Tonight, we continue our consideration of 1 Peter, the text being 1 Peter 2, verse 17, which really closes the few verses, the text from last week, verses 13 through 16. But in connection with that, I'd like to ask you to turn to Matthew 5, as we read the last few verses of chapter 5, verses 38 to 48 of Matthew 5, a portion of our Lord's Sermon on the Mount. Peter is talking in the text from last week and then this week, last week, talking about submission to governing authorities and then this week, broadening that a little bit to everyone as well as God's people and the King. In this last section of Matthew chapter 5, our Lord talks about relationships with the wicked as well. Verse 38 of Matthew chapter 5. Hear now the Word of God. You have heard that it was said, eye for eye and tooth for tooth. But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His Son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Turning back over to 1 Peter chapter 2. I'd like to begin in verse 13, but verse 17 again, serving as the text tonight. Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men. whether to the King as the supreme authority or to governors who are sent by Him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil. Live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone. Love the brotherhood of believers. Fear God. Honor the King. A beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, one of the most puzzling facts of life that a Christian deals with, faces, deals with, with how we are to balance our relationship to God with our relationship to the world. Now, on the one hand, there is no balancing act to be done, right? of course, because our relationship to God is and is always to be most important. He always comes first. Now through Peter, God's Word teaches us that the Christian's relationship to the world flows from his relationship to God. Our relationship to God reflects in our relationship to the world and our relationship to the world is a reflection of our relationship with God. Yet what God expects from His people in our relationship with the world really is so different from what we might expect. In our human sinful, rational thinking, we might expect something like that it's our job or our right as professing Christians to look down upon the men of the world. that we consider ourselves better than the world because we know God and they don't. It would make sense to us that we are to speak against them, that we must put them in their place, as it were, and point our fingers at them, letting them know that they are nothing without Jesus Christ. Well, it's true, of course, that God's people are called, as Peter says, to declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light. But Peter makes it clear, you see, that we don't do this by despising the people of the world, by looking down upon them, by dishonoring them. We don't, in a sense, play down to their level. I think that's what Jesus might have been speaking against in that portion of the Sermon on the Mount. You see, God's people themselves are the recipients. We are the receivers of God's grace, and then we are called in turn to be gracious to the world. If we hate the world and fight against them for the sin that still enslaves them, then we give evidence that we ourselves are still slaves to sin. And we know, of course, that God uses, at times He is pleased, to use the faithfulness of His people to bring in His sheep. The people of God are called to proclaim His praises by displaying their good works, by demonstrating excellent behavior, And that is done in part, as we began to say last week, by submission to others. Interesting in our day of being preached at by our society, of separation of church and state, they want nothing to do with us. But we are called by God to have a very interesting and special relationship with the world. In connection with verses 13 through 16, we talked about being submissive to earthly authority. And you recall that when we do this, we are obeying God's command. We are following God's will. And we are serving Him. You see, it's not a matter, it's not a question of who we are serving. We serve only one. We serve the one true God. We serve the one who has set us free from the shackles of sin. And our freedom from the bonds of sin is to be seen in our relationships with others, including God. The text tonight, verse 17, defines more closely to whom we are to be submissive and to what degree we are to submit. Beloved, for the one who has been saved from sin, it can be truthfully said that God has a wonderful plan for their life. They have been saved to serve. In this text, we find Christian freedom displayed in relationship with God and man. That's our call, to display that Christian freedom in those relationships. There is to be obedience in action concerning men, concerning people in general. And in the second place, concerning rulers. Now as we look at our text, we find four commands given. Show proper respect to everyone. Love the brotherhood of believers. Fear God. Honor the King. Of course, there are four groups here. Mankind or everyone. Brotherhood of believers. God. And the king. But if we examine this more closely, we find two categories with two of these groups in each category. People, on the one hand. And rulers. Now again, as Christians, submission is to be given to all four, yet there is a contrast between the two groups in each category, between everyone and brotherhood of believers, and a contrast between God and the King. Now first of all, believers are called to display their Christian freedom in relationship to mankind. We need to remember that Peter is speaking to the church. He's speaking to the body of Christ, the collective congregation of God's people, And he commands each and every believer to show proper respect to everyone. Or as another version translates it, show honor to all men. Now to honor someone means to ascribe to them a high status. To respect, to revere them. It means to esteem them and value them. Now this, of course, may sound strange, doesn't it? That this is what God requires of His people in their relationship with the wicked world. But it's true. It's not an option. This is commanded of those who believe. And then, of course, the proper question would be, what is it that we are to respect or honor about them? Not their sin. Not their sin. We do not respect their wickedness. Again, Jesus said in Matthew 5, verse 44, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. As regenerated people in Jesus Christ, the old man, the old nature has been put away and therefore we hate sin more and more and we seek and desire more and more to please God. But this hatred for sin includes more than just our own sin. It includes all sin. It means as well the sin of the world. We are to have a righteous and holy hatred for the sin and wickedness of the world. David in Psalm 139 says, Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? But the church is called to respect them. Respect everyone as creations of God, as those who have been created in God's image, as we considered a little bit this morning. Again, we know very well what God said in Genesis 1, verses 26 and 27. Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. He talks about then the rule that man is to have over creation. And God created man in His own image. In the image of God, He created him. Male and female, He created them. And as we mentioned this morning, we also know that the image of God in man was terribly messed up, terribly deformed when Adam fell. John Calvin in his Institutes of the Christian Religion says, There is no doubt that Adam, when he fell from his state, was by this defection alienated from God. Therefore, even though we grant that God's image was not totally annihilated and destroyed in him, yet it was so corrupted that whatever remains is frightful deformity. Yet no matter how deformed man is, he is still an image bearer of God. And those who believe are called to respect and honor that image in one another. We are to assign value to all men because of God's image in them. But then another natural question. How do we do that? How do we honor and show respect for all people? Paul says in Philippians 2, Do nothing from selfish or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, let each of you regard one another as more important than himself. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. That attitude we know in which He gave up His glory for others. Beloved, we honor others by seeking their best interest and their very best interest is the salvation of their souls. As salt and light for Jesus, Christians are to be serviceable. Serviceable, usable for their surroundings. Boys and girls, young people in school as well. Serviceable so that others might witness the saving mercy and grace of God of our Lord Jesus Christ in our lives. As believers, we are called to give ourselves to all men as examples striving to lead them to Jesus Christ. Our lives, in a sense, are to be road signs pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. We submit to all men by indeed considering them to be more important than ourselves and putting their interests ahead of our interests. We are not to envy, to hate, to covet, or anything else against them. And all of this is with the goal that they might see our good works and glorify God. This, of course, does not mean that Christians accept the evil that men do or tolerate it. So many have the wrong idea that Jesus Christ accepted everyone, no matter what, that He was tolerant of their sin. He wasn't. What did He say? Go and sin no more. Our God is not a God of compromise. And the Holy Spirit does not compromise with a person when He converts them. This is not a let's make a deal salvation. It's all or nothing. All God's way. Or nothing. Christians respect everyone by being who and what God created and saved us to be. Namely, free servants of the Lord who exercise our freedom from that death grip of sin by loving God above all and our neighbor as ourselves. And this means, beloved, that we call sin exactly what it is. We call sin, sin, and that we call all people to repentance and faith. But then Peter goes on and makes it clear that some of our neighbors are closer than others. Within the realm of all men, a Christian is to have more intimate and special relationship with a specific group. Peter says, love the brotherhood of believers. He's talking about those bound together with the common bond of Jesus Christ. The brotherhood of Christ, the church, is drawn from every tribe, every tongue, every nation, from all walks of life, and bound together in Christ Jesus. And through the atoning work of Christ, we have a new relationship with God and our fellow Christians. We are brought together into that wonderful thing called a family. The family of God. And only those who truly believe are a part of this brotherhood and will then also understand what it means to show respect for everyone. Now it's plain, I trust, that in a sense the brotherhood of believers, the church, is included in the everyone of the first commandment. Not everyone of the first commandment is included in the brotherhood of believers, but the brotherhood of believers is included in the everyone of the first commandment. Believers are also to show proper respect and value and esteem each other, considering each other as more important than themselves. But brothers and sisters in Christ have a more intimate relationship that is shared because of our Christian freedom. And that is love, Peter says. That sincere, selfless love that is not given with the goal of getting something in return. It is love that seeks only to give. Love that sees the object of love as precious and valuable with worth and only seeks their best interest. It is God-like love, the same kind of love that the Bible says that God loves His own with in that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes on Him should not perish but have eternal life. And beloved, this is the kind of love that gives you the desire to fellowship with other believers. To fellowship with each other. When you have this kind of love, you have the desire to have communion with your brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm not talking just about Lord's Supper communion. But daily life communion. When you exercise this kind of love, then you don't seek to tear down and to hurt your fellow Christians. Instead, when a fault arises, when a problem comes up, and they do, with a touch of grace, you seek to correct, restore, and build up. If you have this kind of love which is required, commanded of a Christian, then you desire. You desire to participate in the life of the church and you will take your place in the fellowship of God's people. This is the kind of love that proves that you are Christ's disciple. John says in John 3, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. As I have loved you, that you also love one another. This is from our Lord. By this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another. Does this describe you? Is this a mirror image of your relationship with your church family? With those who surround you tonight? Beloved, this kind of love for each other has to be lived. It's so easy to say that we love each other. But it means nothing if it's not displayed. It's a sad commentary on the people of God and a disgrace to the name of Jesus Christ when we as professed Christians bicker and fight and can't get along when we cannot work out our differences in Christian love because when that happens you see we are sinning against God on the one hand and we are giving the pagans the wicked world a reason and opportunity to accuse us of wrong doing Peter says we are to silence them not give them a reason to accuse our command is christ-like love of course again this kind of love isn't possible with the everyone of the first command is it because we are not to seek communion and fellowship with all people indiscriminately but we can and we must again respect them as image bearers of the creator and just as we are to be used of god and strive to promote the welfare of fellow believers and and to build them up in the faith. We are also to be used of God to promote the welfare of all people, bringing them the gospel so that if it is God's will, the image of God might be restored in them. Jude says, and on some have compassion, making a distinction, but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. See, beloved, the Christian faith is completely other-directed. completely directed away from ourselves to outside of ourselves. Then in second place, Peter also says that privileged pilgrims are to display their Christian freedom in their relationships with their rulers. The rulers, of course, are God and the king, governing authority. You see, here we have the ultimate and absolute authority, God, And the one with limited authority that has been given by God, the king. And Peter says, fear God. He's not talking about an afraid or terrified or scared kind of fear. He's not talking about the kind of fear that is afraid of the judgment or is scared of hell. And we know that because the believer has already been delivered from that kind of fear. In 1 John 4, verses 17 and 18, we read, By this, love is perfected with us that we may have confidence in the day of judgment because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves punishment and the one who fears is not perfected in love. Talking about the terrified kind of fear. That's the kind of fear the wicked have. They have no love and therefore they live in the fear of terror for the judgment and punishment of hell. maybe not right now, as we said this morning, they're ignorant. They don't even know that they're dead in sin. But when they face death physically or one day when their eyes first see the Lord Jesus Christ returning on the clouds of heaven in an instant, that's the kind of fear they will have. They will be terrified. So much so, Scripture says they will run from God on the day of judgment crying out for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them. But that's not the kind of fear one has who has been born again to a living hope. If you have been born again, there is no room for that kind of fear. If you haven't, then of course that's the only kind of fear you can or will have. What kind of fear do you have today? You see, when Peter commands us to fear God, he's talking about a fear of reverence and respect for the Almighty God who is also the great King of kings. But this is the kind of fear that drives the believer to his knees in worship for who God is and what He does. It's childlike fear. And as God's children, even though we know that we continue to do wrong and we continue to offend our God, we can still run to Him and not away from Him. Because for all of His power and greatness and majesty, we know that we can trust Him to do what is right for His children. And our God is to be obeyed above all else. This kind of reverent fear for God recognizes that His laws are always above and more important than man's laws. Yet we are commanded, as we saw last week, to submit to earthly authority, to governing authority here on this earth. Here Peter reminds the church of this when he says, honor the king. Christians are to fear God above all, but also give honor and respect to the king because no matter what kind of king he is, whether good or bad, he has been given his position by God. And as we talked about in connection with verse 13, God commands his people to submit to the authority of the king. We recognize that the king or the emperor or the president is who he is because of what God has done. And just like properly respecting everyone, when we honor the king, that doesn't mean that if he is a wicked king that we honor and obey his wickedness and sinfulness. We don't obey the king's laws and commands that seek to make us disobey God, but we submit to his authority. And when we must disobey his commands, we submit to his punishment. We are commanded to honor the king, but to fear and worship only God. We are to obey the king, the governing authorities, as much as lies within us, but we must obey God over all. And when God's people submit to the king in all things lawful, then they are serving and obeying God. But when they rebel against the king in all things lawful. then they sin against God. Yet, beloved God and His people, the brotherhood, always come before all people and the King. I want to conclude by pointing out, as I trust you already know, the focal point of the Christian freedom which believers are to exercise in their relationships. The focal point. When you study Scripture, especially the wisdom literature of the Psalms, it becomes clear that Hebrew thought often put the most important thought of the passage in the middle. Not at the end, not in the conclusion as we are used to, but in the middle. The center of the text is often where the most important truth is found. And Peter borrows that structure here in verse 17. At the two ends he has, show proper respect for everyone and honor the king. But in the middle he has, love the brotherhood of believers and fear God. The center is the most important. This is the center of our existence. In fact, without fear, reverence, obedience, and worship to God over all, we cannot and we will not even love the brotherhood. And if the center isn't in proper and good order, then the ends won't be either. We won't respect all people or honor the king. Again, as Christians, we live before the eyes of a watching world, a world that cannot, for the life of them, understand the principle of life that governs us. But a world that must see that God is at the very center of our being and that He is our supreme authority. And a world that must also see then that because God is at the center, we have a wonderful, intimate relationship of love in the name of Jesus Christ with each other, with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And then also a world that must see that because of our relationship with our God and with His people, that we respect everyone. God is to be at the center of our existence. Then fellow believers, the believer's relationship with the brotherhood is a reflection of his relationship with God and his relationship with all people and the king is a reflection of his relationship with God and with the brotherhood. You see, as human beings, we can only go by what we see. And therefore, your love for the brotherhood and your respect for all people and the king, governing authority, either points to God or points away from Him. In a sense, the application is simple. either you fear God or you don't. Either you love the church, your brothers and sisters in Christ, or you don't. Either you respect all people and the King, or you don't. And those who don't give evidence of not being in Christ. But in Christ, all of our relationships have a new character. You see, these four commands are the way of the Christian when it comes to these relationships. and it all begins and depends upon your relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ who died so that His people might be free, free to serve God, which includes serving their fellow man. Beloved, may God's transforming power which brought us into a new relationship with Himself for Jesus' sake, may that be reflected in transformed relationships both with each other and with the world. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, we pray that You would help each one of us to know and understand as we have said before that we don't live in private. We are people who are seen, people who are watched, people who are examined. And Father, we pray that that which the world sees would be that we love the Lord Jesus Christ. That we are those who have been purchased by His blood. That we share an intimate relationship of love and respect and fellowship with each other as brothers and sisters in the Lord. And therefore also that our relationship with the world is different than the world's relationship with us. We know, Lord, that this isn't easy. We know that it's not easy to understand and figure out at times. But we pray, Lord, that You would give us a measure of Your Spirit. Lead us by Your Spirit to live out these relationships as children of the Most High God to live them out in a way that is pleasing to You that indeed gives demonstration and evidence that we are not citizens of this earth but citizens of heaven. Father, hear our prayer for Jesus' sake and in His name alone, Amen.