Submit to Your Master
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2010 · 30 May 2010
“Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. 19For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20For 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. 21For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.”
When we look at our society it seems that the only thing that people focus on is their equal rights. People do not care much about their sexual morality or spiritual morality. They care little about family values and relationships and few really understand the meaning of love.
But everyone talks about equal rights and nobody talks about sacrifice. We have women’s rights, children’s rights, homosexual rights, student rights and even criminal rights. And we have employee rights, abortion rights and on and on.
And the underlying thought is that everybody is equal and we all have a right to everything and if we do not get this we will sue and fight for our rights and we’ll do whatever it takes. This is the world’s way to fight back and so in the workplace we should have the potential to protest and to sue to get what we want.
And so as a Christian what are we to do? Peter gives God’s very practical answer in the verses for this evening so that we can learn how God wants us to behave. And this is summed up in verse 18 where it says, “servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect.”
Now God’s command runs directly opposite the world’s opinion. We as Christians are set apart from this world and God is teaching us that this is true particularly in the workplace. And the key issue goes back to verse 15, “For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.”
God says that we need to live our life without rebelling against our employers and there is no place for asserting our rights. And yes many ignorant foolish men will ridicule and make fun of us in this society. But we need to focus on being obedient and submissive in this world, because we will please God when we trust in His commands and His providence at all times.
And this is God’s position throughout Scripture. When we read in the Old Testament in 1 Samuel about King David we see that at an early age he was already anointed to become King, chosen by God Himself. He had a God given right to become king.
And as we look at David’s life we see him growing to become a powerful warrior. But look at his attitude related to King Saul. David has all the looks and all the power, he has defeated Goliath and the Philistines, and all the women are singing songs to him, what more can he have than the Kingdom?
But did David assert his rights? Did he try to overthrow the reign of King Saul by force? Did he use politics to use his prowess on the battlefield to convince the people to let him be king right away? No, he was a man after God’s heart because he relied totally on God for all the timing of this.
King Saul was very jealous and three times he tried to kill David with his spear to the point that David had to become a fugitive. Do you know how long he was a running from Saul? The bible indicates it might have been for a year and a half that he was in hiding in the desert with Saul in hot pursuit.
And during that time David had several chances to kill Saul as we read in chapter 24. David’s men are saying, here is the man that is trying to kill you and now you have him, why not kill him? But David said in 1 Samuel 24:6 “far be from me because of the Lord that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him since he is the Lord’s anointed.”
And David did have other chances like in 1 Samuel 26:12 where he together with Abishai found Saul sleeping in his camp. Instead of killing him David took the spear and the water jug beside Saul’s head and went away without anyone seeing or hearing them, because “they were all asleep because a sound sleep from the Lord had fallen on them.”
Here was David whose life was continually threatened by a wicked man who occupies a throne that he does not deserve, while he has the right to become king. But David did not take things into his own hands, he waited patiently for the Lord to work things out, who acted in the belief that the Lord will avenge me, the Lord also will take care of Saul.
What a great model for us! Be submissive with a humble heart and never take your own revenge no matter how unfairly you are treated because the Lord will do that in His own time. You as a Christian are God’s child, and no one will get away with any abuse of you, but God knows that we all need to fight our pride and self sufficiency.
Listen to what Jesus says in Luke 6:32-35, “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.”
Doing what everyone else does is always easy, doing what God asks of you is always hard because God’s ways are not man’s ways. His ways are higher and His goal is to grow us to become more like Christ so that we can glorify Him.
Now let us briefly look at the situation during Peter’s time when he wrote 1 Peter. Slavery was dominant during that time as the Romans conquered the world and many prisoners of war became slaves. And slaves had no legal rights and whatever the master did was allowed.
Even many Christians were slaves. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:26-27, “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.”
And if you tried to run away your master has the right to take your life. Do you remember Onesimus who ran away from Philemon to the city of Rome right in the hands of Paul? Paul led him to Christ and sent him back right away. And he wrote a wonderful letter to Philemon to accept Onesimus back since he had become a Christian.
Here Paul did not change that master–slave relationship; he maintained that the slave was to submit to his owner, even though they now were both brothers in Christ. Ephesians 6:5 says, “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ.”
What does that mean? It means that you are a loyal and conscientious employee. This does not mean that you only work hard whenever the boss is there and at other times you ignore your job. No, God wants you to have the right motive, working hard all the time knowing that God sees you.
Your place of work is really a mission field. You have a spiritual calling to reach people wherever God has placed you. And therefore do not exhibit anger, dissatisfaction, pride and ego, and selfishness. We need to offer in our daily work spiritual sacrifices to God and we are called to show others who is in control in our lives.
You might think, “What should I do when my boss is not fair and treats me bad?” We have to realize that God is dealing with us and our character and God will deal with your boss as well in a different way. God wants us to submit, God is teaching us to have a humble heart. God does not want us to submit with a grudging rebellious spirit, no, He wants us to submit “with fear and trembling” as you would Christ.
And if we are submissive we find favor with God. Verse 19 says, “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.” This pleases God, see verse 20, “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.”
What is our motive for enduring and suffering? If we are punished for something that we did that as wrong, we deserved it and we ought to endure it with patience. But if you did what was right and you patiently suffer because of it, then God is particularly pleased.
Now listen carefully, it is more important to God that you maintain a faithful Christian testimony in the way you submit than for you to fight for your rights. It is more important for you to show your love for God than to get a raise. What pleases God? It is when you endure the sorrows that come when you suffer unjustly. That will please God.
When we accept earthly difficulties and unjust treatment with complete faith in Him, that becomes a testimony beyond the ordinary and that pleases God. And what does God do? He blesses us and He does not forget.
Listen to what Matthew 5:11-12 says, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
And listen to what Peter says a little later on in 1 Peter 3:14, “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled.” So even if they beat you up because what you are doing is right and noble and excellent, you are blessed by God.
It is more important to submit to God in everything and to have Him control your life than to protest your employer because he is not fair by going on strike or participating in a lawsuit. It is not important that you get a raise if it means that by protesting you lose your testimony for God.
Yes you can cut of your blessings by retaliating and threaten and suing and you may get your earthly reward. Oh yes, you may get what you want in this world at this time, but you will forfeit what God will give you in heaven later.
When you retaliate and demand your rights your behavior is saying to the world, God’s promises don’t mean much. I want to get everything right now by myself. And your testimony says that you are not set apart for God but you are the same as every other lost person.
2 Timothy 3:12 says, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” All unbelievers are influenced by Satan to attack you constantly with lies and counterfeits. And for whatever God has created for good, Satan will have something similar but counterfeit that deceives and destroys.
Compare Christ with Satan’s antichrist, and compare the godly pastor/teacher of the church to the false teachers everywhere, and compare sacred marriage instituted by God to same sex unions instituted by men, and compare saving an unborn child to taking away the inconvenience or equal rights of a woman and compare all the lies of this world that promise happiness to the promises of God for joy eternal.
Your Christian behavior and your conduct at work is what really matters to God so that God might use your testimony to bring someone else to Christ. It is not important that you get what you think is due to you in human terms, it is more important to be a useful part in building the kingdom of God.
What the world needs to see is that you are immovable, that your faith is strong and your courage is great and no matter what happens in that environment, you stand in the peace of God totally trusting Him in a quiet spirit with a patient heart to be the best employee you can be.
And then something amazing comes in verse 21, “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.” So this states that when you were saved you were saved for this purpose.
What purpose? You were saved “to patiently endure suffering you did not deserve.” How come? Because the minute you became a Christian you became the enemy of the world which is controlled by Satan. And you will go through life being unjustly and unfairly attacked.
And you should be better than the others; you should be the model employee. And you should not be surprised if your attitude is attacked because a God loving attitude is in stark contrast to a self loving world.
Our model is really Christ Himself. 1 Peter 2:21-23, “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. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”
Christ was slandered, He was reviled, He was persecuted. And He never retaliated, He answered not a word at His trial, He in meekness and humility committed Himself to God. And He set the model for us all to follow; He gave us the way to live.
He left a set of footprints for us to walk in; He set the pattern for us to learn. Do you think He had rights? Oh He has more rights than anybody and yet He did not use one of them. He did this all as an example for us, so we can live as servants in this world so we can be testimonies to others so they too can believe and be with Him for eternity also.