1 Peter 2:11-17 Revised Standard Version
11 Beloved, I beseech you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh that wage war against your soul. 12 Maintain good conduct among the Gentiles, so that in case they speak against you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution,[a] whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing right you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. 16 Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants of God. 17 Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
1 – What is your First Impression?
Instruction, and lots of it, submit and abstain, and for me, it was the need to be aware of your witness and to be a light. This is opposite of the “Go along to get along” culture and is the “focus, especially when its hard” mentality.
2 – What is waging war on your soul and causing you to struggle?
Control, kids, and for me having enough faith for the little things. As men, we struggle with the desire to be in total control. I follow God, but I have a really hard time following anyone else’s direction. As parents, a huge focus of ours is on bringing up our kids the way we think we should and the battle for them to be their own person. Apparently, this is worse when they return home after college and are not perfect.
3 – In what ways does this damage your witness before others?
A key insight from the crowd was that we often neglect to ask forgiveness from those we offend. God expects us to acknowledge and repent of our sins, but we often fail to do so when we sin against people. Especially our wives. Another manner is that we neglect to love others. It is a command, the second one, and sometimes we stop being obedient before we get here. This is especially when we find ourselves liking the this of this world and are not holy.
4 – For whose sake and does it matter?
For the Lord’s sake is the obvious answer and it has to matter. Every person or group wants control and human nature is to resist oversight, even when good for us. Even more so when those in power are idiots or hate us or both. We are not left on this earth as believers for our own good, but for the good of those who do not believe. Our behavior as individuals and even more so has to shine the light.
5 – How does this apply to our elected government and punishment and praise?
The Jews picked the tall Jew to be their first king. He was a terrible king. God picked a little boy to be the second king. He did some really bad stuff as king. Our leaders are at best like David and seeking after God’s own heart. They will struggle and fail just as we do. At worst they will be like his descendants and follow after other gods. If we pick out leaders, we have to follow and do so well, unless they ask us to follow after other gods. We spoke about the praise the government is to give the governed doing well, but it fell flat as only the bad stuff grabs the headlines.
6 – Here is God’s will? Do you follow?
I really like it when things are so clear. “For it is God’s will that by doing right you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.” Do right in such a manner that others will be put to shame. Simple words, but oh so hard to put into practice.
7 – What is freedom as servants?
Freedom from sin. We do not have to be perfect, we just have to follow and ask forgiveness when we inevitably mess up. The freedom to recover from failure is our lot in following God.
8 – Honor all vs. Love brotherhood, Honor emperor vs. Fear God: How do we honor differently than love/fear?
We did not spend too much time on this last question, but if we are loving God and following the governor as if we were acting on God’s behalf and if we are loving our neighbor as ourselves and showing love to our brothers, maybe there is no difference as can be seen from the outside. Maybe the difference is only in our hearts. I try to love my friends, but it comes easier when they are my brother also.