For the Lord’s Sake | 1 Peter 2:13-25 | Strength to Endure in a Watching World

What does faithful witness look like when submission and suffering collide?

In this week’s sermon from Living Hope, Pastor Mark explores 1 Peter 2:13–25 and what it means to live as gospel-shaped people in relationship to authority, injustice, and suffering. Peter calls Christians to honor those in authority—not because they are perfect, but because God is sovereign. Moreover, he calls us to endure unjust treatment by looking to Jesus, who suffered for us and left us an example to follow. This message challenges us to respond to hardship not with complaint but with grace and to trust in the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls.

You can find five days of devotions on this sermon here.

📖 Click to Show the Transcript of this Sermon

Thank you for joining us for this week's sermon from First Reformed Church in Edgerton, Minnesota. Each week, we dig into God's word, trusting that the Holy spirit will continue the good work of sanctification in us. One thing that's important for those who go into the military is to learn discipline. I think we've all known some young people who are going into the military, and we thought to ourselves, or maybe we said this out loud, they sure could use the discipline of the military. But, oh, boy, how is that going to go? Well, in most cases, at least in what I've observed, after serving For a while, these young men come home and we're impressed with how they've matured through the process. We know why this happens in the military. Discipline is absolutely essential. It all starts with the need to be able to follow orders. Soldiers need to be able to follow all of the orders, not just the ones that they feel like doing or the things that they agree with. A soldier has to follow every last order and obey it. When a superior officer gives direction, there isn't time to pause and debate whether or not it's the best idea.

There's not time to decide whether or not you feel like following the orders. A soldier needs to move. A soldier needs to follow the command, not because these orders are perfect, but because failing to do so can be catastrophic to the greater plan and the greater cause. Soldiers obey commands because they need to trust the structure that they're serving in and the one who is in charge of them. Now, we laugh and we even applaud characters in television shows like MASH when they disobey direct orders. It seems funny to us. But in the real world, we know that following orders is absolutely essential. And that usually might seem rather rigid to us because We want to be contemplative. We want to respect the autonomy of the individual. And we also live in a world and in a time where questioning authority is considered to be a virtuous norm. But in this passage, Peter calls believers to obedience. Now, it's not obedience to a military general. He says that this obedience is for the Lord God's sake. Essentially, what Peter is saying is that submitting to authority, even in the most difficult situations, it isn't about the person or the institution that is in front of you telling you what to do in that moment.

He is letting us know that it's about following God and saying that we can trust that God stands behind us and he goes before us. So he calls not to the following of human orders, but to follow Christ. Peter helps us see that this path of submission and suffering isn't just something Jesus walked before us. We see that it's the path that he walked for us as he carried our sins, as he healed our wounds, and he brings us home to God. As we come to this passage today, it's important that we understand the context. We have to look back at the last couple of verses that we saw last week. In light of being chosen as a people for God's own possession, we were called to abstain from the passions of the flesh, and we were called to live honorably before a watching and unbelieving world. Peter told us that this is a witness to the grace of God in our lives. It shows us that we have a trust in the hope that we have because Jesus has saved us. He also lets us know that this is a witness, that it may cause people to glorify God.

They may come to faith in the Lord Jesus because our Christian lives are a testimony to the grace of God. And so as we come to verses 13 through 17 here, Peter is going to show us what honorable conduct actually looks like. That's the context here of what we've read this morning. And we see here that it's difficult, and it's actually very countercultural. But he actually roots it in the truth of the gospel. We're told that we're going to be subject to every human institution. It goes even further than that. It is for the Lord's sake, he says. Peter clearly wants us to know that he is serious about this. When we go back to those previous verses we just looked at about living honorable lives, we don't usually think that this is what Peter is talking about. The sins that we think that we need to avoid, that we have our minds drawn to as we read what we read last week, is the stuff that falls under the sixth, seventh, and eighth Commandments, would be my guess. With the sixth commandment, we obviously understand that we should not murder. We also understand that anger falls under that command, and that is a bad witness to the world.

That's one of the places our minds go. Then with the seventh commandment, we obviously know that adultery is sinful, and all that Jesus taught regarding this command is something that we should strive to live for because it's a witness to a watching world. We get that. And it's the same with the commandment not to steal that we find in the eighth commandment. But I think we tend to forget about what a witness keeping the fifth commandment is to the world. Because we live in a time where it's natural to dishonor those in authority, especially if we disagree with them. We mock, we resist, we undermine those who are in positions of authority. I'm not just talking about high-profile people either. I think this happens at all levels to the point that I actually think we expect it. We expect people to dishonor authority. But Peter is showing us that showing respect is part of our witness to an unbelieving world. And his point isn't that the Emperor deserves it. His bigger point is that God deserves all respect and that we should honor those that he has placed in positions of authority over us. That's why he says it's for the Lord's sake, not for the sake of the Emperor, but for the Lord's sake.

What's interesting about this is that Peter calls these people to submission to authority in the midst of persecution. They are being wronged, and it's probably being allowed by the state. But still, what are they supposed to do? They are to submit the authorities and the powers. Despite what they're experiencing, Peter acknowledges that the authorities God puts in place serve a purpose. They provide order. They punish evil, and praise those who do good. Even when we disagree with a lot of what goes on in government at times, it's important that we acknowledge the truth that Peter is talking about here. The order that is established by authority is important. Despite what punk bands in the '80s advocated for, anarchy is not a good idea. It's not a good option. Society and culture need institutions. They need people in positions of authority to maintain order. And it's a means by which God restrains evil. And this is not to say that all institutions are inherently good because they're not. They're all far from perfect. It's never going to happen on this side of glory. But we understand that God ordains authority for a reason to restrain evil.

So as we close up this first section of the passage, we do so with an understanding that Peter isn't telling us to pretend that everything that those in positions of authority do and think it is righteous or even good. What he's wanting us to understand is that how we approach authority should reflect a trust in the providence of God. And that we put ourselves under authority because we understand that God is sovereign and that he is able to use even flawed institutions to maintain order in the world. This is what we call common grace, his grace to everyone, where he maintains order in the world. Peter reminds us that by doing good, we silence the ignorance of foolish people. And so by being good citizens, we silence a lot of accusations that the world might bring against us as believers. Even though we believe that Jesus is King and that his kingdom is not of this world, when we do what Peter is talking about here, we send a message to the world that this world does matter, that we're not, as Christians, we're not absent minded, thinking about the ethereal, and the world here doesn't matter at all.

When we do this, we're sending a message to the world that the stuff here matters. And when we are good, productive citizens, we're showing a trust in the sovereignty of the God. And we're showing that we're not just escapists who believe the world should just be left to its own devices until Jesus returns. That's not the Christian way. In fact, it's the exact opposite that. We believe that society and that culture matter because they're an avenue for bringing glory to God. They're an avenue for spreading the word for having the gospel go out to the world. Peter spells this out for us by telling us to live as free people, but don't use your freedom as a cover for evil. We are free in Christ, but this doesn't give us a license to do whatever we want. Our freedom helps us to be servants of God. We can honor everyone. We can love our fellow believers, and we can fear God, and we can also honor the Emperor. That doesn't mean That if the state tells us to sin, we follow the law of man instead of the law of God. That's not what Peter is implying.

What he is saying is that we strive to be good citizens, that we do this to live to the glory of God in the places where God has ordained us to be, avenues for his glory, servants to bring the gospel to the world. And so as we move on from here, there's a question for us to consider, and it's a hard one. Are we known more for grumbling against authority or for how we trust God in how we live under authority? Peter wants us to remember that the world is watching. And again, we're not talking about mindlessly accepting whatever happens in society, but we're talking about being respectfully engaged in the world and trusting in the sovereignty of God. While This is a big part of our passage for today. There's more to it than just how we respond to authority. Peter goes deeper, and it's even harder than just being respectful here. He talks about how to respond when we're treated unfairly. When we're being treated fine, it's okay and easy to have respect for authority, right? But Peter goes deeper than that. There will be times, and these people that he's writing to in 1 Peter are experiencing times when they are being treated thoroughly.

And so we see in verses 18 through 20 how we respond. We go from a really broad view of all of this to a focused one. From honoring empers, the big guy at the top that they'll never meet, to a very focused idea of respecting their master. The Emperor is someone they've only ever heard of. And now they're being asked to respect someone who is in front of them every day. They're not just to respect the authority out there somewhere, but also respect the authority that is tangibly right in front of their faces. Peter's focus on this respect goes to also showing respect to those who are unjust manners. Like I said, it's easy to honor a good boss, right? When the person you work for makes foolish decisions or they treat you poorly, it isn't so How easy to be respectful, is it? Peter calls these people here and us to honor and respect those masters, even in the face of suffering. For us in a society where it's pretty easy to switch jobs or even move to a different location, we can't really fully grasp how difficult what Peter is saying would have been for these people.

Because if we are treated poorly, we update our resume, we get it out there, we We do some interviews, and we move on. But Peter is talking to people who were enslaved and unable to find other employment opportunities. This was how the first century work. He calls these believers in this system to respect their masters no matter what. He makes a pretty easy to understand point here when he says, What credit is it to you if you sin and are beaten for it? If you're for something you did wrong, that's to be expected, right? But if they are good servants who act respectfully and they're treated poorly and they endure, we see it's a credit to them. He also lets them know that God sees them in the midst of this suffering. This draws back to the idea that living well before the Gentiles is a witness to them. They're called to obey their masters and respect them. This is a way in which they can witness to the grace that God has shown them in Christ. If they're treated poorly and respond in a gracious way, what happens? It opens the door for showing the grace that they have first been shown in Christ.

They can, in their lives, show that they are gracious to those who treat them poorly because God has first shown them mercy. As I said, their context is different there in the first century. But before we move on to the end of this passage, there's some application for us here today. How should we respond when we are treated unfairly? We know this can happen, whether it's at work, whether it's in our community or even in our own homes. Our natural response is to lash out, get even, or something as simple as complaining. That's just what we do. But Peter calls us to something different, to endure with our eyes on God. That quiet, gracious strength, let's admit it, that's rare. But it speaks loudly. God sees it, too. In fact, Peter says that he calls it a gracious thing. So may we pray to God to help us to not only endure hardships, but in the midst of them to be a witness to the grace of God. So as we move on to our final few verses for today, we see that Peter doesn't just tell us to suffer well. He points us to the one who suffered perfectly.

If we're going to humbly walk the path of patient endurance, we're going to need more than helpful advice. We're going to need to look to what our savior did and then desire to conform our lives to his example. Here we see that the suffering of Jesus was not just a substitutionary thing. It's also an example for us. We know that the work of Jesus accomplished our salvation. But It's also important that we desire to follow that example of humble obedience. That's what we see in the Lord Jesus, that he humbly suffered, and he did it for us. Peter here reminds us that he committed no sin. He was not deceitful, yet he suffered. In the face of that unjust punishment, he did not come at them with harsh words. Jesus didn't threaten his oppressors. If anyone ever would have been justified in speaking back at those oppressing them, it would have been Jesus. He not only had the right as a sinless man, because they were bringing false accusations against him, but he also had the authority to do it as God the Son. Still, he trusted in God that he would justly judge. The injustice is committed against Jesus, he knew they would not go unpunished.

This is an example for us. This is why Peter points us to the cross when he says that Jesus himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. This Peter brings us to the gospel, and he reminds us that what happened to the cross wasn't just an unfortunate event where a wise teacher was executed for teaching people to be nice. What took place on that tree was Jesus bearing the wrath of God for our sin. He's the one who sets us free and has made us a people for his own possession. The point of all that Peter has been saying here is it to tell to try harder, to be better, more moral citizens, and to suffer quietly, to avoid making the persecution worse. Instead, we see that there is a great and high calling for us as the people of God to live to the glory of God because we have been rescued from sin, death, and hell. This is why Peter calls on Isaiah 53 to remind us that it is by the wounds of Jesus that we've been healed. Our greatest issue is not the suffering that we might have to endure throughout our lives.

The greatest issue is that we were born dead in truspenses and sins and we needed to be redeemed. We needed to be bought out of our slavery to sin. No issue that we face is greater than that. We were straying like sheep. We were completely lost and unable to find our way. But we have been returned to God by the work of Christ. He is our shepherd, our guide, the overseer of our souls. And this is why we can endure everything that we face in this life, because our greatest issue has been taken care of by the work of Jesus. As children of God, we can trust that our sins have been forgiven and look to how that was accomplished as a way in which we can endure anything we face. So here's what it comes down to for us as believers looking to apply this passage in 2025. When we find it hard to submit to authority and endure hardship, we need to remember that this isn't possible by our own strength. That's why we need to turn to Jesus. He walked this road before us, and he walks it with us. He is our shepherd, our overseer.

He keeps us no matter what we are called to endure in this life. So as we close close up today, I want you to think for a second. I want you to dwell on this. Where does this passage hit home for you today? Because as 21st century people, we are going to naturally struggle with those in authority over us. It's just how we're wired. We live in a time where we are incredibly focused on the individual, and we have an ever-increasing distaste for those who are in positions of authority. I'm not suggesting that we can't disagree or have opinions about what is happening in the world. That's not at all what I'm saying. What I'm asking us to consider is how can you do those things with respect for those in positions of authority? Because in a world filled with this respect, that can be a strong witness to our trust in the sovereignty of God, that he is in control, and that because he has shown us mercy, we trust him over everything else. You and I are not called to endure because the world is fair, and so we need to get in line.

We're called to endure because God is sovereign and he is good, because we belong to our faithful savior, Jesus Christ. He has already taken on our greatest burden, and now he is walking beside us as a shepherd and overseer of our souls in the midst of any hardships we face. And the world will not understand us if we live with endurance and with respect. And it definitely won't applaud us for having respect for those in authority But God sees, and it's a gracious thing in his sight. So as Christians, may our speech and our submission point not to our strength, that we're a good person for doing this, but may it point to our savior who suffered to us, who gave us the example. And may our lives be shaped by his grace in all that we do. And may it be clear to a watching world that we're followers of Jesus, the one who humbly went to the cross to save a people for himself. Let us pray. Great and merciful God, we thank you for the gift your word, that you let us know that we will face hardship in this life. And as we do that, we pray that we would look to Jesus as our example, that we would endure hardship with humility just as he did, and that we would look to the work that was accomplished for us, the salvation that we have in Jesus as we live in all areas of our life.

We pray that in a world that is watching, we we would be seen as those who are faithful to the one who is first faithful to us. It's in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Thank you for joining us for this week's sermon. For more information about First Reformed Church, head to our Facebook page or website, edgertonfrc.org.