INTRODUCTION
SLIDE #1
„X In life have you found there are some things that can be very difficult to carry out?
„X Life is not always easy and we are not always given things that are easy for us to do.
„X Sometimes we are faced with doing things in our jobs that are difficult to do, but we do them because we want to keep our jobs.
„X I have never enjoying running unless I was chasing someone to tackle, or running around bases or running up and down a basketball court. When I played football, I had to run in the summer. If you showed up for the 2-a-day practices and could not run the mile in a certain amount of time or do so many push-ups, pull-ups and sit-ups, you would be on what they called the ¡§Fat Man¡¨ squad. This was when you got the opportunity to stay after practice to do a lot of EXTRA conditioning work so that you would catch up with those who were already in shape.
„X I did not like running, the motivation was there for me to do it.
„X When you are faced with doing something that may be hard to do, something has to drive you to do it.
„X I am a team guy when it comes to sports. My take on practice and conditioning is, do you care enough about your team to give your best? Do you care enough about your self to do your best? SLIDE #2
„X In life many things boil down to how much we care.
„X Today as we continue our journey through the book of 1 Peter, we are coming to a place where there are going to be some things directed toward wives and husbands.
„X This week there are some words for the wives to take note of, next week the husbands are addressed.
„X I do not want the men or those who are not wives to tune me out before we get started because as we look at God¡¦s word today, we are not only going to deal with wives, there will be application made to everyone.
„X During bible times, life for a woman was terrible. Women was treated like slaves in Jewish culture, just above slaves in Greek culture and in Roman culture, they were under the absolute authority of the husband.
„X Peter is addressing women who became Christians whose husbands were not yet saved. He gives them instruction as to how to win them to Christ.
„X As we look at these instructions, I believe they are hard for women of today to swallow. Whenever the ¡§s¡¨ word, ¡§submission¡¨ is mentioned, it does not set well with some.
„X The bottom line is this; do you care enough for a lost spouse to do this? Do we all care enough for lost people to do what we need to do to reach them?
„X Let¡¦s read 1 Peter 3:1-6 today. READ
„X To reach someone I love:
SERMON
Do I care enough to: SLIDE #3
I. EXHIBIT CARING BEHAVIOR (1-2)
„X This passages starts by saying, ¡§In the same way.¡¨ This ties this section back to verse 12 where Peter starts talking about how we are to live among the lost. It also speaks of the fact we are to be submissive to the ruling authorities, and then it goes into slave, master relationships.
„X Now here we are with wives and husbands. The first thing we see is that part of a caring attitude is:
SLIDE #4
1. Have a submissive attitude.
„X 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.
„X The word denotes a voluntary conscience decision.
„X Submission was a military term that meant to ¡§place under rank¡¨, to yield to one¡¦s advice or admonition.¡¨
„X Wives are told in this passage they are to yield to the husband so that if the husband is disobedient to the Word, they may be won over!
„X The phrase ¡§disobedient to the word¡¨ denotes a person who is not only an unbeliever, but refused to be persuaded by the message presented.
„X 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.
„X READ 1 Corinthians 10:27-29.
„X This passage calls for us to submit ourselves to a weaker brother if what we are going to do is not wrong, but is perceived to be wrong by a brother.
„X This does not call for a person to be a doormat; it means that wife will yield by their own choice to their own husband.
„X A wife will never really convert a husband whom they lead by the nose to church. We will never convert people we take by force either.
CLICK #4
2. Exhibit purity in your behavior.
„X The bible tells the Christian not to be bound together with unbelievers. SLIDE # 5 2 Corinthians 6:14
„X This passage deals with what to do when one becomes a Christian after the marriage.
„X The word ¡§observe¡¨ means a close observation, looking at the minute details of a life. It is a life that stands up to being examined as being genuine!
„X We are told to make sure our behavior is pure. For the Christian woman, this means that you are not to lower your morals or for those who are dating, you are not to lower your morals to try to catch a man.
„X This also sets some parameters concerning submission. A wife is not obligated to submit to a husband when he is leading her down the path of sin.
„X Christians will have a better chance of reaching people if our behavior is pure.
„X If we travel the same road of sin as the world, it will not help us to win the lost.
„X IF we do not believe enough to allow Jesus to change us, why would a lost person want to give their life to Jesus?
„X DO we care enough to make sure our behavior is pure?
SLIDE #6
3. Exhibit respectful behavior.
„X Respectful behavior deals with our overall response to God. This ties in with purity or holy behavior. Does our life reflect the fear and respect we have for God? As a Christian wife married to a unbelieving husband, your behavior reflects the amount of respect you have for God.
„X IF we are going to reach people, they need to see a respect for God and His word in the way we live our lives!
„X Verse one tells us that the unbelieving husband may be won to Christ without a word as they observe our behavior. This does not mean that you will never share with your spouse; it means that you will not be able to browbeat them to Christ. You will not always have to remind them to come to church. They will see it in you and then they will want it also!
Do I care enough to: SLIDE #7
II. HAVE A MEMORABLE APPEARANCE (3-5)
SLIDE 8
1. A memorable appearance is not just about the physical!
„X In our society we spend a lot of time and money looking good.
„X In Jesus day women with the means to do it, spent large sums of time and money trying to look good. Vanity is nothing unique to our society.
„X There is nothing wrong with looking good. Some take this passage to mean that we are to just let ourselves go when we belong to Jesus.
„X Notice this passage says to let not your adornment be MERELY external. The word MERELY is supplied by the NASB translators to catch the flavor of what Peter is really saying. He is using a stylist form (Hebraism) to show emphasis. It is the same method used is John 6:27(SLIDE #9) which says: 27¡§Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.¡¨
„X Jesus does not PROHIBIT working for food, but rather making physical food the emphasis of life.
„X Peter is telling the wives (and all of us) that the external should not be the emphasis of our lives.
„X If verse 3 was a prohibition then Peter would be prohibiting the wearing of clothing also.
„X A woman is not only to focus in on the external to win her husband.
SLIDE #10
2. Develop an attractive inner-self.
„X Have you known people who have made through life just on their looks to the point where they never really developed a personality?
„X What happens when the beauty fades? What happens when the chest drops into the drawers or the once full head of hair grays out and falls out?
„X As we take care of the physical we need pay mind to the inner-self.
„X Peter encourages wives to let the hidden person of the heart be attractive.
„X Specifically Peter encourages two points to work on. CLICK #10
Develop a gentle spirit.
„X A gentle spirit is one that is unassuming. It is not characterized by envy, pride, or is bossy.
„X Gentle means power under control. It was used of training horses to be tame. The horse is bigger and stronger than the rider. The horse can throw the rider whenever it wants to, but the horse allows the rider to ride him.
„X A gentle spirit is a patient one that does not blow up at the first sign of trouble.
CLICK #10
Develop a quiet spirit.
„X A quiet spirit is one that is calm, tranquil and does not flash into anger when others speak harshly or behave with a lack of consideration toward them.
„X Our society seems to think that the one who yells the loudest is the one who is strong. Or they think the one who is the biggest jerk is the one who is strongest.
„X I have watched a little of the Apprentice in the past and some of those folks think they are powerful because they can blow up at people.
„X A truly strong powerful person is one who can control themselves and stay calm in the midst of abuse, trouble, or unfair circumstances.
„X The external fades, but the inner beauty is not subject to fading, wrinkling or loss.
„X Peter also points out that the women of the Old Testament followed this course of action and were blessed by it.
Do I care enough to: SLIDE #11
III. HAVE A COMMITTED RESPONSE (6)
SLIDE #12
1. Be committed to doing good.
„X In the Old Testament, Sarah habitually obeyed her husband Abraham. Abraham is the father of he faithful, Sarah is the mother of the faithful.
„X We must care enough to be committed to doing good!
„X Doing good should be the pattern of our life. Do we care enough for lost people to be committed to this?
CLICK #12
2. Know that you can make a difference in the lives of others!
„X We need to understand that we can make a difference in the lives of other people. If you know that, you will not give up.
„X The fact of the matter is this. Wives, if your husband is not a Christian yet, there is a chance he never will be. No matter what you do, that may not change. You will not be held accountable before God for your spouse.
„X With that being said, if a wonderful Christian woman cannot lead her husband to Jesus, probably nothing else will.
„X Never give up. At some point it can all change.
„X My friend Rick at Mexico was like. The preacher before me told me about him. His wife and lovely daughters would come to church most of the time. I would call on Rick to no avail.
„X I suggested to Angie his wife she follow 1 Peter 3:1-6 to the best of her ability.
„X A few years after I left that church, Rick was a deacon in the church.
„X What caused his change of heart? I am sure Angie was a big part of it.
„X Always realize you can make a difference!
CONCLUSION
SLIDE #13
„X I was worried when I came to this section that the focus would be very narrow, but even though it deals with husbands and wives, we can all learn principles to help us reach people for Jesus.
„X Peter writes this so that a Christian woman could win her husband to Christ.
„X The marriage relationship is the most sacred of human relationships. Marriage is wonderful when both spouses are going in the same direction in life.
„X Next week we will look at what Peter tells husbands how to treat their wives.
