In a previous life, I was a Deli and Food Services clerk. So when you needed 2 pounds of ham sliced, I was your guy. If you needed a 50pc fried chicken order, I was also your guy. One morning, the health inspector walked in for a surprise inspection and being the only one working, my stress levels peaked. Unfortunately, we were woefully out of compliance on some things but the biggest thing was: the hood / vents above our fryers were totally caked with grease. Because of that, we were given a strong warning and the inspector said they’d be back within 3 days.

Our store manager tore me up over this about we were jeopardizing everyone’s jobs and needed to get it cleaned. There wasn’t much understanding, only barked commands. If you’ve ever tried cleaning those hoods above fryers, you will know it’s a total nightmare. But, we worked hard to do it and when the inspector came back, we passed with flying colors. Now, my manager had a point: it was our responsibility to keep them clean and we dropped the ball.  But a few days later, the store manager was elated that we passed and said: “Well, thank golly we were ready.” And I thought to myself: “Yeah, you didn’t do a single thing to help us, you jerk.” He never said thank you to us or acknowledged his harshness. And for the rest of the time I worked there, I resented him.

This letter would have come in handy for me. It has to do with my problem and problems that we all face. But before we dig into too far, a few reminders and things worth noting.

This letter specifically addresses slaves and it addresses women (which we’ll talk about next week). In Roman culture, it would be expected that whatever religion the head of the household embraced would be what his wife would embrace and what his slaves would embrace. But now that these slaves and women go against that grain, they’re ostracized and unjustly treated.

Now, I want to clear the air too: these verses that we just read have been used to justify two grievous sins: slavery in the US and telling women who are in abusive relationships to stay and endure the abuse. But, notice how Peter never gives slave masters instructions. Nothing in here makes slavery right or abuse against a spouse right. Later on today, we’ll address those things head on.

So the thing we face today is this: how do we handle unjust treatment from those in authority SLIDE – whether that’s a boss, a government, a teacher, a coach, or anyone else? We have all likely have a story about unjust treatment from someone in authority but how do we handle it? When this suffering happens, we usually end up responding in two ways:

We will feel tempted to retaliate. SLIDE And I mean, who can blame you? When my manager was barking orders at me, I felt tempted to just do a poor job cleaning the vents so we would fail the inspection and he’d have to answer for it. But most of us retaliate in a quitter way.

Later on in our passage, Peter talks about retaliation in the context of hurling insults and making threats. It’s the Facebook post or news broadcaster tearing apart the politician or leader you can’t stand as you rejoice over it. We all love revenge stories and most of us plot elaborate revenge ideas in our head. That’s why everyone can sing “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood.

Our second response is this: We will fear those in power more than God. Look with me at verse 17 – show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.  SLIDE

Do you notice who gets respect and honor? Everyone and the emperor which is Nero at the time – arguably the least friendly emperor to Christians. In the Greek or some other translations, respect and honor are actually the same words. But, do you notice who we’re supposed to fear? God alone. 1 Peter 1:17 told us that God judges impartially meaning he is the one who gives us the final verdict on our lives. And when I use that term verdict, remember this: I mean the final word on who you are and where you stand.

But when there are people who have authority over us, we’re tempted to give us a final verdict instead. That means we may go along with something we know is wrong if our boss asks us. We flatter people who have control over our salaries. That’s more than worry. It’s fear that has taken God’s rightful place.  

Here’s the issue with these two things: both of them remove God from the judge’s seat. SLIDE When we’re tempted to retaliate, we place ourselves in the judge’s seat – eager to retaliate in the name of justice, not realizing our own flaws. When we’re tempted to fear others more than God, we place other people’s verdicts about us as higher than God’s verdict.

After the hood incident, I couldn’t help but feel resentful to that manager the rest of my time there. It wasn’t a conscious resentment; it just existed without me actively trying to resent him. What’s the deal with my heart and what’s the deal with your heart?

Last week, Peter told us our sinful desires "wage war against the soul." When we get treated unjustly, those sinful desires flare up even more and we want to take matters into our own hands.

We don’t trust that God is going to judge rightly. So instead of trust, we do things our own way or give way too much power or fear to those above us.

But, here’s our problem: we’re awful at judging justly. Remember my grease story? I was condemning my manager for being a jerk but really, we should have kept the vents clean – I was guilty too. We all want to be judges, but we forget that we are unable to judge rightly because we aren’t righteous ourselves. We all are guilty – standards we hold for others, we failed to meet ourselves.

So, we need someone who did what we can’t do. Who trusted himself to the true judge of the world who would judge rightly. And we need someone who can carry our guilt and our sin so that we can live differently. Peter tells us who that is.

Look at verse 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 commendable before God."

Remember the greasy hoods from my deli days? When my manager was upset as part of the team, I earned that. We neglected to clean them. Peter says there's no credit in enduring what you deserve. But the harshness, doing nothing to help, taking the credit afterward — that's the other kind of suffering. That's what Peter is talking about. And let me be clear because these verses have been used to justify abuse, abuse is never earned nor is it ever okay.

Then verse 21: SLIDE To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps." Peter's encouragement to the church isn't to just try harder at handling unjust treatment well. That word "example" is the picture of a child learning to write by tracing letters that are already on the page. A child doesn’t invent those letters, they follow the example that’s already there. Peter points us to a person whose lines we trace: Jesus Christ. And what do we see in Jesus?

Jesus trusted the Judge and was perfectly righteous: despite having insults hurled at him, despite pain and death, Jesus did not retaliate and he made no threats. [READ VERSE 22-23] Instead, he trusted himself to his Father who judges justly. Jesus is the only one who is actually qualified to judge and he refused that. He trusted his father instead.

It’s only Jesus who committed no sin and who absorbed our sin on the cross. What’s verse 24 say? SLIDE [READ VERSE 24] I couldn’t let go of my resentment towards my manager the whole time I worked at this deli. It’s only Jesus who can enable us to die to sin. His life, death, and resurrection is what leads to our heart transformation – not us trying harder. Because of that, we may live a life of righteousness as his royal priesthood.

Jesus’ wounds have brought healing to us: 1 Peter’s audience likely faced beatings and had the welts/bruises to prove it.

Now let's state the obvious: Peter never says, 'Slaves, get out of slavery as fast as you can.' Roman Slavery was brutal. Slaves were legal property– they were usually victims of war, abandonment as infants, or children of slaves. They could be beaten, sexually used, even tortured to make them testify in court – they had close to zero rights. Unlike our country’s slave trade, Roman Slavery was not based on race and some slaves eventually earned their freedom. But, different doesn’t mean better.

So, you may be wondering: why doesn’t Peter try to encourage people to bring down the whole system? He’s writing to slaves, not the Roman Emperor. These slaves had no vote and no voice to change the broken system they found themselves in. But, Peter elevates them by addressing them directly to tell them: you do have a choice. And notice, he doesn’t give masters a verse to use.

While Roman slavery was abhorrent, Peter shows them a Lord who was beaten like them. Jesus wasn’t on the side of the masters and he didn’t watch beatings from the sidelines. He took the beating and verse 24 says: “By his wounds (or welts), you have been healed.” To be clear, Peter is quoting Isaiah 53 that specifically is talking about spiritual healing from the sickness of sin, not physical or emotional healing here. Jesus understands their experiences and its his wounds that bring healing and hope. If you’re hurting today, that doesn’t mean you stay in harm’s way either – Jesus suffered once, for us. You don’t need to stay in a harmful or abusive situation either.

He brought us back to the shepherd and overseer of our souls. This has already been accomplished – it’s the past tense. [READ VERSE 25] Did you notice that? You don’t have to keep striving or worrying about whether or not Jesus has brought you back. Do you believe in him? Do you trust in him? Then, he’s brought you back to himself – he’s your shepherd now, he’s your true overseer now. He’s not getting rid of you. The slaves that Peter is writing to have crooked masters and crooked overseers. But, Jesus’ oversight is good. And Jesus’ verdict over you is the one that matters and in Peter’s own words, that verdict is this: you've received mercy, you're God's own people, your sins were carried, and you've returned to the Shepherd. No performance review and no election can overturn that.

So in light of all this, how does this change the way we handle those who are above us?

Verse 25 ended with a verdict: you've returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. And verse 16 tells us what that verdict makes us: 'Live as free people… live as God's slaves.' SLIDE Free from needing to be the judge, because the Judge has it handled. Free from fearing the people over you, because their verdict isn't the final one.

That freedom is where submission comes from. So what is submission? It's choosing your place under authority 'for the Lord's sake,' verse 13, because you're free, not because you're afraid. It means you’re willingly acknowledging legitimate authority for God’s sakes. And it has some limits. It never means doing wrong, because fear God comes first. It never means staying in danger, because God put authorities in place to stop people who do harm. And it never means obeying authority over obeying God.

So here's the whole passage in one sentence: because Jesus entrusted himself to the judge and gave us his verdict, we can submit without fear and suffer without striking back.

So what does a free person do when they're treated unjustly? Because Jesus carried our sins and gave us his verdict, we can trace his steps. Here's what that looks like.

Stop being the judge. Jesus entrusted his case to God, and even though he suffered, he kept doing good.

That means that while it’s easy to join in with coworkers or friends talking poorly about your boss or a political rival, you entrust that to God. By doing good work under a bad boss and refusing to join with other people’s foolishness, that’s how you show your workplace what Jesus is like. For some of you, the unfair treatment comes precisely because you follow Jesus. That's exactly who Peter was writing to.

And, you love the family of believers. You don’t gossip about a boss, you bring your struggles to your brothers and sisters. You ask them to pray for you and you ask them for godly wisdom and guidance in the situation.

Fear God only and honor everyone else. That means if your boss ever asks you to lie or do something you know is wrong, you say no because you fear God more than your boss.

This means you treat our president and your waiter at Chili’s the same way – with respect and honor because they are made in the image of God.

This means you honor all of our politicians by speaking charitably about them, praying for them, and turning out voices that make their living by tearing the other side apart. Imagine how that could silence the talk of foolish people if Christians were widely known as praying for Republicans AND Democrats.

Get help if you need it. Specifically with abuse, victims often feel like submitting means you never report it. But, that’s not the truth. According to verse 14, governors are the ones appointed by God to punish wrongdoers, that is one purpose of governmental authorities. So, getting help is exactly what God would want you to do.

If you are a person who may be in an abusive situation, please talk to me. I will believe you and will walk alongside you to get the help that you deserve and that God wants for you.

So, what would I have done differently if I could back to my deli? Well, I did the right thing in some ways – I cleaned the vents. But, looking back, I would’ve been honest with God about my manager: he was harsh, unkind, and didn’t even say thank you. And then, I’d give it to God and entrust it to his care. I would treat my manager with respect and honor him still – not because he deserved it but because that’s what 1 Peter instructs us to do. IF I would have done that, I would have been free from holding on to that resentment.

So here's the whole passage in one sentence: because Jesus entrusted himself to the judge and gave us his verdict, we can submit without fear and suffer without striking back. You don’t have to be the judge and you don’t have to fear other people’s verdict. God has already given us a new identity in Christ.

And my friends, when you hand your case to God and entrust your verdict to Jesus, you can find that freedom too. As we prepare to pray together, I want you to picture someone. This can be someone who you’re resenting or the person you’re afraid of. Tell God the truth about what they did and how it impacted you but then release that to God. He judges justly and his verdict over you is the one that matters. Amen?