Scripture: 1st Peter 2:18-21
Structure:
- Introduction
- Christians are like slaves
- Unjust suffering is grace
- Conclusion
Introduction:
Good morning everyone.
Tomorrow is Labour Day. In a general sense Labour Day is a public holiday to celebrate workers. Labour Day has its origins in the eight-hour day movement, which advocated a balanced lifestyle of eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest.
Many countries around the world celebrate Labour Day on the 1st May, but in New Zealand we take the fourth Monday off in October. The New Zealander often associated with the eight hour working day is Samuel Parnell, a Wellington carpenter.
In the 1840’s a shipping agent, named George Hunter, asked Samuel Parnell to build him a store on Lambton Quay. Parnell agreed, on the condition that he would only work eight hours per day. Hunter was initially reluctant, but Parnell argued that “we have twenty-four hours per day given us; eight of these should be for work, eight for sleeping, and the remaining eight for recreation and in which for men to do what little things they want for themselves. I am ready to start to-morrow morning at eight o’clock, but it must be on these terms or none at all.”
When Hunter pointed out how different this was from London, Parnell replied “We’re not in London.” Due to a severe shortage of skilled workers in New Zealand, Hunter was forced to accept Parnell’s terms on the spot.
Samuel Parnell greeted ships coming in to Port, and told the new migrants not to work more than eight hours a day. In a workers’ meeting in October 1840, it was agreed that people should only work eight hours a day, which must be between 8am and 5pm. Anyone accepting less favourable working conditions was to be thrown into the harbour.
On the 28 October 1890, the 50th anniversary of the eight-hour day was commemorated with a parade. Then in 1899 the government passed legislation to make Labour Day a public holiday.
Today we continue our series in the letter of first Peter. Last week we heard how Christian believers are to submit to the government. This week we learn what Peter has to say about how Christian believers are to respond to unjust treatment. From 1st Peter chapter 2, verses 18-21 we read…
18 Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19 For it is grace if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is grace before God. 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example,that you should follow in his steps.
May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.
On the face of it, today’s reading is about how slaves (or workers) are to relate to their master. Scratching beneath the surface though we find it is less about slavery and more about how Christian believers are to respond to unjust treatment. Two things to highlight from what Peter is saying here:
Firstly, Christians are like slaves and secondly, unjust suffering is grace.
Christians are like slaves:
As you are heading north on State Highway 1, just past Paekakariki, there is a bill board advertising a commercial real estate firm. On this billboard is a picture of Christian Cullen (a former All Black) in a suit standing beside someone else in a suit, with the phrase: ‘From one great team to another.’ It’s clever advertising.
Businesses tend to align themselves with successful sports teams and individuals because they want to associate themselves with the strength and success of that team. For example, Sanitarium also piggy back off the reputation of the All Blacks as a fit, healthy and strong team by showing TV ads of All Black players eating Weetbix.
By the same token, most big-businesses are keen to distance themselves from teams and athletes who have fallen into disrepute. Lance Armstrong was dropped like a stone by his sponsors (Nike and Budweiser) when he got caught for doping some years back.
In first Peter 2, verse 18, Peter begins talking about how slaves are to relate with their masters. In the context of the first century, slaves were on the lowest rung of society. They did not have the same protection under the law and so they did not enjoy the same power or privilege as people who were free.
Slaves were like the opposite of the All Blacks in terms of their social standing. No self-respecting business would align their brand with slaves. They just would not want their name associated with people who were essentially powerless and dishonoured in society.
By giving particular attention to slaves, Peter is characterising his first century readers as people without power and privilege in society at large. Peter is saying: we Christians are like slaves. And, in the historical context, it was a fair comparison. While Peter’s readers were a mixture of slave and free, they were all pretty much despised and maligned by the wider Roman world simply because they were Christians.
From a public relations point of view, it is strange that Peter aligns the Christian community with the slave community. In marketing terms, it was not good for the Christian brand. If Peter wanted to improve the public perception of the Christian community, he would have been better to sponsor the colosseum where gladiatorial games took place. This would make the Christian brand appear powerful and strong and popular with the masses.
But Peter does not do that. Why? Because that would be a denial of Christ and Peter was not going to make that mistake again. The truth is we worship a crucified God. Jesus embraced the shame, the dishonour, the powerlessness and the injustice of the cross, in obedience to God. Jesus aligned his name, not with the All Blacks of this world, but rather with the Lance Armstrong’s of this world. Cheats and sinners like us.
The other thing that is strange here, from our 21st Century perspective, is that Peter does not speak out against slavery. Slavery is clearly wrong, to our way of thinking at least, and yet Peter seems to condone it when he instructs slaves to submit to their masters. We, in the affluent west, want to read a Bible that condemns slavery but the New Testament does not do that.
Consequently, we may be tempted to put a distance between ourselves and Peter’s words here because Peter’s instruction, for slaves to submit to their masters, is not good for our Christian brand. It makes us appear backward and morally bankrupt in the eyes of contemporary society.
In response to this, let me shed a bit of light on the historical context. When we hear the word slave we tend to think of the 18th and 19th Centuries when black Africans were kidnapped and transported to America in chains to work as farm hands, picking cotton or harvesting sugar. Images of violence and abuse from movies like Roots and Gone with the Wind and Armistad and 12 Years a Slave and The Cider House Rules and Uncle Tom’s Cabin come to mind.
However, slavery in the Roman empire of the first century was not exactly the same as the slavery of 18th and 19th centuries. For one thing, slaves of the first century were not just black. Slaves could be of any race or ethnicity.
What’s more some slaves in the first century were highly educated people. Yes, many slaves worked in the fields and the mines or waited on tables, but there were others who worked as doctors, teachers, and business managers.
And while a good many slaves of the first century were abused, because there was little or no legal protection for them, others were treated well and a small minority (with the help of their masters) were able to buy their freedom. This in no way makes the slavery of the first century okay. But it was different to the picture of slavery we often get from Hollywood movies.
We live at a time and place in history where human trafficking is rightly considered evil but for the people of the 1st Century slavery was socially acceptable. It is thought that between 85%-90% of the population were slaves in New Testament times. [1] The economy depended on slavery. The pagan society of Peter’s day simply did not see anything wrong with slavery. It was not a moral issue for them. It was an economic necessity.
As I’ve said on a number of occasions, the Christian community were a marginalised minority, viewed with suspicion if not contempt. It would have been completely unrealistic for the fledging New Testament church to criticise slavery or advocate its overthrow. The young churches would be fighting the consensus of the Greco-Roman world. Any attempt at social revolution would have been doomed to failure. [2]
Peter’s focus was not on changing social structures. His main concern was to see transformation of the human heart, from the inside out. Once the human heart and mind are in tune with Jesus, the slave becomes your brother or sister. Social status is no longer important and slavery becomes a moot point – it dissolves.
In any case, we are in no position to throw the first stone. Slavery is not just a problem consigned to history. Slavery, in various forms, is still alive and well in our world today.
The fact that Peter does not openly condemn slavery in his letter does not mean the Bible condones it. Far from it. Slavery is a man-made institution. It was not God’s idea. Jesus came to set the captives free. Jesus came to turn the values of this world upside down. It is because of the influence of Christ that we now see slavery as evil. Jesus teaches us to uphold the dignity and value of every human life, for we are all made in the image of God. But Jesus does not bring about this change through violent political revolution. He does it incrementally, slowly, via the cross, through vulnerability and weakness.
Okay, so that’s the first thing Peter is saying: Christians are like slaves. The second point is even more disturbing: unjust suffering is grace.
Unjust suffering is grace:
If we are shocked by Peter’s instruction for slaves to submit to their masters, we may be horrified by what comes next. Peter tells his readers to submit, not only to those masters who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh or morally crooked. From verse 19 we read…
For it is grace if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. …if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is grace before God.
Some English translations of these verses say: it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering… But the word translated as commendable is actually charis in the original Greek and charis means grace.
While grace is commendable, at its heart the word grace means gift. Grace is a beautiful gift, a good gift, a life giving gift. Grace enables the winsomeness we talked about a couple of weeks ago. Grace is not earned by hard work, nor can it be taken by force. Grace can only be received as a gift in an attitude of trust.
For it is grace if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God.
Peter’s words here seem a long way from Labour Day. They are a thousand miles from Samuel Parnell’s insistence on an eight hour working day. Parnell and his friends probably would have thrown Peter in the harbour for preaching this stuff.
I like Peter’s realism in these verses though. He is a down to earth fisherman who more than likely worked a lot more than 8 hours a day. After all, if he did not catch fish he did not eat. He does not entertain any illusions about the way the world is.
Peter is basically saying, this world is not always kind or fair. Injustice is still very much a part of the fabric of this world. As a Christian you should expect some unjust treatment from time to time. Not everything that happens in this world is God’s will. But nothing is beyond the reach of his grace.
If you are able to endure the pain (the mental anguish) of unjust treatment, because you are aware of God, then this is grace (not disgrace).
So in what sense is enduring unjust treatment grace? How is mistreatment by your master or employer a beautiful gift? Because, at the time, the pain of unjust treatment, of being misunderstood or maligned or falsely accused does not feel like grace. Being a lightning rod for someone else’s anger, being blamed for someone else’s mistakes, does not feel good or life giving. It may cause us to think that God is unhappy with us or has abandoned us when, in fact, the opposite is true.
The capacity to endure the pain of injustice, without compromising who you are, is a beautiful gift (a God given grace) in that situation. God’s grace is in the strength he gives to handle the injustice. We are to be vessels (or containers) of God’s grace making His presence real.
I imagine some of you, perhaps most of you, have experienced God’s grace in this way. Think of a time in your life when things were tough, when circumstances were against you, through no fault of your own, but somehow (mysteriously) you handled it. That was likely God’s grace, giving you the peace and the strength you needed.
Isn’t it strange the way we can lose the plot when something little goes wrong (like when someone doesn’t replace the toilet roll when it’s finished or tramps leaves through the house when you’ve just vacuumed or some other little thing irks you). But when a far more challenging situation presents itself (like the death of a loved one or the loss of a job or level 4 lockdown) we seem to rise to the occasion and surprise ourselves by coping well.
That ‘rising to the occasion’ is something more than just adrenalin. It is God’s grace. God is the one who gives us what we need to endure the hardship. It’s like God is carrying us through that difficult experience – and that is a beautiful gift.
In thinking of the grace to endure unjust treatment by an employer I am reminded of the story of Jacob from Genesis. When Jacob ran away from home he went to his uncle Laban. Laban had two daughters, Leah and Rachel. Jacob fell in love with Rachel and made a deal with Laban to work for seven years in exchange for marrying Rachel.
At the end of the seven years Laban switched the bride and tricked Jacob into marrying his eldest daughter, Leah. Jacob then had to work another seven years to pay the bride price for Rachel. But God gave Jacob the grace to submit to Laban, even though Laban was deceitful and crooked.
God’s grace for Jacob was altogether beautiful. God’s grace came in the form of the euphoria of romantic love which made the seven years pass quickly for Jacob. Not that Jacob had to wait 14 years to be with Rachel. He married Rachel a week after Leah. But God’s grace also came through Leah, who provided sons for Israel.
Jacob was not Laban’s slave exactly but he was subject to Laban as a worker and Laban was not a good or easy boss. After 20 years of service to Laban, working as a shepherd far more than eight hours a day, Jacob had had enough and left under the cover of darkness with his family.
This suggests there are limits to submission and there comes a time to throw off the yoke of oppression. You do not need to submit to abuse in the workplace. There is legal protection available to workers these days that simply was not available in ancient times. Returning to Jacob & Laban. We note that in leaving, Jacob did no violence to Laban. Laban caught up with Jacob and the two of them made a solemn promise to do no harm to each other. An amicable separation.
Okay, so the grace to endure unjust suffering is something good which comes from God to help us through a difficult time. We believers, who are God’s slaves, essentially become a vehicle of God’s grace for the undeserving. But is there another way to understand what Peter means when he says unjust suffering is grace? Well, maybe, with the benefit of hindsight.
Sometimes God’s grace comes to us in a form that is not pleasant. God’s grace does not always feel like the euphoria of falling in love. Sometimes God’s grace is an ugly duckling that we despise at first, but which later turns into a beautiful swan. We often only recognise God’s grace in the rear vision mirror.
Earlier in the service we heard a reading from Matthew 16 where Jesus predicted his suffering, death and resurrection. Peter (the same Peter who wrote this letter) took Jesus aside and rebuked Jesus saying, ‘Never, Lord. This shall never happen to you.’
Peter was well intentioned of course. He was loyal to Jesus and did not want Jesus to suffer injustice like this. But Jesus turned to Peter and said, ‘Get behind me Satan. You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.’
What a devastating critique. Peter was only trying help. To Peter’s credit he did not throw his toys out of the cot and return to his fishing business. He did not get the pip with Jesus and walk off in a huff. Instead he submitted to what Jesus said, even though it probably seemed a bit harsh and unfair to him at the time. Peter stuck with Jesus.
It was only later, after he had witnessed Jesus’ suffering and death and had seen the risen Jesus, that Peter understood. The ugly duckling of unjust suffering was actually a graceful, beautiful swan in waiting. Jesus’ unjust suffering was the means of God’s grace for undeserving humanity.
Conclusion:
Verse 21 tells us that, as Christians, we are called to unjust suffering, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
The Greek word translated as example was used to refer to a pattern of letters of the alphabet over which children learning to write would trace. [3] Jesus left us the pattern of the cross over which we are to trace out our lives, in order that we might follow in his steps.
We are unlikely to be scourged and crucified as Jesus was, but we are likely to suffer injustice, in some way or another, if we openly follow Christ. This injustice will hurt but it is grace if we bear it without losing trust in God. For if we share in Christ’s suffering we will also share in his glory. That is the pattern.
After sowing in tears comes reaping with joy.
After waiting in silence comes revelation.
After alienation comes intimacy.
After unjust treatment comes vindication.
After darkness comes the dawn.
And after death comes resurrection.
Let us pray…
Father God, we thank you for your grace in all its forms. We confess that (like Peter) we do not always recognise your grace or welcome it. We find the way of Jesus hard. We don’t enjoy being misunderstood or blamed for other people’s mistakes. We don’t like turning the other cheek when we are treated unfairly and yet your grace is often revealed in these experiences of injustice. (Lord, I don’t like the way of the cross, but I like you.) Forgive us for the times when we have resisted your will. Give us grace to embrace our cross and follow in the footsteps of Jesus so that the love of Christ would be real for others and the hope of glory real for us. Amen.
Questions for discussion or reflection:
What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
- Why do you think Peter aligns the Christian community (brand) with slaves? How do you feel being aligned with people at the bottom of the social ladder?
- Why do you think Peter (and the NT generally) does not explicitly condemn slavery? In what ways has the influence of Christ changed attitudes to slavery over the centuries?
- What is grace? What do you think Peter means when he says, ‘For it is grace if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God.’?
- When is it not appropriate to submit to your boss? When might one make a stand and throw off the yoke of oppression?
- Can you think of a time in your own life when things were tough (through no fault of your own) and God gave you grace to handle it? What form did God’s grace come to you in? Share your story with someone you trust.
[1] Paul Copan, ‘Is God a Moral Monster?’, page 151.
[2] Thomas R. Schreiner, 1st Peter, page 136.
[3] Refer Karen Jobes’ commentary on 1st Peter, page 195.
Tawa Baptist 