The Heart Of Healthy Wife Series

OPEN: A 2 year old girl had a fascination with the story of “Cinderella.” One day, when the girl came across a photo of her mother and father on their wedding day, she got all excited. “Mommy got married just like Cinderella!” “Yes honey,” the mother answered. “just like Cinderella.” Then there was a long pause as the little girl looked intently at the picture. “But Mommy, you didn’t marry a prince. You married Daddy.”

Even a little girl recognized that her daddy wasn’t a prince. He was just daddy.

While the prince in the Cinderella story was a dream come true, most MEN aren’t. They are NOT dreams come true… they’re just men. They have weaknesses and shortcomings just like everyone else. They make mistakes and they forget things, and they even do foolish and even hurtful things on occasion. Of course, women are the same as men in that… they have their problems too.

And because both men and women have shortcomings you’ll hear some men will say: “My wife don’t deserve to be loved like the Bible says. My wife does this wrong… or THAT wrong. And I’ll love her when she straightens up and behaves as she should.”

In the same way, women will look at a passage like ours today and they’ll say “Be subject to my husband? I don’t think so! He certainly doesn’t deserve to be treated THAT way.”

Now, why do I tell you that? I tell you that because… folks too often have the false impression that God is telling women what their husbands should be like, and telling men what their wives should be like. ACTUALLY, that's not true. Instead, God tells men what THEY should be like no matter what their wives do. And He tells women what THEY should be like no matter what their husbands do.

Last week we focused on what men should strive to be like. They should love and protect their wives, and they should view their wives as a special creation, a gift from God. That’s what a healthy husband should look like. No matter what his wife is like, that is what a healthy husband should do.

Now, this Sunday we’re looking at what the Bible says about a healthy wife. And once again, it doesn’t matter what a husband is like, this is what healthy wife should DO. And our passage starts out this way I Peter 3:1 where it says: “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”

Be SUBJECT to your husband? Seriously? That doesn’t set well with some women, and this “submitting thing” makes this a hard passage to get up any enthusiasm for. And yet… this passage is very clear that that:

Wives should “let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 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. I Peter 3:4-6

YEP… that’s not a real popular idea these days. And yet, God is saying: “This is the kind of behavior I desire in heathy wives.”

Now, this passage describes a woman --- who pleases God. And it says a woman who pleases God should submit/ and be subject to her husband. So, the key question is this: What does that mean? What does it mean to “be subject” to a husband?

Well according to my Greek Lexicon (dictionary): “Subjection is a translation of the Greek word “hupotasso.” “Hupotasso” is a Greek military word meaning “to arrange [troop divisions] in a military fashion under the command of a leader". In non-military use, it was "a voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming responsibility, and carrying a burden". The Greek word “hupo-tasso” is made up of two words: “Hupo” means “under”; “Tasso” means “authority”.

Well that’s NOT going to make us real popular with the feminists. But whether anyone likes it or not, that’s what the word means. It means to allow yourself to be under authority.

For example, when Jesus was 12 years old, He disappeared for a bit. His family found him in the Temple – listening to and asking questions of teachers. And when Mary and Joseph found Him, they took Him home, and we’re told… “He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was SUBMISSIVE to them.” (Luke 2:51) Jesus was God in the flesh… and yet he allowed himself to be under Mary and Joseph’s authority.