The Beauty of a Godly Woman

Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. Well, good morning everyone. Again, if you got your Bibles, I want you to go ahead and grab them and open up to First Peter chapter 3. And I could not think of a better um few verses to continue walking through First Peter than telling wives to submit to their husbands.

And so that's uh that's what we get to tackle today. I I love the humor of God sometimes when uh this the this series um as far as kind of how I organized uh each of the passages was done months ago. I mean at least six months ago. And then later I happened to look at the calendar to see kind of where holidays land in fall. And I just had a little bit of a chuckle um to myself when seeing what I would be covering on on Mother's Day. And so, but it is the word of God and it is um there is beauty in this text regardless of what the world likes to say.

Uh there is absolute beauty in this. And so what I want you to ultimately take away from today is never underestimate the power behind a godly woman. Never underestimate the power behind a godly woman. And so as we walk through this, we're going to be seeing um the beauty the beauty of a godly woman in 1 Peter 3 1-6. And everyone knows I love barbecue from the south. Love barbecue.

And so what I want to do is as we read through this text, I want to pull it apart um to really see what God is teaching us to observe this morning. Uh I'm not going to give any application yet. I just want to read it. I want to observe what the text is saying to us. But before we do that, I want to give you a bit of a cheat code that will help you this morning as we kind of walk through this. There are two things primarily.

There are two things that shape who you become. The word and the world. Those are the two things that shape who you become. If you let the world be your authority, then when you read the word, you'll judge it by what the world says. So if the world is your authority, when you read the Bible, when you read the word of God, you will judge it by what the world says. But if you let the word of God be your authority, then when you read the world, you will judge it by what the word of God says.

And let me be the first to say it's better to trust the word than the world every single time. So, as we walk through this text and as I unpack it, if there's anything in you that bucks up and feels that ain't right, just ask the question, is that feeling coming from the world or from the word? It's a good question to ask. So, let's read this text and you'll see why I said that. So there are people in the world and sadly in churches who lose their minds over texts like this, but the only way you can omit it is with a pair of scissors. It's the only way you can omit it from God's word.

And so, Father, uh may the Holy Spirit help us see what you are teaching us this morning for your glory and for our good. Amen. Starting in verse one, I'm going to provide a bit of commentary. Again, not much application, but a bit of commentary as we kind of walk through this. Starting in verse one, likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands. So, right out of the gate, you've got to see that this is a command to be subject to or to submit to.

It's not an isolated command. It's not an isolated command, but rather it's one that covers multiple human institutions that we have been looking at over the last couple of weeks. And so I I covered um five of them on the first week, two weeks ago. Mike covered them again last week as he opened up and looked at the idea of vocation and and masters and slaves and what that looks like in modern day as well. But there's five examples that are listed. government, vocation and workplace, family, the brotherhood of the church, and any other human institution that you may find yourself in.

So this is essentially one chapter of multiple chapters of the idea of submission. So the command isn't for specific institutions, but it's more specifically for Christians and therefore commanded by Christ to submit to every human institution, whether it be government, whether it be work or vocation, whether it be family, whether it be church, etc. So one could read it this way. Christians, as citizens, wherever you live, submit this way. As employees, submit this way. As wives, submit this way.

As husbands, as we'll see next week, submit this way. As children, submit this way. As members of the body of Christ, submit this way. Wherever you find yourself, submit as servants of Jesus in order for the world to see your good deeds and turn from their ways to glorify God in his ways. And so if you keep that preface before you, the passage will make so much more sense. It will make so much more sense.

So that's why before telling the wives to simply submit to their husbands, he first says likewise. Likewise. So he's keeping with the same train of thought as he works through this. So this is a continuation of God's great strategy to win the world by having Christians submit themselves for service, for good deeds, for good news in very specific contexts and roles. And so submission is for wives, but it is not exclusively for wives. So in submission and service to Christ, wives are called to submit to governments.

They are called to submit to vocations, workplaces. They are called to submit to their husbands. They are called to submit to the body of Christ. So it's not just an isolated one specific place, but rather a continuation of multiple human institutions. Peter just draws in a microscope on one specific way that he is calling wives to submit that we will see this morning. So as we talk about that likewise wives be subject to your own husbands so that so he's he's drawing purpose here.

He's drawing here's the reason why you do this so that even if some husbands do not obey the word they may be one. So now he's talking evangelism here. they might be one without a word by the conduct of their wives. Again, I want to just show observation here. This is nothing new that you've not already heard that has been commanded to everybody. Look back at 1 Peter 2:12.

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable. He's speaking this to all of those who are sojouring. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. So the same charge that he's given to all sojourners of the way you behave, the way that you act, the way that you live your lives, do it in such a way that it is providing an example to the Gentiles who are out there. so that they may see your good deeds. They may see your conduct.

They may see your behavior. They may see how you live your life for Christ. And instead of speaking against you as evildoers, they will correct their ways, they will turn from them. And they will begin glorifying God on the day of visitation. Whether that's him visiting them in the moment and saving them or eventually on the day of visitation when he returns they find themselves on the right side of ultimate history in worshiping Jesus and not rebelling and rejecting Jesus. So the same charge that is given to all of us.

He then is taking that very specifically and giving that charge to wives who find themselves in a household with an unbelieving or disobedient husband. without a word by the conduct of their wives. So, same mission, same calling, just a different institution here. And don't worry, I'll tell the men what God's calling them to next week. And so, come back for part two as we look at how men are called to love their wives in an understanding way. So, wives, don't let your husbands hit snooze next week um and just wake up tired and not come.

Okay? So, make sure you drag them here. Now, don't drag them. They want to be here. Let's keep going. What's the next text saying?

They, again, the disobedient, unbelieving husbands, that they may be one evangelized without a word by the conduct of their wives. When they see your respectful and pure conduct. So again, when they see it, this is visible faith. This is not hidden hope. This is visible. This is tangible.

This is behavior in the home. But we have to make sure that what you make visible is the right thing and not the wrong thing. That's important. Which is where Peter goes next. Look at verse three. Do not let your adorning, and that adorning is a is another word for the way that you arrange yourself, the way that you present yourself.

Do not let your adorning be external. the braiding of hair, the putting on of gold jewelry, the the clothing you wear. And every woman right now is thinking, "Oh, no. I fixed my hair today. I put on jewelry. I dress nice.

Am I in sin?" We'll talk about that in a moment. Do not let your adorning be external. Braiding of hair, putting on of jewelry or clothing. Again, ladies, this is God's permission for you to ultimately just let yourselves go. Okay?

No, that's not what that's not what Peter is actually saying. Okay, we'll we'll talk more about that in a moment. But that I actually like the NASB translation of this part. He says, "Your adornment must not be merely the external." So in other words, physical beauty is not going to be the primary means to win over a disobedient husband. Okay.

Verse four, but let your adorning, again, how you arrange yourself, how you present yourself, let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. Very precious. Which begs the question, lady, you need to ask this question. Do I want to be the kind of woman that is precious in the sight of God? That's first and foremost. Do I want to be the kind of woman that is precious in the sight of God?

Verse five, for this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves. And these next few verses, it causes people to to crash out. By submitting to their own husbands as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, and you are her children if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. So what Peter does in this moment here is he does something that's very crafty. And ultimately God's doing it for us today as well. He makes this point about the context of a wife being subject to her husband or submitting to her husband.

He makes this point transcultural. What I mean by that is it's not bound to the context of first century only. This is not just a first century issue, which is what modern feminist movements will try and use as a point of reference. You can't apply the Bible today because it's 2,000 years old and the context is different. We're in different times. Now, what Peter has just done is he's in the context of first century said, "I'm going to draw you back to a 2,000-year-old truth that Sarah obeyed Abraham and submitted to his leadership."

And that was a part of her calling, which when drawing on that is also then drawing on a 2,000-year-old context of Adam and Eve. And so when Paul even brings it up in Ephesians 5, which we will talk about Ephesians 5 more next week, but when Paul brings it up in Ephesians 5 and he's drawing on the roles of husband and wife, he roots it in the creative order of Genesis 2. And so you have transcultural truths that are being applied regardless of context. So Adam and Eve 6,000 years ago, Abraham and Sarah 4,000 years ago, Peter and Paul in first century drawing on this 2,000 years ago. What they're ultimately saying is it doesn't matter what your context is. This is God's design.

It's God's design. And so we need to be mindful of that because again as I mentioned in the very beginning if we let the world be our authority on how we are to operate our households then we will look at the word of God and we will judge it by what the world says and it's never going to lead to God's design. What Satan loves to do is take what God created and provide counterfeits. He likes to take what God created, logos, and provide chaos. That's what he wants to do. And so what happens is ultimately instead of celebrating the distinctive beauties of context and roles within the household, what Satan loves to do is come into it and say anything you can do, I can do better.

Anything you can do, I can do. Anything that you can do, um, I can take it and actually improve upon it. And so what what he actually tries to do is he tries to come in and says um God created and and and God does this in binary ways. God created light and dark. God creates sun and moon. God creates land and sea.

God loves boundaries. God creates male and female. And what Satan comes in and does is says, "Hey, let's put some light in the darkness and let's put some darkness in the light. Let's let's let's let's merge this kind of land and sea idea. Let's merge this male and female idea in order to be able to say that there's not distinct, but they're same. They're same."

And so, anything that he can do, she can do. And anything that she can do, he can do. Anything that he is, she is. Anything that she is, he is. and it starts to um ultimately not only just confuse it where God provides clarity, the world provides confusion, but not only does it do that, but it actually begins to pervert each of the roles, each of the distinctions to where what God designed to be beautiful no longer is displaying beauty, but it's actually displaying the opposite of that. The opposite of that.

And so as we walk through this um let me highlight three big takeaways for what God defines is the beauty of a godly woman. The beauty of a godly woman. The funny thing was as I was trying to um look for some application this week in just contrasting what the word says as a woman and what the world says as a woman. It was incredibly difficult to actually provide any sort of like contrast or juxtaposition of it because the world literally does not know, cannot define it, cannot provide any substance for for what a woman is. And you see this, I mean, there's so many different um documentaries that are out there right now. Matt Walsh has a documentary, What is a woman?

I encourage you to watch it. I encourage you to watch it. It shows the ridiculousness of our world when it tries to blur the lines and say that this can believe this or this can become this. And then when you actually start just having logical conversations, the arguments from the world break down so fast. So fast. And it's not leading to anything that's flourishing.

It's actually leading to greater despair, greater anxiety. greater frustration. No one's happier by trying to blur the lines and and cross over roles. It's not working. And so, as we work through this, honestly, I I feel like there's times in the past where um when we teach what a godly woman is from the scriptures, a lot of times it's almost like we're trying to apologize for it. And I'll be honest, there's nothing to apologize for.

There's nothing to apologize for what a godly woman is in God's design that he has instituted for the world that wins souls that points people to Jesus. I mean, it would be like Jesus apologizing for the role of the Holy Spirit. He's a helper. He's a helper. We're not apologizing for the role of the Holy Spirit. We should never apologize for the role of a godly woman.

And so number one, the first thing I want you to see here is that she exudes strength through submission, not subjugation. This is really important to draw a point here. What do I mean by subjugation? Subjugation is the action of bringing someone under domination or control. I think when the world tries to define the way the church teaches submission, they don't teach what the Bible says is submission. They teach subjugation.

They think that we are getting up here and preaching that women are to be in their homes and to be silent, to never speak, and to be dominated. That's the way the world views it. And that's not what it is. That's not what it is at all. To be submissive does not mean to be dominated by or controlled by a husband. A godly husband, as we will see next week, would not and should not seek to dominate or control his wife, but love her and lead her in an understanding way.

We'll talk about that again next week. But the idea there is that the husband is not called by God to exercise domination or control over his wife. It's not what it is. So submission specifically in this passion in this passage is not subjugation. Rather, it is a display of God's strength in offering yourself to serve someone for the sake of their salvation. That's what the passage is talking about.

Just look at it. Likewise, again, the likewise is tying to Christ submission and suffering in in chapter 2. Likewise, be subject. Again, this is submission. Submission is a command. Be subject, submit to.

This is a command of God. This is a mission of the Savior for Christian wives to voluntarily and ongoingly submit themselves to their husband in order to serve them for a purpose. So submission is not weakness. It's not inferiority. It's not passivity. It's not me sitting and just being um a a a quiet good wife um always, you know, minding my business or whatever it looks like.

That's not what we're talking about here. It's strategic gospel-shaped strength so that the husband might be one. Keep the goal in mind here. So that the husband might be one. Contextually speaking, you got to remember that these are sojourers and exiles who have been dispersed throughout the areas of gentile lands. And so as they are among Gentiles, non-Jews, as the gospel is spreading, it's very possible that many of the women in those areas are coming to know Christ in obedience to the preached word of God and therefore joining the church and their husbands have not obeyed the preached word of God.

And therefore you now have a lot of marriages in which there are believing wives with unbelieving or disobedient husbands. And the call to them is not to to to divorce them because of it. Because again, that's not God's design. Is not to divorce them because of their unbelief, but rather to now be an evangelistic witness in order for them to have access to seeing the gospel played out in the home. Peter's telling these sojouring Christian women, stay married. Submit to them so that they may be one for Jesus without a word by the conduct of their wives when they see your respectful and pure conduct.

Without a word is not just saying it's not saying silence. Rather, it's actually pointing to a non-contentious witness. It would be really easy for a believing wife to live with an unbelieving or a disobedient husband. Let's say he's even a believing husband that is just disobedient to the word of God. It would be really easy for a wife to constantly say to the husband everything that he is doing that is wrong. That's what's going to be easy.

And I think that's what he's drawing on here is not that you're always pointing out his sin, not that you're always pointing out his failures. And so you're trying to do it in a different way. In a different way. And I think there's some wisdom here from the wisdom literatures in Proverbs 21:9, which says, "It's better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a coralsome wife." It's better. Yeah.

Happy Mother's Day, Bri, by the way. So, I mean, he's literally saying if the way the wife conducts herself in the house is every time he walks in the door, hey, you never, you don't, you always. I mean, it's saying get yourself a ladder and find a corner on the roof and just sit there. That's what it's saying. It's better. Proverbs 21:19 takes it a step further.

It's better to live in a desert land than with a quarrelome and fretful woman. I mean hardcore. It's better to go have a slow death in the wilderness than to be in the household of a quarrelome and fretful woman. Hard truth here, ladies. Don't worry, I'm going to go hard next week on the guys. I'm going to I'm trying to I'm not apologizing.

The wisdom of God is warning us about the woman who wins lots of battles but ultimately loses the war. This text falls more in line with the modern proverb, pick your battles. Pick your battles. Peter calls for the woman who may lose some arguments, especially knowing that her husband may be disobedient to God's word, but ultimately wins his soul. Wins his soul. Ladies, I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

What you tell a man over and over, he will eventually believe. He will. He will eventually believe it. So if your conversations are always you never listen or you're always late or you can't do this. If that's all he ever hears, then he's going to believe I'll never be a good father. I'm not a great husband.

I can't ever do it right. So wives, submit to your husband so that he may be one without a word when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Now how do we do this? I'll talk more about the respectful part next week, but women are called by God to be and and here's two very distinct roles. Women are called by God to be respectful helpers, and men are called by God to be loving heads. Loving heads.

Respectful helpers and loving heads. This is a generality, okay? So, just hear me on this. This is not everybody, but this is generally speaking. It is harder for women to be respectful than it is for men to be respectful. I mean, when like it's the whole thing like men when it comes to sports, you see a great plate, respect.

You see a guy who's built a a a great business, we have respect for that guy. Like you you it's easy for men to give respect. It's harder for women to give respect. In the same way for men, it is easier for women to be loving. It is harder for men to be loving. And so you can see here that the scriptures when it talks about and as we'll see in Ephesians 5 as well, when it talks about the roles of husband and wife, it's telling wives to respect their husbands and it's telling husbands to love their wives.

Why? Because it's not natural for us. That's the hard part. That's where we need the gospel to work in us and shape us and mold us. That's where work needs to be done. And so before we move on, let me make it very clear that submission is not about enabling sin or abuse either.

So submission is not that if I'm in an unsafe position or if I'm in an unsafe place or if I am being abused that I am to stay. That's not what we're saying either. That's not submission. That's subjugation. That's domination. That's not what God's calling you into.

And so, if you're in a an unsafe um circumstance, get out and then let's work on what that looks like for what God is ultimately calling. This particular passage is about witness under unidal circumstances, sure, but not unsafe circumstances necessarily. And so if when they are one, it also doesn't mean that submission ceases. So it's not if you submit to him and then he finally becomes a believer or finally becomes obedient to the word of God, then no longer do I have to submit. We won. That's also not what he's saying.

It actually then moves into a much more fun way to submit in which the household is now collectively and in tandem working out the ministry of God for the household. Like you get to now witness together as you are going and making disciples. And like I said, I'll cover some of that next week. But the Christian woman married to a disobedient man exudes the strength of God through submission to her husband in order that he might be one for Christ without a word by the conduct of their wives. In other words, God may use what she refuses to say as much as what she does say. As much as what she does say.

Second thing I want you to see here is that she expresses beauty through character, not cosmetics. She expresses beauty, the beauty of the gospel, the beauty of Christ through character, not primarily cosmetics. Do not let your adorning, verse three, do not let your adorning, again, that's the way you arrange yourself, that's the way you present yourself, be external, the braiding of hair, the putting on of gold jewelry, or of clothing you wear. Again, as I mentioned, I like the NSB, the NASB translation of this better because it includes the word merely here. It is not merely external. So, this is not a prohibition, but rather this is a prioritization.

It's what you prioritize in your life that is going to be rightly ordered and that's what he's after here. So, yes, physical beauty is not going to be the primary means to win over a disobedient husband. And if you actually would just juxtapose juxtapose that for a second with the world, what does the world say to women in order to attract a man? Make sure your outer self is prepared. This is an internal first approach again. But that doesn't mean that it should be completely abstained from.

Take care of yourself. Practice self-discipline. Practice self-control. You want to be healthy. It's not saying, again, this is just prioritizing it in order. It doesn't mean that you can't work out.

Doesn't mean that you can't, you know, do do the things like it doesn't mean that you can't wear makeup or braid your hair. If the house needs paint and paint the house, like figure it out, okay? Whatever needs to happen like, you know, but it's just not the priority. It's not the priority. God's got something way better that is way more attractive to a godly man. In other words, a holy wife is a hot wife.

Let me just put it that way. A holy wife is a hot wife. Let your adorning, verse four, let your adorning, how you arrange yourself, how you present yourself, let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty. Contrast that with, you know, the magazines. Here's your 10-minute abs. Here's how you get rid of the wrinkles.

Imperishable beauty. You look around at everyone in this room right now, they're not going to look this way 10 years from now. which is true. You're not going to look this way 10 years from now. We are perishing. And he's talking about imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

Here's a question. What does your husband experience when he's with you? What does he experience when he's with you? Not just what he sees on the outside, but what comes out of you from the inside? What comes out of you from the inside? Throughout this passage, we see external versus internal, perishable versus imperishable, loud versus quiet, aggressive versus gentle.

And I think when it comes to this idea of gentle, the Greek word here is strength under control. Strength under control. So it's not losing your cool when he acts like Homer Simpson. It's strength under control. Quiet. Are you tranquil?

Are you steady? Are you peaceful? Not quarrelome like the proverb. Again, gentle and quiet is not silent. It's not passive. It's not introverted personality type.

It doesn't mean that you can't be a strong personality type. Man, when I was dating, I remember telling a girl that was uh me and Kelsey met on a blind date and um in that moment or before the blind date, I was not looking to enter into a relationship. And so I I said, I don't know, do I have I got permission. It's fine. Um on the spot permission. So anyways, I was saying um before the date, not knowing that I or knowing that I didn't want to enter into a relationship, I knew what I was typically attracted to.

And so I let them know uh as we were setting up this blind date, I said, "If you bring someone," I said, "What I'm typically attracted to is brunettes with like a southern bell soft personality." That was what I was typically attracted to. uh which you would maybe misinterpret that as the silent, passive, introverted, gentle, and quiet. And so my friend said, "I got just the gal. She's blonde. She has a strong personality."

Uh and I said, "This would be great. You know, this I will not be attracted to this." Um and we were engaged six months later. And so, praise God. Praise God. So, it's not saying that it's just personality type, okay?

You can still be gentle and quiet in spirit and have a bold extroverted personality. That's totally fine. That's not what we're actually talking about here. But this is rather composed, intentional, strategic strength of Christ shining through you that is spiritually anchored in maturity, godliness, and holiness. In other words, biblical beauty is not what turns heads, it's what turns hearts. That's what we're after here.

That's what we're talking about. There's nothing more attractive than when my wife wants to pray for me before I leave the house or go on a trip or head into a heavier workload or meeting. I love it. Every morning, Kelsey gets up and she cooks um breakfast for the boys before school and then she goes into this little study area in our room and she grabs her Bible and she grabs a blanket and she just sits there and like that's attractive. That's attractive. Here's a hack for some of you wives if you want your husband to be in the word of God more.

I think she does this like ninja style. But when you read something in God's word, you don't quite know what's going on there. Ask your husband to get to the bottom of it and figure it out. Because we love to fix things. We love to solve problems, right? You might already know the answer, but you still ask them.

I mean, I remember one specific time she said, "Hey, can you come here for a second?" I think she was reading in like 1st Samuel, I can't remember the chapter, 28 maybe, the witch of Endor and uh the medium of Endor. And so Samuel the prophet's already passed away. Saul's trying to find this uh basically he needs advice because God's turned his back on Saul. Saul's going to this medium which has already been outlawed by um by Saul actually. So if they were to uh call on divine spirits in order to bring someone up from the dead in order to speak kind I mean this is that weird kind of stuff that goes on.

Um Saul actually entreats this medium this witch to then work with a demonic spirit in order to try and summon Samuel up. And so Kelsey calls me and she's like so what's going on here? And I'm like, that's a cool story. Like, let me I know the word, but I don't know that, you know. So, it's like I'm diving into it. Like, I'm I'm now doing Bible study.

And so, wives, that's just a hack. All right? You know, if if there's something you want fixed in your husband, hey, babe, can you help me figure out this Lord's Prayer? You know, like, I don't know, maybe let's do it together every day. Remember, if the world is your authority, then you'll judge beauty according to the world's standards, which is almost always going to be physical. Physical.

And the worst thing, the way you want to crush a wife's spirit is if the way you view her is always physical. That's a word for the husbands here. But if the word is your authority, then you'll judge beauty according to the word of God. And to him, beauty is the imperishable stuff. Meaning, it'll never wrinkle. It's the gentle and quiet spirit that is submitting to Christ.

And the third thing I want you to see here is that she is fearful of God, fearless of man. She is fearful of God and fearless of man. Look at verse five. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves. And so there's if there's any woman like I mean the way I read the Bible often times is there's a there's because of Christ in me and because of the spirit of God working in me and because of what he's called me to be. Like anytime I see in scripture God says here's what a godly man looks like.

Here's what a holy man looks like. Here's what a warrior for God looks like. like it pulls my attention in and I'm like, "All right, I want to be like that." And so, I want to pray for that. I want God to work that out in my life. Same thing for women.

If there's ever a moment in scripture as you're reading it and God is revealing to you, this is how the holy women who hoped and God used to adorn themselves, that should draw you in. That should draw you in and say, again, I don't want to do things by the world's standards. I want to do things by God's standards. I want to listen to the word of God, not the world. Because again, it's going to be for his glory and it's going to be for your good. I mean, I've never I've never met a couple who have walked out the context of biblical roles for decades and when they got to the end of their lives said things like, "Man, that was wasted.

I wish we did it more like the world. I wish we had more sameness. No, I I see the most mutual respect of one another, mutual love of one another, mutual service of one another with distinctions with roles, but absolute absolute love and service of one another. honoring one another. And here's one of the ways in which that is accomplished. Three things here.

By submitting to their own husbands. And so I love that he draws out that it's to their own husbands. And so you're not you don't submit to anyone else's husband. That's where things get really mixed up. You submit to your own husband as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord. I do want to mention that a little bit there because you're like I could see the men like going home like hey remember when it said that she called him Lord?

So like what do you think? You want to call me Lord? All right. Maybe in a modern context, if you will, it's interesting to me that we would be quick to say to an authority in another human institution, "Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am." as a sign of honoring, as a sign of respect.

But then we lose that kind of respect in the context in which it matters most, in the home. Just something to think about. something to think about. And you are her children if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. And so Peter's not ultimately defining submission or even beauty, but he's actually just illustrating here biblical femininity. That's what he's actually illustrating for us.

It's not cultural feminism. It's not modern feminism. This is biblical feminism. Is a woman who fears God and is fearless of man. fears God and is fearless of man. He is describing the courage of a godly woman who treasures Jesus and helps her husband follow him.

Drawing on our language as a church here. Treasures Jesus and helps her husband follow him. fears God first primarily and then in submission to him enters into the submission of her role with her husband but is not fearful of him again that's the domination subjugation but is honoring of him and respectful of him but is not frightened by him is not frightened by even the institution of submitting into this again if there is an actual frightening of an unsafe type of of position where there is abuse going on. That's a different that's a different thing that we are talking about. But you should not be frightened to enter into an institution that God has ordained and is calling the man to lead in a loving way and for you to respect and and and submit to also in a loving way that God has ultimately ordained. It's an act of worship in which God has ultimately established for us.

Again, worldly feminism says, "Fear me." I mean, this is kind of the um and and and also I'll flesh some more of this out next week as far as like application of of like, you know, can women work outside the home? Like, we'll talk about some of that more next week. But, um in our modern day right now, this would be like boss babe culture. fear me. This would be like she wears the pants in the relationship.

These are things that modernday feminism is not ultimately displaying a biblical view of it. So, it's not calling you to to to it's not calling women to be so fearless of men that they are then saying that men should fear us. That's not what this is. It's ultimately saying that we fear God. And then as God sends us into what could be difficult situations, we do it out of fear of God, not fear ultimately of man. And so it's also not autonomy.

Women believe in modern day times right now the the the the feminist movement is that we don't need men. We don't need a man. I don't need a man. And I I'll I'll add a little bit too here. This one I don't know. This could get an email, but in first Corinthians, God says unapologetically that man was not made for woman, but woman was made for man.

There's a distinction in role there. And so, for example, there's a pastor down in Texas who says his wife before they were married, she felt called to ministry. This guy also felt called to ministry. And as they've now been married for more than 20 years doing ministry together, what she actually says is, "When God called me to ministry, it wasn't for me to become a pastor. It wasn't for me to become, you know, to start a church on my own. It wasn't for me to exercise and and go on the circuit and start writing books and doing all these different things.

Rather, it was God calling me and preparing me to be a helper in the ministry of us together, but ultimately serving him in being the pastor of a church and ultimately leading it. It's a preparation for this. So, it's not autonomy, but it is connectiveness. It is submission. is the the strength of a woman being able to enter into her designed role as helper in whatever God is leading the family and ultimately through the man leading them to accomplish together for the sake of Jesus Christ and advancing the gospel in their lives. That's what it says.

We'll talk about that in in the the creative order. It's it's the world says it's strength through self assertion. It's equally through sameness. It's it's I want them to do good for me. But godly feminism says fear God. It's submission.

It's strength through self-control. It's equality through distinct roles. It's I want to do good for them. It's I want to do good for them. Godly feminism is a respectful helper. respectful with good words, respectful with good works and deeds as well.

And so, as we already mentioned, to kind of tie it in to mothers as well, think about Timothy. You know, I talked about him in the call to worship. Chris brought it up as well in the prayer before the service. He said, "I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Ununice. and now I am sure dwells in you as well. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

For God gave us the spirit not of fear but of power and of love and of self-control. And so Timothy has experience so Paul kind of because Timothy had the absence of a godly father uh Paul kind of steps into that for him. But in him experiencing a life of being raised by a mother and a grandmother who were exhort uh um exuding and expressing and exemplifying what it means to submit and what it means to be respectful and what it means to be a helper and what it means to to live out God's design. You've got Paul who's calling Timothy to essentially do the exact same things that women are called to. Power and love and self-control, having a spirit that's not a fear of anything else, but a spirit that is drawing on those things that's coming ultimately from the Holy Spirit. And so Ununice and Lois are probably in the very similar context of what literally Peter is teaching in this moment.

And you see the product that we don't know if his dad actually became a believer or not at some point. But what we do know is that Timothy was one. Timothy was one by the example of godly women in his home. Two faithful two faithful women in what was likely a divided home raised a man who would help pastor and shepherd the greatest church in the first century. So your work as mothers does not go unnoticed. I mean, my mother is a saint.

I mean, she is a saint. And and it didn't always start out that way. So, if she's listening, mom, I love you. But um I have moments in middle school where I remember my mom working in a managerial role and whatever junk was going on in her office as she was managing a situation, she didn't take it out there, she took it out at home. I mean, I remember moments, and we joke about it now, so she'd be okay with me sharing this, but I remember moments where we would not, like my brother and I, we would not wake up in the morning uh to get ready for school. And uh we used to have I say used to have, we used to have this this like uh glass clock um that was right next to her door when she would come out of her room.

And uh it was a cool glass. It was kind of like one of those um you know Beauty and the Beast with the rose in. It was like one of those kind of glass cases with a clock on the inside of it. It was really interesting. Anyways, um we were just being disobedient and and this she was not a believer at this time, not a Christian. I mean that clock was chucked at the wall and then the lamp that was next to it the next morning.

I mean, it was just that kind of home where there was constant yelling, constant strife, constant conflict. Um, because none of us knew how to deal with one another's junk. None of us knew how to. But then, as a freshman in high school, God radically gets a hold of my entire household. And I don't know that I've ever seen a transformation like what's gone through my my mom. I mean, someone that I would say I used to fear in this way of like it was frightening to then be able to say that I I don't know that there's anyone who prays for me more, who has served more, who has loved more without a word, who has exemplified this more than my mother.

This church has probably been prayed for more by her than anyone else that I know. Do not neglect the role God's given you because you have no idea the fruit that'll come from it. Tying this to our time of communion this morning, this beauty is ultimately shaped by the cross. We see this as Mike shared with us last week as well in chapter 2:es 23-2. Where do you draw the strength to submit in a difficult situation? Look at what Christ did.

Look at what Christ did when he was reviled. He did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but he continued in trusting himself to him who judges justly. Christ stayed the course, trusting that God has called him to submit to this act of sacrifice in order to win us over. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. That's what we're after here.

By his wounds, you have been healed. And so, ladies, there's going to be times where even with a believing husband, he's going to be disobedient to the word. There's going to be times where he doesn't lead perfectly. There's going to be times where he's not loving. And I just want you to be reminded that even when you submit, it is not without hope. It is not without strength.

It is not without Christ helping you by sending the Holy Spirit to strengthen you to continue living out how he's designed you and how he's transforming you in your own sanctification. How he's making you holy as you are already holy. So that as you continue to live out the gospel in your context, in your household, it is helping point us husbands in those moments when we are stubborn and even when we are disobedient. It helps us point us to Jesus. And so, thank you, Christ, for submitting himself to dying on a cross so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Let's go ahead and stand together.

Father, we thank you for your word this morning. We thank you that you have created us with distinct roles. We thank you that you've made us male and female. We thank you that you created the institution of marriage between a man and a woman to be husband and wife to ultimately display the picture of Christ as the head and the church that is in submission to him as her bride, as his bride. And God, we just thank you for the Holy Spirit that helps us as Christians submit to Jesus as our head. And I just pray for our women in the room today that as they live this out daily that they fear God.

They trust his good plan. They trust his good work. and they trust that the Holy Spirit is strengthening them and that we trust the the results that as a household we are growing closer and closer to Christlikkeness. And we thank Jesus for being the ultimate example of breaking his body and shedding his blood so that we might have access to a relationship with the father and as a church that we would be joined to our groom. For it's in his name that we pray. Amen.

Amen. If you believe that Jesus died on the cross for you, that he broke his body and shed his blood,