June 27, 2004
Service Theme - "Our God Is Peace"
1 Peter 3:1-12
How to Get Along on the Playground
I. Introduction
A. Illustration - Bishop Joe James said, (NEW SLIDE) "The freedom we have in Christ was made believable to an unbelieving world through the Love that was expressed in and through a healthy Biblical Community" (as cited on SermonCentral.com).
B. Context - Bishop James is right. It was the love that poured out of the early church that make it credible. And that love centered around a principle Jesus spent a lot of time talking about: unity. Unity and peacemaking are the two characteristics that heavily mark the books of the New Testament. Let's read what Peter has to say about these two principles in 1 Peter 3:1-12, and I'm reading from the New Living.
II. Scripture Passage
A. 1 Peter 3:1-12 (from the New Living) - In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands, even those who refuse to accept the Good News. Your godly lives will speak to them better than any words. They will be won over 2 by watching your pure, godly behavior. (NEW SLIDE) 3 Don't be concerned about the outward beauty that depends on fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. 4 You should be known for the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. (NEW SLIDE) 5 That is the way the holy women of old made themselves beautiful. They trusted God and accepted the authority of their husbands. 6 For instance, Sarah obeyed her husband, Abraham, when she called him her master. You are her daughters when you do what is right without fear of what your husbands might do. (NEW SLIDE) 7 In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat her with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God's gift of new life. If you don't treat her as you should, your prayers will not be heard. (NEW SLIDE) 8 Finally, all of you should be of one mind, full of sympathy toward each other, loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds. 9 Don't repay evil for evil. Don't retaliate when people say unkind things about you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God wants you to do, and he will bless you for it. (NEW SLIDE) 10 For the Scriptures say, "If you want a happy life and good days, keep your tongue from speaking evil, and keep your lips from telling lies. 11 Turn away from evil and do good. Work hard at living in peace with others. (NEW SLIDE) 12 The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil."
III. God Loves Peacemakers
A. Peter spends the first seven verses of this passage addressing the one relationship that can do more damage to unity and peace in families and churches than any other - the husband-wife relationship. John Alvin is fond of saying that it takes healthy families to make a healthy church, and he's right. One of the biggest causes of struggle in the church is poor marriage relationships. And poor marriage relationships are caused by either partner or both having a poor relationship with Jesus Christ. (NEW SLIDE) Poor devotional habits kill a person, marriage, and church spiritually and make it impossible to build peace and unity within those relationships.
B. So Peter picks up where he left off in chapter two. He says that in light of everything Christ did to make Himself nothing on our behalf to rescue us and to be our model, this is what we should do. He starts with that critical marriage relationship, although many of these character qualities are appropriate for all women. Peter writes that wives have to accept the authority of their husbands, even if they aren't Christians. That's hard, and especially because the spirit of our world exalts and glorifies women and says that no woman should ever submit to any man. It's tough to argue with some of their logic - we men haven't done the greatest job using the authority we've been given to benefit our wives. But more on that later. Our world says, "Woman, you will submit to no man." Verse one says, "In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands." But Peter doesn't just bark an order and say, "Live with it!" (NEW SLIDE) He says that the godly influence of a Christian woman accepting the authority of her husband is powerful and life changing. Peter says that pure, godly behavior will win out in the long run.
C. Then he goes on to define the attitudes that will shape that kind of behavior. Verse 3 - Don't be concerned about the outward beauty that depends on fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. 4 You should be known for the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. 5 That is the way the holy women of old made themselves beautiful. They trusted God and accepted the authority of their husbands. 6 For instance, Sarah obeyed her husband, Abraham, when she called him her master. You are her daughters when you do what is right without fear of what your husbands might do. The spirit of our world focuses so much on outward appearances that it's really hard for Christians to remember that what's on the inside is most important. The Roman culture of Peter's day was similar - a very sensual culture complete with temple prostitutes and every kind of open immorality imaginable. What Peter has written by the power of the Holy Spirit remains as true for us today as it was for Christians in the day it was written. And it's such a powerful contrast to our culture that it's easy for us to sometimes misread what Peter has written. He tells us that wives should be known "for the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God." The Greek calls it the incorruptible controlled strength and quiet spirit. What an awesome word picture! God isn't calling wives to be shy and demur and speechless in the corner. He calls them to speak and act from the inner peace and maturity that the Spirit has built into their hearts. The inner strength brings the acceptance of authority and the speaking of words of grace and love. (NEW SLIDE) You don't have to be silent in the corner to be a woman who pleases God. You just have to be the person God created you to be, with all of your personality and temperament energized by the power of the Holy Spirit and radiating forth from you. And that is a very empowering image compared to what the world has to offer. Allow God to work on who you are inside, and you'll be just as beautiful and effective as wives of old, even called a daughter of Sarah. Doing right that is based on being right with God always wins out.
D. Okay, guys, we've heard what God wants our wives to be, so what about us? Verse seven - In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat her with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God's gift of new life. If you don't treat her as you should, your prayers will not be heard. Great, we think. Not anywhere near as much stuff as for the ladies! But Peter hits us right where we live. It's easy for us as men in our culture to pick up on the macho, independent, I'm-in-charge attitude. It's easy for us to begin to think that if our wives are supposed to accept our authority, then we'll rule the roost with an iron fist and do everything our way! Do you remember what Jesus' attitude was during His time on earth? Peter wrote about it in the passage we went through last week, and Paul explains it even further in Philippians 2:5-8. (NEW SLIDE) Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. 7 He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. 8 And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal's death on a cross. Jesus honored and respected us by being our servant even to the point of dying for us. (NEW SLIDE) We are to honor and respect our wives and treat them with understanding. God says she is our equal in Christ, our joint heir with Him, and so whatever we do should be done with her best interests at heart. And while we know it's difficult for us guys to understand women, we're called to make every effort to understand them and to treat them with loving respect. If we don't, God doesn't hear our prayers. The tense in the Greek indicates that He cuts them off and doesn't even give our prayers the time of day if we don't treat our wives with honor, respect, and understanding.
E. So Peter's dealt with wives and husbands. Last week we looked at how he dealt with those in authority and with slaves. But in verse eight, he turns the tables on all of us. Finally, all of you should be of one mind, full of sympathy toward each other, loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds. 9 Don't repay evil for evil. Don't retaliate when people say unkind things about you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God wants you to do, and he will bless you for it. 10 For the Scriptures say, "If you want a happy life and good days, keep your tongue from speaking evil, and keep your lips from telling lies. 11 Turn away from evil and do good. Work hard at living in peace with others. 12 The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil." Remember how we talked about the fact that unity and peacemaking are marks of those whose relationships are healthy and right? Then we talked about how Peter started first with wives and husbands, helping them understand how to achieve unity and peace in the home. But now he tells all of us what we need to hear if we're going to achieve unity and peace in the church. (NEW SLIDE) He says that all of us have got to be of one mind, united in purpose. The Greek indicates an inward unity, not one that we can just pretend we have. If it's just an act, then when the pressure's on we'll revert back to our old unhealthy disunifying habits. So he says to be united in mind, and to be full of sympathy for each other. The Greek says to be "sharing in feeling." It's easy to sympathize with someone who is in obvious pain, but much more difficult to sympathize with those whose wounds and/or illnesses run much deeper. In fact, it's so difficult most of us just stop trying because we can't quite figure out what to say or how to act. But Peter says, in the words of Nike, "just do it!"
F. Then he tells us to be "loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds." I love how the New Living puts that phrase. It spells out very well what the Greek puts as "compassionate tenderness," "brotherly love," and "humble minded," knitting them together into the beautiful truth that Peter is trying to convey. (NEW SLIDE) He says, "If you want to have the unity and peace that Christ has commanded you to cultivate, this is the price of admission." United in mind, sharing in feeling with each other, loving each other with tender hearts and humble minds. No room for selfish pride there. On top of that, Peter writes, "No retaliation when people hurt you." As we talked about last week, that's tough! But we also get God's blessing if we obey this command. God will reward us for it when we get to heaven, and He will reward our church here on earth with the unity and peace we long for.
G. Peter finishes this passage by quoting Psalm 34:12-16. In a nutshell, this is what it says. Don't speak evil and tell lies. Turn your back on doing evil and do good. Work hard to live at peace with others. Why? God watches both those who do right and those who do wrong. Do right and your prayers will be heard. Do evil and God will turn His back on you. Pretty basic and straightforward, isn't it? But notice Peter put all the attitude stuff before the doing stuff. (NEW SLIDE) What matters most is what's inside matters most, because eventually what is inside will determine how you act outside.
H. Illustration - Bill Hybels writes, The mark of community--true biblical unity--is not the absence of conflict but the presence of a reconciling spirit (as cited on PreachingToday.com). Notice the focus on the inward spirit. Larry Crabb, in The Safest Place on Earth, wrote, (NEW SLIDE) "The difference between spiritual and unspiritual community is not whether conflict exists, but is rather in our attitude toward it and our approach to handling it. When conflict is seen as an opportunity to draw more fully on spiritual resources, we have the makings of spiritual community" (as cited on SermonCentral.com). Both these men are telling us that what's going on inside even before conflict arises will impact how well we grow healthy relationships with one another and how well we allow unity and peace to fill our church and our lives. And what exactly is it going to take before this unity and peace will flourish? Peter's given us some great truths to apply to our lives, but how do we develop the kind of relationship with God that allows us to apply them? Prayer. When we want God so badly that we pray, then it will happen.
I. Illustration - E. M. Blaiklock wrote, During the liberation of Palestine in WWI, a combined force of British, Australian, and New Zealand soldiers was closely pursuing the Turks as they retreated from the desert. As the allied troops moved northward past Beersheba they began to outdistance their water-carrying camel train. When the water ran out, their mouths got dry, their heads ached, and they became dizzy and faint. Eyes became bloodshot, lips swelled and turned purple, and mirages became common. They knew that if they did not make the wells of Sheriah by nightfall, thousands of them would die - as hundreds already had done. Literally fighting for their lives, they managed to drive the Turks from Sheriah. As water was distributed from the great stone cisterns, the more able-bodied were required to stand at attention and wait for the wounded and those who would take guard duty to drink first. It was four hours before the last man had his drink. During that time the men stood no more than twenty feet from thousands of gallons of water, to drink of which had been their consuming passion for many agonizing days. It is said that one of the officers who was present reported, (NEW SLIDE) "I believe that we all learned our first real Bible lesson on the march from Beersheba to Sheriah Wells. If such were our thirst for God, for righteousness and for His will in our lives, a consuming, all-embracing, preoccupying desire, how rich in the fruit of the Spirit would we be?" (as cited on SermonCentral.com). And I would add that if we were to ever thirst for God with that kind of desire, then we will pray and we will be filled with unity and peace. That is what God longs for. What is our response going to be?
IV. Conclusion
A. Please bow your heads and close your eyes out of respect for God and for each other's privacy. I know we've been given a lot to think about this morning, but right now let's take a few quiet moments to listen to God's Spirit speak to our hearts about where each one of us needs to go from here.
B. What's God been speaking to your heart? If He's told you He wants to make some changes in you, please take a few moments and commit to those changes right now. If you'd like to come up to the altars to pray and make that commitment, feel free. But let's spend a few moments responding to what He's been speaking to our hearts.
C. If you'd like me to pray for you this week about a commitment you've made, circle the "U" on your communication card before you put it into the offering during the closing song, and I'll pray for you. Let's pray together.
