Bible Text: 1 Peter 2:19-25 | Preacher: Pastor Karen Bartkowski | Series: 1 Peter | There are a lot of scripture passages that give us great comfort.  Just saying them aloud brings peace, makes us smile, and grounds us in God’s love.  For God so loved the world…The Lord is my shepherd…No, in all things we are more than conquerors…

But, this scripture?!?!  I mean, really, just the first verse, verse 18.  Slaves, accept the authority of your masters, not only to those who are kind and gentle, but also to those who are harsh.

This is an example of a passage that can get us sidetracked, de-railed, worked up and distracted from the message.  We can find ourselves saying what? No way? That doesn’t make any sense?  Slaves, accept the authority?  Even if your master is harsh? We might be saying, stand up for yourself!  Don’t let people treat you that way! Slavery is just wrong!!

We have several choices when we get to scripture that doesn’t make sense, that makes us angry or that we don’t understand as we read it.

We can write it off as a metaphor.  Peter wasn’t really talking about slaves.  He wasn’t really talking about people who were other people’s property.  He must have meant something else. Or we can even do something else if we think the scripture is too hard to understand, we can just ignore it!

Neither of those will help us truly understand the meaning of the text or the universal message that is present throughout the Bible.

We can take a challenging passage like this one and dig in.  We can approach it with curiosity and the promise that there is something for us to learn. We have a goal to build a bridge between the writings of Peter from AD 90 to 2020.  We want to find the meaning that God intended for people then, now and everywhere in between.

Think about there being a river between the town that Peter’s friends were living in and our own town. That river represents a lot of things that separate the 2 towns- language, culture, situation and a whole lot of time. That the river contains our differences and the bridge is necessary because there is not always direct application over 2000 years.  Despite those differences of culture, language, situation and time the bridge represents the connection of God’s people with one intended meaning and message!

Today, I want to briefly introduce you to a 5 step process to help us build this bridge. Hopefully, it will be helpful, not only today, with these verses from 1 Peter, but for other challenging passages in the Bible.

This is for sure not a comprehensive study of this passage.  Just an opportunity to think about how we can look at scripture in a new way, in a consistent way, in a way that encourages us to closely examine the writing in an attempt to see what we can learn.

Ready to dig in with me?

First question…What did the text mean to the biblical audience?  When Peter was writing this letter he was not intending that it would be reproduced over 5 billion times and translated into 700 languages.  Did you write a letter this week?  Maybe encouraging someone in this crazy time of isolation?  Maybe you wrote a letter of congratulations to someone graduating from college or high school or kindergarten?  Maybe you offered some advice, some words of wisdom. Do you think that letter will still be around in the year 4000?!  Maybe you reference COVID 19 or “the virus”.  In the year 4000, will people know what that means?

So, it is important for us to understand who Peter is addressing when he says “slaves”.  We, of course, immediately think of slavery in the US.  We see black people from Africa jammed onto boats, sold in auctions, not counted as a full person. We envision lynchings, lack of civil rights, etc.

In the time of Peter’s writings, in AD 90, slavery was quite different.  The culture and society was built on a hierarchical platform.  All people were categorized based on who they worked for or who worked for them.  The term slaves was used to describe anyone who worked for another.  Slavery did not have a moral context.  There was a large spectrum of slaves.  From those who worked in the mines and the fields to those who worked in the households of others. Even doctors and teachers would have been considered slaves as they provided a specific service to a household. These household slaves had both social and economic presence in the society of the time.  Many slaves could save enough money doing extra work to eventually buy their freedom.  For the most part, slaves and masters cooperated, but as in any power structure, there is abuse and some slaves were abused and treated poorly.

It was likely that Peter was writing with these “household slaves” in mind. Peter was addressing the people who were called slaves- people who may have been educated, skilled, and contributing to societal needs.  He was not addressing the institutional of slavery.  In fact, he may not even have recognized it as an institution, it was just the way things were at the time.

Perhaps Peter chose to call out the slaves in his letter to be sure they knew they too were part of this chosen race, this royal priesthood.  If they overheard the letter being read in the homes they were serving, they would know it was written for them as well.

Second Question: What are the differences between the biblical audience and us? We can start a list, right?  And the list can be really long?  No internet, no instant communication, reliance on hand delivered letters, no massive choice of food or restaurants, no cars, women worked in the home, not living in a country with a democratic government, new Christians who did not have the Bible or all the commentaries and theologians, tended not to question right and wrong and certainly did not question authority, no protests or marches, The list could go on for a long while.  We could look at any of these differences and chat about how we would read this letter differently.

Third Question: What is the universal teaching in this text?  Regardless of all of the differences we can list in the previous question, there must be a universal teaching- the message that was intended by God. The answer to this question is not always immediately obvious.  It frequently requires us to read the scripture several, or many, times, especially after we consider the first 2 questions.  You likely heard the scripture read once, when Lauren read it for us!  So, let me offer you my thoughts on the teaching and you can go back and read and study and see if you agree with me!  There are 2 words in scripture that usually point me to the message.  They occur frequently throughout the bible. The words are SO THAT.  These words are the game changers!  The words that come before SO THAT describe our situation, remind us of what has already happened or what is currently happening.  But the words following “SO THAT” contain the promise. Let’s look at an example outside of scripture for a second- “I wrote this note to you so that you would know that I cared about you”.  The writing is what was done, the caring is the promise.  “I shut off my phone when you were talking, so that you would know I was listening to you”.  And how about this one- God so loved the world that he gave his only son, SO THAT anyone who believes will have everlasting life.  God loved and gave his son, yes.  But the promise is that believers will have eternal life. In our scripture for today, I think God is intending to tell us that we are all working in our place, each with a title, a job, a responsibility. Sometimes, we are treated well and sometimes not, – fair or not.  We are reminded that Jesus was also abused and suffered.  But, listen in verses 24 and 25- “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.”

Jesus, abused and suffering, even when he didn’t do anything wrong, just because he was living in this sinful world, he bore our sins SO THAT (here comes the promise!)- we will live in right relationship with God, we will be healed, we will be sought after, found and protected.

Peter writes that if Christians seek to be like Jesus, then those promises are there for them.  It doesn’t matter what title we have, it doesn’t matter if someone else thinks we are right or wrong, even when there is human injustice, even when human power is abused, if Christians seek to continue to live as Jesus did- without malice, just with trust in God’s ability to handle it, then God’s promises are available to them!

The promise is that God wants a relationship with us, God will heal us, God will search for us when we go astray and protect us!  I like that promise!!

Question Four:  I love this one!  It is where it reminds me that the bible is the story of God’s promises…Where do we see this universal teaching in other places in scripture?  Is it consistent with other teachings?

Where else do we hear teachings that tell us that as Christians we are asked to live differently and that God blesses and finds favor in people and situations that seem opposite to societal opinions?  Jesus’ entire Sermon on the Mount has this theme.  Go back to Matthew 5-7 and see how many you can find.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people revile and persecute you for my sake, for your reward is great in heaven.
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your father in heaven.
Do not store up treasures on earth, but store up treasures in heaven
Do not resist an evildoer, if someone strikes you on the right cheek, give them the left cheek too.

Paul writes in Romans “ Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.  If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

So many examples that God’s people are called to a distinct way of life.  We are not called out of our circumstances as much as we are called to respond differently in our circumstances. We are called to be different even when things are hard.

And finally, question 5: How do we, today, live out this promise?  What is the application of this promise for your individual situation?  This may be different for each of us given our circumstances, our season in life, our relationships…

Let me offer one that might apply to a lot of us right now.

We are living with physical distancing because of COVID 19.  If we are healthy, we may feel like we are sacrificing a lot!  We can’t see our family and friends. We may feel lonely and are sad that we can’t go out for lunch or coffee. We may be frustrated that some people are not taking things seriously enough in order to keep others from being harmed or getting sick.  We may be nervous about our economic situation.  We may be anxious that we or someone we love will get the virus. We may experience heavy grief over the number of people who have died.

We might say…It is not fair that we have to endure these emotions. It is not fair that we have to sacrifice our lifestyle for so long.It is not fair that these feelings make me feel so bad.  We might be angry and resentful.

I didn’t do anything wrong and yet I feel awful!!

God promises a way out of this situation.  Peter’s letter tells us that we don’t have to be slaves to our emotions.  God provides us with a SO THAT…

Jesus already suffered for us, already died and rose again, SO THAT, we can live in hope.

We can choose to spend our energy in retaliation, in anger in negativity OR we can use that same energy to lean into the promise of the HOPE, that despite our situations, our circumstances, our jobs, our titles, or how others treat us, we are God’s chosen people.  People who live for the present and coming Kingdom of God- where we are in perfect relationships with God, protected and made whole.

I will be praying that we can all transfer some of our negative energy this week into the positive energy that gives us hope!

Jesus already suffered SO THAT we can have that hope!

 

Amen.