Heavenly Father, we thank you once again for Christ, and that we could declare and sing with confidence that Christ is ours forevermore. That is a gift beyond any gift that we could ever receive. It’s a reality beyond anything we could ever hope for, and we know that it is only because of Christ laying down His life for us, only because of what Christ has done in the gospel that we can declare such things. Our confidence in declaring this isn’t found in ourselves or anything we’ve done. It’s only what you have done through your Son. So we give thanks and we give praise.

Lord, now again as we open up your word, I pray that you would, by your Spirit, work in our hearts—convict, encourage, strengthen. Lord, help us all the more to grow in our wisdom and walking in a way that makes the most of this time that you’ve given to us. We ask these things in Jesus’ name, amen.

Introduction: Seeking Power in Life

All right, go ahead and open up your Bible to First Peter chapter 2 and open up your workbook to session three. Session three, we are going to talk about embracing God’s wisdom under authority, and what we’re going to see is gospel power personified—gospel power demonstrated, put on display, exhibited to see.

I don’t know if you guys are aware, but on May 25th this year—the Kīlauea summit in Hawaii—experienced a six-hour eruption, marking its 23rd episode since December 2024. Lava jets soared up to 984 feet in the air. Think about that. 984 feet—lava shot up into the sky. The eruption produced plumes of ash and rock and volcanic gas. This actually posed a respiratory risk due to the spread of toxic gases and sulfur dioxide. The lava flow at night could be seen 50 miles away depending on the conditions. That’s intense. That is powerful. That is bright—to see lava flow 50 miles away.

What I want to ask you this afternoon is: do you personally want a life filled with power, a life demonstrating power? Do you want a life that is noticeably different than the norm? Do you want a life that can be seen from a distance and recognized as having unique power?

If that’s you, then you have actually most likely embraced the path of the fool according to the world—which is actually the path of wisdom according to God. Because a truly powerful life will come through one means, and that is through the power of the gospel.

Yesterday, we talked about becoming a fool, right? Becoming a fool from the world’s perspective in order to truly gain wisdom. If we want to make the most of this time, we want to forsake the temporal, what the world would esteem, what the world would love, and we want to embrace the eternal. We want to live in light of eternity. We want to live lives that glorify God, that demonstrate His greatness.

As you’re considering, “Do I want a life that is powerful?” what we’re going to see is one of the ways that the gospel intersects, comes into the life of the Christian, transforms you, and has a significant impact in this world.

Does that sound appealing? Would any of us say, “Oh, I want a life that doesn’t matter and doesn’t impact anybody?” I think even those who aren’t believers have enough sense to say, “Well, that’s clearly foolish.” We want our lives to matter for something. Typically, we just want them to matter, and naturally, we want them to matter for the wrong things. But if you want your life to matter for eternal things, make the most of your time, you have to see what Peter says here—because it is so profound and so shocking where he actually goes when talking about the impact of the gospel on a life and the kind of powerful living that God produces from that.

Exiles Called to Excellence (1 Peter 2:11–12)

Look at verse 11 of First Peter chapter 2. I’ve been in Second Peter for quite some time at Gilbert Bible Church, so I naturally turned to the wrong chapter or wrong book. Okay—First Peter chapter 2. Was I saying Second Peter? Okay, all right. First Peter chapter 2, verse 11:

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers…

That’s it. For a believer, that’s what you are in this world—this world is not your ultimate home.

…to abstain from—to not do—things in keeping with fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul.

Our flesh is waging war against us. But if you’re the beloved, if you’re in Christ, if you’re an alien and stranger, don’t do that. Rather:

Verse 12: keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles…

Live righteously, with excellence, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers—which, that’s going to happen; if you love Jesus, the world will mock you, the world will hate you, they will slander you—but the thing that they actually slander you as evildoers, they may, because of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

So listen: if you’re part of the beloved, if you’re an alien and stranger in this world, reject your flesh. Live in a manner that is in keeping with excellence. Live excellently, so that the world will look and they’ll see, and actually God will use His gospel message, accompanied by your godly life, to produce change, and some in the day of visitation will actually glorify Him. Some will be compelled by the power of the gospel lived out—heard and then lived out in a transformed life.

The Surprising Call: Submission as Power (1 Peter 2:13–17)

Well, what does that mean? So how do I live excellently? What good works do you have in mind, Peter? Are you ready for this? Did you already look ahead?

Submit yourself for the Lord’s sake to every human institution.

Buzzkill! Wait, I thought you meant powerful living! You want me to do what the authority in my life tells me to? That’s powerful living? Really?

If I had a cup on that table upside down, and I said, “Listen, don’t—okay, did you do the thing? Did you? Yeah, okay. Don’t look in that cup—we’re going to have a reveal tonight.” What are you thinking right now? What’s in the cup? You’re thinking, “There’s nothing in it.” Well, yeah, but imagine you don’t know what’s under there, and I said, “Don’t look in the cup.” What are you probably going to want to do? Why? What is that in us that, the moment we’re kind of instructed to not do something, typically there’s this urge?

Some of you are like, “I don’t care about the cup. I want a nap and maybe some chocolate.” Okay, but there is something in us that when we receive instruction, in our sinful arrogance and pride, we want to push against that authority. Why? We have a high view of ourselves and a low view of God. We have a high view of our desires and our wants and our wisdom, and a low view of God’s power and God’s control.

If you truly believed—without a shadow of a doubt—that every single authority in your life was put there by God for your good, if you truly believe that, do you think you would ever question that authority in the sense of disobeying, deliberately, that authority? Disregarding instruction? “I know they said this, but they don’t understand. I know better. I’m going to do this.” If you truly believed God is all-powerful, He is sovereign, He has good intention always for His people—to give to them what is best for their eternal good before Him—would you question that authority? Would you push away from it? Would you elevate yourself over it? Peter says no. He calls us to submit to every human institution.

Reading the Main Passage (1 Peter 2:13–17)

Let’s read the rest of our passage, and then we’ll dive into our outline. Verses 13 through 17 are what we’re going to primarily look at, and we’re really going to spend most of our time in verses 13–16, and then we’re going to rapid-fire wrap up at the end.

Verse 13: Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.

For such is the will of God, that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.

Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as slaves of God.

Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.

Five Virtuous Practices of Gospel Power

What we see here are five virtuous practices that demonstrate gospel power—the work of the gospel in your life as a believer being lived out in a powerful way. The first, number one, is the call that we see right there in verse 13: submit to human institutions.

1. Submit to Human Institutions

Do you want to make the most of your time? Do you want to live in a way that matters for eternity? Here it is—a practical way to live for the glory of God and make good use of your time: submit to human institutions.

Peter calls us to keep our behavior excellent among outsiders so that by your good deeds they may see them and come to Christ. To live in such a way—so contrary to worldly wisdom, so contrary to worldly living—that when the world insults you, it makes no sense because your life is so full of integrity. We’re called to submit to authority.

This goes against our natural inclinations, and yet the language is clear: submit. And this word “submit” goes after more than just obedience. It goes after more than just the outward action. It is to actually submit in a subjective way.

Listen, you can obey authorities and not submit in your heart. You want an example? Johnny—is anybody’s name in here Johnny? Okay, I’m not singling anybody out—good. Okay, Johnny, go clean your room. “I don’t want to.” Johnny, go clean your room now. “Fine!” Stomp, slam the door, throw toys where they go. Is that a submissive disposition? But they’re doing it, right? I think they eventually did it.

The call here isn’t simply do what the governing authorities say—it is a disposition of submission under that authority. Yes, you obey, but you do it humbly, in subjection to the authority that God has given them in your life.

2. All Authority Flows from God

I want you to think about this. If you recall, Claudius had died in AD54, and Nero came into power, and he is by many considered the most cruel emperor of Rome, especially and particularly toward Christians. He’s the one ruling when this was written.

Okay, if I said, “Obey your teacher, submit to your teacher.” If you had a great teacher, what would you think? Easy. If you had the worst teacher, unreasonable to your assessment, requests unfair in grading, and I said, “Submit to that teacher,” what do you think would go on in your heart? “But they don’t know what they’re talking about. But they’re unfair. But they don’t understand.” Peter is giving this instruction not in the pinnacle of ease to actually submit to the governing authorities; he’s giving this instruction and saying this is gospel-enabled powerful living when it is really one of the most difficult times for Christians to submit to the authority that is governing them.

He says submit—come under human authority. This is the kind of life that trusts the Lord, that entrusts themselves to the Lord, and this kind of life that trusts the Lord and is walking wisely, submitting to authority, is a powerful life—not just doing what you’re told, but doing so with an attitude and speech that reflects this willing submission as well. That is the verb here: submit yourself under the fundamental society you find yourself in, the human institutions of authority that are in your life.

Peter’s particularly narrowing in here on the governing authority, but there are principles for us here in how we view authority, recognizing that all authority flows from God’s ultimate authority.

3. Recognizing the Layers of Authority in Our Lives

Let’s just think for a moment together, out loud: what are some of the different authorities that God has placed in your life? Yes, Abby—your parents. Great, yes, that’s an authority in your life. Who else? Leaders. Okay, like whom? Oh, staff, yeah, staff leaders, great, good. Yes, the president, good. What else? Somebody over here—Elisha, say it again. Coaches, bosses. Yep. Teachers. Yes. I can’t hear—somebody yell it louder. Class president? Oh, vice president. Yes, Michaela, Josh—oh, they stole it—Alex, Katie Hobbs, okay, who else? Kyla, grandparents. There’s lots of layers. What? Yeah, parents, exactly, good. You can put lots of categories.

We missed one. We missed one—we alluded to it. Pastors. Yeah, I don’t know who said that over here, but Erin or Wendy—pastors, your elders. We have lots of layers of authority in our life. Lots of layers of authority.

4. Submitting for the Lord’s Sake

Now Peter’s going to give us elements in this instruction, when we think about submission, when we think about a life that recognizes the authority that God has placed in us and coming under that authority, trusting Him in that authority. He’s going to give us some elements of this instruction that give clarity and motivation for us in our obedience to do it.

Number one—it’s, we submit for the Lord’s sake. Do you see that in verse 13? Submit to every human institution for the Lord’s sake. He says to whether to the king or to one in authority or to governors as sent by him, and he tells us some different categories—for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right, you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. He goes on to talk about all these great things, but in verse 13, he says, “Do it for the Lord’s sake.” This is the divine motivation behind your submission to human institutions. You submit, I am to submit, to human institutions because we want to honor the Lord. We are doing it unto the Lord as giving honor to the Lord. This comes from a heart that is trusting the Lord. So we submit ourselves to human institutions for the Lord’s sake.

He also calls us to do it indiscriminately. We don’t get to decide on our own who the authority is in our life that we want to submit to. In America, we get—well, if you’re 18, you get to vote and contribute to the process of who is placed as the president. Who’s ultimately in control of who the president of the United States is? God. And we don’t get to say, “Well, he wasn’t part of my political party, so he’s not my president.” No, we submit indiscriminately. That means we don’t get to pick and choose based off of our preferences or our convictions—“I’ll only submit when they hold my same values.” We are called to submit to the authority that God places in human institutions over our lives, and we do so as worship to Him, trusting Him, knowing that He is the highest authority above all institutions.

5. Submission Silences Critics

Look what it says in verse 15: “For such is the will of God, that by doing right…” What’s the right here, contextually? What’s the right? Submitting to the human institutions that God has placed in our lives—that is how we walk wisely, that’s how we walk rightly, that is the right way to live. In doing so, you silence the ignorance of foolish men.

Well, what does that look like? I don’t know—not every circumstance. But listen: when you live a life of submission, of trust in God, accusations that are hurled your way, they don’t stick because you’re living in biblical wisdom—it silences them.

6. Don’t Use Freedom as a Covering for Evil

Well, you really should exert your authority. God put them in charge—why do I need to exert my authority? I don’t have authority—God put them there. You want me to rebel against God? Well, yeah, really? You want me to rebel against the one who holds all the power?

Did you realize that when Scripture talks about the power of God, it’s not like here’s God’s power, here’s man’s power, here’s Satan’s power, but thankfully God’s power is more than those other powers. Scripture, when it talks about God having power, God holds all the power. There’s no power that competes with God’s power. Any power is subject to His ultimate power. He holds all the power; everything is upheld by His ultimate, supreme power. Everything is happening under His perfect, sovereign rule. There’s no rogue power happening that He’s got to catch up to—everything is delegated power, temporally. And so, when we submit to human institutions, we are fulfilling God’s will. We are doing the right thing. We’re walking as God calls us to walk.

7. How Are You Doing?

This is good. This is good for us. I want to stop right now and just ask you: how are you doing? How do you think about authority in your life? There can be a tendency to submit to authority when it produces the outcome that we want—when I get what I want, when I please the people that I want to please, that’s when I’ll submit. But when I don’t see the path that that submission goes down to get me what I want, I’m in their face.

Maybe it’s parents. I find myself submitting to teachers, I submit to pastors, I submit to friends or other parents. But when my parents asked me to do something—bad attitude, bad response, lack of submission. Maybe it’s the other way—maybe you obey your parents, but you don’t submit to teachers because they’re just—they don’t get it, they’re horrible. Maybe you don’t submit to the governing authority—“Hey, if they don’t catch me, it’s all good. Got to stick it to the man,” right? How are you doing?

We have an opportunity to silence unbelievers through our powerful walk as we subject ourselves, as we submit ourselves to the human institutions that God puts in our lives.

8. Living as Slaves of God

I love what Peter says in verse 16. Look at verse 16 again:

Act as free men, do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as slaves of God.

In Christ, who is your ultimate King? Who are you ultimately subject to? Him. You’ve been freed from sin, you’ve been freed from things of this world—your ultimate King is always God if you’re a Christian.

And Peter here is saying, don’t use your freedom in Christ, don’t use the fact that Christ is your Master, don’t use your freedom as a covering for sin. So, don’t feign or pretend like you’re putting righteous motives on sinful living: “I’m not going to obey this president because—do you know how immoral his life is? He has no right to tell me what he’s doing. I’m a Christian; I love God; my life is way more holy than his; I’m not going to submit to him.” And all of a sudden you take this freedom that you have in Christ, through the grace that you’ve received from God, and you use it as a covering—to cover up sinful, rebellious attitudes in a heart of disobedience and lack of submission.

Peter’s saying, “Don’t do that.” We can find all sorts of creative ways to use what we’ve received from Christ in the forgiveness of sins to cover up sinful behavior. Here he’s saying, don’t use the freedom that you’ve received from Christ to cover up a lack of submission to the authority in your life—particularly governing authorities and delegated governing authorities.

So, in the early reader’s minds, this would have been the king, magistrates, those enforcing the law on the streets and such things. He’s saying, “Don’t use that freedom that I’ve given you in Christ to cover up sinful behavior. Submit yourself.” So, the call here of powerful living is one that submits to the authority that God has put in your life. And you know what Peter’s actually saying? Do it unto the Lord. It’s the Lord’s will.

And has he talked at all about the integrity of that authority? No. So should we feel freedom to not subject ourselves to authority just because they’re sinful beings? No.

9. When to Disobey Authority

Now, some of you might be wondering this question—and I know because I’ve had in my heart this question arise really aggressively when I hear this instruction. I want to run to all of the what-if circumstances where I think it might be okay to not submit. Is there ever a circumstance where you should not submit to the authority in your life? Yes, and it’s obvious: when that authority is commanding you to do something that God commands you not to, or commanding you to not do something that God commands you to do. Yes, of course, you submit to God over men.

But that attitude in your heart that wants to look for all the exceptions—I would encourage you this way: look for every opportunity to submit until it violates that, instead of trying to get every circumstance you find yourself in to violate it. Do you understand the difference? I’m looking for every way that I possibly can, without sinning against God, to submit to the authority in my life, as opposed to I’m looking for any way to get out of having to submit to the authority in my life. There’s a difference there. We should be longing, in wisdom and humility and trust and confidence in God’s greatness, to submit ourselves at every possible moment, in every possible circumstance, where it doesn’t violate what God calls us to do or not do, to the authority that God has placed in our lives.

This is powerful living. This is otherworldly living. This is living that recognizes who ultimately is on the eternal throne, reigning. This is living that recognizes that God is in control.

10. Flawed Human Authority and Our Response

It’s also helpful to realize and remember: every human authority is flawed. Their authority is delegated. No authority other than God will rule perfectly in your life. There will be no government authority that is perfect until Christ returns and establishes His throne on earth. There will be no parental authority that is perfect. There will be no academic authority that is perfect, and go down the line—there will be no ecclesiological authority, no pastors, that will be perfect.

Now, here’s the reality: if you’re part of Grace Bible Church, I want to talk about elders for just a moment. Elders are authority in your life. They will never be perfect until the Lord returns or until they see Him. You’re called to submit; you’re called to submit, to obey them. And the Lord has been so kind to you because I personally know your elders, and I personally have been shepherded by every single one of your elders.

Different circumstances make following this command easier or harder—the Lord has been really kind to you. You know why? Because while you have flawed human authority in your elders, you have exemplary, gospel-powered, enabled authority in your life.

I’ve been shepherded by Jacob Hantla. He has been my pastor for many years before Gilbert Bible Church was planted. He’s still one of my closest friends, one of my wisest counselors, my brother. Okay, for—listen, going to get real for a moment—for a younger brother to say this about his older brother, this takes a lot. Best friends, wisest counselors. In fact, many of you know, and I think I mentioned this last camp: in our lowest valley, when our precious Caleb passed away, do you know who I talked to first? It was Matt and Jacob. I needed their counsel, I needed their care, I needed their wisdom, I needed their input, and they came, and God was so kind.

You go down the line—Smemedley Yates. I’ve got a lot of best friend pastors—it’s awesome. Okay, Smemedley Yates: I don’t think I have ever met a man who stands in the pulpit more and whose life outside of the pulpit is exactly the same as when he’s in the pulpit than Smemedley Yates. His character is exemplary, his life is consistent. I’ve been with him on trips, I’ve been with him fishing, I’ve been with him in the classroom, I’ve been a student that tries the teacher’s patience, and he has been so patient and so gracious and so godly. You are blessed with the authority that God has put in your life in your church.

Continue down the line: Eric Martin—another best friend. Scott Demeris—pretty good friend. Ben James—good friend. Who am I missing? I think I did it! See, I don’t even have this in my notes. All right, I love those men. You are blessed.

And Gilbert Bible Church—you’ve got Tyler. I know I say this all the time: most humble man I know. You want to talk about integrity and humility? Tyler. You want to talk about integrity, holiness, wisdom? Tom Stead. Gilbert Bible, you’re blessed as well. What a gift to have godly authority in our lives.

We are flawed. We’re not perfect. What’s our obligation? What’s my obligation? Tom and Tyler are my elders—I’m called to submit. You want to walk wisely? You want to walk in a way that has power, that influences the world? Submit to the authority in your life.

11. Submitting to Parents and Other Authorities

Here’s another hard one: parents. In God’s divine providence, not all parents are created equal. Some are harder to submit to, some are easier to submit to. None of them became your parents outside of God’s wisdom, and we’re called to submit. That can be hard, that can require additional wisdom to know how to submit in certain circumstances.

Listen, we love you and we are here for you to help you navigate those situations. But here’s what is true in every single situation for every single person here: nobody is in the situation they’re in outside of God’s good providence, and there is a manner in which you can live wisely and powerfully for God’s glory in the circumstance that you find yourself in. Sometimes the path’s harder, sometimes it’s clear. That happens in government, that happens in families, that happens in school, that happens in church. But there is opportunity to honor the Lord, to please Him, to glorify Him.

Rapid-Fire Commands (1 Peter 2:17)

All right, now for the rapid fire. Are you guys ready? Verse 17—rapid fire instruction.

Honor all people. Peter’s instruction here: honor all people, all mankind. Show honor to everyone—literally, show them honor, ascribe worth or value to every individual. We don’t discredit or discard anyone. We don’t treat anyone as if they’re less important or less valuable. We honor all people. We show respect to all people. We recognize every single person on the planet is made in the image of God and worthy to be given honor, to be given consideration, to show love and kindness to them.

Love the brotherhood. That’s the next one in this rapid-fire list—love the brotherhood. I love how Peter phrases this: love the brotherhood. That’s what we are in the body of Christ, in your church—you are a brotherhood. What God does in the gospel is He makes the body of Christ like family—even closer than family. Love one another—not just this idea or abstract idea of church. What Peter has in mind is: love the Christians that you’re connected to in your local context, in your local assembly. Love individuals that make up the church. He’s not just saying, “Hey, love the idea of church or love going to a building on a Sunday.” He’s saying, “Love the individuals that are part of the body of Christ. Be committed to each other’s good regardless of the personal cost to yourself. Be marked by this love.” This is unique, powerful living—that means we forgive, that means we extend grace, that means we encourage, that means when necessary we admonish.

Fear God. Then he says next, number four: fear God. Don’t fear man, don’t fear the future, don’t fear your circumstances—fear God. Do you remember what fearing God is? The beginning of wisdom. And so he says, “Fear God.” Listen, it is such a temptation for all of us to fear other things. And I love how he puts this on this list, right? So closely connected with submitting to governing authorities—because what do we typically fear when we’re not submitting to governing authorities? We fear the direction that their leadership is going, and “I need to control my circumstances by not listening to those in authority over me because I don’t trust that authority. I have fear about the direction of that authority, and so I reject that authority and I live under my own authority.” And when you do that, you’re actually rejecting God’s authority. You’re not fearing God. You are fearing man, you’re fearing the future, you’re fearing circumstances.

Honor the king. And then lastly, he says, “Honor the king.” And it’s just like a left-right, left-right-left punch, rapid-fire commands: honor the king. He doesn’t let up. And again, do you remember who’s ruling at the time that Peter writes this? Nero. And he says, “Honor the king”—one of the most hateful, spiteful, wicked rulers, particularly against Christians. And Peter says, “Show him respect.” Peter says, “Honor him.” Have you ever heard, “I respect the office, I don’t respect the man”? Peter actually says, “Honor the king.” Honor the king. Treat him with value. Be respectful as the supreme representative of civil authority. We don’t vent, we don’t complain, we don’t rail against them, we don’t besmirch them or speak poorly or create a bad reputation in how we treat them. We honor them, show respect for them, knowing that God has placed them where He has placed them with divine purposes and plans in the midst of their wickedness to do His ultimate good.

Living Powerfully for God

Do you want to live powerfully for God? Do you want to make the most of this life? Pray through this list, pray through this passage. Shepherd your heart, direct your heart to what usually is not the natural inclination, and watch God’s power at work in your life put on display. Watch the testimony and the opportunity to proclaim Christ and to magnify Christ and to glorify Christ with your life. Watch what the Lord does through a life that looks like this—because listen, it is uniquely different than the world.

Closing Prayer

Let’s pray together.

Heavenly Father, thank you for Christ. Thank you for His submission to the Father, to You. Thank you for the way that He humbled Himself, even to the point of death on a cross. He could have fought back; He could have called down for angels when He was being arrested, to come and to free Him and give Him a way of escape, and yet He didn’t. And He knew the path that sinful man were taking Him. He submitted, He humbled Himself, He endured. He was reviled, He was scorned, He was mocked. He uttered no threats, but He kept entrusting Himself to the One who judges righteously. Peter’s going to go on to put that in front of his readers just a few verses down.

Lord, help us to follow Christ’s example. Help us to be humble. Help us to be ones who are eager to submit to the authority that You placed in our lives. Help us to make the most of our time by living gospel-empowered lives that are visible to an onlooking world so that Your greatness would be put on display through frail, fragile, weak creatures like us.

We ask these things in Jesus’ name, amen.