Keys of The Kingdom 7 - The Suffering of Submission

Nobody likes to submit. Nobody likes to have to yield to someone, especially when we're called upon to submit to someone we don't respect, who treats us wrong. Yet here in 1 Peter chapter 2, that's exactly what we're told to do: submit to those who are harsh.

Let's turn to 1 Peter chapter 2 and consider together how we could possibly remember the true essence of this teaching. Amen.

Good morning! You could do better. Good morning! I know you lost an hour, but it's all good. Would you open your Bibles and remain standing, please, to 1 Peter chapter 2? If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one.

We are continuing this week, as we did last week, talking about the wonderful topic of submission. You came back; it's awesome! Spring forward—what a lousy term! It sounds so optimistic.

Now, let's begin today in verse 18.

"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."

Father, as we look at this passage, we see that it is not incredibly difficult to understand, but...

Very hard to apply, and we pray, God, that you would give us supernatural ability. We believe that you indwell us by your Holy Spirit. So, we pray, Holy Spirit, that you would enable us to fulfill your word and to walk out these things this week. Lord, make us more like You. Transform us now by the renewing of our minds, that our minds and our hearts would be so changed that our lives would be affected. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said, "Amen." You can be seated.

Perhaps it is the influence of modern entertainment, but I find that many times when I read through the narratives of the Bible, I have a hard time not picturing in my mind what this would look like in film and how it would play out. The various narratives, the stories that we have, especially the one that is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 16, come to mind.

There, with the backdrop of Mount Hermon in the northern part of the nation of Israel, right before a hundred-foot-tall red rock cliff, amidst all kinds of pagan idolatry, there was a pantheon of gods that were worshipped at this place called Caesarea Philippi. The gods Pan, Zeus, and Nemesis were all part of the worship that was going on in that place. Jesus was there with His twelve apostles, enveloped by all the sights, sounds, and smells of that pagan worship.

Jesus asked His disciples an incredibly important question that is recorded in Matthew 16, verse 13. Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi and asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" Some of His disciples said, "Some say you are John the Baptist; some say Elijah; others say that you're Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

He then moved from the general, "Who do men say that I am?" to the very specific and individual, "Who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ."

The Son of the Living God, you are the Messiah, God incarnate. That's what it means: the Son of God has God's nature in human flesh. This was by divine inspiration. Jesus reveals to Peter that he said these words just as a young fisherman from Israel, a Jewish man probably in his mid-twenties. He declares the bedrock truth of the Christian faith: that Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed Christ, God in human flesh.

Jesus says, "Simon, son of Jonah, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven." This is divine inspiration. Now, ladies, you may not be able to identify with this guy, but I certainly can. Sometimes, guys have a tendency to say things without fully acknowledging what it is we're saying. It just comes out. None of the ladies, I'm sure, deal with that ever, but guys, on a pretty regular basis, just say things without being fully cognizant or aware of what we're saying.

In this instance, I think that Peter wasn't fully aware of what he was saying. As the other disciples were answering, "Well, some say you're Jeremiah; some say you're one of the prophets," Peter wasn't sitting there computing, "No, no, no, he's the Christ; he's the Son of God." When Jesus asked, "Well, who do you say?" Peter responded, "You're the Christ." I don't know; God just spoke through him, and without even registering what he was saying, I think Peter was probably hearing those words for the first time, just as the other eleven disciples were.

We cannot even begin to grasp, sitting here in the 21st-century Western world, what those words, "You are the Messiah, the God incarnate," would have meant to a young Jewish man in the first century there in Israel. Those words had so much weight to them. "You are the Messiah." For those guys hearing those words, Peter included, that meant no more oppression, that meant victory and conquest, that meant a glorious new kingdom, that meant no more Roman occupation, no more taxes to Rome. Amen! That meant no more subjugation.

Foreign powers that meant no more submission. You are the Christ, the Son of God. As those words lingered in the air, Jesus said, "Blessed are you, Peter. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom, 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 did not deny it. In fact, He affirmed that it was true. Now, when the religious leaders came to John the Baptist, it is recorded in the Gospel of John, chapter 1, that he was preaching and baptizing people in the wilderness. Without them ever asking the question, he immediately said, "I am not the Christ. Don't get it in your mind that I'm the Messiah. I am not the Messiah."

Now, here Peter says, "You're the Messiah," and Jesus says, "That's right." You can almost sense that the hearts of Peter, James, John, Bartholomew, Thomas, and all of those guys, even Judas, lit up. Not only does He say, "Yes, I am the Messiah," but now He says, "I'm going to give you the keys of the kingdom." That's what they wanted to hear.

Let's talk about the kingdom. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Yes, we love this idea of the kingdom. Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that Jesus was the Messiah. Wait, what? What do you mean we shouldn't tell anybody that you are the Messiah? This is what we've all been waiting for. This is what we've all been hoping for. Yes, we want to hear you talk about the kingdom. Yes, we want to go and see the kingdom come.

Immediately after He said, "Don't tell anybody this," we read in Matthew 16:21 that from that time, Jesus began to show His disciples that they must go up to Jerusalem. Yes, let's go to Jerusalem. You're the Messiah. Let's start this thing. Let's move this thing. It's time for the kingdom to come.

And suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed? No, that is not what we're doing. That is not on the agenda. What are you talking about? You're the Christ, the Son of the Living God. We're going to Jerusalem to start a kingdom and to get rid of the Romans. That's the plan, that's the mission, that's where we're going.

Well, we're going to Jerusalem, but we're going to Jerusalem. I'm going to suffer. No way! What do you mean you're going to suffer? That's not going to work with the kingdom. Binding and loosing doesn't fit in with the equation of suffering and death.

In Matthew 16:22, then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord! This shall not happen to You." There it is again. We're the guys who understand this without even thinking about it. He's speaking; this is coming out. He hasn't even acknowledged really what he's saying or what he's doing.

I mean, get this picture for a moment. There's Jesus with His disciples, and Peter has just said, "You're the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Jesus says, "That's right, I'm the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and we're going to Jerusalem. I'm going to suffer." Then Peter grabs Him and says, "Come here, come here! No, Lord!" He didn't think about what he was saying, I guarantee it. "No, Lord! This will not happen to You."

I'm trying to see how these two go together. "No, Lord!" And then the same Peter writes this to us: "Servants, be submissive to your masters." This will not happen to You, Lord! This is not the plan. This is not how it's going to work. You're the Messiah; there's going to be no suffering, there's going to be no dying. That's not how we're doing this thing.

So, Jesus' response was recorded in Matthew 16:23. He turned to Peter and...

Jesus said, "Get behind me, Satan! You are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of man. You are an offense to me." Now, that's phenomenal. How do you go from "Simon, son of Jonah, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" to "Get behind me, Satan! You're an offense to me"?

In less than five minutes, Peter goes from being the instrument through which God is speaking to being rebuked by Jesus. How does that happen? You may be confused about how such a drastic shift could occur, but just spend an afternoon after a Sunday with me, and you'll see exactly how it happens. I get up to speak the Word of God, and we are carnal or flesh; we are fallen and easily influenced by our own sinful nature and by the enemy, our adversary, the devil.

Jesus says, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men." Your mind is not on the kingdom of heaven; your mind is on yourself and on this world.

In all honesty, it's very hard for us to conceptualize the kingdom of heaven. Our minds are always here, and even when we try to imagine or think about that other world, it's nearly impossible for us to do so. In fact, the Scripture says that the mind cannot even comprehend the things that God has prepared for us. Our minds are purely here almost all the time, making it very difficult for us to think outside of this box.

Jesus tells Peter, "You are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of man." Then, turning to his disciples immediately after addressing Peter, he says, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." Deny yourself, your flesh. Clearly, Peter in this passage is not mindful of the things of God, and so Jesus instructs him to deny himself, his will, his aim, and his ambition, and to take up his cross, an instrument of death.

In the first-century Roman world, if someone saw another person carrying a cross outside the city, they knew one thing for certain: he wasn't coming back.

Point number one on your outline, your sermon guide, is that Jesus requires total abandonment of self. This abandonment of self will be evidenced in how I live my life here and how I respond to those around me, especially those who are in authority over me. To put it another way, how I respond to the authority in my life will reveal the degree to which I am submitted to Jesus, who is in heaven.

We come to the passage we have been looking at last week and now this week about submission. Last week, we talked about submission to earthly authority, specifically governments. This week, we will discuss submission to those who are in authority in a different area.

In 1 Peter 2:18, it says, "Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear." Now, as I mentioned last week, submission is a concept that is completely repudiated by every human being. We hate this concept at the deepest level of our being. We do not like the idea of being under the authority of anyone, and this is clearly seen from the youngest of ages.

I have four test cases that I get to experiment with all the time, and we see it even when we cannot verbalize our feelings with coherent words. Even when we cannot articulate our disdain for submission, we still vocalize it with loud, high, shrieking, shrill noises. We hate the concept of submission. Here, we are told to submit to earthly governments last week, and now to another form of authority. The passage states, "Servants, be submissive to your masters."

Submissive to your masters, the word "servant" here, and the word "servant" or "slave," is seen constantly in the New Testament Scriptures. This word that was used—remember, this passage was written in Greek originally—is a word that's only used about four times in the New Testament. It speaks of a home or domestic servant, one who lives in the same house as the master and works very closely. It's not a slave in the classic sense that we see in the Scriptures so often.

Even when we see a slave or servant in the Scriptures, we have a hard time with the concept because we filter the word "slave" through the slavery that existed in our own country in the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. When we look at that, it's not the same. Slavery in the first-century Roman world was more like modern employment today than the slavery we think of. Especially, the servant was a domestic servant in the home.

We could very certainly read this passage as employees being submissive to your employers. This speaks to all of us at some level: employees, be submissive to your employers with all reverence and with all fear. It's simple enough to understand, but it's incredibly difficult to do and to apply, especially when he says this not only to the good and gentle but also to the harsh.

Now, why did he have to say to be submissive even to harsh employers? I can conjure up respect; I can conjure up compliance and submission towards someone that I respect, someone who treats me with respect, someone with mutual respect. They are pleasant towards me, joyful, and honorable. It's easy to honor someone who is honorable. However, someone that I don't respect, someone who's harsh, crooked, perverse, or unfair—don't count on it. Yet here, Peter says, "Servants, employees, be submissive to your employer, even to the harsh."

This teaches us point number two on your outline: submission is not dependent upon circumstance. It is not situational. As a Christian, I'm not afforded the luxury of...

Submission can often feel like a litmus test, an if-then algorithm that I can filter through all my interactions. I might think, "If the person is nice to me, if they're respectful, if I generally like them, and if they're a good person, then I will obey and be compliant." However, I am not given that luxury in this passage. It states that even if the person is harsh, my compliance is not dependent upon my circumstances.

Last week, I left the message with an open-ended and frustrating question regarding submission, as the Scriptures in First Peter teach. I didn't even need to verbalize this question because I knew it would resonate with you. Many people approached me after the service, eager to discuss their thoughts. The first thing they said was, "But what about this?" or "What about that?" You were likely left wondering, "When is there a time that I should not submit?"

It is important to understand that the Scriptures do clearly articulate times when we would say no to compliance. However, Peter does not address that in this passage. He simply presents the teaching to the church that as followers of Jesus, we are called to comply with earthly authority, even when that authority is terrible. This was especially relevant during the time Peter wrote, when the government was oppressive and when employers could be harsh.

We are called, as ambassadors of Jesus, to comply in those situations. You might be asking, "Why?" I need a little help with this too. The answer is found in First Peter 2:19: "For this is commendable, praiseworthy, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully." This is commendable, but commendable to whom?

At verse 20, what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your own 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 this passage refers to suffering because you are a Christian and for your witness as a Christian under a harsh boss who does not like Christ and, therefore, does not like you because you are a representative of Jesus, even though you work for them.

He says this is commendable to God, for God is pleased. The New Living Translation states that 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. We all understand this: if you get in trouble from your employer because you are not performing well, you get in trouble because you are not performing well, and there is no commendation from God in heaven like, "Hey, great job! You did something stupid."

I have had this happen before, where someone comes to me with tears in their eyes, saying, "Everything has gone terrible for me at work. They are so mean to me, and they are persecuting me." When you start to ask some questions, you find out what is going on. For example, they might say, "I have been taking my breaks early so I can read my Bible, and I decided to leave work a little early, just an hour too early, because I wanted to help with this church event." Then they say they got mad at me, and they are persecuting me. No, they are not persecuting you; you are not doing your job.

However, if you are receiving persecution because you are a representative of Jesus, you are a Christian, and you are doing what is right while seeking to walk in integrity and honesty, and your employer does not want you to do that, then they may come down on you. In that situation, you may have to endure suffering, but this is commendable. The word "commendable" there is the same word that is translated many times in the Scriptures as "grace," and it speaks of a future reward.

Here, Peter is putting forward to us this important principle: God will reward our submissive actions.

Suffering will be rewarded. The Apostle Paul put it like this in Romans 8:18: "For I consider that the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." God says, "Listen, Christian, you may suffer in this world as a follower of Mine, as a representative of Me, because you are not of this world. The world hated Me; therefore, it will hate you. If you suffer in this world for My name's sake, know that you will be receiving a commendation in eternity."

The sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. If we could even for a second begin to grasp the reality of the joys of eternity and how long eternity is, we would understand that our finite minds will never be able to fully comprehend the awesome length of eternity. If you looked at this life and the suffering that you might endure compared to eternity, you would realize that any suffering in this life is just a minor irritation in comparison. Therefore, Jesus is saying, "Listen, bear up under the minor irritation; it's nothing, and you will receive a commendation in eternity, a reward so great."

It is comforting to know and understand that God in heaven sees and is watching in the midst of the things we go through. One writer said it is easier to suffer in silence if you are sure that someone is watching, and you can be sure that God in heaven is watching. I look forward to one day hearing, "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of the Lord." There is a reward, but it is hard for us here and now, in this place where everything is tangible, to think about a reward that is so far in our minds, even though it may not be very far away.

So, I still need a little help. How do I bear up under suffering? Well, Peter goes on in 1 Peter 2:21-24: "This you were called." Why should I submit?

To unfair treatment as a follower of Jesus in this world, I may potentially suffer because God has called me to this. He has called you to this as well. The word "called" could also be translated as "ordained." God has ordained that you, as a follower of Jesus in a world that is against Him, will experience suffering for His name's sake.

Really, God? You really ordained this? The Evangelist didn't tell me this when he said to come to Jesus and pray this prayer. He never mentioned anything about being ordained to suffering. While the Evangelist may not have said it, the Scriptures do. Let me read from Paul's letter to the Philippians, specifically Philippians chapter 1, verse 29: "For unto us it has been granted, gifted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him but also to suffer for His sake."

God has given you a gift, and here's the gift: suffering for the sake of Jesus. It doesn't seem like much of a gift. How is that a gift? Would anybody really count this as a gift?

Well, there was a group of guys who did count it as a gift when they suffered. It's recorded for us in the book of Acts, specifically Acts chapter 5. We are told the story of the early apostles, the early followers of Jesus, being beaten for their witness of Jesus Christ. After they were beaten for witnessing about Him, they were released. Acts 5:41 states, "So they departed from the presence of the council that had just beaten them, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name."

They rejoiced, saying, "Praise God! We've been counted worthy to suffer shame for His name." You might wonder, when they were beaten, did these guys get a minor head injury? Are they completely nuts? They rejoiced, praising God for being counted worthy to suffer shame in prison. Why would anybody do that?

There is only one possible answer as to why anyone would rejoice at suffering, and I think it's found in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 5, in what's called the Sermon on the Mount. Would you turn there just briefly? If you're in First Peter, turn to the left, and you'll pass Romans, Acts, John, Luke, and Mark until you reach Matthew chapter 5. There is only one possible way that you can come out of the situation like the early apostles did.

Acts and come out rejoicing. I think it's sound in this, in Matthew 5, verse 10. Matthew 5:10 states, "Blessed are those who are persecuted." Blessed means, "Oh, how happy!" Oh, how happy are those who are persecuted for doing what is right. When you read that and understand what He is saying, there is no possible way that you can read that without having some serious cognitive dissonance in your mind. It just doesn't make any sense to me how anybody would be happy for persecution when they are doing what is right.

There has to be a reason for this happiness in persecution when you are doing what is right. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you—personalizing it—when they, whoever they are outside, revile and persecute you, saying all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Why should I be happy? Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.

Why would the early apostles leave this time of being persecuted for doing right things before God and rejoice? Because they were thoroughly convinced. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake, for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.

The Scriptures constantly point us back to the reward—the reward that comes on the other side of suffering, that comes through salvation. Has anyone ever actually, honestly lived like this? Well, the early apostles did, and Jesus did. Look at what Peter says in 1 Peter 2:21: "For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us." Not only did the early apostles suffer there in Acts chapter 4 and rejoice for their suffering because they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name, but Jesus also suffered, and He suffered for us. How did He suffer? In the midst of...

All these things and willingly submit himself to unjust leadership over him. How could he possibly face that? Well, Hebrews chapter 12 tells us that he did it for the joy that was set before him. 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. Why did he do this? Because he was looking forward to a reward.

So, Peter says, "For this you were called to, because Christ also suffered, leaving us an example that you should follow." If you are a follower of Jesus today, he has given us an example that we should follow. That word "should" is important because it reveals an ethical response. Ethics is the question of what you should do. You could say, "Forget it, I am not going to stand up underneath this. I am going to fight for my rights." He says, "Well, you could do that, but here's what you should do." We should follow the example of Jesus.

Point number four is the example and ethic of Jesus' suffering and submission. That is the example and the ethic that he gave us. Well, what is his example exactly? Peter goes on in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 22: "Jesus, 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."

Here is the example, if you are a follower of Jesus today. Here is the example that you should follow when you are in a world with a government that might be opposed to your faith and your righteousness in Christ. If you are in a job where your employer may be opposed to Jesus and therefore opposed to you as a follower of Jesus, in that situation, here is how you should walk.

Number one, he says that Jesus committed no sin. You should walk in righteousness. You should do the right thing all the time, every time, no questions asked. Not only should you walk in righteousness—Jesus committed no sin—but he had no deceit, no guile in his mouth. What exactly does that mean? Well, not only should you do the right thing all the time, but you shouldn't speak.

Evil against those who are over you is not acceptable. You shouldn't speak evil against the government that is over you, nor should you speak evil against the employer that is over you. Jesus never did.

What else did He do? He did not return attack when He was reviled; He did not revile in return. He didn't defend Himself, and we have such an incredibly hard time with this. What do you mean you're not going to defend yourself? Yet here He wouldn't. When He suffered, He did not threaten, even though He had twelve legions of angels behind Him. He didn't say, "You better watch it, man. I'm coming after you." He didn't do that. He didn't threaten. Instead, He committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. He completely put Himself in the hands of God in heaven, saying, "Father, You will judge. You will judge my case; You will judge this situation, and I'm going to leave it in Your hands." Vengeance is Yours; You will repay. It's not my job to step into the position of God's vengeance.

This brings us to point number five: Jesus faced suffering with righteous submission. I have no problem admitting that there is no possible way I can do this on my own, and I don't think any of you can do this without the help of God. It is supernatural to be able to do what we are called to do. This is the example that we are to follow.

Why did Jesus do this? In 1 Peter 2:24, it says, "Jesus, 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 we are healed." Why did Jesus go through that? Why did He receive all of this upon Himself—hatred, mockery, and shame—and not fight back? Because He was completely righteous; He had done nothing wrong. Jesus went to the cross, and He suffered and died for no act of His own, for no unrighteousness on His part, for no sin, guile, or deceit.

He died being brutally beaten, cursed at, mocked, shamed, stripped naked, and hung on a cross. He did so for me and for you. He took all of my failings, all of my fumbles, all of my sin, and yours, and he took it upon himself. He took the punishment for that upon himself with no retaliation, no defense, and no threatening. I get angry when I'm simply misunderstood. I get upset and want to retaliate when someone hints at speaking the slightest negative thing against me. Yet Jesus did nothing wrong, and he took it willingly.

Point number six: Jesus unjustly suffered as a sacrificial act. First Peter 2:25 states, "For you were like sheep going astray, but now have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls." Peter is, of course, quoting from the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 53, where we read about the suffering servant. Why did he do this? What was the purpose of all that he did? Well, you and I were like sheep going astray.

If you'd like, you can turn to the book of Isaiah, chapter 53. If you turn to about the middle of your Bible, you'll be in the Psalms, and then you can turn to the right to the next biggest book after the Psalms: Isaiah 53. This was written about 700 years before Jesus came to the earth, and it so awesomely pictures his life as the Messiah, the suffering servant. Isaiah, inspired of God, writes this in Isaiah 53, verse one: "Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?"

"For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness, and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." There was nothing awe-inspiring about the look of Jesus. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of...

Sorrows and acquainted with grief, we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely, He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. 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 our sin, 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, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living, for the transgression of my people He was stricken.

Why would He do this? The author of the letter to the church at Philippi, the Apostle Paul, looking at all these things, says to you and me, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking on Himself the form of a servant and coming in the likeness of man. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow—those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth—and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. He willingly submitted Himself to the unjust suffering imposed upon Him for my sin and for yours. That is the good news of the Gospel.

If you are a recipient of that good news, if you are a follower of Jesus, that is the example we should follow. That is why Paul, 2,000 years ago, said, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." That is why Peter here says this is the example that we should follow.

In my flesh, I say, "But what about... when should I not obey? When should I..."

I will not comply when I should say I will not do what you're telling me to do. I'm going to stand up for my rights; I'm going to fight for my rights because I'm an American. When do I have permission to do what my nature wants to do anyway? Well, Jesus said, "Whoever desires to follow me will take up his cross, deny himself, and follow me."

But when can I? To answer the question, because I know some of you are thinking, if you're commanded to do something that is against conscience or Scripture, if you're commanded to do something immoral, illegal, or unethical, you can say, as the early apostles did in Acts chapter 5, "We will obey God and not man." However, they got beaten, and every one of them was put to death. Why? Because they still submitted to the consequence.

There is a time to stand up and say we will obey God and not man, but understand there may be an associated consequence. The early apostles didn't fight against that consequence. When they came into eternity, I guarantee they heard Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord." In that instance, when they came into that Kingdom, the sufferings of this present world were not worthy to be compared with the glory that was revealed to and in them.

Oh, that I could set my mind on things above and not on the things of this earth. Amen. Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? Father, this is a hard truth for us, a hard teaching for us. We are unable, by our own natural fallen tendencies and selves, to do what You've called us here to do. Your Lord is living.

It is powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. This passage cuts deep and reveals the thoughts and intents of our hearts that are not always in line with what You call us to.

Would You enable us this week, by Your power and strength, to do what You have called us to do? This is all for the purpose of proclaiming the praises of You, our Lord, who called us out of darkness and into Your marvelous light.

We praise You and thank You for the power that You give us by Your Spirit to do that which is truly supernatural. Enable us this week, we pray, in Jesus' name.