What Priority Should I Assign to My Wife?

The Call to Understand and Honor

Bible Passage: 1 Peter 3:7

Summary: In this verse, Peter emphasizes the importance of understanding and honoring one’s spouse within the context of marriage. He highlights the need for husbands to recognize their wives not merely as companions but as partners deserving of respect and dignity, which is critical for a harmonious and faithful relationship. This reflects the broader biblical principle of how God values each individual and calls for equity in relationships.

Application: The message encourages listeners to practice active listening and to cultivate emotional awareness in their close relationships. By committing to understanding one another's perspectives and honoring each other's feelings, individuals can build stronger marriages that reflect God’s love. This is particularly vital in a culture that often undermines the value of mutual respect and understanding.

Teaching: This sermon could teach that honoring and understanding one another is essential for healthy relationships and that following Peter's direction leads to a life marked by peace and love, reflecting God's character and design in marriage.

How this passage could point to Christ: The teaching in this passage points to the way Christ honors His relationship with the Church. The mutual respect, love, and understanding that believers are to demonstrate in their marriages serve as a reflection of Christ’s own relationship with us, where He deeply values our dignity and worth as children of God.

Big Idea: Mutual honor and understanding in marriage are not just personal commitments; they reflect a divine order that mirrors Christ’s love for the Church, leading to transformative relationships that showcase God’s glory.

Recommended Study: Consider examining commentaries on 1 Peter that provide insights into the socio-historical context of Peter's audience, particularly regarding household dynamics in the early church. Explore resources in Logos that discuss the implications of 'weaker vessel' in this context to gain a nuanced understanding of how this descriptor is intended to promote honor rather than oppression. Additionally, reflecting on parallel passages on marriage in Ephesians can enrich your application of this teaching.

1. Understanding Creates Unity

1 Peter 3:7

You could explore how Peter calls husbands to understand their wives, emphasizing the critical nature of practicing empathy and active listening. Highlight the intrinsic value each person has in the sight of God, urging listeners to develop relational skills that enhance marital harmony. This approach aligns with Christ’s model of selfless love and sacrifice for the Church, encouraging believers to embody a Christ-like attitude of service and respect in their marriages.

2. Honoring Enhances Harmony

(still 1 Peter 3:7)

Maybe delve into the concept of honoring one's wife as a fellow heir of the grace of life, underscoring that marriage is a partnership marked by mutual respect and dignity. Reflect on how Christ honors the Church, suggesting that when husbands cherish their wives with the same commitment, it reflects God’s glory. Encourage practicing gratitude and public acknowledgment of one's spouse, which strengthens the marital bond and testifies to God’s good design for relationships.

Introduction:

Having completed the theme, The Man and His God, in which we discussed in detail, how to develop Spiritual Disciplines, such as, how we are to pray, how to study God’s word, what it means to be holy, how to handle besetting sins, and how to find help when we need it, we determined that this theme was the foundation of all the rest, and because biblical leadership was designed by God, it would be impossible to lead without him.

We then moved into our next LEAD theme which I believe according to scripture would be the next in our progression toward becoming biblically based spiritual leaders. We’ve entitled this next theme, The Man and His Wife, and beginning with the basics, Where Did Marriage Come From? , we answered that question from Genesis 2:15-25.

We saw that man was created as a steward of God’s creation, caring for and enjoying it with boundaries set for obedience. We also saw that man was created for companionship and therefore he created woman to be his much needed help-meet to partner with him in fulfilling God’s purpose. Finally, we looked at the covenant of marriage, and saw that the relationship between the man and his wife was meant to be and unbreakable covenant between them and God.

We then looked more closely at this marriage covenant and to what extant is it binding, as we looked at a question posed by the Pharisees in Jesus day regarding the marriage covenant, and Jesus response to that question, which we saw went beyond the cultural norms to the original intent at creation, which was so binding that only death or infidelity could break it.

Then last time we answered the question, What constitutes a marriage?, and saw very clearly that marriage is and always has been an unbreakable covenant with responsibilities to raise children and to live in faithful holiness together as one flesh as outlined in Malachi 2:13-16. We also saw that not doing so incurs the judgment of God on all those who are fornicators and adulterers from Hebrews 13:4.

This morning we will go one step further and ask the question, What Priority Should I Assign to My Wife? To answer this question, we will go to the New Testament and again review some of the roles of wife and husband, and there narrow down what scripture has to say about our wives and our priorities.

Text: 1 Peter 3:7

1 Peter 3:1–7 ESV

1 Likewise, 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, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 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. 5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. 7 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

I. Husbands: The Wife’s Priority (3:1-6)

(1) Likewise, 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,

(2) when they see your respectful and pure conduct.

(3) Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—

(4) 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.

(5) For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands,

(6) as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.

II. Wives: The Husband’s Priority (3:7)

(7) Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.