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Submission is a word that makes people raise their eyebrows. “You want me to do what?” Yet it is a term used repeatedly in the New Testament to describe the way that followers of Jesus should live their lives.

We are told to submit, which is something we do willingly as an act of faith,

putting your needs under the needs of others. This does not have to be demeaning. It is something Christians do “for the Lord’s sake.”

1 Peter 2:13-25 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. Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Peter reminds us that the life of Jesus was a life of submission. He willingly put the needs of others – US! – ahead of His own wants and desires. Here’s a few passages that speak about that.

Luke 2:51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.

1 Corinthians 15:28 When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

Philippians 2:7  but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

Jesus was the example of how those who have been declared righteous by God should live their lives: in submission to God and to those in authority here on earth. Paul addressed this as well.

Romans 13:1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

God’s will for you is that by being submissive to Him and authorities you might DO GOOD (see v. 15 above). And how do you live as a good citizen?  “Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king” (v. 17).

The seemingly small and insignificant things add up, allowing you to be a light for Jesus, a witness for him, a messenger that brings the Good News of salvation through Jesus. Your actions can tell others, “by His wounds you have been healed.”

Big Brother is watching you! That concept and terminology was made famous by George Orwell in his novel “1984.” Written in 1949, it was a description of a totalitarian society in which the government kept tabs on all its citizens with cameras and listening devices. Some would argue that much of the population of the United States has become willing participants with devices that allow us to speak our requests and cameras in cell phones and online security cameras everywhere. It is as though someone always has the capacity to see or listen in on us.

That may be a sobering realization. But it has always been a reality to some extent. And I am not just reminding you that God always sees you. The reality of which I speak is that you are being watched by the world. As followers of Jesus, we are told to be aware that others are always watching, always listening, always observing the way we live.

1 Peter 2:9-12 But 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. Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

That last verse encourages us to live good lives among unbelievers because they are watching. The word translated as “see” is not referring to a casual glance, but a careful watching over a period of time. You are being observed by those who do not believe in Jesus. What are they seeing?

It is for this reason that Peter is careful to point out that God chose you to be His own. As part of His royal priesthood, you should represent God to the world by reflecting His holiness. After all, you belong to Him. He bought you back from sin and death with the blood of Jesus, which cleansed you and made you righteous in His sight.

Are you living a life that shows the world how good God has been to you? We all fall short of that. But that should not keep us from trying. Every time we fall short of the glory of God, we can run back to Him and confess our failings and be assured that the blood of Jesus covered those, too. We hear the goodness and mercy of God declared to us and are empowered to strive again to be those who declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light.

Our desire is to live according to God’s will because we know He has already given us forgiveness and life and salvation.

The world is watching. Let them see God’s goodness by the way you live and act.

1 Peter 2: 4-8 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,” and, “A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

One time a number of years ago I agreed to serve as an election judge. On election day, I went to the courthouse and met the crew I would work with. This was not a major election date, but one for local offices, so there was a lot of down time during the day. One lady that I worked with was quite the talker. I listened a lot more than I spoke that day. And I remember that she had a word that she loved to use to describe just about everything she spoke of: precious. She used it so often that it seemed to diminish the meaning of the word. Precious is a word that denotes something of great value and worth to you, things that stand out in a special way. Evidently everything was precious to her.

What is precious to you? Your spouse, children and grandchildren? Family heirlooms? Probably multiple things are deemed worthy of that description in your life. Most people reserve that term for the things that are most prized in their lives.

What God considers precious is described in this passage as a living Stone, cornerstone, capstone, and a stumbling block. We know without a doubt He is referring to Jesus, because it says “the one who trusts in HIM will never be put to shame.”

The Stone is living because the sacrificed Jesus did not stay dead. After offering Himself as the payment for sin through death on the cross, He rose again to live forever. He is living. He is also a life-giving Stone. Those who trust in Him get the benefit of everything He did for us.

The tragedy is that those who reject this living stone do not get the benefit of what Jesus earned for them. It is available at no cost to anyone who will recognize just how precious He, the living Stone, is. Those who have been led to faith in Jesus by the Holy Spirit regard Him as precious indeed!

1 Peter 1:22-25 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.

Can you purify yourself? I know I can’t! And even though Peter mentions that here, he is not referring to our own efforts. Our obedience to God does not make us acceptable to Him. We’d like to think that is the case. It is the way things normally work in this world. But we can’t do that. I think the context tells us that Peter is rereferring to Baptism as the means of our purification, because he says that we have been “born again.” That happens by the power of God’s Word through the waters of Baptism.

Loving others deeply is mentioned more than once in Scripture. It is talking about our actions, implying that this will take effort on our part. But rather than this being the reason we are purified, it is the response to knowing that we have been purified by the blood of Jesus.

Who are the ones you are to love? Does this love extend to people outside the household of faith? Maybe you should consider the example of Jesus. Who did He love? That most familiar of verses tells us that “God so loved THE WORLD. Who do you love?

When Peter tells us about the “living and enduring Word of God” and “the word of the Lord stands forever” I am reminded of this passage:

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

God’s Word, both Law and Gospel, needs to penetrate our lives. We need the message of our own inadequacies and of God’s all-encompassing grace and mercy shown to us in Jesus. This is the word that was preached to you.

1 Peter 1:13-21 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

As I continue to study through 1 Peter, I find the admonishment to be clear headed and obedient. It reminds me of all the times I have done the opposite. I have let evil and frivolous things consume my time and thinking instead of focusing on living a holy life. How often do we let evil desires control us instead of the love of God?

Another part of this passage that accuses me is the call to be holy in all that I do. Again, I have fallen so far short of that. But more than just a confrontation or condemnation, I also hear this as an encouragement.

I cannot read this passage without thinking of Luther’s explanation of Second Article of the Apostle’s Creed.

What does this mean? I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.

Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That title John the Baptizer used to identify Him connected Him to the Passover and that great deliverance of God’s people. The deliverance He would accomplish through His sacrifice was the payment necessary and acceptable for the sins of the whole world.

Knowing what Jesus has done for me, having faith that receives what He earned for me, I strive to live the holy life to which I have been called. It is my effort to offer thanks to God for all He has done for me.

1 Peter 1:10-12  Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

Whenever there is a “new” teaching, people are skeptical, and rightly so. Consider all the con artists that are trying to sucker people into things. We need to be wary. It pays to check things out.

In the passage above, Peter is trying to convince his readers that the message of Christ is not something new – it goes back to the prophets! They foretold the grace that God would give to the world by sending Jesus. Of course, those wanted to know WHEN it would all happen (v. 11), but their job was simply to tell people that it WOULD happen. They had God’s Word on it, and they proclaimed that Word of God to others.

Peter said that the “Spirit of Christ” predicted both the sufferings and the glories of the Messiah. The cross would come before the resurrection. Without the cross and the payment for sin that would be made at Calvary, there would be no resurrection and victory over death. It had to take place. It was part of God’s plan to redeem you from sin and death.

The prophets did not live to see what they spoke and wrote about. They lived by faith, even as we do today. Their faith was looking forward to God’s promises being fulfilled. Our faith looks back to the promises fulfilled in Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:7   We live by faith, not by sight.)

Peter mentions that “angels long to look into these things.” You might wonder why angels, who are in the presence of the Almighty, would they be curious about us. The answer is really simple. Yes, they are with God, but His redemptive love is beyond anything they have experienced. Jesus did not die for them. He died for us. So those heavenly messengers who announced the birth and resurrection of Jesus marvel at what God has done and what He continues to do for man.

So what are the trials you have had to suffer? What brings you grief? Everyone has their own. It has been that way ever since the Fall. And God knows about all this, including your trials and struggles.

1 Peter 1:6-9  “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

The “in this” at the beginning of this passage is referring to the certainty of our salvation because of what Jesus did for us. Peter just mentioned that in the previous verses. So we rejoice in our salvation even while we have grief and trials!  Is that the way it works in your life?

Again, what grief and trials do you experience? Only you can answer that. And you know the effect they have on your day to day life. It is easy to be consumed and overwhelmed by those things. That is precisely when you need to run back to Jesus and His promises. Latch onto Him in faith. Remember the sacrifice He made to rescue you from sin, death, the devil and all the evil this world throws at you. God tells you those trials and difficulties actually refine and strengthen your faith.

Did you notice that both “rejoice” and “joy” occur in this passage, even though Peter is talking about trials and grief? We would not normally associate those things with each other. That all changes when you put Jesus in the mix. Our faith in Him gives us joy in all situations and circumstances, because we have a steadfast certainty that we are the precious, redeemed and forgiven children of a loving Father. Peter is once again aligned with the Apostle Paul who wrote to the Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord always.”

Faith is “of greater worth than gold” because it is able to give you what nothing in this world can: the salvation of your souls. Peter tells you that is the goal of your faith, but it is also the guaranteed outcome of faith in Jesus. How different that is from the message of so many “preachers” who mislead people to focus on the things this world has to offer!

Your confidence is not based on wealth in this world, on what you can accumulate, or even on your own abilities. Your faith is in the one who gave His all so that you could be forgiven. Your faith in is the one who laid aside His power as God so that He could live under the law for your sake. Your faith is in the one who suffered and bled and died in payment for your sins, giving you the certainty of life eternal. That is why you have joy in spite of the grief and trials you endure here for a little while.

How is your church known? When I arrived at the church I served for most of my ministry, they had a label in the community that I did not find out about until I had been there for over a year: “The church that owns the liquor store!”

Long before I arrived, the congregation sold part of their property to a local businessman. There were some restrictive covenants in the sale where he agreed he would not use the property for a junkyard or a drive-in theater or a liquor store and a few other things. Because our county was “dry” in those days, the liquor store was a non-issue. Until the early 1970s when Denison voted to go “wet” and sell alcohol. The property the church sold was the first “wet” spot on the highway coming north from Sherman, which was still dry. The man who bought the property was a businessman, and he could not pass up the opportunity to open a liquor store. This upset some of the members more than a little bit. Unfortunately, the congregation decided to sue the man. This was big news in Sherman and Denison. It made the papers every day, often on the front page. The case was settled out of court, but the congregation became knows as “the church that owns the liquor store.”

That was not exactly the reputation the congregation was going for. And eventually, we changed how we were known. In the early 90s a member suggested we put up a display of crosses on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade to represent how many abortions take place each day in the United States. We also put up a sign saying that “God Chooses Life,” and encouraged people to do the same. We reached out to those who had abortions with a message of God’s grace and forgiveness that was available for Jesus’ sake. And we became known as “the church that puts up the crosses.”

How is your church known? Are you like the grumpy old man who yells at kids “Don’t play in my yard!”???  Or are you known as a place that cares about people, a place that shows God’s love, a place that is welcoming?  Which will best enable you to share the Good News of Jesus?

1 Peter 2:12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

You still need to proclaim the whole counsel of God, Law and Gospel. We must condemn sin and call people to repentance. But it must be done in a loving, compassionate and kind way. Lord, help your children to do this.

Isaiah 65:24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.

Over the last week, God sent some rain to this parched area of the country. While we didn’t get any at our house, we have seen and heard the storms around us. And we are grateful for and with those who have received that gift. Even though we didn’t get rain, the clouds and showers kept the temperatures down in the low 90s rather than the triple digits we have been having, and for that, too, I thank and praise God.

Have you ever noticed that when people get what they have asked God to do for them they say, “God answered my prayer!” What they mean is “God answered my prayer in the way I wanted Him to answer.” I’ve also heard people say “God didn’t answer my prayer,” when in fact He gave them an answer they didn’t want to hear.

The reality is that God hears and answers every prayer offered with faith in Jesus.

1 John 5:14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

When we offer up our prayers in faith, we can be confident He hears and answers them. Every single one. The problem is we don’t always acknowledge Him when He says “No.”  But that is a legitimate answer. So is “Not now” or “wait awhile.” Paul recognized a “No” he received from God to His petitions.

2 Corinthians 12:8–9a Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

God, a loving Father, is going to answer in the way that is best for you. Sometimes it will be what you request. Sometimes He will say no. Sometimes He has something better than you asked for in store for you. He knows how to give good gifts.

Luke 11:13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

You know from God’s Word how giving God is. He already gave you His best when He sent Jesus. He has given you the payment for your sin so that you can have eternal life, which begins when you have faith in Him. Forgiveness is a reality in your life for Jesus’ sake. And God does not stop there. He invites you to come to Him with your wants and desires in Jesus’ name.

Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Prayer is a simple thing. It is talking to God and making your requests known to Him. He will answer. It may not be the answer you are seeking, but it will be the answer that is best for you.

1 Thessalonians 5:17–18 pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

I thank God for the recent rain. I will continue to implore Him to give us relief in the form of more rain. I know He will answer in His time and in the way that is best for me.