1 Peter 3

Intro

We are going to be going through

The book of 1 Peter

How many of you have read that book before?

Before we get into any book

I always like to give you guys some background

On why any book is written

The book of first and second peter were both written by

WHO

Peter good job

If you know your bible

This is the same Peter that was one Jesus closest diciples

Same Peter that walks on water

Same Peter that cuts a mans ear off to protect Jesus

Same Peter that also denies Jesus 3 times

Same Peter that Jesus tells he will build his church upon

Scholars believe that Peter wrote the book

Sometime between WHEN??? 62-64 A.D.

Which most scholars belive was only a few years before Peter was matyerd for his faith

And he was primarily writing to scattered Christians

likely in WHERE?? Modern day Turkey

Around this time mass persecution of Christians hadn’t happened in Rome YET

But it was starting to become more difficult

Alot of them were experiencing

Social rejection Insults and slander Economic hardship Family tension Increasing pressure from Roman culture

Overall scholars belive that Peter simply wanted to encourage early Christians to continue in their walk of faith

Later over time they would come deeply persecuted

By a certain Roman emperor WHO???? Nero

Today as we look at the book I want to just look at chapter 1

You will learn as we go through this book

There is alot of content

And honeslty I would encourage you

Read, read, read this book on your own

Because I could do an entire series just on Chapter 1 of this book

But we aren’t going to do that

You will learn that as we go through it

Its all about your walk with God

When I walk with Jesus how should i live?

How should I act?

How should I think?

These are all things that this book tackles so well

So to get us started off today

we are going to be looking at chapter 3 of 1 Peter

And I will give a preface

As we get to this chapter

one of the key topics

Is marriage

And as we talk about this

I am sure that some of you are like

Adam none of us are married

why do we need to know this

There are few reasons why I still want to talk about it

The first reason:

I want us to go through the whole book of 1 Peter

Not just some of it

I am not going to edit or change scripture

If it is what the bible teaches than its important period

The second reason:

some day

It is my hope that you will remember what we talked about

Because someday many of you will get married

And its important for us to know what the bible teaches

Third and final reason:

Many of these morals

And attitudes of how to treat

a husband or a wife

Apply to other relationships in our lives too

1. It’s not about the outside, but the inside

1 Peter 3:1–6 “In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands. Then, even if some refuse to obey the Good News, your godly lives will speak to them without any words. They will be won over by observing your pure and reverent lives. Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. This is how the holy women of old made themselves beautiful. They put their trust in God and accepted the authority of their husbands. For instance, Sarah obeyed her husband, Abraham, and called him her master. You are her daughters when you do what is right without fear of what your husbands might do.”

Do any of you guys have a safe at home?

Many of us have safes at home

Used to keep things secure

Like money

Important documents

passports

sentimental things

all kinds of thing

Now I want to ask you a question

I want you to pick something for me

There are 2 safes on the screen here

One of them is the newest top of the line safe

it has

Finger print scanner

Combination lock

Its fire proof

Its padded on the inside with Leather

Its got all the stuff

and inside this safe

Do you want to know whats inside?

$25 gift card to burger king

Now here is the second safe

is this one

Its old

rusty

the dial sometimes like to stick

Its short

not as much space

You want to know whats inside

15 million dollars of cold hard cash

Now here is the question

WHICH SAFE IS WORTH MORE?

But how do you know?

This safe is so much nicer than the other one?

You know this one is more valuable

because of what is held within

What is on the inside matters more

Than what is on the outside

This is what I want you to see from our scripture

Peter is talking about Marriage

And he takes a moment to talk to the wives

And he basically explains to them

If you want to honor God in your marriage

Than you need to respect your Husbands

But even more so you need to reflect Jesus to your husbands

So that they may be drawn closer to their relationship with Jesus

And Peter explains the way that you are going to do that

Is knowing that

That real beauty doesn’t come from all of these outward things

But what does Peter say

“Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.”

Peter is trying to make a point to these women

That’s its not about all of these outward appearance

Ladies So many of you need hear this

God has created you exactly how he wanted you to be

The Bible says that you are fearfully and Wonderfully made

You are beautiful

You are loved

You are wanted by God

This world paints a backwards and messed up picture of who you are supposed to be

God has called you to something so much greater

Another thing that was happening

At the time

there were many women believed in the gospel

But their husbands did not

And Peter is trying to explain

The way to draw them near to Jesus

Is by the love and respect that wives can show to their husbands

So here is what I want you to hear

People see appearances God sees the heart

This isn’t just about women and wives

God see’s straight to the heart

Not just what is on the outside but what is in on the inside

I think many times

We hear this concept,

but we don’t fully understand the weight that is behind it

God truly knows the depths of our heart

even the part the others don’t see

2. Different roles. Equal worth. And Shared inheritance.

1 Peter 3:7 “In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.”

How many of you guys have been on a big road trip before?

A few years ago

Me and all my roomates at the time

Drove to Pensacola Flordia

I don’t know how many of you guys have been there before

its about a 14 and a half hour drive

Anyone else done a car ride that long?

It was super fun time

But one of the things that stuck out to me

Was the drive there

We took 2 cars

And even though we were both going to the same destination

We helped each other along the way with the navigation

We had these walk talkies that we had in each car

There would be crashes

Construction

Times where the other person would slow down

so we could stay together

Adam where are you going with this?

I believe this is the same way that God wants marriage to be

Peter starts off verse 7 now adresses the Husbands

And I think its super important

He makes clear to them

This all is not just for the wives

But is for all the men and husbands too

And as he explains this

He tells the husbands

“She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.”

When it comes to Marriage

And truthfully when it comes to dating relationships

Its not two people going whatever direction they would like

But two people serving the Lord together

I just married a couple about month ago

And a marriage is not between 2 people

But 3

Each of them and God

I wanted to give you this image of the 2 cars

Because a relationships works the exact same way

each person is different

they are not exactly the same

but they are both striving after the same destination

And along the way

They help each other

And they look after each other

God makes it clear

They are both children of God

With one not having more or less value to the other

Men and Women are equal heirs in the eyes of God

The Bible tells us then when we become saved

We are heirs to God

And co-heirs with Christ

Regarless of

Male or female

Race

Ethnicity

Social status

Career

Those things don’t matter in the eyes of God

3. Be of one mind

1 Peter 3:8–12 “Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing. For the Scriptures say, “If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it. The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.””

I need a volunteer for this story

I need a volunteer that knows how to dap somebody up

3 levels of dapping somebody up

Bring it in

I will never forget

It was the old church I used to go to

There was this guy there named Issac

I had met issac before

Like we have talked

In mind we are past the like “nice to meet”

Hand shake phase

I go to dap this dude up

Let me show you what this dude does

After that happened

I never messed it up again

everytime after that

I knew thats where he was going

Why do I tell that story

1 because many of us have some kind of experience like that

2 because me and Issac were not on the same page

Him and I were not tracking with each other

In our scripture

Paul talks about how we ought to live as christians

He took time to talk to the wives

Talk to the husbands

And now he is talking to everybody

And he says when we live

He says

“Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing.”

So he gives this kind of big list of stuff

But what I love before he says any of it

He says The way that we do it

right at the beginning there in verse 8

The NLT literally says

to be of “One mind”

What does that mean?

it doesn’t literally mean that we have the same mind

But it means that we are on the same page

I gave you an example of me and issac

to show you what happens when you are NOT on the same page

We fumble the bag

It was in a goofy way right

But him and I were not thinking the same thing

Peter is telling us

When we follow God we need to be on the same page with each other

Does that mean that we all believe the same exact things

No

But it means what he says in this scripture

1 Peter 3:10–12 “For the Scriptures say, “If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it. The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.””

The cross is bigger than our differences

We live in a world right now that thrives on being different

Its about how I can stand out

How I can get attnention

Get likes

Views

Subscribers

But Peter makes it clear

We may have some things that makes us different

But when we are in christ we are supposed to be unified

4. Be ready

1 Peter 3:13–17 “Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!”

When I was in high-school I was in band

How many of you guys play instruments

I played trumpet since 5th grade

And every year

during football season

It’s marching band season

And in my personal opinion

It’s the best time for band

But you can also argue

The most challenging

Harder music

You have to learn marching drill

play alot louder

Stand out in the colder for hours

Anyways

One thing that always stuck out to me

Before every halftime show

We would always do the same thing

We would march around the side of the field

And we would play whats called a b flat concert scale

If you don’t know what that is

it is like like the most basic scale you can play

And we would even do it like 2 or 3 times

It would help us get prepped

ready

it was like our way of getting in the zone

Why do I share that with you?

Not to just re live some glory days

But to help you understand this scripture

Peter is talking about living for God

And brings back up suffering for doing what is right

A few weeks ago I talked about this

But then I love what Peter says

He says

1 Peter 3:15–16 “Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.”

Peter is tring to say

In other words

BE READY!!

There are going to be times

When you will have an opprotunity to share your faith with others

seize the opprotunites

You don’t have to walk around with a sign

“Ask me about Jesus”

But you are meant to be a living light for Christ

And Peter is telling us

We need to take that seriously

So I think the question that we need to ask ourselves

What do I need to do to get ready

I am not asking yo that to make you feel bad

But seriously

It is so easy to go throughout our days

And forget

that there are people in our lives that don’t know Jesus

Our friends

Family

Neighbors

Siblings

Even some parents

You may be the only person in your family

That really want to follow Jesus

And I think we need to start talking this scripture serousisly

Here is what I want you to hear this morning

Jesus gave it all so that others would know God

1 Peter 3:18–22 “Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit. So he went and preached to the spirits in prison—those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood. And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now Christ has gone to heaven. He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and all the angels and authorities and powers accept his authority.”

Jesus literally gave it all So that you others could know his father

have you ever thought about that before?

Jesus literally

not only paid with his life

But for all the sin of the world

all so that we could have a chance to know God

I can’t help but ask myself

What am I willing to do

Jesus was willing to be nailed to a cross

But he knew

that people would know and love his father

becasue of it

Close in a prayer

- What am I willing to do so THEY will know Jesus????