Servants be submissive to your masters
1 Peter 2:18-20 · Bob Eckel · Apr 26, 2015
1 & 2 Peter (2015), No. 16
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492652174184

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

1 Peter 2.18. Let's read beginning at chapter 2 verse 18. Now I don't think we're going to need to go back before that or read too much further past here, but I am going to read to the end of the chapter and that will be this whole kind of area which is called submission within the household.

So verse 18, servants be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow his steps.

Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. who when he was reviled did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. Who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have not returned to the shepherd and overseers of your souls.

So I think kind of the way we respond to these unwanted threats and harsh judgments and if you will kind of punitive activities of those who oversee us really relates to the verses that are going to be covered next week. Jeremy, I think you're on board for next week. So you've got the ultimate and the epitome of the way we're going to be dealing with this. But anyway, let's look at what we have for this week and set the stage for what follows. So servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. So the theme of submission continues here. And we see that in chapter 2 verses 11 through 17, we covered those over the last week or two.

This is a submission to institutions. Remember the submission to institutions is not to the institutions. It's to God. Right? I mean, we in fact honor our government. We honor our leaders. We pray for them, but that's to bring glory to God, not that we think we're going to change our institutions. Important.

Submission to household. That's where we're at today, and we'll finish next week. And again, next week really, I think, gives us an example of how we're to respond, although we're again introducing that today in the verse of Recovering Today. And then in Chapter 3, women, pay attention, this is wife submitting to their husbands. I'm not going to jump to conclusions here, but I'm not sure who is actually teaching that. It's all good. Remember, submission doesn't contradict freedom. We looked at that last week. Look at verse 16. Let's look at actually 15.

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may be put to silence of the ignorance of foolish men, as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Remember Christ said, I'm going to make you free and free indeed. And what's that freedom that the Lord gave him? Freedom from sin. That's like burden with sin. free from the penalty of sin and free from the domination and power of sin of our life. That's the freedom we have.

And it's interesting, Romans 6.18, and having been set free from sin, you become slaves of righteousness. Isn't that interesting? We're now bond slaves or servants to righteousness, but free from sin. So in a sense, we're still slaves, but yet the slave is to righteousness, and that's slaves by faith.

It's not our own righteousness, right? and it's his righteousness. So we don't contradict submission with freedom. They both coexist. Our submission now is to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and his righteousness. And the freedom we have is a life that we can live free of the burden of sin. Now we fall short, but yet that's what it means to be free indeed.

Now, servants here, or the atheists, I'm not sure that pronunciation is correct. This is not doulos, which is slave. So doulos or slave is really what we see when we think of being a bond slave. But now we're talking about somewhat of a different role.

We're talking about servants and these are referring to household servants. That's really specifically what we're talking about. One who lives in the same house as another or all who are under the authority of one in the same household. So these are people who are, if you will, in the home and serving their master in a domestic situation. Not bond slaves that we would think of a slave in the field or the slave that existed in this country or anywhere else in the world. We're thinking now of a servant within a household.

Yeah Bob, I was listening to Macaulay on this and he was pointing out that in the New Testament times sometimes people would actually voluntarily become slaves to pay off debts. Slavery was not the same connotation as we have here that people were actually kept against their will. Sometimes people would actually enter into that kind of situation because they needed They needed money or they needed to do something. It's not quite the same picture.

And the word probably demonstrates that possibly. This word here specifically for servant. Yes, but keep in mind within the threshold of a home, this servant could be mistreated or well treated. That's true. But when I think of bond slaves, we're thinking of a term doulos is one who's much more dependent on their master. It's kind of a different relationship. Every time at a household, And bond slag really relates to something that extends far past an individual domestic dwelling. What does it mean to be submissive? What does it mean to be submissive? What does it mean to be submissive? What does it mean to be submissive? What does it mean to be submissive? What does it mean to be submissive?

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Trust. It does imply that. But what's interesting is trust. You can't exactly trust your master. Your master, as we're going to find out, may be harsh. You're actually trusting the Lord. That's right. It's interesting. You're trusting that that arrangement that he has allowed and he has blessed and he has instituted is right.

What kind of series of steps are we going to go through here? First, why is the verb be submissive or subject to in the passive voice? Present tense, be submissive now, but passive voice. Any thoughts about that? Is it possible that we're unable to truly be that submissive unless we're trusting the Lord and it's really His working through us that allows us to be comfortable with that role?

Yeah, I think, you know, keep in mind our faith is always active, right? I mean, the walk in the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit is an active, active faith on our behalf. When we don't act by faith we fall short. But the idea of passivity I think is along the lines Margaret's really indicated.

According to verse 12, the purpose of submission is to glorify God. Isn't that Him working in us? I think it is. Grit your teeth and be submissive. Is that the message we want to take away from this? No, I don't think so. So I think the passive voice really reflects that It's not that we're irresponsible, we still have to respond by faith, but in a sense what exists here is a rest that goes beyond the circumstances. So we're the recipients of the working of God's grace in our life. We respond by faith, but yet it's passive because to be submissive puts us in a position of glorifying God by his will and strength in our lives. Everybody okay with that?

Second, this is a military term. This isn't a weak term to say, gee, when things seem right and everything, hang in there and be submissive or trust or obey. It's really kind of, this is something that is required for the believer. Third, there are many very related definitions, and Winnie, to yours and a number of other ones. I really grabbed four, but there are six or seven, to arrange under or to subordinate, to subject oneself or obey, to submit to one's control, to yield to one's admonition or advice. These are all kind of very similar. I mean, it's putting yourself under the guidance and direction of someone else. Right. The thought here comes to my mind, the HUMO is under, precedes this, that we're translating submit. And the stasis has the idea of standing. So you are standing under. I don't know if that helps or not. So how would being in a student position relate to this? In the military. Not in the military. You have to get that environment. You are standing under.

Alright. With that here, is this dread and terror? Or is this reverence and respect? It's got to be the second, right? Be submissive and be in a passive position even though we're acting by faith. We're not fearing, I guess we could come to the point of fearing, but I don't think that's what we're called to. This is really respecting our master for who he or potentially she is.

Notice how unconditional this is. Not only to the good and gentle, which could be defined as a mild person, a yielding person or an indulgent person, but also to the harsh, which perhaps could be translated perverse, wicked, froward. That's a pretty strong term. So this is really not kind of what's the condition, let's see how I'm going to respond here.

This is kind of responding the same way no matter what the position of the master is taking in terms of his or her guidance and leadership. Notice that the authority exists independent of the good or evil nature of the authority figure. Again, and we're going to really rationalize why God has brought this to our attention in just a moment because the verses that follow will really clarify that for us. Can we respond in any other way than the power of the Holy Spirit here?

I think so. You can respond fleshly. And what kind of response is that if in fact we have a harsh master? It's grit in your teeth, isn't it? Yeah, the flesh has no victory here. Keep in mind if we respond to these adverse circumstances or unjust punishment, whatever, it's really to God's glory.

This is not anything we take credit for. This is really something to commend. to his guidance and direction. This isn't a social agenda. This isn't to make sure everybody is hanging out together and happy. This is to the glory of God. We're not doing this to make everybody feel good. Although your master, if you're not complaining when they're harsh, I think they're going to maybe look at you a little bit differently. Ultimately, we trust that the glory is given to God, not to us.

That's where our strength comes from to respond in this manner. Does this household submission, do you think, really apply to us today? When he says yes, why? Because we're still under the glory of our husband. We're going to get to that in a few weeks.

What's that? Where Christ is in us. King of the household of God. The household of God? Take me further with that one. In that context, we stand under him. He is our head. Alright, but in terms of our existence here, I mean the principle is still there, right? But does this relate to our boss and our place of employment? It's not really a household. The workplace is not really your household. But let me tell you where it does apply. It's where we just returned from.

India is very much still in the caste system. It's unbelievable how much class prejudice exists in India. Our tour guide ultimately was going back home after his tour season has now ended, because it gets hot in the summertime, most people don't go to India in the summertime, to go back and find out who his mother is picking for him to marry.

I asked him if he wanted to go outside that family tradition and marry someone, this would not be acceptable. This guy is middle class, so this is not But the untouchables, that term is being kind of removed, but it's still being used. Well, it's illegal. The caste system is illegal there now, but that doesn't mean a thing. People are put and fixed in a particular area.

This would be very applicable to a believer in that system. I mean, this may be applicable here today under some circumstances, but I think we have a little more trouble relating to this. But I think the principle is still there, isn't it? I think maybe we could extend the principle of being harshly judged or treated by someone who's an authority over us, and our response still is to be with the glory of God.

Jeremy. That's kind of what I was going to say. One of Peter's main themes here is how we respond to trials and tribulations. And for Peter, that's being treated unjustly. And he's kind of drawing three different circles. He's going to the governmental circle. Then he's going, in his case here, to the household circle. And then later on, he's going to go to the husband and wife. So it's constricting circles. And he's giving examples that people, his listeners, would understand in the day.

But I think the through line here is that, going back to the very beginning of Peter, the fact that we know that God holds us, the fact that we know that we're looking forward to that salvation that's to come, regardless of the situation, regardless of when we're being treated unjustly, we're to respond not in the flesh as we've mentioned before but we're responding in the spirit and that's responding as we're going to see shortly as Jesus responded.

And by the way, that response is not a choice, it's a life. We walk in the new nature by the power of the spirit. I think in a sense you could say that's a choice, but if it's a choice I'm already partially defeated when I'm making the choice. I think when we walk by faith we walk above the circumstances. We don't have a choice. Am I going to respond this way or respond that way?

The Spirit may quickly touch that choice and direct us, but nevertheless a life that's lived that's victorious is one in which the circumstances have no bearing on how we respond. Sounds like a strong statement, but I really believe that's true. And back to the time, the time is Nero. Nero is persecuting left and right.

And ultimately the institutional responsibilities that we have as believers was covered in the last six verses. So today we're moving now into the household. And again, the principle of how we respond is no different to the institutions that we're under than it is within the household. It's God's grace that gives us the power and the ability to respond in a way that's glorifying to him. And this isn't unique to 1 Peter.

You don't have to turn there, but Ephesians 6.5 and Colossians 3.22 say almost the same thing. So these other verses just are consistently demonstrating how as believers we respond to unjust authority. in the household. Let's go on to verse 19 now.

We're getting a little bit more information about why this is commendable. For this is commendable, if because of conscience towards God, one of yours grieves suffering wrongfully. What does this point to? For this is commendable. The submissive to your master. Pretty self-evident that this is what we're talking about in terms of the last verse. which is servants be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. So this really relates to being submissive to your masters, whether they're good or evil. When servants were being mistreated, I think from the harsh masters, probably most applicable for us being commendable to God in terms of how we respond. and or when one of yours grief suffering wrongfully.

I guess you could relate those two, but perhaps could that exist under a different circumstance. Well maybe your master isn't particularly unjust or harsh, but actually you're suffering or grieving wrongfully. So grief is sorrow and pain. Suffering as an illness and wrongfully, this is interestingly the only New Testament use of the term wrongfully. So whatever leads to grief and suffering wrongfully is also a circumstance within the household that really relates to how we respond. So why is this commendable or thankworthy? That's who you are.

Alright, Jack. We get points for this? No. You see it's a life. It's all about grace. It really is. It helps you understand the Lord. Yeah, and by the way, for this is commendable, the term is charis here, which is the term grace. So, good answer. Is this grace? What's commendable is identified with grace. You know, I think Mike has taught this repeatedly, I mean, grace is thankfulness, really. That's kind of what it really means.

So, what lasts eternally in all of us is what is sourced in grace. And back to 1 Corinthians 3, wood, hay, and stubble is the flesh. It carries nothing forward with it. the ultimate penalty for our sins has already been paid for. I like the idea that when we get to heavenly places that as much as we knew Christ here is what it's going to be like there, everybody's got to be content. I mean I'm not sure how perfectly spiritual that is, but the idea that wood, hay and stubble is going to burn, but what's ultimately sourced in grace is what's going to be commendable.

And that's not something you work at, it's something you you do because of who you are. Again, it's not what you do, it's who you are. And what you do then is evidence of who you are. So it's who we are. Moreover, it's the enduring, patiently bearing up that also is commendable to God.

The motive? Having a conscience towards God. What's that conscience towards God? How's that enacted in our lives? Faith. Faith, but what else? I mean, yeah, faith, of course, but what does faith bring about in our lives on a day-to-day basis that's ultimately related to our conscience towards God?

God always does what's right. Well true, I mean these are all good statements. It's citizenship isn't it? We are crucified, dead and buried, risen with newness of life and positioned above. And so the consciousness of God is who we are in Christ Jesus. He is at the right hand. We are eternally placed, positioned and fixed. And there is no condemnation.

So our citizenship is something we constantly remind ourselves it's not the consciousness of God. When we think of our citizenship, then things on this business address, that some people call it, is really put into perspective in a way that we can't have too high of expectations. Identification, truth, personified. Is it not having a conscience towards God?

And a favorite verse of mine, Philippians 1.21, for to me to live as Christ and die as Cain. So that life we live is that of the Lord Jesus Christ and that's identification truth personified. Either way you win. For me to live as Christ and die as Cain, you win either way. Any thoughts, additional thoughts about verse 19? Alright, let's go to verse 20. For what credit is it if When you're beaten for your faults, you take it patiently. But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God, wow.

How's the world deal with this thing, right? It's not written to the world, is it? It's written to a different nation, and the nation is that of the body of Christ. Just think about this. You know, if we do something wrong, we ask for mercy, don't we? Not to be punished for what we've done. I mean, from an earthly system.

But here, when you do good and suffer, and take it patiently, this is commendable before God. Again, you know, if you will, there's some, quote, kind of eternal credit for that, although that's not our mindset. It just, what's commendable before God is really prevailing atmosphere of God's grace. But Bob, doesn't it actually show, this is the smelting, this is showing who we are. I mean, because in the easy times, you could argue, well, is that really you? Or is that just your, well, the flesh in overdrive or something like that, you know, being really good. But this, when you do the opposite of what man expects, he can't understand. That's not understandable by the world. That's correct. They can't understand that.

And that's why the next few verses that Jeremy is going to be covering are so uplifting because it shows that Christ really experienced what he's asking us to respond to in the same way that he did. And that's not walking in his shoes. We're talking about walking by faith in a life that's above walking in shoes. We're talking about identification. And again, this isn't an intellectual process. This is something that comes about by knowing the Lord Jesus Christ and growing in grace in his presence.

Credit is better translated as glory or praise, but interesting enough, this is not the usual noun for glory, which is doxa. But kleos, found only here in the New Testament, means fame, praise, glory, good report. That's where the Greek is particularly helpful, because the same word can be identified in the Greek as two different words which have somewhat different meanings. So for what credit is when you're being feared, but when you do good and suffer, this is commendable before God.

For credit here is ultimately praise, glory, good report. It's not the dog-suck glory that ultimately we think of when we think of having our lives be glorifying to God. Beaten. The term here is fairly serious. It really means to be harshly treated and suffer for. And actually it relates to being pummeled or beaten with a fist.

And there are a couple of examples here that relate to our Lord and Savior. Matthew 26, 67. Then they spat in his face and beat him, and others struck him with the palms of their hands. And then Isaiah furthers the story in verse 14. Just as many were astonished at you, so his visage was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.

Prophetic, but I think clearly pointing to the cross. So this being potentially so harshly treated that you're beaten with fists is really in context the implication we're talking about here. Physical harm. is really what can be expected under the most extreme of circumstances. Wow. Can you think about being beaten up because you've done something right and you don't fight back? I don't know. It's tough to deal with the flesh, isn't it?

And I thought maybe these verses and verse 20, which is, you know, these verses meaning Matthew and Isaiah and verse 20 really reflect Peter's memory of what he saw his Lord and Savior go through. I mean, he was a first-hand witness of the Lord Jesus Christ being spat on and beaten and his response was what it was.

Yeah, Ben. So, just so I'm reading this correctly, so you're saying, but when a person is doing good, and that suffer ties back to the previous beating. So you're being harshly treated, similar to that first beaten word there, is that what you're saying? But for doing good. Correct. And then in that circumstance, you're enduring it patiently, and that is what this commitment is. It's an impossible response in the old nature. Absolutely impossible.

And then the question should come up, are we just a bunch of doormats where we're walked all over and trampled upon? What are the thoughts about that? Is a Christian to be a doormat? Remember, we tried to contrast the submissiveness from freedom. We still are free, but the submission is to God's glory. We've got to keep that constantly in mind. The submission is not to the institution, the household, or wives, or their husbands. ultimately just for the earthly experience. The submission is really a consciousness of God in his glory. Back to the issue, I guess we have to exemplify that, but I think when we exemplify it, it's not reality testing. Are we doormats just to be walked on and trampled on?

God in our circumstance. Ultimately it's trusting Him that perhaps at the moment, the harsh treatment for the action, whatever we might have done, the Lord's working that out potentially, certainly in our own lives, but potentially on those around us who maybe are seeing this endure. or something like that, but just trusting that the Lord's got that situation under his control and his purview. And again, that's where I find to be helped very much by reminding myself of what I'm a citizen of. I'm a citizen of heavenly places. I'm not a citizen of this place. Now again, acting that out by faith is sometimes very difficult for us.

There's no question about this. But we're called to something much higher than the human response here. I think a lot of what Peter is focused on here is the whole idea of being witnesses. So if we look at this in the context of Acts 1A, you're going to be witnesses of me into all the world.

So how does that happen? It happens when we patiently endure unjust fall, unjust treatment. I don't think this is talking about, you know, I don't think that this is saying that, well, if you do bad, you have to expect retribution. Well, that's, I think, out of the context of what he's talking about. Specifically, what is going to speak to the world? It's not just, you know, it's not just our good deeds. It's not just all these other things.

It's the fact that our inhuman response to inhumane treatment is what's going to reveal Christ in us. And yes, it's all faith. Yes, it's all grace in Christ in us. But I think it's easy to take this in a lot of wrong ways, but I think the specific way is that this is what's going to declare the glory of God to the world. It's the fact that regardless of how we're treated and regardless we're going to still show, respond in the manner that Christ responded when he was beaten, when he was crucified. That's right. And you know, let's reality put this into practice.

I mean, let's just kind of think circumstantially that we're subjected to unjust punishment for something righteous that we've done. And we have a master over us. The question would we just be passively laying back and be beaten and say nothing? I think it would not be inappropriate to ask for some understanding about what we're going through and getting some advice from our master.

Not asking in a kind of woe is me perspective but just getting some clarification. That's not being a doormat. It's trying to get some understanding. By the way, that doesn't change the response. You're still responding by ultimately, passively, being potentially even harmed. But nevertheless, I don't think that that's out of the will of God to understand more. And that could be actually a witness in its own right. Well, that's what Paul did, right? Exactly. Paul wasn't a doormat, but I think when you look through Acts, Paul was submissive. I mean, in the end, his ordeal spoke to the glory of God.

I mean, if you go back to the Old Testament and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, you know, they weren't necessarily doormats, but they weren't going to bow to the mistreatment. They were going to remain true to their faith in God. But they weren't just, you know, mulling over it. They understood where the authority over them stood. They weren't going to necessarily take up arms and say, I want to worship God or kill whoever tries to make me do it. Cool. No, I don't think it means for doormats. Right.

It seems like the big theme of Peter here we're seeing is that actions are critical. You can say a lot of things. You can claim a lot of things, but your actions ultimately. will testify to who you are. That's what he's saying in the three different areas of the state and the household and husband and wife. Your actions will demonstrate who you are. Yeah, but again, I don't see anything wrong with ultimately having a better understanding of why you're unjustly being punished, but it's just the way you respond to it. So I think it's the action and a dialogue. There's nothing sinful about, trying to get some clarification as to maybe what they perceived you did wrong, if you did wrong.

When we fail here, even though we love mercy, some retribution is expected, isn't it? When we fall short in our own sin nature, etc., mercy is abundant, isn't it? We don't have to pay the penalties for our shortcomings when we're not trusting the Lord and falling into wrong deeds, wrong thoughts, or omitting things that should have been done. We don't really suffer from that. But if in fact we did, that would be appropriate. We all fall short of God's glory, don't we?

So what happens to sin? I mean, sin leads to death, right? That's true of those who are unsaved when they physically die, and it's true of our own works when they're in sin. They die. It's death. So when we in fact behave in that manner, we should expect some, you know, ultimately retribution. But nevertheless, we often mercy prevails. That's God's mercy. And can accepting it patiently or enduring it with patience when we're not at fault really be done in the flesh? I mean, is it possible we can do this in the flesh? I think we kind of already said we can't.

What about being a murderer? What about martyrs? And then I would say, yeah, there are martyrs who don't know the Lord, but then where's the glory? It's not consistent with this scripture, is it? We respond in this way with a conscience of God that he gets the glory for the way we respond. Where a martyr, he or she, who sacrifices their life or is martyring themselves in some other way, ultimately they get the glory. It's not God's glory. What's interesting, Bob, I was just kind of thinking, martyrs are no longer, they're gone.

But the submissive person in God's economy lives on to glorify God. And that's really pretty neat. Other thoughts about... Yes, Roy? The other aspect of this is that God is love, and from the standpoint of his life being, like Jeremy said, being manifested, or the testimony that we have, it's his testimony that's going out here.

And the thought that he would have is, it's not the sufferer that is the guilty party, but the one doing the suffering or causing it. And the person suffering can love the one causing it and say, you know what you're doing is you're hurting one of God's children. I think of John Ellis when he was another communist. And he said, well, don't you know that I can kill you? And he says, well, that's all you can do. And came back at him with, but God loves you too. Isn't that neat that the testimony of God's character comes out under this trial?

It's really true. Great point, Rod. I think that is certainly a witness to an unsaved world, isn't it? Because their expectation would be for us to fight back or argue back, wouldn't it? And when we respond differently, they think, you know, where's this guy or gal from? This is a whole different scenario. I've seen this before.

It's a great witness, isn't it? I think about that Christian that's being held by the Iranians. I think he's been there three years and I wonder what his response has been and how much of a Christian he really is and what's going on there. We know very little about persecution here. By the way, another part of it, I'm sure you've all read about the earthquake in Nepal. That sounds like a terrible circumstance there. Trust the Lord is going to work through that in some way to his glory.

Luke 6.33. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. I love that verse. So relevant to what we're talking about today. So if you do good to those who do good to you, what's the big deal there? That's simple stuff. You can do that in the flesh. Even a sinner can do that. By the way, we're sinners saved by grace. So the flesh to do that, right? That's easy. And I like Vincent's quote here, I'm going to quote him.

Thus one suffers patiently, not from a consciousness sense of duty, but from an inner consciousness of his relation to God as a son and to, and this is my subscript, in Christ, as a joint error, not to Christ. I'm not doing things to Christ, I'm doing them in Christ.

So, which involves his suffering with him no less than him being glorified with him. In other words, there's a lot of hymns and hymns, but the idea here is identification. So, a relationship to God as a son, in Christ as a joiner, which involves suffering with him, in him, and that's from whence glory arises. But when you do good, patiently endure and suffer, what are the consequences?

And this gets to what Roy was saying a little bit. Our response is commendable before God. It's consistent with who we are. And what we've done here is who we are because we identify with our Lord and Savior and we walk by faith in the new creature. Again, this is God's grace manifested in our lives. And we're called to respond in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I like this verse in James 1.4. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. And perfect is basically meaning being complete.

So the way we respond to these circumstances gives evidence of who we are. And I thought I'd end with how are we or is he doing here? He's capable of doing this all by our faith and power of the spirit. We have trouble here, don't we? This isn't simple, but I'm going to just take the liberty of kind of leading it to next week where Jeremy's going to pick up because it's so, so uplifting. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return, and when he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously, who himself bore our sins in his own body of the tree.

Da-da, da-da, da-da. So that's the rationale. This is why we gather here at Holly Hills. It's not about us, you know, measuring up to a metric of performance. It's a matter of us realizing the power we have within to live a life that goes beyond what's expected from the human existence. And that's an act of faith. Other thoughts on today's lesson? All right, good.

Roy, would you close us in prayer, please? Heavenly Father, thank you for this time together. You're so gracious to us in giving us glimpses of who you are and seeing, Heavenly Father, what pleases you. We thank you, Lord, that you work through suffering to magnify a witness of who you are to those around us. We pray, Heavenly Father, your blessing on those who misunderstand us. that they may, in the process, see you and come to know you. In Christ's name. Amen.