Were Our Founding Fathers Liberals or Conservatives?

My guess is a bit of both.

But they did not look at the political spectrum in that paradigm; liberal versus conservative, left versus right. Having been under the oppressive and far removed government of England and King George they saw things as they have always been. It's the tyrants on one end of the policital spectrum and the anarchists at the other end. They chose liberty over tyranny, somewhere just before anarchy. Have you wondered why under the current paradigm, it makes no difference whether you are liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, but the same things continue on, the only difference being the scale and magnitude of change? I think that is because liberal versus conservative is a false paradigm. The real argument is tyranny versus liberty. Give me liberty!

1 Peter 2 Verses 18-25 Submissive Servants

“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. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return ; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; 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”. The text of our passage we are studying tonight is neatly divided into two sections. The first section is verses 18-20 that focus on Christian servants called upon to suffer for the sake of Jesus Christ. The second section is verses 21-25 where Peter turns to the Old Testament prophecy regarding Jesus Christ as the suffering servant as the motivation, the means and the model for all believers who suffer as servants. Slavery or servant-hood is a concept that is increasingly foreign to those of us in the USA. Were not the final nails driven in the coffin with the civil rights act, affirmative action, the election of Barack Obama? And all this after a century before fighting the bloodiest and most costly war between the states? But Peter starts off this paragraph on servants being submissive to their masters with a different word for servant. Most of the time we think in terms of slave, doulos, which looks at the whole social class, but here he uses, oiketas, a broader term that looks at a servant who is considered part of the household. Why is it appropriate to study this today? • The fact is that slavery and servant-hood survive on today around the world in staggering numbers. The International Labor Organization, an agency of the United Nations that focuses on, among other things, labor rights, put the number at a “minimum estimate” of 12.3 million in a 2005 report. Kevin Bales, a sociologist and has authored several books about modern-day slavery, estimated the number was 27 million people in his 1999 book “Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy.” In another estimate, Siddharth Kara, a fellow on trafficking at Harvard University, recently told CNN that his calculations put the range between 24 million and 32 million at the end of 2006. Years old data give us a range of 12.3 to 32 MM. • We have similar roles so we can glean proper application to our lives. Slaves made up a large portion of the early church. Think of the runaway slave, Onesimus. They had the circumstances in life most similar to Jesus Christ. An enlisted soldier and his superior, a prison inmate and the warden, a person living in low income housing who thinks they have no rights due to their extreme poverty or minority racial status are examples of roles we see today. • Jesus and His disciples consistently taught that every Christian is Christ’s slave. Mark 9:35, “Sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all." Mark 10:44, “and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all.” Romans 1:1, “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,” • Slavery and servant-hood was a large segment of the Roman culture during Biblical times. There were an estimated 60 million slaves and servants in the Roman Empire in the first century. Slavery began with Roman conquests, slaves being originally prisoners of war. It was not just menial tasks performed by slaves, but doctors, teachers, musicians, actors, secretaries, and stewards were slaves. As a matter of fact all the work was eventually done by slaves. Why be master of the world and still have to do your own work? Let the slaves do the work. We have nothing to do but be idle and pampered. They thought the supply of slaves would never run out! And slaves had no rights under Roman law. Could not marry, but could co-habit. Children born were not theirs but the master’s property. But slaves did not lead a miserable or wretched life. Nor were they always treated with cruelty. Many were loved and trusted members of the family. But under the Roman law a slave is not a person, but a thing. So there was nothing like justice for a slave. And a wide gulf formed between a master and his slave. Peter’s attention is focused on a servant’s submission to his master. And this is submission in the face of suffering. Christian servants are to submit not only to “good and gentle” masters, but also to masters who are “unreasonable”. The word for unreasonable is a Greek word meaning crooked we get the word scoliosis (curvature of the spine) from this word. A “crooked” master must also be submitted to. An unreasonable master is one who is not “good and gentle”. He may be unfair, unjust, harsh, dishonest or unethical. Our normal response to such a person would be to rebel with our enabling power of the Holy Spirit. Laban was not a man of his word. Read Genesis 31:36-42 for the account of the liar Laban and his worker Jacob. There is a very good reason to submit to an unreasonable master; it finds favor, charis, with God. Listen to what Jesus said in Luke 6:32-35, “"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. "If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.” Three principles for praiseworthy suffering: 1. Praiseworthy suffering must be innocent/undeserved suffering. If you are punished for doing something wrong, there is no praiseworthiness in it. So Peter is speaking here of suffering as a result of godliness not a result of sin. 2. Praiseworthy suffering must be endured with patience. We must persevere in the face of such suffering. Many people can endure suffering for a short time but Peter calls us to endure suffering patiently for as long as it takes. 3. Praiseworthy suffering is that which is patiently endured for conscience’ sake. Peter is speaking here of making a decision to patiently endure undeserved suffering with a clean conscience before God. Similar circumstances at different times may have you doing one thing one time and the opposite at another. Suffering that is pleasing to God and finds favor with Him, is suffering for doing what’s right, patiently endured for the sake of a clean conscience before God. Now here comes the kicker! We were called for the purpose of undeserved suffering. And Jesus Christ is our example to follow in His footsteps. Notice he doesn’t speak from his own experience of Christ’s suffering. He instead uses Isaiah 53 for inspired Scripture commonly known as the “suffering servant”. Why should Christians have to suffer? Here we have the answer, because Christ did. He is our example. And this should not be a surprise to us, should it? In Christ’s own words: John 15:18-21, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.” Also: Philippians 1:29, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” Some principles of Christ’s suffering: • His suffering was innocent suffering. We suffer deservedly when we sin or get out of the plan of God. He suffered due to His Righteousness. Isaiah 53:9, “He committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth”. • His suffering was silent. We tend to yell and scream when we are punished. We even beg for mercy. Jesus uttered not one word in retaliation for his undeserved suffering. Isaiah 53:7, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so he did not open His mouth”. • His suffering was a path He chose. We must realize that we too must choose this same path that may well include undeserved suffering for us to patiently endure. Philippians 2:8, “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” • His suffering was an act of faith. Peter says “He kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously”. Jesus had hope in the Father and in the future He promised. He did not need to say anything. He had faith in God as the Righteous Judge. • His suffering was redemptive. Because Jesus suffered and died on the cross and was raised again on the third day, our sins were forgiven and we walk in newness of life. This is what is meant by “By His wounds we are healed.” Undeserved suffering, patiently endured with a good conscience is well-pleasing to God. It is not a burden, but should be counted as a privilege. We can indeed suffer joyfully and without a reply or complaint. We have Jesus Christ as our example and whose steps we are to follow. God has granted to us everything we need for our life in Christ. His grace provision is all sufficient.

1 Peter 2:13-17 Submission to Authority

1 Peter 2:13-17: Submit to Government Authority “Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond-slaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.” Now Peter switches to the seemingly distasteful subject of submission. The Greek word is Hupotasso, which is a military term meaning to arrange in military fashion under the command of a leader. It shows us there is to be a leader with delegated authority coupled with the proper response of subordinates to that authority. The fact is that we are all under authority of one kind or another. As the Bob Dylan song goes, “it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord, but you’ve got to serves somebody”. I can definitely say we are all under authority because of this verse of Scripture: Matthew 29: 16-18, “But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Yes, every created being is under the authority of God the Father, His Son, and His Holy Spirit. This is part of the sovereignty of God. He is in control, and He has all authority. The next verse in Matthew 28 is where he delegates some of His authority to the eleven disciples. Here we see a principle: • All the authority that we see God granting to the human race is delegated authority. There is another principle we need to see about authority in general. It is found in Matthew 22:15-21. “Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said. And they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, "Tell us then, what do you think? Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?" But Jesus perceived their malice, and said, "Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? "Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax." And they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" They said to Him, "Caesar's." Then He said to them, "Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's." • All the authority God granted to the human race is limited authority. But we can readily see this in action. For example, in Scripture the husband is the head of the wife. That extends to his wife only. It does not extend to any other man’s wife. If authority was not limited we would be in a real mess. Come to think of it, problems always arise when limited authority is extended beyond its limits. Like a pastor who tries to extend his “ministry” to people who are not part of his congregation or who combines spiritual with the non-spiritual. WHY? Now we see our motivation to submit-“for the Lord’s sake”. We are to submit because of the reality of what Jesus Christ has done for us. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is sovereign, eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, righteous, just, loving, kind, immutable, truth. All these things and much more! He died on the cross for my sins and paid the debt I owed, but could not pay on my own. It is for His sake we submit. WHAT? We are to submit to “every human institution”. The Greek is Ktisis, meaning creation. The Greeks used the word for the founding of a city. It’s best understood to be today our institutions. This can be taken two ways: a) First, it can be understood to be to submit to every institution set up by man. b) Second, it can be to submit to every institution set up for man by God. Only the second interpretation fits and satisfies the whole biblical system of authority. Human government was set up by God for mankind for our benefit. God says then that we are to submit to the Divine institution of human government, whatever form that takes. And we know that he is speaking of government first, because of the phrase “whether to a king as the one in authority or to governors as sent by him”. O.K. So, we don’t have a king, but we do have a government and we do have governors. Since we don’t have a king, this phrase shows us there are to be different levels of human government that we are to submit to. For us it would be Federal, State, County and City government. And it shows God as the source of the delegated authority “as sent by him”. This is borne out by the following verses of Scripture: Romans 13:1, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” Proverbs 8:15-16, “"By me kings reign, and rulers decree justice, by me princes rule, and nobles, all who judge rightly.” And next we see there are certain functions that this delegated governmental authority are to perform. This is not an exhaustive list of government functions but it demonstrates the limited nature of authority. • The punishment of evildoers: Remember from last week that word evildoers is the Greek word for criminals. Government is authorized by God to punish criminals (Proverbs 8:15). This is to be done with justice. The punishment must fit the crime. Notice that from God’s perspective, just punishment is the issue, not rehabilitation. Deterrence is not the issue, just punishment is the issue. • Praise of those who do right: Proper government authority should also praise and reward its citizens for doing what is right in God’s eyes as it is a minister of God to us. Romans 13:3-5, “For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake.” So things like citizen awards are totally in line with the teaching of the Word of God. Now we see that it is God’s will for us (in subjection to the ministers of God (government)), to do what is right. This is not sullen slavishness, but active good works. Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” But the object here is to silence the critics, silence the ignorance of foolish men. We as believers are to live our lives in such a way as there is nothing the unbeliever can use against us. This can seem to be a tall order unless we see a couple of more principles. • If character of the people involved in the government does not matter from the point of view of subjection, whether the government is good or bad, or the ruling party is for us or against us. We submit to government as ministers of God for the Lord’s sake. We have more to gain under unfair authority that fair authority. • Liberty still stands and flourishes under submission to government. We are to “act as free men”. Sounds funny doesn’t it to tie government submission to our freedom and liberty? But we must look at what liberty really is: 1. It is not freedom to do as we please. In reality, this is slavery at its worst. Why? Because it is slavery to ourselves. It is also unrealistic to think we can do whatever we want when we want. Our wishes and wants are always more that what we can get. It is not freedom from service either. Freedom is side by side with service in Romans 6:18, “and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness”. 2. Freedom relates to a change in masters. We were slaves to self, slaves to sin, servants of our flesh, but now we have a new master in our lives, Jesus Christ. He is king. He is totally right and just. We find true freedom in Christ. Only in submission to our true King do we find personal freedom. Jesus has freed us from ourselves to which we were in total bondage. 3. The third step is that Jesus as our Master with all authority has delegated human government to people who He says we are to submit to. This begs the question, “what if these people ask me to do something contrary to what I know to be true and right in the Word of God?” Well, we know that God is absolute Truth and we as humans are frail and subject to error. But I believe that with our faith firmly placed in Jesus Christ and the fact we know our lives are hidden with Him, we can trust that no matter what the situation, we will be delivered. Think of Joseph unjustly thrown into prison, Queen Ester and Haman, even King David and his political troubles. And we have already established that there are limits to all delegated authority. This is a place where the government has exceeded its limited authority. If a government tries to rule outside its limited authority, then disobedience may be required since God did not grant them that authority. Therefore, we can trust that God will deliver us from a government or official who asks us to do something that is contrary to His Word. There are distinct dangers to our liberty in Christ Jesus. A. We can lose our liberty. Galatians 5:1, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” Here we see our freedom was granted to us by Christ, and that if we do not stand firm we risk falling back into slavery (to self) and so, a loss of liberty. B. We can misuse our liberty. Galatians 5:13, “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Here we see the potential to misuse our liberty as “an opportunity for the flesh”. Instead, we are to focus on others (those outside of ourselves) and not self (flesh). But there is an opportunity for us with our freedom-to use it as bond-slaves of God. Remember that a bond-slave was one who had been set free, but willingly return to the master to serve him. And an earring was the symbol of his commitment. It speaks well of the master and the character of the servant. Peter now closes out his though with four commands: 1. Honor all people. The Greek word for honor is Timao and it means to recognize the value in something. The command here then is to see the value in all people, not just a few. 2. Love the brotherhood. This is a restatement of the new commandment of John 13:34-35, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." 3. Fear God. This is the beginning of wisdom and our discovery of knowledge of God as we see in Proverbs 2:1-10, “My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice, and He preserves the way of His godly ones. Then you will discern righteousness and justice and equity and every good course. For wisdom will enter your heart And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 4. Honor the king. And of course, he finishes his thoughts on governmental authority with one last command to recognize the value of your governmental authorities. • Based on this study and what you know to be true, do you think Christians should hold public office? Why or why not? • Is civil disobedience ever justified? See Acts 5:29. • Over the course of history we have seen various forms of government, theocracy, democracy, republics, monarchy, etc. Does the Bible specify any particular form of government? What makes our form of government unique in history in terms of its positioning of God and man?