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Today's scripture reading is from 1 Peter 2, verses 11-12 and 21, and chapter 3, verses 1-8.
A reading from the first letter of Peter.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh,
which wage war against your soul.
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable,
so that when they speak against you as evildoers,
they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you,
leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps.
Likewise, 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
when they see your respectful and pure conduct.
Do not let your adorning be external,
the braiding of hair, the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear,
but 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.
Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way,
showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel,
since they are heirs with you of the grace of life,
so that your prayers may not be hindered.
Finally, all of you have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love,
a tender heart, and a humble mind.
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Thank you, Denise, for that scripture reading.
You know, normally with a tough and touchy passage like ours today,
I like to start off with some humor and give our lead pastor, Jonathan,
a hard time for sticking me with yet another difficult text.
But he's not here.
He's on vacation.
And honestly, this text weighed on me pretty heavily this week.
First of all, I'm not coming at this as the perfect husband with the perfect marriage.
I feel very unsuited to preach today's text.
That's mostly addressed to wives, right?
Six verses to wives and then one to the husband.
And then secondly, I'm also aware that domestic abuse is real, right?
And that it harms women much more than it harms men.
And I just think about all the ways that this text and others like it in the Bible
and this thing we call God's Word have been used by Christians to ignore and silence and oppress women,
particularly isolated, desperate, hurting wives.
And so honestly, I tremble under the responsibility of preaching this text
that's so often been misunderstood and misapplied and used to support male supremacy
and to harm and hurt rather than to help and to heal.
I think of one woman in particular that I met very briefly about 15 years ago at this church,
this church that I really admired when I visited it.
But just last year, I learned in a Christianity Today article
that this same woman had been physically abused, sent to the hospital by her husband.
And in that article, I also learned that one of her pastors had counseled her,
based on passages like this one today,
he counseled her to return home without calling the police.
And her takeaway from their very first counseling meeting,
this meeting with the pastor of counseling at this church,
was that submission to her husband was of a higher priority than her physical safety
and that her job was just to not rile him up.
On another occasion, she had called 911 because she and her husband had gotten into a fight in the car.
And when the cops themselves told her not to return home with her spouse,
another pastor from the same church told her to submit to her husband as to the Lord
and not to provoke him.
The article continued and revealed that there were many other women in this church
who had received similar counsel.
And while I'm not the kind of pastor that's hoping to counsel you in this way,
I also recognized that, you know, these things could come from pastors.
I'm susceptible to error.
And, you know, this was just one church.
But it's a church, and it's a church I know that has done a lot of good things,
even alongside of these terrible things.
So I really tremble preaching this text because I know the dangerous ways it can be interpreted and applied,
and I know that I'm just as susceptible to these errors as any other pastor.
And even if I preach this, like, perfectly, right, thread the needle,
I also just fear the ways that, you know, people still might take it,
even apart from my intentions.
So I want to pray right now and ask for the Holy Spirit's guidance upon my speech,
upon your ears and your hearts, that we would take God's Word seriously
and apply it rightly.
All right, so will you pray with me?
Father, we always need your help when we listen to your Word,
when we interpret your Word, and when we apply it.
Lord, would we understand your Word and apply it in a way that lifts up people made in the image of God,
in a way that lifts up the glory and the beauty of Jesus Christ,
and in a way that dignifies all those around us.
Would we apply it that way, in love, guided by your Spirit, in the way of Jesus.
Amen.
All right, so, you know, while a big part of me wishes that I didn't have to preach this text
or that I could, you know, pick which parts of the Scripture I agreed with,
the better part of me, I think, the Holy Spirit-led part of me,
believes that our discomfort, our contemporary culture's discomfort with texts like these,
well, that is precisely the reason, I think, why these texts need to be preached rather than ignored.
I'm increasingly convinced that it's precisely these challenging texts from God's Word
that actually demand more attention and not less.
Because, you know, when we don't give proper attention to these challenging passages,
I think we miss the incredibly unique and really astounding heart of God
and the masterful intentions that He has for this world.
Like, when we don't give proper attention to these hard texts,
what I think happens is that simplistic readings and interpretations,
they actually get to take center stage when we don't pay close attention to what God says in His Word.
Okay, so I want to pay close attention to this text.
Even as it says in verse 1, wives, be subject to your own husbands.
All right?
And you know what's fascinating to me, though, is that people who are theologically liberal
and then people who are theologically, you know, fundamentalist,
they actually both interpret this in the same way, simplistically.
Those on the right say, hey, this supports patriarchy and male dominance,
so let's preach God's Word.
Let's wield the Bible in our culture war to bring society back to our patriarchal values just as God intends.
And then those on the left also say, hey, this supports patriarchy and male dominance.
They say the same thing, right?
But then they say, so let's not preach this.
Let's not consider this as God's Word.
Let's downplay and critique the authority of the Scriptures to bring our society to what we know is truly good for the world.
So you see, while they might have different approaches and responses to this text,
their interpretation, their understanding of what Peter means is actually the same.
But see, what I want to say, what I want to show you is that both of these sides aren't paying close enough attention to this text.
They're both reading it simplistically.
And I think that they're missing the heart of God and His vision for the world and all of its splendid unity and diversity.
I'm convinced that if we are willing to seek God's heart with humility about our fallibility and our finitude,
and yet also with confidence that He is able to communicate His truths to us clearly, even with our flaws and limitations,
if we prayerfully meditate on these hard passages in the Bible with open hands and a heart ready to repent and believe all that He says,
what we will find is that God and His Word are far richer, far more nuanced, and far more liberating and dignifying than we initially realized.
And that shouldn't surprise us as Christians, right, that God's Word is true, infinitely wiser than each of us,
pregnant with meaning, always relevant, and always full of good news, even and maybe even especially when it says things that are hard to accept.
So I want to challenge us to not lean on our own modern Western secular Bay Area understandings,
which will predispose us to viewing the Bible as a dated, misogynistic text written by mere men who are unenlightened and just ancient.
And I want to invite us to approach these words of Scripture as God's very truth,
full of greater beauty, greater wisdom than we ever expected.
Now let me remind you of the context of this letter surrounding what Peter just said about wives and husbands.
Remember, he's writing to exiles in modern-day Turkey,
casting a vision for them as both beloved by God and at the same time sojourners and exiles.
As it says here in verse 11, look,
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
Then he says,
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers,
they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
He's pastoring them.
He's pastoring them as religious minorities to be faithful and distinctive beacons of light to those around them,
not for the sake of their mere survival, but for the ultimate purpose of what?
Of representing Christ and drawing people to Him.
His main concern is that Christians choose the high road,
not to come to retaliation or winning in culture at any cost, but that they walk in the way of Jesus.
So we saw Him in the last couple weeks, we saw Him tell them to submit to their pagan governing authorities.
We saw Him tell the servants even to submit to their harsh employers,
because they first submit to Jesus as Lord first.
And He acknowledges that this may lead to suffering,
but He also encourages them that this is the very example of Jesus.
This is the way of the Lamb who, though innocent, did not retaliate or return evil for evil,
but who endured suffering and trusted God, and then was ultimately vindicated in the end.
Peter even calls this their calling in verse 21.
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you,
leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps.
So here in chapter 3, He's addressing wives in the same way.
That's why He says in chapter 3, verse 1, likewise, just as He counseled them as religious minorities
and as servants with harsh masters to submit,
He also now counsels Christian wives to be subject to their husbands,
even their husbands who are not Christians.
Verse 1, likewise, 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
when they see your respectful and pure conduct.
Now let me just start off by saying what this doesn't mean, okay?
It doesn't mean that husbands can do whatever they want,
like abuse their wives and exert oppressive dominance upon them.
This imperative for women to be subject to their husbands
is not a license for husbands to subject their wives
to their own selfish and sinful desires and wills.
Remember, Peter says in chapter 2,
be subject, yes, to these human institutions, to your harsh masters,
and here to your husbands,
but he also said in chapter 2, remember verse 13, he said,
be subject, what?
For the Lord's sake.
The Lord is the Lord.
The husband is not the wife's ultimate Lord.
Jesus is.
So domestic abuse should never be tolerated
or even endured by those under the lordship of Jesus Christ.
In the case of domestic abuse,
you're not called to endure it as a martyr.
Call the cops.
Tell your pastors.
I want to make that super clear.
Be subject to your husbands does not mean subject yourself to his abuse
and do nothing about it.
Peter speaks against this, actually, in verse 7
when he gives the husbands an incredibly progressive command at the time,
one that would have been unprecedented in the ancient world.
He says,
likewise, husbands,
live with your wives in an understanding way,
showing honor to the woman as an equal.
Later he says,
as an heir of the grace of life,
just like you.
And similarly,
the Apostle Paul,
in Ephesians chapter 5,
when he encourages wives to do the same,
to submit to their husbands,
he then turns and calls husbands to love their wives
like Christ loved the church,
giving himself up for her.
So really,
it's an even greater sacrifice and cost, right?
So, you know,
I sometimes ask Chelsea for a favor in our household,
and she says no.
And I jokingly say,
well, aren't you supposed to submit to me?
Don't try that.
Or at least don't be serious if you say that at home, all right?
She knows I'm joking.
That's the kind of relationship we have.
But when I say that,
aren't you supposed to submit to me, Chels?
I need a foot massage or something like that.
She'll be like,
no, you give me a massage,
because aren't you supposed to lay your life down for me?
All right?
And she is very right, right?
And biblically astute to respond to me in that way.
I'm supposed to lay down my life for my wife.
So again,
this text doesn't mean
wives may be subjected to abuse from their husbands
or that husbands always get their way.
That's not what this means.
And it also doesn't mean that wives are somehow inherently inferior
or of less value than their husbands.
No, when Peter addresses Christians in chapter 2,
what does he call the whole church?
He calls them a holy nation,
a royal priesthood,
beloved, special,
chosen by God.
He doesn't just mean the men.
He doesn't see a hierarchy within this holy nation
between husbands and wives.
Now, just as his fellow apostle Paul writes to the Galatians,
there is neither male nor female,
but they are all one in Christ.
They're all one in Christ.
I love how Kathy Keller writes,
both women and men get to play the Jesus role in marriage.
Jesus in his sacrificial authority,
Jesus in his sacrificial submission.
There is no inferiority here.
In verse 7 again, Peter even reminds husbands
that their wives are heirs of the grace of life,
just like they are.
And even when he refers to these wives,
I know you caught that,
as the weaker vessel.
He's not making a comment on the worth and dignity
or the utility of women,
but most commentators believe
he's simply making a generalized statement
about the comparative difference
in physical strength between men and women
and how that does lead to lower levels of social agency
and empowerment for women.
But this is far from saying women are of lesser value
and status in the eyes of God.
In fact, it's an uplifting word for women
and how they ought to be treated
even when they are viewed as weak in society.
The commentator Karen Jobes writes,
how ironic it is that the words
that first century wives would have read
as affirming and empowering
are criticized by some today
as enslaving and oppressive.
Because see, all throughout the ancient world,
secular historians will tell you
that wherever the Christian gospel,
the good news about Jesus Christ was preached,
it was always perceived to be radical news,
radical news with unique implications
for human equality.
People are like, what?
Our slaves are our brothers in Christ?
What?
Our wives are co-heirs with us
in our eternal inheritance with Christ?
What?
Our ethnic enemies are citizens with us
in the kingdom of Christ?
So what Peter is saying in verse one
is not giving a license for husbands to be dominant.
It's also not a statement about the value of women.
In fact, that Peter addressed wives
and even here wives who were married to men
who were not Christians, that Peter saw them
and that he thought of them
in their difficult situations
and that Peter also saw them as having agency
and influence in the household
and as part of God's perfect purposes
to win the world to Jesus,
that Peter in verse seven
even commands husbands to treat their wives well
and with understanding and honor and equality
or else God will not attend to their prayers.
All of this was very unusual in the Greco-Roman world.
And really quite progressive and revolutionary
in the early church because of the way of Jesus
and the way of the apostles and their teachings,
women were dignified in the early church
in unprecedented ways.
I just want to say that, okay?
But even while supporting the equality of wives
and husbands, Peter doesn't promote though
a flat and simplistic equality
that's without any distinction.
Make no mistake, Peter teaches that husbands
and wives are equals and precious to God
while also having distinct
yet equally valuable roles and callings.
I love how this one African Christian writer,
Tiffany Mutoni Kiri writes about the differences
between wives and husbands.
She writes, although we were both created by God
in his image, we have different abilities,
physical strengths and roles.
Our differences are God's beautiful design.
They aren't a disadvantage in the body of Christ.
In fact, Elizabeth Elliot says,
our inequalities are essential to the image of God.
Difference doesn't indicate a discrepancy
in worth or value.
Rather, it is God's design for his church,
marriage, and society at large.
See, there is a specific role
that Peter invites the Christian wives he writes to
to play in order to fulfill God's purposes.
There is a specific kind of witness,
a specific kind of picture he has in mind
for Christian wives to beautifully
and uniquely display to the world.
And this is the picture.
This is the picture.
It's a picture of prophetic, priestly queens.
Women united with the Lord Jesus Christ,
fully equal with their husbands.
It's a picture of these beloved daughters of the king
not asserting their worth and value and equality
through forceful revolution against their husbands
and against society.
It's a picture of queens who are so secure,
so convinced of their worth in the eyes of God
that winning their husbands into deeper relationships
with Christ is even more important to them
than achieving some quantitative, objective,
empirical kind of fairness in their marriage.
Just like we saw in Peter's advice
to political and religious minorities
and even to slaves in chapter 2,
the strategy of God's kingdom in this world
to win this world,
it isn't through asserting ourselves with hard power,
the hard power of authoritarian demands
and threats and power grabbing.
No, the way of Jesus is to win the world
through the soft power of respectfulness
and purity and holiness.
Verse 1,
Be subject to your husbands
so that they may be won without a word
by the conduct of their wives.
When they see you're respectful and pure conduct.
We're to win the world with our conduct.
So do you see what Peter is doing here?
He's not just giving practical advice,
but he's reframing our whole outlook
on the often challenging relationships
between husbands and wives.
See, ever since Adam and Eve turned away from God
and mixed up their roles and blamed each other
and traded their harmonious complementarian relationship
with each other for a power struggle,
husbands and wives have been caught up now
in this battle of the sexes.
But what Peter is doing here
is he's saying to these Christian wives
that the goal isn't to win against your husband.
No, the goal is to win your husband,
not win against him.
The primary goal isn't simply fairness
and equity between spouses.
The goal is winning our spouses
into deeper relationships with Christ,
which, by the way,
will result in more fairness in marriage
and not less,
but actually something even better than fairness.
The way of Jesus doesn't just lead
to fair marital relationships,
it leads to gracious
and generous marital relationships, right?
Relationships where husbands and wives
aren't even keeping score
about who has given up more for whom,
who's washed more dishes,
taken out the trash more,
changed more diapers,
who's sacrificed their career more,
or who is more valuable to the family,
who earns more,
and thus deserves more leisure.
Ask my wife Chelsea,
if we were pursuing equity
and objective fairness in our marriage,
man, I'd be in a huge debt to her.
And she would have every reason
to resent me, actually.
But because of the gospel,
because Chelsea has a Savior
who has loved and served her above and beyond,
Chelsea delights to serve me,
her husband, and our whole family,
even when she ends up giving more
than she receives oftentimes.
Because to her,
it's an honor to be like Christ.
And then for me,
because of the gospel,
I don't take her labors for granted.
I thank her,
and I marvel at her diligence
and her generosity,
and I see Jesus in her.
And I want to respond by serving her as well,
but not because I owe her.
I do have a lot of work to do
to be a better husband,
to serve her better,
but again,
not because I owe her,
or to rebalance the scale
to ensure equity,
but just because I love her.
There is no scale.
This is what God wants
for our marriages.
Relationships where husbands and wives
just love and sacrifice
for one another
in mutual submission
as equals,
yet with different gifts
and callings and roles
to contribute to each other
and to their family
and to the world.
And this dynamic of wives
submitting to their husbands
and husbands sacrificially honoring
their wives
and living with them
in an understandable way,
it's going to look different
in every household.
The New Testament
is interestingly silent
about what exactly
this looks like
concretely across
cultures
and with all the unique
personalities
and giftings
and callings
and situations
that exist
in all kinds of marriages
between husbands and wives,
but the main point,
it isn't about subjugation.
It isn't about instituting
some kind of hierarchy
within the marriage.
It's about service
unto the Lord
and service unto one another
for the good of others
and the glory of Christ.
When Peter is suggesting here,
what he's suggesting
is that there is
a better way to live
than fighting
within the husband-wife
power struggle.
As those united with Christ,
wives can know
and trust
that they are already equal
just because God says so.
And therefore,
they are free
from the power struggle,
free from the burden
of having to win
or gain their equality
or claw it back
from their husbands.
And I'm not saying
women shouldn't advocate
for women's rights
and equal treatment
in society,
but what I am saying
is that wives,
you do not have to be
your own saviors.
You don't have to devote
your life to winning
the battle of the sexes
in this fallen world.
You don't have to seek
to win by any means necessary.
Peter says there's
a better way to live,
not for the ultimate goal
of winning the battle
of the sexes
against your husband,
but simply living
to win your husband
to Jesus
and for Jesus.
And do you know
what this does
when we reframe
the power struggle
and think in terms
of winning our spouses
to Jesus and His agenda
rather than winning
against our spouses
for our own selfish agendas?
Do you know what happens
when we do this?
If our aim as spouses
is to lead them
into deeper relationships
and intimacy with Christ,
then the very way
we seek to influence
our spouses
and our whole society
is radically changed.
I think this is what
Peter has in mind
and why he goes on
in verse 3
to speak about
how wives should
adorn themselves.
You see,
in the ancient world
and really still today,
how is it that women
have often sought
to influence men
and win them over
and gain power
and prestige
in male-dominated societies?
Well, typically men
utilize their bodily strength,
right?
But a unique way
that women have often
gained influence
in this kind of world
is through their bodily beauty,
right?
But if you think about it,
while it might gain women
some influence,
it's still playing
the man's game, right?
Still giving him reason
to objectify women
and see them
as less than equal
and not the image of God.
So Peter is saying here
that that is not
how Christian wives
are to win their husbands
and influence society,
not by their outward
perishable beauty,
but by their inner
unfading beauty.
See here in verse 3,
Peter isn't,
he's not mansplaining,
he's not imposing
some legalistic,
arbitrary dress code
when he says,
do not let your adorning
be external,
the braiding of the hair,
the putting on of gold jewelry,
or the clothing you wear.
Peter's not saying,
don't braid your hair,
don't wear gold jewelry.
He's saying,
let your adorning be,
let the thing
that is most beautiful
and compelling about you
be something
that's imperishable,
something that lasts,
something that's truly admirable,
a beautiful heart,
a gentle, quiet, peaceful,
and tranquil spirit.
Verse 4,
but 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.
Peter invites his readers,
both husbands and wives
to see with God's eyes,
align our values with his,
to view as precious
what he views as precious,
not the perishable externals,
but the beauty
of someone's heart
and character.
He wants us to see
the powerful beauty
of a wife,
again,
so secure
and so convinced
of her worth in Christ
that she can willfully
submit to her husband,
not because she's inferior,
but because she is equal
to her husband
and because she wants
to be humble
like her Lord.
Not because she's dependent
upon her husband,
but ultimately
because she submits
to her husband ultimately
as a way of hoping
and trusting in God.
For, as Peter says
in verse 5,
this is how the holy women
who hoped in God
used to adorn themselves
by submitting
to their own husbands.
When Christian wives
submit to their flawed husbands,
they are not hoping
in their husbands,
but they are demonstrating
their hope in God,
trusting His plan
and His purposes,
seeking beauty
in His eyes.
This is what Sarah did
with Abraham.
Verse 6,
Sarah obeyed Abraham,
calling him Lord.
And you are her children
if you do good
and do not fear anything
that is frightening.
Think about Sarah's example
for a second.
When Abraham heard from God
to leave his homeland
and his country
and everything he knew
to move from place to place
to who knows where,
it wasn't just by Abraham's faith
that they moved
and pressed on
as sojourners
and eventually blessed
the whole world.
It was also by Sarah's faith,
which she expressed
by submitting
to her husband Abraham.
So really,
just as Christians
are called sons of Abraham
if they share his faith,
so also can wives
be called daughters of Sarah
if they share her submission
to their husbands,
not with faith in their husbands,
but trusting God
without fear
and continuing to pursue
what is good
and what is beautiful
in God's eyes.
These are the kinds of wives
that Peter imagines
will not only win
their husbands,
but these are the kinds
of Christians
that will win the world.
Not by political
or forceful revolution
like we saw someone
tried to do yesterday,
nor by tipping the scales
toward one party
or another
or even tipping the scales
to try to get toward equity
by any means necessary.
No,
but through Christians
who are so secure in Christ
that they will gladly submit
to God
and to others.
Christians committed
to living righteous,
holy,
pure,
respectful,
gentle,
quiet lives
of deference.
Christians seeking
something better
than equity.
Christians seeking lives
of sacrificial love
and generosity
and benevolent grace
extended toward
the people around them
in the name of Jesus
and in the way of Jesus.
You see,
Peter here,
he isn't calling
the Christian wives
in Asia Minor
to be more ladylike.
That's not what
this passage is about.
He's not calling the wives
to be more ladylike.
He's simply calling them
to be Christlike.
That's what he's calling them to.
So if we have a problem
with what Peter is commending
to these wives
in being subject
to their husbands,
what if the problem
isn't that Peter's
being chauvinistic?
What if the problem
is that our imaginations
are too limited
to see the dignity
and the beauty
of Christlike submission?
What if the problem
is that what we view
as precious
and beautiful
and admirable
is quite different
than what God views
as precious
and beautiful
and admirable?
What if the problem
is that we've made
an idol
out of headship
and leadership?
What if we are the ones
who wrongly think
of submission
as necessarily
entailing inferiority?
See,
if we have problems
with the kind of submission
that God calls wives
to here,
if we think
that the Scriptures
are calling wives
to some sort of
inferior status
that diminishes
their value,
and if we cannot see
this invitation
submission as something
beautiful and admirable,
then what does that say
about how we view Jesus?
If we cannot see
the beauty
and the strength
and the unique,
subversive,
countercultural power
of submission
and holiness
and respect
and purity
and gentleness
and quiet tranquility,
then we're missing
the majesty
of the gospel.
We're missing
the goodness
of the good news
of Jesus.
He was the high king
of heaven,
yet he humbled himself
as a man,
submitting to his father
in heaven,
subjecting himself
to birth in a manger,
life as a refugee,
homelessness,
hunger,
rejection,
wicked,
oppressive,
governing authorities,
and ultimately
an unjustified murder.
And yet,
is it not
the very humility
and submission
and self-giving nature
of Jesus,
the Son of God,
that we find
most beautiful
about him?
Is it not
these qualities
that most lift
our hearts up
to worship
and adore him
as our humble
savior king?
The one who,
though he was
in the form of God,
did not count equality
with God a thing
to be grasped,
but emptied himself
by taking the form
of a servant
and being found
in human form,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient
to the point of death,
even death
on a cross.
Therefore,
Paul says,
therefore,
because he humbled himself,
therefore,
God has what?
highly exalted him
and bestowed on him
the name that is
above every name.
This is the way
and pattern of Jesus
that Peter is inviting us into.
And this is a word
to all of us,
not just to husbands
and wives.
Following in the footsteps
of Jesus
is to live a life
of divestment,
is to divest ourselves
of our privileges
and our power
and our influence
and time and money
for the good of others,
particularly those
in our households,
such as our spouses.
And for wives,
this means submitting
to their husbands
even while equals.
However,
you may work that out
in your household.
It means not undermining
your husbands,
but supporting them
and following them
as they follow Christ.
And for husbands,
it means honoring our wives,
seeking to understand them
deeply and thoughtfully
and compassionately,
even when they might seem
weak or frail to us
in certain ways.
We're not to take advantage
of them or dominate them,
but value them
as co-heirs with Christ.
And for all the rest of us
who aren't husbands
or wives,
we can walk in these ways too,
humbly submitting
to one another
out of faith
and trust in God's plans,
not needing to always
get our way
because we know God
will have His way
in the end.
And because of this,
we can focus on earnestly
just seeking
to lead those around us
into deeper relationships
with Christ,
making that
our number one mission.
Freely walking
in Jesus' footsteps,
honoring the so-called weak
amongst us,
treating them as equals
and as precious
in the eyes of God,
sacrificing for them,
slowing down for them,
giving them our hearts
and our time
and our attention,
laying our lives down
for the weak
and really for all others
because that is exactly
what our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ,
has done for us
and oh so much more, right?
That is how people
who believe the gospel
live.
That is how people
who believe the gospel
is the best news live
in their households
and in the world.
Let's pray.
Lord, we confess
the ways that we often
don't find Jesus
and His ways beautiful.
Lord, we ask for
a clearer vision
to see the beauty
of Christ
who laid down His life
in submission
and we ask
that You would fill us
with Your Spirit
to be those kinds
of people
for the good
of those around us,
for the glory
of Your name
as a testimony
to the glorious,
unique beauty
of Jesus Christ,
the crucified King.
Would He be lifted up
in the way we live,
we pray in His name.
Amen.