse 11,

Peter turns our attention outward to the inevitable conflict that we will face as we live as believers in a pagan culture.

And make no mistake about it, we are living in a culture similar to his.

We must admit, this is no longer a nation that is at least friendly towards what the

Bible says. Now, he begins in chapter 2, verse 11, and in verses 11 and 12, he gives you the basic strategy you must follow in this inevitable conflict that we will face.

Chapter 2, verses 11 and 12, is the hinge of the book. He turns from talking about us, and then in chapter 2, verse 11, he turns our attention outward to how we're going to face the unfriendly forces arrayed against us.

In fact, he's talking to people who actually face persecution.

And in chapter 2, that hinge, he starts off by giving us a basic strategy, the overall.

In other words, he gives us the strategy before he turns to the tactics, the big picture.

And here's the big picture, verses 11 and 12. He says, essentially this, renounce those natural impulses for ease and security.

When he talks about here, I believe when he talks about abstaining from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul,

I don't think he's talking primarily, primarily about orgies and drunkenness and sex.

He's talking about the passion that we have for being treated fairly. The passion we have for justice.

The passion that we have that you treat me right. Those wage war against our soul.

Because then we get off the track of what God calls us in terms of loving God and loving our neighbor. Because if we're not treated right, well then

I'm not going to treat you right. And so I think that's not the only thing. He does talk about all those other things, but I think as you read through the rest of the book, it's primarily aimed at those kinds of passions.

Phrase it, as Americans, we are passionate about our liberties, aren't we? Those things can war against your soul if you're not careful.

And he says, to renounce those natural impulses for ease and security, and in fact, mount a campaign of good lives and good deeds.

Mount a campaign of good lives and good deeds. So, renounce those passions that can too easily control you, and instead, now, mount a campaign of good lives and good deeds with the idea that when

Jesus returns, there will be more people here to praise him because what has happened is people have been converted.

Then beginning in chapter 2, verse 13, he fleshes that out in detail. Now he gives us the tactics.

What are the good things that we need to do? What are the lives we need to lead? What are the deeds we need to do in order to accomplish this strategy of, as he says in verses 11 and 12, so that when they speak against us as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and instead glorify

God? What is it that we need to do? And what's fascinating to me is he deals first with our relationship to a pagan government and then your relationship to a pagan master and then your relationship to a pagan husband.

All right? And I want you to notice that in fleshing out the details of that campaign, he begins with an emphasis on submission.

The good lives and the good deeds that we must lead involves submission to those pagan authorities over us, whether it's a pagan government, a pagan master, or a pagan husband.

The good life required, he begins with, the first thing you need to understand, the good life required in a hostile environment is a life of submission.

Now already, you know, you guys have, I have no doubt, you've got fireworks going off in your head because that is not the

American DNA. That is not our DNA. Well, okay. We need to do the impossible then and change our genetics.

All right? By the way, let me just mention this because I think we need to emphasize this.

Submission is not just a woman's problem. Do you notice that two -thirds of the commands for submission are addressed to Christians generally?

Part of the problem with our wives not being submissive is we haven't set the pace of submission. We come home and we complain and tell us,

I'm not going to do that. We talk about our bosses at work and we say, I'm not going to do that. He's crazy who thinks

I'm going to do that and then we wonder why our wives aren't submissive. That's neither here nor there compared to them.

I'm already off the text. I'm sorry. But it's interesting that when he talks about living good lives that will silence the pagans, he starts with submission.

Is that where you would start? I can tell you right now, it's not where I'd start. But that's where he starts.

And the first thing he tackles is submission to a government that's hostile towards us. Let's look at that again.

Verses 13 through 17. Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

For this is the will of God that by doing good, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover -up for evil, but living as servants of God.

Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. There it is.

What do we find first? God commands, first of all, your submission. Verses 13 and 14.

Submission. What is that? And why this command?

The word means to be subject to, to obey, to subordinate your desires to those of someone or something else.

To subordinate your desires to someone or something else.

Be subject to. Now, so you're going down the street and you see that nice red pickup sitting there and you really, really want it.

But the government has told you that the fulfilling of that desire is called grand larceny.

So you subordinate your desire at that point.

Right? You say, I may want it, I have the ability to take it, but I won't because I'm subject to the laws.

Right? I'm going to subordinate that desire at this moment. Now, why would Peter make that an issue?

Because some people might think, I've been saved from my pagan background. I have no more allegiance to anything in my pagan background, including the government.

I've been saved from all that. I have no obligations now. And he's saying, oh, yes, you do. Yes, you do.

Others are more sanctimonious. Well, Jesus is my master. I'm not accountable to anyone. God alone is going to judge me.

So I don't have to obey anybody else. Well, I've heard that many times.

No, that's not the case. You may think this government and its policies are evil, anti -God, anti -biblical.

I do not submit to wicked governments. I refuse. And some have done this.

I refuse to pay my taxes because they will use it to do wicked things. I don't have to obey a government that's wicked.

Well, God commands your submission to governmental authorities. It's clear here, isn't it?

It is clear here. You owe that submission to every government official at every level.

He doesn't just leave it at the emperor. He says, and his governor. So in the empire of that day, of course.

And again, you want to talk about an unjust government. You know what an emperor is, don't you?

What's the difference between a king and an emperor? You know what it is? A king rules over one country.

An emperor has gone out and taken over all other countries and rules not over his country, but all the ones that he has conquered.

All right? You talk about unjust. Hey, I've been conquered by that government.

I don't owe any allegiance to that government. They defeated our armies and incorporated us into their empire.

What? I don't owe them allegiance. Oh, yes, you do, says Peter. Yes, you do. The emperor who's in the supreme position and to his representatives who have been sent by him, you must submit.

Now, it's easy to say, sure, I'll honor the emperor. He lives 2 ,000 miles away. But then you face his representatives who enforce the emperor's edicts.

It says obey them too. You know, you may say, I'm really glad the governor signed that bill that requires vehicle inspection, but how do you respond when the deputy pulls you over and finds out your vehicle has not been inspected?

Right? Not just to this one. You've got to submit to this one as well. If you're going to live such good lives that the pagans will be converted, you must submit to every government official at every level.

Now, I'm going to stop right here because I know what's going through your mind. What's going through your mind is, okay, when can we disobey?

We're not even going to go there. We're not going to go there today. And the reason why we're not going to go there is that Peter doesn't go there in this text.

Are there other texts that tell us about disobeying the government? Absolutely. But I don't think that's the problem that we face.

I don't think I have to outline for you when you need to disobey the government because that's where our main problem is.

We don't want to submit. So is there a time to disobey the government?

Yes, certainly. But we're not going to talk about that today because the text doesn't.

Peter did not think it was that important at that moment to emphasize, okay, so when can you disobey?

That's what we as Americans do all the time. Yeah, I hear you, but what about? The BWAs, but what about?

No, no but what abouts here. Let's just get this down first before we start going in other directions, okay?

He says this, you owe that submission to every governmental official at every level. He says you owe that submission to government officials who may be corrupt or even cruel.

In our American tradition, we have the idea that should our leaders become corrupt, cruel, or tyrannical, then we have the right to rebel and overthrow them.

But that is not the way of Christ. I'm telling you right now, that is not the way of Christ.

That isn't what it is. Who was Peter talking about here when he wrote these words?

Who ruled? His name was Nero, the most infamous of all the emperors.

Can't get around that, can we? So you owe that submission to government officials who may be corrupt or even cruel.

You owe that submission to government authorities with whom you disagree.

With whom you disagree. In all of these areas, we need to submit.

Now, God gives you reasons for the submission.

Notice what he says. He says that we must submit because the government has been sent, the government is instituted by God to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

You should submit because the government serves a function in human society.

It serves a function in human society to punish and to praise.

God instituted government for those two reasons, to punish and to praise.

To punish, that is to restrain and punish those who break the law, inflicting retribution.

The Apostle Paul is even more bold because he says

God has given the government the power of the sword, which is the power of life and death.

We're talking about retribution here. He has given the government the power of retribution to those who break the law and to praise those, that is to reward and hold up as virtuous those who submit and do those works that benefit others, publicly rewarding those to do well.

Now, you're not going to get a letter from the governor at the end of the year praising you for obeying the speed limit laws.

All right? But we do, in some sense, do that. You know, it's become a custom in our presidential, the

State of the Union addresses for presidents to have somebody there and they're going to give them an award.

You know, the president gives the medal, what is it, the Medal of Freedom to civilians who the president deems has done much good for our society.

So there are ways that our government recognizes those who do good. So he tells us you should submit because God has appointed government for the common good of mankind.

Dear friends, if we did not have government, society would be literally impossible.

How many of our friends would do things but they don't because of the threat of retribution?

Oh, that's the glue. That keeps us from anarchy and chaos.

If we are correct in our theology that man is basically bad, that at his core he's born depraved, then what do you think would happen to society if there was no government?

The government's been instituted by God to restrain evil and to encourage good.

But someone objects, surely I don't have to submit to a tyrannical government that tramples freedoms.

Surely when government fails to punish evildoers and praise good citizens, surely then you can rebel. And there are so many people who try to get around this, but there's no way around it.

The Soviet Union was a terrible place to live. China today is a terrible place to live.

Human rights are almost non -existent. Right? When you look at the

Soviet Union, it eliminated freedoms and that's tragic and there are ways of protesting.

But you also have to admit that during those days you could walk in Moscow at night and not be afraid of anything.

You could walk the streets at night and not be afraid of being mugged. It did perform some function that was good.

We have to recognize that. But there's another reason that God gives us for being submissive.

What is it? Notice what he says in verse 13. Be subject what? What does he say?

For the Lord's sake. For the Lord's sake. Here's another layer for us to understand.

Peter introduces Jesus as the basis for this appeal. We ought to obey for his sake.

For the Lord's sake. So our submission is not one of mere outward conformity, but it grows out of a desire to please my master, the

Lord Jesus. I honor the emperor because of my loyalty, first of all, to my heavenly king.

Let's go back to the street where the red pickup is sitting. Okay? Do I refrain from driving off in it because I'm afraid that I'll get caught, go to trial, get sentenced, and end up in prison?

Is that the reason why I don't take it? No. I submit to the law not out of fear of the government, but out of love for my king.

I don't want anyone to blaspheme his name. I will submit to that.

I will subordinate my desire to take that pickup. Why? Because Jesus' reputation means the most to me.

And I don't want anybody to denigrate, to blaspheme, to make fun of the king that I serve.

I don't want anyone to turn away from him. I don't want to do anything that would cause people to turn away from my king and my savior.

That's why I'm submitting to the government. And when I submit to the government that is corrupt and cruel, and I disagree with, for the

Lord's sake, my attitude of submission will look noticeably different. It will look noticeably different.

By the way, that is why when you come to chapter 3, verse 15, where he says,

But in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that is in you.

What is he talking about there? Because as he's talked about how we respond to evil around us and we respond in the right way, people are going to notice and they're going to say,

Why are you different? Why are you different? And so I submit to the government for the

Lord's sake. And my attitude then is going to be noticeably different. Here's the next thing, verse 15.

God calls you to action. Now we may think that submission, if that's all that we're looking at, that's not all that he's talking about here.

He says he calls you to action. Verse 15, For this is the will of God that by doing good, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

You need, he says, he calls us to be devoted to doing good. And he says to silence those, the slander of the ignorant.

There are those who are ignorant. They willingly refuse to understand our beliefs and they make trouble to the people of God.

I, honestly, I get really, I read an article.

I think, I can't remember, I think Levi sent it to me. An article of a guy who was talking about how these

Christians, we Christians are like, are white supremacists and it's because of John Calvin and all this.

This was a big article. And I just, I almost said pull my hair out, but I was just absolutely, it's like, this guy does not understand

Christianity and he surely has no clue about John Calvin. He is speaking in absolute ignorance.

I just wanted to call that guy up and say, have you ever read John Calvin?

Have you ever read the Bible? Right? They're willingly ignorant of our beliefs and they slander us.

And God says, you silence that by your good deeds. And so he says, my will is that you, and here

I want you to pay careful attention. He says, it is my will that you throw your energy into good deeds, doing good, and then maybe they'll be silenced.

Short of our deeds, drawing them to Christ, verse 12, so that they praise him at his coming, we can hope to undermine their slander about us by becoming people who are devoted to doing good.

Now, it's not wrong to go to Washington every year for the annual March for Life. That's not wrong.

Right? But what do you do the rest of the year? What do you do the rest of the year?

That's what I love about New Path. That's, you know, you all know my enthusiasm for that ministry.

I'm enthusiastic for that ministry because that ministry is about not pushing an issue.

It's about ministering to people. It's about not just saving the unborn, but helping women who in desperation cannot think of any other way.

Let's help them. And then continuing to help them, after, you know, the mission has been accomplished.

But the mission hasn't been accomplished. We need to be devoted to good deeds. We need to be known not just as pro -life, not just as shaking our fist at abortionists.

We need to be people who are devoted to struggling sinners. Should we stand against the normalization of homosexuality?

Absolutely. Speak loud and clear about that. But you know what was sad?

And it's not so much an issue today, but back in the 80s when AIDS, when

AIDS blew up, right? Where were Christians?

They're the ones saying, see, you're getting what you deserve. When they should have been the one taking care of people dying from AIDS.

Devoted to those sinners who need Christ and caring for them.

So yeah, we need to stand against homosexuality, but we need to be for those people.

How many homosexual friends do you have? By the way, you can love people without loving their lifestyle.

You know why? Here's what we do. And I'm really ranting now, but I... Here's what

I've learned. Too often we see people as issues with legs on them. That guy's a homosexual.

I'm against that. And we see him as an issue, not as a person. You see?

My heart breaks for transgender people.

They are so confused, so lost, so in the dark, and then they mutilate their bodies.

That's sad. I want to love them, not just condemn them.

You see, devote yourself to good deeds. Can we promote, can we protest racial injustice as it shows in the racial area?

Absolutely. But what do we do? Do we just protest and burn? What do you do to love people that are in the minority?

Obviously. In our town? You know, we don't know very many people of a different race.

But again, you know what we think. Issue with legs on, I'm against him, as opposed to, that's a person.

I need to love him. Can we talk about immigration policy? Absolutely.

We can talk, we can disagree even. But how can we love the immigrants around us, legal or illegal?

I'll never forget my brother -in -law, Alan. Alan, for a while, he and his family owned these big chicken barns.

And, you know, they would bring in the, whatever they're called when they're baby chicks, and raise them, and then ship them out.

And so the shipper would come, and they had a lot of Mexican workers, right? Well, one of those guys got left behind.

I don't know how, they left without him. So here's a guy who's stuck in a chicken barn.

He's got nowhere to go. My brother -in -law and his family said, okay, look, come home with us.

Sleep, you know, gave him a place to sleep, gave him supper. Loved the guy, didn't ask him whether it was legal or illegal, they wanted to love him.

You see? There are things we need to be devoted to love and good works. Love and good works.

No one, no matter what the governmental policy is, no one can keep you from loving

God with your whole heart, and no one can keep you from loving your neighbor. And he says here, not just submit, but good work.

For this is the will of God, that by doing good, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. We want to put them to silence by out -arguing them, and there's a place for that.

We need to make a good biblical defense of what we believe, but that's all we do.

We need to start doing things. The will of God is not to pour our energies, listen to me now, not to pour our energies into making government what it ought to be.

God's will, that's not going to silence the enemies of the cross if we elect the right people.

That won't silence the enemies of the cross. What will silence them is when we show them lives that are different.

Christ the King says, pour your energies into the kind of radical obedience

I taught you, like loving your enemy. Right? That's God's will.

So Christ says to his disciples who are pilgrims in this world, first of all, you need to submit to those in authority, and then your greatest impact will be felt.

As you do good radically in a hostile pagan environment. Now let's go on. Verses 16 and 17.

Having said all that he has up to this point about submission and now about taking action,

God turns to you and says, act free. God expects you to act free.

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but living as servants of God.

Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. Now doesn't that sound contradictory?

It sounds contradictory, doesn't it? Here's why it sounds contradictory. It sounds that way because of our normal definition of freedom.

Our definition of freedom is this. I am free to do whatever I want. I have the freedom to live for myself rather than anyone else.

You don't have the right to tell me what to do. I am free to do what

I want, what I feel, what I think is right. I am free. That's how we define freedom. But what is this freedom?

First of all, it's a freedom that was bought at the cost of God's Son, the

Lord Jesus. That's the freedom we have. Notice what he says in chapter 1. Turn back to chapter 1 for a moment.

And when you look at verse 18, well, verse 17, And if you call on Him as Father, who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb, without blemish or spot.

Okay? We have been bought at the price of Jesus.

He died so we would be free. Right? Notice what he says later on in chapter 2.

As he continues talking to us about submission, he says in verse 24,

He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

He died not only to pay for the penalty, He died to free us from the power of sin. And so he's telling us you've been freed.

You have been freed by the death of Jesus. You have the freedom to live this way.

You're no longer a slave to the passions that you have within you and the pressures that are without.

It is a freedom from the ignorance and darkness that once characterized your life. It's freedom from the dominating power of those natural impulses so that you can renounce them.

It's freedom from the pressures that bear upon us from the outside. But it's a freedom that's responsible.

Some may think I've been freed from my past, therefore I no longer have an obligation to anything from my past.

The pagan government, a pagan master, a pagan husband. And so that freedom becomes a rationalization, an excuse, a cloak for sin.

I don't need to submit to such a harsh government. And by the way, when it comes to using our freedom as a cover -up for evil, we

Christians can be very good at that. I have a right to say the things I want to say, and we say slanderous, awful things.

And he says, don't use your freedom as a cover -up for evil. That freedom in Christ is not an excuse to despise those who have authority over you, nor to retaliate even with our words.

It's a freedom that leads to slavery. How's that for a contradiction? Do you see what he says?

That we use our freedom to live as servants of God. What? One writer put it this way,

Christian freedom rests not in, Christian freedom rests not in an escape from service, but on a change of masters.

That's our freedom. We've changed masters. Although I'm freed from the past, I've become a slave to God.

I've become free to serve God. So your freedom from the bondage of your past, your freedom from the bondage of fear, means slavery to Christ.

Freedom is not doing what I want. Freedom is the ability to serve

Christ. One last thing.

What does it mean then to be free and to act free? No matter how the government treats us, it can never keep us, it can never keep us from honoring people, loving the brotherhood, fearing

God, or honoring the emperor. It can't keep us from any of those things. We have to use our freedom to do those four things.

It means we'll show respect to everyone. As a slave of Christ, I'll honor and esteem everyone, even the lowborn, not just the emperor, but I'm going to treat with respect any and every human being, even my enemies, because they are made in the image of God.

Right? I'm going to treat everyone with respect, not just the big people,

I'm going to be deferential to the poorest of the poor as well as the most powerful.

It means, this freedom means the brotherhood will be the object of your special affection.

We are the brotherhood sitting here this morning, so we need to love one another.

You're going to sacrifice, you're going to seek its good, you'll see that members' needs are met, we will particularly love one another.

And listen, I pray it doesn't happen, but if our freedoms are eroded and we get pressure not to be what

God calls us to be, we are going to be devoted to one another and helping one another. Right?

Hey, if any of you gets thrown in jail, the rest of us ought to be going there and making sure they're okay.

Now, I hope that doesn't happen. I hope that doesn't happen.

And yet, we're going to sacrifice and meet the needs and be devoted to one another. To act free and yet act as a slave of God means you will fear

God. This is what you have to render God. No government can keep you from fearing

God, from holding Him in the highest esteem, from living as if, no, living because He is the king.

Finally, it means holding in esteem the emperor. Now, we don't have an emperor.

We do have a president. Now, he's not an emperor. Right? But at least in terms of our government, he's the highest in the executive branch.

We? Alright, now listen to me now. And I'm talking to myself here, okay? I'm a political animal.

I really am. I don't have a right to give you my political views from this place. And I'm very careful not to spread them around when

I'm out in public. That's not my main calling. Not yours either by the way.

But listen. Four years ago, what did we hear?

He is not my president. Didn't you hear that? We're hearing it again.

But from the other end of the spectrum. If I may be so bold, from our side of the spectrum.

Listen. May that never pass any of your lips.

He is your president. And God calls us to honor him. And for us, many of us, that will be very difficult.

It doesn't matter what you feel like. You obey God. What would happen? Oh, I would love to do this.

What would happen if for some reason the president, President Biden, would visit

LaRue? I know. It's almost beyond our capabilities of imagining.

But let's say that happened. I would be the first in line to say can he stay at my house? And I want to treat him well.

I want to make him warmly welcome. And I want to talk to him. Right?

I want to talk to him. But man, I want to show him that you occupy a high position.

I'm going to honor you. But man, I'm going to share with you what God has to say. Right? Boy, that would be wonderful, wouldn't it?

As a slave to God, I do not have the freedom to say what I want about our president.

I must honor him. I can disagree. But I can honor him.

Well then, God says be submissive, be active in good works, and act free.

And these three things are not contradictory. To be free from sin's dominion is to be a slave of God.

And this is what God calls us to. Now look, I'm no prophet.

We may be entering an era of pressures that we have not ever experienced.

What are we going to do in a hostile environment, even with a government that may be hostile against us?

We must stand out as different. We must stand out from the rest of the people around us.

Not as rebels, but as submissive. Not as complainers, but those who are zealous to do good.

Not as people who are seeking to do evil, but people who act as slaves of God.

That's what the world needs to see. Let's be different. Let's be different.

Father, thank you for your word. Lord God, we have no idea what's on the road ahead of us.

And Father, I have no doubt in my mind that if it's not now, it'll probably be later, that someday we will face pressures we haven't faced before.

And we will be tempted to complain and rebel. God, help us to be different.

Help us not to be silent, but God, help us to be different.

Lord, help us to stand apart from political affiliations. To stand apart from the just the polarization that seems to characterize our culture right now.

Help us instead to be God's people in a dark world. We ask this in Jesus' name.