01 | 1 Peter 3:1-6 | IMPERISHABLE BEAUTY

INTRODUCTION

Who was the most beautiful woman in the Bible?

Definitely in the running …

Mark 14:3–6 (ESV) And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.

The jar she broke before her Lord was “very costly”, literally lavish, extravagant!

1 Peter 3:4 (ESV) 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.

Peter holds before us the beauty that is lavish before the Lord.

PRAY

3:30

This morning we begin a three week mini-series on God’s good design for humanity.

We begin this morning with these instructions for wives …

… and will return in two weeks with God’s instructions for husbands in verse 7.

Next week, with our child dedication and graduation Sunday …

… we will consider God’s good design by considering God’s work of creation and the role of marriage in Genesis.

This morning’s passage includes a series of instructions.

Wives, be subject to your own husbands.

Do not let your adorning be external.

Let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart.

Do good and do not fear anything.

These instructions are given to married women: to wives.

Why should ALL of us listen?

One of the things we see illustrated here is how the Lord’s beautiful way runs against both the natural response of our flesh and the conventional wisdom of the culture.

We ALL would do well to learn and be transformed by the conduct of the women of this passage.

We would do well to ask, even on this Mother’s Day, what we all can learn by the beautiful conduct of women such as Sarah and the many women the Lord has placed in our midst in this congregation.

Perhaps we too may be won by their conduct.

And so, I would ask everyone here to give attention with your mind and soul.

1) That you would worship the Lord, agreeing with his good design for humanity.

2) And that you would learn how each of us may live in this world by faith in God’s good design.

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THE PRINCIPLE

Explained

v1 - Be Subject

1 Peter 3:1 is placed in the context of a series of instructions to those who are subject to a variety of authorities.

The Lord has been establishing a principle in these passages.

Notice what has God done for every other person to whom he has said “be subject”?

1 Peter 2:13 (ESV) Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme

This instruction is written to everyone.

It couldn’t be more comprehensive.

Be subject to every human institution.

And this, for the Lord’s sake.

Listen to how Peter summarizes this instruction.

1 Peter 2:17 (ESV) Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Honor the emperor, yes. But fear the Lord.

They are not subject to the emperor because he is the emperor.

They are subject to the Lord.

It is for the Lord’s sake that they are subject to everyone human institution.

In other words, the one Lord is bringing them under his own authority and care.

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1 Peter 2:18 (ESV) Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.

Here we have an even more complicated human relationship.

One that is fraught with human sin.

He is explicit that his instruction is even to those whose treatment is unjust.

1 Peter 2:21 (ESV) 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.

The reasoning is this: the servant remains subject to his master, not because his master is just …

… but because his Lord is good.

The servant does not belong to any human master.

The servant belongs to the Lord Jesus who suffered for him.

Again, God brings the person that in this world is easily subjugated and brings them under his own authority and care.

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Now consider the wives of chapter 3.

Many of these women have recently converted to the faith.

The context of 1 Peter is social persecution of this small but growing church.

WBC In society’s eyes these women were already highly insubordinate just by virtue of their Christian commitment, and Peter is concerned that they not compound the difficulty by abrasive or troublesome behavior

Much of Peter’s concern throughout the book is to show the church how to live faithful lives …

… when they face social pressure and suffering in every facet of normal life.

How relevant is that today!

Before we step into the passage, let me offer this definition of submission.

John Piper helpfully defines submission as “a disposition to yield.”

It is not a blind, soulless obedience without conscience or qualification.

The one who submits to any human authority does so as unto the Lord.

And so, surely, he or she maintains both an individual humanity …

… and a responsibility to act in obedience to the Lord.

Daniel in Babylon would be a good example of one who is a faithful subject to the King …

… and yet will not bow his knee in worship to the King’s statue.

One more note on the principle before us today:

Wives, be subject to your OWN Husband

Not all men

None of the teachings in scripture on submission subordinate one gender to another.

But once a man, who is subject to the Lord …

… marries a woman, who is subject to the Lord

… they enter into a new relationship before the Lord

… a relationship of love and submission

… between a husband and his wife.

Unequally Yoked?

2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

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CLARIFIED: What the text does not mean?

Tragically, this text has been misused and misapplied for those who have been abused and mistreated.

God himself goes out of his way to protect women.

Pharisees used texts such as Exodus 21:7-11 to argue that a man could divorce his wife for any reason.

Because of the economic structure of the society that would leave the woman essentially widowed and in great distress.

Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, corrects this abuse of women by restricting divorce only to the cause of adultery.

Now, neither Peter nor I are going to manipulate Jesus’ teaching that is intended to stop the abuse and abandonment of women to persuade a woman to remain in an abusive relationship.

That is not to say that divorce is the only recourse in an abusive relationship.

It is to say that nowhere in scripture does God suggest that a women (or any person) should endure emotional, verbal or physical abuse without seeking some help.

One only needs to read forward to verse 7 where Peter instructs to man to honor his wife as the weaker vessel.

That is to say, he should be her protector.

I want to model that this morning as your pastor, every man in this congregation must stand up for and protect the women of our congregation, especially if she has endured abuse.

Not a Principle, But a Person

So far we have described the principle we find in this passage.

But the power of this passage is not a principle to which we are enslaved, but a person in whom we find hope.

v1b - they may be won without a word

What do the unbelieving husbands see in their God fearing wives?

Respectful and Pure Conduct

For whom are these wives respectful and pure?

The Lord Himself!

David Helm The submission of which Peter speaks is not adherence to a principle but recognition of the person who compels us to submit in order to live lives of godly obedience.

These unbelieving husbands, who are unswayed by the proclamation of the Gospel …

… are saved when they witness a wife standing firm in the living hope of Christ.

Their conduct was not for their husbands, it was for their Lord.

But their conduct was before their husbands, and some are saved.

The goal of the believer’s submission in all of these contexts is to worship and honor the Lord.

The result is to give the watching world a fresh and vibrant image of our living hope: the gospel of Lord Jesus Christ.

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Remember the Ground of the Gospel Celebrate the Fruit of the Gospel

Fruitful faith will also cause unbelievers to celebrate the Gospel

1 Peter 2:12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

APPLY

How many of the husbands in this room have been won day after day “without a word” by the conduct of his wife before her God?

It's good to be single and see the good work of sanctification in these homes.

It's good to be a child in these homes and see God sanctifying these husbands by the conduct of their wives.

Who here has not been greatly impacted by the conduct of some faithful, god-fearing wife in the context of her marriage?

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Peter has established the principle of a wives submission to her own husband.

Now he moves to a particular application.

THE APPLICATION

Read 1 Peter 3:3.

Do Not Pursue | External Adorning

Fruit of Worldly Passions

1 Peter 2:11 abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul

We live in a world in which we experience an overwhelming pressure to pursue a vain hope.

Women, in particular, are assaulted by books and music and magazines and beaches and disproportionate Barbie dolls and shopping malls.

This has long been the case:

But with the advent of social media the its not just when we go out into the world …

… but also when we open our phones in our homes.

Let us here Peter: this is a war against your soul.

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v3 - braided hair, gold jewelry, clothing

These external adornments were also ways in which a woman was identified with various pagan cults.

How is the husband to be own to his wife's living hope if her hope is mixed with pagan accessories such that her hope appears to be in how she looks.

It is no different today.

The pursuit of external adornment.

Wives, is your hope in your God who tends to the internal adornment of the hidden person …

… or in the external adornments of this world.

It sends a confusing picture to the men and boys and women and girls who are watching you …

… to see believing women pursuing the external beauty of this world

… with the same vigor as a person without eternal hope.

ILL: Amelia Bedilia

It’s the Amelia Bedilia’s in the church that would have us show up without any clothes.

Some would make this passage a simple prohibition against braids, jewelry and nice clothes.

How do we know Peter’s emphasis isn’t upon particular prohibitions?

Because what he instructs these wives to pursue is an issue of the heart.

The point is that there is no hairstyle, jewelry or clothing a woman can put on make her inner person precious.

But an overemphasis upon hair and jewelry and clothing …

… an overemphasis upon external appearance

… is a hindrance to the beauty of the inner person.

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Peter’s point is that an overemphasis upon external beauty is a vain pursuit, and even dangerous pursuit.

David Helm This passion for external adornment comes at a terrible cost for today’s women—the sense of never looking good enough, never being pretty enough, never measuring up. Women are made to feel inferior, ugly, and unlovable. And the consequences are mounting.

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David Helm It is with a sense of irony then that we recognize that the Bible leads the way against such oppression and that Peter thinks more highly of women than does the culture in which we live. Peter wants to free women from the obscene obsession of looking good.

Again, God takes a person that in this world is easily subjugated and brings them under His own authority and care.

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DO PURSUE | Internal Adorning

Read v4

Fruit of Hope

This is the work of the Spirit in the hidden person, overflowing in respectful and pure conduct.

v4 - Let your adorning be …

hidden person of the heart

Peter is suggesting that the hidden person of the heart is not invisible, but seen!

The inner person is the truly beautiful adornment.

imperishable beauty

In 1 Peter 1, Peter describes this as our living hope: imperishable, undefiled, unfading

The hidden person of the heart is an imperishable beauty.

quiet and gentle spirit

We shouldn’t be surprised to see believers being encouraged in their humility, with a quiet and gentle spirit.

Consider 1 Peter 1:6–7 (ESV) In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

These internal adornments are the inner person that is being been refined like gold, like pure gold, and passes through the fire.

very precious

The word translated “very precious” is the word lavish, referring to the market value of something.

It is usually used as with negative connotation.

Like the ointment poured over Jesus’ head … it is just too expensive!

The market value of inner beauty is lavish, extravagant before God.

Proverbs 31:25 | Strength and dignity are her clothing.

David Helm By way of application, women should consider how much time it takes to prepare getting ready in the morning, then see that Peter is urging them to take time to adorn the inner person …

APPLY

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THE ILLUSTRATION

Read Genesis 18:9–14.

Sarah was a real woman.

We find her here struggling with trust in the promise of the Lord.

Sarah was still learning that God was her Lord and Hope.

Laughing at the Lord

Do you trust his promise and person?

Or is your hope in external adornments and what he and others think of how you look compared to others?

Or is your hope in how you can rise up in authority and exercise the many skills and abilities in which you are far superior to your husband?

Are you afraid of how this world thinks of how you look?

Are you afraid of what this culture will think of you if you are gentle and quiet, adorned with strength and dignity?

Consider that our culture would have you be self-absorbed and individualistic …

… yet pawn, blown and tossed to every fleeting fashion.

What is the promise for the wife (and for all of us) in 1 Peter?

1 Peter 1:3–5 According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

The wife of 1 Peter 3 is unshakable.

She is guarded by an infinite and eternal power!

Proverbs 31:25 She laughs at the time to come.

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APPLY:

Remember the ground of the Gospel, the solid rock of Christ, the living hope of salvation.

Stand firm in it and there will be husbands and children and neighbors and friends and coworkers who previously were unaffected by the proclamation of the Gospel who will be won without a word.

How?

They will come to celebrate the fruit of the gospel as it is manifest in your respectful and pure conduct.

They will remember the Gospel that they have heard proclaimed, see its fruit in your life, and place their faith in the living hope of Christ.

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APPLY

Wives, again, as in Ephesians, you are a beautiful image of the church.

Let us remember well the ground of the Gospel even as we together celebrate the fruit of the Gospel.

Our culture is a culture of expressive individualism.

I can’t think of anything description of a culture that is more opposed to the way of the Lord.

The way of the believer is not expressive individualism or radical autonomy.

1 Peter 2:9 (ESV) But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession,

We exist in our social interactions not to express ourselves or to flaunt our freedoms but …

… that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

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