Peter has just finished explaining that Jesus was the fulfillment of a prophetic, messianic predictions in Isaiah 8 and Isaiah 28. Jesus is the stone that builders have rejected, but is actually the cornerstone and foundation to our salvation. While his message is a stumbling block to those destined to reject the gospel, to us he is precious. We are now a people, we are now objects of God’s mercy, we are now a holy priesthood, set apart to do God’s will and to give him glory. So what does doing God’s will look like? Let’s read.

11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

As citizens of heaven and members of the body of believers, we are no longer people of this world. Our true home and our ultimate destination is to be in the presence of God. It’s a wonderful promise, but that also means we are foreigners and exiles here. We live in this world, but we aren’t of this world. There’s just something about this world that leaves us wanting more than the world can offer. Some people take a long time to realize this, chasing from one thrill to the next, one goal to another, “if I can get this, everything will fit into place” or; “once I am able to do that I will be happy”. The happiness is fleeting, and they bounce around like a ping pong ball. Living among people who are immersed in whatever the world is offering, can make us Christians feel a bit out of place. Didn’t Jesus say to seek first the Kingdom of God? Weren’t we taught contentment in whatever situation God has for us? We end up being in this world, but not focused on it. True followers of God, students of Christ soon realize that because we are not of the world and are longing for our true home with God, a part of us will never feel like we can truly fit in. Our values and the things that we find to be important are different than society at large. Sure we agree on basic rules, guidelines, parameters of what type of behavior is off limits, but for deeper questions on purpose, meaning, goals, motivations, we will never really synch with the rest of the world. Our desires should be to give God glory, which means exercising self control putting to death the lordship of our self, denying our selves and picking up the cross that God has placed before us. Sinful desires inflate the self, idolize the self. Gratifying the self and indulging the flesh is what wages war with our spirit. The Bible says the battle isnt against the flesh, but the desires of flesh are opposed to the desires of the Spirit.
If we fail to exert dominion over our flesh, we lose the ability to act in accordance to the purpose God has given to us.

To be a light to the world, to be a salt to the world, to make disciples of the nations. God gave us that purpose, and he gifted each of us with a supernatural ability to do good and show people love, forgiveness, and mercy. When you are among the pagans or unbelievers, you should live a good life and do good deeds. You should look differently, and because you don’t fit in with their wrongdoing it might make them feel bad about themselves, which may make them accuse you wrongly, Those gifts and our blameless conduct might make even pagans who accuse us wrongly eventually glorify God. And the other takeaway here is that nonbelievers may try to accuse you of doing wrong. but ultimately may also win them over to Gods Kingdom

13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.

Sometimes Christians take the idea of being exiles and foreigners on this earth and use that as a reason to ignore all Earthly authority. I am not a citizen of this place, what need do I have to play by their rules? Peter says to submit to human Authority. Some translations say to the king, some say to the emperor. There have been disputes that if you translate that word one way it supports a certain form of government or regime over another, but Peter’s message still says to submit to every human authority. He says you should submit to not just the head honcho, but also the governors and those below the top, but look at the end of verse 14, the authority you submit to should be a regime where people are being punished for doing wrong and commended for doing right. If a system of government or rule of law is not commending what’s right and punishing wrongdoing, remember this. The purpose of submitting to that authority is found in the first half of verse 13, is for the Lord’s sake. The reason to submit to a worldly authority is because that was put in place because of God’s authority. But the motivation to submit to authority matters, we want to submit for the Lord’s sake!

When we read Exodus, and we see the Israelites rejecting Moses authority, we understand that they were disobeying God. People sometimes retort, “well Israel was a theocracy back then. God put the leaders in charge of a holy nation. We are a secular nation and Humans have voted in the leaders.” While that’s true, we still have to acknowledge that God is sovereign and allows for governments to exist. In Peters’ time the Roman empire was not a friendly regime towards Christians or Jews. But Peter reminds us the purpose of Government; if the people in power are enforcing laws that generally agree with God’s commandments and punish transgressions or personal trespasses like stealing and assault and fraud you should have no fear from the Government. And the Government should have no fears of you! You as Christians should be easy to govern. But that’s true only if the government is one that functions in the role that God has given them, which is authority to punish wrongdoing. On the other hand, If your government is not punishing wrongdoing, or actively instructing you to break commandments or rewarding dishonoring God you as Christians might just become the least easy people to govern. And the reason you become a difficult people to govern is because the human “authority” is asking us to disobey the commands that our true sovereign, God, the ultimate Authority, is requiring of us. When a government advocates oppression or wrongdoing or violence that’s not intended to punish wrongdoing, you should be difficult to govern. Christians and people of faith determine that the Government is no longer performing the God given roles of punishing wrongdoing and commending those who do right. In General, when Christians seek opportunities to do good and help each other and build each other up, communities benefit, and the job of a fair and just government should be made much easier.

15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. 17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

Verse 15 is interesting if you unpack it a bit. God’s will is that we do good, which comes up frequently in the bible. We are called to do good, and we were predestined to do good works that were preordained for us. One of the reasons it’s God;s will for us to do good works is that by God’s church doing good, it will silence ignorant talk. Of course we do good things to bring God’s Kingdom to Earth, we like to bless others and help one another, and reflect God’s Glory to a fallen and lonely world. We can display God’s divine forgiveness and mercy by giving mercy and forgiving each other. We can demonstrate God’s patience by ourselves being patient. But Another reason to do good? To silence ignorant talk of fools! That’s a way to glorify God, silencing foolish talk! Any foolish people who speak out in ignorance against a church or a religious people will be silenced when they actually see our beneficial presence in the communities and in our neighborhoods. This is God’s will that our Good deeds will make fools look foolish. However, if fools speak out against us and we have no good works or deeds to show for our ‘faith’, now there’s a problem. We should reexamine whether our faith is genuine, whether our faith is alive, and whether our faith is glorifying to God. Verse 16 explains this, We have been made free from sin, if the Son sets you free, you are now free indeed.

We should be free, not free to sin but free from sin and free to serve God. Paul writes similar instruction when he says we shouldn’t use our freedom to indulge the sinful nature but to serve God. nPeter says live as God’s slaves, which is a word he will use later, but the word is Greek word for Bondservant. It’s a term that means you are in servitude to someone in an attempt to repay something that is beyond your ability to repay. Your labor and efforts are basically owned by someone else. We will come back to the idea of bondservant or slave in the next part. Peter says our conduct should be proper and show proper respect to all. Love one another, fear God with reverence, honor those who enforce Law, whether it’s an emperor, a king, an elected official, even a police officer. If they are punishing wrongdoing they deserve honor.

18 Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19 For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.

When we read this we see the terms slaves and masters, which might be a bit of a sticking point to a modern reader. There was slavery in the Bible but those were generally periods of work and repayment of debts. According to old testament law, between Jews, the period of that slavery should not extend beyond 7 years. At the time of writing, there was this type of slavery as well as slavery from birth. In Paul’s letters he recommends people attempt to buy themselves out of slavery or try to lawfully complete the period of work. But here Peter doesn’t condemn the instutition, in fact in verse 16 he compares our relationship to God as a bondservant or slave. He said we are made free from sin, but are captivated by God, and we should live as God’s slaves. When we read this it may be helpful to reinterpret it as employees should submit to their employers, or debtors submit to your creditors as you pay them back. The mention of slavery in this passage doesn’t support the 1700’s and 1800’s idea of lifelong slavery based on race or skin color. It does support turning the other cheek when you are suffer wrongdoing. We shouldn’t ignore the command Peter gives just because the particular relationship no longer exists. Peter explains that Christians should submit to others and endure harshness. He explains that when you submit, the reason for submission is because you are conscious of God. He says when you are treated harshly, or you get punished for doing something wrong, there is no credit or commendation. In that case, you are kind of reaping the thing you sow. And if you do something wrong that is worthy of punishment, it isn’t likely you are doing that wrong thing because you are conscious of God, or you did the wrongdoing to Glorify God.

When you endure some harshness or punishment, because that you had it coming there is no benefit. But if you endure something unjust, you are being punished for following God’s command instead of Man’s command. And suffering in that way is totally different than suffering for doing something wrong. He says if we suffer for doing the right thing we are commended before God. Suffering for doing good means we receive our reward or commendation from God himself instead of man. Other translations say that when we suffer for doing Good, it is a gracious thing in the sight of God! It’s A gracious thing to suffer for doing a good thing; it reflects God’s grace, If you get punished for doing the right thing, and you endure it, that means you become the peacemaker. You break that cycle of being wronged, wronging someone back, retaliation, retaliating against the retaliation and so on. We shouldn’t be a people who participate in endless feuds. When we endure unfairness, we actually reflect Gods glory. Why? We reflect the Glory of his son. Read on.

21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”[a]
23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

We were called to suffering for doing good and enduring that suffering. We tend to talk about being called for salvation or called to be people of God, called to Heaven which is all true. It is important to understand the nature of our salvation and how God calls us and we respond to his call. But we are also called and predestined to do good works, and now we read we’re called not just do the good works, but sometimes called to suffer for doing the Good works. When we read the bible we learn we have an expectation that sometimes doing the right thing and glorifying God will be thankless, or even worse, we will punished for it. The phrase, “No Good Deed goes unpunished,” comes to mind. That’s Murphy’s law, or a bit of a grim and tongue in cheek exaggeration. But yes, many good deeds aren’t appreciated. Jesus suffered without retaliating, he did no wrong, but found himself facing punishment and cruelty. We know Jesus was punished, Peter witnessed it, but Peter also reminded us that Jesus was sinless and his behavior followed what fulfilled the prophecy in Isaiah 53, which Peter quoted in verse 22 and also verses 24 and 25. He committed No Sin, had no deceit come from his mouth, yet he faced punishment. We know he endured suffering and did so with what can only be described as divine grace. In consciousness of God, he didn’t retaliate or threaten his abusers, although he had the power to do so. Instead, Jesus prayed that God forgive them. He didn’t take it upon himself to judge or to make things right. In the second half of verse 23 Peter says the reason he didn’t retaliate or threaten is he entrusted himself to God who judges justly. Think about that. When Jesus endured unfair suffering he was trusting that God was Just, he was trusting that God’s will was superior to his own desire to see justice, and in that trust, he submitted to God the Father’s ability to Judge. Retaliating would have demonstrate a lack of that trust in God’s ability and worthiness to judge. Just another example of the perfection of Christ. It’s an interesting aspect of Jesus obedience and worth thinking about. But it is even better than that. When Jesus endured suffering, he didn’t just do it to show us how to be peacemakers (although his suffering on the cross was the best demonstration of what a peacemaker does). He didn’t just do that because he thought that God could Judge better than he could (although Peter explains that his behavior demonstrated that he perfectly entrusted to God that role). His work on the cross was even bigger. Let’s Read on.

24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 25 For “you were like sheep going astray,”[b] but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

During last week’s Bible study at our church, our Pastor spoke about how the substitutionary sacrifices or substitutionary atonement in the Old Testament pointed toward Christ. Peter affirms this connection again referencing Isaiah 53. Jesus took our sin upon himself. When he became our sin, and died, we also died to our sins. We were made free from them and now can live for righteousness. Instead of just telling us to be slaves to God and to live righteously, Jesus made it possible through his work on the cross! The suffering he endured showed us how to endure suffering, it demonstrated his trust towards God’s judgement, it put to death our sin so we could live for righteousness! That means Jesus suffering was curative: by his wounds we were healed.. His suffering solved a problem that we had. When we read the Bible we understand that this problem we had was something we were unable to solve ourselves. We were a people who were like sheep going astray. That was our nature, we were unable to break free from the bondage or slavery of disobedience. We were dead in sin. We were enemies, but through this suffering, we were made friends. Because of Christ we can return to our Shepherd and Overseer of our souls