Keys of The Kingdom 7 - The Suffering of Submission

Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: "Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth"; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:18-25)

Nobody likes to submit—especially to those who treat us harshly—yet that is exactly what Christ both commands and models for us.

The Confession at Caesarea Philippi

I often find it hard to read the narratives of Scripture without picturing how they might play out in film. One I've referenced several times in this series is recorded in Matthew 16, set against Mount Hermon in the north of Israel, before a hundred-foot red rock cliff, surrounded by pagan idolatry at a place called Caesarea Philippi. There, amid the sights, sounds, and smells of worship offered to Pan, Zeus, and Nemesis, Jesus asked His disciples a crucial question.

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"

Some said John the Baptist, some Elijah, some Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Then Jesus moved from the general to the specific: "Who do you say that I am?" And Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." This was divine inspiration. A young Jewish fisherman, probably in his mid-twenties, declared the bedrock truth of the Christian faith—that Jesus is the Messiah, God incarnate.

Words Spoken Without Fully Grasping Them

Jesus responded, "Simon, son of Jonah, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." Now, men often have a tendency to say things without fully acknowledging what we're saying. I think Peter wasn't fully aware of what he was declaring; God simply spoke through him, and Peter may have been hearing those words for the first time, just as the other eleven were.

We cannot grasp, sitting here in the twenty-first-century Western world, what "You are the Messiah" meant to a first-century Jewish man. Those words carried enormous weight: no more oppression, victory and conquest, a glorious new kingdom, no more Roman occupation, no more taxes to Rome, no more subjugation to foreign powers—no more submission.

The Keys of the Kingdom

As those words lingered, Jesus said, "Blessed are you... on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Peter said, "You're the Messiah," and Jesus affirmed it. When religious leaders came to John the Baptist in John 1, he immediately declared, "I am not the Christ." But here, Peter says it of Jesus, and Jesus says, "That's right."

You can sense the hearts of Peter, James, John, and the others lighting up. Not only does Jesus affirm He is Messiah, He now talks of giving them the keys of the kingdom—the very thing they longed for. Then comes verse 20: "He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ." Wait—this is what we've all been waiting for. Why shouldn't we tell anyone?

"This Shall Not Happen to You"

From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed. Suffering and death simply did not fit their equation of kingdom, binding, and loosing.

Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!"

Picture it: Peter grabs Jesus, pulls Him aside, and says, "No, Lord, this will not happen to You." And this is the same Peter who later writes, "Servants, be submissive to your masters." Jesus's response is staggering: "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." How does a man go from being the instrument through whom God speaks to speaking for Satan in less than five minutes? Spend an afternoon with me after a Sunday and you'll see exactly how it happens. We are carnal, fallen, easily influenced by our own sinful nature and by our adversary the devil.

Total Abandonment of Self

Immediately Jesus turned to His disciples and said, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." In the first-century Roman world, if you saw a man carrying a cross outside the city, you knew one thing for certain—he wasn't coming back.

Jesus requires the total abandonment of self. And the abandonment of self is evidenced in how I live and how I respond to those around me, especially those over me. Put another way: how I respond to the authority in my life will reveal the degree to which I am submitted to Jesus.

Submission Even to the Harsh

This brings us to 1 Peter 2:18: "Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear." Submission is a concept every human being repudiates at the deepest level of our being. We hate the idea of being under anyone's authority, and we see it from the youngest of ages—my four children give me plenty of test cases. Even before children can speak, they vocalize their hatred of submission with loud, shrill shrieks.

The word "servant" here is used only about four times in the New Testament. It speaks of a domestic servant who lives in the same house and works closely with the master—not slavery as we picture it from our own nation's history. Slavery in the first-century Roman world was more like modern employment. So we could read this: "Employees, be submissive to your employers with all reverence." Simple to understand, incredibly difficult to apply—especially when Peter adds, "not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh."

I can conjure up respect and compliance toward someone who treats me with mutual respect. It's easy to honor someone honorable. But someone harsh, crooked, perverse, or unfair? Don't count on it. Yet Peter says, submit even to the harsh. This teaches us that submission is not dependent upon circumstance. As a Christian I'm not afforded the luxury of a litmus test—an "if they're nice, if they respect me, then I'll obey" algorithm. It is not situational.

"But What About...?"

Last week I left an open-ended, frustrating question hanging in the air, one I didn't even need to verbalize—because you instantly thought it. More people came to talk to me after that message than ever before, five or six at each service, and the first words out were always, "But what about...?" When is there a time I should not submit?

The Scriptures do clearly articulate times when we say, "We will not comply." But Peter doesn't address that here at all, so I won't go there yet. He simply presents the teaching: as a follower of Jesus, you're called to comply with earthly authority even when the government is insane—as it was when Peter wrote—and even when your employer is harsh.

Why Submit? God Is Pleased

Why? "For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God." The suffering in view is suffering as a Christian, for your witness, under a boss who dislikes Christ and therefore dislikes you.

The New Living Translation says, "God is pleased when you do what you know is right and patiently endure unfair treatment for doing what is right. Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong." If you get in trouble because you're an idiot, there's no commendation from heaven. I've had people come to me in tears about persecution at work, and when I ask questions, it turns out they took breaks early to read the Bible and skipped out an hour early for a church event. No, they're not persecuting you—do your job. But if you're suffering because you're walking in integrity and honesty as a representative of Jesus, that suffering is commendable.

God Will Reward Our Submissive Suffering

The word "commendable" is the same word often translated "grace," and it speaks of a future reward. God will reward our submissive suffering. Paul put it this way: "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18).

Our finite minds will never grasp the length of eternity or the joys awaiting us. But if you weighed any suffering in this life against eternity, you'd realize it's a minor irritation by comparison. So Jesus says, bear up under the minor irritation—it's nothing—and you will receive a reward so great. One writer said it is easier to suffer in silence if you are sure someone is watching, and you can be sure God in heaven is watching. I look forward to hearing, "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord."

Called—and Ordained—to Suffer

"For to this you were called." The word "called" could also be translated "ordained." God has ordained that you, as a follower of Jesus in a world against Jesus, will experience suffering for His name. The evangelist may not have mentioned that when he said, "Come pray this prayer"—but the Scriptures do.

Paul writes in Philippians 1:29, "For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake." Suffering is presented as a gift. Who would count it as a gift? The early apostles did. In Acts 5, after being beaten for their witness, "they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name."

The Beatitude Behind the Rejoicing

Why would anyone rejoice at suffering? There's only one possible answer, and I think it's found in the Sermon on the Mount.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:10-12)

"Blessed" means "Oh, how happy." There's serious cognitive dissonance here—how could anyone be happy in persecution? The reason is the reward on the other side of suffering. The early apostles were thoroughly convinced of it.

The Example and Ethic of Jesus

The Scriptures point us not only to the apostles but to Jesus Himself: "For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us." How could He face unjust leadership and willingly submit? Hebrews 12 tells us that "for the joy that was set before Him He endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." He was looking forward to a reward.

So Peter says Christ left us "an example, that you should follow His steps." That word "should" reveals an ethical response. You could fight for your rights; but here's what you should do—follow the example and ethic of Jesus's suffering and submission.

How Jesus Walked

The example is laid out in verses 22-23. First, He "committed no sin"—you should walk in righteousness, doing the right thing every time, no questions asked. Second, no "deceit was found in His mouth"—you shouldn't speak evil against the government or the employer over you. Jesus never did. Third, "when He was reviled, He did not revile in return"—He didn't defend Himself, though we have such a hard time with that. Fourth, "when He suffered, He did not threaten"—though He had twelve legions of angels behind Him, He made no threats. And finally, He "committed Himself to Him who judges righteously," placing Himself wholly in the hands of God: "Father, You will judge; vengeance is Yours, You will repay." It's not my job to step into the position of God's vengeance.

Jesus faced suffering with righteous submission. I have no problem admitting there is no possible way I can do this in my own strength, and neither can you. It's supernatural.

Jesus Unjustly Suffered as a Sacrificial Act

Why did Jesus do this? "Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed." He was completely righteous; He'd done nothing wrong. Yet He was brutally beaten, cursed, mocked, shamed, stripped naked, and hung on a cross. He took all of my failings and yours upon Himself and bore the punishment with no retaliation, no defense, no threatening.

I get angry when I'm simply misunderstood. I want to retaliate at the slightest negative word against me. And Jesus, who did nothing wrong, took it willingly. Jesus unjustly suffered as a sacrificial act. "For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls."

The Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53

Peter is quoting Isaiah, written about 700 years before Jesus came.

He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief... Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows... He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter... (Isaiah 53)

Paul looks at all this and writes in Philippians 2: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God... made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant... He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow... and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." He willingly submitted to the unjust suffering imposed upon Him—for my sin, for yours. That is the good news of the gospel, and if you are a recipient of it, that is the example we should follow.

When May I Not Comply?

In my flesh I still ask, "But what about—when may I stand up for my rights as an American?" When may I do what my nature wants anyway? Jesus said whoever desires to follow Him will take up his cross, deny himself, and follow. But to answer the question: if you are commanded to do something against conscience or Scripture—something immoral, illegal, or unethical—you can say, as the apostles did in Acts 5, "We ought to obey God rather than men."

But understand: they got beaten, and every one of them was eventually put to death—because they were still submitted to the consequence. There is a time to stand and say, "We will obey God and not man," but there may be an associated consequence, and the early apostles did not fight against it. When they entered eternity, I guarantee they heard, "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord," and in that moment the sufferings of this present world were not worthy to be compared with the glory revealed in them. Oh, that I could set my mind on things above, and not on the things of this earth.

Closing Prayer

Father, this is a hard truth and a hard teaching for us. We are unable, by our own natural fallen selves, to do what You've called us to do. Your Word is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, and a passage like this cuts deep and reveals the thoughts and intents of our hearts that are not in line with what You call us to. Would You enable us this week, by Your power and strength, to do what You've called us to do—all for the purpose of proclaiming the praises of You, our Lord, who called us out of darkness into Your marvelous light. We praise You and thank You for the power You give us by Your Spirit to do that which is truly supernatural. Enable us this week, we pray in Jesus's name. Amen.