Responding to Government (1 Peter 2:13-17)
In AD 37 an Italian boy was born who was named Lucius. His father was a praetor, a federal official of the Roman empire. The father was a murderer, a liar, a cheat-- a cutthroat politician. He died when Lucius was only two, and through his mother's connections, she eventually married the emperor of the Roman empire, Claudius Caesar in AD 49.
Did she love him? Not at all. It was a political marriage aimed at getting her son on the throne. She wanted power, and shrewdly persuaded her husband to make Lucius the next emperor. Claudius cast aside his own son, Britannicus, adopted Lucius, and then changed his name to Nero, someone we've all read about.
When Nero's mother felt the time had arrived, she poisoned her husband. The emperor was dead. She achieved her goal, and her 17 year-old son was given the empire in AD 54.
During the first few years of his reign, Nero received counsel from Burrus, the head of the praetorian guard, and from Seneca, the philosopher.
The Roman empire did well, but Nero was just as calculating and cruel as his parents. He had his stepbrother Britannicus killed, then his mother killed, his first wife killed, and then forced his advisors to kill themselves for trying to kill him. According to Suetonius, Nero, "showed neither discrimination nor moderation in putting to death whomsoever he pleased."
Christians were objects of Nero's wrath.
On the night of July 19, AD 64, a fire broke out in the southern part of Rome. It raged for six days before suddenly moving into the northern part of the city, where it burned for three more days. Ten of the 14 wards of the city were destroyed. Rumors spread that Nero had started the fire in order to create a new Rome out of the ashes. To quell the storm, he quickly blamed the Christians for starting the fire. Nero pointed at a group of people no one liked, the Christians, and they became his scapegoats. He persecuted our forefathers in the faith with a vengeance. Some were crucified, others thrown to wild beasts, while others were impaled and burned to illumine his gardens.
You see, when Peter tells Christians in 1 Peter 4:12 (ESV) to expect, "fiery trials", he wasn't using figurative language. Brothers and sisters in the faith were being arrested, imprisoned, beaten, and tortured for sport-- and not by terrorists. It was all being done by the government.
What little I've shared with you about Nero doesn't even touch the surface of this man's depravity. I have read the Roman historians, and there was a vileness about many of their emperors beyond anything I've ever read, heard, or even thought of. Of these, I believe Nero to be among the worst-- an uncommonly wicked, sadistic, and perverse creature.
While he was killing Christians, destroying families, mocking God, and flaunting his sensuality, Peter writes in 1 Peter 2:17 (ESV), "Honor the king (emperor)" I can't even imagine how that must've come across. "Seriously, Peter? Honor the dishonorable? Respect the unrespectable? Are you serious? Subject myself to Nero? How is that even possible? What does that even mean? Why should I?"
Be subject...
Our text says in 1 Peter 2:13-17 (ESV), "For the Lord's sake, respect all human authority-- whether the king as head of state, or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right. It is God's will that your honorable lives should silence those iognorant people who make folish accusations against you. For you are free, yet you are God's slaves, so don't use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. Respect everyone, and love your Christian brothers and sisters. Fear God, and respect the king."
These verses have one central command-- be subject. Put yourself under something, submit to something. It's a term often used by the military. Fall in rank, and get behind your superiors. Here, the human institution Peter refers to is government, and Christians in the first century struggled greatly to fall in rank behind their political leaders. The government increasingly hated them, and it was tempting to hate the government right back. Peter wasn't an armchair theologian or aloof from the pain. He hurt right alongside his brothers and sisters. In fact, it was long after Peter said to honor the emperor that the emperor's men had Peter arrested and crucified.
Nonetheless, Peter told the Church to submit in attitude and action, submit to silence the unbeliever, and to submit for the sake of Christ.
Submit in action and attitude.
If you want to talk about a wayward government, well, this was it. And it concerned Peter that the people of God were responding in ungodly ways. They were justifying their hatred of the Roman empire. How so? By using their freedom as a cover up for evil. What does that mean?
Here's what the attitude of some of the early Christians might have been. "Christ has set us free from the power of sin and death. We're free. We're forgiven. We're right with God and we have a home in heaven. I don't care what happens here on this earth. I'm going to heaven and Rome's going to hell. Good riddance! Let her burn."
There are shreds of biblical truth in these statements, but don't use biblical truth to mask indifference and apathy. Don't use biblical truth to mask bitterness and contempt.
They might have said, "We're accountable to God, so we don't have to abide by all these petty manmade institutions. We're above the government." Well no, they weren't above the government and we are not above the government either. True, we are ultimately accountable to God, but don't use biblical truth to mask a rebellious heart.
Peter is looking at attitudes and actions. He's saying, "Call a spade a spade. If you hate your governing authorities and despise them, don't you dare justify it by using scripture."
A few years back I read about a house church that grew fairly large to the point that it violated zoning ordinances. The city repeatedly warned the pastor, eventually took him to court, and the city won. "See we're being persecuted!" No, you're not! You're breaking the law. Just because you're the house of God doesn't mean you're exempt from city ordinances. The Church isn't above the state. Christians are not above kings.
If you can relate to this kind of rebellious attitude toward your leaders, friend, call a spade a spade. Don't hide your contempt behind pious quotes and verses. Don't spiritualize it. Be honest with God and confess your sin.
As Christians, we're to model submission to every manmade institution through our actions and through our words. This doesn't mean we can't disagree or voice opposition to the government. Sometimes I believe we must, but even then, we raise our voices in a way that's undeniably gracious and respectful. Rather than looking for ways to stick it to the government, we should be looking for ways to show honor. Submission is one mark of a Christian.
You can't say, "Well, Shaun, I didn't go to jail this year. I guess that means I submitted to the laws of our land." You didn't submit in the sense that Peter has in mind. How do I know that? Because Peter says submission involves doing good.
Look at 1 Peter 2:15 (ESV) which says, "It is God's will..." Wait, what's the will of God? The main verb in these verses is be subject. And so this verse is saying, "(Submission to authorities) is the will of God." As if this isn't enough, Peter defines the idea for us when he says, "...your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people..." To be submissive is to actually do something that's good and honorable. Submission is proactive.
Honor your leaders by doing good to them.
To put it very simply, if you're seeking to bless those above you, you're probably being submissive to them. That's a good acid test. If you're seeking to do good, you've probably got the right attitude combined with action. You desire to bless and to be a blessing. This is the way we as Christians should honor our employers. It's how we should honor our spiritual leaders. And in this context, Peter is saying this is how you're to honor your political leaders. Do good. How?
Pray for your leaders. See 1 Timothy 2:1-4. Obey the law. See Romans 13:1-5. Pay your taxes and don't cheat the system. See Romans 13:7.
Those are three ways that we're commanded to do good. Being that we live in a republic, ours is a government that's by, of, and for the people. There's an expectation that the people will be involved. Therefore, submission to a government such as ours means involvement to some small degree.
It doesn't make much sense to say, "I'm being submissive to my Congressman but wow, I don't even know his name." Well, it's kind of hard to pray for him if you don't know his name, don't you think? It's also kind of hard to be an informed voter.
I would urge you to go a step beyond this, personally, or even as a church. Send Congressmen Schock and Davis or your state representatives a card thanking them for their service. That's a very practical and easy way of doing good to them.
However this is coming across this morning, I guarantee you it didn't go over half as well in the first century. "Peter, you've got to be kidding me! Be a blessing to Nero? Do you have any idea what he did in this province to our church? Bless him? Bless tyrants in our government? Do them good?"
At different points in history, Christians have banded together in rebellion against their leaders. Some have even used scripture to justify an assassination attempt. A plain reading of 1 Peter 2:13-17 or Romans 13:1-7 is pretty clear that rebellion is never the will of God. What is the will of God for you today? That you would bless your leaders.
Submit to silence the unbeliever.
Perhaps you live in a town represented by a shameful city councilmen. Peter doesn't call their conduct honorable, and he doesn't say to honor or submit to them because they deserve it. Some of our political leaders certainly don't deserve it. However, if you show this kind of submission to them you will, "...silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you." What's that mean?
For the first 300 years of church history, Christians were viewed with suspicion by the government for a number of different reasons. Since they worshiped a crucified man as God, they were mocked and thought stupid. Since they refused to worship the Roman gods, they were called atheists and charged with treason as men who undermined the state religion. Since they addressed each other as brother and sister, they were accused of ritual incest. Since they ate of the Lord's body and blood, they were called cannibals.
Around AD 197 Turtullian said, "If the Tiber rises too high for the walls, or the Nile too low for the fields, if the heavens do not open, or the earth does, if there is famine, if there is plague, instantly the howl is, 'The Christians to the lion!' "
So many rumors spread about Christians that foolishness and ignorance was rampant. The government was part of this foolishness.
What Peter's saying is that you can fan the flames of contempt, or douse them with water. Some of us are very good at fanning the flames of contempt by using ungracious words, having a critical spirit, or name calling. The world should see that there's something authentic, something genuine, and something very different about the kind of man who blesses his enemies and prays for those who persecute him. Be that kind of man or woman. If ever anyone had the right and the power to rise above the authorities, to strike them down, and set the record straight, it was Jesus Christ. And what did he do? Even to Pilate, our Lord subjected himself unto death. You should do the same.
We've seen what submission means in terms of attitude and action, and we've seen the results of it (silence the unbeliever), but why? Why should we submit?
We should submit for the sake of the Lord.
Back in the first verse of our text, the apostle says something that might help you. "For the Lord's sake, respect all human authority..." In other words, submission isn't a reward you give to those who've earned it. Our submission to President Obama, Governor Quinn, Senator McCann, or Representative Brauer isn't for their sake. It's for Christ's sake. Our Lord says that our submission to the government brings him glory. It's an act of worship to Jesus Christ.
This means that the worse the leader that we submit to, the greater the opportunity we have to magnify Christ. That's what Peter was getting at. "Church, submit to Nero. Honor this tyrant, because it gives us a phenomenal opportunity to exalt Christ!" For Christ's sake, honor the dishonorable. For Christ's sake, respect the unrespectable.
I want conclude our time by telling you about a man who did all of this. Back in the sixteenth century, when it was illegal to own a Bible in Europe, there was a man by the name of William Tyndale who disobeyed the law. Tyndale was the first to translate scripture from the Greek and Hebrew into English. In fact, a good deal of what we read in our Bibles today was first translated by Tyndale.
Educated at Oxford and Cambridge, mastering eight languages, Tyndale's passion was that the uneducated Englishman might read the Bible. He left the country, created a pseudonym, and translated in absolute secrecy. He chose a life of isolation, with the exception of a printer and a few others. Tyndale never married, lived as a fugitive, often lacked food, and knew his translations would be burned with every edition. Yet, with each year, more Bibles were smuggled into England, and more people read for the first time what God had written.
Tyndale was eventually betrayed by a friend and suffered for nearly two years in prison before his execution. He kept translating, but what's most striking to me is his submission to the authorities. He wrote a gracious letter to the Governor asking for warmer clothes and more books while in prison. He mentions his concern for the Governor's salvation and his desire to submit to him as unto the Lord-- not even a hint of rebellion or disdain in that letter.
In fact, when the emperor's attorney visited, the procurator-general, he left saying that Tyndale is, "a learned, pious, and good man." Others in the prison came to the same conclusion. In fact, at the end of those two years, the jailer was so struck by Tyndale's kindness that it moved his heart to Christ.
Tyndale was eventually martyred. Do you know what his dying words were? They were a prayer for the salvation of King Henry VIII.
Friends, it is possible to submit to wayward political leaders. As our nation continues on a godless path, the greatest question for us should be, "How can I exalt Christ? For the Lord's sake, I want to challenge you to submit to every human institution-- whether in the home, at work, or with our wayward government. May we subject ourselves so far as it honors Christ, and may many come to Christ, having seen us act in this way.