Embracing Submission As a Way of Life: Servants to Masters - 1 Peter 2:18-25

3:29Gave you the picture of the Aggie marching band, those Aggies on the field marching in cadence under the direction of the bandmaster. That's a good picture of what submission means. Ordering the affairs of your life under someone else. And this applies to many areas, as I've already mentioned. It applies to politics, it applies to family, and it applies to the workplace, which is the subject that Peter is dealing with in our text this morning. So in this section, Peter is addressing those in the church, those in this scattered body of believers all over Asia Minor. He is addressing specifically those in the church who are domestic slaves of the Roman Empire. And slavery was a very important part of the daily life and economy of. The Roman world. Most slaves were war captives. Instead of dying, they surrendered and they were taken into the Roman institution of slavery. Many of the slaves were the offspring of marriages or unions between slaves. Some of these slaves stayed in families for generations. Some slaves were bought and sold. Some slaves came with warranties. Some slaves were sold as is.

5:04There were some slaves of great value. And some of these great slaves of great value were sold in private auctions. There were slaves of great skill. It's not uncommon for slaves to be doctors and statesmen and lawyers. Very sophisticated. There were slaves with very little skill. There were public slaves that were owned by the state. There were private slaves that were owned by individuals. Some slaves were treated well. Some slaves were harshly treated. Yet all of them had this in common. Their place in the social structure of Roman society was fixed. They were slaves. And they did not have the freedom to leave, work, change masters. They were fixed. Peter is addressing these. It's in this. Historical Roman context of slavery, institution of slavery, that Peter gives the church this directive. Verse 18, servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. He uses the word servants here, and it is literally translated as house servant, domestic servant. It's not the same word that's used in verse 16 to refer to the bondslaves of God. You have been bought with the price, you have been given freedom, and you are to use that freedom to be a bondslave of Christ. The whole definition of Christian liberty is that you are free to be a bond slave, a galley slave of Christ. But the word here, in verse 18, is that of a house servant. So believers are bondslaves of God. And in this context, many of them were servants of men, domestic servants of men. You see the position? Ultimate authority, bondslaves of God. Though in the social structure of Roman society, you happen to be a domestic servant of man. It was common for servants to live upon their master's property or even within their own homes. And it makes it a very fitting statement. House servant. What's interesting is that slaves made up a large segment of the early church, large enough to warrant being addressed here or singled out and addressed.

7:45He addresses citizens. Everybody could connect with that. He addresses family life, husbands and wives. And then he throws in there domestic servants, indicating what a huge population of people there were in the early church that were slaves. And the word master is the word we get despo from. And the term implies the unlimited power and authority of a Lord. And here it is in reference to the master of the home, the master of the household in whom you find yourself a servant. And he tells them to submit. Submit. Submit.

8:33Arrange the affairs of your life under those of the despo in your life. See, the workforce of Roman society functioned in a master-servant social structure. And even though we don't have that social structure here in Western culture, or certainly here in the United States, these words are still directly applicable. To us today. You see, the workforce in Roman society functioned in a master-servant social structure, and the workforce in our society functions under a similar master-servant social structure. We don't use those terms. We might prefer the terms employer or employee or supervisor or supervisee. But the bottom line is there is this structure in society through which goods and services are conducted, and that comes through an employer-employee-client-servant type relationship. And so, these words obviously are written specifically to those who are servants. And across the globe, there are still many to whom this text applies directly, but it also applies by way of application to us in a very similar situation that we have in our country.

9:58I mean, the livelihood, if you think about it, of pretty much everybody in this room is dependent upon this employer-employee structure. Is it not pretty much everybody in this room, unless you're at the very top of the social ladder, and even then you're going to have somebody over you, but you are in some sort of a mentor-mentee, supervisor, supervisee type relationship. And this is a very important part of your life. If you think about the number of hours, That you are going to spend in the workforce in your life. The average person, let's just say, assume 40 hours of work per week. I looked at the U.S. Census Bureau, the average commute time per day is about an hour per day.

10:48It takes probably a person about an hour to get ready to work. Some people, it takes more. Some people, it should take more. Do everybody at work a favor, take a bath, get ready, get cleaned up. You'll take an hour or more for lunch, right? Lunch being more directed just to sustain you through the working day. If you add that up, that adds up to about 65 hours a week approximately, and you spread that over 40 years, it represents a huge chunk of your life. In fact, it is the best hours of your life. You get up, you clean up, you eat up, you go out, you work. It's when your mind is at its best, these 40 hours or 65 hours a week. It is the largest and best part of your life. So, how are you to steward those hours? Well, our text speaks about that and gives us the answer. And how are you to reflect Christ in this, the largest chunk of your life? The hours are staggering.

12:00How are you going to use these to honor Christ so that when you get to the end of your days, he can look down upon you and say, Well done, good and faithful servant. Well, our passage gives us the answer: Christian conduct in the workplace involves a submissive attitude. Servants, be submissive to your masters. The characteristic of submission is of chief importance to God. Don't miss this. In whatever setting, whatever sphere, submission. It is a beautiful thing for God's people to be under submission. Notice the expression with all respect, literally, in all fear.

12:50Servants were to show the utmost respect for their masters. And if they can receive that teaching in first-century Rome, you and I can accept this teaching here, 21st century America. With all respect. Christian employees are to arrange the affairs of their profession under the corporate authority of the workplace. They are to be in all respect, all fear. And notice, before I go further, you remember going back into verse 17, there are some tension with that. Not carte blanche authorities that can bypass the words of God. In verse 17, in the context of speaking to how we are to submit to government, we are to submit, at the same time, honoring all people. So, anything that the government asks us to do that would devalue human life, we cannot do. Anything that the government would ask us to do that would be short of an expression of love for the brotherhood, we are not to do. Or anything that would be short of an expression of ultimate respect for the law of God, we are not to go there. And then we are to submit to whatever punishment comes out of that, and therein God is going to use the occasion to speak to the nation. Similarly, these are applicable to all in this section. We are to obey, we are to arrange the affairs of our profession under the corporate authority in which we are in.

14:39But that does not give them the right to devalue human life, cause us to be anything short of loving our brethren, or falling or doing anything that would violate God's law. But notice that this submission of attitude is to extend to all. Masters. Look back at verse 18, not only to those who are good and gentle, but to also to those who are unreasonable. You see, it's easy to just submit to someone who is good and beneficial to you, isn't it? It's another thing to submit to somebody who is unreasonable. The word is scolios. You remember going to the doctor when you were little and they would look at your spine to see if it was crooked, see if you had scoliosis. It's where we get that word. If your back is out of line, you've got scoliosis, or probably. That's the idea. It's hard to submit to somebody who's out of line, dishonest, or crooked, unreasonable, unscrupulous.

15:47Let me tell you something by way of warning: this command to be submissive is to all masters. And there is a tendency to take advantage of good and gentle masters or good and gentle supervisors. Don't do that. Don't make their life hard. Just submit to them because they are good and gentle, but because God is your master. But then there is a tendency to be obstinate, to rebel, to fight, and to be disrespectful to unreasonable employers, right?

16:26Well, bottom line is, some masters were good, and some masters were good. Masters were harsh, but Christians were and are to submit to both. So Peter exhorts servants to be submissive to their masters. That's what he does in verse 18. And then he goes on in the following verses to give two solid reasons why they should do so. And I want to look at both of these reasons so that you and I will be the kind of employees that God wants us to be. First, for this pleases God. For this pleases God. Look at verse 19. What pleases God? For this finds favor. If for the sake of conscience towards God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. The main verb here is bear up, means to endure, to hold up under great pressure.

17:16What is it that pleases God? It's when his people bear up under look back the sorrows and the suffering, or sorrows when suffering unjustly for the sake of conscience toward God. The idea of sorrows, pains, griefs, afflictions, perplexities, difficulties, all that that comes out of the fact that you obey God. There are going to be issues in your world, pains, and griefs that come out expressly because you are identified with God. And some of them are going to be of a suffering nature. They're going to cause suffering. You can think in the context: there are those who are displaced, some of those who have. Lost loved ones, some of those have been perhaps ridiculed or isolated because of their higher standard of morality. That's evident in the book. Some of them were thought of enemies of state.

18:13Some of them were simply domestic slaves, and there was suffering that came out as a result. And they suffered unjustly. That is, suffered for something completely undeserved. One of the things I loved about my Texas AM day was my materials science lab. It was one of those great classes where you got to design things and then you got to crush them. You had this elaborate hydraulic apparatus that you would build something, put it in there, apply the pressure in this pressure chamber, and there would be this pressure monitor, and it would monitor how much stress your structure could take, and then it would crash, and then you'd record. It was fun. And I can remember on one occasion, we had a competition. Who could build the strongest trust? So there's different teams. My team built a trust, and we used up all the material, and then there was this other trust, this other team, where the guy had worked for a trust company. So he built it just like they were supposed to be built. And so we have this competition, and the professor looks at the trust that was built by this team, and he said, man, somebody has worked for a trust company. This is exactly how it's supposed to be done. So he puts it in the stress machine, and wow, it takes off. So then he puts the other team's trusses in there and crash. I mean, not even getting close. Crash, crash. And then he puts ours in there. Okay? And it goes. And that stress monitor goes up, it goes up, and it gets up close to the top. And then it starts shaking, really starts buckling. You could see it. And the professor turns around, stops looking at the pressure monitor, looks and says, now this is exactly what happens to a structure before it fails. It starts yielding and it starts shaking. You can see it all over. Meanwhile, the pressure monitor skyrocketed over the first-place team. And then all of a sudden you hear this crash. And he looks back and he goes, well, good. That was a good second place.

20:28And then I was feeling the pressure. And so was my other teammates. In fact, we exchanged glances as if to say, you sweep the knees. I'll come in. Lay them out. And we'll teach him a lesson about pressure. Well, some honest soul told the professor, look, when you turned around, that stress monitor went way above. And he says, well, I didn't see it. We'll make him tide for first and go on. So, anyway, but that is the idea. You get the picture of bearing up under, right? Shaking, taking, putting, as if you will be put in a pressure chamber. In this world, you will be put in a pressure chamber, and your faith will be tested. And sometimes some of those greatest tests are going to come in the workplace. And will you hold up? In fact, I think that's what God does. He loves to put us to our paces. But we have a promise from Him that He'll never tempt us beyond which we're able to bear. What pleases God is when you bear up under such pressure because you have a conscience towards God. That finds favor. Literally, this is grace. This finds favor.

21:57I can remember growing up, my father had me delivering bread. Whenever I got a driver's license, I had to get out and deliver bread to the local restaurants in my community. And I think I may have shared this story with you before, but it had a profound impact on my life. I got to meet a whole bunch of different kinds of people. And some of the people were very, very friendly. There were some, one of my first restaurant stops was this lady that loved to make these wonderful, wonderful. Full cinnamon rolls. And as they were coming out of the oven, she would love to give me them, and I would love to get them. Then there was this other, a few restaurants down the road, there was another person, and I'd come in, have you had breakfast yet? No. And he'd make me this wonderful breakfast. And I loved serving the good masters, right? But then I had some bad ones. In fact, there was this one chef, and I will call him chef mean because that is exactly what he was. And he was mean. I mean, his, honestly, his, and this is no joke, his wife ran off with, I think, one of the first vacuum cleaner salesmen that came to the door. She said, Here, I'll buy it. I'm out of here. But anyway, he treated me harshly. He was at one of the most prestigious restaurants in town, and for some reason, I was the guy that just felt the brunt of his fury. He liked to make a spectacle out of me. I'd come in, it seemed like I couldn't do anything right. And this is the type of guy, one particular morning, he'd come in. You ever see people that drink so much they look pickled?

23:44Yeah, well, this guy, he was pickled. I mean, he just, his face, he had that sheen of a long-term alcoholic. Well, one morning, the smell was pretty strong, and I go in, and I don't know what I did or didn't do. I probably didn't do anything other than just my. Job because I was scared to do anything other than that. I was walking through, and he was all angry, and he made a public spectacle in front of all the kitchen staff. I turned around so I wasn't facing him, and he picked up his meat cleaver as if he was going to slice me right down the middle. And I turned around and I saw him. He put it away. Everyone was laughing. And I walked out and I called up my dad and I said, You know what?

24:29I don't want to play anymore with this guy. I want to take my balls and bats and go home. You know, I don't want to play with this guy anymore. He really pushes me. And my dad said, Listen, in life, you're going to have people that are fun to serve. You're going to have people that are a pain to serve. Your job representing this company is to serve them both. Because if we only served the good ones, we would not stay in business. So I said, Okay, Dad, for your sake, I will keep on bearing up under Chef Mean. And I did. I did. And he never got any less mean.

25:22But look at verse 20. For what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated, you are induce. It with patience. But if when you do what is right and suffer for it, you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. See, there's two kinds of people here. There are wrongdoers and they are those who do right. There's no favor given to wrongdoers. He asks the rhetorical question: what credit is there if you sin and then you're harshly treated? Well, the answer is none.

25:55What credit is there if you do something that is wrong, if you are insubordinate, if you mismanage things, or if you stir up trouble, or if you commit fraud or whatever, and you are reprimanded for it, what credit is it to you if you bear up under it? You should bear with patience those things, but it's not any kind of credit. But the word for harshly treated here is to strike with the fist. What good is it if when you've done wrong, you are struck with the fist? There's no credit. Everybody standing around will kind of say, okay, you deserved it.

26:35But then there are those people. So the answer is none. There is no credit to those who suffer for misbehavior. But look back. But God's favor is upon those who suffer for doing right. Verse 20. But if when you do what is right and suffer for it, you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. You see, we are to be a people who. Who are characterized by doing what is right in the sight of God. Our conscience is bound, or is to be bound to the moral character of God. We are to refrain from crossing the lines established by God.

27:16Whether that has to do with lying, stealing, falsifying reports, or other workplace crimes, or any other inappropriate behavior, we are to be characterized by doing what is right in the sight of God, no matter what the consequences are. And the word for suffer here is passion, the word that is used to describe Christ's passion. So it's intense suffering for righteousness' sake. These are the people who are doing what is right before God. These servants are conducting themselves rightly before God, and they are facing the harsh consequences of unscrupulous masters for it. That's who Peter is talking to. And he's saying, bear up under it. There is a purpose for you to bear up. And look, God, know this, God finds, this finds favor with God. You see, God is moved with favor. You want to know what brings the favor of God? Those who suffer unjustly and put up for it because of His namesake. That moves the favor of God. Jesus said it similarly. In Luke 6, 22, Blessed are you when men hate you and ostracize you and insult you and scorn your name as evil for the sake of the Son of Man. Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets. So there are two reasons why we should have a submissive disposition in the workplace. The first is this pleases God. Second, this is your calling. This is your calling. Look at verse 21. For you have been called for this purpose. What purpose? This looks back to what has just been said in verse 20, to bearing up under the unjust suffering of sinful man. For you have been called for this purpose. Why? Since Christ also suffered for you. The path of glory for him was suffering.

29:25And it took the disciples a long time to understand it, and it'll be the same for us. The word for example is meaning under and writing. The underwriting, example, underwriting. Literally, it's a writing under. If you think of the light table, and if you've got an original document, you put it on a light table, and then you want to sketch that document. You take a piece of tracing paper and the light shines through this so you can see the image before, below it, and you sketch it out. That's what this word means: a pattern, a pattern for us to trace out. Our lives over. That is what Christ has left us: a pattern. A pattern. And we are called to look back. He has left us an example for you to follow in His steps. The word is, you are to precisely step where He has stepped as you go through life. Precisely step. I remember when I was in California with our family, young family, we got to spend a lot of time on the beach. And one of the things I did when my kids were little is I'd fill up a great big old bucket of sand about the size of a bushel. And I would fill it with sand and I would drag it all over the beach. And it would make these trails. And the kids would walk on them and they would stay on them. And then I would make it dangerous. We'd kind of emulate John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. And there'd be the slew of Despond. You know, you got to get by that one quickly. And then over there is the giant's tower. You got to. And someone would even go down by the water. And that would be a scary moment. And you had to follow the path, wait just right till the wave, and then you had to dart across it. Well, that's, Talari, if you can picture a beach scene and you can picture footsteps in the sand and such a path. Well, this is what Christ has done. He has left for us steps that we can step and precisely walk. But the one thing you need to know this, is that some. Sometimes this path will lead you down a path of unjust suffering. But also know this: that God has a good and sufficient reason for such suffering. Don't expect a life in following Christ that doesn't go through seasons of suffering. That by precisely stepping where Christ stepped, you will find yourself in the midst of a fiery ordeal. And that's what happened to Peter's audience. But he gave us an example. So, what is it? Well, beginning in verse 22, I think we can lay out these six steps. Think about six steps in the sand. First of all, look at this. We are to be exactly like him. Christ's example.

32:20First, he was innocent of wrongdoing. Look at verse 22, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. He committed no sin. Christ was innocent of sin. That is, he is innocent of wrongdoing. Peter has Isaiah 53 on his mind. And here, specifically 53, 9, but he's saying, we are to be like him, innocent of violating God's laws. He committed no sin. Second step, he was free of deceit. Look back at verse 22, nor was any deceit found in his mouth.

32:59There was no Nothing sinful, nothing false ever came out of our Lord's mouth. No falsehood, no treachery, no double tongue. Step three, when reviled, he did not revile. He did not revile in return. Again, an allusion to Isaiah 53, 7, and the word for revile means to pile up abuses on somebody, to heap up insults, insults, or mockeries, or abusive language. And this is what they did to him. They heaped them up on him. They tried to break him with their verbal insults and physical pain. But he didn't revile back at them. He didn't answer in kind. He didn't stoop to their level. And there are going to be those in your life who will try to push you to the breaking point as well. Again, think of this in the context of a household slave with no other options. And how severe this would sound. Submit, even to your masters who are out of line. Wow.

34:13Step four, while suffering, he uttered no threats. While suffering, he did not threaten. In fact, he didn't turn around and just open his mouth and just start going at him. In fact, when he opened his mouth, His mouth, he said these words in Luke 23, 34, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Step five, and while being reviled, he did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but he kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. Step five, he trusted God in the midst of the most agonizing, unjustified punishment that this world has ever seen. The word for entrusting is he handed himself over, and he kept handing himself over. This was Christ's ongoing disposition. With every round of abuse, every wave of insult, he entrusted himself to God, and he kept entrusting himself to God. He knew that God was going to do what was right. And so he kept on doing what was right in God's eyes. Brothers and sisters, God is going to do what is right. And we are called to keep on doing what is right in his eyes.

35:37And we can entrust our souls to him. Bottom line, Jesus had an ability to peacefully accept the unjust suffering that came from the hands of godless men because, and get this, because of his solid, unshakable, unwavering. Confidence in a perfectly righteous God who judges perfectly righteously and who has a perfect plan. That was the source of why he could trust God in the midst of suffering. But there's a sixth thing, step, sixth step that Jesus took that we can follow. Redemption was on his mind. Look back at verse 24. Redemption was on his mind. And he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. For by his wounds you were healed, for you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. By submitting to the unjust suffering at the hands of godless men, Christ did three things for us. First, he took away the legal liability of our sins. This is the word for justification. You've heard it before. He himself bore our sins in his body. That is, he took the penal consequences or the penalty for our sins. Scripture makes it very clear that the penalty of sin is death. Spiritual death, that is that immediate separation from God. Physical death, which is the separation of the spirit from the body. Eternal death, which is eternal separation from God in hell.

37:37He took all that in his body, in his soul, in his being. And what this means is that Jesus suffered the penalty for all the sins of all who have believed and ever will believe. They are completely forgiven. The legal liability of the followers of Christ has been removed, paid for, taken on, born in Christ. Second thing he did was he took away God's wrath. This is where we get the word propitiation. He removed the frown of God upon us as he bore the wrath for us. Think about this. Suppose a drunk driver carelessly and recklessly smashes into your car.

38:30Tickets written out, person's apologetic, you get the insurance claim, and they pay all the legal burden of their accident. Well, they may pay and have taken care of all the legal consequences, but you're still kind of mad at them. Right? You might still be mad at them. Well, this is the idea here: that when not only did Christ justify us, that is, he took away the legal liability. Of our sins, but he also took away that hostility that God had towards us because we were sinners.

39:09And the third thing he did is he removed the cause of our hostility. And this is where we get the idea of reconciliation from. Look back. And he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Reconciliation. The reason he did all this is so that we might die to sin. A very unique word here in the New Testament. It's only used here. And the word means to cease to exist. He did all this so that we would cease to exist for sin and live for righteousness. Think about this drunk driver. Okay, now let's suppose you don't feel angry at him anymore. For carelessly, he's paid the legal, he's taken care of all the legal implications of the collision, and now you're not mad at them anymore. And he calls you up and says, I want to take you out for a fellowship supper just to show you how gracious I am or just how we can put this whole thing behind us. And he pulls over and you go up to the car to jump in and he's drunk or nest.

40:22Are you going to get in that car? No. You can't go with this person unless the cause For the hostility is removed. And that's what Christ does. He removes the cause of our hostility with God is a love of sin and a hatred of righteousness. And this is what He has removed from us. This is what has truly been removed in the heart of every true believer. Yes, believers still sin, but they are not comfortable with it. May even sin for a season, but they can't be at peace with it because Christ has removed a love for sin from His people and put in them a desire for righteousness.

41:15For by His wounds you were healed. By His wounds you were healed. Complete healing. He justified you. He took away the hostility. He took away the cause of hostility, reconciled you. The wounds, that suffering, word for wounds here, just it encompasses the whole of Christ's suffering for you. And the healing in view is spiritual. Spiritual death has passed. If you are in Christ, you are born again. Your heart and soul and mind are in union with Christ. Doesn't mean you are perfect, but it does mean you obey Him when you are imperfect. And you confess your sins, and he is faithful to forgive us. We're no longer separated from God.

42:08Physical healing awaits a glorified body. For by his wounds, you were healed. So, why did Christ do these things? Well, he removed our guilt, he removed God's hostility, he reconciled us to God. Why? Because he had redemption in his mind. Look back at verse 25: for you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. A sheep continually straying is in grave danger. You don't have to know much about sheep to know that. Sinners are wayward, aimless, and in grave danger. This was us. And this is why you should be concerned in the workplace for those who cause you unjust suffering.

43:05So that the beautiful deeds, as they see your beautiful life in submission, even under harsh conditions, and those are opportunities for you to glorify God in a way that you never could with smooth sailing. These difficulties and trials become great opportunities to make Him known. See, look, the terms shepherd and guardian literally refers to that word. Guardian refers to the supervisor of your soul. And the shepherd and guardian, overseer, the bishop, supervisor of your soul, these speak of the perfect protection, the perfect care, and the perfect one who is responsible for your souls and whom you can entrust your soul.

43:59And Christ did this so that we could also have a mind towards redemption. No, we can't save anybody. Our lives aren't going to pay for the sins of anyone, but we can suffer in whatever circumstances, workplace and beyond. We can suffer unjustly and bear up under it because of consciousness towards God so that the people around may witness and may hear and understand the message of Christ and turn, turn, and that they too would find the shepherd and guardian of their souls. Well, workplace submission is like submission to the governing authorities. It is first and foremost a matter of faith. Can you really submit yourself to the unscrupulous?

45:00Those who are out of line, if God has placed such an individual in your life. Well, it's first and foremost: do you believe God? Colossians 1, 16 says, For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. Do you believe that God really created all these things? Do you really believe the words of Acts 17, 26 that says, From one man he made every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth, having determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God and find him?

45:49Do you really believe that God has put you in your time, in your place, in your social structure, so that you would know him and find him and make him known? You see, as we think about the workplace, our goal is often advancement, praise of men, and material gain. But God's goal for his people in the workplace is a beautiful testimony, a testimony, because God has redemption on his mind, that they would see your good deeds and glorify God in the day of his favorable visitation. God's goal is redemption, and his goal for the redeemed is Christ-likeness. And sometimes you're going to go through a path of unjust suffering to accomplish these goals. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your word. We thank you for how it speaks to us today, even though our situation is very different and yet we see so many similar principles. Father, forgive us where we have balked under unjust suffering and have been quick to run away from it, excuse it, and even sin so that we would not have to go through it. Father, help us to be a people who will stand squarely and firmly upon your word and have an unyielding and unshakable trust in you, knowing that you judge rightly, knowing that you have ordered the affairs of our life and that you are completely worthy of trust, able to save, and that you have a purpose for the situations that we go through. Help us to be good stewards of them. Give us eyes of faith that we might glorify you even in some of the most reckless and perplexing situations that we may go through. Father, we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.