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Men fight for freedom, then they begin to accumulate laws to take it away from themselves.

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged. ~ Ronald Reagan

Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature. ~ Benjamin Franklin

The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission. ~ John F. Kennedy

Liberty doesn't work as well in practice as it does in speeches. ~ Will Rogers

Freedom is celebrated here in America. And today on July 4th, it is celebrated as it is on no other day.

Freedom is considered a basic right in America. Right? Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Liberty being synonymous with freedom in this case.

My point is, as American’s we’re hardwired for freedom. We think it as our God given right, and we’re exuberant in exercising that right.

So as we come to our text this morning, I want us to realize that we have a preconceived notion of what it means to be free. We bring that with us, and we need to be careful not to read that into the text of Scripture, but rather to let Scripture shape and inform our understanding of freedom.

That’s my goal for this sermon.

Our text this morning is

“Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.” (1 Peter 2.16 ESV)

There is a command in this verse. We are commanded to “live as people who are free.” Then we are given first a negative, then a positive, statement of the manner in which we are to do that. Do you see that? He says first to “live as people who are free.” Then he continues and says “not like this, but like this.”

Seems pretty strait forward, and it is! But I want us to think carefully through it this morning and make sure we understand what Peter means? What does he mean by live? What does he mean by people? Is he speaking to individuals? Or to the church as a collective people? And most importantly, what does he mean by free?

The context gives us the answers to all these questions.

1. Let’s start with the immediate context to answer the question of what he means by the command to “live” in this way.

If you look up at verse 11 in our text you’ll read this.

“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles” (1 Peter 2.11 ESV)

Sojourners and exiles. This will come back into play in a few minutes as we discuss the nature of the freedom Peter calls us to, but for now let us understand what is meant by these two words: sojourners and exiles.

The Bible teaches that

the children of God, wherever they may be, are only guests in this world. ¹

In Hebrews 11, the faith chapter as it is sometimes called, we are given a long list of Old Testament saints who lived by faith, and then we are told in verse 13.

“These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” (Hebrews 11.13 ESV)

If we are strangers, sojourners, exiles, while here on earth, then where is our citizenship?

According to Philippians 3:20,

Our citizenship is in heaven,

So in our context in 1 Peter, he is talking about first, the span of our physical existence here on planet earth, our exile.

I belabored that point a bit, but the concept will become useful for us shortly.

So during our lives on earth, what part of our existence does Peter have in view when he gives us a command for how we are to live? All of it!

V12

During the time of our exile, our CONDUCT is included in Peter’s use of the word live.

V17-18

Our attitudes are also in view here. Honor and respect toward others. We’ll talk more about this later, but for now, let’s agree that Peter means our CONDUCT and our ATTITUDES, when he says LIVE.

V19-20

Here, our THOUGHTS are included, being “mindful of God.” And our RESPONSE to suffering and injustice.

So when Peter says we are to LIVE in this way, he is including everything about our earthly lives, our: conduct, attitudes, thoughts, and responses.

How then would he have us live?

V16 - as people who are free!

2. Our next question was: What does he mean by people? Is he speaking to individuals? Or to the church as a collective people?

The answer, again taken from our context, is both.

V9-10

Here he talks of God’s people as a whole.

Yet throughout the letter, Peter gives instructions to individuals: servants, wives, husbands, etc.

So our lives as individuals, and our corporate life as a church, are both in view.

3. The third question, the big one which will consume the remainder of our time, is this: what does he mean by free?

A few moments ago we spoke of our citizenship in heaven. The basic idea is that when you become a child of God, you are given citizenship in his eternal kingdom. Our lives here on earth are transitory and fleeting compared to eternity. The United States of America will come to an end one day. God’s kingdom however, is eternal.

Our true identity and citizenship is in the eternal kingdom of God, and this word “free” suggests that. Quite literally, it means “as a citizen, not a slave.” A slave is bound, a citizen is unrestrained. That is the meaning of this word, free.

Peter is telling us we are free, unrestrained, not slaves but citizens. Citizens of heaven.

Peter goes on, in the second and third propositions of verse 16 to give us first a negative, and then a positive, explanation of the manner in which we to live as citizens, as people who are free.

V16

These two propositions are negative and positive restatements of the same idea. The idea is that, while we are ultimately citizens of heaven and as such free, we are not free to do whatever we want, we are free only to do what God wants!

A society in which the citizens are free to do whatever they want, with no restraints is nothing but anarchy. We live in the USA where we have much freedom, but within restraints that keep us from infringing on the freedom of other citizens. No one has complete and absolute freedom to do anything.

God would be the only one with the power to do whatever he wants, but he is still bound by his nature. He is not free to sin, because he is holy and sinless. So even God does not have absolute freedom to do anything…but he does have the freedom to do anything he wants. Thankfully he is a good God who only desires what is just and good.

In giving us citizenship in his kingdom, God does not free us to do whatever we desire. He frees us to do the things he desires! His kingdom is not anarchy. It is not even a democracy or a republic. God’s kingdom is an absolute monarchy. God is the king, and we are his subjects.

That’s the meaning of the last phrase of our text.

V16c

The word servants here could rightly be translated as slave, or bondservant. In fact, Paul uses this exact word in

ROMANS 6:20, 22

Here Paul says we used to be slaves to sin, but now we are slaves to God. Our freedom, was freedom from sin, but we must think of it as a transfer of ownership, not from sin to our own self, but from sin to God.

V1:18-19

We were ransomed with the blood of Jesus.

1 CORINTHIANS 6:19-20

And then, speaking about the real world issue of slavery, Paul writes:

1 CORINTHIANS 7:21-23

We are citizens of God’s kingdom, which means we are under his authority.

It is sometimes helpful in understanding a word to understand it’s opposite. One might be tempted to think that the opposite of a servant is a master, but I don’t think that is necessarily so.

A servant is someone who seeks to please another, asking “what can I do for you?” The opposite of asking that question is asking “what can you do for me?” which is essentially a selfish question. So the opposite of servant is selfish, which is what we were before God rescued us.

Now that we’ve been rescued, we are free from the slavery and tyranny of sin. We are free to live as God would have us live.

The difficulty in this for us, is that we are not immediately free from some aspects of this world from which we might desire freedom.

V13 - we are not free from earthly governmental authority

V18 - we are not free from unjust masters or employers

V19 - we are not free from sorrow & suffering

V3:9 - we are not free from evil & reviling

V3:16 - we are not free from slander

Our citizenship is in the heavenly kingdom. We are free from the tyranny of this world - it does not hold ultimate authority over us - but we are still in it, temporarily, as “sojourners and exiles.”

And so the negative statement in clause two, explains how we are not to use our freedom.

V16b

If you engage in a cover-up, you are attempting to prevent others from discovering the truth about a serious mistake or crime. You’re hiding something by putting up a false front, or camouflaging something. So Peter is saying that some people might try to use their freedom in Christ as a pretext, a false front or disguise for evil.

How is that possible? How is it possible to commit evil, and throw people off with your freedom in Christ? What kind of evil might be covered up with freedom?

It will help if we understand a bit of the historical context in which Peter is writing. This letter is written to mostly gentile believers scattered throughout several Roman provinces in what is now the nation of Turkey, during the reign of Roman Emperor Nero. This letter was most likely written in AD 62-63, which places it before the Great Fire in Rome which is the historical starting point for Nero’s persecution of Christians. Nonetheless, it seems at the time of this letter, that Christianity was already falling out of favor, in the public opinion.

V2:12 - gentiles speak against Christians as evildoers

V3:9 - Christians reviled (contemptuous, abusive, angrily insulting criticism)

V3:15 - questioning of beliefs in the public arena

V3:16 - slandered and reviled (false & defamatory statements meant to harm reputation)

V4:4 - maligned (speak about someone in a spitefully critical manner)

V4:14 - insulted

In other words, the culture of the day was openly hostile and spitefully critical of the Christian religion, not unlike certain segments of our own culture in which Biblical Christianity is mocked and maligned, in favor of relativism, which says “if it works for you, that’s fine, but keep it to yourself and don’t try to claim it’s true for everyone.”

And so, in our culture, as well as theirs, it would be easy for a Christian who knows his true identity as a citizen of the kingdom of God, to use that knowledge as an excuse to not show proper respect and honor to those in earthly authority.

One can imagine how the first century Christians might have spoken disrespectfully of Emperor Nero. Much the same way we are tempted to speak of a president with whose policies and agenda we disagree.

Our circumstances do differ from theirs in that we live in a republic in which we are free to express opinions and even political opposition to the government. The highest expression of that opposition takes the form of voting to elect different officials. As Christians, we can, and should, exercise these rights and responsibilities, while also realizing that we are bound to honor those in earthly authority, just as the first century Christians were.

Let us now consider the surrounding context of verse 16, to observe some specific applications Peter gives us for how we are to live, in the world, as God’s servant citizens, who are free.

V13-14 - subject for the Lord’s sake

First, we are to live as subject to the government. Even such a government as an emperor who reigns supreme, as Nero did. How much more then should we be subject then to a government elected by the people!

You may remember that the Jews asked Jesus at one point if it was lawful, according to the Law of God, to pay taxes to the emperor (Matthew 22:17-21). Jesus answer was a resounding “Yes!”

The Bible clearly teaches that the earthly authorities which exist, exist by the pleasure of God. They are his instruments. It may be a mystery to us how an unjust and evil ruler can reign by God’s design, but Scripture teaches that it is so. We are therefore to submit to these authorities, “for the Lord’s sake.”

God reigns both in his eternal kingdom, but also over all the kingdoms of this world. Our submitting to the governments of this world is not for their sake, because of their authority, but because of God’s authority. We don’t pay our taxes because of the consequences of not paying them, or because of the worthiness of the government to whom we are paying them, but instead, we pay our taxes as an act of worship to the supreme ruler, the king of kings, who put the government in place and exercises ultimate authority over it.

V15

If we live by the values of the kingdom, who’s citizen’s we are, our good conduct will stand in opposition to the slander of the world against the Christian religion, ultimately silencing it as foolishness. In this way, actions do speak louder than words.

V17

All men, good or evil, are created in the image of God and deserving of honor as his image bearers. This is called the imago dei, the image of God. It means we are to prize and place value on all human life.

Then there is a special love we are to have for the brotherhood of believers, which goes beyond the honoring of the imago dei. We are to love each other as a family.

Above that there is a fear suitable for God alone. We do not fear men, we fear God. We honor the imago dei and love the brotherhood of believers, but we bow to the Almighty God as to no other.

Finally, we are back to the initial honoring of the imago dei, and there are no exceptions. We are to honor the emperor. He is not to be feared as is God. He need not be loved as we love other Christians. But he must be honored as we honor all men. And especially as an authority put in place by God.

The same is true for us as we think about presidents and congress men. They are not God, and should not be feared. Assuming they are not believers, we need not love them as brothers. But we cannot escape the fact that they are image bearers, and must be honored accordingly. And we must recognize that all authority is from God, and they are in office because it is his will. We must therefore find a way to honor them as men, and to honor their office, while at the same time expressing our dismay at some of their policies and laws which run afoul of God’s holy law.

V18

While our circumstances are different and none of us are indentured to a master. We can apply this principle perhaps to our employment. Those who are employed are to respect and be subject to their employers, as far as their authority goes, regardless of the employers’s disposition, “not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust.”

V3:1

Further, we see that wives are instructed to be under their husband’s authority, and later husbands are instructed to love their wives, even if that spouse is an unbeliever!

V3:9

Finally, as God’s servant-citizens, we are to respond with blessing and grace to those who would do evil against us. We are not to act like citizens of this world, but rather as citizens of the kingdom. We are not to respond in evil, or even verbally with disdain or angry criticism, but rather, we are to respond with love and grace, blessing those who curse us.

Our text then is telling us that our job as God’s servant-citizens, sojourning in this world, is to live “for the Lord’s sake” in all areas of our lives: political, economical, social, and familial, so that others may see our lives, turn to God, be saved, and “glorify God on the day of visitation.”

In that process we will honor human life, show respect for authorities, purge public discourse of slander, angry criticism, and abusive speech, honor God’s design for the family, and be agents of God’s grace, love, and reconciliation in the world.

This will reveal, to those willing to see, that living “for the Lord’s sake,” is good for the world.

1 John Calvin, Calvin's Commentaries (Complete) (trans. John King; Accordance electronic ed. Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1847), n.p.