- Big Idea: The Christian is called to a right response in the midst of wrong treatment.
1 Peter 2:18–25 (opens esv.org)
Opening
- Conrad began with the phrase "return the favor." It can be good, like buying the next meal or waving someone through at a four-way stop. It can also be harmful: "We love to return harm for harm."
- Conrad told two stories credited to Winston Churchill, each a sharp reply to an insult. We laugh because we know we do the same.
- Context: Peter writes to exiles scattered under Rome (1 Peter 1:1). A big theme of the letter is to suffer well and to bear persecution in a godly way.
- The series so far: Doug Posey preached on believers as a holy nation and a royal priesthood. Last week began a short series on ordered relationships with the Christian citizen. This week starts with the employee-employer relationship and then broadens out to almost everybody and every situation.
- Thesis: "The Christian is called to a right response in the midst of wrong treatment."
- The title: Not to "return the favor," but to "return with favor." Conrad said that small change of word could change our relationships and our day-to-day interactions.
01 · 1 Peter 2:18 (opens esv.org)
1. Serve Respectfully — verse 18
- Verse 18: "servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust."
- Who the servants were: People serving in a household, often tradesmen and tradeswomen with skills. Some were treated well and could buy their freedom. Conrad said this is not the slavery we know from our textbooks, and the best equivalent today is the employee-employer relationship.
- Four things in verse 18: Conrad drew four things from the verse.
- Address: Servants: common people with common problems and common needs.
- Association: Their masters; for us, our employers.
- Authorization: Be subject: obey, submit, order and arrange yourself under authority.
- Attitude: Respect.
- Respect: The Greek word for respect is the word we get "phobia" from. Conrad had fun with a list of phobias, ending with the fear of bosses. It is the same word as "Fear God" in verse 17. He did not mean we should be afraid of our bosses, but that the way we treat those over us should mirror the way we stand before God.
- Peter speaks to the servants: As with government last week, Peter never addresses the masters. The responsibility is ours, in how we show up and how we respond: "our goal as Christian people is to treat people with respect and dignity."
- Even the unjust: Not only the good and gentle masters, but the harsh and difficult ones too.
- A disclaimer: Conrad said this does not mean staying where an employer is taking advantage of you or you fear for your life. We have far more freedom today, and there are workplace laws. But regardless, "we are to show up in a respectful manner."
02 · 1 Peter 2:19–20 (opens esv.org)
2. Suffer Graciously — verses 19–20
- Consequences and suffering: A consequence is deserved, like a speeding ticket; that is not suffering for the gospel. Suffering is often undeserved, like being let go for standing up for Christian values, or being verbally attacked for your faith.
- Conrad said there are people in the room who have suffered unjustly, and others who have suffered graciously.
- A repeated phrase: The same phrase opens verse 19 and closes verse 20: "a gracious thing," and at the end, "a gracious thing in the sight of God."
- Grace: Conrad's favorite definition of grace is "unmerited, undeserved favor." He read Bill Mounce's longer definition: kindness and favor toward someone. The Greek word is charis.
- God's grace to us is unearned and undeserved, so we are to give grace "whether it's earned or not," to the good and the unjust, when things go well and when they go poorly.
- Endure: The other word used twice. Conrad said we can learn from endurance athletes: persistence, patience, consistency.
- Conrad told of a race in Yucaipa he had won two or three times before. On a very hot day he fell behind and wanted to fall at a sharp turn and quit, but he finished. He remembers it not because he won but because he endured.
- No regrets: "I've never regretted holding my tongue." But Conrad said he has many times regretted exchanging anger for anger and the times he "returned the favor with a zinger." "I've quit on godliness so many times."
03 · 1 Peter 2:21–24 (opens esv.org)
3. Follow Christ's Example — verses 21–24
- Called to this: "For to this you have been called," because Christ suffered for us, "leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps."
- Following in his steps: Conrad remembered wearing his dad's shoes as a boy, and showed a picture of his son in his own shoes. We follow examples: run like Prefontaine, dunk like Jordan. "The text is telling us to endure like Jesus."
- Four things about Christ's example.
- Christ's credentials (verses 21–22): "He committed no sin." Perfect, holy, blameless.
- Christ's conduct (verses 22–23): No deceit was found in his mouth, and when he was reviled, he did not revile in return. "He did not return the favor. He returned with favor."
- Christ's confidence (verse 23): He "continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly." Batman and Spider-Man are vigilantes who take justice into their own hands, and we want to do the same when we are wronged. To entrust is to hand over: "Hand over justice to the one who sees."
- Christ's cross (verse 24): He bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. "By his wounds, we are healed."
- Isaiah 53: Conrad said verses 21 to 24 quote Isaiah 53, which speaks of the suffering servant.
Closing — verse 25
- We are called to a right response in the midst of wrong treatment because "Jesus gave a right response in the midst of wrong treatment."
- Verse 25: We were straying like sheep but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. The passage began with ordered relationships at work and ends with us ordering ourselves under the good shepherd, Jesus.
- A right response does not always mean agreement or affirming what was done, but we are to respond with respect, as Christ did for us.
- Conrad closed with Psalm 23. He prayed for forgiveness for our own failings, for help to forgive those who have wronged us, and for grace to respond well.
Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV Bible, © 2001 by Crossway. Text Edition: 2025. Used by permission. Permissions. Prepared for this small group from the October 18, 2026 sermon; questions and applications are editorial study material.