Christian Citizenship For the Lord's Sake: Part 1

So, please open your Bible with me as we continue our study. We continue our wonderful study through the book of 1 Peter. As Brother Keith has said, this book has been really an encouragement, especially after going through the book of James, going through surgery, and now there's time for healing and encouragement.

And the Apostle Peter is encouraging his people that were highly persecuted in that day. And as we look together at verse 13 through 17, 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 13 through 17, before we read it here as a whole, this text really flows from verse 11 all the way down through verse 20.

But we are breaking it up into sections as we look into this. And this section in particular deals with submission to government. Submission to government. And there's a lot that can be said here about this, so it's no way going to be exhaustive, but I've titled it Christian Citizenship for the Lord's Sake.

Christian Citizenship for the Lord's Sake. So today will be part one of this series we're going to be looking at of submission to the government. I'm going to be reading from the NASB translation. So hear the word of the living God.

Christian Citizenship for the Lord's Sake and the Call to Submit to Government

Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as to 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, act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond slaves of God. Honor all men.

Love the brotherhood.

Fear God.

Honor the king.

Amen.

We'll stop right there. May God richly bless the reading of His words from our ears to our hearts. Before we pray here, the great text of Scripture which we've read, this basically has at its heart the statement which I personally believe is central and key.

It's found in verse 15. We're going to look a lot at that particular verse today that it is the will of God. The will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Praise God.

Let's look briefly to our Lord in prayer this morning as we seek His help and His power as we study this section from the word of God from 1 Peter 2. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, help us we pray to hear from heaven, to hear from Your mouth.

Our hunger this morning is to hear, thus says the Lord. Father, Your word says, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Lord, we thank You for that. That it's not physical bread that really nourishes us.

We need the nourishment from heaven to feed our souls. So, Father, I pray this morning for grace to be poured out upon us to help us trust and rely upon You and You alone within this dark hour in which we live.

Lord, we pray today for that wisdom from on high. Thank You for the Holy Spirit who is the spirit of wisdom. And, Father, for Your wisdom that's in Jesus. You have given us this wisdom in Your words as well, Your written word.

Father, it says instruction in righteousness. It tells us how to live before You and our fellow men. Father, we thank You that Your word equips us and Your word builds us up for godly living and it's for Your glory.

We thank You for what the psalmist said, Lord. Moreover, by Your word, Your servant is warned. And in keeping them, there is great reward. So, Lord, this is our goal in life. To keep Your word.

To obey it.

And, Father, help us by Your blessed Holy Spirit within this hour. Lord, we make every one of us leave this place as being doers of the word and just not mere hearers. So that we may please You in everything that we do.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus for Your glory. Amen and amen. This is a wonderful passage in which I've read the very point that the apostle Peter gives as an exhortation, really, to Christians to live in such a way that by our holy and righteous lives we stop the mouths of those who criticize our faith.

It's really to stop the mouth of our critics who are opposed to the Christian faith. We are to live a life that is above criticism. Above reproach. A life that is above shame. As a matter of fact, we are to live a godly life in such a way that it even gives evidence of the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I remember Dr. J. Burmagee years ago on the radio going through the Bible. He asked a question to everybody out there that was listening and he says, Can you be convicted today that you're guilty of being a true Christian?

That's a great question. Can people really find you guilty this morning that they would know that you are a true born-again Christian? But here, this is what the apostle Peter is encouraging the persecuted believers to is to live a holy, godly life.

This is evangelistic. And it's before God, first of all, and it's before our fellow men, no doubt, before a watching world. Actually, it is the foundation of our witness that is before God in a watching world.

And as we live our lives in this world, there are actually three perspectives that the apostle Peter gives within the text in which we have been looking at and the direction in which we're going. I'd like to point that out to you.

He says you must view your life in three ways, in a sense. Three in one, I like to say. Three all together, three separate, but one track, one journey. Number one, you must see yourself as an alien. We are aliens, right?

We're different. That means you're different in this world. A pilgrim to this society. And that's exactly what Peter says. You are aliens. And we see this in verses 11 through 12 and he noted that we are aliens and strangers.

We saw that, didn't we? We're aliens and strangers in this world. And we have to view ourselves in that way. The second thing he mentions is in verse 13 through 17 in which we're looking at in this two-part series.

And he says that even though you are aliens, you're still citizens in this world. We're citizens of heaven, but you're still citizens of this world. Even though you live in another dimension, in a sense, you still are here in this world.

As the old saying goes, in the world but not of the world. And that is so true. And you must conduct yourselves in a proper way as citizens for the Lord's sake. Underscore that. For the Lord's sake. Because a lot of the things that we are to submit to in human institutions is not always so pleasant, is it?

And we're going to look into that a little bit more in detail. And the third thing he mentions is found in verse 18 through 20 in which we will be looking at that after this particular section is that the Apostle Peter discusses the matter that we are servants.

We're servants. So Peter sees the Christians as, number one, aliens, number two, as a citizen, and number three, as a servant. Now put that all together, and you got something. A Christian is definitely a totally, completely different breed of person.

And as a citizen and a servant. Put all three yet packed in one, and each one of those perspectives relates to how the watching world views us. That's huge, isn't it? And as the watching world sees us as citizens, they recognize us as servants.

As servants. Servants of the living God. But it is our life, the way we act, the way we react, the way we conduct ourselves, the way we behave that really matters. Not what we say. Oh, what we say is important.

But really, you know this as well as I do, people are just not wanting to hear what you have to say. Most of the time, they've heard what we say. They want to see it lived out in truth. And that's exactly what Peter is saying here.

So beloved, everything Peter discusses here in these chapters we have been looking at is really evangelistic. It is evangelistic God's way.

God's way.

And I love that because it's not man's way that really matters. It's God's way of how we are to do evangelism. And all that is in how we live before God. Think of that now. How we live before God and a watching world.

The world is watching us. A lot of times, I don't realize it, but people are looking at me, knowing that I'm a Christian. Again, not what I say, but how I live. And of course, this is an obvious statement, but I want to say it.

Everything that we do should be for the glory of God, right? Everything. Everything that we do. Everything that we do should be for the glory of God and for the good of His kingdom. But how are we going to live here?

How should we live here on this earth until we get to the kingdom? That's what the Bible really helps us with. It gives us instructions in righteousness and He doesn't leave us alone as orphans, does He?

God comes alongside and He gives us help. Help by the power of the Holy Spirit. So you're not alone in doing this. He gives us and He provides everything, all the means of grace to help us. That's why coming to church and gathering together is so important that we may build each other up, build up one another, pray for one another, love one another, respect one another, honor one another, all the one another's.

And also, not only the means of grace, but God has provided everything in the Scriptures and He's, of course, when you're a believer, He provides the blessed Holy Spirit to come alongside to help us and give us the power to do evangelism, to live out the life we should live.

Now, the Apostle Peter was careful to point out that Christians in society are ambassadors of Jesus Christ. That's a huge word. As you well know what an ambassador is, an ambassador is a representative.

We are representatives of the Lord. We represent Christ here and He represents us before God. Keep those two things in mind and it'll transform the way everything, how you view everything. We represent Christ.

We wear the banner of love, of the love of God. And God and Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ represents us before the Father and intercedes for us without delay. Now, representatives of the Lord, how do we know this here?

Peter talks about it. Look at verse 9.

He says this,.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies, or you could say other translations, or the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

There you have it right there. We are God's own possession. You belong to God. You have been purchased at a high cost with the blood of Jesus Christ. So we are to go forth before the world and as we praise God, and it says here, and praises of Him, of the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, people should know that we are different, right?

They should know we are believers. And this is especially true when it comes to our relationship to government. Now, like I said, this is no way going to be exhaustive. We can do a long, long series on this, but I'm going to try to pack it in two if I possibly can by God's help.

So the question that is really important before us is this, what is our proper relationship as Christian citizens toward the government? Again, let me say that. What is the proper relationship as Christian citizens toward the government?

The Persecuted Church Under Nero and the Need for Submission

Now, I want to bring something to your attention.

Keep in mind,.

As we look at these verses,.

Historically,.

To those whom Peter wrote lived with a government and society that was not very favorable toward Christian faith. Now, I'm telling you, it was pretty bad. Much worse then than it is now. It's bad now, and it's going downhill.

But at this moment, and at this time when Peter was writing this, you must never forget that both Peter, the Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul were executed at the hands of the Roman dictator and tyrant, Nero.

He was one of the worst in history. If you read about him, I don't want to go into detail about that, he was absolutely a true blood-hungry tyrant dictator. And he had these two great apostles executed.

It was not until the 4th century under a man by the name of Constantine, Constantine that Christian was afforded official protection by the government. And if you've read the story, in a battle, he saw a vision of a cross.

Now, some people debate about the vision, whether it was from God or a vision of his own, whatever it was, but he said he claimed he had a vision.

And at that point,.

Of that government, in that 4th century, he stopped the persecution upon Christians. So there was favorable, afforded official protection by the government at that time. But as verses 11 and 12 mentions, how Christians are to live before the world as aliens and strangers, and it's not as permanent residents here in this world, but pilgrims that are journeying to the celestial city of heaven.

It would have been easy, and I want you to think about this as we read this, it would have been very easy for his readers, the persecuted Christians, the type of government under Nero.

At that time,.

To conclude that.

They were therefore, that we would have no civic responsibility here on this earth. They were citizens of heaven, they were so heavenly minded,.

They would think,.

Well, perhaps they would have concluded that they could disregard or disobey the human government, perhaps. And since they were citizens of heaven, and not on this earth, so the apostle Peter anticipates, I believe here, counters this wrong conclusion.

By showing,.

And aren't you glad he does, aren't you glad there's instruction from God here through this apostle that shows us how to live before our fellow man, but even how we are to act and react toward our government, toward human institutions.

So the apostle Peter anticipates and counters this wrong conclusion and shows how Christians must live in relationship to the government, and what I just said there actually comes and boils down to one powerful word, submission.

Submission.

Submit. Submit. And we're going to look a lot at this word. You hear me say this word a lot. You know, in America, it's a dirty word, isn't it?

It really is.

It's a dirty word. Dare you mention submission. Dare you mention this word submit. But, beloved, to the apostle Peter, it was a favorite word. To God, it was a favorable word. In fact, as we see, and if you look at this epistle, it dominates much of the rest of this epistle.

I wrote this down. It occurs in chapter 2, verse 13, as we see. It occurs in verse 18. It occurs in chapter 3, verse 1. It occurs in chapter 3, verse 5. It occurs in chapter 3, verse 22. It occurs, again, in chapter 5, verse 5.

And the concept is implicit in chapter 4, verses 12 through 19. So, in submission, it has a lot to say about how we're to act or to submit toward the government.

But, first of all,.

It's our submission to God. Now, we're going to look and see if these two collide. And, of course, they do at times. But, we will see this. Now, this word is a military word. If you've been in the military, like I have.

I was in there for a couple years in the Army. It basically means to put oneself under another rank. Up under another in rank. That's what it means. Or, it means to arrange in military fashion under the commander.

Under the commander. Under that person's authority. Again, it means to put oneself in an attitude. I like that word. That attitude of submission. And, this word is key in our study because we will look more at the meaning of submission later.

But, for now, I will briefly say that submission is an attitude. It's an attitude. What kind of attitude do you have toward authority? An attitude of respect that results in obedience to that authority.

That's the key right there, is obedience to that authority and positive good deeds. Now, we're going to look at that. While, yet, there are exceptions. We're going to look at those exceptions. We need to be careful not to run to the exceptions as an excuse not to obey.

There's people that do that.

There's Christians I know that do that. We don't run to the exceptions, even though there are exceptions. But, to make sure, and check our hearts, and check our attitudes, that our attitude toward government is that of true submission.

And I want to show you, in the word of God, why this is important. I've confined this message as much as possible to our text. I could have easily had four points this morning, but I knew I was not going to hit all four points.

So, I broke it up. I broke it up in two sections today. First of all, in my outline, I'd like for us to look at the purpose of human government. The purpose of human government, and again, this will not be exhaustive, because that, in and of itself, is a whole message.

Second, I would like for us to look at the meaning of submission to government. The purpose of human government, and second, the meaning of submission to the government. And then, Lord willing, next week, I'd like to break, on part two, we'd like to look at the reason for submission to government, the reason, and then we will conclude with the limits, the limits of submission to government.

Well, let's begin.

The Purpose of Human Government: Justice, Peace, and Restraint of Evil

First, the purpose of human government. The purpose of human government. According to the word of God, the government should promote two things. Keep this in the forefront of your mind.

Two things.

Justice and peace. Justice and peace. By upholding the law and order, law and order, and by maintaining a reasonable national defense. Now, that's huge. That is absolutely huge. The Apostle Peter says, in chapter 2, verse 14, that kings and governors are for the punishment of evildoers.

The punishment of evildoers. And the praise of those who do right. So, you have the two there. The evildoers and those who do right. And the Apostle Paul, and this is sad, folks, in the society in which we live, they're great.

They're great in that area. People are fogged up. They don't know black and white. They don't know truth from falsehood. Because they don't know getting away from the morality, and that true morality is given from the word of God, the Ten Commandments, which is the moral compass.

Sad to say, people want to push that away. And a lot of people are great in that area, but you also have people that very well know what they're doing, and they want to get rid of the truth and go in the way of falsehood and injustice.

Now, we can just take a rabbit trail right there, but I'm going to try to stop right there, catch that rabbit, and get back on my track here. So, the Apostle Paul also speaks of this as well. Turn with me to Romans chapter 13.

This is a familiar chapter toward our attitude and our actions toward human institutions and government, and how we are to submit toward this government. But this is always a great reminder to us, isn't it?

Romans chapter 13. So, as you turn there, this wonderful chapter gives to us the right attitude we are to have towards governing authorities. Governing authorities. Romans chapter 13. I like to read seven verses here, and as Christian citizens, we should submit to authority, right?

That's vested in human government. Well, what's the reason? Well, the reason is found in verse 1. Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities.

Plain as that.

You're to be in subjection to governing authorities. Here, this text, this great word, let me stop right there just quickly, the Greek word was used as soldiers, soldiers in absolute obedience to their superior officer.

And one exception Scripture makes to this command is, of course, when obedience to civil authority would require disobedience to God's word, and we'll look at that more later. So, here he says, every person is to be in subjection to governing authorities.

Why?

For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. God sovereignly establishes them. Verse 2, Therefore, whoever resists the authority has opposed the ordinance of God, and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.

For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise for the same. Peter is saying pretty much the same thing.

Verse 4, For it is a minister of God to you for good, but if you do what is evil, be afraid. For it does not bear the sword for nothing. It is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.

Therefore, it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience sake. That's a great text. Verse 6, and we're going to look at this a little bit more later too, but because of this you also pay taxes.

For rulers are servants of God devoting themselves to this very thing. And then he says, and he takes this from the Lord Jesus Christ, and we're going to look at this text later on, in Matthew 22. Render to all what is due them, tax to whom tax is due, custom to whom custom, and fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

And I'll stop right there. You know, it's a great text, isn't it? And verse 2 actually says,. Therefore whoever resists the authority has opposed the ordinance of man? No, God. It's all about our submission to God.

And they who would have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. So, why should Christians submit to the authority vested in human government? Because it is the ordinance of God. Ordinance of God.

And the old authorized version simply basically means creation or institution. So it does not refer to actually individual law necessarily, but to institutions that make and enforce the laws. Now, it is possible, let me say this and let me note here, it is possible to submit to institutions and still disobey the laws.

Now, I'll give you an example of this. It's found in Daniel chapter 1. You can read it. Where Daniel and his three Hebrew friends, his three friends refused to obey the king's dietary regulations. You remember that story, right?

Under Nebuchadnezzar, that's right. And they disobeyed the law, but, keep this in mind, this is very important. The way they did it proved that they honored the king and respected the authorities. They were not rebels.

They were not making a riot. They did it respectfully. And they were careful not to embarrass the official in charge or get him into trouble. And yet, they stood their ground firmly. Now, isn't that a beautiful example?

They glorified God. They glorified God. And yet, at the same time, at the same time as they were glorifying God in the way they respected God and even the authority, at the same time, they honored the authority of the king.

They did. They always gave honor to that king. Even though they did not agree with the king, but they gave honor. Now, Paul talks about government. In verse 4, notice in chapter 13, about the government bearing the sword.

Now, this is a complete different sermon, but I'm going to just make a few comments here. As an avenger who brings God's wrath upon the one who practices what? Evil. The overall purpose is to promote justice and peace, righteousness.

That is really the purpose of the government. And the government does this in part. Let me say that, okay?

Or should do this in part.

Depends what kind of administration is in charge, but the government does this in part by legislating morality. Now, how? Well, you and I know this. There's laws against murder, right? There's laws against theft.

There's laws against homosexuality. No, not against homosexuality. My bad. We'll look at that later, right? Should be laws against homosexuality, right? But now there's laws for homosexuality. Now, that is a serious problem, but we're going to look at that later.

But these laws technically are to protect the citizens from sin. Now, this doesn't make one lick of a sense, but there's laws against pornography and prostitution, right? But there are some places that are trying to make prostitution legal.

That's a problem. Just like homosexuality has become legal. It depends what laws enforced. And you know there's laws against drugs, against meth, and et cetera, et cetera. Now, I don't want to chase a rabbit there.

We'll come back to that later, because I know you're raising questions in your mind. The Word of God answers them. Well, the fact that something is illegal will have a restraint. A restraint meaning to otherwise may be tempted to engage in a particular activity.

Now, when the restraint is gone, and we saw an example of this, what, roughly half a year ago, maybe? Over a year ago, I'm sorry. Time flies. And we saw a restraint. What happens when the restraint's gone?

Lawlessness abounds.

Anything goes.

And it's like the law sits back. The enforcers of the law can't do anything about it.

Well, they can,.

But there was some serious issues that was going on at the time. But lawlessness will abound anytime that the restraint or the enforcer of the law, the ministers of the law, are removed. You know, God has given us these ministers to bear the sword for a purpose.

It's to protect us from evildoers. Now, beloved, even the wicked, godless government act as a deterrent to crime. Now, how do you say that, pastor? Well, Peter, basically, in other biblical texts, showed that the government is ordained of God to promote justice and peace.

Now, although Peter doesn't touch on it specifically, a result of promoting justice and promoting peace and order in society is there. It's important, is what's really important is the place. What is the place the Christian has in society for this?

Now, I want us to look very clearly in Scripture what our place is as Christians. Every Christian needs to know their place in society, our relationship toward government. So that's what's really important.

What is the Christian's place in society for this? And most powerful effect, can I tell you this? The number one most powerful effect is not only a holy life, that's the greatest example, is a living example.

But you know something? The power of prayer has a lot to do with this, too. I think that should be number one on the Christians, on his agenda, or her agenda. Turn with me to 1 Timothy 2, and I want you to see this.

1 Timothy, we're going to flip through a few Scriptures here this morning. Well, after all, we want to hear what God has to say, right?

I do.

1 Timothy chapter 2. Let's keep this in mind. As there are wicked presidents and wicked kings and wicked governments there, what are we to do? Well, Scripture tells us, first of all, 1 Timothy 2 verse 1, look at this.

First of all, don't you love when he says, first of all? And when he says, first of all, he means it. Then I urge that in treaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men.

We should be praying for all men, just not those in the village. For kings, for kings, that means presidents, and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil, quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

And then he says, this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires, God desires, God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Don't you love that about God?

He tells us and states that Christians should pray for kings and those in authority. That's what we should be doing. Every president, every governor, every administrator, judges, we should be praying for their salvation.

We should be praying that they're wise, to make right judgments. And he tells us for what purpose, so that we may lead a tranquil, quiet life in all godliness and dignity. That word dignity means seriousness, and seriousness.

Verse 3, this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. And when the Word of God says it's good and acceptable, it means it's good and acceptable before God. God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

That's God's will of desire. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Now verse 15, back to 1 Peter chapter 2. This is what I really want us to bore in on. For such is the will of God, that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.

You know, thus government should promote justice and peace in society. That's what they should be promoting. So what does it mean to submit to human government? What does it mean? Well, this actually leads me to my second point.

And that's a very good question, isn't it? What does it really mean to submit to human government? I want you to think about that. That's a good question. In other words, what does it look like? What does it actually look like to submit to human institutions, to human government?

Well, my second point is this. The meaning of submission to human government. The meaning of submission to human government. Peter includes three elements. Three elements we need to remember in this. Now we'll learn something here, and I learned a lot.

And I've been over this time and time again and studying it, but I need this in my own life. Peter reminds us there are three elements. These three elements are this. Number one is obedience. Obedience.

Number two, respect. Obedience. Respect. And the third, the apostle Peter has really been hammering down on this, and I want us to go to a lot of scripture on this, these two words.

Good deeds. Good deeds.

Remember those three words. Obedience, respect, good deeds. I've broken this up. Let's look at them. Let's look at submission. Submission actually means obedience, folks. That's what it means. It means obedience to the laws of the state.

The state. Now, the basic meaning of the word submit is to obey, and Christians must obey the laws of the government unless those laws force them to disobey God, right? If they try to force us or force us to disobey God, what did apostle Peter say?

To obey God rather than men. That's where we stand as Christians because Caesar is not Lord. Jesus is Lord, right? And we're going to look at Caesar and Jesus in a minute. But Jesus, of course, is Lord, not Caesar.

Now, again, that is the exception. That is the exception, and that's a huge exception, isn't it? But what does the apostle Peter say? He says kings and governors. Kings we can apply to federal laws, actually.

Governors we can apply to state or local laws. So to give a practical example, one is to pay our taxes, and second is a very common law is to comply with traffic laws. That's an example. Now, can you say amen or oh me?

I say oh me.

Ouch.

Who likes to pay taxes? None of us loves to pay taxes, but with regard to taxes, let me give you something that Scripture says here. It means to properly report. Honestly and honestly, report our income and following the rules to compute what we owe.

What we owe.

Now, again, that's Romans 13, 6 through 7. For because of this you also pay taxes. For rulers are servants of God devoting themselves to this very thing. And then Paul says, Render to all what is due them tax to whom tax is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

Now, Paul did not come up with that himself. Where did he get it from? The Lord Jesus Christ. It is a biblical thing. You know, remember in Luke chapter 1, when all the world began to be taxed, it was a command, it was a law.

And Jesus himself believed in paying these taxes. I want to point out something here from Scripture that he taught that taxes are to be paid. You know, this is important because it's an attitude, that our attitude we're to have.

And I want you to think of this. In Jesus' day, he lived in a day of the barbaric pagan Roman government. Much more barbaric than what we have today. And Jesus paid the taxes. Go with me to Matthew chapter 22.

I want you to see something here. This is very good. And it is this, actually Jesus was being tempted here. And you know how Jesus is with being tempted by the Pharisees and Herodians. He always knew how to silence his critics, didn't he?