Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Well, it is good again, as I mentioned last week, to be back with you after having the month of July off with family to do a little bit of rest and relaxing and also preparing for the fall. I told somebody this last week that being here for Partner Sunday was kind of like, you know, just starting the engine of the, of the car, if you will, and getting it warmed back up. And this week I jumped fully back into that daily grind of preparing sermons and trying to find those routines and rhythms again. And it has been, it has been, been good. I'm excited to be able to share with you from God's Word this morning as we continue in our series. But the time off was good. It was a good time to relax, but also to get a lot of things done as a family that needed to be done. We're preparing for another one of our kids, Riley, to go off to college this year at the University of Toledo. And in order to make that happen, we realized we needed to get rid of that old beater car that I used to drive, that Garrett used to drive. Now Riley was driving and to get her something newer. And so you'll see up here on the screen, one of the things we did was got rid of the old one, got her a nice new used Hyundai Elantra. And you know, one of the great things about it, we had to go all the way to Cleveland to find this car. It was super low miles. It was great. But when we bought it, there were a couple things they needed to do to it so we couldn't actually bring it home with us. Riley felt a little bit gypped by that. But as we came home, they were going to deliver the vehicle to us, which was great. The sad part is they delivered it the day she was going on the senior retreat.
[00:01:34] And so she actually get it when it was delivered. But don't worry, I said, babe, no problem. Daddy will take care of that car for you, and I will drive it all around town just to make sure it works right?
[00:01:46] But she gave me permission. So, you know, I went driving around and Rochelle jumped in. I was like, riley, can mom drive it too? You know, we just want to make sure all the bugs are out of it. And so we're driving around. And then we went over to Pacesetter park and switched places and Rochelle started driving it. And as we decided to head home and park it in its place, right as we had turned off of Centennial and onto Brent, we're driving, do our thing, just having a good time, talking, and all of a sudden we recognize that there is a car in the lane coming the other direction, moving at a very fast pace that begins to move over into our lane and come directly towards us. And literally panic begins to set in. This car is moving at a very high rate of speed. Rochelle slams on the brakes, but, like, literally, I didn't think it was going to be enough. And then it goes zooming past us and flies into the opening to go into Centennial Terr in the driveway. And I look as they're going by as a couple, teenagers, no offense, teenagers, but that made me real mad, really mad. And especially because the girl Rachelle noticed, too. The girl in the passenger seat was smiling and laughing at us while they did it. And I thought to myself, I'm gonna kill them, right? I'm sitting there going, who do these kids think they are, right? I'm, like, worried about Rochelle and my life being, you know, taken into their hands. We just spent money on this car. Riley's never going to get.
[00:03:12] You know, like, all those thoughts are going through my mind and I literally, with a few other things that will remain unsaid, I said, what in the world were they thinking? They are so lucky I'm a pastor now. Pause with me for just a second.
[00:03:32] Pause with me for a second.
[00:03:35] What does that mean?
[00:03:40] As we went home, stirred up a little bit in our spirits, and I have continued to think about what that means.
[00:03:47] They're so lucky I'm a pastor. You know what it meant. If I wouldn't get in trouble because of the job I have, I probably would have driven back into that parking lot and strangled somebody. Right? We would have had a coming to moment. I would have had them meet Jesus in that moment, just not in the way he would have desired. But as I thought about that, they're lucky that I'm a pastor. What it meant is they're lucky because I could get in trouble if I do what I really want to do.
[00:04:15] It wasn't the response that it should have been, which was, I'm a Christian and I respond differently because of that. Right.
[00:04:24] I've noticed it in our lives. Whether it's in trivial, not so trivial situations, like a kid flying at you really fast on the highway, on the wrong side of the street, something trivial that happens. Or even when we're going through really hard circumstances in our life, whether things are difficult at work, we're facing some sort of injustice, maybe we're having difficulty in our relationship with our kids or even our spouse, we can have heavy weights in our lives that sit on our shoulders.
[00:04:55] And the question is, in those moments, how do we respond as followers of Jesus Christ when the pressure is high?
[00:05:04] And I want to ask you that question this morning. When the pressure is high, do you, do we continue to honor and represent Christ well to our family, to our friends, but especially and most importantly to an unbelieving world that surrounds us?
[00:05:23] We've been in a series that was started a few weeks ago in First Peter. And as we are in First Peter together, this series you'll see on the screen is entitled A Living Hope.
[00:05:34] And I want us to take just a look back a few weeks ago at kind of where we started to catch us back up to speed as we jump into our text for this morning. But where we have been. Let's look at the background together. If you have your sermon notes, pull those out, follow along with me.
[00:05:48] Because this question of do we continue to honor and represent Christ well to our family, friends and especially an unbelieving world is essentially the same question that Peter is asking the church throughout Asia. Minority.
[00:06:00] You see, Peter, letter A is writing to the church in Northwest Asia Minor that is suffering for their faith. If you want to talk about pressure that is on, it is on for them. They are suffering for their faith. And this letter number one, was written to Jewish and Gentile Christians. Now this letter, when it was written, some people argue, oh, it was just to Gentiles, but the truth is, is that the church was representative of Jews and Gentiles within this area.
[00:06:28] Peter intended his letter for these people, these Christians that were scattered throughout Pontus Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. You'll see that here on the screen circled. But that is essentially where modern day Turkey is today.
[00:06:42] And when he writes this letter number two for the Jewish believers, he's writing to people who would have been considered what we would call non citizen residents.
[00:06:52] It's probable here that the church was actually composed of of Christians that had been displaced by Roman colonization that had landed them in that region of Asia Minor.
[00:07:03] These people were considered non citizen residents because in the Roman Empire they occupied a very special rung on the social ladder. It was below citizens, but also above slaves and foreigners. And because of this, there was a certain tension and difficulty that they would just automatically face in that society.
[00:07:22] But even more, as we read this letter, we understand, number three, that the cause of their collective alienation or even persecution was their faith in Jesus Christ.
[00:07:33] It was because of their faith in Jesus that Christians in Asia Minor during the time that First Peter was written were facing persecution from the Romans. And it was for a number of different reasons. On one hand, it was because of their religious nonconformity. Christians refused to worship the many gods of the Roman Empire, especially one that was considered to be the most most important, which was emperor worship. Caesar himself was considered to be divine and his whole family for that matter, considered to be divinity. And you worshiped them as God. But Christians refused to do that. And because of that refusal of that, there was an upsetting and a threatening, if you will, to the social and the religious order that unified the entire Roman Empire.
[00:08:19] Not only that, but their lack of worship and nonconformity caused social disruption. They were seen as a distinct group with exclusive beliefs reflecting participation in pagan festivals, sacrifices and civic events that were tied to idolatry. They wanted nothing to do with it. And so this alienated them not just from government, but also from their neighbors and from local authorities, branding them as those who would be disloyal to to the Roman government.
[00:08:52] And we know how that goes. There was local hostility that they would face as well. In Asia Minor, where trade guilds and pagan cults were economically and socially significant Christians, refusal to participate in idol related commerce often would provoke economic backlash from local elites or mobs.
[00:09:13] Couple that with Christianity was not recognized as a legal religion like Judaism was.
[00:09:21] Without legal protection, Christians were completely vulnerable to accusations of superstition or sedition, especially as their numbers grew and became larger. And this led to them being the scapegoat for anything that would go wrong in the Roman Empire. The best example that we have of this is just a few short years after the writing of this letter to the people in this region. We know that in about 64 AD was the great Fire of Rome. And Nero used it as his opportunity to blame Christians. And thus they experienced incredible persecution and even death because of it. Their persecution, though, while Peter is writing this varied from social ostracism to legal penalties, to imprisonment or at times even execution, depending on the local governments, but also the political climate. And so what Peter's letter here does that we're studying encourages believers in the midst of of great persecution and time, where there is heaviness on their shoulders.
[00:10:24] It reminds them and encourages them that their ultimate hope is in Jesus Christ, even as the pressure continues to mount. I think Norm said it best a couple weeks ago when he tried to. When he summized the first two weeks. Part one, number B, letter B in your notes. Part one.
[00:10:41] The first part of chapter one is really an encouragement to live in hope of our coming salvation.
[00:10:48] Think about these words that Isaac taught from scripture. It says, praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you. And you remember that Isaac used that idea of inheritance and he talked about the inheritance he would give to his.
[00:11:16] I was watching online, Talking about the 500 plus games in this guy's room and I thought, I gotta see this. And so do you. Look at this. This is insane. Keep going, keep showing the pictures, guys. There's three of them in there. He has gotten in room, entire room full of board games. I thought he took a picture in a store, for goodness sake. And he was talking about this in terms of the inheritance that he's gonna pass on to his kids. They're not too excited about that. But the inheritance that you and I have, that Peter talks about here is an inheritance that is through Jesus Christ, that will never perish, never spoil, never fade. Its value is untold. And it says that it is kept for us in heaven. And so Peter says, as you suffer, as you feel the weight of what is happening in the world around you, your hope is that you have salvation through Jesus Christ. And it is a hope that will be for eternity. And then Norm shared with us that part two, really the second part of chapter one, moving into the first part of chapter two of this book, letters. See, it's an exhortation now to walk in holiness worthy of that salvation so that an unbelieving world would find and follow Jesus. Peter says, you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. God sent special possession that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light. In other words, Peter says this and we're going to see it again this morning as he expounds upon it, as we, as they, as we face and feel the pressures of living in a dark and broken and sinful world. Our natural reaction is not to respond in ways that are Christ like. He calls on the church to live in holiness. Why?
[00:13:08] So that an unbelieving world will find and follow Jesus Christ.
[00:13:13] And what Peter is going to do in the second part of chapter two and moving into the first seven verses in chapter three is get very practical with us. He will turn his attention to three key areas where the people of that day, I would even say for us, need a little bit of extra Encouragement or even exhortation when it comes to how we walk in holiness and represent Christ as pressure grows around us. So let's take a look at it together. Peter gets practical with three key areas. Letter A. He begins with this. How should we live in light of the Gospel when we encounter government authority that we disagree with? That's not a problem. Today is seems all over the place.
[00:13:56] Depending on what president you have or what leaders you have in your state, there's disagreement everywhere. There might be some application here. First Peter 2, 13, 17. He says, Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.
[00:14:21] For this is the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
[00:14:32] Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but living as servants of God.
[00:14:42] Honor everyone.
[00:14:46] Notice there's no other qualification.
[00:14:49] Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, Honor even the emperor who they did not love.
[00:15:05] Follow this with me. The very beginning of this passage, number one starts with this. Be subject or subject, submit for the Lord's sake to every human institution. To be subject or submit means this to arrange in formation. It was a military expression, to arrange in formation underneath a commander. In other words, there is an order that God has superintended even within government structures. The Bible tells us all throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament that God is the one that causes leaders to rise and fall, that he is the one that causes nations to rise and to fall. He is in control and in charge of it all.
[00:15:45] And this would have been a very hard message that Peter is delivering for the people to hear. They already had faced slander, unjust suffering, they were being treated as outsiders, and they knew that it was growing even worse in society. And submitting to pagan authorities who mistreated treated them would be difficult on all sorts of levels, especially in a culture that valued honor and sought vengeance or resistance to injustice.
[00:16:14] In light of that, Peter's command that he gives here to be in submission to those authorities was completely radical idea in that day.
[00:16:23] Throughout history, even presently, there have been various violations of ordinances, acts of civil disobedience, insurrections, revolutions, and different subversive attempts to overthrow governments, all in the name of Christianity. But Scripture, notice this, nowhere condones such actions. On the contrary, the biblical command is very, very simple to understand.
[00:16:47] Submit to civil authority regardless of its nature.
[00:16:54] Christian witness, write this down if you need to catch it. Christian witness is not about rebellion.
[00:17:01] Christian witness is about faithful presence and representing Jesus Christ in a dark and broken world.
[00:17:10] Number two, not only are we to submit, but we are to do so for the Lord's sake. In other words, for his name and for his glory, because that is what is on the line.
[00:17:22] This wasn't just a command to follow whatever they were told. Carte blanche though. Emperor worship was a big deal. As we said, in Roman society, Caesar was seen as a God. People were told to worship him. And Peter's instructions here are not telling the people that you need to worship Caesar or do something that is in opposition to your faith in Jesus Christ. Peter's instructions here encourage early Christians to be mocked. Citizens, people who uphold the law, who respect authority, but only to the extent that it did not require them to personally compromise on their allegiance to God.
[00:17:57] Their good deeds and submission to authority served to counter the negative stereotypes and potentially paved the way for others to learn about the Christian faith. The emphasis was on God's glory, not overthrowing world powers. And so what does Peter say? He says to submit for the Lord's sake. And number three, that it is God's will that you should do good.
[00:18:26] God's will that you should do good.
[00:18:30] When the pressure is on, when we are unhappy with things that are happening, doing good is not typically the first thing that comes to our mind. Amen. It's not.
[00:18:41] Our first thought often is, how can I get back at someone who's doing something that I don't like? How can I vocally slander them, put them, make them look as bad as possible and try to do away with the situation that I don't want to deal with. But Peter's instruction here is God's will is that you would do good. But what I want you to catch is this letter A. Doing good is not limited to private acts of Christianity living. He's not just saying, go into your tiny little bubble, withdraw from society, be a good Christian, do the Christian things and be a good person. That's not what he's saying.
[00:19:14] What he is saying though is letter B is that it speaks. This doing good speaks to being known for the good that you do publicly in a pagan society.
[00:19:25] In other words, in a way that allows people to see the love of Jesus Christ.
[00:19:31] Sometimes I find that we get so caught up in fighting what we are against, even as Christians, that we forget that we have a much higher end calling and mission. Look, when Jesus came to earth, I want you to notice that he didn't come. He could have, but he didn't come to fight Rome, nor the injustices of Rome, which were completely rampant. What did Jesus actually say in his ministry? Give to Caesar. What is Caesar's Give to God. What is God?
[00:19:57] He didn't get himself jumped into the Zealot movement, you know, and try to scheme with them on some kind of violent plan to overthrow Rome. No, what he actually did was call the Zealot named Simon to come and join him as a disciple because he wanted to show him that there was a much better way that God had planned. You see, Jesus understood that his mission, and the mission that he calls us to is about sharing the love of God with others and serving them. And he would let nothing get in the way of that mission. It's the very reason here at Westgate Chapel that our vision is to be a Jesus centered community that is known for intentionally sharing God's love with our neighbors and the nations.
[00:20:41] Our primary focus isn't to make sure. It is not to make sure that our neighbors who are far from God know who or what we are against, though we never shy away from the truth of the gospel.
[00:20:56] But our primary focus is to represent Jesus Christ and to share his love with them. To do what Peter calls the Christians to do. Which is what? To do good. And to do good in such a way that it confuses the negative and slanderous things that the people say and think about God, about Jesus and about Christians letters to see he says do good so that ignorant slander would be silenced.
[00:21:26] I want to give you an example of how I see this take shape in our own community.
[00:21:32] In our community, like in most Christian communities, abortion is a really big issue, especially for the church. Everybody knows where the church typically stands on this issue against abortion. And you know, there are many different ways that you can fight against what we would consider to be an evil and against God's word. You can go out like many people have for years and years and years and years since I was a little child and probably even before that, and picket abortion clinics. You can shout at people. I've watched people at abortion clinics shout at the people driving in, telling them that if they go through with this, they're going to hell. You know, showing them all kinds of horrible pictures of what happens and like really just displaying a lot of what feels like hate, telling the world what we're against and what they should be against and that there are severe consequences if they don't or you could do good.
[00:22:25] And what I see Good in our community is the work of Bella Vita and the pregnancy center in the greater Toledo area.
[00:22:32] I want you to think about how they have postured themselves on this issue.
[00:22:37] It's not about going and picketing and shouting at people that what they're doing is wrong and they're going to hell or anything like that.
[00:22:43] It's to love people in the name of Jesus and to do good. And it's making a huge impact.
[00:22:50] Think about how over the last many years they have actually gone with their teams into the abortion clinics to take meals and to take small gifts to the workers at the abortion clinic, to the doctors to try to develop a relationship that is there to show them even the love of Jesus Christ. And what fruit has that borne? There have been some people that have left the abortion clinics from working there. There have been some people that have gone and sought to develop a relationship with the pregnancy center to where they can point women over like rather than hating each other. Finding a way to develop a relationship where there is now influence from the Christian community, not just a shouting voice. What I love even more is their focus in our community. Ongoing and looking for ways to break down the barriers and the walls that women feel they have when it comes to keeping their babies. There are many different challenges that they face and they feel like I can't move forward, so this is my only option. And so the pregnancy center looks and one of the things that they have recently done, if you've seen, has partnered in a ministry that is going to allow women to have childcare for their kids. They look for ways to provide for each of their every needs to break down these walls so that women will choose life. I believe that this is a beautiful picture of what Peter is talking about.
[00:24:16] In the middle of a culture where we are in full disagreement with what is happening, the church is looking for ways to what do good.
[00:24:26] Why does Peter say to do this? Number four. Because the ultimate purpose is to build bridges to the gospel, not place walls around it and church. This is a message we need to hold in our lives that we are called by God to be those who build bridges to the gospel, not placing walls around it to keep people out because they don't match up to our standards and what we think they should do. How is it that we can show people while still standing for truth, the love of Christ and build that bridge? This is what Peter calls the church to in the midst of a pagan society, do good so that when they see you, they see Jesus Christ and so their hearts will begin to hunger for him.
[00:25:14] He continues on in letter B. He moves to another example. And the example he gives is, this is how we should live in light of the Gospel when we encounter injustice. First Peter, chapter two, verses 18 to 25. He says these words, servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. For this, this is a gracious thing when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.
[00:25:47] For what credit is it if when you sin you are beaten for it you endure?
[00:25:52] But if when you do good and suffer for it, you do endure? This is a gracious thing in the sight of God.
[00:25:59] For to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you in example so that you might follow in his footsteps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. And when he was reviled, he did not revile in return.
[00:26:19] 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. And by his wounds we have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Let's get a little bit of cultural context of what's taking place here. Peter now turns and addresses servants or slaves within this community. And when we hear the word slaves, especially in scripture, our minds just naturally go to to a more modern context of racial slavery that we have experienced in our own culture. But slavery back then in servanthood was a bit different.
[00:27:04] Slavery in the Roman Empire was actually a widespread institution. It wasn't race based like modern slavery, but slaves were typically war captives, they were debtors, or they were born into slavery. And of their legal status, they were legal property. But their roles actually varied. It varied from being manual laborers to even teachers and doctors.
[00:27:29] And with these slaves or servants, they could earn, for some of them, they could earn their freedom or even be granted freedom. It was a little bit different than what we typically see in our minds. And what Peter says here to them is be subject again this idea of submission to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good, but also to those who are unjust.
[00:27:55] And this is what Peter begins to point out is how we live in light of the Gospel when we what encounter injustice. I've seen some pastors teach on this passage and what they do in application is they simply want to emphasize like, because it's like slave and master. It's like you and your boss at work now. Now some of you would go, yeah, that's a pretty equal correlation. But the point is not to just apply this to a work situation. He's talking broadly about what? Injustice.
[00:28:26] How do we respond with injustice that we face in any form as Christians?
[00:28:33] What does he say? I've given you an example to follow. Or God has given you an example to follow and it's Jesus Christ, follow his example. And then he reminds us of this beautiful truth that Jesus Christ did no wrong, that there was no sin in him.
[00:28:50] And yet on our behalf he was crucified and beaten and put on a tree to die for our sin in our place.
[00:29:01] God was put on a cross in my place.
[00:29:07] The all powerful creator of all things allowed himself to be put on a cross by his creation to die on our behalf so that we could be reconciled to God. And it says that when this happened, though he had done no wrong. What? That while he was reviled, he did not revile. Number one, don't revile. Which is to criticize in an abusive or in an insulting manner. Our natural response when we face injustice is to use our mouths to tear people or to tear things apart. We want to do everything we can to make injustice not only look as evil as it is, but to tear down the people that are a part of that. And what does he say? Don't revile. Like Jesus himself as the example, even in the midst of, of his crucifixion, remained silent because he was standing out as completely different than the world that surrounds us.
[00:30:06] Have you ever been in a situation where you faced injustice and all you wanted to do was tear somebody limb from limb with your mouth?
[00:30:13] I have. I've been in many of those situations.
[00:30:17] There's some. One thing I hate is when somebody attacks my character because I try to hold it very, very close.
[00:30:23] And when that happens, especially unjustly, there is a part of me that just wants to let loose. But Christ says, no, hold back, keep your witness as my follower and model what I have shown you.
[00:30:39] So don't revile. But number two, it also says that when this happened that he didn't threaten people. It's the idea of intent to take hostile action as retribution.
[00:30:49] If there was anybody in this world who could take retribution for injustice being shown to him, it was the Savior of the world. He was God. He was all powerful. He's in control of all things Jesus could have. If he wanted to put all of them to an end, he could have stopped the whole charade at that very moment. The Creator of the world could have said, I'm done with this nonsense. But what was his model?
[00:31:14] To not threaten, but number three.
[00:31:16] To entrust himself to God, giving us a model that even in the face of injustice, to entrust ourselves to God. To put our trust and confidence and well being into the care of the only just Judge, the one who is in control of our lives. And why do we do this?
[00:31:35] Why is it that we entrust ourselves to Him? Number four.
[00:31:39] So that people will experience the grace of God. God in the same way that you experienced it and were transformed by Jesus. Grace.
[00:31:50] A grace that you do not and did not deserve, but that was given to you freely. And it was that grace that transformed your life.
[00:32:01] And if you begin to see the threads that Peter is pulling through each of the examples, we'll see it in the next one. The thread is a picture of how we respond in holiness, modeling Jesus Christ so that an unbelieving world can know him and can know his grace.
[00:32:21] Number five. As the world becomes more hostile, Peter says, you are to become more holy, more set apart in your responses and your reactions. You are to be a pure reflection of Jesus Christ.
[00:32:40] He continues with a third example, letter C.
[00:32:44] How should we conduct ourselves in marriage in light of the Gospel?
[00:32:50] Now, first thing you'll notice as we jump into these verses, I'm going to move quickly. I see time moving. You'll notice there are six verses for women and one for men.
[00:32:58] I didn't write it. It okay, but let's dive into it because there's a lot of misconception that happens when we read these passages. I want you to understand it clearly and what Peter is saying. First Peter 3, 1, 6.
[00:33:14] Likewise. He says likewise. Like everything else we've been talking about. Wives, be subject to your own husbands. So that even if some do not obey the Word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives.
[00:33:26] When they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry or the clothing you wear. But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.
[00:33:45] For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves by submitting to their own husbands. As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, and you are her children. If you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening I want to dive into this. Number one, the very first thing we see is that there is an order God has established in marriage. You remember when we began this and we're talking about the submission to government authorities. We see the same word here used for wives submitting or being subject to their husbands. I want to remind you that that word means to arrange in formation. In other words, there is an order in marriage that God has established within the covenant that he created. When we read Scripture we understand that when God created man and woman, he gave them very clearly in Scripture distinct roles to play.
[00:34:39] God was the designer, the binder, the ultimate provider and head who walked in a perfect relationship with his creation man. Adam was created first given headship over Eve and over all of creation. But their original relationship was so pure and it was so perfect that his headship over her was a manifestation of his consuming love for her. Literally he was a reflection of God's love for them.
[00:35:08] And for the woman, Eve's role was to be a helpmate, to rule alongside of Adam while in submission to her husband as the leader of their relationship. And her submission to Adam was also a manifestation of her consuming love for him. There was no selfishness, no self will that marred their relationship. Each of them lived for the other in perfect fulfillment of their created purpose and under God's perfect provision and care.
[00:35:37] But the problem is, is that sin distorted God's perfect design.
[00:35:43] Man's role now because of sin is viewed as dominator. Woman's role is viewed as lowly, submitter. One is seen as greater and the other is seen as less. It's a total distortion of God's design. And in Roman society, as Peter is writing this, this was taken to the extent extreme it was not a pleasant environment for women to live in. In Greco Roman society, women were seen as property. Essentially they were seen as objects for the pleasure of men. Oftentimes they didn't even have their own friends, but literally were.
[00:36:20] They had to serve their their the God of their husband and were confined to their husband and to their home.
[00:36:27] Converting for them was to was thought of as unthinkable, especially because of the Roman ideal of an orderly home.
[00:36:34] Prosperity and well being were seen as being dependent on religious forces and so disorder in the home was considered a threat not only to family but also to society as a whole. The wife's worship of Jesus then would be seen as rebellion and it would be an embarrassment to her husband and would bring criticism on him and damage his social standing. You see number two, Peter says in this situation, wives win your husbands with how you love and respect them.
[00:37:09] Notice this.
[00:37:10] Peter's qualifier, by the way, is not about whether or not the husband is deserving of that love and respect.
[00:37:17] The qualifier is because it honors Christ who lives in you.
[00:37:23] Another thread that is pulling through each of these examples that Peter uses, and I want you to consider this is Peter speaking to all wives or just to those with unbelieving husbands. When you read the text, it says, fulfill your God given role essentially, even if, even if some do not obey. In other words, here's the deal. It's an application not only for those who have these unbelieving husbands, but for all. It's the ideal that God has created this covenant where we would love and respect one another. But here's what it doesn't say. It does not say that if you're in a physically abusive situation that you need to stick around and take it.
[00:38:03] What it calls us to is to honor Christ and to live out his design for the marriage covenant. If your husband doesn't believe, then they might see how Jesus has changed your life and they themselves then choose to follow Him.
[00:38:19] Then Peter continues number three and says, wives, let your greatest priority be not what is external, but what is internal and most pleasing to the Lord. Peter keeps coming back to over and over and over again for every person in every situation, that the most important thing that you do is not pursue the things of this world, but to pursue godliness and to allow God to grab your heart and to change your heart and to form you into the person he has designed for you to be, that you would respond in a Christlike and godly way no matter what situation and what pressure you are facing or dealing with. Now he gets to husbands first. Peter, chapter three, verse seven. Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel. Don't worry, I'm going to get to that.
[00:39:11] Since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
[00:39:17] Husbands in the room hear Peter's call and charge to you very clearly. He says, love and honor your wives. How?
[00:39:25] Just as God does.
[00:39:28] We see Paul give the same admonition in much greater form over in the book of Ephesians.
[00:39:34] Husbands, love and honor your wives as God does. Now a word about where it says showing honor to the weaker vessel. This is something that has caused much consternation in our society, even in churches today. And let's make sure we really understand what's being said here. This Is not a dig on the intelligence, emotional, moral, spiritual state, worth or value of women. This was a statement culturally about vulnerability and physical strength. When Peter says this, it's a recognition that in Greco Roman society, women were really low on the totem pole. They were not only physically considered to be weaker, but they were in a much weaker position within society. They were vulnerable because of the status that Romans gave to them. In other words, this wasn't a thing to put them down and to say that there isn't anything, anything good about them or that they are just paltry. Essentially what he's saying is there is a vulnerability that is here in this culture. And the call that is on you is to not acquiesce to what the culture has said, but to honor your wife, honor her.
[00:40:41] Think about the depth of what that means.
[00:40:44] He goes on to say, the reason you honor her is because she is a full heir with you in the grace of life, equal in value and worth in the eyes of God, she is equally entitled to the blessings and to the inheritance that come through faith in Jesus Christ. In God's eyes, she is not less than and you are greater than. You are equal in importance and worth and value.
[00:41:08] So men, hear this admonition this morning.
[00:41:12] Your role as head is not one of greater than it is to bear the responsibility for your wives and your family.
[00:41:21] In genesis, chapter three, when the fall happens and we, you know, people often make the joke, well, Eve ate the fruit first and then gave it to Adam. And so, you know, right?
[00:41:31] Who does God go after?
[00:41:34] The man?
[00:41:35] Who does he hold responsible for what took place?
[00:41:39] The man.
[00:41:40] He goes directly to him and says, what have you done?
[00:41:45] Men, it is your job as the head of your household and your family to make sure that they are following after God, that they are provided for and that they are protected.
[00:41:57] Being the head does not mean that you are the sole decision maker and that no one else opinion matters but your own. It does not mean that head does not mean male dominance where a man lords it over a woman and demands her total obedience to your every wish and command. I think of my own relationship with Rochelle. God has wired her as a woman in ways that he has not wired me. She is an incredibly intelligent person. She is very, very skilled in the area of nursing in the different areas of life than me, Things that I could never possibly understand. She has gone through life with different experiences, and because of that, she has different senses, sensitivities that I don't have.
[00:42:37] God uses her to increase even my own wisdom. Especially in decision making. She challenges me to see different perspectives than I see to enhance my leadership of our home with gifts that God has given to her. And they're not. They're gifts that literally I need. And we need to function in the covenant the way that God designed for it to be. She's not my servant, she's my helpmate. We have come together to be a perfect union that God is using to put forward his purposes in the world.
[00:43:10] And so when I love her the way that God has designed within the covenant, when she respects and loves me in the same way, all of a sudden it's not who's greater than and less than, it's this beautiful dance of roles that God has created that is showing the world something beautiful about who Jesus is.
[00:43:29] And as Peter shares this in this culture, it would have put a shockwave through it because it was so opposite of what they experienced. But I would say to you today, men, do you display your love for your wife and how you value her, God given gifts and wisdom?
[00:43:49] Do you love and do you value and do you cherish her as Christ loves, values and cherishes his church?
[00:44:00] And together, husbands and wives, I'm throwing this in. I know I'm going a little long, but I want you to hear this.
[00:44:06] Oftentimes when I sit with couples that are struggling, warring with each other, having a hard time showing love and respect to each other, I often remind them of this truth that I see and I see it played out in scripture, but I see it played out in our world and in relationships all the time.
[00:44:22] And I think Peter actually kind of draws it out. If you look at it, the one thing that oftentimes men want that causes them to feel loved is what?
[00:44:31] Respect.
[00:44:32] Right? It's part of that being the head of the household, the responsibility that God has given us. And so respect is often the way that we feel loved.
[00:44:41] Women are looking for affirmation and love from their husbands as well.
[00:44:48] I want to ask you what happens when a wife doesn't feel loved?
[00:44:54] She doesn't respect.
[00:44:57] What happens when a husband doesn't feel respected?
[00:45:00] He doesn't love.
[00:45:03] What is Peter saying?
[00:45:05] Break the cycle.
[00:45:07] Be Christ to one another.
[00:45:10] Love each other in the fashion of Christ so that an unbelieving world, when they see you, they see Jesus, they see something that's different and something that they desperately want.
[00:45:23] And men, if you find yourself in that cycle, you be the first one to break it. It is your job as the head of the house to lead and to lead your family in breaking that cycle and show love the way that God has asked you to love your spouse.
[00:45:44] Peter looks at us and says, when the pressure is on, no matter what it is that you're feeling in that society, it was a pressure of persecution and what was going on in the world and government. And we face all of our own. And he calls us to have hope in Jesus Christ, to live holy lives so that the world would see Christ in us. And he gets deep by digging into these three areas and wanting us to see in very specific ways these common threads that run through that. When it comes to even things like dealing with government that we are unhappy with. What are we called to to do good so that an unbelieving world would see Jesus?
[00:46:24] What are we to do when we face injustice? Not to strike back, but to respond as Jesus so that what an unbelieving world would see Jesus husbands and wives. Why are we to show respect and love to each other the way that Christ has loved us?
[00:46:41] Because it is a perfect reflection of his Son to an unbelieving world. Final note.
[00:46:47] Peter calls you in this passage to allow your faith to permeate every area of your life, especially the hard places.
[00:46:59] These places were hard for the people that he was talking to.
[00:47:04] But he says, do this so that you will be a pure reflection of Jesus to an unbelieving world and show them that there is a better way.
[00:47:15] God, we thank you for, for this morning in your word and we pray that your Holy Spirit would speak into our hearts.
[00:47:22] There are any amount of pressures that we carry day by day in our lives that push us to a place of responding in any given situation in ways that are not pleasing to you. Sometimes they are trivial, we really should do better. But sometimes they're heavy.
[00:47:41] We face all sorts of sorts of injustices. We struggle in our relationships and no matter what it is, even in the workplace, God, I pray that you would help us to do what Peter says, which is no matter what it is because of the hope that we have in you and the promise of eternity that we would constantly reflect your son Jesus and his example that was set for us to this world so that they would know and find and follow you. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
