The Principle and Pattern of Submission (Part 1 of 3)

When the church faces opposition, it can be tempting to respond in a worldly fashion with resistance or political rallies or protests. But that's not the example Jesus and the apostles set for us.

What should we do? What weapons are Christians supposed to use? Alistair Begg explores the answer today on Truth for Life. We're looking at 1 Peter chapter 2. I've been speaking out to inanimate objects.

This is a condition that other people have. I recognize that's nothing in and of itself, particularly. It depends what you're speaking out about. Let me tell you, the first one was somebody gave me a magazine—a kind friend gave me a magazine—and as I was leafing through it, I came to an editorial comment which ran to a page which concerned what was referred to as our movement. Our movement. And the author, writing, as it were, in an all-embracing way for everyone who represents authentic Christianity, was concerned and was chiding me and others for the fact that our movement wasn't doing too well. And the reason that our movement wasn't doing too well was because people like me weren't in our movement.

And if our movement was going to be successful, then what would need to happen is that we would have to develop an agenda which would be a more successful agenda than the other movements which are going on around us. I read the article, I laid it down on the table, and I just exclaimed, the response in my heart and mind, I said, I am not in a movement. The thought in my mind then was, Well, what are you in? And I said, I am in the church of Jesus Christ.

Well, I hadn't hardly recovered from that when I was watching TV. And again, I was chided by some who are my friends and one who is my countrywoman for the fact that somehow again I was not in the coalition—the coalition which is vital now for the establishing of a significant number of judges and politicians of the right gender and of the right persuasion, in the right place at the right time, if ever there is to be a future for the coalition—a coalition which will involve conservative Catholics, whoever they are, and also evangelicals firm in the faith. And I found myself again, I turned the television off, I stood up, and I said, I am not in a coalition.

What are you in? I am in the church of Jesus Christ. Now, as soon as I'd done that—this was the second time in a manner of days—I then sat down to assess how much of my reaction was born of personal prejudice, how much of my reaction was actually dead wrong, how much of it was just because I was dumb and missing the point, and how much, if any of it, was born from a deep conviction about biblical theology, was born of an understanding of the headship of Jesus Christ and his rule over the church, was born out of a conviction of what the Bible says concerning ministry, concerning the church, concerning what it means to be the church in our day and generation. Because if I'm wrong, then the Scriptures must correct me, and if I'm right, then I can't keep silent any longer.

And so I went back to the area of study. First Peter chapter 2, and I read it. Verse 9. What does God say about the church? What does he say we are? He says, You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. And then I rewrote 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 9 and 10, on the strength of the coalition agenda mentality, which constantly flushes at me as a pastor in this church. And this is what I wrote. And again, I recognize the strength of motive, the conviction of people whose sandals I'm unworthy to unloose, but this is the flavor that I get. First Peter 2.9 could be written in this way. But you are a democratic people, a political priesthood, a powerful nation, a people behaving for God, that you may enforce the agenda of one who called you from apathy into activity.

Once you were apolitical, but now you are very political. Now here is the problem that I face. I'm coming now, along with you this morning—and I want to put it to you that it is a problem we all face—that what Peter has to say here concerning the issue of the church provides no credence whatsoever for much that the church is embracing in our day, especially in the Western world. And so we are in a kind of unique environment here, confronted by a day and generation that is alien to Christ, that is disinterested in God, that is disarming that which this nation was built upon, and so believers have a rightful sense of concern. So they have a rightful sense of responsibility that is individual members of our society, that is our involvement in the nation, is our involvement in school boards, in our taking of our place in different things, confronts us.

We want to seize those responsibilities, and so we should. However, we need to face this fact, that Peter was living in an environment that was far more degenerate and far more threatening to the Christian church than even the one we face today. And what does he say to do? First Peter chapter 2 verse 13—"Submit yourselves, for the LORD's sake, to every authority instituted among men." But Peter, don't you realize who Nero is? Don't you realize that Nero is a megalomaniac? Don't you realize that Nero is avowedly against the church of Jesus Christ? Don't you know, Peter, that you may end up on a cross? Peter's writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and he goes on and develops the principle in the fourteenth verse and on through there.

What is his strategy? It's very different. Very different from what's around us. Where, I asked myself, are the flyers that he was sending out endorsing the pro-Jesus candidate for Bithynia? Where do I find in 1 Peter 1 through 5 the call to the demonstration on behalf of the Christian candidates in Cappadocia? Where is the apostolic mandate for much of the activity which is absolutely thundering in upon the church in our generation?

And I want to suggest to you that it is absolutely nowhere. It is not even in the Bible. Is it simply that Peter was unfortunate in that he lived in the first century? If he'd been fortunate enough to live in the twentieth century, then he would have discovered the nature of real kingdom business. Then he would have known what it is to be the church. Then all the cobwebs of the silly stuff in the early centuries would have blown away, and suddenly the picture would have become clear for him.

It cannot be loved ones. We cannot, you see, have an apostolic gospel which remains foundational and timeless at the point we choose, and then remove it at any point of inconvenience to us. When Peter—turn for a moment to Acts chapter 12 here—was nudged by an angel in the jail, what was the impetus that led to his release? Was it as a result of crowds gathering in the Jerusalem streets, marshaling their forces against the fact of the unjust imprisonment of Peter? Was it?

No, it was not. It was a result of the church doing the stupidest thing the world could ever imagine—getting down on its knees and asking God to release the mighty apostle from the custody of the sixteen soldiers. The world looked on and said, Ridiculous! Heaven looked on and said, You got it right! And the church will never know angels nudging and releasing from jail as long as the church uses the world's methodology to achieve a divine agenda. Here's my conviction that the church, as you trace it through history, has swung between either being isolated from or absorbed by the society in which it finds itself. Then there have been other times when the church has been so whitewashed that it is indistinguishable from the environment around it.

I may be completely wrong, but I believe we are living in a period of absorption. I believe that one of the great delusions which the evil one has perpetrated upon the church towards the end of the twentieth century in Western culture is simply this—that we can beat the world at its own game. That we can, taking the same methodology around us, build a kingdom for Jesus Christ.

What are we to do? Let me say this. When the church, in any generation, lays down the weapons provided by its commander-in-chief, it must inevitably take up other weapons. For it knows that it must fight. It knows that it's in a battle.

It knows that the powers of darkness range against it. So when it lays down what it has been given, which is uniquely the church's—it's not unique to a coalition, it's not unique to a movement, it's not unique to an agenda, it's unique to the church of Jesus Christ—when it lays down those weapons, it can do nothing else except take some others out. 2 Corinthians 10 verse 3. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. Paul could say that. We can't. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. Paul could say that.

We can't. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. I've put it to you this morning, loved ones, that either we believe that or we don't believe it. And our belief in it will be displayed in our behavior.

It's not simply a cerebral conviction. It is going to have implications for the church. You see, what has the church done in environments where it doesn't have democratic freedom such as is ours? Is democratic freedom such a tremendous privilege after all? This is the final heresy. Is it?

Well, of course it is. Freedom is a great privilege. But it is not a great privilege when it leads us to the conviction that we don't need to do what our commander-in-chief said we need to do. But when we have no democratic freedom, when we're up against a wall, when we're shackled in the jails, when our pastors are taken away and dragged into custody, when the church is guarded and surrounded by secret police, then what are we going to do? We can only do one thing—do what we're supposed to do—pray. But as long as we don't have to do what we're supposed to do, then there's a myriad bunch of other things that we can all do.

And that, I suggest to you, is what is going on. Ephesians 6, what are the weapons of our warfare? These are timeless weapons given to the church. Ephesians chapter 6, verses 17 and 18. Take the helmet of salvation, which is the final piece of the armor, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Here's our sword, the proclamation of the Word of God. And pray in the Spirit—don't say prayers—pray in the Spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests, and with this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Verse 19, pray also for me. Now, what word stands out there? Pray!

Now, you're sensible people. Assess the church in the West. Assess the average program and calendar of a church's activity, and here's the question. Do you think it is a tenable argument that the church is laying down its weapons? The average church that would proclaim truth has a ten-minute sermon, a twelve-minute sermon, and if the guy goes any longer, they'll shoot him or remove him or do something with him.

The average church, you can go through its program, there is no prayer within it at all. And so when it lays down the weapons it's been given, it needs must take up other weapons. My thesis this morning is this, loved ones—an unpopular thesis. The church of Jesus Christ is clad in the armor of Saul, and is unable to respond to the cries of Goliath. And it is not because all power in heaven and earth has not been given. It has. It's not because weaponry has not been provided. It has. It is because man in his wisdom has determined that these old-fashioned notions and these silly old ideas, that through the foolishness of preaching and through the praying of God's people, we can pull down empires for God, simply do not work anymore.

And once, having concluded that they do not work, we must therefore find something which does. And I say to you this morning on the authority of God's Word that if that is right, then Peter was wrong. If that is right, then the apostles completely missed it.

If that is right, then we might have expected that Jesus gathered the apostles around him and gave them a strategy, a political agenda, a methodology for overturning civil government, for disruption, and a strategy for making sure that this man was here and there. Now, please don't misunderstand me. I am not suggesting for one moment that we become amish.

I'm not suggesting that the pendulum swings from absorption to isolation. Of course, we must be about the business of fulfilling our responsibility as citizens. Of course, we ought to be editors of newspapers. Of course, if God has given a tongue in our heads and we can make sense and tell the truth, there may be a place for us in the House of Congress.

Of course, if we can exercise judicial wisdom, there may be a place for us in the judiciary of our land. That is taken for granted. What I'm addressing with you this morning is this. When all of that is said and done, that's not where the confidence of the church lies. It rather is that we would come before God on our knees for a world that disdains him, and that we would seek to be obedient to his Word. We will never see angels open prison doors, because frankly, we don't need to.

We'll open them ourselves. Do we really believe that we long for revival in this land? Do we really believe that they want God to come by his Spirit and move? Do we want that God would convict men and women of sin and of their need of Christ, that that would be the thing that the church was heard for? Then, loved ones, we're gonna have to go back to our Bibles and go to them on our knees and realize that we are a very, very different people from what the world even understands. We are, as he says in verse 11, aliens and strangers. We are those who must abstain from sinful desires which war against our souls. We are those whose good lives, verse 12, among the pagans. The quality and the clarity and the crystal-clear dimension of our living should be such that though they accuse us of doing wrong, they may see what? They may see our good deeds, and they may do what?

They may glorify God on the day he visits us. Now, that principle in verses 11 and 12 is then worked out in relation to submission in verse 13 and following—submission in relation to civil government, submission in the realm of personal employment. And if you scan down the paragraph, you will notice that Jesus provides for us the ultimate example. And in the example of Jesus Christ, we are provided with zero impetus for political agitation. Let me just give you a verse or two, and then I'm going to wrap this up.

I have shared more of my heart and less of my Bible than I intended to. But let me turn you to Romans chapter 13. Verse 1, everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities. Now, notice this next statement, for there is no authority except that which God has established.

The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment upon themselves. Acts chapter 16, again—isn't this the same display of submission that we find in Paul and Silas in the jail?

Acts chapter 16? They get thrown in jail. They don't just get thrown in jail. Verse 22 tells us that they were stripped and they were beaten. They were severely flogged, and they were thrown into the prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. And upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

Now, here is apostolic example. So they start this revival meeting right there in the jail. They start singing all the songs they can remember. And in verse 28, after the earthquake and the chains falling all over the floor, the jailer wakes up, and when he sees the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, because he thought the prisoners had escaped. And Paul shouted, Don't harm yourself, we're all here. And the jailer called for lights, and he rushed in, and he fell trembling before Paul and Silas. And then he brought them out and asked, Man, what must I do to be saved?

I put it to you that the twentieth-century church would go at it absolutely differently. The first priority would be to make sure that there was a Christian jailer in that jail and a Christian magistrate who would be able to make sure that they didn't get beaten for preaching the gospel. That wasn't God's way. They were in an alien, pagan, degenerate, foul environment. They got the torb beaten out of them, thrown in a jail, and at the bottom of their misery they sang praise to God. And God intervened from heaven and sent an earthquake and broke up their little rimsie-timsie chains.

And to cap it all off gave them the privilege of leading the jailer to faith in Jesus Christ and then having a baptism service. The crossroads which faces the church in our generation is as clear to me as night is from day. Do it God's way or do it man's way? God's way to purpose, to power, to renewal, and to victory, man's way to superficial, interim, passing, transient success, and potentially to the bypassing of the Spirit of God off the very land which was founded upon the convictions of the truth of the gospel. But it is to revival that we need to look, not to the politicizing of our world, for that never was the pattern the apostles left to us. Consider these things to see whether they're so.

Wrestle with them. Search your Bibles. The only word that you should listen carefully to is the very Word of God, which is pressing upon my heart in these matters. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alistair Begg.

We'll hear more on the principle and pattern of submission next week. Now as we begin a new month together, the month of November, we are keenly aware Christmas is just around the corner. And with that in mind we want to tell you about a new book, brand new Advent devotional written by Alistair. It's titled Let Earth Receive Her King.

It's being released from Truth for Life for the very first time today. This is a collection of 24 daily readings to help you focus on Jesus throughout the Christmas season. Alistair takes you on a journey through scripture to explore how the Messiah was promised in the Old Testament, revealed in the Gospels, explained through the Epistles, and how the book of Revelation looks forward to his return. Ask for your copy of the brand new Advent devotional Let Earth Receive Her King today when you support the Bible teaching ministry of Truth for Life at truthforlife.org slash donate. Thanks for studying the Bible with us this week. Hope you have a great weekend and are able to worship with your local church. The Bible teaches us that Christians are to do good even to those who continually seek to destroy the faith but doesn't that give the enemy an advantage? Join us Monday as Alistair helps us think through this. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.