Hello, and welcome to this week's edition of the Weekend Sermon. I am thankful to the Lord Jesus for the opportunity to post this message, and I am thankful to the Lord for each person who takes the time to read this blog.
This week, I had two important meetings at work, and to my surprise, they went much better than I expected. As I had mentioned previously, this job is very difficult, and I haven't been enjoying it too much. On Thursday, I had a meeting with the leader of the entire division. He was very encouraging, and we had a great meeting. On Friday, I had a meeting with my direct supervisor for a quarterly performance review. He told me that I was doing great, and to keep up the good work. I am grateful to the Lord for His help at my job, and I am grateful for the prayers of all of my blog readers. I would ask that you please continue to pray for me as it relates to work and my ongoing health issues.
In your prayer time this week, please continue to pray for my neighbor who is still in the rehab center. Also, pray for peace in the troubled areas of the world. Let us especially pray for peace in Yemen, Libya, Ukraine and Syria.
Last week, we resumed our study in the book of I Peter. Today, we will continue in I Peter, and we will be studying a controversial section of this book. Every time I post something slightly controversial, I see the blog readership dip. Then readership builds back up, and another controversial passage comes up. These things are in God's word, so I must deal with them in the best manner that I know how.
I Peter 2:13-17 deals with submission to the governing authorities. Peter was writing to a group of people who were facing persecution. The Roman authorities were always on the lookout for any group that might be a threat to their power. If they felt that this new group of Christ followers was teaching some sort of rebellion against the government, they would bring persecution against the church. Peter is urging his readers to obey the law, so that the governing authorities would not have an excuse to persecute followers of Jesus.
Unfortunately, this passage has been used by some to say that Christians should not be involved in protest movements or in civil disobedience. I know that during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, many church leaders criticized Martin Luther King because they said that he was violating this passage of Scripture.
As far as I am concerned, nothing could be farther from the truth. The Bible should never be used to justify governmental oppression. We are to obey the law. However, when the law is unjust, we as believers in Jesus have an obligation to stand for justice, peace and goodness. As Peter himself said in the book of Acts, "It is better to obey God rather than men." This is especially true for those of us who live in democratic countries.
In I Peter 2:18-25, Peter addresses the issue of slaves and masters. In the Roman world, there were millions of slaves. Rome feared a slave revolt as occurred with Spartacus. If the Christian community were perceived to have these revolutionary tendencies, persecution would increase. For this reason, Peter urged slaves to obey their masters.
There is no way to get around the fact that the Bible does not really speak against slavery. It was a major part of the culture in Biblical times. However, I believe that God gives progressive revelation. Enlightened people now realize that slavery is an abomination. The practice cannot be justified. It is just wrong. I believe that if they were writing today, men like Paul and Peter would see the truth of this. Sometimes, it is hard to escape the ideas of the culture in which you live. Throughout history, God raised up voices against this abhorrent practice. William Wilberforce was a great man who stood against slavery in Britain. I urge you to watch the film "Amazing Grace" to learn of his struggles against slavery. Sadly, there are pockets of slavery that still exist in the world. The church should do all that it can to work against this terrible injustice.
Some pastors try to use this passage in I Peter about slave and master relationships to draw a parallel to employer-employee relationships. To this I say, your boss is not your master. Workers are not slaves. In too many places around the world today, workers are treated abysmally. There is no justification for substandard wages or workplace conditions. Employers should do what is right, and not practice economic exploitation. The people of God should speak out against corporate greed, corruption and exploitation. No big businessman who doesn't pay his workers a living wage should feel comfortable in the pew when the pastor brings the message on Sunday morning.
Now, I will really step into the controversy. This whole idea of wives being in subjection to their husbands is a minefield. First of all, I want to state up front that I am not married and I have never been married. I have no intention of getting married. I can only speak as I feel Jesus leads me on this subject.
Once again, I believe that Peter is writing about a specific situation. The church is facing persecution, and he doesn't want to give the powers that be an excuse for persecution. Many women were coming to the faith. Women in Peter's day were virtually powerless. If they came to Jesus and it looked as if they were in some way rebelling against male domination, it might led to persecution of Christians for going against the norms of society. Therefore, Peter urges wives to be submissive to there husbands and in this way attempt to led them to Jesus.
I do not believe in any way shape or form that Peter is advocating male domination. The reason I believe this is because Peter walked with Jesus who did more than anyone else in His time to elevate the status of women.
Jesus first of all spoke to women and taught them which was not done by other teachers of His time. Jesus entrusted the first annunciation of His resurrection to a woman. Mary Magdalene was the first one to proclaim the Gospel of the resurrection.
We have to look at how men and women relate to one another in today's society. Husbands and wives should love one another and work to make a good relationship and a good home. They should come to mutual decisions on family matters and not have one spouse trying to dictate to the other.
Women are not second-class citizens, and they should not be treated as such in the church. For too long, the church has been male dominated. I remember in the fundamentalist church of my youth that women were not allowed to do anything. They could not be pastors or teach men. They were not even allowed to be Sunday School teachers for boys over the age of twelve. No women were supposed to work outside of the home.
This type of attitude has to stop. Women should be allowed to teach in church and be pastors because Jesus entrusted His message to women and did not discriminate against them. There is even good evidence that there was a woman apostle named Junia. Paul even mentions deaconesses. Priscilla was involved in the ministry along with her husband.
Well, I've dealt with these three issues to some degree. To recap, I believe that Peter was trying to instruct his readers in this section on how to avoid persecution by the Roman authorities. We should follow the law as long as it does not force us to violate a direct command of the Lord. We must speak out against injustice and wrong. Husbands and wives should love and respect each other. The church and society should be more respectful of women and value the contributions that they can make.
I hope that if you disagree with what I wrote here today, that you will at least consider my viewpoint. I know that some will be offended by my ideas that women should be allowed to be pastors in the church. All I ask is that you think about it in the light of the actions of Jesus.
Next week, I will post the verses on Monday. On Wednesday, I will post a review. On Saturday, we will continue with our study of I Peter. May God bless you all. Amen.
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