Sermon Tone Analysis

A Marriage Made in Heaven - Part 2: God’s Plan for Husbands

1 Peter 3:1-7

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - Jan. 13, 2013

*If you have ever wondered: “What’s wrong with my family?”

-- You are not alone.

You will never find a perfect family in this world.

And you will never find a perfect family in the Bible, because Adam and Eve sinned.

*Romans 5 tells us that Adam’s sin has been passed down to all of us, so even our perfect Savior’s earthly family had problems, because Christ’s mom and step-dad were sinners, His brothers and sisters, too.

*None of us can have a perfect family life in this world.

But all of us can have a better family life, if we will follow God’s family plan.

Last Sunday evening we began looking at God’s plan for marriage.

We started with wives, because that’s where Peter starts in chapter 3.

*And when we look at God’s plan for wives here, we see that it centers on 3 things:

-Respect for your husband.

-Right living.

-And reaching out for Jesus.

*All of this is summed up in vs. 1, where Peter said: “Likewise you wives, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives”

*God’s plan is for wives to have voluntary, grace-filled respect for their husbands, the inward beauty of right living, and a life that reaches the lost.

-But what about the men? -- What is God’s plan for husbands?

*We can see it down in vs. 7, where Peter said: “Likewise you husbands, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.”

*The first thing to notice here is that God wants husbands to live with “understanding” or “knowledge” in the KJV.

That’s good because men, we need all the help we can get!

And God gives us some of this vital understanding here in vs. 7.

1.

So, what is God’s plan for husbands?

-- First: God’s plan is for us to be unselfish in giving.

*God wants husbands to be givers.

For example, in vs. 7, He wants us to give “honor” to our wife.

[1] And one reason to give honor to our wives is because of her weakness.

As vs. 7 says: She is the “weaker vessel.”

1-Here God is simply telling us not to take advantage of her size.

*Now, my wife has always been strong.

When we met, I had a 1968 Volkswagen Bug, and it’s a good thing that car wasn’t an automatic, because we had to push it off everywhere we went.

I can still see Mary behind that car, pushing.

She used to tell people that the reason I dated her was because she was the only woman I knew who could push that car.

*Well, that’s not why I dated her.

I dated her because she was my destiny.

But she was the only woman I knew who could push that car.

Mary could even push that car uphill!

*But even though she is still pretty strong, I think I can take her.

Peter is just stating the obvious here: Most women are physically weaker than their husbands.

It would be easy to push them around.

It would be easy to take advantage of them.

*But God says don’t do that!

-- It would be ungodly and immoral.

It’s also illegal.

-Give honor to your wife.

Don’t take advantage of her size.

2-And don’t take advantage of her situation.

*The Word of God has just finished telling wives to submit to their husbands, and He sure doesn’t want us taking advantage of that.

“Woman: You’re supposed to do what I tell you to do! -- It says that right here in the Bible.”

Or: “You better do what I tell you to!”

*Men: Has Jesus ever talked to us that way? -- No.

And He doesn’t want us to talk that way either.

There is no telling how many marriages have been ruined, because the husband tried to be a control freak.

God doesn’t operate that way, and He doesn’t want us to do it either.

*Give honor to your wife, because of her weakness.

[2] But also because of her preciousness.

*The Greek word translated as “honor” in vs. 7 is found 43 times in the New Testament.

But the thing that astounds me is the way God uses it in 1 Peter 2:7.

The first part of that verse expresses the way Christians feel about Jesus.

And the Scripture says, “Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious. .

.”

*“To you who believe, He is precious. .

.”

That word “precious” is the same Greek word as “honor” in tonight’s Scripture.

Jesus is precious to us!

But God wants our wives to be precious to us too.

*They almost always are at first, but the fire tends to grow cold.

Arthur Sueltz described how things can go downhill in a little spoof on the seven years of a wife’s cold.

Here’s what the husband says:

-Year 1: “Sweetie, I'm worried.

You've got a bad sniffle.

I want to put you in the hospital for a complete checkup.”

-Year 2: “Listen, honey, I don't like the sound of that cough.

I'm taking you to the doctor right now.

And I want you to go to bed as soon as we get home.”

-Year 3: “Maybe you'd better lie down, honey.

There’s nothing like a little rest if you're feeling bad.

I'll bring you something to eat.”

-Year 4: “Look, dear.

Be sensible.

After you've fed the kids and washed the dishes, you'd better hit the sack.”

-Year 5: “Why don't you take a couple of aspirin?”

-Year 6: “Would you please gargle something!

You’re barking like a seal.”

-Year 7: “For heaven's sake, stop sneezing.

What are you trying to do, give me pneumonia?”

(1)

*God doesn’t want husbands to go down that road.

He wants us to fan the flames of our love and see our wives as precious!

*William Barclay explained that a Christian husband “must be chivalrous.

He must remember that women are the weaker sex and treat them with courtesy.

In the ancient world chivalry to women was well-nigh unknown.

It was, and still is, no uncommon sight in the East to see the man riding on a donkey while the woman trudged by his side.

It was Christianity which introduced chivalry into the relationship between men and women.

(2)

*That makes sense, because though Jesus never had an earthly wife, the Lord Himself is our best example on how to treat a wife.

We see this truth in Ephesians 5:25-27, where God’s Word says:

25.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it,

26. that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

27. that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.

*Listen again to Ephesians 5:25: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it.”

This is a verse that husbands ought to know in our hearts, and live out in our homes.