Well, here's another thing that is important to understand about the practicality of street-level gospel, the gospel that shapes the way I live. I'm not just comforted to celebrate the victory of this risen Christ, the Cornerstone, the King, but I'm also called to follow Him in His suffering. And so, I want to read this passage; some of you will find these words hard to hear and understand, so I want to make an explanation and then talk about the passage.
Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
Hard, hard words! The first thing I want to say is that it's very important to understand that the Roman institution of bondservant was fundamentally different than the chattel slavery that went across Europe and North and South America. In fact, the New Testament assumes that trafficking in human beings is a sin. 1 Timothy 1:10 lists alongside of the sexually immoral...liars and perjurers, enslavers. So clearly, this is not a passage that says slavery, as we have come to understand it, is okay because the Bible names that as a sin.
What Peter is doing is applying a principle that has been a core gospel principle as he's applying the gospel to every everyday life. That I am meant to live how I live, not because of how I'm being treated, but because I'm a child of God. There's an internal motivation that needs to be inside of me, no matter how I'm being treated, no matter how unjustly I'm being treated. Mistreatment doesn't change the moral rules. Let me say that again. Mistreatment doesn't change the moral rules. The moral rules for me, remain the same.
And what Peter does for our help is chooses the most outrageous example; because if that outrageous example is true, then how much truer it is for us who are not facing things this hard. If it's right for a servant, when he's literally being beaten by a bad master, to respond in ways that are good, how much more right is it for us, in whatever mistreatment we're facing, to not allow the internal moral rules of our heart to change?
What are the gospel principles? Constant life of submission to God, constant commitment to honor human authority, constant commitment to do what is good no matter what, being willing to suffer-you have to be willing to suffer because if you're not willing to suffer, you're going to be a depressed and angry person, and remember God's empowering and rewarding grace. There's where the passage goes.
Now, that doesn't mean that we don't fight injustice. But it means I always do that, in submission to God, always do it in the way that honors human authority, and I do not let go of my commitment to do what is good no matter what.
I want to ask you this question, "Are you willing to suffer? Are you willing to go through things that are hard, unjust, mistreatment, for the sake of the honor of your Savior?
