1 Peter: Blessed Assurance (A Living Example: Daily Lives)

Praise the Lord.

It is so good to see you today.

And I know we don't do this all the time, but can we celebrate our tech team and our band for leading us in worship today?

Just wonderful.

So thankful for all the hard work that they do all the time.

And we are just thankful that we have, you know, just an atmosphere here where we're able to worship the Lord together.

If you have your Bibles, want to open up with me to 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 1.

1 Peter 3:1

We are going to jump right into God's word.

We're going to have a good time today in celebrating his word.

And while you're doing that, if this is your first time joining us, welcome.

It is so good to see you today.

It is an honor to worship the Lord together today.

And I don't ever do this, but I want to say hello to my friend, Mr.

Steve Stefano.

I am glad he is here today.

I'm sorry I embarrassed him.

Can you celebrate my friend who is here today?

I'm sorry, man.

Listen, he's going to get me after church.

It's just good to see all my friends here today.

And if no one's told you lately, I love you.

It's just an honor to be your pastor.

It's an honor we have a chance to do this thing called life together.

And this is just my favorite time of the year as we get into holiday season together.

It's just a time of thankfulness.

And I'm just thankful for all of you.

And if you're a first-time guest here, we're thankful for you as well.

And we would love at some point in this service, if you don't mind, to fill out our connect card and you can drop that off at the Welcome Center.

And we have a free gift for you today just to say thank you for joining us as we come to church together.

And you can also can get a free Bible so that next week, when you are here with us, you can open your Bibles with us to 1 Peter chapter 3.

1 Peter 3 · chapter mention

And for those of you who have been with us, you've got all of that ready to go.

Don't turn on me now, Tim.

Come on now, Tim.

There we go.

All right.

He come on now, Tim.

Don't do that to me.

All right, here we go.

There he's good.

He's good.

Now, if you've been with us over the past few weeks, we have been walking through the book of 1 Peter.

And the idea behind this is kind of the mental picture, and we've been kind of talking about this, is imagine it is hurricane season.

So imagine you are watching the weather and you see a hurricane that's coming.

And it is like the worst hurricane that you've ever seen.

And as you are looking at it, it's not just that you see it, but you've got friends that live on the Gulf Coast.

And as that thing makes landfall, you see right in the middle of the biggest storm you've ever seen, it looks like that's where your friends live.

And so you're worried.

You're like, what's going on?

What are my friends going through?

What's happening in their world?

And then out of nowhere, you get contacted from inside the storm.

You get an email.

You imagine what that email would say.

Like, what's what's it what's it gonna talk about?

What's gonna be going on?

And that is very similar to what's going on in the book of First Peter.

Because what's happening in the time of 1 Peter is they are going through what we have called the storm of the 60s, not the 1960s, but much further back than that, the 60s.

It is the biggest storm that the early church had faced up until that point.

Because the early church, you know, started in 33 AD with the resurrection of Jesus and then Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And then for a while things are moving on, but then finally in the 60s, everything just gets hard, as if it wasn't already.

You got Paul that gets uh imprisoned in 61, you got 64, Rome burns, and they blame the Christians, even though we had nothing to do with it.

And then right after that, they start collecting Christians and torturing them and killing them and hunting them down and all of this.

And right in the middle of this horrible storm that Christianity is going through, 1 Peter is when this is when 1 Peter was written.

So you imagine all the things he could have said, all the ways he could have complained.

And it the mental picture I have is, you know, like that poor soul who was like the lowest on the totem pole at the news station, they're the ones that sent to the coast because apparently we won't believe them unless someone's literally on the beach, you know, and and the and the wind looks like this like a thousand miles an hour, and they're just holding on to their hat and they're going, Yeah, it really is bad out here.

Like we would have believed you without you actually having to be there, right?

But that's kind of what I think of Peter as he's in the middle of this storm, and of all the things he could have said, this is the big idea.

And that is, guys, I'm in the middle of the biggest storm we can imagine.

I am right in the epicenter of where people are being hunted down, people are being chased, people are being persecuted, they're taking us to the Colosseum, they're they're doing all these different things, and right in the middle of this, I want you to know God is so good.

I want you to know that you can stand strong because of our blessed assurance, because of that blessed hope that we have in Jesus Christ, of all the things he could have said.

He didn't he didn't say that bad things weren't happening, he was just reminding him that that's reminding people that's not all that was happening.

That right in the middle of the most difficult storm imaginable, that they could stand strong.

And we found out in chapter one the reason why is he spent that chapter talking about how the reason we have a blessed assurance is because of our living hope in Jesus Christ that transcends any storm that we go through in life.

And that's what chapter one was all about.

And then as he got into chapter two, he said, and because we can stand strong and we have a living hope, we have the honor of being a living example, that we can be a living example to the world of what it looks like to follow Christ.

Because especially during that time, all of these rumors were going around.

Remember, they thought that they had burned down the capital city of the basic known world at the time, which wasn't true.

And they had all these other things that were being said about Christians that wasn't true.

And so he was saying we get to be a living example of what it looks like to follow Jesus.

And then over the past couple of weeks, he's been talking just more and more practically about what that looks like.

And a couple weeks ago, he talked about how a living example in relationship to our government, kind of the widest circle of influence we have, that in relation to our government, we can have be a living example of what it looks like to follow Jesus.

Last week, more or less, was talking about the idea of our work-life balance.

That's an even closer proximity to our world.

What does it look like?

You know, in our big world, what does it look like?

A little bit closer to home?

What does it look like to be a living example?

And then literally today, he is gonna get into our living room.

He's gonna get very practical and very specific on what it looks like with these closest relationships we have.

What does it look like to be a living example?

Because the closer the circle that we get, the closer we get to the center, the more of an influence we have.

And so I love the fact that the Bible doesn't just leave this up to chance, but he helps us say, okay, in the closest relationships, I'm gonna get the most practical.

And so let's read this together and kind of hold on to our seats a little bit and let's see what God's Word has to say.

So, first of all, remember that he started off in chapter two saying, to be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors.

And then he talked about government, he talked about our work-life balance, and then he says, and in the same way as all of that, you must, you wives, must accept the authority of your husbands.

Praise the Lord.

Then, even if some of you, uh some refuse to obey the good news, your godly lives will speak to them without any words.

They will be won over by observing your pure and reverent lives.

Don't be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes.

You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of gentle, of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.

This is how the holy women of old made themselves beautiful.

They put their trust in God and accepted the authority of their husbands.

For instance, Sarah obeyed her husband Abraham and called him her master.

You are daughters when you do what is right without fear of what your husbands might do.

In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives.

Treat your wife with understanding as you live together.

She may be weaker than you, but she is your equal partner and God's gift of new life.

Treat her as you should, so your prayers will not be hindered.

Praise the Lord, right?

I mean, literally, he comes right into our living room and he is saying, in the closest relationships that we have, God wants to help you figure that out.

He doesn't want to just leave it up to chance.

And Peter, as a married man, is saying, we need to talk about this.

What does it look like in our daily lives?

And so, really, if I were to sum this up into one statement, it would be that we are a living example of hope through our daily lives.

That we have the opportunity to be a living example of hope through our daily lives.

In those close relationships, that's where we can make the greatest difference.

But it is also the most difficult and the most complicated.

And it's one of those where we have that opportunity to show our hope where it matters the most.

And it kind of reminds me of this idea of showing our hope in a tangible way that uh since I became a parent, uh, one of the things I have noticed when it comes to storms is at least I feel like I have two jobs.

First of all, you can't seem to trust any of the radars.

The only thing that every guy thinks, at least all the guys I know, the only way you can manage a storm is to go look out the window.

You know?

I don't know why that is, but for some reason, at least in my house, I my wife is watching the radar.

She knows what's actually going on, but I'm the one looking out because I think I know what storms look like.

I have no idea, but I feel obligated to go look at the storms.

The second thing that my job is, or my job is usually, is I am the one who have to lie to my children.

I'm the one who have to tell them that everything is okay.

And it normally is.

But I can't tell you how many times that I would be, and there's a couple times I have specifically in my mind that I'll be looking at the storm, and I don't know what the radar says, but I don't think trees are supposed to bend like that.

You know what I mean?

I'm pretty certain this is not good news.

And so I'm I remember a couple times I'm looking and I don't know, I don't know what's going on, but this isn't good.

And I hear from behind me, Daddy, is everything okay?

And I turn around, I go, Yeah, everything's fine, you know.

And shockingly, my girls can see through lies.

And they would look at me and they say, Daddy, I don't think everything's okay.

What do you mean?

Everything is fine, you know?

And they would say, But Daddy, you don't look like everything is fine.

You're not acting like everything is fine.

And in my mind, I'm going, because I think we're gonna die.

That's why I'm not acting that way.

But I would have to stop and go, baby, I promise everything's okay.

I still don't believe you, Daddy, because your your face, basically, they were saying my my smile wasn't reaching my eyes.

I was I was confident from here down, but where it matters up here, I wasn't confident at all.

And can I tell you that sometimes in life we need to ask ourselves the question when is the last time our hope has reached our eyes?

When is the last time that we tell everybody, but we actually believe that yes, everything looks chaos, and I'm pretty sure that we're not supposed to bend quite like that, but I've got a hope that transcends all of that.

And what God's word is saying is we have to be so very careful to make sure that our hope reaches our eyes.

Look at your neighbor and say, Is it reaching your eyes?

I know I wasn't preaching last week.

Let's let's try it again.

Look at somebody else and say, Is it reaching your eyes?

We'll work on it.

It'll get better over the over the course, it'll get better.

But it's that idea.

And so what is it supposed to, what is that hope that's supposed to be reaching our eyes?

Well, remember the biblical definition of hope is the dynamic living confidence in the promises of God.

It's that I trust God so much that even when everything else around me does not look okay, I know that it's going to be okay because of who God is.

And it's one thing to do that in those broad relationships as it relates to governments and things like that.

And then it's another in those little bit closer relationships.

But man, when it comes to those really close relationships, we have the honor of being able to have this opportunity to show what it looks like in our daily lives.

And so we're gonna get into this, but I got to give you a couple of disclaimers first, okay?

This is why this is a great week that if you're in life group, you can dive into this even deeper.

But let me give you like a couple disclaimers.

First of all, we are gonna talk about today's principles in a general sort of way, but there are specifics that will help understanding when it comes to understanding this context.

So, what we're going to do is it's talking about wives, it's talking about husbands.

We're gonna talk about these, but but really there's there, these principles are so good that we're gonna apply them to our lives in general, but it's gonna help to have a couple of disclaimers so that this makes sense.

Here's the first disclaimer that the Bible assumes in this text.

This text assumes we understand that marriage is the covenant union of one man and one woman.

Somebody say amen.

Genesis chapter two.

Marriages can be beautiful, but are complicated.

That's what's to say are, but are complicated and well hard.

Somebody say amen.

If you don't believe me, check out Genesis chapter three, okay?

It gets complicated, all right?

How about this one?

God has established an order of spiritual responsibility in the home.

It is about position, not value.

Somebody say amen.

Everybody is equal in the sight of God in worth, value, and dignity.

However, in the in the spiritual responsibility of the home, you have husband, wife, and children, according to Ephesians chapter 3.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

And then the established order of the home does not, somebody say not, override the word of God, which means there is no obligation for anyone to do anything that violates God's word.

Somebody say amen.

Therefore, if you're in an environment in any one of these three, if you are children and your husband, oh your husband, uh, if you're children and your father and mother are doing something contrary to God's word, get help quickly.

If you're a wife and your husband or your children are doing something against God's word, get help.

And then if you're a husband and everybody's acting a fool, get help.

So that's that's the idea behind this.

Okay, so with that being the case, here is the question of the day.

How does our hope in Jesus help us become a living example in our daily lives?

How does this hope in Jesus, here's the amazing thing about this text when this was said, no one liked it.

This would have been in the first century culture, what Peter just wrote of the Holy Spirit would have been considered extremely controversial.

We said, Well, he just wrote to the ladies and said, What?

He just wrote to the men and it would have been considered extremely progressive.

In today's culture, it is considered extremely traditional.

What moved?

We did.

God's word didn't move at all.

Therefore, we're gonna try to do our best to take our 21st century lens off of this and put it in the timeless truth of God's word to figure out what God's word has to say.

So here it is.

How does our hope in Jesus help us become a living example?

Here's the first one, and that is this we're a living example of hope as we thrive despite complicated circumstances.

We thrive despite complicated circumstances.

So the question is when is the last time your hope reached your eyes?

When is the last time you were in a complicated circumstance, but you still had the joy of the Lord because you knew who was in control?

Now remember, joy and happiness are not two things.

You can have joy and have tears in your eyes because it's got nothing to do with how you feel, has everything to do with who God is.

And we're talking about thriving despite complicated circumstances.

Let's read this again what he had to say.

He said, in the same way, so just like in the other areas, wives accept the authority of your husband.

Then, if some refuse to obey the good news, your godly lives will speak to them without any words.

Don't be concerned about outwardly beauty, instead, with the beauty that comes from within.

A gentle and quiet spirit is what we're looking for.

Holy women of old, put their trust in God without fear of what your husbands might do.

And so what's amazing about this, already to get context, is writing to women with unbelieving husbands is what he's mainly doing.

He's talking about what does it look like to live in a marriage that's not perfect in a complicated situation.

Because back then it was expected that if you were married, the wife automatically observed and worshiped whatever gods the husband worshiped.

And so he's saying you're in a situation where now, in the closest relationships, not everybody around you worships God.

So what do you do?

You just go along, you just hope for the best.

He's actually saying in those closest relationships is where you can make the biggest difference possible because of three things that he is going to talk about.

The other thing that's amazing is when you know these were written to be read.

And so, as they were reading this, most likely the first time to these local churches, they would have paused on this because you're in the time you didn't talk to wives, you talked to the husbands, and the husbands related to the wives.

And so he is saying, you have a stake in this.

You have something to say, you can make a difference just like anybody else.

And so when you're in a complicated situation where not everybody believes what you believe, not everybody's worshiping the way you do, you actually can have the biggest difference and you can do it mainly in three ways.

And so my question for you is if you're living in a situation right now where maybe not everybody in your family worships the Lord, you have an amazing opportunity to make an amazing difference.

And God's word says primarily in three ways, very, very practically.

The first thing he says is that we realize that actions, not words, show our hearts.

That the number one way to make a difference in the closest relationships we have is that our actions, not our words, do the most to reveal our hearts.

You ever heard someone say that your actions are speaking so loud, I can't hear anything you're saying?

That definitely is true when it comes to our relationship with God.

He said this, he said, even if some refuse to obey the good news.

In other words, you have people in your life, your husband does not worship God, your godly lives will speak to them without any words.

That they will be won over by observing your pure and reverent lives.

That as you live your life in front of them, that will be the greatest witness to them because as your hope reaches your eyes, they can realize you're living with a greater hope than what they have.

And so the truth is that people don't are not moved by our clapbacks and our comments.

People are moved by our trust in God's faithfulness when things go sideways.

Can I tell you I've seen that so many times?

I've never heard anybody say that I wasn't really sure what I believed.

And then I saw somebody snap at somebody else on social media, and I thought, well, God must be real.

I've never seen it.

I've never seen anybody get a snarky text message and then go, Well, God must love me.

I've never seen that at all.

If you were one to Christ because of a nasty text message, will you please send me after church?

I've got to hear that story.

I bet it's amazing.

However, you know what I have seen?

I've had the wonderful opportunity.

I was, I was not too long ago.

I was talking to someone and we were, we were talking about if baptism was the next step for them.

And they said, You know what really did it for me was I had an uncle and he had a hard life.

And everything in his life seemed to go wrong, but he never gave up on his relationship with God.

And when everything would go wrong, he would say, The Lord is still good, the Lord is still good.

And she said, I found myself in the darkest moment of my life going, I wonder if God is still good.

It was because of what she saw in him over and over again that made an amazing difference.

And the truth is, is it's not what we say, but what we do that shows what we believe.

That is not what we say, but it's what we do when everything gets difficult that show what we really believe.

And you can see this all throughout the Bible.

As a matter of fact, there's one story that I think is amazing, and it's a story about a couple called Nabal and uh Abigail.

And this this uh this family was was definitely in a complicated situation.

She obviously loved God.

Nabal just really was a jerk, okay?

That's just that's all there is.

You ought to read it.

It's in 1 Samuel.

And what happened was is that Nabal was a shepherd, and he had these other shepherds that worked under him, and his shepherds had gone out and were kind of in their fields.

And David, who had grown up as a shepherd, he noticed they were unprotected.

And so David went and surrounded them and protected them.

And after protecting them, that the shepherds came back and they said, Hey, you should really bless David because he protected us.

And Nabal was like, Not my problem.

That's his problem.

He he shouldn't have done that.

I'm not gonna give him anything.

Well, when when David heard about this, he was human and he had a bad day.

And he said, Well, then I'm just gonna go kill him.

Not the right response, okay?

That not the right response at all.

But actions over words, when the wife, Abigail, heard about this, she knew the complicated situation she was in with her husband, but she also knew that David was a good man.

He was just having a real bad day.

And so the Bible said that she didn't just go talk to him, but she went and she blessed him.

She sent him a gift on a head, and she let her actions over just her words show that, hey, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I'm it's complicated.

Just trust me, it's complicated, but I know you mean better.

And it was amazing how her actions is what actually calmed everything down over her words.

As a matter of fact, David said, Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today.

Thank God for your good sense.

Bless you for keeping me from murder and from carrying out vengeance with my own hands.

In other words, everybody was crazy except for you.

And it was your actions, not your words, that made the biggest difference.

Can I tell you that one of the ways that our hope is able to reach our eyes, our hope is able to be a living example into our daily relationships is when we thrive in complicated situations.

And the first way that God's word tells us to do that is through letting our actions, not our words, show what's truly going on.

Here's the second thing he said is he said that we can let our character, not culture, determine value.

Say laugh.

We can let our character, not culture, determine value.

He said it like this He said, Don't be concerned about our beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry or beautiful clothes.

You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.

Now, I know that in times past, people have taken verses like this and they have said, well, then that means that, you know, we got to dress like this, we got to dress like that.

But actually, this verse is not an indictment against doing your best to look good.

Okay, listen, I'm gonna say this God doesn't just love ugly people.

Let it marinate for a moment.

Okay, let it marinate.

For some of us, we're like, well, I was hoping, I was, I was hoping that I was loved more than everybody else, you know.

But here's it, he's not saying that unless you're ugly, God don't love you.

That's not it at all.

Okay, smile a little bit.

I see some of y'all been eating or drinking lemon juice all week.

Smile a little bit.

He's not saying that.

This is what he's saying is actually during the time when you had braided hair like this, it was considered a status symbol.

It was considered that you were saying you are in the upper echelon of culture.

You are the elite in the city of Rome.

You are trying to fit in with the culture, whether you actually were or not, to say I'm somebody.

And what he's saying is that your value has nothing to do with what everybody else can see.

That when it, especially when it comes to our closest relationships, they know the difference anyway.

And so he's saying, don't be consumed with thinking that you have to fit in with culture in order to make a difference in your closest relationships.

But what really makes a difference is that when we allow a gentle and a quiet spirit, that word gentleness means controlled strength.

It's when we are strong, but we choose to temper ourselves.

That quiet strength is when we have a settled contentment and we're at peace within ourselves.

He said, Do you want to make a difference?

Don't try to keep up with the latest trends, but instead show people what it is to be temperate in all that you do.

Show what it is to not allow anxiety to overwhelm you.

But when everything becomes difficult and everything becomes hard, your hope is able to reach your eyes and say, listen, I don't have it all figured out, but I know God is able.

I know God is gonna be okay.

And what happens is it's those closest relationships, they see that and they see that example that you have.

And when we are able to thrive despite complicated circumstances, it brings glory to God.

And so our actions over our words, then our character over our culture, and then one more he said this.

He said, and we trust God as our ultimate authority.

We trust God as that ultimate authority.

Look at how he says, This is how holy women and this is how holy women of old made themselves beautiful.

They put their trust in God and accepted the authority of their husbands.

Sarah obeyed her husband and called him her master.

Homework, ladies.

No, I'm just playing.

Okay.

All right.

You are that was amazing.

My wife's not in here, is he?

No, she's not.

Okay.

Um, you are daughters when you do what is right without fear of what your husbands might do.

What he's saying is, is he is saying, and I love that he uses Sarah for this.

He is saying that when you trust God, you're able to go to your husband and say, Okay, you're the spiritual leader of our home.

Not because I even necessarily know you're gonna get it right all the time, it's because I know who's leading you.

And since I know who's leading you, I can then trust God to lead you.

And so she's saying, be in charge.

That's what she's saying.

And she's not saying that you're better than me.

It says you are gonna lead.

And because I know that I don't have to be afraid, because as long as you are doing what God's word has to say and what you're following him, I know God is gonna lead us in the right direction.

And I love that he uses Sarah because if you don't know the story, it's about Abraham and Sarah all the way back in Genesis chapter 12.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

One day God tells Abraham, I want you to leave all that you know, and I want you to get up, and I want you to go to a land that I will show you.

Well, that's one thing when you have that encounter with God yourself.

Imagine going and telling your spouse about that.

Hey, hey, babe, what is it?

It's such a good day.

Sure, sure is.

Um, listen, uh, God, God told me we're supposed to leave.

Okay, great.

Where are we going?

I don't know.

What direction?

I'm not real sure.

How long are we gonna be gone?

Forever.

But do you want to go?

It's gonna be great.

All right, okay.

Now are we listening we'll be taken care of?

We we got we got all that going on.

I just don't know where we're gonna go.

Well, how how what do you do with that?

Well, if your trust is not in God, well, well then no, I'm not going.

But then if your trust is in God, you go, listen, I got a thousand questions, but is God leading you?

Is it gonna be okay?

All right.

Well, I don't trust you, but I trust God, and He's gonna get us where we need to go.

Imagine the next thing when He when He comes to her and He says, Hey, listen, we're gonna have a kid.

Now listen, I'm I'm 80 and you're 90.

That's great and all.

I don't think so, my friend.

We're gonna have a kid.

Sarah, how in the world did you trust Abraham?

I did not trust Abraham, but I trusted God.

And guess what we had nine months later?

His name is Isaac.

And then can you imagine?

Can you imagine one day when Abraham, if you know, if you know you know, when Abraham said, Sarah, hey, listen, I need to take Isaac on a on a on a camping trip.

It's gonna be fine.

How did you let him do that?

I did not understand that, but I trusted God, but I trusted God.

God's word says that we trust in the Lord with all our heart.

Do not depend on your own understanding, seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

One of the great ways to show in our closest relationships is that when we don't know what else to do, we say, Listen, I don't know, but I trust the Lord.

One of the greatest acts of faith is faithfulness.

And we have an opportunity to be that living example of what it looks like to let that hope get to our eyes and say, Listen, I don't have it all figured out, but I trust the Lord.

And so maybe for some of us, your action step is that we can show our hope by how we live our lives for God in complicated seasons.

Can I tell you, it's easy to serve God on Sunday morning.

But you know what those daily relationships are looking for?

Is what you look like on Thursday afternoon.

What it looks like when everything else is going wrong.

And within with tears in your eyes, you say, Listen, I got no idea, but I choose to trust him.

I trust the Lord.

And I'm gonna let my actions speak louder than my words.

I'm gonna let my character lead instead of culture, and I choose to trust what the Lord has to say.

And when that happens and that hope starts to reach your eyes, people around you start to realize that hope means something.

They must really have a confidence in the Lord.

And so I want you to look at your neighbor and say, has your hope reached your eyes?

Mm-mm-mm-mm mm.

All right, yeah.

That's a no, by the way, okay?

That's a no.

But we're gonna get there in Jesus' name because here's the first one.

When our hope reaches our eyes, we're able to thrive despite complicated circumstances.

Here's the second one, and that is this that we have our living example of hope as we give our lives away.

As we have the opportunity and we take the opportunity to give our lives away.

We have the opportunity to show, not just tell.

I don't care what you say if I can't relate to how you live.

And if what how you live doesn't line up with God's word, then it doesn't matter anyway.

And so the opportunity is that we get to be a living example when we can thrive in complicated circumstances by our actions, by our character, and by our trust in God.

And then on how we're able, because we are so loved by God and because he sees us, we're able to give our lives away.

This is what he says to husbands.

He says, in the same way.

So just like wives are working through their complicated Situations for you husbands, you must give honor to your wives.

Treat your wife with understanding as you live together.

She may be weaker than you are, but she is equal, your equal partner in God's gift of new life.

Treat her as you should, so your prayers will not be hindered.

There's some wonderful principles for us as husbands, but there's also general principles for all of us.

Let me give you three of them.

Here's the first one, and that is that we show honor by living differently.

We can show honor to the world, and that these closest relationships and our daily lives can be impacted by our example as we live differently.

He says, in the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives.

Now, this was one of the things that was so controversial at the time, because at the time in Roman society, men didn't do anything nice for women unless they just wanted to.

They were considered to be the lords of their homes.

They were the ones that were in charge.

And so during that first part, a lot of those guys might have been going, Amen, brother, preach it, you know, that kind of thing.

But then all of a sudden it says, And you husbands, give honor to your wives.

He would have been, now, wait a minute, now let's not go too far.

Okay.

Let's make sure we keep this thing right.

He said, No, no.

That you have an opportunity because as the spiritual leader of your home, you now have the opportunity to make sure that you can honor everyone.

You have been given leadership so that you can serve the most out of everybody else.

That nobody can serve more than you.

That you now get that opportunity to make a difference because of what God has given you to do.

And that's a different mentality.

We see how he talks about this, God's word talks about this in Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

He talks all through this same section.

He says this and it's an idea.

He says, For husbands, this means to love your wives, just as Christ loved the church.

Somebody say amen.

He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God's word.

And so, in other words, for the husbands first, he is saying that you have an opportunity here.

And can I tell you, I've never heard a lady say that she didn't want to spiritually follow her husband when he treated her as Christ loved the church.

And so, so ladies, yes, I know you're sitting there going, well, not in my house.

Well, what if he started doing this?

Lead on, my brother.

You know, come on.

Because here's the thing you know what Jesus did for us?

Jesus came to this earth, he lived a sinless life, he died on the cross, and he did it all for us.

And he said, with that selfless attitude, husbands, that's what you get to do.

You get to love her as Christ loved the church.

And that's what's so very different about this is that opportunity that we have to worship God by leading others.

And then it's the general principle.

Can I tell you that if you're gonna live for Jesus and if you're gonna make a difference in our closest relationships, it means you're going to look different than the world.

It means that your motivations are going to be different.

We're not gonna live in such a way that says, How much can I get?

We live that says, How much can I give away?

Because I have been so blessed by my God, because he sees me and he knows me and he loves me, now I can make a difference in my world.

And the amazing thing is that when we realize how good God is, then we can give our lives away to make a difference.

The second thing that he said is this he says, to we honor by truly seeing others.

He says it like this He says, Treat your wives with understanding as you live together.

You he she may be weaker than you, and that means physical weakness, but she is your equal partner in God's gift of new life.

In other words, he's saying, Listen, there's no difference in the eyes of God as to worth, value, and dignity.

So make sure that when you are when you are talking to her, when you're living with her, that you understand that and that you truly see her.

I love how how the the conversation in the book of Ephesians continues and he says it like this Jesus did this to present her, the church, to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any kind of blemish, in the same way husbands ought to love their wives.

So in other words, what he's saying is remember how we live differently, just as Jesus loved the church and gave himself for it.

But then what I love is it says not only did he do that, but then he turned around and he started working on her.

He turned around and started working to present her as a fully mature, glorious church.

And one of the amazing things that we as husbands have the opportunity to do is we have the opportunity to then turn around and then make sure that our family is growing in the Lord.

That as a spiritual leader, we have that opportunity.

And then generally, for all of us, do you know there's people in our lives right now that are crying out in darkness, longing for someone just to see them?

Do you know why people do half the stuff that they do on social media?

Is so somebody will see them?

So somebody will recognize them so that they can get some kind of attention because they feel like they don't have any in their life.

What if you and I could be the difference?

What if you and I in those close relationships would say, I see you?

You don't have to do anything to earn that, but I see you because Christ sees me.

And the reality is, is our identity in Christ helps us to focus less on being seen and more on seeing others.

And what does that mean for us?

That means that in our marriages, our family should be our greatest ministry.

And that for all of us, our greatest ministry should be serving others.

That it's not about what I can get, but rather it's because I have received that I can give.

And he says, when you do this, that hope begins to rise all the way to your eyes.

And they can see that they don't just hear what you say, but they see how you live and they see there's something different about them.

I think they really believe that hope.

That hope truly does seem like that it's something that can make a difference.

And we do that when we live differently, when we go and we make sure that they're our greatest ministry, and then here's one more, and that is that we honor as an act of worship.

That we realize that when we do all these things, we're doing it as an act of worship.

He said this.

He says, She is your equal partner in God's gift of new life.

So treat her as you should, so your prayers will not be hindered.

Now, a lot of scholars will say that one of the things this may be meaning is that since it was talking about wives living with unbelieving husbands, that it may be talking about husbands leaving uh living with unbelieving wives.

And he was saying that when you treat her with honor, it's actually going to answer, help answer the prayers that you have for her salvation.

And if that's the way that that means, that means that many times, yes, we should always pray for our lost friends and family, but along with our prayers, are we being that example of what it looks like, not to be perfect, but to always fall forward into the arms of God.

And when we do that, God's word says, He says, this is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.

So I say again, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and each wife must respect her husband.

And so when you do this, you're a living example of what it looks like to have hope in your daily life.

And maybe for you the action step is that we show our hope in God by the way we serve others.

Maybe we show our hope in God by how we serve, by how we give our lives away because we have been so very blessed.

And one of the ways we get to see this is in what we're gonna actually read about this week.

If you've been reading God's word with us, we're actually starting the book of John for the second time.

And the book of John is one of my favorite books of the Bible, so I am I am here for it all day.

And if you uh haven't been with us, you can actually start reading God's Word with us every day by texting 94,000 or RLC Bible to 94,000.

If you text 94,000 to 94,000, nothing's going to happen, okay?

But if you do the other one, it will work.

And we're and we're gonna get into talking about the the different things that Jesus did.

And as I was reading through this this week, I think one of the one of the best examples of this is what's gonna happen in John chapter 8.

John 8 · chapter mention

And it's actually a story about how Jesus shows us what it means to live as a example in our daily life.

And if you don't know the story, what happens is the Bible said that Jesus was minding his own business one day, and these people over here they caught.

They caught a lady in the act of adultery.

And according to the time, if a lady was caught in adultery, or a man for that matter, they was supposed to be stoned to death.

It was considered capital punishment.

Don't do that, right?

And so what they did was is they wanted to really just use her as a means to get to Jesus.

And so they grabbed this lady in the act of adultery, brought her before Jesus, and Jesus was always surrounded by people.

So there was a crowd, they set her in front of everybody, just using her, just to get to him, just just disgusting what they were doing, and they said, Jesus, according to our customs, we have the right to put this lady to death.

But what do you say?

And the Bible said that he didn't say anything at first.

He got down and he started writing in the dirt, and they started depressing, Jesus, we asked you according to our law, it says that we can put this lady to death.

What do you say?

And I wonder if he looked up, and maybe Jesus was the first person to actually see her.

Everybody else had their agendas for her, but they were using her for whatever.

Jesus was the first one to actually look at her, and he looked at the men and he said, Okay, you who are without sin, go first.

And the Bible said he got back down and he started writing in the dirt.

We'd have no idea what he wrote in the dirt.

I always wonder if maybe he wrote down the names of all their mistresses, you know, Sally, you know, Donna.

And then they're like, Oh, that's me.

I'm out, I'm out, I'm out.

And so finally the Bible said they threw all their rocks away and they were, they were, they were gone.

And the Bible said after they were all gone, the only one that was left is the only one that maybe should have wanted to run away, but now she's there.

And the Bible said that Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, Where are your accusers?

Didn't even one of them condemn you?

No, Lord.

And Jesus said, Neither do I go and sin no more.

You imagine when she left that day that her hope reached her eyes for maybe the first time in a long time, because in that moment she knew what it was to thrive in a very complicated situation.

And Jesus showed us by his actions, not just by his words.

He showed us that yes, culture said they could do one thing, but it was character that said something else.

And that she saw what it was to put her trust in the Lord.

And Jesus showed us how to live differently, to live according to mercy and not just judgment.

He showed us how to see somebody else truly see them, maybe the only one in the crowd that actually saw her, and then to choose to worship through forgiveness.

And I'm curious, from that day on, you could see the hope in her eyes.

And I wonder for us, how many times are we gonna have an opportunity this week that is so easy to make grand gestures, right?

It's it's a little bit harder to make smaller gestures, but you know what's real hard is to make gestures in our living room, in our closest relationships, because they know us and we know them, which also means it's the greatest opportunity for us to show what it is to have true hope, and this is the promise from God's word when it says, I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him.

Then you will overflow with confident hope.

Can I tell you?

The hardest place to serve God can be in our home because they know us, but that can also be the most powerful when we when we huddle up every once in a while and we say, Listen, I don't have all the answers, I don't know what we're going to do, I don't understand what's happening in our government right now, I don't understand what's happening in our culture right now, I don't understand all I know is God has brought us this far, and I have a feeling he's gonna take us the rest of the way.

And so I want us to join hands and we're gonna pray, and we're gonna pray until our hope reaches our eyes because our confidence is truly in the Lord.

And and I wonder how many of us in here today are kind of like me, and when I was telling you the story about us being in a storm, that we are saying all the right things, but the people around us are anxious and nervous and worried because our hope hasn't reached our eyes.

That doesn't mean we're perfect, it just means we have an opportunity to show the world what it looks like to have tears in our eyes and trust in our heart to know that God is good, but you gotta have it first.

In just a moment, we're gonna offer an opportunity if you'd like to take a next step and maybe just give something to the Lord and to pray.

And as we worship the Lord, I want to ask this question what is it that's stealing your hope in the Lord?

Maybe, maybe it's not.

Maybe you're just in the most amazing place you are in your life.

God is good and he's faithful.

Maybe what your prayer needs to be is for someone else.

But maybe if you're here and you would say that in the deepest, darkest part of your heart, you know what to say, you know how to look, but on the inside, that hope is about lips high.

You just need to ask the Lord, can you fill me up?

Because one thing I know is that we're all going through some kind of storm.

You maybe have heard this before.

Everybody you know has a private battle you don't know anything about.

Here's another one, and that is this.

I think that everybody in this room is in one of three places in their life.

They're either just coming out of a storm, they're getting ready to head into one, or they're right in the middle of that guy right now.

And can I tell you, from the heart of the biggest storm the early church had ever faced, the apostle Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is writing to all of us and he's saying, You can stand strong.

This is the biggest storm I've ever seen.

But my trust isn't in the storm, my trust isn't in the buildings to hold me up, my trust isn't in anything else other than the living hope I have in Jesus.

And that is enough.

Can I tell you?

Jesus is enough for you if you go all in with Him again.

In just a moment, the bands can lead us in a song of worship.

And I just want to give you that opportunity.

Maybe, maybe what it needs to be is right where you are, you're just gonna raise your hands to the Lord and just say, Lord, can you fill me up with your hope again?

Just remind me of the of the blessedness of salvation, and just allow the presence of God to just wash over you for a few moments and let that hope reach your eyes.

Maybe you're in here and you don't have a relationship with God.

Can I tell you?

Hope is waiting for you.

And his name is Jesus.

God's not mad at you, he's not vengeful toward you.

That was settled at the cross, and all of your sins he wants to forgive.

But the Bible says we gotta come run into him.

We have to give him everything, repent of our sin, declare Jesus as Lord.

And on the back of your connect card that we talked about is the plan of salvation.

Your next step of worship as we begin to worship the Lord in just a moment is to take your connect card, step outside of your seat and go back to our prayer table.

Take this with you and say, I want to know Jesus.

And the hope can reach your eyes for the very first time because that hope transcends all things, and it's a hope that lasts for eternity.

What hope have you got?

My hope is not any circumstances, my hope has a name, and his name is Jesus.

How about you?

Let's pray together right now.

God, thank you so much for today.

Thank you, God, that you see us and that you know us in this place.

God, I'm so thankful that there are so many reasons and so many things that want to steal our hope.

But I also know that you are able to restore anything that the enemy has stolen.

God, I pray for anybody in this place that bad situations and circumstances and complicated relationships have tried to steal their hope.

Lord, maybe it is those closest relationships that are the hardest burdens to bear right now.

God, I know that you know that.

And that for every wound we have, you have a healing for us if we will come to you.

So, God, I pray you will give us the courage to hold nothing back, but to give it to you and to realize that you are the source of hope, and that you only reveal what you intend to heal, and that today is the day of salvation for us all.

God, I pray for maybe somebody else under the sound of my voice this morning that they don't have hope in you.

But today is the day you've brought them to this place so that someone else could remind them that they have not been forgotten, they have not been left, that you still love them, you're not gonna give up on them, not ever.

That today is the day, that today is their spiritual birthday, and that stepping away from their sin and stepping toward you is the greatest moment of their life.

I pray you'll silence the voice of the enemy.

Let your voice be the loudest thing they hear right now that reminds them that they are loved and wanted and known.

As they pray that prayer of salvation, Lord, that all of heaven's angels will celebrate that another has come into your kingdom.

We celebrate that today.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.