Radical Christianity - Pt 2

Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:18-25 ESV).

Then Peter starts to give some examples of what true Christianity looks like in the hostile world of his day. Today he takes up a tough situation: what if you are a servant with an unbelieving master or even a crooked and abusive master? What does radical Christianity look like in that situation? He gives us a detailed description:  Christian servants are submissive with all respect to their masters (v. 18).  Christian servants bear up under sorrows when they suffer unjustly (v. 19).  Christian servants do good and when they suffer for it, they bear the suffering patiently (v. 20).  Christian servants do not return evil for evil; when reviled, they do not revile back or threaten (v. 23). In other words Christians are not defiant or rebellious or insolent. They have a spirit of meekness and submission and compliance, even when their masters are unreasonable and abusive. How does this "declare the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light"? The first part of the answer is that this heart and this demeanor are utterly contrary to fallen human nature. In fact I would venture that in dozens of people’s minds today strong feelings of resistance are rising against this call for meekness and submission and compliance, especially to unreasonable and abusive masters. By nature we hate to give the impression of weakness. We hate to look like someone got the advantage of us. We hate to let false accusations against us stand. We hate it when unreasonable and abusive people seem to have the last say. Tremendous powers within us recoil and push us toward retaliation. So what Peter calls for here is utterly contrary to our fallen human nature. That's the first thing to say when we ask: What does this demeanor have to do with showing God? If we triumph over our own fallen nature and live at this amazing level, it is strong evidence that something more than nature, outside nature, above nature, is at work in our lives. Is it at work in yours?