Beauty and the Duty of a Christian Wife

Introduction: The Sobering Reality of Death and Judgment

0:04 It's a sobering thing to be reminded that each of us will draw one parting breath. It's appointed unto men once to die. May God help us. God help me to preach in the consciousness that I will draw one last breath.

0:26 And that I'm preaching to men and women and boys and girls who likewise will draw one last breath. And then your state for eternity is fixed. Let us pray that God will help us.

0:45 Our Father, we acknowledge that we are sobered by the fresh reminder that it is indeed appointed unto men once to die and that after this comes judgment. Help me, O God, to preach with the shadow of that awesome day and with the outlines of death and the grave before the eyes of my own soul. Help every man. Help every man, every woman, every boy, every girl to attend to your word as a creature heading for death and for judgment.

1:22 O Lord, we would not trifle in holy things, but we would come to them with due sobriety and fixation of mind and heart, befitting poor, weak creatures of the dust. Come to us and aid us, we plead. In Jesus' name, amen.

Recap: The Defined Duty and Beauty of a Christian Wife (1 Peter 3:1-4)

1:48 Let us turn again tonight to 1 Peter chapter 3, 1 Peter chapter 3. And I shall read verses 1 through 6 in your hearing, 1 Peter 3 and verse 1. In like manner, you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that even if any obey not the word, they may without a word be gained by the behavior of their wives, beholding your case. Or holy behavior coupled with fear.

2:25 Whose adorning, let it not be the outward adorning of braiding the hair and of wearing of jewels of gold or of putting on apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptible apparel of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For, after this manner aforetime, the holy women also who hoped in God adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands. As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose children you now are, if you do well, and are not put in fear by any terror. But we come again to this portion of the word of God in which we have set before us, as I indicated this morning, two major...

3:20 two major units of thought. In verses 1 to 4, Peter sets before us what I have called the fundamental duty and beauty of the Christian wife defined. The fundamental duty and beauty of a Christian wife defined. And then in verses 5 and 6, we have this fundamental duty and beauty of Christian wives illustrated.

3:48 Now, in the opening up of the book, we have this fundamental duty and beauty of a Christian wife. Now, in the opening up of the book, we have this fundamental duty and beauty of a Christian wife is used to describe the beauty of a Christian wife. So, in Zimmerman's view fromdeckGol's word this morning, we directed ourselves to verses 3 and 4, in which the beauty of a Christian wife is defined for us. That beauty is defined in terms of the place of the its residence, it is the hidden man of the heart.

The Illustration of Duty and Beauty: Many Examples Identified (1 Peter 3:5)

4:11 The essence of that beauty, it is the adornment of a meek and a quiet spirit, and the worth of that beauty it is in itself incorruptible or imperishable, and in the sight of God it is of great value. Now as we come to verses 5 and 6 tonight, we're going to consider this duty and beauty of Christian wives illustrated. Once Peter has defined the wife's duty in terms of submission to her husband, her beauty by way of this striking contrast, not the outward but the inward, Peter then illustrates this duty and beauty from Old Testament examples. And in opening up verses 5 and 6, we'll do so under these three headings. First of all, the many examples identified, verse 5, and then a specific example highlighted, verse 6a, and then a comforting conclusion drawn, verse 6b. First of all then, the many examples identified.

5:25 Now Peter could have stopped at verse 4 and nothing would have been lacking in the fundamental instruction given. He has identified the fundamental duty of the wives. In like manner, you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands. He's taken up worst-case scenario, possible exception scenario.

5:47 What about the husband who does not obey the word, who manifests a resolute, determined insubordination to the law and to the gospel? Does that wife need to be submissive to that husband? Peter says yes. That even if any obey not the word, they may without a word be gained by the behavior of the wives. Then he describes the true beauty. What constitutes the beauty of a Christian wife? He's described it in that very striking contrast. It is not a beauty that can be pasted on, hung on, painted on, but it is a beauty that finds its residence in the hidden man of the heart, and its outstanding characteristics are the meek, the gentle, and the quiet spirit. The instruction is complete in terms of Peter's purpose. But Peter goes on in verses 5 and

6:46 6b. He says, And why does he do this? Well, I'm sure Peter never heard the saying that one picture is worth a thousand words, but he understood the principle embodied in that little aphorism. Much of our Bibles is history and biography, as we are seeing in our Old Testament reading, because it is in history and biography that we not only have the record of God's march through history, accomplishing his redemptive purposes, but all along the way he is giving us the stuff of living, breathing, and mentally touchable examples. And that's the great benefit of biography and of history. We see the principles of a godly life, the principles of a life of faith in these living, breathing, and I like to think of them as mentally touchable illustrations. We can't touch them with our hands, but our minds can touch them, often in a way that they cannot touch and grasp abstract principles or precepts stated in isolation from living examples of those precepts embodied in flesh and blood. Therefore, after setting forth the Christian wife's duty and beauty, Peter says in essence, what I'm setting before you

8:13 is no novelty, nor is it an accommodation. To some current sociological situations in which to validate the gospel, I will bend what are the abiding norms to the present state. No, Peter immediately upon setting forth the duty and the beauty of Christian wives says in essence, this has been the stuff of the duty and beauty of godly wives throughout the whole history of the people of God. And so he uses this language, for after this manner aforetime. And that translation aforetime is the translation of a very little four-letter Greek word that points to indefinite time in the past. And we know from his reference to Sarah, it goes back as far as Genesis. And we have reason to believe that Peter is referring to the whole of Old Testament history and biography. And he is saying to these wives living in the world, they are not going to be able to be called out of paganism in the first century in Asia Minor, called out of paganism in the Greco-Roman world. That to which I now direct you as your duty, be in submission to your

9:27 husbands. What is your true beauty? Not the outward, but the inward. This is not something bound by current cultural norms. This is not something that grows uniquely out of the gospel.

9:39 This has always been true throughout the whole history of God's dealings. With his people. For after this manner aforetime, the holy women also. And so the many examples are identified specifically now in terms of two things. Their character and their conduct.

10:03 Notice how he identifies them, first of all, as to their character. For after this manner aforetime, the holy women also, who hoped and believed in God, were not going to be in God adorned themselves. As Peter wants to put the spotlight upon these many examples to be found in Old Testament biblical history, he first of all draws our attention to their character. They are described as holy women who hoped in God. Now what does it mean when he describes them as holy women? Well, they were women set apart unto God. By virtue of God's saving mercy to them in grace and in power. Some, such as Sarah, were holy women before the formation of the Jewish nation. God called that nation a holy nation.

11:02 It was uniquely set apart unto God by the intervention of his sovereign grace and his covenantal commitments to that nation. But long before there was a nation, there was a Sarah, who was a holy woman. And holiness is not just what we might call the national holiness of a woman who happened to be within the holy nation. It is a holiness that has parallels in the experiential holiness of these very women to whom Peter is writing. Some of them are found, such as Sarah and Rebecca, before the constitution of the nation. Some are found under that nation when it was established in the land of Israel. Some are found under the constitution of the nation. would include a woman like Hannah, who is introduced to us as one who is going up to the stated feast when the nation was established in the promised land.

11:56 Some would include a woman like Esther, who is out of the land when the people of God are under judgment and in exile for their sin. But she is a holy woman who manifests some of these qualities. And so the specific manifestations of their holiness are trans-cultural. They are supra-cultural.

12:20 These holy women are holy women over a long period of time in varying cultural and religious settings, and Peter can point to them as women who have this common denominator. They are holy women. Women who have been set apart unto God by His saving grace through His faithfulness to His covenant to save a people for Himself. But they are also described as those who were hoping in God.

12:52 And Peter uses a form and a tense of this verb, to hope, that points to this as the prevailing disposition of their hearts. They were holy women who were continually hoping in God. At the root of their holiness was their hoping. Now this term, hope, as we've seen when we've encountered it earlier in Peter's letter, does not mean something for which we have a fond wish.

13:23 I hope to see you next week. I hope you will come over to see me. I have a strong desire. I have a fond wish.

13:30 No. Hope in the Bible is confident expectation of a divinely promised blessing. And this is terminology for women who were women of faith. Women who would have been, included, included in the list of those given to us in Hebrews chapter 11.

13:50 Women who were aware of God's gracious covenant and His promise to send a deliverer. Women who had been acquainted with God's first gospel promise in Genesis 3 and verse 15. The flowering of that promise as it was given to Abraham and the building upon it until you find such people described at the time our Lord comes, people such as Simeon, Zechariah, Elizabeth, and other godly men and women who lived in the hope of God's redemption. Who were living in expectation of the redemption of His people.

14:33 And so when Peter wants to identify these many examples, he focuses first of all upon their character. And what we need to understand is, as we see this, is to recognize that though there are many additional privileges and much additional light to you who are women under the new covenant, yet the bottom line of what constitutes a godly woman is the same in every epoch of redemption. Godly women are women who can be called holy women who are hoping in God. Women who, in virtue of commitment to the God of covenant grace and promise, lay hold of His promises which in Jesus Christ are yes and amen to us. And so we're reminded again that the kind of women that Peter is pointing us to in the Old Testament were not this way because of anything inherently good in them. They did not become this way because they went to some self-help seminar on how to be a good woman. On how to be a good wife.

15:46 They were women who were holy and they were holy because they came to hope in the gracious promises of God's redemption. Bottom line is, you can't be this kind of woman not only after Christ has come and after the gospel's been proclaimed, but at any point in human history. There is a unity in the spiritual experience of every godly wife. She is a holy, holy woman who hopes in God.

The Conduct of Holy Women: Adornment and Subjection

16:17 But having directed our attention to their character, he then identifies and focuses upon their conduct. And these whom he sets forth as an example, with respect to their conduct, two things are said about them. Look at it in the text. For after this manner aforetime, the holy women also who hoped in God, two things, adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands.

16:49 What are the two things said about their conduct? Well, number one, they adorned themselves with the feminine beauty that Peter's just described. For after this manner, who does in this way, these holy women who hoped in God adorn themselves. I'm telling you women to adorn yourselves with a beauty that grows out of the work of God in the hidden man of the heart, this is no new thing.

17:16 I point you back to the Old Testament history and to the biography, and in so doing, I'm pointing you to women who in their conduct were embodying the very thing to which I now direct you. They adorned themselves with true feminine beauty. And it's an imperfect verb. They were continually dressing themselves up in this kind of beauty.

17:42 And while the record, and I, I challenge some of you, I threw out a little tweaker this morning about Rebecca. And I did some more reading about Sarah. And I would challenge you to go back and read the accounts of these godly women. And you will see that when I asserted this morning they were not doughty and frumpish and Quaker looking.

18:02 Yet they focused upon the inner beauty of the heart. That's validated again and again. Let me again throw out another little mental tweaker.

18:11 When Abraham's afraid going into strange territory that people will say, you see, and he does this twice in Genesis 12 and Genesis 20. The beauty of Sarah, he could have said, look, just let the desert dust get into your hair and don't wash your hair and have a good case of the greases overlaid with dust. And let the stuff get caked on your face and don't bother to wash. And no one would look at you.

18:32 You'd look like an old hag.

18:35 But apparently Abraham has a sense that it is no part of godliness to have his wife be a frumpy old hag in order to preserve her from the lustful, glances and desires of some heathen leaders. Now what he does is wrong. And Sarah is wrong for entering into that lie and in a sense being an Old Testament Ananias and Sapphira though the sin was not as great. They were in cahoots in that matter of deception and they did it twice.

19:07 And they passed on the example to their son Isaac and he ends up doing it. In that she's not to be followed. But they adorn themselves with true feminine beauty that does not mean I say that they became dowdy and frumpish. No.

19:22 But they exemplified these graces that Peter has been talking about. Do you want to know what it means to be a wife in subjection to your own husband and to give yourself to this adorning that is not primarily outward but inward the meek and quiet spirit? Go back to these women these holy women who hoped in God for they were continually adorning themselves imprecisely. This way.

19:48 And then the second thing he says about their conduct they were in subjection to their own husbands. What Peter commands in verse 1 of chapter 3 he now says they exemplified in their lives and he uses an exact replication of the verb in the same structure whereas in chapter 3 in verse 1 it has the pressure of the imperative of 2.13 that same verb here it's what the students of the language have called a historical heiress. It is pointing to the fact that the overall pattern of their lives was one of subjection to their own husbands.

20:31 So if you want to know what that subjection means you go back and study the life of Sarah and we'll see several examples just again to draw out I trust your interest to study the record but Peter's confident that in saying to a predominantly Gentile congregation many of them perhaps with very little if any knowledge of the Old Testament acquaint yourself with Old Testament biography particularly you wives acquaint yourself with the holy women who hoped in God because they exemplify this adorning and this subjection and you see how he brings together the two things that he embodied in his instruction in verses 1 to 4 he said be subject verse 1 and he said have the right kind of beauty verses 3 and 4 and now he brings the two together this is why I have said in giving a title to the message here we have the duty and beauty of Christian wives illustrated because of these women he says they adorned themselves with this kind of beauty and they exemplified godly submission to their husbands now this tells us I trust that you and I must read the scriptures not only in the Bible not only looking to see the face of our savior the footprints of our gracious God marching through history and accomplishing his purposes ultimately to sum up all things in Christ

21:59 but we are to read the scriptures looking for examples and patterns of godliness and you women in particular when reading the Old Testament don't overlook the women they may not be before us in as prominent a place of dramatic leadership as the Gideons and the Baraks and the Samson's of Holy Scripture but they are there for us to see them to look at them may I say to you girls don't get your models for femininity from the TV from popular magazines and don't get your models from contemporary Christian music artists they ape the world to an extent that is disgusting to the vast majority of them they are sensuous in their appearance in their demeanor and I'm not surprised when some of the notorious ones end up in adulterous relationships and broken marriages kids don't take your models from them go to your Bible and ask God to show you from your Bible what it means to be a godly woman well then we've seen first of all the many examples identified in terms of their character and their character and then in terms of their conduct now secondly there is a specific example highlighted a specific example highlighted

A Specific Example Highlighted: Sarah's Obedience and Respect (1 Peter 3:6a)

23:26 verse 6a as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord now who is this example that's question number one well it is Sarah this very unusual prominent woman and she's a fascinating woman the Bible does not overlook her form at some points she was a very pushy woman she said there's a promise Abraham Lord Lord Abraham however she called him that day and it's not getting fulfilled and we've got to get on with it now I've got a handmaid you make her your concubine and let's help God's promise along here and the scripture tells us that Abraham obeyed Sarah there was a temporary role reversal he should have said woman I appreciate your concern but God will give the promised seed in his way and we don't need to help him by carnal means I believe Sarah should have graciously reared back on her high heels when Abraham said hey let's come up with a scheme to protect your your virtue when we go into strange territory and these kings who like well arranged flesh and who can get the best in the land they're going to see you she must have been a stunning beauty he said I'm afraid and sure enough when the king cast his eye on her he said I'd like her for one of my wives she should have said Abraham

24:55 I appreciate your desire to protect but surely my beloved Lord Abraham this is not God's way and she should have graciously and out of biblical principle resisted his chicanery but the Bible doesn't gloss over the sins and the failures of Abraham but he sets her before us focusing upon her virtues and surely brethren we learn a vital lesson in that James says in many things we all offend and isn't it amazing how we can overlook the virtues of our brothers and sisters but let them step aside in one area and we're prepared to put the spotlight on it not only in our own minds but with our tongues as we interact with others I never cease to be amazed when I read the life of David in my Old Testament reading and realize all of the failures recorded of that man of God and yet the scripture says of him he wholly followed the Lord except in the matter of Uriah except in the matter of Uriah the scripture records many of David's foibles and his sins God is a lot more gracious with his sinning people than we often are with one another and isn't this true that he would by the Holy Spirit through Peter after giving this broad stroke many examples pointer these holy women aforetime he focuses

26:25 on this particular woman as Sarah and I only say those things because I know some of you don't have a lot of familiarity with the biblical records and I don't want you to be discouraged if you start in in Genesis chapter 12 with the history of Abraham and you begin to study the life of Sarah and say man oh man look what she did here look what she did here yes God is not at all embarrassed to say Sarah who is a holy woman who hoped in God was yet a woman with remaining sin and there are times when her sin manifested itself in grievous ways so she is that specific example and in what way is she an example in what particular thing is she a pattern for godly wives well look at the passage and it tells us as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord she is a pattern in what she did as a person as a pattern of life and in what she called her husband first of all she is an example in what she did as a pattern of life here we are told that Sarah obeyed Abraham Sarah who this is the word that means she listened to and responded favorably responded positively to his directions

27:53 she showed her submissive disposition by obeying his explicit directives now I've already said there were some directives she should have principally disobeyed but when you go back and read the record Genesis chapter 12 God comes to Abraham and tells him get up from the place where you've lived all your life and I want you to go to a place you don't have a clue where it is to a place where I'm going to show you and I'm going to make of you a great nation I'm going to bless you he has nothing but quote the word and promise of God leaving a place of security a place where all the reference points were in place and the scripture tells us that he takes his nephew Lot and verse 5 Abram took Sarai his wife now she wasn't a piece of stone you could just pick her up and stick him on his boxcar I mean if she had just lain down on the ground and kicked and screamed and said no way bucko am I going to go where are you going I don't have a clue what are we going to I don't know what have we got to go before us the promise of God no big deal I mean I'm a practical woman I have to fix the meals I have to make the beds I have to wash the clothes what tangible thing we've got God's promise and God's command Sarah goes along Sarah obeyed that was the pattern of her life

29:22 she showed her submissive disposition by her obedience when you read that moving account of the offering up of Isaac Abram's own son Isaac the record is absolutely silent that there was any objection from Sarah I think it is stretching all sense of credulity to think that Abraham kept her ignorant of what he was going to do imagine what it meant for a mother who had waited all those years she had pre-menopausal signs she came a classic post-menopausal woman the scripture says it had ceased to be with her after the manner of men and God says you're going to have a child she laughs and says an old lady like me and an old man like my husband no way Jose now she holds that child nurses that child the child grows to a young man and Abram comes one day and says the God who promised the child and gave the child has told me to take the child and offer him as a sacrament beloved wife stay here till I return did Abraham at that point have the confidence that God speaks of later on in the New Testament accounting that God was able to raise him up from the dead from which he had received him in the figure I don't know if he was able to comfort Sarah and say Sarah I know God's

30:51 told me to offer him up but God has assured me he's able to raise him up and I go to offer him in the confidence God will raise him even if he had the confidence then what did she have God's naked word and her husband's account of what that word was Sarah obeyed Sarah obeyed that was the pattern of her life and so she is an example in what she did as Sarah obeyed and also in what she called her husband in what she called her husband and here you have a present participle she was continually calling him Lord now does that mean that you wives suddenly now tonight need to start referring to your husband instead of honey and sweetie and whatever other pet names you have call him Lordy no not necessarily again you don't get locked into wooden things you get the principle you see what you call someone is a reflection of how you regard them especially if this refers to the only incident in the Old Testament where we find Sarah actually calling Abraham Lord and though this participle would indicate this was her continual pattern God as it were pulls back the veil and lets us see the one incident where scripture tells us that she called him Lord and I want us to turn there for a moment Genesis chapter 18 because it's very very instructive and I

32:20 believe it takes us to the heart of the issue Genesis chapter 18 three angels appear to Abraham one of them the angel of the Lord Jehovah himself most likely a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus and they speak to Abraham verse 9 and they say to him where is Sarah thy wife and he said behold in the tent and he said I will certainly return unto you when the season comes round and lo Sarah your wife shall have a son now notice where Sarah is the spirit of God has given us a precious little detail and Sarah heard in the tent door which was behind him Sarah was not being directly addressed she's eavesdropping on this conversation between the angels and Abraham so she hears what the angel says verse 11 now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women a beautiful chaste euphemism she was post-menopausal isn't the scripture much nicer the way it states it and Sarah laughed within herself she didn't laugh outwardly inwardly spirit of God taking us into the chambers of her soul Sarah laughed within herself saying and the indication being that as the laughter was within

33:48 she was speaking to herself after I'm waxed old shall I have pleasure my Lord being old also and the Lord said unto Abraham the God who sees and hears when men do not speak and when men do not outwardly express themselves he knows wherefore did Sarah laugh saying shall I have assured he bear a child who am old is anything too hard for the Lord the picture seems to be this that when Sarah eavesdropping on the conversation between the angel and Abraham hears she's going to be a mama she laughs inwardly and says inwardly not knowing that anyone is hearing her these words shall I have pleasure my Lord being old also now what's the significance the significance is this what you call someone behind their back when you don't think they can hear you is often the clearest index of what you really think about them we've learned to be very polite to people's faces oh yes ma'am yes sir yes dear yes sweetie yes mom yes dad you see kids it's often what you say under your breath when you shut your bedroom door behind you that shows your real attitude to mom and dad isn't it you willing to admit that it's the things you mumble to yourself no never did oh come on

35:17 the Lord knows he hears he sees and what does Sarah mumble to herself what does she inwardly say even in a situation where her unbelief is being expressed that's again the thing that adds to the significance of this this is an expression of unbelief she's heard God speak through the angel of the Lord that she's going to be a mother and she said ha ha am this going to happen to me I'm an old woman it doesn't work that way and my Lord being old also if ever she was going to slip into a denigrating way of speaking of her husband it would be in a situation where the conscious disposition at that moment was unbelief and it was secret and perhaps even silent but her real disposition to Abraham comes out he's my Lord I have internally embraced his place of headship over me I embrace from the heart the divine order a patriarchy of male headship in the family that's what I live with that's what I'm comfortable with that's what I say outwardly and inwardly and Peter picks that up and says now listen you look back and see the pattern of those godly women in time past in general but when you focus upon Sarah Sarah is a pattern of one who

A Comforting Conclusion Drawn: Daughters of Sarah (1 Peter 3:6b)

36:47 obeyed her husband and she called him Lord she evidenced that this principle of godly submission had been embraced in the depths of her being for out of the heart Jesus said the mouth speaks and before the mouth speaks the mind frames words silently her words maybe got no further than being framed silently but they came out of the heart in which there was the meek and the quiet spirit that was comfortable with Abraham's lordship you see that now that's the example that is set before us Peter has let us see the many examples whom he's identified and then this specific example whom he highlights and now he comes in the third place to give us what I'm calling a comforting conclusion drawn a comforting conclusion drawn notice how he concludes this section who who's children you now are if you do well and are not put in fear by any terror a better rendering would be whose daughters you have become while continually doing well and not fearing

38:16 any terror or intimidation we must not read the passage as though Peter is teaching if you will do this this will make you Sarah's children or Sarah's daughters and that only if you continue to do well know the structure of the grammar is such that using an heiress he says whose children and it's neither male nor female the word he uses so to translate it daughters is legitimate whose daughters you are you have become and then two present participles continually doing well and not being put in fear by any terror and in those words let me try to unpack them we have the status described and the status validated Peter says to these Christian women in Asia Minor as you embrace from the heart this divine directive concerning your duty and your beauty you will validate that you are the daughters of Abraham do these things and you make it evident that you are Sarah's children well what's he mean Sarah's children Sarah's daughters well Abraham is called the father of the faithful and rightly so God made that covenantal commitment to Abraham

39:45 and to his seed and in Galatians chapter 4 where Paul is opening up this doctrine of the covenants he focuses upon the fact that in the fulfillment of that covenant promise Sarah had a unique place since it would be the son of the free woman through whom the promise would be fulfilled the promise made to Abraham not the seed of the bondwoman Hagar and Ishmael and picking up on that biblical concept he says to these former Gentile women imagine what this would mean to them as they began to be acquainted with Old Testament history and the fact that the Gentile nations for centuries had been without hope and without God apart from the covenants and the commonwealth of Israel and he now says to these former pagan women your status is described in these noble terms you are the daughters you are the children of Sarah you are true believers you are wives who are manifesting your true faith your hope in God that you are truly holy women you are those in the state of the daughters of Sarah that's their status described and then he says the status is validated as daughters of Sarah there are two things that mark your life you are continually doing good

41:14 and you are not fearing any terror or intimidation this is not an exhortation to do well and an exhortation not to be put in fear he said these are the things that characterize you and validate that you are indeed the daughters of Sarah what you are doing validates who you are your actions underscore and validate your true status now what do these two things mean you are continually doing good well in the context it's clear what is the good the good is submitting to their husbands and pursuing true godly beauty that's the doing good that's the doing good the good as defined by god now think for a moment put that against the backdrop of all of the glut of everything from learned journals to popular articles to the very atmosphere that breathes in our society what would 99 and 44 100% of people say about the stuff I've preached today that's wretched that's a horrible perpetuation of ancient misogyny woman hater mentality that may have been well and good for a day when women were nothing but those who washed clothes and cooked meals and had babies

42:42 we've come a long way baby the only thing you can tell a young woman is that she has a fixed identity as a woman that there are divinely instituted canons of role and beauty but Peter says no for all the daughters of Sarah for all those who are women of faith who have come to entrust their never dying souls to the living God as revealed in Christ and are joyfully submissive to that God in Christ to embrace the directive to submission and to embrace the definition of true beauty is doing good and all the daughters of Sarah validate their true status by continually doing good not doing good exclusively remember Sarah remember the other women none of them are set before us as perfect but doing good is the pattern of their lives that's why the scriptures can say they that have done good shall attain to the resurrection of life they that have done evil that's the overarching pattern of the life in one sense we say well Christianity is not a do good religion well if you're talking about the basis of your acceptance with God no it's the doing good

44:11 of Jesus Christ that is the ground of our acceptance but when we've entrusted ourselves to him and are bound to him in faith and love and God has given us a new heart and placed his spirit within us we've become do-gooders not to attain life but because we've received the gift of life and so the status is validated in every daughter of Sarah as she continually does good defined by God and then what do we do with this phrase not put in fear by any terror not being afraid of any terror or intimidation well I couldn't find two commentators that agreed either on the proper way to understand the language let alone what precisely Peter was talking about so I don't know I really don't know I wish I could say I'm convinced this is what it's referring to but I'm not convinced in the try to convince you and I'm not convinced would be an exercise in hypocrisy let me tell you at least the direction in which I think Peter's words are pointing alright may I be modest to say this is the direction in which I believe Peter's words are pointing what would be the temptation of a woman committed to this framework of reference in her life especially those with unconverted husbands would there not be a sense of fear that I'm very very vulnerable if I take the place of voluntary

45:40 subordination to my husband especially if he doesn't obey the word he's not activated by gospel motives he's not regulated by gospel standards am I not leaving myself utterly vulnerable in that situation to extend it more broadly if I embrace the overarching teaching of a woman's place in the home in the church her general place of subordination to the man I said general not absolute not in every situation you've got to reckon with the Deborah's of scripture you've got to reckon with them you've got to reckon with the Queen Esther's in scripture so don't anyone go out and say oh he just puts women down enough I hope I hope I believe my whole Bible and want to be influenced by my whole Bible but the overarching teaching of the word of God is such that there is a divinely instituted hierarchy doesn't that leave a woman vulnerable doesn't it leave her in the weaker position and it's not Peter going to go on to say in verse 7 that in some way or another she is to be given honor as unto the weaker vessel what would the temptation be would it not be to be fearful that I'm going to be taken advantage of that I'm going to find myself abused maybe Peter is saying look the daughters of Sarah are women of faith and faith injects into the weaker sex

47:10 to the weaker vessel a courage and a nobility and a fortitude that will enable her to stand in the way of gospel obedience trusting God to preserve and to protect her it could be and here the Lutheran commentator Lenski has what I think is a helpful comment the sense is that these Christian women are to let nothing terrifying frighten them from their course pagan women may disdain and insult them because they've adopted a nobler wifehood yet they remain unafraid pagan husbands may resent their Christianity this too does not frighten them you see the Lord Jesus says to every disciple don't be afraid of those that kill the body and after this have no more that they can do fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body and hell and he's already described Peter has

48:11 commanded them in chapter 2 in verse 17 honor the king fear God it could be that he's carrying this over and saying that the validating mark of the daughters of Sarah is that they supremely walk in the fear of God and walking in the fear of God they are not in fear of any terror or intimidation that can come from men well I think that at least points in the direction of the possible meaning of Peter's words but surely surely it's emphasizing again that the true daughters of Sarah are not those whose obedience is an obedience of convenience it's the obedience of faith it's the obedience of risk as it is for any man in his calling as it is for any true child of God and so to encourage these women Peter not only lays out their duty he not only sets forth what is their essential and true beauty but he illustrates in this general pointing back to these holy women who hoped in God focuses and highlights specifically Sarah as one who obeyed Abraham and called him Lord and now he draws near and says what is your reward in whole heartedly giving yourself

49:41 and to this as your lifestyle here is your reward you can know of a certainty this is your true status you have become the daughters the children of Sarah you are of that true believing seed you are that promised seed you are the fruit and the reward of God's free sovereign electing love and the purchase of his own dear son and you are validating that status and that identity by continuing in a path that is good don't let anyone tell you it is not good and in a path in which living in the fear of God even though you're weak and vulnerable and feel your vulnerability all the more when your vulnerability is the result of hiding in God and his will the Lord is around you as a mighty fortress far better to know the protection of the God committed to

50:41 path that is forbidden by God you see that's much of the driving force behind some feminism it's women who've been abused and taken advantage of and they feel I've got to distance myself from anything that looks like male hierarchy to protect myself that's the motive behind some not all but it is the motive behind some women who are abused by their own fathers sexually abused by their own uncles their own brothers etc etc and they've said no way am I going to make myself vulnerable and there may be some of you here who've been abused by men verbally physically sexually dear women I would not in any way I would not in any way speak lightly of the horrible battering of the soul that comes by that kind of abuse in any form but may I beg you to face

Pastoral Application and Prayer

51:42 him as your savior your protector your guide and your lord and finding in him that protection that he's promised to his own as we bring our study to a conclusion in this section I trust that sticking to the text it's been hard to do that there have been all kinds of rapid trails that I've been tempted to go down in my preparation and already this morning some of you at

52:13 shall I say graciously submissive you don't want to stand there and tell me what to do but you were I heard you I heard you and you would love me to open up this avenue and that avenue and I've deliberately resisted that for two reasons number one I want to get through first Peter before I go to heaven that's reason number one alright and number two I remind myself that when this letter was written and when it came to people from a pagan background sitting there in various congregations in those provinces of Asia Minor it was read through perhaps in one or two sittings and that to catch the overall thrust of the word of God with its inherent checks and balances in the long run I think you'll appreciate that more than if I went down all the rabbit treads now are there aspects of this whole subject that need to be opened up I have not touched upon the dominant emphasis in the Pauline corpus which is husbands love your wives be not bitter against them I haven't touched on it why because I've been trying to expound 1 Peter 3 1-6 and if it becomes clear from pastoral interaction and the counsel of my brethren and the input of you the Lord's people that we need to follow down some of those holy rabbit trails I'm not reluctant to do so but I want you to know why I've not done that because I want you to be able to sit down when you go home tonight with this passage and say now I see what the spirit of God has given through the pen of Peter he lays out the essential duty and beauty of a wife he

53:43 then sets out the examples of that beauty and that duty in these old testament women in general and in Sarah in particular and as by the grace of God I become one of those I validate who I am as a daughter of Sarah as I continue in the path of doing good and I'm not put in fear by any terror Christ grace is sufficient dear women to make more and more of you into the kind of women that will be part of that great phalanx of godly examples so that we may be able to say as Paul could say to the Philippians mark those which so walk as you have us for an example he pointed to uninspired uninscripturated examples and said you mark them and you follow them and I plead with you girls and young ladies to mark and follow the women in our midst to exemplify these principles in whom you see an embodiment of the godly patterns of those holy women who feared and trusted and hoped in god those sarahs that god has put among us well let's pray and ask god to seal these things to our hearts our father we are so thankful for your word we thank you that it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway the only and sufficient rule of faith and

55:12 of practice and how we pray that you will seal to our hearts the things we have considered today whatever has had the mixture of my own ignorance or my own misunderstanding blow upon it and bring it to naught whatever has been an accurate reflection of your mind in the words of

55:35 upon our hearts and then with the psalmist we pray that we may run in the way of your commandments we plead with you our father to lay hold of any young women among us who have been enamored with the surface beauty of the world and whose hearts are set upon that beauty that you say is deceitful and vain and may they set their hearts to seek that beauty that can only be found in Christ we pray for your dear handmaidens in this assembly whose hearts are set upon being godly women who do desire to follow the pattern of those women whom you describe as holy women who hoped in you strengthen their resolve may Christ be more and more precious to them and we ask that in an age where there is a wholesale revolt against the teaching of your word that you will help the women in this place to shine as lights in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation hear then our prayers and accept our thanks for your presence and for your word as we offer our prayers with our praises in Jesus name amen