Citizens and Employees, 1 Peter 2
Updated: Aug 28
Citizens and Employees
John Beeson
1 Peter 2
But if you only knew. But if you only knew how corrupt the government is. If you only knew how stupid that legislation is. But if you only knew how that politician is in the pockets of that corporation. But if you only knew.
But if you only knew how abusive politics my boss is. But if you only knew how greedy the
corporation I work for is. But if you only knew how toxic the workplace I work in is. But if you
only knew. That little phrase can include truth in it, and yet there's a danger there in letting
our hearts off the hook of God's hard commands for us in our text today.
Now let me just tell you up front, there's going to be a caveat as we apply God's word to the
government and to our workplaces. At the Inn, there are caveats to what we're about to say.
But we also want to hear the full force of the scripture that's going to come to us today.
Peter is going to tell us that our call is to lay down our rights, to put aside our rights, so that
Christ may be glorified as citizens and employees. And can we just be honest that that is
really hard for anyone, and it's especially hard for us as Americans.
Deep in our hearts is a self knowledge, a self understanding. It's not even necessarily bad
that we, each one of us knows the rights that we have, the rights we have to be treated well,
the rights we have to be respected. But Peter is going to tell us to lay those aside as citizens
and employees. Peter's writing a manual to us about how to live as strangers, as aliens, as
exiles. So our homeland is heaven and we are living in this world as exiles.
And so he's giving us a manual for how to live. And that's his point in the passage is you're
gonna be living in a culture that tells you have rights to stand up for your rights to stand
up for what you deserve.
But I want you to set all that aside and I want you to gaze on Jesus who did not claim his
rights, but laid them aside and gave himself sacrificially to serve others. So at the heart of
the passage, in fact at the heart of his whole letter, is a gaze specifically on the Gospel. And
so we're going to start there and then we'll back up through the passage. But we're in first
Peter, chapter two. We're going to begin in verse 21.
For to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, because Christ also
suffered for you, leaving you an example. So that you might follow in his steps. Now just
pause there. He's bringing up the gospel. He's saying, jesus Christ gave his life for you.
And we can all shout amen and hallelujah. The only holiness we have is because Jesus
gave his life for us. The only way our sin is forgiven is because Jesus gave his life for us. The
only righteousness we have is because Jesus gave his life for us. He's saying, jesus gave his
life for us, and that is a grand glory of the gospel.
But it doesn't stop there. He gave his life for us as an example that we would follow in his
steps so that we, like Jesus, would live sacrificial lives, setting aside rights and privileges to
serve others. And the passage goes on. He committed no sin. Neither was deceit found in
his mouth.
He was sinless. In fact, if there's anyone in the face of the earth that has the right to say, I
want what I deserve, that's Jesus. We ought to be a little leery of any human being who
says, I want what I deserve.
Do we really want to gaze into the face of God and say, give me what I deserve?
Then the passage just gets sharp. Verse 23. 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 are straying like sheep, but have now returned
to the shepherd and the overseer of your souls. We oftentimes think of the gospel as the
very beginning of the Christian life, the very beginning of the Christian story. And in a sense,
the gospel is a significant part of the beginning. But it's not the beginning. It's the beginning
and the middle and the end.
We cannot live the Christian life today without the gospel. We cannot be exiles without the
gospel. We cannot live as Christians in the United States of America without the gospel
flowing through our veins. That we, on a moment by moment basis, as we interact with
government, as we interact with employers. The passage goes on to interact at home
without the gospel of the one who set aside rights and privileges to sacrifice his life for the
good of others.
The gospel changes everything. We believe that in our core, it doesn't just change a
destination, it doesn't just change an identity. It changes actually the way in which we live,
the way in which we walk. The gospel changes as. And at the center of this letter is this
Picture of Jesus Christ.
And Peter wants us to make sure that in whatever circumstance, we're constantly looking
back to Jesus Christ. Today as citizens, as employees, next week, as in the context of
marriage, look to Jesus Christ. Look to Jesus Christ. So let's go back to the beginning of the
passage and we're going to begin with his application of a picture of Jesus in the context of
our relationship to the government, to our life as citizens. Starting in verse 13, Peter says
this.
Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be the emperor as
supreme or to the governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those
who do good. Peter says God is sovereign. Whoever our authority is there. God didn't lose,
didn't fall asleep at the wheel. To every human institution, to every human leader, Honor
them, treat them with respect.
Now, again, for so many of us, it's the. But, but if only you knew. Let's not forget the context
Peter is writing this letter in. Peter's writing in Rome. He's writing likely in the early 60s A.D.
he's writing this letter to churches that are being persecuted by the worst governor, I mean
Emperor Caesar over in the history of Rome.
His name is Nero. Nero, you might know that name. There's a picture of him. There's a bust.
Every time you find a picture of him, he has the same haircut.
He liked himself some chops, I guess. So this is Nero. Nero is absolutely the worst emperor
in the history of Rome. Likely. If you were to do a world history of the Mount Rushmore of
most evil leaders in the history of the world, it's likely Nero would make that Mount
Rushmore.
He was a depraved man. He's wicked in his sexual appetites, wicked in his greed, wicked in
his pride, wicked in his vindictiveness, wicked in his lies that he spread, for instance, 68 AD.
So this is a few years after this letter is written.
Rome burns. Significant portion of Rome burns to the ground. Most historians believe Nero
set that fire. Why would Nero set fire his own city? Because likely he wanted a bigger
palace.
And so he torched the city, killing people so that he could claim and expand his own
palace. Well, it turns out the citizens of Rome were not too happy with their homes being
burnt down. And so Nero points the finger on a scapegoat that had been a scapegoat
throughout his reign. The Christians. The Christians.
Christians who he had already sewn up into the skins of animals and thrown into the
gladiatorial arena. Spectacles for Rome, Christians whom he had already crucified.
Christians now hang as burning lamp posts in his palace out of spite hatred. It's under
Nero's reign that Peter pens these words. Be subject to every human institution, Peter says,
even Nero.
He continues in verse 15 saying this, for this is the will of God, that by doing good you
should put to silence the end ignorance of foolish people. Peter just takes it for granted that
lies about Christians are going to abound, that there's going to be slander and gossip, and
that our response is to live holy lives as unto the Lord, to live lives that reflect our Savior
Jesus Christ in this world.
Paul has a similar metaphor, Peter's metaphor that we've heard. This identity that he calls
us into is as elect exiles in a foreign land. Paul loves to use this other similar related
metaphor that we are ambassadors, that we are those who are sent from a foreign kingdom
by a foreign king to live in foreign soil and in that soil to do good, to love the land that we're
living in, to do good for that land. But to represent the true kingdom that we are citizens of,
the message has to be reflected by the messenger. Peter says we can't just speak the
gospel, speak the hope of Jesus Christ.
We have to then live that out, even if there are significant consequences to that. Live out
the gospel as exiles, Peter says. As ambassadors. Paul will say, for the King of kings and the
Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ.
You could easily say, well, that politician doesn't deserve honor. To which Peter's reply
would be, but Jesus does. And it's because of Jesus that you're honoring. Here the passage
continues to unfold with a metaphor of being a slave of God. Verse 16.
Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but living as
servants of God. Now the word servants here of God is doulos in Greek. It's oftentimes
translated slave or bondservant or servant. It's the same word that he goes to when he talks
employees of servants and masters. He's saying, yes, you're free, you're free, but you're
free, not free of Rome or free of America.
If you say you're not just free of things, you are free because you are subject to a king. Lord,
you are free because you are a slave of God's. So don't use your freedom to do evil, thinking
that is you are a slave of God's, and in that context use the freedom God gives you to do
good. Then the passage gets a little bit practical into verse 17. Honor everyone.
Love the brotherhood, Fear God. Honor the emperor. Honor the emperor. Now, you and I
live in an age in which we don't honor much as a culture. We live in an age in which we
question authority.
I think the threshold was Vietnam, that once upon a time, if a student said something about
a teacher, you just naturally assume the teacher is in the right and your student needs to go
some sanctification process in their life.
That's that. If a statement was made about a church leader, you just assume the church
leader is right and the person saying it is walking in slander. That if something is said about
a government official, you would assume that they were doing the best they could for the
country with nobility. Now I see bumper stickers on a regular basis that are vile in how they
tear down.
They don't critique a policy, they critique and attack a person.
Peter says, no, no way. Let me ask you a question this way. Now I'm going to get a little
political for a moment. I don't expect an answer to this question. I don't want you raising
hands or verbally responding.
Please don't, please don't. But my question would be, do you honor President Trump?
Do you honor him? That's challenging for some, easy for others.
Let me rephrase it a different way. Do you honor President Biden? Did you in office and do
you now out of office honor?
You could pause, say, well, okay, like what does honor mean? Quick definition of honor. I'm
gonna put two nuances to honor. One is a posture of respect. A posture of respect.
It's not just words. I can't, like, honor is in words, it's in attitudes, it's in a lot of things. But
we all know like, you could make some kind of law of. It's gotta be these kinds of words. The
problem with words is you can say thank you so much for doing what you do.
And you can say, oh, thank you so much for doing what you do.
So it's not just words, a posture of respect.
And secondly, it is purposing their good, pursuing their good. How can I make their lives as
leaders easier, better? How can I serve them? How can I come alongside them? How can I
lift them up?
How can I pursue their good?
Do we honor if we tend to honor those that we agree with more and not honor others?
We're not honoring.
Honoring those who you agree with is just a form of self worship and idolatry of your own
rights.
Peter is saying we gaze on Jesus here. The standard is at A whole other plane. And it is
setting aside our rights, setting aside our privileges to honor. Now, again, there's some
caveats to this. We'll get to those at the end, but we cannot miss the teeth of the passage.
So strong.
Honor everyone, honor the emperor. And then he turns from government to employment.
Verse 18. Servants. It's the same word used earlier that we are servants of God.
Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but
also to the unjust.
Now, we don't use servants and master language very often talking of any kind of
employment. It has a slavery tone to it. A couple of nuances here. First, oftentimes we
immediately filter that through the sinful practice of our own American history, with slavery
not justifying anything. I'm just saying this is different than that.
This is not a racial slavery. It's common to be a slave in Rome, 25% of the population. You
give yourself as a bondservant to make wages, to bring home finances and provide for your
family. So it's common to be a slave. But do you hear the language he's saying in this
environment, as a servant and a master, be with all respect not only to the good and gentle,
but also to the unjust.
Show respect to the good and gentle, it's easy. And show respect to the unjust, not so easy.
A little pre. Caveat. Caveat here.
Note that this passage is written for those under right. It's not written to the slave master.
It's not written to the politician. The words that Peter would say would not let that person
off the hook from being godly in that office. They need gospel too.
Yeah, the sacrificial in that office. Actually, you actually go to Philemon word to a slave
master there. If you want to kind of see the gospel being applied in that context, you can go
back to the Old Testament and see hard words to those in government authority. But here
it's what if you don't have a position of authority? What if you are under.
How do you live then? You live shaped by the presence, by the character, by the heart of
Jesus Christ who released his rights for the glory of God. He continues reflecting on this
employee employer relationship in verse 19. For this is a gracious thing. When mindful of
God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.
What credit is it if when you sin, you are beaten for it, and you 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. In other words, like, don't mark down those occasions in which you were
disobedient, which you broke policy willfully and with a lack of integrity and righteousness
in your workplace, and you got your hand slapped. It's not a credit to Jesus Christ.
It's just a consequence of sin. No, no. There's a time and a way in which you will live out
your calling. Peter says, as a citizen and in the workplace here, where you are living under
injustice and doing good then costs you dearly. And that is the glory of Jesus Christ.
I don't know if anybody here is like me. Like, injustice is like an issue for me. It's like a
button. I can deal with unkindness and gossip, and to me, that kind of stuff. I can navigate
that kind of stuff.
But you hit injustice and like, I flare.
And Peter says to me, and to those of you who struggle with that, hold on, be careful. You
are not the arbiter of justice. God is. And as you navigate that injustice, do so with the heart
of. Of Christ.
My heart, my hope for you is that you have healthy and whole workplaces that treat you.
You have bosses that treat you with dignity. You have workplaces that you are, like, locked
in on the purpose and vision of what that workplace is. I hope that's your circumstance. But
I know that some of you are not in those workplaces.
You work for disrespectful, abusive bosses. You work in toxic work environments where
gossip is the norm. You look for companies whose mission appears to be not much more
than filling their own pockets. And Peter says to you, look to Jesus Christ in the middle of
that injustice. Be a light, do good, walk with integrity, avoid gossip, build up honor, honor.
And then he continues with this picture of Jesus Christ, verses 21 to 25 that Greg has
already read. That picture stands really in the middle of these three applications as citizens
here as employees. Next week we'll talk about this in the terms of husband and wife
relationships. And I don't want to read that whole section for you, but I want to read one
line for us, verse 23, to remind us of the heart of Jesus Christ. In the middle of this, Peter
says this.
When he, Jesus was reviled, he did not revile. In return, when he suffered, he did not
threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. Jesus lived a life of
obedience and righteousness. And in the middle of that, he was reviled and slandered and
unjustly treated absolutely at the cross. But you go through his Life.
That's not just the story of the final day of his life. That's the story of his life. And Peter says
so you too sow me. Walk in the pattern of Christ and reflect his gospel in your workplaces.
Hi, my name is Greg, and this is hard.
Jesus knew it. Father, take this cup from me. If there's any other way, Peter knew it. It's not
just writing under Nero. Peter was killed by Nero.
He gave up his life by Nero.
This is a hard. A hard teaching. We are trained in today's world to question authority.
When I was a kid, be at a political parade, fourth of July parade, governor would come down
Main street, boy, howdy, hat was off. You were standing tall. Didn't matter who it was today,
banners, cuss words, you stupid throwing things.
We just think government officials are stupid. They're all crooks. They're all corrupt.
We think it all the way down the line of a friend who's a schoolteacher. They're on pins and
needles when it comes to talking with parents. There was a day that if your child brought up
something about the teacher, you assumed the teacher was right. That day has long since
passed. If there's something going on in class and that teacher is getting together with
parents, they are prepared that they are going to get chewed out because they're stupid.
They're the ones that are wrong. The kid is right.
Peter's really telling us we. We don't get to assume the worst over there. You hear it on every
level. Those school boards, they're so stupid that hoa. They're so stupid.
Local government, they're so stupid. Boy, if I was just in charge, I would do everything right.
No, no.
Peter calls us to honor.
Not because they're inherently worthy, but because Christ is. And in Christ, we bring honor
here, that's a hard call, but it's the one he gives us. It's the one we have to wrestle with. In
an age that tears down with personal attacks, he calls us to it. Government employment
and home.
Home. We separated out. We'll do that next week. With all the abuses in church history
between husbands and wives, thought that deserves its own week to talk about what does
a mutual submission and a Christlike attitude look like there?
That's the simple foundation of this whole thing.
Where do we go with this? We gaze on Jesus and we sacrificially give our lives as he did. But
if you. If you only knew just how corrupt that politician is. But if you.
If you only knew how abusive my boss is.
We're about to step in the caveats. And as we do so, I just want to encourage us to check
our hearts even in these caveats, because our tendency, every one of us is going to be like,
oh, that's my loophole.
Sneak through the honor loophole that way. All right, what are the loopholes in both
circumstances with the government and with your employer? You, if you are a follower of
Jesus Christ, you are called to follow him and his word for you. So if the government, if your
employer forbids you to do what God commands, then you obey God. If your government or
your employer commands you to do what God forbids, then.
Then you object. Now, you still do so. With honor. With honor. Now, what about those areas
in which we have deep concerns about the government, about the way in which they're
comporting themselves, about the injustice in which it's being perpetuated by our
government and its officials?
Am I allowed to speak out? Yes. With honor. With honor. So would we check ourselves, filter
ourselves to do so with honor.
I've heard those in the military say that in the military you're taught that you. You respect
the office, you respect the position, even if you don't respect the person. It's a good place
to start biblically. Although Peter is actually calling us past that. Honor the emperor, he
says, honor the person too.
Caveat with the government. Caveat in a workplace. So, you know, most of us have the
opportunity in America, praise God for this, to leave our jobs and to choose another job. Are
there circumstances in which the lack of integrity of your company, the toxicity of your
workplace, means you ought to hand in your resignation and work for someone else?
Absolutely.
Absolutely. But even if that's the case, a couple invitations. First. Seek God first on that. I'm
not telling you this isn't a thus saith the Lord, but the Lord actually might have you there on
purpose and intentionally so.
Seek the Lord. Seek counsel from others in your life as you pursue the Lord's leading in
that. And second, even if you go to the very last day, to the very last hour, may your
presence be a presence of honor, of integrity in the middle of injustice, of respect in the
middle of gossip, of humility, in the place of ego, would our presence be a presence of
honor for the glory of Jesus Christ? So are there caveats? Yes.
Yes. Called to honor God, first and foremost, we're called to follow him in conscience. And
yet in all these things, we are always called to honor.
Certainly there's caveats.
When my kids were little, I would prep them for a night with a babysitter. And I would kind of
go through the expectations that they are to follow that babysitter's instructions as mom
and dad didn't matter. You say, yes, sir. You say, yes, ma'. Am.
You follow what they say. And so if they get frustrated in the middle of dinner and it's not
going well, and they say, okay, dinner is over, I want you to go to your room, clean your
room, and we're going to bed. What do you say? You say, yes, sir or yes, ma', am. Okay, the
afternoon is not going well.
And they say, you know what? No dinner. We're cleaning our room, and we're going to bed.
What do you say? You say, yes, sir.
Yes, ma'. Am. Yes, ma'. Am. They say, you know what?
All right, I want you to beat up your little sister. All three of you beat up your little sister.
What do you say? Yes, sir.
You say, I'm sorry, sir. I'm sorry, ma'. Am. That would be disobeying a higher authority. We
obey God above all things.
Government, church, home, employer. No one can command us individually to disobey
God, or at least if they do, we obey God.
However, the teeth of this passage and the unfortunate reality of our culture is that we miss
this. It doesn't matter what news channel you watch. It doesn't matter what podcast you
seemingly are getting. There is dishonor all over the place in our culture. And Peter's call is
radical.
How do we apply this? We. We look to the shepherd. We look to Jesus who gave up his
rights, who held back his words. I frequently say, if.
If I was Jesus on the cross and people are looking up at me saying, oh, how cool are you?
Like, if you're such a big deal, why don't. Why don't you come down from there?
So I'm sorry. I would not be a good. That'd be it for them. I'd be like, I mean, the command
of the host of heavens behind him.
I wouldn't do well with that.
But he's our example. He's our model. And we set aside rights to sacrifice ourself to serve
others. So how can we do that? How can we serve others?
How can we serve our HOAs? How can we serve. Honor our school boards? How can we
serve. Honor our teachers and our principals?
How can we serve. Honor police officers and leaders in culture? Someone just told me
their husband was a part of a fourth of July parade down south in South Tucson, and it
happened to be border patrol. And I get it. But they went through and they were bombarded
with stuff being thrown at them.
They hooped and hollered for the fire truck, but they threw stuff they threw. I'm not. It's easy
to pick on them, pick on us.
Peter saying, no, no, no, no, no. This culture of standing up and using your freedoms to tear
down, it's done. You are a slave of God's and Jesus is your model, and you follow him. How
can we bring honor to those who are serving around us? How do we bring honor to our
politicians?
How do we bring honor, Honor to our leaders? How do we speak words of honor? How do
we disagree with policy without tearing down a person or slipping into disrespect?
As Christians, we ought to be the pinnacle of honor. We ought to infuse every station with
honor. Join the hoa, join the school board. Get involved the church leadership, government
leadership, civil leadership, all the way up. Get involved and infuse the culture with a
humility of Christ that is sacrificial in nature.
We gaze. We gaze upon our shepherd as citizens and we gaze upon him as employees. How
can we bring honor into our workplace? How can we pursue favor of bosses and
supervisors and co workers? How do we not tear down but build up and serve, setting aside
our rights, our privileges, to build others up?
Because that's what Jesus does. Would you pray with me, Lord? This is a. This is a hard
teaching. You can say culture is off track, but that's easy.
We're off track. Our own thoughts, our own attitudes.
Would you build us up to overflow with respect this week, to overflow with honor this week,
to build up those around us, help us set aside what we think are our own rights to walk in
the steps of Jesus and to serve in the precious name of Jesus. We pray. And everyone said
amen. Amen. Let's go ahead and stand as we sing.
