Living as Christians in a Lost World: Submission

Preached by Pastor Chad Rickenbaker on August 2, 2026  [watch online]  |  1 Peter 2:13–25

1 Peter — “Living as Christians in a Lost World: Submission”

Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. —1 Peter 2:13–17 (NKJV)

One of the interesting things about preaching straight through a book of the Bible is that it brings you to topics the rest of us might choose to skip. We used to call it the Lifeway Leap — when the writers came to a hard passage, they’d just sort of leap over it. I thought about doing the Lifeway Leap over this one. But here we are.

This morning, God’s Word calls us to submit to governing authorities. Then it calls slaves to submit to their masters. And after that — and we’re not getting to it today — it tells wives to submit to their husbands. I’m saving that one for next Sunday and praying between now and then that Jesus comes.

Last week we saw Peter open a new and very practical section of his letter, and the question driving all of it is this: how are we supposed to live as Christians in a lost world? The world around us is lost. By and large, people don’t know Jesus. So how do we — sojourners and pilgrims, people for whom this world is not home, whose citizenship is in heaven — how do we live here? The first part of Peter’s answer was abstain: abstain from fleshly lusts which war against your soul. The second part is submission.

Peter lays out three arenas: submission to every human authority, submission in relation to earthly masters, and submission in marriage. And it’s important to remember who he’s writing to. These were Christians who were suffering — under unjust treatment from their government, inside an economic system where slavery was legal, in marriages where some women were being treated badly by husbands who didn’t know the Lord.

I think Peter knew we’d struggle with this teaching. Because when we hear that in unjust circumstances we are to submit, isn’t there something in us that bucks up against it? Someone’s treating me badly, and I’m supposed to just take it? I don’t think so. Peter knew. And so right in the middle of it, before he ever gets to the application, he turns our attention to Jesus.

The Example of Jesus (vs. 21–25)

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. —1 Peter 2:21–25 (NKJV)

“For to this you were called.” Called to what? Called to endure some unjust treatment. It’s part of God’s plan — we don’t always understand it, but there it is. And Jesus was righteous, perfect, no fault or flaw in Him whatsoever. Would you agree with me that Jesus was treated unjustly? So when we find ourselves in circumstances where we’re treated unfairly, Peter says: look to Him. Respond the way He responded.

How did He handle it? Three things.

Jesus practiced restrained endurance. (vs. 22–23)

You remember when Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. Peter took one look and concluded — correctly — that this whole thing was unjust. This isn’t right. So he drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. But look at what Jesus said to him:

But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?” —Matthew 26:52–54 (NKJV)

Peter’s instinct was we must fight, we must strike back against injustice. Jesus, seeing the bigger picture, practiced restrained endurance. He could have called on His Father. Twelve legions of angels, and it would have been over. He didn’t. Why not?

Jesus committed Himself to God. (vs. 23)

Because He “committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.” That’s how He could do it.

Now listen carefully. You will, at some point in your life, experience unjust treatment. It will not seem fair. It will not feel fair. You’re not going to like it, and it’s going to be painful. And you’re going to have a decision to make — because what you’re going to want is what any one of us would want. It is not unnatural or unreasonable to want satisfaction, and to want it now. I don’t want to let it go. I want to assert my right. I want this made right today.

Jesus said: I commit Myself to the Father. He judges righteously.

It may be that in this life you get satisfaction for the wrong done to you. That’s possible. But it is just as possible that you go the entire length of your life and never receive it. So how do you endure that? You trust God. It has not escaped His notice. If you’ve been treated unjustly, God saw it. And whether it’s in this lifetime or when He returns, God will settle the matter. He will make it right, and He won’t get it wrong.

Can you trust God to make it right? I’m not sure, standing in Peter’s sandals in that garden, that I would have shown the restraint Jesus showed. But Jesus showed it because He had entrusted Himself to the will and plan of His Father. Friends, that is a big step of faith.

Jesus looked to the greater reward. (vs. 24)

Jesus was looking past the arrest in the garden, past the insult and injury of the trial, past the suffering of the cross — because He foresaw the joy that would come through His sacrifice.

You might say, that’s fine for Jesus, but how does my suffering bring about anything greater? Look back a few verses:

Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. —1 Peter 2:12 (NKJV)

There’s the greater reward. When we suffer, when we endure hardship and even unjust treatment, and we conduct ourselves honorably among people who don’t know the Lord — God may use that restraint, that confidence in Him, to draw someone to Himself. And He is glorified.

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— —1 Peter 2:15 (NKJV)

And there’s another piece of it:

For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. —1 Peter 2:19–20 (NKJV)

If you did something that deserved the punishment, there’s no credit to you in taking it well. But when you do good and suffer for it and endure patiently — this is commendable before God. God is saying: I see it. I see you practicing restraint. I see you enduring. Yes, you’ve been treated unjustly, and I see that you’re trusting Me. It is not escaping My notice, and I will commend and reward you for it.

When does that reward come? I don’t know. I can’t promise it will be here, and I can’t promise it will be now. But I can promise you, on the authority of God’s Word, that it will come.

Peter even applies this to marriage, which is where we’re headed next week:

Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, —1 Peter 3:1 (NKJV)

Understand what that is and isn’t saying. It is not saying a wife should endure and put up with abuse. It’s saying that a believing wife’s conduct, lived out under the Lord, is something God can use to draw an unbelieving husband to Himself.

We Submit to Every Human Authority (vs. 13–17)

Peter says we’re to be submissive to governing and ruling authorities “for the Lord’s sake,” and that this is the will of God for us. Why? Because God ordained governing authority. He established it. Paul says the same thing — write this down and read it this week:

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. —Romans 13:1–2 (NKJV)

So what does submission mean? In part, it means obedience. Full obedience and compliance to the laws of the land. So when you leave here today, if the speed limit on White Horse Road is 45 — 45 you must do.

Is there an end to that? Yes. In God’s Word you see Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego given a command by the emperor that was directly contrary to the Word of God, and they did not comply:

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” —Daniel 3:16–18 (NKJV)

Daniel did the same thing when the decree came against praying (Daniel 6:10). So we fully comply and fully obey — until the moment something is required of us that is against God’s Word. Until then, we submit.

Now you may be thinking, Peter doesn’t understand the kind of government we have today. Well — maybe not, because it’s a lot better today. Peter is writing around AD 60. Caligula and Claudius are recent memory, and words are hard to come by to describe how terrible they were. The only thing that made them look bearable is that they were followed by Nero, who was worse. It’s believed Nero was responsible for the fire in Rome — he watched it burn and blamed the Christians. And then he had believers brought into the arena to be torn apart by wild animals. That’s the audience receiving this letter. So no — it’s easier today than what those people were enduring.

The second piece is honor: “Honor the king.” You may say there are people in public office you could easily honor because they’re honorable, and others who aren’t. Keep in mind that sometimes what we honor is the position — the role God established.

or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. —1 Peter 2:14 (NKJV)

Sent by whom? Sent by God. He created the role.

Then look at verse 16: we do this “as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.” Peter is saying yes — your citizenship is in heaven, this world is not your home, and in that sense you are free. (I’m not talking about any of this sovereign citizen business.) But you are a bondservant of the Lord. And the Lord has spelled out plainly that His purpose for me while I live here is that I submit myself to ruling and governing authorities.

So let me ask a hard question. Is there anything about the way we relate to politics that makes our lives distinctive from the lost world? Anything in the way you speak about it, react to it, post about it, that sets you apart? Because we are God’s chosen people, holy and set apart — which means we’re not supposed to look like everyone else, act like everyone else, or talk like everyone else.

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; —1 Peter 2:9 (NKJV)

The way we speak to and respond to these things is supposed to make us look odd. Are you okay with being odd? Because in this world we are the minority:

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” —Matthew 7:13–14 (NKJV)

If you’re on the narrow path, you are not on the path with the majority of the world — and you’re going to look odd in how you speak, behave, and respond to what’s happening around you. If your desire is to blend in with everyone else, you can do that. You just won’t be submissive to the will and purpose of God in it.

I’m not saying you can’t have a political affiliation. I’m not saying we shouldn’t participate in the political process. I’m saying our prime identity isn’t that. Our identity is tied to who God says we are.

And one more form of submission, which isn’t in this text but is certainly in the Bible: we pray for those in elected positions.

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. —1 Timothy 2:1–4 (NKJV)

Pray for them — so that we can live quiet and peaceable lives of godliness, because God desires that people be saved and come to know Him. That’s our ultimate mission too.

We Submit to Earthly Masters (vs. 18–20)

Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. —1 Peter 2:18 (NKJV)

“Not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh” — that is, when you are being treated unjustly.

So many questions come with this passage. Why doesn’t Peter just denounce slavery outright? Why give instructions for how slaves relate to masters instead of calling them to rise up and overthrow the institution?

It is, after all, Christian doctrine that leads to emancipation, because it is rooted in the truth that every person is made in the image of God. Those theological principles are what drive abolition. What Peter is doing here is speaking into the circumstance his readers were actually in. Their liberation may come, but in that moment it hasn’t. It’s also worth knowing that slavery in Rome was not the racial tragedy we’ve known in our own history — people were enslaved through conquest, or sold themselves to settle a debt. Peter’s point isn’t about the evils of slavery, though it is evil; it’s about how Christians live if they find themselves in that situation until deliverance comes.

And you may one day find yourself in an unjust circumstance — not as a slave, but in a situation you are simply incapable of freeing yourself from. Would God want you there? Not necessarily. But if you’re there, He tells you how to carry yourself.

The commentators point out something in verse 19 worth catching: “if because of conscience toward God one endures grief.” That word one is understood to mean anyone. If anyone finds themselves the victim of unjust treatment, here is how they are to respond. God sees. We live for an audience of One.

While I was studying this passage I came across the story of Eric Liddell — many of you know the movie, Chariots of Fire. He won Olympic gold in the 1920s, and then went to China as a missionary around 1925, working in one of the poorest provinces of the country. When war broke out in 1941, the British government ordered its citizens home. Liddell refused. He knew his ultimate allegiance wasn’t to the British government, or to China, but to God. In 1943 the Japanese sent him to an internment camp, where he spent the last years of his life. People there came to recognize his selflessness and his love. When a group was chosen at random to be released, he was one of them — and he gave up his spot to a pregnant woman. He was subsequently shot and killed.

Why would a man do that? Because he knew what we have to know: that in this world we are sojourners and pilgrims, and this world is not our home. If we don’t live with that in mind, we will develop an attachment to this world that God is not honored with.

So How Do We Live Here?

While we’re here, we obey and respect those who have authority over us. And note this — we also speak out against injustice. “Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God” (1 Peter 2:17). Loving the brotherhood and honoring all people means there will be times we speak up and cry out on behalf of those treated unjustly. But we are to be known for doing good in such a way that those who speak against the church are silenced.

It’s an odd teaching. It doesn’t seem natural. But it’s the way of Jesus:

• Practice restrained endurance.
• Commit yourself to God — and if in this life you never get the satisfaction or justice you believe your case deserves, leave it in His hands, knowing He will ultimately make it right.
• Keep your focus on the will of God, looking to the reward. People are drawn to God precisely because we don’t respond like everyone else.

Living as pilgrims and sojourners isn’t easy. God calls us to hard things — but Jesus never pretended otherwise:

Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” —Luke 9:23–24 (NKJV)

Jesus never minced words about what this would mean. Taking up your cross is a hard thing, because in some seasons it means doing exactly what He did — practicing restrained endurance, committing our case to God, and looking to the greater reward that He brings. Not us. We can’t bring it. He brings it.

Maybe you’re walking through a hard season right now, in circumstances that aren’t of your making, and it isn’t fair. Give it to the Lord. The danger in not giving it to Him is that you leave an opening for a root of bitterness to take hold in your heart. So do what Jesus did: commit yourself to the Lord and trust Him with your situation. And even if it isn’t resolved next week or next month or next year — or in this life — will you trust that He is ultimately going to make it right?

Don’t be surprised by the hardship. Trust Him in the process. He can use it to refine your faith, deepen your character, and draw you closer to Him. And who’s to say He might not use it to draw someone else to Himself.

It all begins with committing yourself to Him.

Scripture references in this message: 1 Peter 2:13–17; 1 Peter 2:21–25; Matthew 26:52–54; 1 Peter 2:12; 1 Peter 2:15; 1 Peter 2:19–20; 1 Peter 3:1; Romans 13:1–2 (see also Romans 13:1–7); Daniel 3:16–18; Daniel 6:10; 1 Peter 2:14; 1 Peter 2:9; Matthew 7:13–14; 1 Timothy 2:1–4; 1 Peter 2:18; 1 Peter 2:17; Luke 9:23–24. (NKJV)

Want to go deeper? Join us Sunday mornings as we continue verse by verse through 1 Peter, or find a Connect group or Bible study class at Berea First Baptist Church.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.