Sermon 21st October 2012

Today, Ben Hughes continues our study series, Becoming Like Christ.  The reading is from 1 Peter 3-22.

So good (to do good).

Do gooders, Devil dodgers, Chrispies, the shining light social clubbers, God botherers, Bible Bashers, knee polishers, Bible hugger, happy clappers, Mackerel snappers…

These are some of the more pleasant nick names for Christians that you may have heard

Christians at that time  preferred to be known as ‘follows of the way’ not ‘Christians’ To be called Christian was license to be abused , rejected  and the by the 6^th decade…most probable torture and death.

We as Christians today might not suffer those same extremes as our brethren ancestors but the spirit of persecution is felt by many believers world wide today. (we of course continue to pray for them)!

Perhaps in our own circles, we do feel some kind of persecution albeit subtle, the snide comment the social snub!

So why do people mock Christians, what is their issue? And is  it something to worry about? Is there something that we can learn form this…to help our faith and belief grow?

The first thing to understand is that there is nothing to fear in being persecuted in Christ. Because by sticking to him you are on the side of the victorious.

But in the everyday: Mocking is unpleasant in the mild and unbearable in the extreme. People have lost their jobs and home for their faith. Prejudice towards Christians - and we hear the stories increasingly on the news - seems acceptable and popular in our own country and popular national press today!

Being bullied for any faith is unacceptable but it will sadly happen. But St Peter tells us in this letter not to worry but to confound our persecutors by the example of Jesus himself who teaches us to ‘turn the other check’ ‘go the extra mile’, ‘pray for our enemies and for those that persecute us’.

 This ‘way of Christ forgiveness and love’ – St Peter says…will always win and in time will turn and convict the most hardened sinner. The lion will lie down with the lamb! As Isaiah prophesied.

A person I know quiet well, who is I believe good person … said to me last week that ‘I can put up with any other religion but not Christianity....it is the do gooding I hate…the more good they do the more I hate them’.

And I understand something of what he means… a resentment towards someone is preferred over you and is ‘getting it right’. As in the parable of the prodigal son,  with the older brother jealous of his fathers’ forgiveness and acceptance of his wayward younger brother…

So  I am thinking about this and about ‘goodness’ and doing ‘good’…and why it annoys and frustrates people. St Peter suggests that there is a spiritual disobedience at work in the inner spirit of us all which  is  ‘revolt and rebellion to God’.

And when those we see those sanctified and forgiven in Christ , the resentment and envy fired by that rebellion  leads to rage, hatred and fury! And it is ridiculous,  because the love of Christ is free to anyone whos asks…no conditions attached. Any- ones for the taking

For Christians therefore  - as long as there is rebellion in the hearts of people then  there will be persecution and suffering. Furthermore, there is a world of evil and the devil of course,  whose shared hatred towards Christ and his followers is the absolute focus of their rage…but as old vicar friend of mine used to preach…the Devil still roars like a lion but his teeth have been drawn by the cross!

But we are believers, those named and called through the waters of baptism… we are saved from these things. They have no permanent hold on us. Alleluyah!

But our reading today is not about just being good and  suffering for good…our reading begins with knowing where good comes from. We must never deceive ourselves that we are made good through our own deeds.

Any goodness as St Peter says in our passage… is not because of us or anything we do. The real goodness in us proceeds form God the Father through his son Jesus articulated by the Holy spirit it is despite and for us.

He is what is good, and in him and through him we are able to become good!

‘Only by grace can we enter, only by his Grace can we be, not by our human endeavour but by the blood of the lamb’

Goodness is not what we do because the Bible says even our best deeds are but filthy rags to God…our goodness is God himself  released in us  through faith in  Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. That is the process of redemption and as in any process - will involve certain moulding, bending hammering and shaping. Possible suffering in other words.

Partly our problem in understanding what the word good actually means is also in our everyday use of the word.

Good can sound trite if carelessly used. She is good at Maths, it is good that it has stopped raining. But as a word in our context as Christians believers, good means the ‘pleasure of God’. The same pleasure God described perfect creation before the fall which is is the same pleasure he has in us  without the imperfection of sin.

Goodness is God’s joy of things being universally right and beautiful.  That is how we need to begin to understand goodness, the pleasure of God, and certainly not as a word to describe piety and snobbery. Goody two shoes as my friend sees us!

So how are good? well it begins with our total submission to Christ.  As St Peter says in Verse : I believe in you as my Lord and saviour, come into my life and make me whole, set me free from the sin that holds me, come and bind my wounds!

It is St Peter says to know that you are bad is to know your need for God!

St Peter gets it right in verse 21. He says - that like the eight people in the ark who were saved through water…like our baptism not a cleansing of dirt but ‘an appeal from our very inner beings for a clear conscious in front of God’  -  we claim a pledge from God to us - V22.  

and it is eight people form the multitude saved form the flood, Christians will always be a persecuted minority… eight of many thousands saved!

So how  does the young searching believer get to this point of faith of baptism? St Peter says one word - Submission to Christ

From both Cameron and Gill we have learnt about this word submission…submission to authority, submission to one another and so on.

Submission is the theme of this letter we are studying. Submission runs through this letter like a vein. It is the cement holding St Peter’s brick wall together.

Perhaps a helpful positive understanding of submission…the stem word in Latin - mittere, to send and  then missive – meaning the brief or order for that task…sub – mission therefore might be understood as  ‘that what underpins the missive,  the endeavour’!

If mission is the chalk face then sub mission the mountain behind it, or if you’re a musician, submission is your backline and bass, or a petrol head, submission the pit crew behind the champion.

In this way - understanding that to submit is not necessarily a painful and un- requited activity that as Cameron says ‘stiffens our neck’. If we understand submission as being part of an endeavour, and if that endeavour is to serve Christ then submission is service to Christ which always gives pleasure to God which is ‘good’!

So how do we submit our selves to the service of Christ?

Does it really mean ‘look busy Jesus is coming’ - of course not!

It is an attitude of the heart and an upside down attitude of the heart.

Christianity is topsy- turvey…it is everything upside down.

St Peter says   do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse verse 9….instead St Peter says…respond with a blessing. Its Jesus’s teaching in Matthew, vlessed are those that seek peace for they shall be called the sons and daughters of God.

St Peter illustrates this standing on your heads  teaching as ; keep you tongue form evil and your lips form speaking deceit v11. Do the opposite of what people expect? Try hard to control yourself do the opposite of what your might instincts say. Praise God and trust in him …he is loyal to the end and as it says in Revelation 21…all will be made well. There will be a new heaven and earth and the tears will be washed away!

That is the suffering for being good, hanging in there in faith, …trusting and allowing  Christ into the world of our sufferings and those of others through prayer (we do this  well in this Church) and steadfast faith …doing good to others when your torn apart inside –is the hardest calling. That is the suffering that Christ did for us when in descended into hell and carried on his shoulders the sins of the world. That is suffering for good! The perfect example

The fact is that we will all suffer in this life if you are not suffering already… suffering is inevitable for everybody and we would be foolish to think otherwise. The bible does not say that we will not suffer…but it does teach us a better way to cope with our suffering and challenges us to believe in faith that in the end we will be victorious. It also instructs us to put the needs of others before ourself. So the suffering of others comes before your own.

St Paul describes this life as like a tent, temporary and vulnerable. He says our next life in heaven will be like as a mansion…

Jesus says to his disciples in my Fathers house are many rooms and ‘see. I have gone to prepare a place for you’. In the Old testament Job -  despite losing everything stands by God in Faith and holds out and is fully restored…In God,  the dark days are short in comparison with the joy that lies ahead.

St Peter says that Christians measure their  faith by the future it holds.

For all his fine words - the fact is that St Peter betrayed Jesus during his trial and did so three times. This Peter never forgot…if any one knew about fear of failure  and running away it was St Peter. But as Jesus predicted - Peter became the head of the first Church preaching and teaching, he would have seen the stoning of Stephen and at the end of his ministry he experienced first hand Nero’s persecution of Christians in AD 64. According to legend St Peter was crucified upside down in that time. But despite all  this Peter was quickly restored by Jesus’s love. Three times Peter ‘feed muy lambs’ Jesus  loved Peter, trusted Peter with the commission of the early Church despite  Peter failing him in the hour that mattered did not matter any more.

It is the same for us…when the suffering and persecution comes (which we pray it doesn’t) some of us will not cope…Jesus knows that… and  like Peter’s testimony -  Christ understands our vulnerable weakness and will always forgive us if we show remorse. He will then use our weaknesses for his Strength. He will stand by us, because if when we suffer for good he suffers with us. When we are called to stand trial in front of Kings and Courts the Holy Spirit will give us the words to say.  Its a promise! He says trust me…because the world cannot take away what I have placed in you!

St Peter says in the end of this passage: Be at one with each other. Be loving humble. If suffering comes let it be undeserved, let it be for doing good. We are in it together. Do not suffer in silence!

So take heart, be strong because if God is for us, who can be against us…run the race to accept the prize offered to us…eternal life -  When God called  his  creation good He meant it…and we are part of that creation. He is committed to see it restored to perfection and we shown that we want a part in that. We give him pleasure. Alleluia God is Good. Amen

Sermon 14th October 2012

Today, our Vicar, Cameron Barker, continues our study series on Becoming like Christ, looking at the book of 1 Peter.

There wasn’t going to be a story to start off today; but then I came across this one. It simply has to be told, for several reasons. That includes its claims to be a true one – which, as a parent, I can well believe that it is.

So, it’s about a young girl learning to say bed-time prayers with her Daddy. Being quite little, of course she had to include every family member, every friend, every animal (current and past): etc! One night, after she had finished the full nightly routine, out of the blue she said, “And all girls.”

This ending then became standard; so one night her Dad asked her why she said it. Her response was: “Because everybody else always finishes their prayers saying ‘All Men’.”

As I say, that one just had to be told on this occasion, for several reasons. First and foremost, it illustrates our in-built human capacity sometimes to hear what we think is said, rather than what is actually said. To that we might add that it shows too how we often put in our own corrective. Let’s be honest, though: our attempt to express what we think should have been said can so easily be misguided, or just plain wrong – and the older we get, the less amusing that usually is!

Today is a classic case in point. If we could measure the levels of enthusiasm for the sermon topic from the response to our Bible reading, that would have rated very low today. This is the word of the Lord: really? Are you sure? That reaction isn’t really a surprise. We think we know both what this passage says, and what it means. Isn’t this part of the justification that men have used, encouraged by the misogynist institution that is the church, to keep women subservient? The honest, sad truth is that it has been used that way, by too many people (mostly men), for too long. But that doesn’t mean that it’s right; or that it’s what Peter said; much less that it’s what he meant!

The first thing that we need to do, then, is to put this passage into context. Of course there are lots of people visiting for the baptism who won’t know how Peter reached this point in his letter. Actually anyone who hasn’t heard, or read, last week’s sermon has missed the key transition that has now happened. We started from the beginning of this letter, and have been going through it step by step. As he was so well qualified to do, Peter began with a great excited outpouring of what it means to be a Christian: how Jesus has changed all things, for all people, for all time. He got so excited that he kept on with that until the middle of chapter 2, which is where we reached last week. It was there that Peter began to apply everything he’d said to daily life. So how do we live this new, Christ-like life in the real world?

Gill’s very helpful sermon is on our blog-site for those who want to see the details of Peter’s advice on living for Christ in the realms of politics, and work. Today we arrive at the third main area of society: the family – specifically, marriage. But it’s very much a continuation of the same theme from last week; and it has the same foundations too. “In the same way ...”, Peter writes; and yes, there is that lovely word again: ‘submit’! The NIV is a more accurate translation with its ‘be submissive’. I’m sure that not a few necks have stiffened all over again at the very mention of it; maybe particularly those of the wives who are meant to be submissive! Again that’s no big surprise: submission is something that, if at all, we do with great reluctance, as a last resort: and almost is a defeat.

This is not least why Christianity is such a counter-cultural movement, though. As Peter reminded his readers at the end of the last chapter, at its core it’s all based on the example of Jesus himself. This is what he has left us to follow, and what he calls us to do, as we become more like him. Jesus submitted himself to death on the cross: God’s son, who stopped a storm just by speaking, didn’t have to do this; he chose to. This is how one modern writer puts it: ‘Jesus could have saved himself on the cross; but then he couldn’t have saved you’. And there is the point: this isn’t about me, about what I want, or think I should get. As that same modern write also says: it’s all about Him. This is about living for Christ, who gave himself for us; and to do so does make us like strangers, aliens, or foreigners in this world, as Peter wrote.

So there is the context for this passage and how we have got to here in Peter’s letter: what then about what it actually says, though? I’m sure you’ll have noted that it appears a little imbalanced: the advice to the wife here outweighs that to husband 6:1. However, there is good cultural and factual 1^st-Century reason for that being so, and we do have to take those very much into account. What follow are just statements of fact: this is how things were back then, when Peter wrote. The reality is that, as Aristotle put it, women were ‘A secondary form of human being’. Like slaves, they belonged to someone else: some man, their father, or husband, had complete power over them: legally they could own, and do nothing much.

Females were seen as so inconvenient that any girls after the first-born were regularly abandoned at birth. Mostly they died, but some were taken into slavery, often as prostitutes. But one of the main reasons that there were so many women in the early church for Peter to write to was because Christians didn’t do that to their daughters. Then, we know, the church was also a very welcoming place for former, or current, slaves; prostitutes and all. And, thirdly, once she’d become a Christian, a woman knew that Christ had set her free to follow him, no matter what her husband chose to do himself. So married women could, and did, join church in their own right.

Part of the 1^st-Century way was that women followed their husband’s religion. So if the man became a Christian, his whole family did so with him. There’s plenty of New Testament evidence of that happening too. But included in what this radical new way meant for women was they could join the church even if their husbands didn’t. So this truly was a society-challenging situation that Peter was writing into; he therefore wanted his readers to be very careful about their conduct. That was his general across-the-board principle: live radically for Christ; show people what God’s self-sacrificial love looks like in every way you can; but do it in ways that aren’t so far out of their box that they’ll dismiss you without even considering why you’re doing it.

So wives: submit to your husband! Yes that was expected of women by that society; but not of, or by, Christians. So don’t do it because you have to; do it because you choose to! Also then, don’t spend time, money, and energy making yourself look good just on the outside: focus on what’s on the inside. It’s that gentle, quiet spirit that’s both ageless, and of the greatest worth to God, Peter reminded them – and us. Now I hasten to say that Peter wasn’t telling women not to bother with how they look! In the Greek there is no adjective with the word ‘clothes’. You can work out that Peter wasn’t saying that women should do away with all those things, then! What he did want to flag up is where someone’s main focus is: is it on what’s on the outside; or what’s on the inside?

At some time you’ve probably heard someone say something like, “She’s beautiful; and doesn’t she know it”. I’m sure you’ll also have heard it said of some man, that he thinks he’s “God’s gift”. If you have, you’ll have heard the understandable disapproval that too high a self-opinion carries. That’s never attractive, no matter how good the person may look on the outside. What Peter wants is for his married female readers to see what’s most likely to make their husbands come to faith. It won’t happen because you look great: it will way more likely happen if you live a changed, Christ-like, self-sacrificial, loving life. Specifically it will make a real difference if you follow those Old Testament female examples: even though you don’t have to!

I hope you heard that? Submission is actually a choice that can be made from a position of security and faith. It’s not easy, or painless; but it too can be done, following the example set by Jesus on the cross. God honours, and blesses that; and your husband must as well: “in the same way” yet again, Peter wrote here! What he’s saying is that men have to realise that in God’s sight women are equal to them! We are no different: both are given God’s gracious gift of life. Neither gender earns, or deserves, that. And if men demand our own way by force, because we generally can, then we can’t expect God to listen to our prayers, Peter says! If our closest human relationship is wrong it impacts our Godly one detrimentally too.

How radical was it to say, and believe, this in the 1^st-Century? And, let’s be honest, how radical is it to say, and believe, it today? Not in what we think of as some less developed, or Muslim country, but here, today? What might it look like if we actually lived this out: wives choosing to submit to their husbands; and husbands choosing to treat their wives with the respect that’s their due as equals? Anyone who is married instantly knows what a huge challenge that is, even if both are Christians. There’s much at risk; it’s a lot to give up, for both wives and husbands. But the example has been set for us; on the cross Christ both showed us that it can be done, and also what it can achieve. This is truly radical, exciting, society-changing, life-giving good news for all people; if we’ll do it. So have you heard God’s call to you today? If so, how will you respond to it? As ever, the choice, and the responsibility is yours, and yours alone.

It strikes me that the best way to end may well be with today’s reading! So here’s a very accessible modern translation, from Tom Wright’s commentary on this letter. This time you might like to listen out for what it actually says ...

“In the same way, let me say a word to the women. You should be subject to your husbands, so that if there should be some who disobey the word, they may be won, without a word, through the behaviour of their wives, as they notice you conducting yourselves with reverence and purity. The beauty you should strive for ought not to be the external sort – elaborate hairdressing, gold trinkets or fine clothes! Rather, true beauty is the secret beauty of the heart, of a sincere, gentle and quiet spirit. That is very precious to God. That is how the holy women of old, who hoped in God, used to make themselves beautiful in submission to their husbands. Take Sarah for instance, who obeyed Abraham and called him ‘Master’. You are her children if you do good and have no fear of intimidation.

You men, in the same way, think out how to live with your wives. Yes, they are physically weaker than you, but they deserve full respect. They are heirs of the grace of life, just the same as you. That way, nothing will obstruct your prayers”.

This IS the word of the Lord ...

And so let’s pray ...

Sermon 7th October 2012

Today, our Curate, Gill Tayleur, continues our study series on Becoming Like Christ.  The reading this week is from 1 Peter 2 verses 13-25 

One day an out of work actor was visiting the zoo and tried to earn some money busking doing mimes. But as soon as he started to draw a crowd, the zookeeper grabbed him and dragged him into his office. The zookeeper explained that the zoo's most popular attraction, a gorilla, had died suddenly. He offered the actor a job to dress up as the gorilla until they can get another one. The actor agreed.

The next day he started work, wearing a gorilla suit, and he loved it. He could sleep all he liked, play and make fun of people, and the crowds loved him. However, eventually he began to get bored. And he began to notice that the people were paying more attention to the lion in the cage next to his. Not wanting to lose the attention of his audience, he climbed to the top of his cage, and dangled over the lion's cage. Of course, this made the lion furious, but the crowd loved it. Well, this went on for several days. The actor kept taunting the lion

and the crowds grew larger. Then one terrible day when he was dangling over the furious lion, he slipped and fell.

He was terrified and started running round and round the cage with the lion running behind. Finally, the actor started yelling, "Help, Help me!", but the lion was quick and pounced. Pinned beneath his huge paws, the actor looked up as the lion said, "Shut up you idiot! Do you want to get us both fired?"

That’s a favourite joke in our family, and it’s tenuously connected with our subject this morning as we’re going to be thinking a bit about work in a moment. That’s one of the contexts we’re looking at this morning for the next instalment in our series on Becoming like Christ.

From the first few pages of Peter’s letter, we’ve heard lots about who we are as Christians, God’s chosen people,

people with a living hope, people called to be holy like God is, and a people whose lives are built around Jesus Christ as their foundation.

Now Peter turns his attention to how God’s people should live, becoming like Christ, in some of the different spheres of life. Today’s passage relates to how we live as citizens of our city & country, and as workers. Next week Cameron will help us look at how we live in marriage. And a key idea that runs through all of this section is that of submission.

Verse 13: “For the sake of the Lord, submit to every human authority.” “You servants must submit to your masters” and verse 16: “Live as God’s slaves”

Submission. How do you like being told to submit?....

I don’t like it one little bit! And I bet you don’t either. I read this week that the mention of submission makes our necks stiffen slightly – and I must admit it does. Just a slight tension in the neck and jaw as I think, “Submit? Why? Why should I? Who do they think they are? I’ll do what I want, thank you very much.” We much prefer to be in control than to relinquish control, prefer to please ourselves, than to submit.

But here we have it, several times over, in front of us in Peter’s letter. So, are we going to listen to what he has to say about submission?

Please do! Don’t switch off! Because, who we’re asked to submit to ultimately, is God, and God loves us. The bottom line on all this submission and surrender, is submission to God, who knows and loves us perfectly.

We’ll get to all that a bit later – but that’s where we’re going, and I’m appealing to you to come with me, exploring submission, with or without a stiff neck (!), in that context.

So, what does Peter say about WHO are we to submit to, & WHY?

Peter says we’re to submit to “every human authority:

to the Emperor, and to the governors

who have been appointed by [God] to punish evildoers

and to praise those who do good.”

So, first we’re to submit to those who rule over us. The Bible is clear that God puts people into positions of authority, and gives them responsibility to rule over others,

so that there can be order, for the good of all the people. Such a system can only work if the people submit

to their rulers’ authority, and that’s what we’re called to do.

We’re to be good and useful citizens of our country, our city, and to play our part and fulfil our responsibilities and duties as such. That should be the norm.

But what if those who rule have created tyranny, not peaceful order for the benefit of all? Surely there are times when we aren’t meant to submit, to an unjust or cruel authority? Yes there are. If there’s a conflict between what we should do to submit to God and his ways, and to a ruler, then as this same Peter said in Acts 5, “we must obey God, not men.” And that’s what Christ taught too. “Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”, he said. Loyalty to God comes first.

I doubt whether many of us consider the authorities over us here and now, are creating such a conflict. But this has been a very real issue with life & death consequences

for many Christians over the years. For example in South Africa under the apartheid regime; should people obey the law when it was so desperately unjust, racist and violent? And whether or not to obey the law of the land,

is still a very real issue in some countries today, where there are oppressive rulers.

But, unless there’s a conflict between obedience to the state and to God, we’re to submit to those in authority over us. We’re to pay our taxes, obey our laws, all of them, even the ones that irritate us, take part in our democratic system as that’s what we live in.  Peter says that by doing so, we’ll stop ignorant or foolish people saying bad things about us, our faith and our God.

Then Peter says we’re to submit to those we work for.

“You servants must submit to your masters and show them complete respect, not only to those who are kind and considerate, but also those who are harsh.” Other translations of the Bible have the word slave here, not servant. The Greek word doulos can mean either.

Slavery was a massive thing in the Roman Empire. It has been estimated that up to a third of the population were slaves, 60 million of them! We tend to think of them as domestic slaves, and many were, but they had lots of other roles in society as well. Many had become slaves

when taken prisoners of war, and they included skilled doctors, teachers, musicians and accountants. But whatever their roles, all slaves had one thing in common: they had no legal rights at all. They were regarded by the law as things, not people. They were completely owned

by their masters. So they couldn’t marry, and if they cohabited and had a child, the child would belong

to the master, not to the parents. The same way a lamb belongs to the owner of the flock, not to the sheep. Slaves were like animals, with no rights. And so, although some slaves were well cared for and trusted members of their master’s family, very many were brutally abused,

with no protection from the law whatsoever.

Aristotle wrote in 300 something BC, “There can be no friendship nor justice towards inanimate things; indeed, not towards a horse or an ox, nor towards a slave. For master and slave have nothing in common; a slave is a living tool.” The only difference between a slave and an animal is that a slave is able to speak.

It was into this situation of slavery as systematic, legalised dehumanisation, that the new Christian faith came with the message that every person is loved by and precious to God, and that Jesus Christ died for the sins of everyone, so that all could be forgiven and accepted by God. Slaves could become Christians, indeed Callistus, one of the earliest bishops of Rome, was a slave.

So the social barriers between slaves and masters broke down in the church, where they might even be in the same congregation. This was a new and revolutionary situation! Them sitting side by side in church as equals!

And it had the potential to lead to two possible problems:

if both slave and master were Christians, the slave might think he or she could take advantage and expect to work less hard. Peter says, no, Christian slaves should be as conscientious as they can.

The other potential problem was that the new - right and Godly - dignity gained by the Christian slave might make him or her disgruntled and consider serving their master beneath them. And to him or her Peter says no, instead you have a new inspiration for doing your very best, as you serve God, not just your master.

The question that may be at the back of your mind is,

why doesn’t Peter challenge the practice of slavery?

Why doesn’t he say it was wrong and dehumanising, and condemn it? Some people have used this passage to keep such injustices unchallenged, saying God doesn’t care about slavery or social change. But there are plenty of other passages in the Bible that say God is passionate about justice, and that we’re to eradicate injustice and oppression.

What various commentaries say about this passage, is that Peter isn’t addressing society here, he’s addressing the church, and writing to these people about how they live as Christians, in their situation in life, as it is there and then. I’m not sure if that’s a very satisfactory answer, but it’s all we have time for as a headline.

Peter clearly says to those Christians who are slaves,

that they’re to submit to their masters and show them complete respect, not only when they’re kind and considerate, but also when they’re harsh!

Why would anyone choose to submit to the person in authority over them when they’re harsh?! Unjustly harsh, Peter means, as he says more about suffering unjustly in the next few verses.

Why submit? In verse 13 Peter says “For the sake of the Lord, submit...”

And in verse 21 Peter spells out the reason: “Christ himself suffered for you and left you an example, so that you would follow in his steps.” We are to submit, because Christ did, and we are called to become more like him. (How’s your neck?!)

How exactly did Christ submit? Reading on, “He committed no sin, and no one ever heard a lie come from his lips. When he was insulted, he did not answer back with an insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but placed his hopes in God, the righteous Judge.”

Christ committed no sin – so ALL the suffering he bore was unjust, he didn’t deserve any of it, he hadn’t done anything wrong. Nothing to deserve the insults, the beating, and finally the agony of the cross.

And he submitted to all this suffering and abuse, without retaliation. He didn’t answer back, didn’t threaten back, didn’t fight back.

He did so knowing he could trust himself to his Father God. And knowing he could trust those who attacked him, to his Father God’s justice. He knew he was being terribly wronged, but he didn’t need to take justice into his own hands, he trusted God to deal with that. He knew he was doing God’s will.

Peter says of all this, Christ left us an example, so that we should follow in his steps. The Greek word used for example is the same word used to describe the example of teachers writing letters of the alphabet, for children learning to write, for the children to copy. We’re to carefully copy Christ’s example, to become more like him. So when people see our love, they see his love.

When they experience our forgiveness, his forgiveness,

and our service, his service.

So how are we doing, in following his example and becoming like him?

Are we submitting to those in authority over us at work,

or what counts as our work?

If we’re in paid employment, are there things our boss does or demands of us, that are difficult? Will we still work to our very best at work?

If we’re at home, caring for the very young or very old, will we submit to their needs, to the very best of our ability?

And if we’re in a position of power or responsibility ourselves, at home or work – do we use it to serve others?

To bless others?

And when we’re treated harshly by those in authority over us, do we want to retaliate? To take revenge? To get our own back?

That’s not Christ’s way. He said he came not to be served

but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

He said if anyone wanted to follow him, they must take up their cross and follow him, to lose their life for his sake.

Christ’s way was and is one of self sacrifice, of surrender,

of submission, to God. To his will. To his love.

And ultimately, that’s to be our driving force too. In v 16 Peter says we’re to live as God’s slaves.

Becoming like Christ, we submit to God, we live like his slaves. We surrender to God, surrender to God’s will,

surrender to God’s love.

For God made us in love, out of love, for love. We see that supremely at the cross of Christ. Verse 24: “Christ himself carried our sins in his body to the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. It is by his wounds that you have been healed.”

On the cross, Christ took our sins on to himself, he took the punishment for them, so that we might be forgiven them and live healed or free of the guilt of them, healed or free of the power of them, free of the tyranny of having to live for self. That’s how much God loves each one of us,

that Christ died on the cross to free us from sin and its consequences.

And here’s the extraordinary thing. That it is in surrendering to another, to God, his perfect will and his perfect love, that we find freedom. That being a slave of God, brings freedom.

Living for God, living his way, what Peter called dying to sin and living for righteousness, doing his will, is ultimately freeing.

David Benner, a North American professor of psychology & spirituality, says in his little book Surrender to Love:

 “[God] invites us to come to him and relinquish the control of our life. He invites us to give up our desperate and illusory striving after autonomy. He also invites us to abandon the isolation and rigidity of our egocentricity, [our self centredness]. And in their place he offers rest, fulfilment, and the discovery of our true and deepest self in Christ. When we take this step of surrender, we discover the place for which we have been unconsciously longing. Like a tool seized by a strong hand, we are at last where we belong.”

Surrender to God is how we become like Christ. It’s how we become our truest free-est selves, as God designed each one of us to be. And although the word submission may still make our necks and jaws stiffen, let’s embrace that submission and that freedom. Let’s do it this morning as we come up the front here for Communion, or for a blessing; let’s come and surrender to God, and to his extravagant, lavish, affirming, safe, love.

And so let’s pray...