II Peter 2:18-25. It's all about how servants should treat their masters. Tough stuff for Westerners to grasp until they realize that anyone who works for someone else is his servant . A few of us are even masters.
As for me, I'm a paid servant of a major American school system. That means I have a lot of masters, from my principal, to the people at the district level, the people downtown, even the mayor! And let's not forget the state, where federal dollars are flowing in and expected to be spent well.
Some of my masters are cool people who treat me just fine. Others are not. Peter says to respect and honor and obey all of them equally well. That's a tough pill to swallow. But with God's help, we are called to swallow it anyway.
The only exception would be those times when the boss says to in some way deny Christ. Peter would be first to amen this statement, because he was indeed a conscientious objector in his day. He kept on preaching in the face of the State's command to stop. And went to jail for it. More than once.
I've not faced anything quite that severe. But, back when I was beginning my march out to the world to conquer it for my denomination, I found myself in the Albany, New York, area. The church back home in Ohio was helping me but I needed to support myself too.
I found a job in the public schools up there. Knowing I had some influence in children's lives, I used it to invite them to after-school Bible studies. They showed up. It was a Catholic neighborhood. You can imagine the rest! I was fired. Chalk it up to no wisdom, or was I really being persecuted?
I broke the law in another public school system. We were told to teach the wildly unbelievable theory known as the survival of the fittest, pinning the origin of all things to a primordial soupy mush. Evolution. I shut my door and told the students about the creation and the Creator. About how life has been devolving from the beginning. About the second law of thermodynamics. And a whole lot more.
There were several bits of history in social studies classes that got messed with by this teacher, too. So far I have not been accused of anything. And before they come after me, one would hope they'll go after the gays, lesbians, adulterers, and abortionists, who live their life and spread their propaganda before these precious young minds.
There will be a reward for those who served their employers well in spite of obvious persecution for Christ's sake. The stories abound in the Communist and Islamic world of harrassed believers just being believers at work and paying for it.
But Peter is just as adamant in declaring that those who suffer for their own shenanigans receive no praise from God. How I wish I did not have further self-anecdotals on this subject. How I wish I had never been angered enough to slap that child, and to shake another, and to yell at still others. Losing control gained me only a deserved reprimand from the boss, and a weakening of my chances to be the light that Christ had so wanted in the darkness of that system.
Everyone needs someone to submit to, I think. In submission we learn Christ. Peter spends the rest of this passage convicting us, shaming our poor behavior, as He compares it to that of the Son of God, Who was treated despicably, but did not answer in kind. He ends by telling us where all that led: our salvation.
What will our perfect submission lead to? The same thing. Many will come to Christ when they see Who He really is... in us.
http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. I have created over 200 blogs and the site features a live news feed, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together! Contact me any time at diakonos5@yahoo.com
And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. I love to write Scriptural works. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond.
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