Submission in Hope:The People of God are a People of Hope

1 Peter 3:1-6 Submission in Hope (The People of God are a People of Hope) Introduction: Somewhat hidden in these verses 1 Peter 2:13-3:6 is a great opportunity to testify to the World that :The people of God are a People of Hope! We have been discussing the role of the Christian in submitting to every human institution particularly the wife submitting even to her unbelieving husband for the sake of his salvation. Now before we leave this section of 1st Peter on Christian submission; I want to look at it one last time. Two weeks ago we looked at these verses and rather than simply focusing on the female sex and her role in marriage we talked first and foremost about the individual believers call to submission. I made this point: you will find teachings/ commands in God’s word that you will not want to obey; or commands that if you obey could royally screw up your life, commands that if you obey will make you look like a failure, a fool, a weirdo. Why should you and I submit anyway? We submit because we know he loves us. He has proven his "Never Stopping, Never Giving up, Un-breaking, Always and Forever Love." It is the cross of Jesus Christ, his love displayed there, that compels us to obey.... But there is another compelling aspect to the work of submission and obedience to the word of God - Resurrection Hope. Peter’s hard words on submission; submission to every human institution; submission to the governing authorities; submission to masters or employers, whether good or bad, just or unjust; submission to husbands, whether saved or unsaved, wise or unwise; must be read and taught in the context of Christian Resurrection Hope. 1. Submission in Hope a. Notice what Peter says specifically about the holy women of the Old Testament who submitted to their husbands. i. “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." -1 Peter 3:5-6 1. These women submitted, or obeyed the word of God because they hoped in God. b. This, if you remember, is exactly how Peter began this epistle. Turning our eyes, fixing our minds, first and foremost to the living hope we have through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. i. When the New Testament speaks of a Christian’s hope, it is speaking of hope, in a longing for what is certain to come. -set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ii. We can define hope, in the New Testament sense, as full assurance, or strong confidence that God is going to do good to us in the future. iii. Therefore a “living hope” would be fertile, fruitful, productive hope. Living hope is hope that has power and produces changes in life. This is what "living' means in Hebrews 4:12, where it says, "The word of God is living and effective." So, Christian hope is a strong confidence in God which has power to produce change in how we live. c. In the context of 1 Peter 3:5-6, the presence of hope drives out fear of what submission might bring. The “daughters of Sarah” do not fear anything but displeasing God. Or to be more accurate, the daughters of Sarah fight the anxiety that rises in their hearts. i. So we can say this, that Christians fight the fear of what submission to every human institution might bring with hope. d. They wage war on fear, and they defeat it with the promises of God - particularly the promise of resurrection and glory. i. Some might ask, what practical application does Jesus resurrection have to submission and obedience??? 2. Christ Resurrection means our Resurrection and Glory. i. “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first-fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.” -2 Corinthians 15:17-23 ii. “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” - Romans 8:16-17; 29-30 iii. Paul also says in this same chapter, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” iv. - The restoration and renewal of all things 1. "You believe the resurrection is true. You believe that Jesus has died to save you- to redirect your eternal trajectory irrevocably toward God. You believe that God has accepted you, for Jesus' sake, through an act of supreme grace. You are a part of the Kingdom of God. What then? Does the resurrection mean anything for your life now? Oh my, yes......The Kingdom of God means, new heavens and new earth, a healed material creation. Absolute wholeness and well being- physically, spiritually, socially, and economically." 2. That is the Kingdom of God- shalom- complete healing of all relationships in the creation. We will be reconciled to God; to nature; to one another; and to ourselves." 3. Living Hope -Life in Anticipation of the World to Come. 1. "And to the extent that that future is real to you it will change everything about how you live in the present.” a. For example, why is it so hard to face suffering? Wy is it so hard to face disability and disease? Why is it so hard to do the right thing if you know it's going to cost you money, reputation, maybe even your life? Why is it so hard to face your death of death of loved ones? -It's so hard because we think (and act, as though) this broken world is the only world were ever going to have. It's easy to feel as if this money is the only wealth we'll ever have...But if Jesus is risen, then your future is so much more beautiful, and so much more certain, than that." -Tim Keller i. If I only have one life to live I better live it to the fullest, by bringing ultimate satisfaction to myself. ii. But if the resurrection is true, then this is not my only life, nor my best life, but the best is yet to come. Not only is the best to come but it is imperishable, undefiled, unfading and reserved in heaven for us. Therefore we can freely give our bodies in obedience to God, to his use, and for his glory. 1. Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.” -Mark 10:29-31 a. Jesus is saying that no one who suffers loss for his sake, no one who suffers for obeying his word, will be overlooked; we will be more than compensated. b. We’re told that the way the saints of the OT suffered was they were certain of a better resurrection. (Heb 11:35) i. Are we convinced of this? 2. "Only in the gospel of Jesus Christ do people find such enormous hope to live in. Only the resurrection promises us not just new minds and hearts, but also new bodies. They are going to be more indissoluble, more perfect, more beautiful.... a. If you're lonely, in the resurrection you will have perfect love. If you're empty, in the resurrection you will be fully satisfied. Ordinary life is going to be redeemed. There is nothing better than ordinary life, except that its always going away and always falling apart. Ordinary life is food and work and chairs by the fire and hugs and dancing and mountains- this world. God loves it so much that he gave his only Son so we- and the rest of this ordinary world- could be redeemed and made perfect. And that's what is in store for us." b. "And if you and I know that this is not the only world, the only body, the only life you are ever going to have - that you will one day have a perfect life, a real, concrete life - who cares what people do to you? c. You're free from ultimate anxieties in this life, so you can be brave and take risks. You can face the worst thing...with joy, with hope. The resurrection means that we can look forward to that day that our suffering will be gone." - Tim Keller d. The Resurrection means that we have hope, and that hope enables us to live out the life that God has called us to!Conclusion: In the call of submission; the call of obedience to the word of God, we have to things happening simultaneously: 1. The push from the cross - he loves me, he proved it in the cross, I will obey this love. 2. The pull of Glory - he has a glorious future planned for me, a renewed mind, a renewed heart, a renewed body - I will give myself fully to what he wants for me. As a Christian I find myself between the push of the cross and the pull of glory and both compel me to give my life, my body (whatever he asks of me) as a living sacrifice to the Lord- as my act of worship, as an act of gratitude and thanksgiving. “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot loose.” -Jim Elliot