For the ninth week of our Exiles series in 1st Peter, we went back to look at the first seven verses of chapter three that we didn’t cover last week. In 1 Peter 3:1-7, Peter writes to the exiles about how the way they treat their wives or husbands should look different than the world that they live in.
Michael started off by giving us 6 helpful things that submission IS NOT when talking about Biblical a wife’s submission to her spouse.
1.) Submission is not about women submitting to ALL men
2.) Submissions does not mean mindlessly agreeing with everything your husband says
3.) Submission does not mean avoiding efforts to change a husband
4.) Submissions does not mean following your husband into sin
5.) Submission is not about personality type
6.) Submission is not based on interiority
Peter displays to the exiles that the Christian wife actually has a lot of power in the dynamic of the relationship with her husband. Through the way the wife submits, affirms, and helps her husband, she empowers her relationship by remembering the following attributes that she carries:
1. The Christian wife is life-giving to her husband
2. The Christian wife is life-changing for her husband
3. The Christian wife’s hope is in God, not her appearance
Likewise, Peter speaks into the husband’s role in a gospel-centered marriage. He gives the husband these four direct points to instruct them in how to better care for and lead their wives:
1. The Christian husband should honor his wife
2. The Christian husband seeks to understand his wife
3. The Christian husband uses strength to protect his wife.
4. The Christian husband prayers for and with his wife.
In a world where marriages begin and end at the drop of a hat, Christian marriages have the chance to show off what the world is looking for by showing off Christ in the midst of the marriages themselves. Husbands don’t belong to themselves, and wives don’t belong to themselves. We all belong to Jesus. Let’s pursue marriages like these that can be word-less sermons showing off the wisdom of God
Songs this Week:
Praise the Lord Ye Heaven Adore Him- Young Oceans
My All in Thee- Young Oceans
We Sing as One- Young Oceans
In Christ Alone- Mars Hill Church