“Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor” (1 Peter 2:17).

In our individualistic culture, it is a temptation to reduce the Christian life to a private, internal matter between God and the believer only. While it is true that each individual stands before the Lord by him or herself and must personally put their trust in Christ, our salvation has social consequences. Our new birth radically transforms the way we view every part of life and society. 2 Corinthians 5:17 speaks specifically to the individual: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” The context however, speaks to the transformed nature of our relationship with others. Notice the following verses (18-20) “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”

Our freedom in Christ is a freedom to represent Christ to the world. How does this play out practically? Peter begins and ends this verse with the concept of honor. It is no accident that he uses the same word in Greek (translated both respect and honor) to describe the Christian’s attitude not only to the emperor, but to every person. This attitude has leveling affect. We don’t honor governmental leaders as if they were gods and we don’t dishonor others as if they were common. Instead, we treat everyone as worthy of dignity and respect. There are “no mere mortals” as C.S. Lewis once wrote. Every person is made in the image of God and is endowed with dignity by his or her Creator. The gospel frees us to show honor both to the high and mighty and to the down and dirty of this world.

Our relationship with our fellow believer goes beyond mere honor. We are called to love the family of believers. Love is deeper, stronger, and more intimate than honor. Of course, we must honor believers too since they are included in the “everyone,” but our relationship is transformed from outsider to family by our adoption into the family of God. Love takes commitment and effort. It is hard to love some people. Even people that we find easy to love are not easy to love all the time. We don’t choose to love the family of God simply because they are lovable, we love them because of who they are in Jesus.

This brings us to the foundational relationship in this list. We are reminded to fear God. This is a strange concept to our Western minds. How can we fear someone we are supposed to love? Fear of God is connected in the Bible with worship and praise. In Matthew 9:8 for instance the crowds saw the miracles of Jesus and “they were filled with [fear]; and they praised God…” Fear doesn’t have to mean malevolent terror. Instead, the fear of God is holy reverence in the presence of the supremely awesome. When I walk up the edge of the Grand Canyon, I’m filled with both fear and wonder—wonder, because it’s amazing, and fear, because I know if I take a wrong step, I’ll be dead. The beauty of the fear of God is that it is the only fear that makes no room for any other fear. A proper fear of God actually drives away other fears. When I am in proper awe of the power and wonder of God, what else could I be worried about? In this sense, fear of God is the basis for all other relationships. I don’t have to worry about someone of higher status than me. Who are they compared to God? I don’t have to be bothered by the petty insults of my neighbor. I am free to honor, and I am free to love. I am free to serve, and I am free to worship, because I now have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Because I know God through Jesus, and Jesus has demonstrated God’s love and acceptance, I am free to love and serve with the confidence.

• How should being known and loved by God give you a sense of freedom?
• What are areas of ministry where fear of man is holding you back from serving with freedom?