In today’s society it is hard to find a person that properly respects and honors those around them. They exist, but they are rare. Unfortunately, many times those that we try to respect and honor show us by their actions that they were not worthy to be respected or honored to begin with. This ebb and flow of respect and disrespect is the nature of most human relationships. Most of us have a string of broken and injured relationships strung out in our past. Many of these are caused by the human traits of lying, cheating and abusing power.
Christians however are called to a higher standard. One where we treat all people properly regardless of their status or state. One where we honor and respect others, even when they act in ways that are neither honorable or respectable. That is the higher call, the difficult path, the way of Christ. Servant hood comes with a price and part of that price is properly honoring and respecting other people.
In 1 Peter there is a lesson about how Christians should handle their relationships with others, with the government, and how Christians should properly treat and respect authority. This lesson is found in 1 Peter 2:
1 Peter 2:17 (NIV) Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
The verse explains a Christian’s responsibilities in four social areas. Christians are too 1) Honor All People, 2) Love Other Christians, 3) Fear God and 4) Honor the King.
First we are suppose to honor all people. That means that we are to treat everyone we meet, regardless of race, sex, position in society, or class with respect and with honor. That is sometimes hard to do, but the call of the Christian life is hard and difficult. We are not a people that are called to a easy life, we are a people that are set apart to a life of exceptional living due to the salvation we received from Jesus.
Jesus loved all of us enough to come, live, die, rise and then return to Heaven where He can intercede for us. By doing this He was showing us how much He cared for each of us. His actions tell us that we are valuable and important, so important that He would have done all of the same things to just save one of us from an eternity in hell. That is the same way He expects us to treat others. Our lives and actions should tell everyone that we meet that we consider them important and valuable, and that we will do whatever we can to show them their importance. By doing this we are honoring and respecting their lives, and their tasks.
This role of honoring and respecting carries over to the second portion of 1 Peter 2:17 - Love other Christians. This may sound simple, or may even sound like a statement that is self evident, but in reality we find that we are usually much harder on our brothers and sisters in the body then we are to those in the world. We argue harshly amongst ourselves, we tear each other down, we separate ourselves from each other over minor disagreements, we spend more time disagreeing over small issues then we do working together on important matters. It is easy to understand why the world is hesitant to believe us when we say we love them and want to help them become more like us. If the love we show to our brothers and sisters in the body is typical of the love that we want to show the lost then the lost are probably better off not being loved by us. That is hard to say, but it is unfortunately true. Terrible people even love their family, yet we seem to have trouble loving each other more and more as time goes on. This is not the pattern or habit that Christ called us too. He called us to love each other like we love ourselves. That kind of love will attract the world not repel it. It will also heal many of the divisions that currently exist within the body of Christ.
The third part of 1 Peter 2:17 is that we fear God. This does not mean that we shake in our boots and quiver in fear of our next prayer time or Bible study, it means that we should have a respect for the lessons that God has for us. We should follow the rules spelled out for our life in the Bible, we should respect and honor the life and all the gifts He gives us, and that we should seek His will and direction for our lives. Fearing God is simply respecting and honoring the things that He has taught you, called you to, done for and with you, and then following the life path that He is leading you too. Christians that are failing in this area may want to really reconsider their commitment to God, because if it is impossible to love God and simultaneously ignore His commands and teachings.
The final point that we are told to follow in 1 Peter 2:17 relates to how we should deal with those that rule over us. We are told to honor the king. The king discussed here is anyone that rules over you. In the US, the president would be the king referenced too. As a Christian, whether you agree with the current office holder or not, you are commanded to honor the king. This means giving them proper respect, and treatment. God allows others to rule over us to give us a society to live in and some structure and order in our lives. The role of government is to represent authority and rule over us on earth. Those called to rule will be judged by how they wielded their authority and power. The Bible also speaks about our role as earthly citizens in the book of Matthew -
Matthew 10:28 (NIV) - Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
_______________________________Matthew 21:15-21 (NIV) - 15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"
Matthew 22:18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?"
Matthew 22:21 "Caesar's," they replied.
Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
Both of these scriptures tell us the same thing as 1 Peter 2:17. Honor the government that God has established on earth to rule over you. Treat them with honor and with respect. Give them what they are due, but do not fear them as all they really rule is your earthly body. The government is not capable of controlling your eternal destiny, so do not allow them to impact it.
In other words, we are to be dual citizens, both earthly and heavenly, and to know the duties and the roles that we hold in each. It is important to notice in 1 Peter 2:17, that we are to fear God, but to only honor the king. The difference is clear, one (God) is worthy of all loyalty, love, respect and reverence, the other is worthy of our respect as long as they do not infer with our higher call.
Knowing that at times there would be conflicts between the two, the Bible also gives us direction on what to do when our two citizenship’s conflict. As we have already read in Matthew 10:28 we must fear God’s judgement more then we fear the rule of man, as all man’s rule can do is destroy our body. The rule of man has no control over our soul. God can destroy both the body and soul, so when in doubt follow God’s rule and direction. That decision is further demonstrated in Acts 5:29 -
Acts 5:29 - Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!
In summary, as a Christian we are suppose to treat everyone with respect
and honor, make it a priority to care for and support our fellow believers,
fear God and follow His commands, and give the government that rules
over us the respect and honor they deserve. These tasks are difficult,
we all struggle with serving and submitting in some fashion, but the
call of a Christian is to be exceptional and unique in society. We are
not being judged by the actions of those around us, or by the actions
of those that rule us, we are being judged by God, and He calls us to
be His people and live in His ways on earth. His way was to honor and
respect you enough to provide you with a means of salvation and eternal
life. God cared for you so much that after He sent His son to die and
save us, He sent the Holy Spirit back to love, comfort and guide us.
This is the way God is, and this is how He expects His people to be.
Strive to be noticeably different in the way you treat everyone that
you meet.
This post was inspired by the lesson taught by Pastor Dave Mason - September 28th, 2003 on Holiness Into Action For The Government. Thank you brother Dave for the inspiration and the message that you taught us all.
