Second chapter, verses 18 through 25.
1 Peter, chapter 2, 18 through 25.
Servants, be subject to your masters with all
fear, not only to the good and gentle,
but also to the perverse.
For this is thankworthy if a man for
conscience toward God endureth grief, suffering wrongfully.
For what glory is it if, when ye
are buffeted for your faults, ye shall take
it patiently?
But if, when ye do well and suffer
for it, ye take it patiently, this is
acceptable with God.
For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ
also suffered for us, leading us an example
that ye should follow his steps.
Who did no sin, neither was guile found
in his mouth.
Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again.
When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed
himself to him that judgeth righteously.
Who his own self bore our sins in
his own body on the tree, that we,
being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness,
by whose stripes ye were healed.
For ye were a sheep going astray, but
are now returned unto the shepherds and bishops
of your souls."
Our Lord, before thrusting the disciples out into
the world to which they would minister, warned
them of the reception which they would receive.
In the fifteenth chapter of John's Gospel, in
verse 18 and following, our Lord spoke of
the world's hatred of those who know the
Lord Jesus Christ.
May I read these verses with a slight
paraphrase to prepare us for what Peter has
to say about a Christian in the business
world.
If the business world hate you, know that
it hated me before it hated you.
If you were of the business world, the
business world would love his own.
But because you are not of the business
world, but I have chosen you out of
the business world, therefore the world hateth you.
Remember these words that I said unto you,
The servant is not greater than his Lord.
If businessmen have persecuted me, they will also
persecute you.
If they have kept my sayings, they will
keep yours also.
But all these things will they do unto
you for my name's sake, because they know
not him that sent me.
The business world is no friend to Christ,
because all the goals that the business world
set before itself go counter to the goals
that Jesus Christ set before his children.
Christ said, Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness, and all these things
shall be added unto you.
The business executive says, Seek ye first the
business world and its life, and things shall
be added unto you.
God demands implicit obedience to his words.
The business world sets up its own goals,
its own ethics, its own plan, its own
methods, demands conformity to those whether they conform
to the truth of the word of God
or not.
Jesus Christ said through the Apostle Paul, Let
no man think of himself more highly than
he ought to think, and the business world
says promote yourself.
Jesus Christ sets no store by material things,
and reveals the inadequacy of material things to
satisfy a man who by nature is a
spiritual being.
The word of God sets material remuneration as
the ultimate goal in life.
Jesus Christ judges a man by what he
is, and the business world judges a man
by what he accomplishes in the things.
And when a believer lives in the business
world, he is living in a hostile environment.
Hostile to Jesus Christ, hostile to all the
goals that Jesus Christ puts before a man,
hostile to all the tests by which Jesus
Christ evaluates a man, and the world therefore
must hate the believer.
You who have to live day by day
in the business world little realize how much
you're on your pastor's heart.
I count myself highly privileged of God to
spend so much of my life in an
entirely different atmosphere, and an entirely different sphere.
Yet from the little bit that I have
observed, and that which I've gained from talking
to businessmen whose desire it is to live
for Jesus Christ, I can understand some of
the battles that you face, and the problems
that are yours day after day.
God has laid you on my heart.
You're on the Apostle Peter's heart, and the
Apostle Paul's heart too, for these men of
God who wrote to men who find themselves
in that situation had a word for them.
In that portion of Peter's epistle to which
we come this morning, Peter speaks to you
who are engaged in the business world.
He says in 1 Peter 2.18, "'Servants,
be subject to your masters with all fear,
to the good and gentle, but also to
the forward.
For this is thankworthy if a man for
conscience toward God endured grief, suffering wrongfully.
For what glory is it if, when ye
be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take
it patiently?
But if, when ye do well and suffer
for it, ye take it patiently, this is
acceptable with God.'" I imagine that you
ladies who don't work for a living, who
just stay at home, will settle back this
morning, take your ease, and see what we
have to say to your husbands.
The word that the Apostle used in introducing
this teaching is an interesting word.
He did not use the word translated servant
here that occurs so frequently, the word for
a bond slave, a purchased possession.
He used the word for one who hires
himself out to do the works of the
house.
These were employees, if you please, employees of
any category or kind.
Therefore, what he has to say to these
hired servants, as opposed to the bond slave,
the purchased possession of the master, really applies
to all of us.
Servants, be subject to your masters with all
fear.
Peter, in this portion of his epistle, has
been emphasizing the necessity of submission, the submission
to constituted authority.
He has pointed out in verse 13 that
we are to be in submission to government
because government was ordained by God to be
God's agency to maintain law and order, to
punish lawless and riotous men, and provide the
atmosphere in which righteousness can grow and flourish.
And every child of God is required by
the word of God to be in submission
to the government, in so far and in
as much as it performs that primary function
of government maintaining law and order.
Peter will go on to speak of submission
in the home, and we will come in
due time to Peter's instruction concerning submission in
the area of the home in chapter 3.
As important as the home is in Peter's
thinking, it seems as though submission in the
business world took precedence over his instruction concerning
submission in the home.
For as soon as he has completed his
word concerning submission in the political sphere, or
submission to government, he moves on concerning the
command concerning submission in the business world.
He recognizes here authority exists in an employer,
and therefore the employee has certain responsibilities to
the employer, and the employer is to be
in subjection to his master with all fear.
The master here is the word despot, one
who has absolute rights and absolute authority over
the employer.
The apostle did not argue that the employer
had these rights, he assumes it.
It is one of those things that the
apostle feels goes without saying, and so he
commands the employee or the servant to be
in subjection to your master.
The first principle we observe in this phrase
is that the Christian man in business, or
the Christian woman in business, must recognize the
authority of the employer.
This is brought out to us in the
phrase, with all fear.
Fear does not mean dread or trepidation in
our normal sense of the word.
It has to do with respect for one's
position, or respect for authority.
This does not have to do with the
person of the employer, for he may be
a despicable rat, and you may agree with
that conclusion readily, but you still have a
responsibility because of his position, and rebellion against
the authority of the position of the employer
is no more right for the child of
God than disrespect for the authority of the
king or the governor in the political realm.
This right to submission is inherent in his
position because of his authority, and the Christian
in business must begin by recognizing not the
rights of the employee, but first of all
the rights of the employer.
The second thing we notice in verse 18
is that this subjection is enjoined upon the
believer because of the authority of the employer,
not because of the actions of the employer.
Peter says, not only to the good and
gentle, but also to the forward, or the
ornery, or the hard to get along with.
Now, it is not difficult to submit to
an employer when the employer is kind and
considerate, hands out frequent bonuses, lets you off
an hour early on Friday afternoons, provides tickets
for the football games for your relaxation, etc.,
etc.
No, the apostle did not say, you submit
as a believer to the good and gentle,
but he said not only to those, but
also to those who are hard to get
along with.
Once again, you will notice the apostle is
emphasizing that subjection is because of position, not
because of the actions of the employer.
The next thing we notice in verse 19
is that this subjection is placed upon a
child of God because of conscience sake.
This is thankworthy if a man for conscience
toward God endured grief, suffering wrongfully, and I
believe the key to Peter's thought here is
in the phrase for conscience sake.
Now, a child of God does have a
conscience.
The conscience in an individual is the voice
of God, the voice of the Holy Spirit
that convicts him of what is wrong and
approves that which is right.
It condemns unholiness and commends holiness.
The child of God was condemned by a
conscience before he came to know Jesus Christ
as his own personal Savior.
When he trusted Christ for salvation, that guilty
conscience was quieted because the sin question had
been settled.
If the child of God involves himself in
some sin, the Spirit of God works through
conscience to convict him, to bring him to
confession, 1 John 1.9, that we might
receive the forgiveness of that sin.
The child of God, then, still has it
as a goal to live with a conscience
that is not grief, to live with a
Spirit of God that is not grief.
Now, Peter says, if God places us in
a relationship in the business world where we
have a responsibility to be in subjection to
the authority of an employer, and we step
outside of the bounds of subjection to that
authority, we will suffer from a grief conscience,
and the Spirit of God will be grieved
by our rebellion against that constituted authority.
And sin, to violate the principle of subordination
to any constituted authority, will bring grief to
the conscience of the child of God.
Peter says we must be in subjection for
conscience toward God, for the sake of a
clear conscience before God.
The next thing Peter points out in verse
20, in the fourth principle that we notice
here that Peter puts before these believers, is
that such subjection is pleasing to God.
What glory is it if, when ye be
buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it
patiently?
But if when ye do well and suffer
for it, ye take it patiently, this is
acceptable with God.
I'm underlining that last phrase in verse 20,
this is acceptable with God.
Now, I believe that the this includes within
it any conduct of the believer because he
is in subjection to the authority of God.
It would include subjection to the ornery employer
in spite of his orneriness, because God told
him to be in subjection.
And when an employer begins to make life
difficult for the Christian employee, for the Christian
employee accepts it as part of his suffering
for Christ's sake, and retains it as an
evidence of his testimony for Christ, when he
accepts that treatment with joy, with a smile,
then God is pleased.
Now, there will be times when a Christian
employer cannot be in subjection to his employee.
A man came to me not too long
ago.
He was faced with a problem in his
office.
He knew the answer, but he simply wanted
to share with me the problem he had
run up against and get confirmation that that
was a course of action that he should
take, regardless of the consequences.
The boss had the very happy experience of
having made more money than he had anticipated
on making, and rebelled at the thought of
turning over a luscious slice of his profits
to the government.
He had found a way to maintain a
separate set of books that would be available
for the income tax people to examine, and
another set that were kept in the bottom
drawer.
The man was asked to put this plan
into operation.
The course was obvious that the believer could
not be involved in such a scheme as
that.
He had to deny his employer that which
the employer had ordered him to do.
The employer said he'd take full responsibility and
involve the individual, but that didn't change the
circumstances at all.
There may be time when we say when
the employee will have to deny the authority
of the employer, and if he denies the
employer his rights, he must be prepared to
suffer for it.
Now, in this case, the suffering might be
dismissal, but he is prepared to accept that
because he has a conscience toward God, and
this submission to conscience that is the voice
of God will take precedence over the authority
of the employer when the conscience directs a
course of action contrary to that of the
employer.
This submission to suffering to maintain a good
conscience, Peter says, is acceptable with God.
Now, the Apostle Paul speaks in a similar
vein to servants in Ephesians, chapter 6, and
verses 5 to 8, and he adds several
things there that I would like to call
your attention as we think of this important
subject.
He says in verse 5, "'Servants, be obedient
to them that are your masters according to
the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness
of your heart, as unto Christ.' Now, Paul
is speaking to those who had become the
purchased possession of a master.
He uses a different word for servants here,
but the principles laid down would apply to
either one, and are pertinent to us today.
Now, will you recognize that Paul distinguishes between
your master according to the flesh and Jesus
Christ as a master?
There is one area in which the employer
has rights over the employees, one area alone.
That is not authority over every area of
the man's life.
There are areas that Jesus Christ is sovereign
in, and he reserves to himself those rights
and those authorities.
There are those who are masters according to
the flesh, but those masters are opposed to
the authority of the Lord.
Those masters receive their authority from the Lord,
and are therefore subservient to him.
Now, these servants are commanded to obey their
masters according to the flesh with fear and
trembling.
That is respect for their rightful authority, and
when they give obedience to their masters, they
give it as unto Christ.
That phrase, as unto Christ, recognizes that the
right of the employer is a right because
of his position.
He is in that position by the appointment
of Jesus Christ, and therefore when the employee
submits there is authority which comes from Christ,
he is submitting to Jesus Christ.
I believe this puts a different complexion upon
this matter of submission, that God has made
your employer his representative in the administration of
affairs in the business world, and you are
required by Christ to submit to his authority,
and submission to his authority is submission to
Jesus Christ.
And when you refuse rightful authority to your
employer, then you are refusing Christ his right
to rule in that area of your life.
That's what Paul is emphasizing.
We are to be obedient to those who
have authority in that sphere, the same as
we would be obedient unto Christ.
The next thing in verse 6 that Paul
points out in verses 6 and 7, is
that pleasing Christ is to be the goal
of the businessman's life.
Pleasing Christ is to be the highest goal
in the businessman's life, not professional advancement, not
the position he can attain, not the material
remuneration which may come to him because of
his successes, but pleasing Christ is the goal
of the businessman's life.
For Paul writes in verse 6, not with
eye service as men's leaders, but as the
servants of Christ, doing the will of God
from the heart with all good will, doing
service as to the Lord and not to
man.
Now, believe me, this principle can completely revolutionize
the businessman's attitude toward his work.
I take it that you are in your
place of business because you are convinced that
that is the Lord's place for you.
If you're not, get out of it.
Don't wait until tomorrow morning.
Write your resignation this afternoon.
You may have to wait until tomorrow morning
to hand it in.
But if you are not convinced that you
are where you are in the business world
because that is God's place and God's will
for you, then you're out of the will
of God.
Get out of it.
Paul is writing to those whom he assumes
are in the will of God.
Since that is God's will for the individual,
God requires faithfulness to his will in that
sphere, just as he requires faithfulness to his
will in any other sphere of Christian service.
We know that when God calls a man
to be a pastor, God expects that man
to be faithful to the pastor.
When God calls a man to the mission
field, we know that God expects that man
to be faithful to the mission field.
God calls an individual to teach a Sunday
school class, we know that God expects that
individual to be faithful to his Sunday school
class.
Do you realize, Mr. Businessman, that God requires
the same faithfulness of you to that manifestation
of his will for you that he requires
of me in my relationship to this pulpit?
If I let the pulpit deteriorate to the
place where we try to please men in
the preaching of the gospel and teaching the
word of God, we are faithless servants of
Jesus Christ.
And if you conduct your business solely to
please men and receive the plaudits and promotions
of men and the rewards and reunions from
men, you are faithless to the will of
God for you.
God says, you serve in that business world
not as men pleases, but as the servants
of Christ doing the will of God from
the heart.
When an individual can get up on Monday
morning and realize he has to go to
the office again, the vision of that ornery
boss looms before his eyes, before he's even
had his cup of coffee, and he says,
How can I go?
And the Spirit of God brings to his
mind the consciousness that that man is there
by Christ's appointment, and he as Christ's servant
is responsible to Christ in the business office
today.
What a different complexion to put on the
whole thing.
And the last thing that Paul points out
in verse 8 of this fifth chapter of
Ephesians is that Christ has his own reward
for faithful service, knowing that whatsoever good thing
any man doeth, the same shall he receive
of the Lord, whether he be bond or
free.
Now, notice the Apostle in verse 8 was
not addressing a word to Bob Kilgore, who
went to Guatemala to teach the nationals there
that they might teach us.
He's not saying, Bob, if you're faithful as
a missionary of the cross of Christ, I'll
have a reward for you.
Will you notice this is a promise of
reward to those who serve as God's men
in business.
Whatsoever good thing any businessman doeth.
Now, what good thing has he been talking
about?
Submitting to the authority of his employer, serving
that employer faithfully as a servant of Jesus
Christ, conducting himself in his business office so
as to please Christ, not to please men,
accepting that appointment in the business office as
God's will for him, and doing it as
unto the Lord with a whole heart and
a pure heart.
The Apostle Paul says, when God sees that
faithfulness and that submission to authority that in
the life of the businessman, that businessman shall
receive a reward of the Lord.
And if you are in the business office
in the will of God, God is not
going to interrogate you at the judgment seat
of Christ as to how many sermons you
preach, or how many Bible classes you taught.
He's going to interrogate you on what kind
of an employee you were in that office.
He's going to interrogate you on the aims
and the goals that you had in the
discharge of your stewardship in that office.
He's going to ask you, Mr. Businessman, when
you saw the possibility of a promotion coming,
did you hedge in your Christian testimony a
little bit in order to ingratiate yourself to
get that promotion?
When you saw the prospect of greater financial
remuneration, did you kind of quiet your testimony
for Jesus Christ in that business office so
as not to offend those who might make
that raise possible?
When God puts you there in that business
office as his light to that office, did
you trim the light a little bit so
as to stay in good with the office
force?
Those are the kind of questions the Lord
is going to ask the businessman.
It may be that the only light of
the gospel that your business associates will ever
have is the light that you give to
them, and God may have put you there
as his witness.
You mean to tell me that you can
be rebellious and faithless as an employee, and
then have a testimony to your employer?
You think you can cheat your boss a
little bit, and then have a testimony before
the other members of the office force who
know how you cheated?
You're there not to advance yourself.
You're not there for promotion or reward.
You're there to be a steward of Jesus
Christ, a servant of Jesus Christ in that
business world.
The time is coming when Christ is not
going to look at your bank account or
your name on the door.
He's going to examine your faithfulness to him
in a hostile business world.
I, of course, need not remind you that
one does not become a Christian by how
he conducts himself in business.
One becomes a Christian by personally receiving Jesus
Christ as his or her own personal savior.
You do not become a Christian by working
for it.
You become a Christian by accepting the gift
that God offers you.
And I don't want you to confuse the
issue this morning.
I want you to realize that you become
a Christian by believing God when he offers
salvation to anyone who will accept it.
But I do want you to see that
when you once become a Christian, you become
a servant not of yourself, but not of
men.
You become a servant of Jesus Christ, and
your goal is to please him.
May God make you that kind of a
man in the business world, one who has
a testimony for Christ before employer and employee,
because you are subject to his offering, because
you serve God with a good coming, because
you accept that stewardship as God's will for
you, and faithfully serve as a servant of
Jesus Christ.
We pray, our fathers, that the Spirit of
God, who through the apostles have given us
these instructions to guide in daily life, might
bring home to our hearts this morning those
truths that we need from these scriptures.
May our lives be so conformed to Jesus
Christ, and may our goal be to please
him so that we do have a good
witness and a good testimony before those with
whom we live in the business world.
May the riches of thy grace and mercy
and peace rest upon us, we pray in
Jesus' name.
Amen.