Good morning my ‘Walking with Jesus” friends all over the world.
If there is one word that could change the behavior and attitudes of many people around the world, and in fact change our societies, I wonder what word you’d choose? How about this: RESPECT! If you and I could sit in the back of school classrooms and listen; or sit in the employee break room of workplace today; or listen in on most phone conversations; or even if we could sit unnoticed in the corner of most homes around dinnertime, how much difference do you think it could make if RESPECT for others was introduced into all those places?
How did it happen? How have we become such a disrespectful human race? The evidence is everywhere, isn’t it? And if this does not change in the next generation, what do you predict it will be like living in your city 20 years from now?
Let’s rejoin our friend the disciple Peter as he is writing his letter to Christians around the Roman empire living in the first century, a time when Christians not only felt disrespected, but outright persecuted for their allegiance to Jesus Christ. Look, Peter is rolling out the parchments today with a look on his face that suggests he has something really important to write. He speaks the words as he writes them…“Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.” (1 Peter 3:7)
Peter lays down his stylus, strokes his beard and closes his eyes, remembering his dear wife, whom he has probably not seen in a long time. After Peter had watched Jesus ascend back to heaven, you’ll remember, empowered by the Holy Spirit, Peter had traveled a great deal over the next several years, telling his story of Jesus Christ who had changed his life!
We presume his wife did not accompany Peter, for travel was very difficult in those days. But now, we believe Peter was writing this letter from a prison cell in Rome. How long had it been since Peter had spent even a few days with his wife, maybe years?
Why, may I ask, do you think Peter was focusing on ‘husbands’? Yes, he had just written a paragraph to the Christian wives urging them to find their beauty in what God was doing in their inner being rather than outward appearance. And yes, Peter had written to Christian wives urging them to draw their unbelieving husbands to Jesus not with debate or words but with actions and God honoring lives. (1 Peter 3:1-6)
So yes, it’s natural that Peter would now turn to the husbands, but my male friends, I think it’s bigger than that. Peter is calling us out… married and unmarried men. Men of all ages from young boyhood to old age. Men of every culture, every society, every nation, every ethnicity in the world. MEN… God is calling to us to bring change to our decaying world and in one sentence Peter drives the spear of God’s powerful, penetrating truth right into our masculine hearts. What will we do in response?
Considerate… what a powerful word! All of us men who are reading this today, is that word part of our personal reputations at home, at work, in our neighborhood, among our friends, at our churches? When your name is mentioned in conversation, does the word “considerate” come up in response? Now why would Peter challenge the men of his day to be ‘considerate as you live with your wife’?
Maybe because the sinful nature in all of us, but especially in men, motivates our selfishness. In some cultures of our world everyone expects the women in the family to pamper the men in the family, isn’t that true? I’ve been in some cultures where the man sits down at the dinner table and his wife or daughters put the food on his plate, cut the meat, if need be, pour his beverage, and keep everything refilled and clean around him as he eats. No, I’m not talking about servants, I’m talking about a culture where the women serve the men in the family in everything. The girls, from the time they are young, learn to serve from their mothers and grandmothers, and the boys, from the time they are young, learn from their dads and grandads, that they can expect to be served. I’m not in any way advocating that, I’m suggesting that this type of society breeds even more ‘selfishness’ in the men. Peter is countering this. Regardless of the culture of your country or the heritage of your family, Peter is challenging us men, all of us, to be known as men who are considerate of others, but especially our wives! So, I ask you, every married man reading this, do you think your wife FEELS you are considerate toward her in the way you speak to her, the way you refer to her when speaking to others about her, the way you help her carry her burdens in life, and how about the way you touch your wife… considerate?
Do you notice Peter doesn’t stop with his challenge for us to BE considerate with our wives, he continues: “…treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life…” We understand that by God’s design the masculine body is designed physically stronger than the female body. I see several reasons for that which I find right at the beginning of the human race. God created Adam and the first thing God instructed Adam to do was “work and take care of the garden of Eden.” (Gen. 2:15)
If you’ve ever lived on a farm or worked in the fields or cared for animals or worked with trees and bushes and landscaping, you know that’s hard work! Oh, heavy duty machinery has made that work much easier, but leave all that machinery in the barn and go out only with a hoe or a pick or a machete and you’ll have a taste of what such work is like in much of the world! Sadly, women are expected to do field or gardening work in many parts of the world, but God made men’s bodies for this hard work! Of course, every man would agree that the work of caring for the home, bearing and raising the children, and so much more that most wives do is all VERY hard work!!
And that’s why Peter’s admonition to us men is clear… whatever the burden in life that our wives carry, we their husbands are to be considerate of them and HELP THEM carry their load! Brothers, how well are you doing that? Dishes, laundry, cleaning the house, diaper changing for the kids, repairs for your home, landscaping outside your home, and of course all the work needed to generate the finances for your family to live!
What a remarkable statement: “treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life”? Peter is challenging every Christian couple to celebrate that Jesus should be so prominent in your marriage and family, and the gift of eternal life and new life in Christ should be so powerfully dynamic in your marriage and family, that there should be a strong contrast between every Christian family and those who have no interest in God.
Mutual RESPECT should be one of the major pillars of strength in every Christian family. Children, that’s respect for parents and all adults. Adults, that’s respect for each other and especially the adults older than you. Respect for those people in authority, any role of authority. And most of all, respect for God! Don’t rush past that. Do you hold God in the highest of reverence and respect? Do you respect His Word, the Bible? Do you respect when people are worshiping God or praying to God? When you see someone showing disrespect to another person, I can assure you that is an evidence there is some deep disrespect for God in the person, as they show disrespect to others.
I love Peter’s reminder that in a Christian family, you all share one thing… an inheritance that Jesus Christ has purchased for you and is awaiting you in heaven for all eternity. You may remember Peter wrote in his first chapter that God has “given us new birth, into a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never, perish, spoil or fade and is kept in heaven for you…” (1 Peter 1:3,4) It should make a difference when a God honoring husband leads his wife in living each day of their marriage rejoicing that they will have all eternity together in God’s presence! Is that true of your home?
And finally, one more thing, notice Peter’s closing phrase in this powerful statement: “so that nothing will hinder your prayers.” Men, this is now the third powerful challenge for us today! First, that we be men who are CONSIDERATE of others, especially our wives. Second, that we be men who show RESPECT to all, especially our God given wives. And third, that we be men of PRAYER and we be watchful of anything that would hinder our prayers! Men of all ages, have you discovered the power in praying with your Mother? But even more significant, have you discovered the power of praying with your WIFE? Praying, holding her hand and thanking God for her. Praying, asking God to help you be all the husband God knows your wife needs you to be. Praying out loud with your wife, first thing in the morning and last thing at night, can be one of the greatest assurances you give to your wife that your marriage is a safe, God honoring place for her!! Now ponder all that my masculine friends all around the world, and I’ve selected a special song for us guys today. Regardless of what you learned from your Dad, we can be the type of men Peter described, with the Holy Spirit’s help! And here’s the link to this song…
Today’s Scripture is 1 Peter 3:7.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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