Real Beauty Series

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• What is one thing that the world really puts a lot of emphasis on?

• Beauty! We see all kinds of products that will claim to make you thin. Other products claim to make your skin look young, others that will make you 10-20 years younger.

• People spend BILLIONS on plastic surgery.

• According to stats on http://www.cosmeticsurgery.com, they say in 2004 there was over 12.453 BILLION dollars spent on cosmetic surgery! I am sure the number is higher now!

• We spend a lot of time on outward appearances don’t we? Now that is not ALL bad, I am glad my wife works out and stays in shape, it motivated me to work harder on that myself!

• As we continue on in our journey through 1 Peter, we can stopping off in a section of the text that will dive into the way Christians, “strangers in a foreign land” should treat their spouses.

• WE have to make sure that our marriage relationships are not built on the physical only. God has given the husband and the wife a formula to have a successful marriage together.

• In our text the context deals with the type of woman a Christian wife is to be, but it is important for all of us to understand that the general principles laid out in this text have application for all Christians.

• We are all called to have a depth to our character.

• The question every husband and wife or prospective husband or wife needs to ask themselves is do you want to have an AWESOME relationship with your spouse? If you do you will build your relationship on the principles God establishes for one to have a successful relationship and marriage.

• Some of Peter’s readers were wives whose husbands are not Christians. If you are in that situation do you love your husband enough to follow God’s pattern for you? YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER-AMBASSADOR FOR CHRIST! More on that later!

• Let us start by turning to 1 Peter 3:1-2

• SLIDE #2

• 1 Peter 3:1-2(ESV) 1Likewise, 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— 2when they see your respectful and pure conduct.

• SLIDE #3

SERMON

I. Real beauty can be seen by all.

• When a beautiful woman or a handsome man walks into the room, people notice, nothing has to be said because pretty much everyone can see it.

• They do not have to advertise their beauty because their attractiveness is self-evident. Real beauty is can also be seen by all.

• Have you ever been around a person who just has a sweet spirit? I have been around some really beautiful people and their beauty or attractiveness had nothing to do with anything physical.

• I have also encountered some physically attractive people who were very ugly because of the way were on the inside. How is real beauty displayed?

• SLIDE #4

A. Real beauty is displayed in attitude.

• In our passage, wives are encouraged to be submissive to their own husbands.

• This word “submission” is a word that most people do not like. The reason it is not liked is because it is misunderstood.

• First off, this is not a master/slave relationship. Because the wife is asked to be submissive to her husband does not mean she is his slave, no more than when all of us are asked to be submissive to the ruling authorities that we are the slaves of the government.

• Submission was a military term that meant to “place under rank”, to yield to one’s advice or admonition.”

• As we have said before, the word denotes a voluntary conscience decision.

• Wives are told in this passage they are to yield to the husband so that even if the husband is disobedient to the Word, they may be won over!

• The phrase “disobedient to the word” denotes a person who is not only an unbeliever, but refused to be persuaded by the message presented.

• Now when we go back to 1 Peter 2:12, we are called to be submissive to God in the sense that we are supposed to behave in a manner that would attract others.

• The wife is called to have a submissive spirit toward her husband so she will be attractive to him.

• I have seen men destroyed by wives who refused to display this type of spirit. It WILL destroy the husband eventually and it will make him resentful of his wife if she will not have a submissive spirit toward him.

• Marriages that last will not last based only on the physical having the right attitude toward each other is so important.