2020-05-13 1 Peter 3:3-6
Notes
Transcript
3 Don’t let your beauty consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and wearing gold jewelry or fine clothes,
4 but rather what is inside the heart—the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
5 For in the past, the holy women who put their hope in God also adorned themselves in this way, submitting to their own husbands,
6 just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. You have become her children when you do what is good and do not fear any intimidation.
I. Do you take more time fixing your hair or fixing your heart?
I. Do you take more time fixing your hair or fixing your heart?
3 Don’t let your beauty consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and wearing gold jewelry or fine clothes,
4 but rather what is inside the heart—the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
A. We live in an image obsessed world.
A. We live in an image obsessed world.
3 Don’t let your beauty consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and wearing gold jewelry or fine clothes,
4 but rather what is inside the heart—the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
Illus: If there is one sin that is destroying the hearts of christians in our generation it is vanity.
Yes, I do know that I am saying this as hair salons are opening up at the end of the week, but follow me.
We live in a time where we do everything for image.
The obvious application from this text is to talk about jewelry, makeup, and clothing for women… and the question should be asked of every person if you spend more time getting you look ready than you do your heart for worship.
But, I think this question goes deeper.
Let’s talk about the social media culture we have embraced.
What we do, we no longer do for God, but instead for the vanity and pride of the few likes we get on social media.
When People serve, they do so to get the selfie of them serving.
How much time is spent arranging that perfect picture of your bible, flowers and coffee cup?
We work very hard to carefully curate our image to look a certain way.
What this image obsessed culture has done is prevented us from growing old in grace and Godliness.
We do everything we can to stop the sands of time from coloring our hair to covering wrinkles, to obsessing over our bodies in the gym.
Let’s just state the obvious… we spend our lives in pride and vanity trying to curate an image our youth all the while allowing our hearts to rot from inattention.
10 For am I now trying to persuade people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
B. The bible calls you to cultivate your heart.
B. The bible calls you to cultivate your heart.
3 Don’t let your beauty consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and wearing gold jewelry or fine clothes,
4 but rather what is inside the heart—the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
Illus: My wife and I have a running joke. We say we are ripening for eternity.
Here is what we mean by it… we know that physically we are over the hill. The wrinkles are a little more permanent, calories burn a little more slowly, and injuries take a whole lot longer to heal.
We could deny our condition, and live in this false belief that we will be young forever… or we can embrace our aging knowing that these bodies are not permenant.
I am not saying, that your should not stay healthy, and groomed. I am making the case that image is an unhealthy obsession in our time.
What is the trajectory of your life… and this is what I mean… If all there is in this world is the fake lives we are pretending to have online, they yes lets do everything we can to hold on to our decaying beauty as long as possible…
BUT if our real, long term, eternal life is in eternity recreated, should we not cultivate our inner person.
Think about your day, how much time do you take developing your character and learning to follow Jesus? Does you spend more time in the shower than you do in prayer? Does it take you more time to put you face on than it does to read the Bible?
Your time shows your priority… and our time shows we care far more about our external appearance than we do for our inward character.
16 Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.
II. What does a holy woman look like?
II. What does a holy woman look like?
5 For in the past, the holy women who put their hope in God also adorned themselves in this way, submitting to their own husbands,
A. A holy woman cares how God sees her more than how others see her.
A. A holy woman cares how God sees her more than how others see her.
5 For in the past, the holy women who put their hope in God also adorned themselves in this way, submitting to their own husbands,
Illus: Let me attempt this as a person who has no clue how the female mind works.
As a pastor far to often I care more about how the members of my church feel about my sermons, or decisions than I do God.
When I preach a sermon, faithfully aplying the text of scripture to your life in a way that might ruffle feathers, my initial desire is to walk back the application, or pull a punch. Why? Because I want you to like me and sometimes allow my ego of being liked to influence my leadership. That is sinful.
As a pastor, I will hold on to the negative comments people say because pleasing you is a idol in my heart.
This is what peter is talking about… placing your hope in God and not men. Much of life is lived seeking the approval of others for how we look, what we do… we look to other people to define our value.
Our self esteme and value take a hit when we are not admired by others the way we feel we should.
The problem is, we are looking to the wrong source for value.
Just as a pastor, I should preach sermons I know my insigte rage in your heart because it exposes undealt with sin, my value at that moment should not be in your response, but in God’s response.
You friend should not find you value in what our culture thinks, what your friend say, how many likes your picture get, but whether you heart and life is pleasing to God.
30 Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised.
B. A holy woman does not kick against the way God made her.
B. A holy woman does not kick against the way God made her.
5 For in the past, the holy women who put their hope in God also adorned themselves in this way, submitting to their own husbands,
Illus: The world around us tells women they only have value if they can be men.
It tells them that submission is beneath them, and that kids are not worth staying home over.
The world around us tells women that unless they are preaching, they do not matter in church.
The world around us mocks the very design God created both for the family, and for the church.
Many of you tonight are thinking that I am either outdated or bigoted because I am teaching these things.
You may be thinking, yes I believe in Jesus, but aren’t these the passages in scripture that should be either ignored, or written off because of ancient culture.
I want to go back to your heart for a moment.
A heart that both fears God and finds it’s value in God will want embrace the ways of God, even if they fly in the face of modern culture.
A heart that both fears culture and finds its value in the world around us will reject the ways of God because they are culturally irrelevant.
Deep down, rejecting God’s teaching about submission, and gender specific roles is telling the God of the universe that you are too important to submit to his design. It is saying I am bigger than the way you created me.
2 Older men are to be self-controlled, worthy of respect, sensible, and sound in faith, love, and endurance.
3 In the same way, older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not slaves to excessive drinking. They are to teach what is good,
4 so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands and to love their children,
5 to be self-controlled, pure, workers at home, kind, and in submission to their husbands, so that God’s word will not be slandered.
III. God’s family embraces God’s design.
III. God’s family embraces God’s design.
6 just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. You have become her children when you do what is good and do not fear any intimidation.
A. Proof of God’s redemption will be God’s scriptural call in your life.
A. Proof of God’s redemption will be God’s scriptural call in your life.
Illus:If God has saved you, he will also give you a new heart and place His presence in you, the Holy Spirit.
The more you cultivate your relationship with him, the more sweet the ways of God will be to you.
Submission, separate gender roles in the family and the church will not look like outdated rules, but instead the fulfillment of embracing the way God made you.
The more God works in your heart, the more the ways of scripture will become good to you.
Peter’s teaching on submission, gender roles, and the family will ultimately be the evidence of God’s redemptive work in you and in your family.
22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord,
23 because the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body.
24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives are to submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her