Order In The Family

I Peter 3: 1-7

In the same way, you wives, be subject to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the Word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives,
as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.
Your adornment must not be merely external--braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses;
but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.

For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands;
just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear. 

You husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the Grace of Life, so that your prayers will not be hindered. 

Paul also wrote about the relationship between husbands and wives, in Ephesians 6:22-33 which I talked about last month. 

Both Paul and Peter had a good understanding of the marital relationships, so we are to learn from both of them.

Here Peter tackles the problem of a Christian wife who is married to a lost husband. Peter says he's disobedient to the Word which simply means he's not realized yet that Jesus is his personal Sacrifice. 

If the wife has the habit of throwing Scripture in his face, she will only drive him farther from the Lord. A better method is to work on herself, in developing a gentle and quiet spirit within herself, which is precious in the sight of God and will also go a long way toward tranquility in the home, and draw (not push) her husband toward the Lord. 

Our example is the Old Testament women, who let their husbands have authority over them, Sarah calling her husband, Abraham, her boss (lord).

We wives should not be afraid of submitting to our own husbands, but to let the Lord steady us in our responses, considering the order of authority God has placed us under. Fear makes people do stuff they would not otherwise, negative and harmful stuff. So trust the Lord's order and do right. 

Then Peter turns to the husbands. In the same way both wives and husbands, and slaves and masters and all the other relationships we have with one another, are to be lived out according to the principle of Love that God based all the Law and precepts and rules and ordinances on. We all are to love one another. 

This is how husbands can do that.

My late husband was studying these verses one morning, and he received an understanding that the weaker vessel that the woman is, didn't mean she is inferior or less than the man, but that she is a delicate china cup compared to his unbreakable tin cup. He was to see me as fragile, and take gentle care of me as his wife.

This is a good attitude to take. China cups have a high value, and must be handled with care, not banged around like a tin cup. 

I don't think that husbands should be banged around, or that their worth is less than the wife, but for a husband to take this view of his wife will help him to care for her with the respect and gentleness that she will respond to. And, Husband, if you have ever found that your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling, then look at how you've been treating your wife.

The husband has the greater responsibility to God as the head over his wife and household, and the wife has the responsibility to set the tone, the temperature of the household under him. She is the thermostat that determines if the home will be a sanctuary or a battleground. 

It's the husband who provides the home, and the wife who brings order in the home. They must work together. Even if their roles overlap, they still both need to remember God's ways in their household doings. And if there are children, they will also benefit.

O my Father, You are so great. Your Love is so immense. You have Loved Your creation in giving it order, and You have Loved us so much that You have sacrificed Your very Best for us to be able to live with You! 

Father, help us all to learn Your ways to put order into the chaos that our families are experiencing today. Father, the enemy has been working relentlessly for so long to destroy the order in our families. He has complicated Your beautiful simplicity, and members of these families are suffering, having lost the stability that home life is to provide.

O Father, please help us! Our society has run so far from Your ideal. And the members of our society are foundering in this morass of confusion, entangled in the snares of the enemy's lies. They are so deceived that they have turned the World upside down, calling darkness light, evil good, and complicated easy. 

Father, help Your children who know You and Your ways, to be strengthened in our society. As a vocal minority, help us to correct these wrongs, straighten these crooked paths, and bring a little order to the great confusion we face. Protect Your children from the enemy's attacks as we go about untangling the complexities he has tangled us up in as a Nation. 

And, Father, show us how to live in our families. Teach us Your ways of relating to one another especially in the most intimate of our lives, in our homes with our husband or wife and our children.

You have designed it all to work and operate smoothly, as Your Universe runs so faithfully. When Your Law is obeyed, it all goes so well for us, too. No one complains about having to obey Your Natural Laws, like Gravity. It's just understood, because to disobey brings immediate consequences. 

Your Moral Laws are just as immutable as Your Natural Laws. They are all Your Laws. None of them can be broken, only transgressed. Our problem is that, because the consequences are not as immediately obvious, we have believed the lie that it's all right to disobey Your Moral Laws, it will work itself out. So we have persisted in our error, sliding ever deeper into the swamp of deception. 

O Father, when I see this World careening out-of-control, I know that it is still on Your string, and at the right Time, Father, You will just flick Your finger and bring it all back to Yourself like a yo-yo. 

King Jesus will return, call out His own, and destroy all the wicked Nations at the Battle of Armageddon, and set up His Kingdom. And all the knots will be untied, all the tangles will be combed out, and all the confusion will be banished. The simplicity of Your Law will finally prevail. To our benefit and prosperity, and Your glory. 

And every eye will see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will proclaim that King Jesus is Lord over all Creation, to the glory of God the Father.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!