City Life Church San Diego

Power in Submission 1 Peter 2:11-25, 3:1-7

• Dale Huntington

Share episode

Send us a text

A fisherman who swung a sword became a shepherd who healed with words. That turn—from impulse to wisdom—is why Peter’s voice still cuts through noise and outrage with a simple challenge: live so honorably that slander turns into worship. We open 1 Peter 2–3 and sit with hard lines about submission, authority, and suffering, refusing shortcuts and clichés. Our aim is clarity with courage: what does it look like to be an exile who carries peace into workplaces, neighborhoods, and homes without compromising obedience to God?

Abstain from soul-war desires, do visible good, and let your actions quiet ignorance. That moves into the public square: honor everyone, fear God, and understand how submission can be an act of power that disrupts control rather than enabling abuse. We engage the tough history around servitude, draw clean lines against harm, and apply the text to modern life under unfair bosses and flawed institutions, where excellence and integrity become persuasive.

 Peter’s counsel to wives and husbands, read in context, upends Greco-Roman norms and calls both to courageous, honoring love. Wives are pictured as agents of resilient faith; husbands are charged to treat wives as co-heirs, tying spiritual credibility to everyday tenderness. Threaded through it all is the pattern of Christ: no retaliation, entrusted to the just Judge, wounds that heal, a cross freely chosen. That is why submission, rightly ordered, changes rooms, relationships, and sometimes, enemies.

If you’re longing for a faith that holds up under pressure and shines through good works, join us. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s wrestling with authority or outrage, and leave a review to help others find the conversation.

Support the show

SPEAKER_01:

The apostle Peter was born with his foot in his mouth. Brash and outspoken, he was ready to fight at a moment's notice. One time, he actually cut a dude's ear off. He was brave and he was a coward. Peter was a contradiction. He walked on water with Jesus, he healed the sick, and gave sermons to thousands. And after his worst moment, when he had abandoned Jesus, he was restored by his loving Savior. Jesus actually gave him the name Peter, which means rock. And Peter was stubborn like a rock. As he grew old, the stubborn Jesus follower gained wisdom. Wisdom which he shared with God's church in his letters. He was still imperfect, but God used him. Doesn't that give you hope too? To know this very flawed man with a foul mouth was used by God in powerful ways. Peter's words come from a man who soaked up the presence of Jesus. A man covered in the dust kicked up by his teacher's sandals. His letters are challenging and must be wrestled with until we fully understand. Peter was a contradiction. Peter suffered, betrayed his best friend, embarrassed himself, and eventually grew into a wise teacher. If you are sometimes abrasive, sinful, or broken, you'll find hope and solace in Peter's words. They echo the heart of Jesus and they challenge us to suffer well, stand up for goodness, and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Savior Jesus. So open your Bibles, open your mind, and let's learn together as we continue in our series, Peter the Rock.

SPEAKER_00:

And it's difficult. So here we go. Verse 11, 1 Peter 2, 11. Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, the non-believers, so that when they slander you as evildoers, so yeah, they're gonna slander you as evildoers, they're gonna misrepresent you. Um, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits. See, this is the word of God, and our entire text today is gonna hinge on these statements, okay? Um, so let's pray. Father, we are grateful for this moment where your church gathers together to celebrate you and your love for us. While every era in history feels tenuous, man, this time feels tenuous. We read the news and we see things teetering towards devastation. And I know some of this outrage is made made up to sell us things. I know some people want us angry and talking more and yelling more and moving into our own bases. They want us divided because it gets them money. I also know others want us to stay quiet and submissive when they seek to kill and steal. Lord, help us to know what is hype. Help us to know what is a true emergency. Help us to stand up for those who have no rights, but to keep but keep us from manufacturing outrage in ourselves and in others, God, because I will tell you, God, you know that the anger feeds us and makes us feel alive at times, but we know it's not from you all the time. God, help us to carry only the burdens you want us to carry. Lord, we belong to your kingdom. We want to be kingdom men, women, and children, people of the book, people of grace. Help us, teach us. May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing to you. We pray this all in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen. So, first off, as we get into the rest of the text, I want to just like point out the elephant in the room. Um, the rest of our text today is gonna talk about submission, submission in slavery, submission for wives, submission for husbands. And I want to recognize something that was recognized in me when I moved here uh ten and a half years ago. I am seen as a quote white man. Okay? I see it, I notice this, I recognize it. Um, over ten years ago, actually, the way I was referred to when we first moved here was there goes that cop. That's what people called me when I was first here. And there's some other things that I won't repeat that they called me. Now, I I think I'm a little more like khaki, um, puzzle piece, a little red sometimes. Um, but uh but some people wanted to call me whitey, and that's fine, I don't care. But I just want you to remember that the words you hear today are the Bible. I also want you to know that these are not written by white people, and they were not written by someone who wanted to oppress anyone. Um actually, they were written by a man who was killed by the Roman Emperor, Nero. Okay? So don't be so quick to say that this is a different situation, okay? I would also like to point out that lately some people are pushing forward a narrative, the idea of submission, forgiveness, and grace are tools of white supremacy. I read an article that said black racial forgiveness has the unintended consequence of reinforcing white dominance. Guys, I've been told many times by people in Southeast San Diego that our Bible was put together by white people. And I just want to tell you, and they would also say to keep people down and to oppress them. Guys, um, that is not how the Bible was put together. Submission to leaders sounds a lot like that if that were true, but it's not true. Our Bible is a Middle Eastern book, and those who decided what letter should go in our Bible were Middle Eastern, Asian, and African, okay? Um, don't listen to those people who want to stop you from reading the Bible. Christianity was in Africa 1,000 years before the camel was, okay? At that point, Europeans were still worshiping the sun, putting sticks in their noses, dancing around rocks at Stonehenge, okay? So don't worry about that. The Bible is a radical book that goes against the ways of this world. And when we submit to God, there will be people who try to control us. But we are fierce followers of Jesus. And Jesus followers sit under leadership of a greater king. Jesus followers are given power to be kind to our enemies. Should these texts be approached with nuance? Yes. They're anything but simple. Do you believe the Bible is true, though? Do you believe the Bible is profitable for teaching? I do. And I'm gonna especially say that to myself in places where I am tempted to trust on my own understanding over that of the Word of God. Friends, my goal is not to oppress it. My goal is to teach you the Bible in context, to share with you the original meaning and how it applies now. And I want to help many of you to find freedom from hatred and bitterness that will lay you out. I want you to find freedom from slavery of sin that you can only find in Jesus. Freedom from seeking to avenge yourself in the face of our own mistreatment. Is this gonna be difficult? Yes, but I promise if you stay with me, we're gonna come out the other end smarter, understanding God better, because I have studied, because I have some of the same concerns you will have. Okay, so I'm gonna give you three points today on how to live Christian lives under the power of others. Three points on how to live Christian lives under the power of others. And my first point is this live undeniably Christian. We're gonna stick with verse 11 for a little while longer, where he says, Dear beloved friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and glorify God on the day he visits. So let me paraphrase. Peter told them, My beloved church, you are refugees and strangers in this world. You don't have to fit in. Live lives of mercy and kindness that outpace the people around you. So they may see your good works and your good heart and find their own faith in Jesus and be saved. So, guys, in school they taught us the who, what, where, when, why, and then sometimes how. We're gonna do a little bit of that here, okay? Because I think this helps us with our text. So who? Peter is writing to Christians. Peter, who would one day die for his faith under Emperor Nero. Um, what did he want? He wanted them to act differently, didn't he? He wanted a different behavior than the rest of the world. Where Christians spread all over Asia was who he was writing to, the dispersion, right? Why? Because they would see your good works and glorify God on the day of his return to send some to heaven and others to hell. Now, this is going to inform the rest of our text today, okay? So we who claim Jesus belong to a different nation than the people of this world, right? When I was in Patagonia, I had more in common with the Chilean Christians than I do with my blood relatives who don't know Jesus. We had the most important thing in common. Not five hours with the church, but we we did have Jesus in common. You see, you are a foreigner, a stranger from another kingdom, but you can help others to find home in Jesus. Now, now I had to see Christians in my lives who actually lived it out before I ever gave Jesus a real chance. I promise you, I was raised up a high, and then I became agnostic. And then I was like, I'm gonna check out every religion. I'm out there like reading the Bahagva Gita. I'm like looking at the Quran, and I'm like, anything, anything but the Bible, because those people, they're the worst. Did anyone else feel that way, maybe at some point in their lives? I know I did. Yeah, thank you, thank you, thank you. Um, the Christians were the worst to me, and then one day I met Tim and I met JJ and I met Sean, and these were people who were kind and loving, and they were kind to people who were mean to them. And only then was I willing to talk about Jesus, only then was I willing to read the Bible, only then was I willing to be introduced to Jesus. But it took them living differently. Guys, you can help others find the family of God, but it's gonna depend on your actions. You can either keep them away from God or you can draw them to God. My new Christian friends, you are often the best at sharing the gospel. You don't even have to know everything to share the gospel. You are confident, it's beautiful, but you will need to be careful on how you judge the people around you, okay? Don't say sin is good, okay? Don't do that. But many of those people are not ready to hear about their sin. They need you to be repentant about your sin to them. That's what they need to hear, okay? Many of them need to see your kindness and your forgiveness. Many of them need to see someone who is not of this world. Some of them will need to see your kindness towards your enemies, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits. See, if Christians live radical lives of joyful sacrifice, joyful, God may use us to meet to melt icy hearts and cause some to be saved and to glorify God. To my seasoned Christians in the room. People are watching you too. Uh, they want to see if you're gonna be overly religious about not biblical things. They want to see if you are selfish, they want to see if church is about you and your comfort or others. They want to see if God is enough to unite you with people who disagree with you. They want to see that first. Now I'm gonna say this. I don't agree with everything Mahatma Gandhi says. Actually, I disagree with a lot that he says. I like some of his peacefulness, but there's other problems. But there's something that Mahatma Gandhi said that he said that I think should bother us as Christians. He said, I like your Jesus, but not your Christians. That should get up in here on us, right? Like it should make us shudder. It should break our heart. Are we keeping people away from Jesus? Are we getting in the way of Jesus? Are we so religious that we demand others change for us, for our politics, for our preferences? Man. Friends, when you are around sinners, when you're around people who demand you take their views on politics and sexuality, show them kindness. Be humble. Everything about our text starts and ends in verse 12. This is the lens that we read this through, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits. See, Christians who have a biblical sexual ethic, we will be seen as bigots in our country. When a neighbor, though, calls you a bigot, what do you do? You help them mow their lawn. You cook an extra bowl of soup for them when it's cold. You invite them to meals and you offer them help with their groceries and their heavy boxes. Why? So that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and glorify God on the day he visits. See, as Christians, we should be fighting for the basic rights of everyone who considers themselves on the LGBTQ plus spectrum. They may think our beliefs are bigoted, but when they see us fighting for their rights, it might cause them to question their own views. We should always be honest with what our faith says now, but especially when someone asks, but really, there should be times when people feel so loved that they may be confused by your beliefs. They are so loved that they may not know what your beliefs are. They may not know that you disagree with their decisions, but they know that they're loved. That should be happening more than feeling like they're more than them feeling like they're hated, right? See, when the school is teaching something other than what we believe about God, we offer to help them with perspective, but uh we help teach something else. But we uh we educate our own families and then we serve the school again and again and again and again, and we earn the right to speak to the school. We kindly earn the right to speak when we disagree. We act, we we get invited into the room because we have shown that we love them and the students, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits. Now, what does it look like to live this way? I think Colossians 3 12 especially describes what it looks like to be a stranger, an exile. It says, as God's chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has a grievance against another, just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are to also forgive. Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity, and let the peace of Christ to which you were also called in one body rule your hearts. That is what it looks like to be different. That is what it looks like to belong to another nation. See, God has called us to be different, peculiar people. When I was in Chile, I tried my best to fit in, but it's not happening no matter how hard I try. I was foreign. It should be the same way on this earth. You should stick out like a sore thumb. When someone judges others, you show kindness. When gossip happens, you speak words that bring life. As Christians, we are aware that we didn't earn anything in Jesus anyway, right? So this makes us unique. We are just like everyone else, but we are forgiven, and God is changing us to become more and more and more like his son Jesus. We're not at war against the world, are we? No, we're trying to save the world. We are at war against a kingdom we cannot see. Pastor Juan Sanchez, he says this. He says, Do I war against my sin and love others, or indulge my sin while looking down on the world? Our fight is against sin and temptation, worldliness and the devil, and that is a fight that takes place within us, not around us. See, when the world wants to know about our faith, don't tell them all about what they're doing wrong. Actually, they probably already know it in their hearts. Tell them how Jesus saved them from all your sin, how Jesus saved you from all your sin, excuse me. Tell them about the way he is refining you and blessing you through his word and his church. And show them radical love and kindness. See, the kind of language shows you belong to Jesus. It says you belong to another kingdom, but it's only language, isn't it? You will not be heard if you only speak words that are empty. There's no power in empty words. Actions cause people to see and believe, and that is our second point. Submission is an act of power. Now we're getting into the stuff that I would never choose to preach to you, but it's God's word and it's good. Here goes, verse 13. Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor as a supreme authority, or to governors as those who sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and praise those who do what is good. For it is God's will that you silence the ignorant ignorance of foolish people by doing good. Submit as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but as God's slaves. Honor everyone, love the brothers and sisters, fear God, honor the emperor. Now we gotta stop and talk about honor here. What is honor? Honor everyone. Recognize that they are made in the image of God and have an innate sense of worth, that God has given them a sense of dignity. Ooh, that's different, isn't it? Now when you call a leader or even any person stupid, you dishonor God. When we make fun of someone who's in addiction for the struggles they have in their lives, you dishonor God. When we make fun of the orange skin of a politician, you are dishonoring God. The text gets even more difficult. Yay. Household slaves, submit to your masters with all reverence, not only to the good and gentle ones, but to the cruel. For it brings favor if because of a consciousness of God someone endures grief from suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if when you do wrong and are beaten, you endure it? But when you do what is good and suffer, if you endure it, this brings favor with God. See now this brings up that term meekness, remember. Meekness is not weakness, right? Meekness is power under control. I always like to talk about the the Dodge Viper going 65 on the freeway, right? That is meekness. Everybody knows that a Dodge Viper can go faster than that. It's the coolest car. Okay. We can talk about that later. But suffering and doing what is right still by your own free will, which is what he's saying here, brings God glory. But how do we rectify that with our country's bloody and horrific history when we're talking about uh slavery in here? Now we know that biblical indentured servitude was not something akin to American chattel slavery, okay? We know this. The bond servant, the dual loss, meant you had a debt and you went to work for someone for a mutually agreed upon period of time. Or maybe you were starving to death and your family was starving to death, so you signed on to be an indentured servant for a period of time to someone. Sometimes you might have been conquered in battle and you work for someone, but in the Bible, there's always an end to these periods. Um there was a limit, and you were uh you were made to release someone at that time. The Bible even has ceremonies for these bondservants who wanted to choose forever servanthood, but they had to choose it. Um, it was something that Dulas chose, but the enslaved person here still, no matter what, always had loyalty to God first. The shameful Americans who enslaved others asserted power over them. But this was not innate or God-given power that we're talking about, it was thrust upon them. Rape and abuse are not to ever be tolerated by Christians. Can I get an amen on that one? Rape and abuse are never to be tolerated by Christians. If you are in a situation now where you are being abused, the Bible is not telling you to take it with good humor. Okay? Leave. Call the police. Those abusers are subject to the justice of God as well. Now, while it's true, many people who claim to be Christian use these same Bible verses selectively to oppress others. Those who liberated the enslaved people in the United States, like Harriet Tubman, like John Brown, like Frederick Douglass, and Nat Turner, they read the entire Bible. Now, Harriet Tubman, God spoke to her uh uh personally, and I love it because in our history books it'll always be like, Yeah, she got hit in the head. So that's why. I'm like, wow, she could quote Bible verses before she knew the whole Bible. But yeah, we'll just say she got hit in the head because God wouldn't speak to her. Um, but God used the entirety of God's witness, the entirety of the Bible to end slavery in the United States, to inspire these great people to fight back. But you know, we could just take something out of out of context if we want. But this context truly is closer to submitting to a bad boss, friends. Like the bondservant in Peter's time endured something worse than work. I'm gonna be real with that. But not so severe or shameful as American slavery, okay? Um, if your boss is cruel, you maintain your respect, you honor and submit as long as the demands they make do not contradict God's word, okay? Now, some of you are suffering at a bad job with a bad boss right now. And a choice to follow Jesus is sometimes an invitation to suffer. Jesus said it. He said, You've heard it said, love your neighbor, hate your enemy, but I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he causes his son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. But why should we submit to a crappy boss? Is the question. Here is the answer. So they will observe your good works and glorify God on the day he visits, verse 12. So, yes, we should submit to your crappy boss and their leadership, as long as you still serve God first, with a hope to bring them to faith. Yes. Should you be looking for another job though? Heck to the yes, you should. Probably. I mean, like while you are there though, until you are gone, go above and beyond in the ways you do your job. Be on time, be kind, don't gossip, don't slack, be great at your at your job, even if you're uh getting dumb demands. If your boss is making you get coffee and you have a master's degree and something else, make the best coffee for your boss and look for another job. But while you are there, be the best worker you can be, so they will observe your good works and glorify God on the day he visits. If Christians live radical lives of joyful sacrifice, God may use it to melt icy hearts and cause some to glorify God. So if your boss, if she's terrible, if your boss he's awful, you submit to them in only ways that you submit to God first, and then you know, look for that other job. Now, suffering. Suffering is why people will hear you though as you suffer. Suffering lends weight to our faith, especially unjust suffering. How many times have you seen an athlete thank God for winning the Super Bowl? And you're like, okay, sure, whatever, that's nice. You know, like, or how many times have you have you heard music by someone that is so hateful, so so me and and awful to women, and they get up there and they go, Oh, I just want to thank God, thank you for this Grammy, and you're like, Really? You're not that doesn't like that, doesn't change me. But let me ask you this when someone is truly, truly suffering, and they say, God has been carrying me through this, they're not putting on a fake smile, there's no faking the funk, they're just being honest with you. God is carrying me through this rough season. Man, I want to listen to that person. I can tell you, um, in our family, in our family, we had a lot of suffering. We were in the hospital a lot for several years. And, you know, we always joke that we had a punch ticket, like buy 10 surgeries, get the 11th free in our family. I can tell you, more people were willing to listen to me during that season. When I said, like, God is carrying me, this sucks. I didn't say it's good. I said I have joy in the Lord, even though I'm not happy. Guys, that's when people listen. When you're suffering, but you're suffering to the glory of God. It's about lamenting and still trusting the goodness of God. If you suffer patiently here, it will bring God glory. You don't have to pretend you're not in anguish, you don't have to put on a fake smile. Matter of fact, don't put a fake smile forward. We suffer, but we suffer with God and His church to the glory of God so others might come to faith in God. Okay, so we submit to authorities as long as it honors God. But whenever submitting to an authority causes you to disobey God, you submit to God first. Friends, there are many laws we may need to respectfully disobey, but we still honor our leaders when disagreeing. When a new partner of our church agrees to submit to the leadership, the elders of this church, they do it so long as we are leading biblically. You submit and you support our leaders as long as we lead biblically. And when you disagree, you come to us respectfully and you let us know where we may have missed it, because we miss it sometimes. But rather than talking to everybody else about it, you come to us, you offer ways you can make it better. But if an elder, if an elder or me tries to abuse you or tries to sexually abuse you, you rebuke him and you call the police. That's not the submission we're talking about. You hear me? That's that is against God's law. But you may say to me, submission feels like weakness, Pastor. How is it power? It's because it disrupts and changes things, it changes lives, it is disruptive. And that's actually our third point. Submission is disruptive. Jesus' submission was the most disruptive act of all time. Guys, it changed lives. But first, I want to talk about what it means for us to be obedient in places we prefer not to, um, which is like all of them for me. I don't know. Uh 1 Peter 3, 1 through 7 says this in the same way, wives submit yourself. Now, if if you are like me and you grew up in a feminist household, which I did, like when you first read this, you might have like shuddered a little bit. Like I did. Like my uh my mom had a shirt that was like the Superman shirt, but instead it had Ms. in it, okay? Like that's if that gives you any idea what kind of family I grew up in. So when I read that in the Bible, I was like, nah, I'm not gonna. But over time I came to believe that all of God's word was true and profitable for teaching. So this is interesting. It says submit yourselves, put yourself under submission. Nobody forces you into that. You choose it. See, that's different, right? Like nobody says submit them, you're submitting yourselves. That's so important. When some when you submit yourself, you submit to God first. When you submit yourself, no one can force you to do anything. You choose it. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told an oppressed Jewish people to go the mile, the extra mile. Now, now we use that term now for like Ralphs, you know, like Ralphs, we go the extra mile. That's not what it's talking about. How do we use the extra mile? In Jesus' time, a Roman centurion soldier could come to you and say, Carry my stuff for a mile. By law, you have to do this, Jew. Didn't matter where you were going, doesn't matter if you were on your way to deliver a baby for your wife. It may you you better go. But here's what's happening, though. Um, Jesus is saying, once they force you to go a mile, go the next mile. And you know what? That shows you're submitted to God. They don't have any control over you because you're going two miles. You're showing that you're even bigger than that. Oh, you want to make me do something? I'm gonna do even more above and beyond what you asked me. Nobody was forcing a Jewish man to go a second mile. Jesus was, and we're slaves to Jesus only. Jesus purchased me by his blood, and I am a bondservant to Jesus now. And so we go the extra mile, and it's crazy because it shows an oppressor they don't got power over us anymore. You have submitted to God. Okay, so here we go. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, so that even if some disobey the word, they may be won over without a word by the way their wives live. When they observe your pure, reverent lives, don't let your beauty consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and wearing gold jewelry or fine clothes. Now, this is more saying, like, don't like show off your richness, okay, if you hear that. But rather what is inside the heart, the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For in the past, the holy women who put their hope in God also adorned themselves in this way, submitting to their own husbands, just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord. You have become her children when you do what is good and do not fear any intimidation. Husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker partner. Now, when I say weaker partner, we're talking about back in the day, men were usually stronger than women. And I would say, on average, men are still stronger than women. Don't bring any WNBA ladies to me to show how much stronger they are than me. They are stronger than me. But in general, okay, uh, as a weaker partner, showing them honor as co-heirs of the grace of life, so your prayers will not be hindered. See, dude, prayers will be hindered when you mistreat people. That's wild. Now, there's a lot to unpack here. I won't have time to go through everything, but I want to talk to you about some of it, okay? Now, Kenyan pastor, Dr. Sicily Mubarra Maruthi, he says this in Peter's culture, husbands were always in the position of authority. Peter's aim was not to add to the oppression of women in the home or in a society. These passages should not be used to justify oppression of women or to silence them and exclude them. This was not Peter's intention. And as part of its witness to society today, the church needs to confront the plight of women. But guys, it goes beyond this, and this is the kind of stuff when I study, it gets me excited. A woman described in this text, she may sound agreeable and weak, but she's not. She's a world beater, she's a beast, whatever you want to call her. This woman described as breaking so many Greco Roman taboos. You have no idea. A woman was made to submit to her husband in his faith. Wives, follow the faith of your husband, worship Zeus, worship Apollos, worship Athena. This is what They were taught. So Peter is bringing something crazy forward, right? He's actually doing something counter-cultural. Now, let me let me read this to you. This is so crazy. There was a very famous Greek scholar and pagan priest, his name was Plutarch. You may have heard about him, you maybe had to study him in high school. Um, but he was born about AD 40, and I want to read to you his commands on the submission of women. He says this a wife ought to not make friends of her own, but to enjoy her husband's friends in common with him. The gods are the first and most important friends. Wherefore it is becoming for a wife to worship and know only the gods that her husband believes in, and to shut the front door against all queer rituals and outlandish superstitions. By the way, every time I read that, it's so hard to say shut the front door. I used to say that as a kid. Um, Plutarch here is describing what a Greco-Roman submissive wife was to act like. And Peter is saying, uh-uh, she's way stronger than that. Peter absolutely pushed back against the common norm of his time. This humble wife was a freaking world changer, okay? She sounds like a warrior, a woman of valor, a Greco-Roman, pagan woman coming to faith in Jesus, would suddenly uh go against Plutarch and have friends outside of her husband's relationship, the church, against her husband's wishes. She would do queer rituals like baptism or the taking of communion, where she would eat the body of Jesus and drink the blood of Jesus. She might sing new songs that he didn't understand and lift her hand in worship to an invisible God, all without her husband's permission, because she first submits herself to God and his kingdom. So every time you read this and you're like, man, that's oppressive. I'm like, dude, you have no idea. What's even crazier is then Peter then tells the Christian husband to honor his unbelieving wife if he doesn't want his uh prayers blocked. Think about what Plutarch would say, too. He could force her to serve Jesus. He could he could force her to convert to Christianity. Instead, he honors his wife. He encourages her to know Jesus and he shows her love because he wants to win her over in love. That blows my mind. It gives me a totally new perspective on this text. Dr. Tony Evans, he says, if you're going to be God's kingdom man, you've got to spend time with your wife. Listen to her, know what her needs are and grow an understanding of her. He continues, wives may be physically weaker, but they are their husbands' co-heirs of grace of life. So honor your wife as an equal partner in the relationship. See, the idea of submission, though, it's so foreign as Americans, isn't it? Like the United States was founded on the idea of personal independence for most people at the time, not all. But it was wrong that the tyrant King George was gonna tax us on the tea that we made. Come on. We deserved a voice. We did, right? We deserved independence, we did. Those things can still be true for our country, but taxation uh without representation can still be theft. And yet, while we belong to one of maybe one of the greatest nations in the history of the world, she is flawed. Can we agree on that? She has holes and she is broken. And if you don't like me calling her her, he has flaws. How about that? And while we are not loyal to the United States first, just like we were not loyal to King George, we are not loyal to our president or governor first. We are loyal to kingdom that is greater than this world, the kingdom of God. You submit where you can without disobeying scripture. Submission, though, can mean suffering. It's real. Now let me just say, for some of you, I know that having two services has been difficult for you. And I'm sorry for that. But there is a reason why we have two services, isn't there? Um, for some of you who are volunteers, it's more taxing, and I get that. Um, but we don't suffer for no good reason. Why do we do it? We want to make room so others will glorify God. There was no room in our kids' area, there was no room in our parking lot, there was barely any room in this room. Now we have room again. And if it's suffering, it's suffering so someone might come to know God. That's why we do this. It's an act of submission to God, knowing that we have our own needs, but we want to submit them to God first. The reason we do this as a church, the reason we bring kids candy, the reason we throw Easter egg hunts is we want people who are far from God to be a part of his family. We want them to glorify God on the day he visits. But in the case of our text, um, it's people who are mean, rude, cruel that are in charge of us here. But why should we have to submit to these people who demand we do things differently? How about those teachers, kids at your school that make you do busy work because they're lazy? Do you submit to that? Yeah. Why submit? Because Jesus did. He chose sacrifice. He chose to submit when he didn't need to. He chose the most painful sacrifice in the most painful way. He was betrayed by his best friends in the world and he suffered. He is the example of suffering. Suffering anguish, like no one ever suffered. And he looked forward to the cross, he submitted himself to the cross. He wept and he sweated like drops of blood. He submitted himself to torture and death at the hands of the very people he was trying to save. You don't think he could have climbed off that cross? Of course he could have. Now read this act of submission moments before Jesus' arrest in Luke 22. It says he withdrew from them about a stone's throw down. And Jesus began to pray, Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me, cup of wrath, cup of suffering. And then he said, Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. See, Jesus is our example of submission. Jesus is our example of suffering because he loved us. That he was willing to die on the cross for you because he loved you. Because he wanted his enemies to be family. And then he showed that he had conquered sin and death when he rose again on the third day. Guys, if you have not given your life to Jesus, today is a good day to go about that. If you struggle to submit, today is a good day to look to the one who didn't need to submit but did it anyway. Jesus. That is the gospel. That is the good news. And the text continues in verse 21 just to describe it to you. For you were called to this because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. He did not commit sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When he was insulted, he did not insult in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that having died the sins, we might, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the shepherd and overseers of your souls. That is beautiful submission. Submission to God first, submission to the point of death. City life, church, and guests, I'm so glad you're here to hear this difficult message that honestly I hope it blessed you like it did me. There will be times as Jesus' followers that you will be hated. You'll be maligned and you'll be mistreated for your faith. But if Christians live lives of joyful sacrifice, modeled after Jesus' sacrificial love for his own murderers, God may still use us to melt icy hearts and cause some to glorify God. I hope together we can suffer well, submit to God, and anyone else in position of authority over us, so they may one day bend their knee to God in prayer. That is my hope. Now let us go together to God in prayer again. Let's pray.