Good morning, everybody. It's good to see everyone who's
here today. I'm excited to study with you a
little bit of God's word. We are continuing on in first
Peter chapter 2, and this is where we'll be taking lesson 4
from. So if you're just jumping in
with us, we want to welcome you. We want to encourage you to go
back if you have a chance and read some of this because it
will provide you all the context that we lead up to today.
Now, just a very brief, I'm not even going to have slides on it
because I know it gets a little bit cumbersome to go back.
We learned that he's writing this letter to people who are
dispersed because of the persecution under the Roman
Empire. And those people were thrown
into the countryside, so to speak, and they were spread out
and persecuted. Christians were literally being
burned at the stake. Christians were being utterly
persecuted by people that had no respect for God, had no respect
for this Jesus that they claim to serve.
And so he's giving them writings of encouragement.
We talked about how he assured them that they are a chosen
generation, that they're a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his
own special people, no matter what it might look like in their
current circumstances, no matter what it might seem like or feel
like. He says, you are my special
people and they have a purpose here in this suffering, that you
may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness
into his marvellous light. And this is Peter writing.
But we learned about Paul, right?
Who? Paul was persecuted by the
government, and he eventually had a chance to go before
governors and teach to governors of Rome because of the
persecution he suffered. We never know where this
persecution can lead to. We never know where some
suffering might put us in a place to spread the gospel, to
teach about God, and for in this case, for them to proclaim the
praises of him who called them out of darkness into his
marvellous light. These people might have felt
scattered, but they were actually the people of God and
have obtained mercy from God. We learned about how He wants
them to because of that, because they're not really permanent
citizens of this earth, but they're pilgrims.
He said He wants them to fight a war against the thing that are
temporary, He wants them to fight a war against these lusts
that might hold them back and to have conduct that is honourable
among the Gentiles. The quickest way to silence
people, he says, is to have good works.
And our ultimate goal is that they will turn to God and
glorify Him because of the good things that we do.
All things we covered. And the last lesson we really
focused on was these verses regarding submission to
government. And he's in the flow of thought
as we progressed into lesson 4 of submission.
And, and we talked about this in the Ephesian letter.
And I was starting to feel like, man, we, we've covered this
recently, You know, I do, I wanted to skim through it.
And then I looked at the date on the letter of Ephesians where we
covered submission, especially in the home.
It's been a year and a half. I don't know if you can believe
that if you, if it's fresh on your mind, but for me, I
couldn't believe it's been a year and a half.
So these concepts are repeated in the Ephesian letter and the
letter from First Peter. They must be important.
They must be something that we humans struggle to do.
We struggle to submit to a lot of different things.
And the the authorities we've been given are the government or
all those who are put in place above us.
As we talked about before, that honour of authorities extends to
our even our bosses, and we're going to see that more in this
lesson. We talked about the disconnect
that exists between different levels of authority and how we
can bridge those gaps and make things work better when we
simply will submit to wherever we're at.
Now there are times when we need to get out of a bad situation,
but Scripture often shows us how to live and thrive in the
situation we're in instead of always just trying to get out of
a situation because there are times where there's no way out.
Praise God that we have a society where we are free and
where we get to do many things according to our will.
But there are times where we can't get out of a bad
situation. And So what do we do?
We have to learn to make the best of wherever we are at at
the time sometimes. So we talked about submission to
government and we talked about honour, maintaining honour of
authorities, maintaining goodness, humility, he says, and
we'll get some verses leading up here.
For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put
to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free, not using
liberty yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bonds,
bond servants of God. And this is the kicker we
learned last time. Honour all people, love the
brotherhood, fear God and honour the King.
This extended us may be far beyond what we're comfortable
doing, honouring everybody around us whether they deserve
it or not. We looked at this this idea of a
graph where we might only honor a few people, but he tells us to
honor all men. And here's where we pick up in
this flow of thought. Verse 18, he says, servants, be
submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good
and gentle, but also to the harsh.
So here is the here's the, the flow of thought.
He's talked about our submission to authorities and he's he wants
us to maintain the same level of goodness regardless of who they
are, what they are, what they do.
We are to be submissive not just to the people who are really
good, but to all of those who are in authority over us in our
work. OK, He's addressing servants
now. We look at that and we say,
wait, you mean servants? You mean somebody who waits on
somebody in their house? Labour in the course of human
history is not as simple as I have a job at a company, Labour
is someone else needs a job done and they're going to pay me to
do it, or they're going to give me food to do it, or they're
going to give me somewhere to live to do it.
We are in kind of a a special important history where we have
protections, we have laws that protect us, We have things that
will keep us safe if our boss tries to abuse us.
There's a lot of things in place right now that we can treat like
what? I'm my own person, I need
respect. It hasn't always been that way.
We all, though, in some way or another, exist in a place of
servitude. Labour unions, government
manifestos and basic protections come and go, but there will
always be servitude. And if we are only willing to do
good to a sliver of people, we will not have our full potential
to show the goodness of God and to show godliness in our work.
Verse 19, he says. For this is commendable if
because of conscience toward God, one endures grief,
suffering wrongfully. This is where the good stuff
happens. There's a lot of things in your
life where you may never get noticed for doing good things.
Like Jesus says, you do good to those who do good to you.
Congratulations. So do the Gentiles.
So do the heathens. Everybody is good to those who
are good to them. But we have a special
opportunity for impact on people when we will do this this
goodness and endure grief when it's wrongfully that we are
suffering. Let us adjust our gauge.
We need to adjust our gauge from being focused on what might seem
right to us, to focus on what is right in the eyes of God.
And God says this is the commendable thing.
This is the thing that we're going to get good credit from
God where we might say, you know what, bodily exercise, getting
super buff. That's that's great, right?
The Bible says that's little profit.
What about gaining the world's wealth?
The Bible says, yeah, it's fleeting and pointless.
So we have to adjust our view of what is good and commendable and
right and impressive. God says the good stuff.
The thing that is really impressive is suffering
wrongfully because of your goodness toward toward God.
And anything you go through wrongfully goes to this account.
If you're going through good times, great.
If you're going through hard times and you're enduring the
suffering because of that, it's commendable.
So it's even better in the eyes of God, the ultimate authority,
He says. For what credit is it if when
you're beaten for your faults, you take it patiently?
He wants them to suffer for a good thing.
But for us, that feels wrong. I need to stand up for myself.
I need to make sure I am. I'm taken care of, I'm doing the
right thing here. That's how I feel.
I feel like I need to justify myself if I'm being treated
wrongfully. That's not what he says.
This is part of the process, he says, because if we're beaten
for wrongfully, he's like for if we're beaten for our own faults.
Yeah, we got that coming. May we never suffer that way.
Why? Because God doesn't want your
suffering to be wasted. There's going to be a certain
element of suffering our lives and God's intention is that
every bit of that go to His glory and to your credit, He
wants you to be honoured by Him and by others because of your
suffering. So if I suffer for things that
are my fault, it's just a waste of time.
It's a waste of a suffering. It's like going to the gym and
exercising and then doing nothing for you.
You're feeling the pain but you get nothing out of it.
God doesn't want us to suffer for no reason.
A good parent will cause their children sometimes to feel pain
and to suffer a little bit in consequence so that they learn
something better out the other end.
You know what abuse is? Abuse by a parent is when
they're doing something to their child that's not going to
benefit them, that's giving them some kind of hurt or pain or
consequence negatively, but it doesn't do them any good.
It's just irritation. It's just abuse.
God doesn't want us to suffer for no reason because he is a
good father. So instead he wants us to do
good. So it's not a waste of time.
He says this is commendable before God.
Now I want to establish, if we haven't already, just a basic
principle. We all know that controlled
suffering is good. All of us on some way or another
put ourselves through this suffering.
It feels bad at 1st and the first time you exercise hard, it
feels awful. Or if you climb a mountain and
you're not used to climbing mountains, it feels horrible.
But you realize that's a certain amount of suffering is good for
you. Or there's even projects we will
put ourselves through, maybe around our own house that we
voluntarily do because it's worth whatever challenges we
might meet that we're going to get something great out of it.
We're going to get a new piece of landscape, you know, we're
going to get a new feature on our home.
And we put ourselves through that struggle because we know
it's worth it in the end. We eat vegetables and for a
while that's that's suffering on some little amount for many of
us because we don't like vegetables naturally always.
But we put ourselves through it to make us better.
But you know what this is? This is just suddenly
surrendering to self. This may seem impressive when
people get great discipline about controlling their own self
to the point where they will go extreme feats of physical
endurance, where they will eat healthy with no cheat days or
whatever. You might say we think that's
amazing. But you know, in a spiritual
perspective, that's still just self will.
It's current self. And what I want right now is
surrendering to who? Future self.
So it's still about me. So this is great, but it's not
the ultimate. What is the ultimate?
The ultimate comes when we are called to suffer, but somebody
else is making us do it. Why is that?
Because when we are controlling the suffering, we trust
ourselves. I trust myself to stop it if it
goes too far, but whenever somebody else, if it's a boss
over me, is pushing me, or if it's a parent making a kid eat
their vegetables, they're pushing me.
And you start to doubt in your mind, do they have what's good
for me in mind? And as soon as we start doubting
the authority that's over us, we don't trust anymore.
That's where it gets really hard to reconcile the suffering when
we are no longer in control. But you know what?
This is when it's necessary for us to submit.
This is when it's hard though, because when someone else wants
you to do it, we are no longer in control.
And so the command is patient submission.
What does patient submission say?
Well, this may be a silly image. AI helped me out with this.
It may or may not land. It's kind of corny, but but the
principle is that when we are being treated by a certain way
by somebody else, we have the spiritual perspective to look
past that authority and see God and see someone who is higher
commanding us to submit. And that we don't trust our
employer enough to submit. We trust God enough to surrender
to the authority that's over us and put it in God's hands.
Because when we are just relying on our boss to treat us well, it
may or may not happen, but we if we are spiritually minded, we'll
trust that God is in control and the God is above this.
If God is commanding me to submit, he will watch over me in
this. And if I suffer in this, God's
still in control. And if I think I'm hitting my
limit, God is still in control. And in this process, we learn to
really see God in each situation.
We learn to actually put into practice what we say, which is I
just going to trust God in life. What does that mean?
And work? It means trusting that he's
there, that I look past my employer and see a God who is
trustworthy. Here are the statements of
patient submission. God, I believe you're in
control. Even though it looks like my
boss is or God, I believe you are powerful enough to refine me
for the better and bless me through even the hardest things.
Even though it's pushing me past a place I'm comfortable with,
God, I trust you are powerful enough to do some refining on me
that I need It says God, I believe you are wise enough to
teach my boss and my Co workers about Jesus through my
sufferings. Maybe more importantly, God I
love these people enough to teach them about you through my
suffering. This starts to really sound like
what Jesus did, isn't it? That I love the people around me
enough that I will suffer if it means they're going to get a
picture of God that will show them what God really is like?
That's powerful, and it comes in the most undeserved or
undesirable circumstances. We don't want to do this, but if
I love people enough to teach them about Jesus, I will allow
it to come through me. Isn't that what Jesus did?
I'm going to suffer for the world so they will see my love.
To teach our bosses to teach our Co workers about God's love.
Sometimes it requires suffering. It says God, I believe you are
deserving of their praise enough for me to suffer, so maybe they
will glorify you too. Because the problem is, if I
don't think these people are worthy enough, I'm not going to
care if they learn about Jesus. The problem is if I don't think
about God being worthy of their praise enough, then I'm not
going to care if I bring them along to Jesus.
But when I honour God enough, I will do anything to make him be
praised. I will do anything to bring
people to his throne. And this may be it.
It says, God, I believe you are faithful enough to give me
strength to bear up this weight. That's what the surrender says.
But what do statements of not having a submissive heart to our
boss say? They say I want a world where I
am the authority to decide what is right, good and fair.
What does that sound like? Does that sound like the devil
who said, I can see all the glory of God and I've been given
all the blessings of God and I'm an Angel in the presence of God?
But no, why do you have to be in charge?
Why do you have to sit on the throne?
I will sit on the throne is what the devil says.
In the Old Testament, we learned about how how that situation
transpired. That's what this sounds like.
I would have decided when suffering is enough.
Didn't know I could do that. I want to decide when I can when
my suffering is enough. I want to decide how I can show
people the right way instead of surrendering.
And it says all the exact opposite things.
It says God I don't believe you're faithful enough to give
me strength to bear up this weight if we don't surrender and
send. It says God I don't believe
you're deserving of their praise enough.
It says God, I don't love these people enough to teach them
about you through my suffering. God, I don't believe you are
wise enough to teach my boss and Co workers about Jesus.
God, I don't believe you are powerful enough to refine me
through my suffering. May we show our faith through
the act of submission in work. Verse 20.
So he said, if you take impatiently, this is commendable
before God, you know what that phrase sounds like?
It sounds like when Jesus says in Matthew 25, well done and
good and faithful servant enter in to the joys of your Lord.
This is where Christianity gets good.
It gets hard, but it gets good and I got to learn this because
I want to hear well done, good and faithful servant that is
commendable before God. Verse 21, he says for to this
you were called. He's like, if we get surprised,
as he going to say later, well, we'll come back to that.
He says, if you get surprised by the suffering, just remember
This is why you're here. This is part of the process.
You know, Peter, when he was tempted to abandon Jesus, he ran
from him. It's like he forgot the point
that the suffering was part of it.
And so he's trying to remind us, this is this is what you're
called for. You're called to suffering.
I'm not calling you to a good easy life.
I'm not calling you to become a Christian so everything can get
smooth, he says. I'm calling you to this
suffering, he says. Because Christ also suffered for
us. Becoming a Christian and not
wanting suffering is like going to the gym, hiring a trainer and
being surprised when they push us hard.
The trainer would say that's why you're here for suffering for a
benefit. You could be dealing with pain
for no reason at all. At least we're dealing with pain
for a purpose and Jesus suffered also for us, leaving us an
example that you should follow his steps.
It says who committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth.
Every bit of Jesus suffering was wrong, but he loved us enough to
teach us about God through his sufferings.
He loves his Father enough to give him praise through the
people who had learned from his suffering.
If I wake up every day expecting things to be good and then
someone comes through and messes it up, I'm going to have a hard
life. An even harder life.
But if I wake up expecting some level of suffering every day,
I'll be all ready to handle it. And if I don't suffer that day,
praise God that He gave me peace today.
Praise God that He gave me some rest from my struggles.
And that is the gauge that will help us from Scripture.
I don't have all that said in my brain for the record, and I am
young and learning a lot, but this is God's guidance and I
trust that this will be the best for us.
Bible says come, let him take up his cross and follow me.
So Speaking of this, Jesus in verse 23, who when he was
reviled did not revile in return.
When he suffered, He did not threaten, but committed himself
to him who judges righteously. There it is again.
We are not focusing on the person who's causing us the
suffering. We have to over commit beyond
the power of the adversary or the person who the pain is
causing, the person who's causing us pain.
We have to commit in a stronger way beyond that counterforce to
himself, to him who judges righteously.
We have to commit stronger than the adversary.
And when we commit ourselves to God through this, that's where
the strength lies. That's where the money is.
It becomes doable. But if you don't look at God, if
I don't look at God and these sufferings, it becomes
impossible. Who himself Speaking of Jesus
bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died
to sins, might live for righteousness.
By whose stripes you were healed.
We sing the song, they give us a good visual of this.
It says O to see my name written in the wounds.
For through your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death. Life is mine.
To live one through your selfless love for you are like
sheep going astray. Sheep wonder.
They have no direction, they have no purpose.
But now you have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your
souls, going on to chapter 3, verse one, wives likewise be
submissive to your husbands. Wait, what?
He was just talking about people who are suffering persecution,
thrown out into the furnishes of the world.
He's telling them to submit to those government, the
government. OK, I understand He's telling
them to honour people to submit to their bosses.
How are Christians and suffering called?
Why are we talking about submitting to the authority of
the whole? Because the bottom line, number
one is the recipe is the same for all of us.
If you're in a place of suffering, focus on the things
you can control. Focus on your place and your
surrender to whatever position you're in.
That's part of it. But also another layer of this
is maybe in this dispersion and in their suffering.
There were women who didn't have faithful husbands.
There are women whose husbands did not believe.
He's going to talk to them in just a minute.
And so maybe those women are asking the question, do I
surrender to this man? Do I need to leave him because
now I'm a Christian? Am I better than him because
he's not a follower of God and the guidance to them?
No be submissive to your husbands, that even if some do
not obey the word, they without a word may be won by the conduct
of their wives when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied
by fear. So I like how the NIV says this
a little bit better when they see the purity and reverence of
your lives. It's just it's elevating the
woman's example to how much impact she can has in purity and
reverence on the husband. Now the command and the
principle is being carried over, right?
It's submission. It's being submissive.
At this point you're starting to feel like, is this an over
everything? And it is.
It's kind of like the secret sauce of the Christian life.
You ever get that secret sauce that you like to put on
everything? I found this Thai chili sauce
that goes good on any meat you put it on.
It goes good on rice, potatoes. I love it on everything I eat at
at this point, pretty much. I remember growing up my mom,
when she discovered turmeric, everything started turning
yellow and orange in our foods. Our chicken turned yellow, our
rice turned yellow, our beans turned yellow because she found
the stuff that was good flavour, but it was good for us and it
became the secret sauce that became part of everything.
And that's how submission is. If you're wondering where do I
fit into all this process, Maybe I don't have a job.
Maybe I don't have a spouse. Submission is going to come in
at some point in all of our lives.
It's the secret sauce of being a Christian.
In some ways, submission works because you know what happens
Sometimes you know this better than I do.
There are relationships where the husband is not a Christian
or is not a good Christian and his wife can try to tell him and
can try to tell him and can try to tell him.
But you know what happens? He starts to get bitter towards
it. He starts to get hardened
towards it and pretty soon he's calling her a nag.
He's calling her things that are not nice.
And you know what? A woman, there's nothing worse
than being called a nag because you don't feel loved, you don't
feel valued, you feel like a bother.
How wise is God to give us this instruction without a word?
That's not saying you can never say anything, but that's saying
what's really going to affect him is not the words.
What's really going to affect your husband is the conduct.
How so? As we just mentioned in that
last slide, with purity and reverence you can win over his
heart. We can spin our wheels for a
long time trying to make things happen, but if we surrender to
God's way, it may be frustrating, but it will work.
Does it say when submit to the husband when he is deserving?
No, just in this little sliver of time where he happens to
measure up? No, says submit, and that's
hard. We're going to come more to in a
minute that is difficult to do and we'll talk about that.
But you might be wondering, well, I have a husband who
believes. So is this talking to me?
Yes, because it says even if some don't obey the word, so if
they do obey the word, you can still have the same effect on
them. When Taylor is a certain way
with her attitude and her actions, it makes me like, man,
I got to, I got to straighten up.
I got to be better. Even though I might not say it,
I'm realizing I got to be better when I observe her conduct.
How much more does this apply to the godly marriage for the
woman's example to impact the heart of the man?
So to the wives, when you show patient submission, you are
saying, God, I trust you even when it is difficult to submit
to my, you name it, husband. That's not.
It's not a place for a cuss word for my frustrating husband, my
rude husband, my stubborn husband.
God, I trust you. The woman has to do the same
thing that the employer does. They have to look past the
authority of the man and see a God who they're willing to trust
enough to surrender herself to a man that is faulted and fails
her. And this is a hard ask, but it
shows an even greater trust in God.
Now I'll be clear. We started by saying this, This
is to your own husbands. This is not a general command.
We've said this before. It's not a general command.
Woman submits to man, It's wives.
Submit to your own husbands. OK, we're going to come.
We're going to go deeper in a minute.
So if you're wondering, well, what about this, give us a
second. Verse 3.
He says do not let stalking to the woman.
Do not let your adornment or your beautifying be merely
outward arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine
apparel, he says. Don't let me merely that if it's
only that you're going to be in trouble.
You're going to be always trying to make yourself something that
you're never going to arrive at, he says.
But instead, rather let it be the hidden or the inner person
of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle
and quiet spirit which is very precious in the sight of God.
It can be scary from what I understand and from what I hear
for women to lose their beauty as time ages then.
And it's makes sense because God created woman to be beautiful.
It even says that woman is the glory of man.
Man is just like wow, it's the glory of man.
You are made to be beautiful. God wants you to be beautiful.
He even gave you a desire to want to be beautiful.
I believe that's why women want to, to make themselves look that
way. That's why they want to make
their homes look that way. God gave woman a desire for
beauty to create beauty. It's good, but he wants them to
let it transition in their life from just being outward to being
an inner beauty. Now I put, I made sure to put a
translation here that says enter because it can seem like it's
hidden. No one's ever going to recognize
it. That's how some women feel like.
No one's ever going to recognize what I do.
It's not hidden in the sense that no one's ever going to see
it. It's inward, hidden in the sense
that it's not on the outside. People see what's on the inside.
The hidden person or the inner person of the heart with the
incorruptible beauty, the transition in beauty from when
you have it as a young woman to being beautiful in your soul.
It gives you comfort to know that this beauty is
incorruptible. It's never going to go away.
It's going to be forever. What is it rooted in?
It's rooted in the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.
It will 100% be noticed. I guarantee you it'll be noticed
by people, but regardless of whether they recognize it, God's
going to see it. That's where our ultimate trust
is. That's where the faith comes in.
But you know what? We have consequences in this
world, the business world for generations.
And our culture for generations has pushed women to carve out
their place in the business world.
And by doing that, they have devalued what women are gifted
with by God the best. Now I want to be clear, women
can do so many things in arts and science and and construction
and all these things. My dad recently got one of a new
project manager and he said this girl is like the best project
manager he's had. Women are capable of of all
these things. They may not be blessed with the
physical strength. That's just a fact of nature.
But women are capable of so many things.
It's not that they're not capable, it's what are you
designed to serve? What is your most valuable
service? The world has pulled women away
from the glorious nurturing disposition.
It said. You need to go out and you need
to take what's yours in the business world.
The business world requires you in many ways to be harsh and
cruel at times, because unless you step out and you go get
what's yours, you're not going to get a raise.
You're not going to get that better job.
In some senses, it's true. Studies have shown when a woman
will go out and go get it, she will get more money.
But some of those dispositions are not encouraged of gentleness
and nurturing to the point where they get lost in her soul.
She stops valuing them, and so she stops becoming them.
I'm not saying you can be a career woman and a good, good
woman, a good godly woman, but the world doesn't encourage it.
The world wants to pull you in another direction.
It's brilliant on Satan's part, of course.
And you know what the result is? We have the most depressed,
anxious, sad generation in the world.
We have on record depression rates.
Suicide is through the roof. Why?
Because we've pulled women from the nurturing heart of our homes
and our lives. And we've said you're just
another salary, go get some more money so we can buy more stuff.
And you know what happens? People are not supported.
People are not cared for and loved.
And what's the benefit if you have a house or a car, if you
don't have peace and support and love women?
You outclass us every day of the week and you're nurturing.
A world without nurturing becomes cold, robotic, sterile
and stoic. You outclass us in emotional
awareness and empathy. We as a culture have not
honoured that in you, but in the church.
We must honour you in that, and we must encourage you to be
that, because that's what your most valuable role is.
We've got men here who can design you a building, build
that building, and fix things in that building if they go wrong.
But we're not always good about building people up.
May we learn from you and that, then may we learn from them, and
may you show us how to support people in a way that this church
needs desperately. Sometimes we might think of men
being the framework that's holding all things together.
But there's a biblical perspective in which the women
are the ones supporting all the work being done.
So it's just you could, you could draw it up two different
ways. Scriptures tell us we can't do
without you. You can't do without us.
It just goes hand in hand. We need your support.
Nobody can do it like you. And in this context, you might
be thinking, I don't have a husband or maybe mine's past.
You can still do all these things even if you don't have a
family right now. You know why?
Because in the church you have a place to provide the warmth,
support and love that so many need.
Where I grew up going to church, it kind of became like a halfway
house for the young men. We had so many young men, like 1
after another who were coming to Christ and they were treated
with disdain from their parents kind of in their later teen
years. And so it was a formative time
where they still needed love and care, and these young men were
just kind of broken, rejected by their own families and missing
love. And you know where they found
it? Often times with the women in
our congregation, they found camaraderie, brotherhood, and
iron, sharpening iron with me and other brothers, they found
that. But they found a comfort with
the women that they didn't find in US.
I saw young men rest in the presence of a godly woman's
home. Yes, in my mom's home.
But in other ladies homes, we'd go to the house and you could
just see it on their faces. They relaxed.
They had peace. They had just a calmness about
them that I didn't see anywhere else until they were in the
nurturing presence of a good woman, an older woman.
Maybe our home has even turned into that in a little bit.
I we joke about sometimes Taylor, the way she'll, she'll
take some of these young men who come and stay with us and she'll
make him a good meal. They can talk about their
struggles, their breakups, their their women troubles and then
get back on the right track and get going.
It's real. There is something that women
can provide that we can't do the same way you remember in the Old
Testament when Elijah was alone and depressed and he was on the
run. He didn't have a woman there.
And you know what God did? He gave him food.
He gave him a good night's rest and he got him on his way and
that restored him. He went on from there to do his
work. And we don't read of that
happening the same way again. The women helped provide that.
The women are the helpers that provide that kind of thing.
But you know what these women in in the congregation I grew up
in, it wasn't just their homes. I would see these young men
talking to the women after services and the women would ask
things about them that they knew they cared about.
Why? Because they're emotionally
intelligent and pay attention to what people care about.
And when they did that, they had these young men all of a sudden
who were crossed armed at 1st and and frustrated, opening up
about their problems and talking to them about everything.
They had an effect on them. And sometimes you're a Marian
and sometimes you're a Martha. Maybe you're a better host, but
maybe you're better about getting something out of people
and supporting them emotionally. Do it all.
Do whatever you can do. It needs to be done.
We need it. We've even got a brave soul that
does the honourable of work, of caring for foster children here.
But that can be done in this home.
The church can be a foster home for people who need love and
nurture. Adults, young, old, we need you.
I've heard this quote and it may have some.
There's plenty of criticism for it, but there's a truth to it
that is kind of striking that someone said God gave the man
the mind of God, but he gave the woman the heart of God.
There's a lot of what ifs about that, but the point is not easy
to dispute. These qualities of a godly woman
may not seem honourable to people for a long time in life,
but I've yet to see an 80 year old criticize another woman
who's surrounded by people who love her, whether it's a
congregation or children or grandchildren.
I've never seen any year old woman get criticized for that.
You know why? Because it stands the test of
time. It is incorruptible beauty.
There's a lot of loud party animals type who've lived their
life for them who I've seen a lot of regret out of and a lot
of misery. But this is an incorruptible
beauty. For in this manner, in former
times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorn
themselves being submissive to their own husbands.
There it is. They're trusting in God.
They're not trusting in the man. They're trusting God enough to
submit to what he says. Now we haven't even talked about
there's a place where abuse needs to handled by the
authorities of the church and the authorities of the law.
We're not getting into that. That's a whole other
conversation for another time, but if we will focus on these
virtues, they will change us. As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling
him Lord. That word means master.
I'm surrendering to you doesn't mean Lord God, it means leader,
Master, whose daughters you are, if you do good and are not
afraid with any terror. Hey terror, what is he saying?
The NIV says, I think a little bit clearer and do not give way
to fear. Remember Frank said not long
ago, there's a way to live a faith driven life and a way to
live a fear driven life. When you put your surrender to
the authority God has given you are standing in the way of fear
and saying no, I'm not going to be afraid.
I'm going to trust in you God. I'm going to put my faith in you
instead, and I hate to stop this because the men need a talking
to from verse 7, but I I got to we're we're we're on a time.
I have to pause here. The men are going to get it and
we have to provide the other side.
We have to provide support and love.
But maybe you haven't even started this walk and maybe you
are just needing to begin the surrender process, not just to
all these other areas of life that you will learn to surrender
in, but first to God. What does it mean to surrender
to God? Well, we first have to
understand what He wants to say and we have to hear Him
according to Romans 10/17. That's where faith comes from,
and that will hopefully produce belief in us.
There's required. We cannot serve God without
believing in Him and believing in Jesus Christ.
We have to be willing to do what we've talked about today, to go
from what I want to do, to submit and surrender to God's
will and to repent according to Luke 13 and three, and to
confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
That is the source of our salvation.
You can't be a Christian and be a Muslim because they don't
acknowledge the same source of salvation.
So we must confess Jesus and be baptized for the remission of
our sins according to Mark 1616, where we get that fresh start or
we have our sins washed away. And if you've done that, now
it's time to live faithfully. And if you need to start the
process and be baptized for the remission of your sins, or
whether you need help getting back on the right track to live
faithfully, we'd be happy to support you in one of these
ways. Always stand on what we see.