05 What to Do When You’re Treated Unjustly (1 Peter 2:11–25)

Krisan Marotta: Welcome to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta. This is our series on the Book of First Peter. For notes and study questions related to this series, please visit our website, which is wednesdayintheword.com. Thanks again for being with us. I'm Krisan Marotta. This is the fifth talk in our series on the book of First Peter, and we are looking at chapter 2, verses 11 through 25 today. I like to describe my last boss as my boss from hell. Working for her inspired me to start my own business, and I've never had another boss since. She was not a believer, and she was in many ways typical of her age and generation. So the team I was working on consisted of my boss, another woman who happened to be my boss's best friend, and me. And about two weeks after I started working there, my boss began a very bitter and vicious divorce, and she just stopped showing up for work. And then my coworker stopped showing up for work. And so literally months would go by and I would not see either of them. So I just kept the project going. I didn't know what else to do. The problem was that my boss would show up out of the blue at these crucial meetings and presentations and take credit for everything I had done. So I would be in the room and she would be presenting my stuff with her name on it. And that I was about, well, maybe 25 or 26, and that was pretty hard as a youngster to take because I was young and foolish then. No, I'm just old and foolish, but it was it was harder then. But on top of that, she would turn around and slander me to our supervisor, who was the vice president, telling him that I was unruly and that I was a slacker and I was disrespectful and incompetent. And then her best friend, our only other coworker, would back her up and say, Yep, that's how it is. And I would like to tell you that I handled that very well and was a gleaming example of grace and submission and mercy when I was being treated unjustly. However, the truth is I kind of only grudgingly did what was right with gritted teeth and seething hostility. And I only managed that much, in large part thanks to the counsel of my pastor at the time. And I wish that I had better understood what 1 Peter is talking about in our passage today, because that's exactly the kind of situation he's describing, is how how do you respond when you are being treated unfairly or unjustly? So let's look at 1 Peter 2. The way I outline 1 Peter, we're starting a new section. So I think this is one of 2.11 begins one of the major breaks in the book. And let me just review what we've seen so far. So Peter's writing to give his readers perspective on life. He wants to inspire them and us by extension with the big picture, which is the gospel. So the good news about the work of Jesus, the Messiah, he starts out with that in 1.1 through 12 that all of us are guilty and sinful. We need to be reconciled to God. And God, in his great mercy, sent his son Jesus to die in our place, to pay the price for our guilt and buy us out of slavery. And that coming to faith in Jesus is such a profound change. He calls it being born again. So we are rescued from God's wrath and from our guilt, but there's more to be rescued from. And that's our living hope. He talks about our living hope of an eternal inheritance that is guarded for us in the kingdom of heaven, when one day death will be completely defeated, sin will be completely defeated, and our rescue will be complete. So that's our hope. That's the inheritance we're to fix our hope on. Meanwhile, we have to live in a world that is different than we are, that may even hate us. And so we're that confronts us with choices about how do we live, how do we act, and we should make those choices based on who Jesus was and what he did for us. Then in 1325, he writes that the gospel gives us this living hope, and that hope changes every aspect of our lives, and he explored three ways that it made us different. So we should be holy, or he says we should fear God. No, the first one is be holy. So a holy God rescued us to follow, and following him means that we want to be like him in that holiness. Then he says, essentially, love the Lord your God with all your heart, or fear God. So God's opinion is the one that should carry the most weight, his is the one you should most value. And then in 225, basically he says, love your neighbor as yourself. So part of loving God is loving the things of God, which includes his people, and that we belong to each other in a unique way as fellow believers. Then last week we looked at 2.1 through 10, where he encourages us to long for the word the way a newborn longs for milk. So the more I understand about the word of God, the more my life reflects it, the more I long for that wisdom and understanding, and that wisdom and understanding nourishes my faith the way milk nourishes a newborn. And he ended that section, quoting Isaiah several times and Psalms, to inspire us that we are God's people, and as God's people, we are part of this big sweep of redemptive history. So God had a plan he put in place. So when you believe, you have a place. So he wanted to inspire us, apart from you know, this idea that, oh, you're small and insignificant, to say, no, you are an essential part of the people of God. And that brings us up to 211, which as I understand it is a new section in the book. So he's laid the groundwork. I think essentially up to this point, this is kind of the basis, the groundwork for what he's gonna go on to say, and now he's gonna start applying it. And he's basically gonna start answering the question, so what? So what difference does that make? And I think what's going on in this section is in 11 and 12 he gives us the principle. So again, this is like his summary conclusion statement first. He's gonna say, this is the main point, this is the principle, and then he's gonna apply it in three examples. We're gonna see. We're gonna do two today and one, the third one next week. So let's start there. First Peter 2, 11 and 12. 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. So I think what he's doing here is giving us a positive and a negative. So in eleven is the negative, it's here's what you should abstain or flee from and not do, and then twelve is the flip side, here's the positive thing that you want to strive to do. So in eleven, the word passions refers to all types of desires. It is not typically a word that refers to sexual passions, but it encompasses everything I might want and need and long for. And then similarly, passions of the flesh, he doesn't mean physical so much as what I am apart from God. Often when you see the word flesh in the Bible, it's the idea of what my unredeemed humanity, everything that I am apart from the grace of God. So he's staying, flee from all those passions that were yours, all the desires and wants that were yours when you didn't know God, all the things that were part of you when you weren't you didn't, you weren't born again. Now, as an aside, the Bible does not teach that all physical desires are inherently evil. So that's kind of a myth that got started very early in church history, and it is still enduring, this caricature that Christians are out there saying, no, if it feels good, that's wrong. And the Bible just does not teach that. The Bible teaches that marital sexuality, food, pleasures, all those are good gifts from God, and they are to be enjoyed in the right context and in their proper place. So desires in and of themselves are not equal, are not evil. We were created by God with passions, we were created to want things, it's how we act on them that makes a difference. So sexuality is not evil, but adultery is. The desire for respect isn't wrong, but trashing someone to climb the ladder is wrong. So it's not the desire itself, it's how we act on it. Okay, so he says, as sojourners and exiles, so now that you're different, now that this world is not your home, that you don't live that way, you want to flee from those kinds of desires and wants that were yours when you were ignorant, when you did not know God and did not know what was right. And then he adds this phrase which wage war against your soul. And I think the best way to understand that is to look at the opposite of that, which is peace in your soul, and which is something hopefully we're more familiar with. Peace in your soul is a very sweet thing. It's that contentment of who I am, I'm content with who I am, I'm free from guilt, I'm confident that I have acted well, I have my hopes set securely on Christ, and I can wait patiently, and that single-minded kind of wanting good and liking the direction my life is taking, that's peace in my soul. The opposite of that is what he's talking about here. When our soul becomes a battleground, then it's often damage we've inflicted on ourselves through our own selfish choices and desires. So that kind of the guilt that ravages you, or the fear, or the insecurities, or you know, I gave into some selfish thing that I wanted, and now it's creating trials and and tribulations in my life. So Peter's saying, resist all those desires that come from who you are apart from God, that would lead you to do wrong if you acted on them. Reject those and instead keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable. Now, remember the context. The issue is not just avoid selfish desires. He's saying, as aliens and strangers were not to get in. And then he adds this 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 in the day of visitation. So as converts to faith and Christians, we are strangers in this world in a very real sense. It's not our home, it's not our hope or our famili our fulfillment. And he's saying, our behavior matters to those around us. So I think among the Gentiles, he just means among those who do not believe, those who are the word literally means the nations, and I think in this context, those people who are not part of God's people. So he says, resist those selfish desires that were yours in your ignorance, reject the ones that are fueled by your selfishness, and instead strive to keep your behavior excellent and above reproach among non-believers. Now. And then he gives us why. So that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Basically, that they might come to believe. And I think that glorify God on the day of visitation is not final judgment, but just when they are being visited by God in some way. So the word visitation is often a window of opportunity. So God has acted in your life in such a way that the door is open, that you can see him acting, and you have a choice to respond. So he's making himself known to you. So for an example of this, if you have your Bible, look at Luke 19. This is Jesus as he is entering Jerusalem. It's Luke 19, 41 through 44. And when he, that is Jesus, drew near and saw the city, and the city is Jerusalem, he wept over it, saying, Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes, for the day will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side, and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another because you did not know the time of your visitation. That's the same word and the same idea. And there he's not talking about the second coming, he's talking about the first. He's saying you had this window of opportunity during Jesus' earthly ministry to respond, and in that window of opportunity, in that day of visitation, you didn't hear and respond, and now there's going to be consequences. And I think Peter's using it that same way. When you're treated unfairly and you respond with grace, it's a window of opportunity for someone else to see God's grace. So you're presenting, reflecting God in a way that matters. So he Peter could be talking about future judgment, but I think he's, and I used to take it that way, but the more I study it, the more I think he means on any day when God is making himself known in the world, and that could be very well through your actions. So we're called to represent God to the world. And as we go through trials, it presents us with this opportunity to act in a way that's different, as an alien and a stranger, to act in a way that's different, and that could be a day of visitation for someone. So my responses, my choices can be that window of opportunity. So that's his principle of flee from those selfish desires, strive to keep your behavior honorable and above reproach, so that when they slander you, there's absolutely no basis for it. And now he's gonna give us examples. He's gonna say, okay, let's look at some places where that this matters. And he's gonna apply that principle to three situations. So a citizen under an unjust government, a slave under an unjust master, and a wife married to an unbelieving husband. And in each of these examples, he's writing to someone who's in a binding social relationship and they are being treated unfairly. So they're in a spot they can't easily get out of. They can't just easily walk away. They're being mistreated. What should they do? So we're going to look at the first two today and the third one next week. So let's start with the unjust government. Look at 12 through 17. Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be 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 men live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a covering for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. So in all three cases, Peter's advice is going to be submit, and we're gonna that's kind of a hard truth we're gonna talk about. Now we could debate all day where are the limits? Where are the limits of submitting to the king? We know there are limits. We see Peter himself in Acts 4 disobeying the governors. So the governors tell him, well, they're speaking to him and to John, and they say, you need to stop preaching this Christ, and they say, forget it, we're gonna keep preaching Christ. So we know that Peter believes there are limits to this, to honoring the king. And he, because we see him himself say, I'm going to obey God rather than you. We're not gonna debate that today. Um there are limits, I think. Um we'll discuss maybe at another time in place. We're gonna what I want to look at is why would he say this at all? Why would he write this to people? Because I don't think he's naive about the dangers they're facing. Uh as he writes, remember Nero's on the throne. He is, if he hasn't already started, he's about to start all these horrible manner of persecutions and evil things on the Christians of his day. This is the days when the Christians were thrown to the lions and they were killed for sport in the Roman arenas. And all of that is beginning. And Peter himself is very close to the day when he's gonna be martyred by Nero by the Roman government. He's been told that day is coming by Jesus. He knows the government is hostile, so I don't think he's saying, you know, all you have to do is smile and say something nice and the government's just, you know, gonna melt at a puddle at your feet. I don't think he has, he believes that I don't think he has any illusions about that. So why would he say submit? He gives us a couple of clues. Notice in 213 he says, be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution. And in 215, for this is the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. So there's a sense in which, as aliens here, we are bond slaves to God, and God alone is our master. He's our new master, so there is a sense in which we are free to reject any other masters who might try to claim us. So we don't submit because the king is our master, we submit because God is our master, and there's something in this situation he wants us to do. And he gives us a good, a pretty good explanation. He says the goal is to silence the ignorance of foolish men. And that's part of the theme he's been developing. Think about how your conduct impacts non-believers around you. Consider how your choices reflect the God whom you serve. What would ignorant men be saying when they observed your behavior? Why, what are you, what kind of actions are you doing, and what would that inspire them to see and think? And that's what he's saying. You need to think about that. There's something more important going on than just the fact that I'm being mistreated. There is a redemptive process going on. So Peter's saying, conduct yourself in a way that diffuses the kinds of charges they're making against you. Now we know in his day Christians were seen as this kind of cult of Judaism. They were perceived as immoral because they wouldn't um they wouldn't worship the pantheon of gods. As strange as that sounds to us, the fact that they only worship one God was seen as really strange and subversive. They wouldn't bow down to Caesar, so they were seen as an enemy of the government and the order of things and undermining the authority of Rome. So those were the kind of charges that were swirling around them. And Peter's saying, conduct yourself in such a way that those charges seem ridiculous, that they seem baseless. Don't give them, by your words or your actions, don't give the fuel for that fire. Now we know that we have no master but God, and every government is compromised, so we might be tempted to go the way of anarchy to say, well, I'm going to form my own nation or I'm going to form my own government or my own like compound or something. And we could go the way of revolutionaries and say, you know, my principles demand I pay no taxes or I give no money to an immoral government, which of course allows me to keep it all for myself, and could be seen as self-serving. Or it may not be, but at least it could be you to open, be open to the charge that that's self-serving. So Peter's saying, think about that. What are your actions saying? It's more important that your neighbors understand what being a Christian is all about than whether or not you pay your taxes. Well, that's just an example. It could be anything. He's saying this is an opportunity to exercise your freedom and love and conduct yourself in such a way that you're not confusing the message of the gospel. So submit to a government because theoretically the government is dedicated to promoting the public good. Probably it's very flawed in that execution, but as much as it depends on you, don't give them grounds to slander you as criminals, as revolutionaries, or whatever, people who are opposed to what is good and just. So I think the the basic bottom line is the real issue is how do my choices reflect God to those around me. So as a citizen of the kingdom of God, I have the right to see myself as free from human institutions, but I want to conduct myself in such a way that I communicate, I serve a God who cares about justice. I serve a God who loves even those who hate him. I serve a God who is all about fairness and grace and mercy. So as far as I can in good conscience, I should live a life that communicates that I am not exempt from that, that I'm not above the demands of justice or public order. And then he concludes that section in 17: honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. I think those are pairs. So it's honor all people, but love the brotherhood. So you there's a certain appropriate measure of love and respect you show to everyone, but you have a higher obligation to believers. You should fear God, honor the king, or honor the emperor. So, yes, you pay respect to the king, but your higher obligation is to fearing God. So God is my master, he's the only one whose approval really matters, but the God who is my master has called me to live in such a way that it reflects him in the world, and so I show an appropriate measure of respect for the king because I am serving God. And the goal is that I not be perceived as that person's enemy, that through selfishness or lack of love on my part, I not be perceived as their enemy. Now they may still hate me, you may still get contempt, but at least it's unjustified. Okay, let's look at his second example, and then we'll try to pull it all together. So basically he's saying, I want you to think about how this is more than how this is affecting you, I want you to think about how this is affecting other people. Let's look at his second example. Servants, this is 18 through 25. 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 when suffering unjustly. For what credit is it 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 in trusting 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. So the fact that he's addressing slaves at all raises problems for us. Because isn't telling a slave to submit to his unjust master kind of like blaming the victim? I mean, why doesn't he just talk to the unjust master? So I probably won't answer all your questions, but I'm going to at least try to make a dent in them. So the first thing to know is the picture Roman slavery was not the same as what we think of as slavery. So our picture of slavery typically comes from the Civil War kind of slavery. That's not the case in Rome. Roman slaves were paid, and they usually did not stay slaves their entire life, and they had many of the rights of free citizens. So typically they would work their way out of slavery in about seven years. And it was much more like what we think of as indentured servitude today. In fact, the Roman economy depended on freed slaves because they would learn a trade, they would learn a skill as a slave, and then they would work their way out of slavery, and they would be set free to do business or to do the trade that they learned. Now, I'm not defending the practice of slavery, but I just want you to see that at this time when Peter's writing, slavery was not what we think of today. It had they had undergone massive reforms, and the lot of slaves in Rome had improved tremendously. So it's much more like indentured servitude. So that's the first thing to realize. The second thing is remember the context. In each of its examples, he's writing to people who are called to submit to an unjust situation. So it is a given in his line of argument that the person in authority is in the wrong. So in each of those, he's not justifying their behavior. He's writing to people who find themselves in a bad situation, a situation they can't walk away from quickly or easily, and he's saying, How should you respond? How do you bear up when you're being treated badly? So it's a given that the master is in the wrong. So what he says basically is submit even to masters who are unjust and abusive in a sense. He's saying, of course, if you do wrong and get caught, you should expect to be treated badly. But if you do absolutely nothing wrong and you get treated badly, this finds favor with God. There is a good thing in there. Now the question is why? Why would God want us to submit to that? Look at 219 again. For this is a gracious thing when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. I actually like the New American Standard Translation better. It says, for this finds favor, if for the sake of conscious toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. I think that's a better translation. For the sake of conscious toward God. So he's saying you have this belief that's calling you to submit in this way and you act on it. You don't respond to your master with vindictiveness or selfishness or retaliation or repaying evil for evil. Instead, you respond based on who your true master is, God, and your true circumstances. You're a child in the kingdom of heaven, and this world is not your home, and that is a commendable thing. So I ought to acknowledge, in the sense, that God has a right to carry out his plan for my life, and I trust him no matter what, and that plan is not necessarily going to be easy, but he has given me ample evidence that he is seeking good for me. In the end, he intends to do right by me, and ultimately he will fulfill those promises. So I trust in those promises, realizing I can let go of my rights in this situation because God is ultimately in control and will take care of ultimately setting things right. So I think that's what he means by for the sake of conscience toward God. I want to do the right thing. I want to value God's opinion more than men's. I want to strive for the things of God rather than the things of this world. And if that means I suffer now, that's what, that's just part of the plan. Or as he says in 223 about Jesus, he keeps entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. So I trust God in the midst of my suffering because I know God has a plan and a purpose for it. Okay, so that at least tells us why, but it doesn't really answer the question, why submit to injustice? I mean, couldn't Peter have said, okay, God wants you to stand up for what's right and just. So don't ever submit to injustice because by submitting you're condoning it. I mean, he could have said that. He could have said, even if it makes your, you know, your master treat you worse, stand up for what's right so that he'll see the error of his ways. And you can make an argument that that is also a way to trust God. So the question is, why wouldn't Peter say that? When, for instance, we see him go to jail rather than stop preaching the gospel when the government ordered him to stop. So why would he turn around and say, submit to an unjust master? That's the big knot of this passage. And I think the the answer is his example he gives us, the example of Christ in 21 through 25. He is quoting heavily from Isaiah 53 in this section. And so I want to look at Isaiah 53 and then bring that back into Peter, and I think that's going to answer our question, or at least I hope. So if you have your Bibles, you might want to turn to 53. Isaiah 53. And in this section, Isaiah has announced that judgment is coming. He said, judgment's going to come through the northern, to the northern kingdom, through the Assyrians, and then judgment is going to come to the southern kingdom through the Babylonians. But in the midst of this coming judgment, he repeatedly says, judgment is not the end. He makes this bold and forthright claim that God intends to reach out and deliver his people. So yes, judgment is coming, but redemption is also coming. And woven through these oracles on judgment is the announcement of a servant who will come and accomplish this rescue. And that's what Isaiah 53 is. It's one of the most famous prophecies about the suffering servant or the one who would come, which we now know is Jesus. But they probably didn't at the time Isaiah wrote it. So look at Isaiah 53, I'm going to read you one through twelve. Who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground. He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hide their face, he was despised, and we did not esteem him. Surely our griefs he himself bore, and our sorrows he carried, yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was pierced through for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the chastening of our well-being fell upon him, and by his scourging we are heal healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of all of us to fall on him. He was oppressed, and yet he was and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away, and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet he was with a rich man in his death, because he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth. But the Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief. If he would render himself as a guilt offering, he will see his offspring, he will prolong his days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hands. As a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it and be satisfied. By his knowledge the righteous one, my servant, will justify the many as he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he will divide the booty with the strong, because he poured out himself to death and was numbered among the transgressors, yet he himself bore the sins of the many and interceded for the transgressors. There's a lot going on in that chapter, but I want to summarize what I think the three key points are that Peter is drawing on. Because these are the ones where he picks up the quotes. And those three are first, the servant is going to suffer unjustly. So he's done nothing wrong, he has not committed any evil, he um yet he will be despised and taken like a lamb to the slaughter. So he himself is innocent, yet he's being mistreated, and ultimately he will be killed. And that's the situation he's running to in our examples. You're in a situation where you want to be keep your behavior honorable, keep your behavior above reproach, and yet you may still be mistreated. So that's the first idea. That you're going to suffer unjustly, the servant will. The second, the servant does not strike back. So he submits to that injustice. He doesn't open his mouth, even though he probably could have had a lot to say about how he was treated. He remains silent. And the third aspect that comes that he picks up on is the people deserve condemnation. So we are like sheep gone astray, we have not done what is right, but the servant is suffering on our behalf. He's pierced for our transgressions, by his wounds we're healed, and so on. So he paints this picture of we're guilty, we deserve punishment. The servant is not guilty, does not deserve punishment, and yet he takes his punishment for us. Now Peter has alluded to this five times in our section. So in 222, he says, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth, which is Isaiah 53, 9, nor with this nor was there any deceit in his mouth. In 223, and while being reviled, he did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept himself, kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously, is Isaiah 53, 7. He who he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. 224, and he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, is Isaiah 53, 12, yet he bore he himself bore the sins of the many and interceded for their transgressors. 224, for by his wounds you were healed. Isaiah 53, 5, by his scourging we are healed. 225, for you were continually straying like sheep, and Isaiah 53, 6, all of us like sheep have gone astray. So I think he's clearly connecting Isaiah 53 to the cross of Jesus, and he's picking up these three key themes. Jesus suffered unjustly, yet he didn't strike back, and he did it so that we could be rescued. So how would that answer the question of why submit to unjust treatment? I think he's saying Jesus has was suffering because his suffering had a clear redemptive purpose. So it's not just that he was being virtuous, he was submitting to abuse for a reason, and that reason was to bring us back to God. He took abuse so that ultimately we might be rescued. Now, if you reread the Gospels, you'll notice that Jesus was not always silent. Up to the cross, he was quite controversial. You know, he would say things that provoked the Pharisees on purpose. They'd try to arrest him and he'd disappear, and he'd act in ways that kind of flabbergasted his critics. And sometimes he would directly challenge people to their faces. Think about the woe-to-you passages or in calling the Pharisees whitewashed tombs. Those were pretty, you know, he was quite vocal at some points, and yet when he faces the cross, he's silent. Because he was clearly aware that there was a redemptive purpose for that suffering, and there came a point when he stopped talking and he stopped evading arrest, because the time had come to suffer for the redemption of others. And I think that's the clue. Is he saying, why submit in an unjust situation? Because God has a redemptive purpose for it. Jesus suffered for you to secure your redemption. Now, in the same way, you, as a believing slave, may be called to suffer with from your unjust master because there's a redemptive possibility. Your submission may in fact bring about his rescue. Now it's not a guarantee, it's not a one-to-one, submit and you get this reward, but submit as an act of loving your enemies is the idea. Remember, it's that three-part picture. You're suffering unjustly, yet you don't strike back and demand your rights because you're suffering for the sake of someone else, that they might see grace, that they might see God. And that's the example Jesus left us to follow. I think that's the same logic that we saw in the unjust government. Submit so that those who are slandering you will see there's no basis for their slander, and one day they might glorify God. So our suffering is in part for them, that one day they might see God and glorify Him. And I think we're going to see that same thing in the example next week. Oh, the wives and a disobedient husband suffer now for the sake of another that they might be one. So it's not just submission for the sake of submission. It's not be a doormat, it's love your enemy. So I think the principle you apply is how do I love my enemy in this situation? How do I love this person who is treating me unfairly? So it's not submit just for the sake of submission, it's submit with a redemptive person, purpose. You know, it's the same ethic we see in the Sermon on the Mount of turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, love your enemy. It's not just put up with abuse, the context is love your enemies. Now, again, there are limits, and I don't, we just don't have time to kind of debate them all now. But I would suggest in cases of real physical abuse where there is danger, yes, you should flee if you can. There comes a point where you may say there is no, like the chance of redemption is is that window has closed. And how do you judge that? I don't know. But I think there comes a time when you have to say, I've done all I can do and get yourself out of the situation if you can. Now remember, he's writing to people who can't get out. Citizens just couldn't migrate to a new country, a slave just couldn't get out necessarily, and women had very few options for divorce and that. So he's writing to people, when you're stuck, what should you do? And he's saying, seek the welfare of others, even those who are not seeking your welfare. So love your enemy. So the last question then is why does that work? Why would that be an act of love? Why would that show grace? He doesn't really answer that directly, but we can speculate. Human beings are basically selfish. We expect that. We expect each other to be driven by self-interest. In fact, the whole field of economics is based on the principle that we are selfish. And everyone ought to be concerned with himself and his own needs first. So the person who acts differently confounds those expectations and it raises the question: why would you do that? Why would you act against your own self-interest? Plus, it sends the message, I'm on your side even if you're not on my side. You can trust me because I'm looking out for you. I'm thinking about your welfare above and beyond my own, and that's a powerful door to grace. Those two together, I think, are a, as he says, a window of opportunity, a visitation. So if you're looking out for me and you're acting against your own self-interest to do so, it forces me to ask the question, what's so different about you? How could you possibly do that? And of course, we know the answer is you could do that because you know Jesus Christ, because he is your hope, and your hope is not in this world, because you trust him that there are more important things than getting your fair share or being treated fairly, that you have this inheritance coming that is beyond all measure and all value, and that the author and the creator of the universe is guarding you and preparing you for that day. That's how you get through it. So I do think this passage implies there are times to resist and there are times not to resist. And the Christian virtue is not be passive and do nothing, it's actively love your enemy, seek their welfare even if they are not seeking yours. And Peter is urging his readers to take that costly burden on themselves for the sake of another, as Jesus did taking a burden on himself for our sakes. So the virtue is I trust God with my welfare while I'm seeking the welfare of someone else. I don't think he's advocating nonviolent resistance so much as loving, respectful kind of submission. Not, you know, grit your teeth and comply with eye rolling, which is what I did in my situation, but that actually loving someone else who is not lovable, who is not treating you fairly. And his top priority is what am I communicating about the God I serve? So I love them not as squishy feelings, but I love them as I'm seeking what's best. So what do my actions say about this situation? What do they communicate about the God I'm serve I serve? So notice he's not giving advice on how to handle the situation so it comes out better for you, unfortunately. I don't think that's the promise. It's not a promise that if you submit, your life will get better. It may or it may not. Jesus sacrificed himself to save us, and he's because he was concerned about the destiny of others, and he's saying that's a concern we ought to share. So it implies that my wants, my needs, my comfort today is not the top priority of the chief concern. I'm called to look beyond those circumstances, or as he said in 113, to fix my hope completely on the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Again, what's the big picture? Counting the gospel, seeing my situation in light of the gospel, where is it taking me? God has promised the suffering will end one day. He's promised there's a time limit on it that won't last forever, that the trials of today have a great and glorious purpose. And in the meantime, we have this living hope of the inheritance that's coming. That one day we will we will see and say it was worth it. We will, that is the promise. As hard as is now, the promise is that one day we will look back and go, if going through that got me to this place, it was worth it. So he's saying, in the meantime, act in such a way that others see that hope and maybe they will come to share it. Let me pray for us. Father, thank you that you did take our sins on yourself and that even though you did not deserve punishment of any way, you sent your son to die in our place. And I just prayed that you would be making us people who can follow that example. These are hard truths, hard situations, hard to know what to do or how to act, what to say, what not to say, when to say it, how to say it, all those things come into play. And we desperately need your wisdom and your hope and your strength to face each situation when it comes and to know how to respond rightly. I just pray that you would take these truths and make them real to us, write them on our hearts, and if anything was heresy or wrong or confusing, that you would remove it and uh take it away from our minds so that we would learn what is only true. In Jesus' name. Amen.