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Showing posts with label Christian Spouses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian Spouses. Show all posts

Sunday, June 23, 2019

God's Families

Staying Right At Home

Book of 1 Peter 3:1-12


So far as we have studied the Book of 1 Peter, we have seen how to build our relationship with God the Father. It must begin through God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We must be filled and sealed to redemption by God the Holy Spirit.

It is the Triune God that has brought about all creation.
It is the Triune God that has brought about our salvation.
It is the Triune God that will carry us throughout eternity.

Human reasoning cannot fathom the reasoning around the Triune God but to doubt the existence of our God in 3 persons is to doubt the truth of the Scriptures, for even the Holy Scriptures would not exist without the strength of God in 3 persons which is the truth of God.

Peter has spent a lot of time teaching us how to build upon our relationship with our God and with all the things already considered our relationship with God must include the relationship we have with our family.

After all God is all about family! We are to be the family of God! We are to be the "Bride of Christ"! We are God's children if we accept His own dear Son, God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ!

God is One in regard to essence! God is 3 in regard to persons! We must have understanding and a complete acceptance of this doctrine!

So to continue to see how God builds His family, we need to look to our own family, as the family is to be an example of the doctrine of God!

(Hint: Look at this wife as the Bride of Christ, God the Father as the Husband)

*****1Pe 3:1 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;
1Pe 3:2 While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.

God's family planning is to show us the design of the ultimate family of God. In all things, men and women are created equal except for some bodily functions.

After the man and the woman come together, the woman is to bear the child. This one thing is observed throughout creation.

In reality, in the family there must be a head of the family like the Lord Jesus is the Head of the Church!

As we study this passage, we must understand that the entire theme is giving ourselves to God after He has made us to be a part of His family!

If the Christian wife wants to give herself to God, in doing so she must also submit herself to her own husband in God's design for the family!

Notice that phrase "own husband". God did not want women to think they had to submit to any other husband of someone else!

In reality the Christian wife is to place herself under the authority and the control of her husband, but this is to be as the Bride of Christ is to live under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There are some keys that we must understand.

1Co 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

This family will not work as the Lord describes, unless that husband has submitted himself to Christ, the woman also submitting herself to Christ.

Eph 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Eph 5:24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Eph 5:28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

The main key being, we must all obey the doctrine of God, not the doctrine of this world or the doctrine of some man!

Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

God is building the perfect family, The Lord and the "Bride of Christ". The family upon this earth should resemble the family of God to be a true family.

It is the families that are suffering the most upon this earth.

You know many things are said in trying to stop abortion but "if the men" would follow the Word of God themselves, abortion would cease to exist!

The wife is to be a beautiful example of the "Bride of Christ" and therefore a true witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Php 1:27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
Php 1:28 And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.

What makes the wife to be beautiful to God and therefore the husband?

*****1Pe 3:3 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
1Pe 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a woman trying to do everything she can to look beautiful to her husband, but it is not the way she fixes her hair. It is not adorning herself with gold and it is not trying to find the nicest apparel.

It is the same things that please God!

God looks into the heart of all His children.

A man, if He takes the time to truly look into the heart of a woman, instead of that outside adornment, he will find that wife that will truly please him and who is already pleasing to God!

You see, it is the "Gospel of Jesus Christ that will produce these qualities in that adoring wife that will make her fairer than all others!

It is the Body of Christ that is the Church! Many see the Church as a building, but a building is only the house where the Body of Christ meets to worship God.

It does not take the most beautiful buildings to serve the church for it's not what is on the outside of any house of God that is important, but it is the "heart" of the congregation on the inside that makes the church.

Much money spent on adorning the outside of buildings could be spent on promoting the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Having said that, God does not want to the Church to reside in tents, but nice buildings well equipped to make disciples, is the purpose that should come first!

Remember we are to be good stewards of the tithes and offerings to God!

Will heaven be a place of great adornment? We must trust the Scriptures, but the one thing Heaven will be is perfect.

We have no idea what perfect looks like nor can we describe perfect!

What does the perfect woman of God look like?

A heart given to God, a beautiful ornament of a meek and quiet spirit that is uncorruptable, which when God sees this, He knows the woman has paid a great price to be this way in our evil world.

This is a woman who is noticed. A woman who has this inward holiness, is well worth holding onto but without leaving your first love which must remain the Lord!

A godly woman will not be trying to attract the world to herself, she will be trying to attract the lost to the Lord, and she does this buy first being in submission to the Lord, then in submission to her husband and then to the welfare of her family, not willing to lose any of them to Satan!

Jas 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
Jas 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Isa 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

According to the Lord we can see that holy women of old, as far back as Abraham and Sara had no problem with all these things and they were not slaves to their husbands.

*****1Pe 3:5 For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:
1Pe 3:6 Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.

Again we see the greatest quality of that precious lady is her holiness. Far greater than great riches and beauty!

Beauty fades with age and sickness.

Wealth finds so many ways to disappear.

Grace holds on to eternal life and even God blesses such a woman.

Remember Jesus possesses Heaven and Earth, but He also had a mother!

When a godly gracious man meets a godly gracious woman in the love of God, a family has begun!

Notice Peter does not mention women of the world, but some women who already had their names written down in the Scriptures.

If a woman has become a Christian after her marriage, then there is a very good chance she could win her husband over to the Lord!

If a woman is Christian along with her husband, then she will be in subjection to her husband.

Col 3:18 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.

It is by Sarah that the nation of Israel was formed.

It is by Sara that we can have such a godly example.

Her daughters would be all those who have followed her in the examples of godliness.

When Peter looked at these things, he could see nothing in the world that could resemble the family of Abraham and Sara!

Abraham was the father of all believers:

Rom_4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

Sara also had great faith and mother of all wives of holiness.

Heb 11:11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.

Gal 3:7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. (By his wife Sara)

Men never get off the hook with God, yes women were to subject themselves to the man, but God holds the man accountable for the family.

Watch that word "likewise".

*****1Pe 3:7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

The Bible pulls no punches with the husband. Each husband is to live with his own wife, not some other woman, and he is to understand and honor her with the highest esteem!

This same husband as a father, is to see that his children are taught the Word of God.

Isa 54:13 And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.

Notice that the man is to dwell with his wife. This is not just living together, but it covers all the things of married life!

The man is to dwell with his wife, and not anyone else, he is not to know anyone else other than a godly friend.

He is to dwell with her in purity, righteousness and holiness!

To dwell means he is not to be gone all the time but must reserve some time just for her!

He must set aside some time for his wife. Remember all the time of the Lord is spent in concern for His Bride!

He is to be a close companion not a faraway companion.

He is the leader of a godly team, he and his wife!

Obviously, this is not to do away with individuality, but this is never a problem between two loving people.

It is all these things a man should consider before he even takes a woman to be his wife!

Mar 10:6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
Mar 10:7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;
Mar 10:8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.
Mar 10:9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Outside the family there are still things the man and woman of God must do.

*****1Pe 3:8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
1Pe 3:9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

Maybe the greatest problem with Christianity, is the fact that we are not all of one mind.

The Apostle Peter was not the only one who taught this principle by the Holy Spirit, so was the Apostle Paul.

Rom 15:5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
Rom 15:6 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The church is to be unified in one thing in particular, we are all to be in one mind concerning the "Gospel" of Jesus Christ and just so we are all not to forget it, Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Church and the Church is to teach the Doctrine of the Apostles and the Prophets.

It is easy to see how the mainline denominations have strayed from this truth!

Where is the unity and the compassion? Many a church now act like each church is the enemy of the other.

What happened to love and be loved as brethren?

What happened to being pitiful, which is being sympathetic and courteous?

We are all to know, that it is evil to go against the written Word of God and it is even more evil for anybody who have chosen to go against the Scriptures to bring evil upon those who adhere to the Word of God!

Any, body of believers that have accepted the leaven of those who teach that the marriage between one man and one woman is now meaningless and marriage can be between anyone including animals, are a joke to the truth of God.

We cannot allow the courts and the politicians to determine what a godly marriage is to be!

All those who call themselves Christians, but allow babies to be murdered (yes, I said murdered) in the womb, saying they have some kind of right to do so, are a joke to the truth of God!

Contrariwise, we have forgotten that we are to be a blessing to one another, and we are not to allow the world, nor the things of this world, inside the Church.

What happened to the spirit of oneness to the truth of God?

What happened to a repenting soul knowing they have sinned!

Sin is sin because the Scriptures say so, it is not open to discussion to politicians nor the world, nor world governments!

There are no blessings to those who toss the Word of God out, there is only a place called Hell, which itself will be tossed into the "Burning Lake of God"!

Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

We cannot teach the Word of God properly without mentioning the sin in our world, but the true church must take a stand in this evil world and those who do so, must be likeminded teaching the truth of God and still showing the truth of God!

God says we must not forget to hate evil, and there is to be no compromise with evil!

*****1Pe 3:10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:
1Pe 3:11 Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.

What is a life worth living upon this earth?

Psa 34:11 Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Psa 34:12 What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?
Psa 34:13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
Psa 34:14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.

What does God want us to clearly understand, before we allow the world to influence the Church?

Rom 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Rom 1:19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

While we are upon this earth, we learn the principles of life and the Word of God directs us to that life that is a blessing to our God, if we listen to what He says.

Life has never been about, "do what we want to anytime we want to"!

Life is about knowing there is an enmity that has given us this life and His purpose is for us to learn about Him and His character and His truths and then, life as He describes and then a precious future that is a life that we cannot even imagine!

That word eschew means, that we are to do everything we can do stay away from evil!

To avoid doing evil ourselves and taking no part in the evils of the world, but also the evils that have entered into many a place that at one time were true houses of God, but are now no more than a platform for the Devil to broadcast his definition of life, which is a dead life or not a life at all but being in the slave market of Satan!

If we will avoid evil as bests we can, do good and never bad, seek the peace of God and all the blessings that come with a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and ensue it, then we can know life here as God expects us to know it.

By the way Peter used that word “ensue” which means to follow these things with the full force of our being!

We are never to be a bunch of wimps in our Christian stance before this world and before all evil!

There is a very good reason we are to be this way in this life!

*****1Pe 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

Jehovah God is the source of all life!

As the righteous, we have the true love of God, and to all His commandments, and not allow ourselves to be drawn into anything contrary to the revealed Word of God!

There are and never will be any revisions to the Word God given to the writers of the Scriptures.

There are no lost books of the Bible.

Remember God gave these words to the writers, "so they are the actual words of our Creator"!

2Ti 3:16 "All scripture" is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Those who love the Lord, can only be perfect in the eyes of God by learning and loving the Holy Ghost inspired Word of God!

Then there are those who intentionally do evil!

All of us are capable to do evil in most cases by ignorance, but those who intentionally live a life of evil, rejecting the Word of God, will find that the Lord God Jehovah is against them as long as they have chosen this life!

What does God say again?

Eze 15:7 And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.
Eze 15:8 And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord GOD.

Psalms 34:16 The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

Psa 9:16 The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.

God knows most of those who are evil will never read these things, so they are written for our assurance but also for our admonition.

We need to serve the Lord, but we must serve the Lord according to what He has taught us!

Remember the things God write to us are also His promises!

Amen

Let us all pray!