1 PeterSample

For God’s Sake

We all love authority...when we’re the one in charge. But what about the times we’re not? What about the times when we don’t love our boss, when we don’t agree with our president, when we don’t like what our parent or coach or teacher has to say? 

1 Peter 2 makes it clear that the position God calls us to assume is that of submission. Even when we are right, even when the person above us isn’t making the best decision, God calls us to submit. This doesn’t mean God approves of everything they are doing, (and it doesn’t mean there isn’t a time and a place to respectfully decline what is being asked of you if it is contrary to God’s word: see also Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3), but it does mean God has allowed any person in leadership to have that position, and we are called to honor them…for God’s sake. This is the theological basis of honor: “the Lord’s sake.” We don’t honor on the basis of the person, we don’t need to look for something in authority figures that tell us we should honor, we do it for God’s sake. That phrase, “for God’s sake,” is the theological belief that  a sovereign God is the author of authority (you can’t spell authority without author). There is no authority except from God. 

Additionally, if we ever want to be in the leadership position we dream of, or feel God has called us to, we first need to learn how to submit to authority. God can’t pour anointing oil on your head if you’re standing tall with your chest puffed out and your arms crossed. You must be in a posture of humility and submission. Adrian Rogers said it best when he said, “We will never be over those things that God has set under us, until we learn to be under those things that God has placed over us. There is strength through surrender.” Bowing down makes you poised to rise up in strength and victory and honor.