Submission continued:Wives and Husbands
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Good Morning church, I have really enjoyed sharing with you out of this great book of 1 Peter. What we have tried to do is just let the text speak. What I did last week was I jumped ahead to chapter 4 because I wanted us to see that the things going on right now in our world tie right into what God has already told us was going to happen.
We should not be surprised by the hard heartedness in the world but yet we should look forward to the day when Jesus will return to take us all home to be with Him and suffering will be no more.
It is our job to discover the true meaning of the Bible in context and then walk in light of what the Bible says.
We will stand before God in light of what the Bible has said and how we have lived that understanding.
As we approach the Bible we must remember 2 things:
I have been influenced, you have been influenced, we have been influenced by 20th century our American culture you come to scripture with preconcived ideas, and anything that seems contrary to what you believe personally or speak in different voices than what your used to. Without realizing it you either ignore them or your twist them, its in our human nature. What we want the Bible to do is to affirm us in our current cultural Christianity, and of course the Bible wants to radically speak to us and change our comfortable cultural Christianity.
What we must do is allow the bible to be right and every man a liar, there are two opinions in this life, there is the opinion of God and the opinion of others. So essentialy there is a right opinion and wrong opinion, if my opinion goes against what the Bible says then I am wrong and I must change my opinion
Now we have been talking about suffering and what we must do while suffering and one thing has been at the forefront of Peter’s speaking to us. That is this “that submission is a key element in Christlikeness and witnessing”
Some people will never see Jesus at all unless they see Jesus in you and me. The only way to see Jesus in us is by the way we honor Christ and those in authority over us.
He speaks of submitting forst and foremost to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, then He mentions how we should submit to Him in holiness, then he goes into submitting to our local governors even to the emperor. Then to go even deeper he gets into slaves submitting to their masters.
which seems strange but we learned it is not so stranger when we understand that the primary purpose we live and move and have our being is to be about Gods business of reaching others with the soul cleansing gospel of Jesus Christ.
Once we allow our life to dictated by that purpose then we will choose submission in order to show Jesus Christ to a lost a dying world.
Now submission is exactly opposite of what American Christianity and Western Christianity is all about. Were into the dignity and worth of individuals and I affirm that but something radical has happened to us, we are to be submissive to Earthly government even when we do not agree with that Earthly government.
We are to be submissive slaves to masters even when the masters are cruel, and today we are to be submissive wives to husbands, and husbands act gently towards their wives.
Now this submission goes agains the grain, now I have tried to show you, as Jesus was submissive to His Earthly parents and His Heavenly Father that submission cannot be a weak command.
But it is a command that goes against the basic tenants of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree that has poluted our minds and hearts into whatever I want whatever i need, whatever I can do I have the right to do it.
People will say Christianity is about freedom, yes it is but
“Freedom does not mean getting to do whatever you want to do. Freedom means getting to do what you ought to do”
Tony Evans
The fall has caused all humans to turn into Mariah Carey “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY” Christians.
It has caused us all to have this mindset “Whats in it for me” Christians
ITS MY LIFE I CAN CHOOSE HOW TO LIVE IT
YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN
YOU WERE BOUGHT WITH A PRICE
What submission does is it is one way to keep score that the fall is not predominant in your life.
If I can yield my rights and authority and my desires to others even outside Christendom, it says something about my love for Jesus and obedience to Him.
The reason for this submission in each of these issues is evangelism. We submit not bc were weak people and we don’t have our opinion and authority, we submit so that the kingdom of God MIGHT BE LIFTED UP in a similar way to the way Jesus submitted to Earthly parents the Heavenly Father and Rome as He died on a cross.
Now as I have said there is a line in the sand, that line comes when someone seeks to remove our ability to worship or says we cannot worship in the name of Jesus Christ or says we cannot assemble whatsoever then there comes that moment when they become a Goliath that needs to be stood against, but in the everyday situations and even in our situation now, they have not yet crossed that line.
So we must seek to be contributors to the common good and exempliry in our conduct in order to represent Christ well.
We are not here for ourselves how we live does make a difference and that god wants to show the kingdom of God now through those who let Him be King in their lives even before He returns.
Sumission is a daily way of life for the Christian who seeks to honor God and submit to Him daily as they struggle with an internal battle bewteen who they used to be and who they are called to be.
It is the new nature that cares for God glory it is the old nature that cares for self
It is the new nature who cares for Gods word no matter what it says and it is the old nature who seeks to only like parts of the Bible and ignore the parts we dont like
And one arena where this submission is discussed is within the home.
Now I want to be clear, this submission is mutal not dominant, this submission is chosen not coerced if you are a man demanding submission dominantly from your wife you better stop. Maybe the reason she is not submitting to you is because how she acts toward you is how you act towards God!
This submission does not make women inferior to men it simply assigns them a different role, and im telling you there is nothing more beautiful and nothing that looks like the Holy Spirit more than a woman who seeks to be her husbands helpmate. What is the Holy Spirit called? THE HELPER
The Holy Spirit is powerful and mighty and so is a woman who seeks the will and purpose of God and submits to the leadership of her husband.
In the same way, wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, even if some disobey the Christian message, they may be won over without a message by the way their wives live
Just like you submit to these governing officials just like slaves submit to their masters wives are to submit to their own husbands.
But the setting is this: What if I get married and I meet Jesus and my partner does not what do i do?
IT says submit to them so that they will see that the selfishness which used to be in you has been changed by something or someone and it might lead them to Jesus.
EVEN IF SOME DISOBEY THEY MAY BE WON OVER BY HOW THEIR WIVES LIVE
How many wives have I heard wives cry and pray for the souls of their husbands.
This is a woman who intentionally submits herself as a servant in order that her husband might see such a change in her that the Lord produces a change in him!
How many of us need to have this commitment toward our children who stay from the Lord or a husband who needs Jesus?
when they observe your pure, reverent lives.
When the change in you is evident it changes people
Men and women are equal in standing but different in service, we are equal in every way but we are different in the roles we play. There are some things women can do that men cannot do and thank you Lord I dont want to experience childbirth. amen
But there are some things that men areto do that wives are not explicitly called to do.
This does not mean that a woman is supposed to be a doormat this does not mean that a woman is supposed to give up eveyrthing that makes her her.
This is about alinging yourselves with the Biblical roles created by God Himself in order that you can show Jesus to someone namely your husband who does not know Jesus or is not following the Lord as He ought. Now let me tell you something, my wife God bless her she tells me all the time she does not feel like she does well with submission.
But can I tell you from my perspective she is a jewel, let’s take my wife for example. She knows there are days when I will not feel like talking much, she knows there are days when I will be tired because I was up late on the phone with someone or doing something else, and she knows that at the drop of the hat I can get a call and have to leave without any prior notice.
Yet she never complains at me for it.
I think I can count on 2 fingers the number of times she has complained at me for that
She knows there are days when I will be cranky, and she is still with me and that proves that God is alive and well in her
But I think the thing that she doesnt know is how there have been many times I have wanted to quit ministry, there have been many days when I was ready to walk away, there have been many days when I have hung my head feeling like a failure and there is always one person who is there to speak Gods truth to me and get me right again, and It is my sweet wife.
I have walked in at times and said I am done I am tired I wanna do something else that I am good at and she says “have you talked to God about that or are you just venting”
No Amy I dont think you understand Im done I cant do this anymore:
“No you cant not do this anymore” This is who you are this is what you do
“You better pray about that one”
She reminds me of who I am supposed to be when I am out of line and not doing well, in the same way when a saved wife looks at her unsaved husband and shows Him the love of God and the change Christ has made in her then he has a chance to get right with JEsus.
Btu so often women are more interested in things seen outwardly.
The problem was they had a very expensive hairdo and absolutely no Christian attractiveness
Your beauty should not consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold ornaments or fine clothes.
Now this aint saying that women should not waer jewlery or get their hair fixed it is saying rather than spending al you times and money on those things you should rather be spending your time on things that will make you truly beautiful
Instead, it should consist of what is inside the heart with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very valuable in God’s eyes.
How many new shoes do you need ladies?
How many new creams?
Mary Kay?? nothing wrong with it?
But if you spending all you time and money and attention on those things I want you to know that aint gone change a ugly heart.
For in the past, the holy women who put their hope in God also beautified themselves in this way, submitting to their own husbands,
just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. You have become her children when you do what is good and are not frightened by anything alarming.
So you know what this means?
From now on Jan has to call Danny Lord,
Can’t you hear it now?
Danny holler from his recliner her girl them biscuits ready and Jan says yes ma Lord...
Lol naw that ain’t what that means all He is saying is that in the OT women respected the spiritual authority give to their husbands by God and they should now as well!
No what it is really saying is this that as the man follows the Lord the wife should follow the man, and allow him to lead within the family. Think about it what amazing submission Sarah displayed as she followed her husband to a land they had never been before not knowing where they would go or what they would do.
Yet he came and told her that God had called him to leave his homeland and travel to a land they knew not and she obeyed and trsuted the word of her husband.
This kind of submission flows from respect that was earned because Sarah had witnessed the desire of her husband Abraham to seek the Lord to honor Him alone and obey whatever he commanded men if you would like more respect from you wives then let them see you seek God and God alone, let them see you taking your Bible study seriously.
Let them witness you in prayer and pray for them nightly, tell them you are praying for them and ask them if there is anything they can pray for them about.
Pray together, read Gods word together don’t be afraid let them see your heart, let them see that Jesus is extremely important to you and show them that they are extremely important to you.
Ladies allow the Lord to change you, be intentional serve your husband well, not as a slave but as someone who desires for them to see Christ in you.
(Tony Evans testimony)
Ladies it says you are like Sarah when you do what is good and do not fear intimidation, this is speaking to those women who are in a marriage where the husband is anti God and anti church. He doesn’t like the fact that his wife goes to church all of a sudden and is faithful to the things of God.
It makes him angry and he lashes out about it, God tells you to fight the good fight of faith, not with arguments, not with debates, not with anger, but with prayer and humble submission and service.
Do not fear intimidation rather the wife is commanded instead to fear God and serve him no matter what her husband has to say about it.
Lastly there is a word for husbands.
Husbands, in the same way, live with your wives with an understanding of their weaker nature yet showing them honor as coheirs of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.
Now let me just be clear this verse does not mean that women are less important, or less tough, in many cases they are more tough in the fact that a woman can go through the intense pain and trauma of labor and deliver of a human being and the man can catch a cold and seem as if he is dying.
This is not what this verse speaks of.
It simply means this physically men are stronger than women for the most part. I have 100$ in my pocket, and if I was a betting man I would put that one hundred dollars on the fact that if every woman in this church arm wrestled me I would beat them all.
That is just simply anatomy, men have the hormone testosterone, while women have the hormone estrogen, testosterone makes muscle definiton and strength come easier than for someone who only has estrogen.
Now there are some exceptions
(Nanny)
But scientifically physically women are weaker than men, so what does this mean for men?
It means we have to be strong both spiritually and physically, we must bear the weight of tasks as well as the stresses of life bc it is how we serve our wives.
Honey do lists.... we all have them… things we can do that our wives either cannot do or it will be extremely more difficult for them to do than for us to do.
Serve your wife well
But notice what he says right after this:
SHOWING THEM HONOR AS COHIERS OF THE GRACE OF LIFE,
If youre wife is a Christian she is just as spiritual as you are somtimes more spiritual than you are, honor her, respect her listen to her advice if given from a biblical and godly perspective, but make sure she is getting that advice from scripture.
If she is then thank God for her and let her help you.
God has equipped women with special gifts and abilities and if I can get up on my soapbox for a moment if it weren’t for the women of the last few decades there wouldn’t be a church today. For years and years pastors have tried to figure out how to build kingdom men, because so few were stepping up to the plate.
This concludes Peter’s thoughts and God word on submission
Listen to me church submission and humility are keys to showing whether or not we are being changed by the Lord if we are not willing to humbly submit to the Lord in holiness, conduct, if we are not able to submit to spiritual authority, governmental authority, parental authority, workplace authority, if we were enslaved masters authority, then it shows that we have a heart issue we seek our own will in our own way and we have not elevated the truth of God word over our feelings.
That is sin and it needs to be repented of.
If we wanna be like Christ then we must take on the attitude and mind of Christ.
who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God
as something to be used for His own advantage.
Instead He emptied Himself
by assuming the form of a slave,
taking on the likeness of men.
And when He had come as a man
in His external form,
He humbled Himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death—
even to death on a cross.
For this reason God highly exalted Him
and gave Him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow —
of those who are in heaven and on earth
and under the earth —
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
We have to first see Christ
facing hatred for His obedience
facing condemnation from the people He loved the most
fufilling His fathers mission even when nobody cared and thought he was wrong
praying with great agony
beaten mocked spit upon
beard plucked out
side peirced through
skin ripped open
crown of thorns in his brow
hanging froma tree
going through literal Hell on Earth to fulfill the purpose of His Father
Then ask the question:
Does this look like me or do I try and the it gets hard and I revert back to old me, self preservation, self comfort, and self will?
How does my submission show that I love the Lord and want to honor Christ and Christ alone?
(LEt’s pray)