God’s Grace For Difficult Marriages | 1 Peter 3:1-7

Scripture

• 1 Peter 3:1–7

About this sermon

Introduction: In recent sermons we have talked about two broad truths for the Christian life that should prepare us for what we are going to consider today. We have talked about the fact that God uses marriage as a sanctifying relationship in the lives of HIS people. I want to stress that this only true in the case of the Christian. What develops the Christian exposes and undoes the non-Christian. We have talked about the fact that marriage is not excluded from spiritual warfare. That means that spiritual readiness, the armor of God, is necessary for marriage— like every other field of battle for the Christian life. We must grow to honor God in marriage, just like we must grow to honor God in every other area of the Christian life. We must believe God, and depend upon God, in the face of spiritual conflict in marriage, just like we do in every other area of the Christian life. Today we come to a marriage specific text where we see those two truths applied. THERE IS STILL A GENERAL TRUTH THAT HAS BROUGHT US TO THIS TEXT, IN THE CONTEXT OF 1 PETER. Peter has been teaching that God calls us to live obedient lives in difficult circumstances. Difficult circumstances test our faith. Difficult circumstances prove our faith. Difficult circumstances form the opportunity for God’s good work in His people to be put on display. God means for us to be prepared for those difficult times. BUT ONCE AGAIN A GENERAL TRUTH IS THEN APPLIED TO MARRIAGE SPECIFICALLY. The entire book of 1 Peter, leading up to this passage, makes that unmistakably clear. The first word of verse 1, the word “likewise is likely used to simply indicate a transition. But that transition emphasizes an additional step in what Peter is talking about. The main lesson, up to this point (a lesson illustrated by Christ Himself in 2:21-23) is that the Christian life requires obeying God, and entrusting oneself to God, even in the face of suffering. That theme is sounded again and again leading up to the marriage specific instruction of chapter 3. Just trace this theme beginning in chapter one. We rejoice in salvation even though we suffer difficult trials right now (1:1-9). We set our hope on the grace that will be brought to us when Christ appears, even though we live as exiles right now (1:13-21). We are recipients of great mercy and have come to trust in the living stone who was rejected by men but was precious in the sight of God. NOW, we are living stones. Though rejected by men we belong to God’s family, we are God’s people (2:1-10). We now live like the people of God by keeping our conduct honorable so that when we are slandered as evil doers our conduct vindicates us (2:11-12). This means we must be subject to governing authorities, even when its difficult (2:13-17). This means Christian servants must be subject to their masters, even the unjust ones (2:18-20). This means following in the footsteps of Christ who entrusted Himself to the just judge, even when he suffered unjustly (2:21-25). Through each of those sections, Peter focuses on submission, purity, obedience, a life aimed at pleasing God, even in the face of great difficulty. This is the theme of Peter’s instruction. And now, as he takes the next step, we see that Christian wives must relate themselves properly to their husbands, even when their husbands are not the obedient kind (3:1-6). In other words, we are seeing the same principles about Christian suffering in every other realm of life applied to the marriage relationship. And it’s that reality that we need to be convinced of today. Are we convinced that Christians could suffer in a God-honoring way in a marriage relationship. Can we believe that God CALLS Christians to serve Him in that way. There are many people who agree that the Christian life includes a call to obey God even in the face of suffering, who then struggle to agree that such a calling applies to marriage. It’s as if they think, “This is one area of life where I deserve happiness.” “This is one area of life where returning good for evil shouldn’t have to happen.” “This in one place where I’m not prepared to suffer.” If I said you must suffer for righteousness’ sake: At your job In the public square At school In the cause of the gospel On the mission field No one would disagree or argue that suffering shouldn’t be expected in those realms. But for some reason we can’t get our minds around the idea that if serving Christ in marriage means difficulty, we must be prepared to serve Christ in difficulty. WHY? Why is it so difficult to embrace the thought of suffering in marriage? Let me offer a few reasons why I think it’s especially difficult for people to embrace suffering in marriage. IT’S A KIND OF SUFFERING THAT IS COMPLETELY OUT OF STEP WITH WHAT WE KNOW THE RELATIONSHIP SHOULD BE – Marriage is to be a relationship of love. IT’S A KIND OF SUFFERING THAT IS MOST CONSTANT — You go home to it every day.

Topics

• Grace