Gospel-Centered Citizens

We’re moving onward in our series called ‘Stand Firm” where we’ve been doing a deep dive into the Books of 1 & 2 Peter. We spent the first 11 weeks on a section of the letter where Peter exhorts his audience to live into their new identity as children of the Heavenly Father. But now we’re moving into the heart of the letter that focuses on how we live as Christians in light of our new birth — our new identity as a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and as God’s special possession. For Week 13we taught through 1 Peter 2:13-17 which reads,

13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to theemperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and topraise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put tosilence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using yourfreedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love thebrotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

This section of Scripture is familiar to many — and it’s probably been brought up more than a handful of times over the course of the last 18+ months in regards to the ethical nature of vaccines and mask mandates. But what does this Petrine exhortation really have to say about our living under the authority of “every human institution?” And even more so, what does it mean to do so for the Lord’s sake? What did “doing good” look like for Peter’s 1st Century audience and what does it look like for us now? In the end, this text is far more about our witness to the very reality of our new birth and status as a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and as God’s special possession. That’s the context we must read, understand, and apply it in.

Give the sermon a listen and we hope to see you this week at a Family Meal and/or a DNA group to dive even deeper.