Holding on to Hope -- 1 Peter 2: 18-25

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 while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if 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 entrusting 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 now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

I love the message of Peter. But, I have to admit that I didn't realize how much we'd be confronted with a 1st century message that we desperately need now.

I can't think of an idea considered more highly offensive than the one our text refers to today; submission. There were some new believers in the group Peter was addressing that though their new spiritual freedom exempted them also meant complete personal and political freedom. The verses we've read today demonstrate that we are called to submission as followers of Christ. We must to submit to our authority even when it is unjust or foolish.

Now, I don't want to get into what that looks like for each of us. However, I do want to address it, because we need to consider it. We've all dealt with bosses, maybe parents, political or church leaders that led unjustly or foolishly. Natural human tendency would push us to fight for our own way and to make our perspectives heard. Peter encouraged his readers to treat them with respect. Earlier this week, we learned that we could win some for Christ with that kind of submission. I believe Peter's point today is that we get a supernatural gift of grace when we choose to submit under the authority of Christ.

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus demonstrated this idea of submission as He chose to submit without even verbally arguing His case. He is our example. Often, I believe we don't want to remain quiet under our earthly authorities because we fear being taken advantage of, seeming weak, or looking foolish. Yet, Jesus' example of quiet submission demonstrated power rather than weakness. At any moment, He could have called down angels to rescue Him from the suffering. Because of His strength and trust in God, His Father, He held His tongue and took the mistreatment.

So, where is the hope in this passage, because this all seems overwhelmingly difficult in our society today? How do we remain hopeful when it's becoming harder and harder to look to Godly authority in our world? Our hope lies in a great Shepherd who did it perfectly here on earth but now sits in Heaven at the right hand of God watching over us. Sisters, He knows how hard it is to take the mistreatment or the injustice while remaining hopeful and steadfast. He understands how much we want to fight for our rights. The author of Hebrews says that He lives to intercede on our behalf, and Peter stated at the end of chapter two that He is the overseer of our soul.

Today, let's turn in strength (not weakness) to our overseer when we are tempted to fight for ourselves. The world needs to see that kind of trust and belief. We need to show them (and maybe ourselves) that we know our Great Shepherd is our ultimate authority.

Lord Jesus, You are our only hope! We need to find rest in You today. We need to completely surrender and submit to you so that we can demonstrate submission to our earthly leaders as well. Admittedly, this is a really difficult task to accomplish on this earth. Things seem so messy, and everyone has a different opinion about what we should say, what we should do, and how we should live within our communities. Great Shepherd, could You gently turn our eyes to You alone today. Make us to see what we need to see so that we can rest under Your authority. Amen.

You can click here to listen to 1 Peter 2 entirely.