The Strength of Meekness — 1 Peter 2-3

0:00 Good morning. Good morning. There's nothing quite so beautiful as the sound of other kids being crazy and knowing that they're not my problem and knowing that someone else is just going to have to deal with it because mine are two and a half hours away. It's good to be here. It's good to share god's word with you.

0:24 Always love coming back to Westlake Bible Fellowship. We're going to be in first Peter chapter three. So, if you have a Bible, I'd I'd invite you to turn there. There's an old movie that takes place in 1982 and I'm not suggesting that I'm not recommending that you to view it but perhaps there are some people here who have seen it and in this movie which takes place in 1982, the key figure is this Vietnam veteran John Rambo and he walks into this small little town in Ohio and he's got long hair and a military jacket and he's a rough looking figure and he walks into the town and the sheriff was overzealous about protecting his territory. Soon escorts Rambo out.

1:27 Well, it's not much longer before Rambo decides that they can't treat him like this and so he goes back in. He's looking for an old army buddy and he goes back into the town. He's caught again and this time he's arrested and the people there are cruel to him and they abuse him and at one point in the movie, they take out a razor to shave him and he has these flashbacks from his time in the war and he reacts badly. And he attacks the guards and he takes back his army knife. He runs off into the forest, steals somebody's motorcycle.

2:04 He sets up a series of booby traps. The people come to chase after him and eventually the whole town is after him and then the National Guard is after him and the details of the movie are funny in my mind but I remember that there are grenade launchers and M16s and bombs and things like that in this movie and at one point, Rambo's old superior somehow is able to make it through to him as he's hiding out in the woods. And he says, listen, you need to just give in. Rambo and this is where the movie, the name of the movie comes from and Rambo says to him, they drew first blood. They drew first blood.

2:49 That was a very famous movie in the eighties and I think one of the reasons that is famous is that it has a lot of things to say about Vietnam and that crisis there but also because it's so well captures this mindset that is so prevalent well in lots of places in the world but especially in The United States. That if you push me the wrong way, if you take advantage of me, well you've taken advantage of the wrong guy and you are going to pay the price for it and you are going to regret the day that you pushed my buttons. So what I like to call the Rambo mentality. Well, we probably have never been quite in this situation like John Rambo but we are in similar situations where people take advantage of us. Sometimes, there are superiors.

3:50 Sometimes there are people that we care about. But we feel and often we're right for feeling like this. Hey, that person doesn't have any right to do that. And we're, there's something inside of us that says, I need to put that person in their place. I need to let them know that when they interfered with me, they're messing around with the wrong person.

4:23 That certainly was the situation that the readers of first Peter were going through. In all sorts of different contexts. We're going be in chapter three and in this chapter, we will read about three scenes of conflict. And in each one, the Christian tactic is the same. How we fight back when we are mistreated.

5:51 Now, Peter has already talked about submission in chapter two and there was presented that this is Christ himself is given as our example in submission. We're told very strongly this is how the Christian ought to act but in first Peter chapter three, the idea is not so much that this is what we need to do but this is why you are to do it. This is the strength or the value of being meek in life Which really should stand as counter intuitive, it does to me. I mean how is it that you can get anything done by being quiet? How is that an effective strategy for dealing with your problems?

6:35 Well, first Peter three teaches that that meekness is an effective strategy because it's it speaks loudly both to the person who is the aggressor or the enemy and also because it speaks loudly to god. So, we'll see those both of those ideas in the whole text of first Peter chapter three. The main idea of this unit is differential meekness speaks to both god and man. So, let's begin by reading the first section from verses one through seven and as I do so, keep an eye out for how this attitude of differential meekness is to be expressed in the situation of marriage and what benefits there are in meekness. Starting in verse one, wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands.

7:34 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. Do not let your adornment be merely outward, arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel. Rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart. With the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is very precious in the sight of god.

8:10 For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in god also adorned themselves by being submissive to their own husbands. As Sarah obeyed god, calling him lord, whose daughters you are, if you do good and are not afraid with any terror. Husbands, likewise, 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. So that your prayers will not be cut off or hindered.

8:54 The adverb likewise in verse one connects this passage to the previous units dealing with the submission of citizens to the government and submission of servants to their masters. And then this is exemplified with the submission of Christ in 02/21 through 25. There are of course a lot of ways in which the husband wife relationship is not at all like the master slave relationship or the governor citizen relationship. So just because he uses the word likewise doesn't mean that they're the same in every single way. And some very overzealous men in the past, I think have overemphasized the thrust of this word, likewise.

10:21 So, so look carefully. In the day and age that we live in where so much emphasis is given to the role of women and the role of men and gender roles and things like that. First Peter chapter three is a highly controversial passage. And the nature of what submission means is highly debated. Maybe not, I don't know of.

10:44 This is one of the beauties of being a guest speaker is I don't know the particular situation so I can say whatever it is I want to say and then just leave and let the other people here deal with the fallout of whatever problems I've caused. But but let's let's look here what how he describes submission. We know that it's the same words what's used of citizens and also what's the use of slaves. It's also used elsewhere in the Bible of people's response to god but then he says in verse six, or sorry, at the end of verse five, being submissive to their own husbands, comma, as Sarah obeyed Abraham. So, Sarah's obedience to Abraham is an example of submission.

11:28 That's pretty clear from the text. Now, submission will, of course, include things beyond obedience. It's not just keeping to the letter of the law. It includes taking the person's desires and well-being into their benefit or in in the mind but at the very least, it does include obedience. And that's clearly seen here in verses five to six.

11:56 This would have been pretty common for the readers of first Peter. Whether, now, the Jewish people would have been very very familiar with this idea depending on how many Gentiles were in the audience and that's debated. Some of the Gentiles in the Roman Empire, their wives were very submissive and the other ones, they were more egalitarian. There's this wide spectrum. So Peter is speaking to a very diverse perhaps audience.

12:27 People have different ideas about what it means to be a husband and wife. Some people have taken up this topic of submission though and have said, okay, granted this is what first Peter three says but you know, that was a long long time ago. And times have really changed since then and if we're ever going to have the hope of being relevant, and effective, well, the Bible needs to be updated. Or what Peter's doing is he's saying, you should be submissive because that was the common practice at the time. Whereas today, we need to follow the socially accepted practices of our time.

13:19 That's actually the little bit more of the more scholarly way to put it. But notice again looking at verse six, the direction of where Peter points. Is Peter's attention focused to the modern context? Or is he pointing back towards his Bible? He's pointing back in his Bible Poor Peter didn't understand that Christians need to be relevant.

13:53 The question was not so much about fitting in with the modern culture around us but looking back to the Bible and seeing god's design for marriage. Interestingly, Peter, in fact, in some ways, here, parts company for most of his contemporaries view of marriage. For most, marriages back then, wives were expected to adopt the religion of their husband. And so if your husband worshiped Zeus, you worshiped Zeus. That was just part of the deal but the very idea of this passage here in these first seven verses is that the wife's submission is to be an evangelistic tool.

14:49 So, that way, she can persuade her unbelieving husband. So, she can win him to the lord. It's not specifically stated but the clear implication of this passage is that there are limits to submission. And so if a husband were to say, listen, you can't be a Christian any longer. To the Christian in that, the Christian woman in that situation is to refuse to submit.

15:18 And say, well, I can't do that. That's that's the context here. There, the husband is described as one who is not just an unbeliever but who is disobedient to the word. The wife is not supposed to be afraid of her husband and what he might do. Look at the end of verse six.

15:46 There's this interesting contrast though. I kind of gave away half the answer already but maybe it would have been good if I said, according to first Peter three one through six, are the wives supposed to be afraid? Are they supposed to have fear? Well, if you're looking at verse six, the answer is no But if you're looking at verse two, the answer is yes. Did you see that?

16:15 Verse two, when they observe your chaste conduct, now this depends on the translation that you have but it's accompanied by fear. And the word there is favas. It's just a normal word for fear. The word fear can mean a couple different things. One, it could mean to be terrified, to be afraid or it can also mean respect.

16:43 So on the one hand they are to fear and that they are to have respect. But on the other hand they are not to fear as in to be bullied into doing the wrong thing because they're afraid of what might happen to them. So the wives are to win over their husbands to the lord. They are to seduce them to the faith and they're to do so by putting on the right kind of jewelry and clothing. They are to look attractive to their husbands.

17:45 God views a quiet spirit as beautiful. That's what this passage teaches. Now, there are other places in the word of god which say that not just women but all Christians are called to be quiet. Now that doesn't speak to our natural disposition. Are you talkative?

18:04 Are you chatty? Or are you more shy? The idea behind the word here as it's used in this context is, it means you don't get into fights. You're not argumentative. You are meek Now, some people have taken this verse to mean that Peter here is prohibiting the use of all jewelry or all braiding of hair.

18:33 And you can kind of see why he might, some people might get that idea. After all, the the word merely, which is included here in the New King James is in italics. It wasn't there in the original. Do not let your adornment be outward, arranging of the hair, wearing of gold, or the putting on of, well isn't that interesting? The next word is fine if you have the New King James and that also is in italics.

18:59 So if you wanted to be literal about it, Peter here is forbidding the women to put on any clothes. He says, don't let it be by putting on apparel but that's not the idea. The idea is that don't let this be where your adornment comes from. This is not the source of your true beauty. It is not your hair or your clothes or your jewelry.

19:19 It is your spirit. Now I'm sure that you have many women in your life, your mother or your wife, somebody that you know from the assembly that you can look up to as a great example of someone who is meek and quiet and gentle and submits. For me, I could point to my own wife who is not quiet in the normal sense of the word. And, and yet, she does her best to not be confrontational. But she has this quiet deference to me.

20:13 She's been a source of wisdom to me and most of my good ideas are just me trying to remember what it is that she said to me in another conversation. But what is the example that Peter gives of a really submissive woman? He says, well, like Sarah. Well I don't know how, I know that you're familiar with these stories in the Old Testament of Sarah and Abraham. She doesn't always stand out to me as this exemplary wife that you would want to train your daughters.

20:48 Be like Sarah. Probably the Hagar incident stands out as a bad example. Maybe there's a little bit of application there that perfection isn't required for you to be a good example. She's the only time in scripture, there are some other writings at the time of the New Testament in which Sarah calls Abraham Lord often but the only scriptural example is in Genesis 18 and there she kind of she laughs at god's word and that's when she calls Abraham her lord. So, she definitely messes up often But yet there really is a great submission to Sarah in her example.

21:34 I mean, can you imagine, just imagine going back, gee whiz, what would that have been? Around four thousand years. And there you are in the on a hot summer day. I don't know all the details. We'll just make em up as we go.

22:04 God has appeared to me. Okay? God has appeared to me and he has said, we need to leave everything we know. Everything that we have and of course, you know that we haven't been able to have any children. God said, he's going to give us children, lots of children and we're going to, through us, the whole world is going to be blessed.

22:30 And we need to leave our family, everything that we know, and go to a place. Perhaps she then said, Where exactly are we going? And Abram says, I don't know. He hasn't told me that part yet. He just said, A land I will show you.

22:49 And I'm believing that he's going to show us when we need to know. You know, at that moment does Sarai say, wait a minute. So, god spoke to you and he didn't take the time to speak to me. And you're telling me that we gotta leave everything that we have. Wait, how do you know this was god anyway?

23:12 Are you sure you didn't just dream all this up? Instead, Sarah is really willing to follow Abraham through quite a wild adventure and I think that it's in that sense. Her submission to him is presented to us as an example of submission. Now, not only is a differential meekness to be evident in the wives but Peter also moves on to the husbands. Now, when he talked about the slaves, he never talked to the masters and when he talked to the citizens he never talked to the governors but after talking to the wives here he then has to talk to the husbands.

23:53 And again this is introduced with the word likewise. So they still are underneath this umbrella of deferential meekness. The husbands aren't told per se to submit to the wives and yet the feeling is similar. The attitude is the same. He says, dwell with them with understanding Giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel.

24:28 I like that first one. They are to dwell with their wives with understanding. They are to know God's plan for marriage and their own wives. I've been guilty of this and I'm sure you've talked, the adults have talked to other men and perhaps when there are no women around. And it's common for men to just kind of say in exasperation, I don't know.

24:59 I don't know. I don't know. I just don't know. What in the world I'm doing, what I'm supposed to be doing, I do not have them, I do not have her figured out. I just don't know.

25:14 Hear the divine command. Dwell with them with understanding. It is your job to know. It's my job to know. He then says, giving them honor.

25:30 This is to respect them, to hold them up as high, to value their thoughts and their input. They are the weaker vessel and most commentaries take this to mean physically weaker although I have a hard time seeing how that's relevant at this point. I think it's the thought that they are weaker in the sense that they are to be submissive. So, don't take advantage of them. And yet Peter is very quick to say that they in a very real sense are equal towards the husbands.

26:08 They are co heirs in the gift of life. Now, what is the reason? What is the purpose that it's important for a husband according to this passage of the Bible? Why is it that a husband needs to live successfully with his wife? Honoring them, valuing them, understanding them.

26:33 The reason is so that your prayers may not be hindered or like I said before, literally cut off. It is highly unlikely that a person that a man could be out of fellowship with his wife but in fellowship with god. Now, I am aware of the fact that sometimes a person can do all that they've done and then they could do no more. We can't force people to reconcile and there are verses like Romans 12 which says, as much as possible, live at peace with one another. But what I am certain about is that we, if we do not have a differential attitude preferring and honoring our wives above ourselves, then, we are cut off from fellowship with god.

27:33 And like he'll say later, the face of the Lord is against us. No matter what else we may do, how much of the Bible we know or what else we may do with our time. That's an idea that's prevalent so much in scripture that our vertical relationship is connected to our horizontal relationships. And a person cannot be successful with god if they cannot have god's forgiveness for example. If they refuse to forgive their brother.

28:09 A person can't say that they love god and not give their brother something that they physically need. And the same thing would be true in a marriage context. But if the opposite of course is true that if they do show deferential meekness, this speaks loudly to god. So Peter has talked again in chapter two about citizens and about slaves and here he's talked about wives and then he steps back a little bit and he talks in verse eight to the whole assembly. Let's start reading in verse eight.

29:26 Why? For the eyes of the lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers. But the face of the lord is against those who do evil. And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you are blessed.

29:50 And do not be afraid of their threats nor be troubled. But sanctify the New King James has the lord god. I think the the earliest and and probably the the right translation is like the NIV. The Christ as lord in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the fear that is in you with meekness and fear. Having a good conscience that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.

30:25 For it is better if it is the will of god to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. Some people have foolishly thought that meekness and submission is what god expects of women but not of men. And you'd have us kept reading. You are to treat everyone with meekness and fear. Even unbelievers are to be treated in meekness.

31:03 Never are we entitled to a ramble mentality. We must not retaliate. We must show compassion and we must do these things even if it means more heartache and difficulty for ourselves. It is deferential meekness that speaks to god and assures us of his blessing. Now notice that he's talking to believers here.

31:32 And he says that God has certain blessings for you and that you need to turn away from evil And do acts of righteousness because only then will the face of the lord be on you. But the lord face of the lord is against you if you refuse Peter supports this main point that they are to be meek even if it costs them greatly and they are taken advantage of by referring by by by making three references. We'll put it that way. The first one is pretty clear. It's the Psalm 34.

32:16 It's not introduced as a quotation but if you got an most of our Bibles put in italics or something like that. And you go back and look at Psalm 34. I've actually I've actually talked about that Psalm here at Westlake before. It's a it's a Psalm of it's like a Psalm of lament in which somebody is being oppressed and taken advantage of. The lord Jesus quotes from it in John 19.

32:38 Well, he doesn't quote from it. John quotes from it and says, not a bone of him will be broken. So, even when people are oppressing you, you should still seek peace and pursue it and it's only then that the face of the lord is open toward you. There's also this reference to Isaiah chapter eight There's also a interesting reference to the Sermon on the Mount which you don't get very many of those but we can talk about that later if you're interested. He says, he references Isaiah eight and in Isaiah chapter eight, here's the scene that's going on there is you have King Ahaz, the king of Judah and there is a threat looming just to the north.

33:48 He will deliver you. Don't be afraid of them. And then he goes on to say, Listen, I know that Syria and Israel seem scary and intimidating and powerful. But you, you're forgetting about someone. You're forgetting about the fact that God is with you.

34:11 It's in this context that the great Immanuel prophecies come in. And he says, so set apart the lord god. Sanctify the lord god is what Isaiah says to King Ahaz. In other words, listen, don't be so worried about the the kings of Israel and and Syria. Be worried more about god and be afraid of his power.

34:40 What Peter does is he takes that same message only instead of being the one that the lord Yahweh that you sanctify, he says, the lord Christ, the lord Jesus Christ is the one that we are to honor and be afraid of. Don't be afraid of earthly masters. Be afraid of your heavenly master. Well, I've gotten myself a little bit carried away and I've got three minutes to talk about some incredibly complicated verses. Verses 18 through 22.

35:27 Let me point out just a few things. I have to at least read them. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, Being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. By whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who formerly were disobedient. When once the divine long suffering waited in the days of Noah.

35:59 While the ark was being prepared in which a few that is eight souls were saved through water. There is also an anti type which now saves us. Baptism, not the removal of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward god through the resurrection of Jesus Christ who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of god. Angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him. Peter gives a great example of people of someone who is meek and yet this meekness won a great victory.

36:49 He has been talking about how wives can be meek and win a great victory. They can win over their husbands. He's been talking about how all the believers should be meek and that way, in that meekness, give a defense, give an apologetic to those who ask of you. And so then win them to the lord. The lord Jesus Christ is then presented as somebody who because of his weakness, because of his unjust suffering, was victorious.

37:23 We are told that he went and preached to the spirits in prison. There are lots of different interpretations here but first and second Peter and also Jude seem to have this worldview in which the The sons of God in Genesis six stand for these fallen ones who are half demon, half human being creatures. These are demonic beings, the spirits in prison. The Lord Jesus has, again, there are many fine Bible expositors who take it another way, but I'll just throw that out for you to consider. He went and he announced to them and the subject of his announcement, the subject of his proclamation can be summed up in verse 22.

38:10 That he is at the right hand of god. Angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him. He is proclaiming his victory over the powers of the flesh, over the powers of this world. He announces it to those who most strikingly see their disobedience in the flood but he also brings up the example of the flood to remind his readers to be like Noah. Noah had to wait a long time to see god's salvation.

38:52 And the the the secret to Noah's success even though it took him a long time, was that he feared God. Hebrews eleven:six, By faith Noah being moved with fear prepared an ark. Hebrews Do you think Noah was successful? Eleven:six, The Bible says he was. In the same way, it's easy for a minority in this world.

39:57 It may take a long time but be more afraid of God than you are of human beings. This is what the Lord Jesus did and the response to him was that he was exalted and given a name that is above every name and all are now subject to him. By being meek and lowly, you shoot an arrow of conviction at your enemies and this very well may pierce through their stony heart and they may be one to the lord. But this may not happen overnight. Noah had to wait, what is it?

40:44 Three sixty five years? The divine long suffering waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared But patiently, meekly submit. If you're a wife in this first Peter three situation, your husband is watching. If you are an employee at work, your boss is watching. If you are just at school, other people are watching.

41:13 And though it may seem like the silence of submission doesn't get noticed, it does. And most importantly, it gets noticed by God. And god, we are we are promised here in this chapter, rewards the response of submission. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this fascinating passage of your word.

42:29 But eventually the time came for the tables to be turned. We pray Lord that we would be followers of the Lord Jesus and obey your word when it commands us in this difficult matter, knowing that others are watching, but most importantly, you are watching. And we want to have that attitude, that gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in the sight of God. We humbly ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus, amen.