The Word This Week

1 Peter 3:1...

Peter is laying the foundation of Christian living upon the Chief Cornerstone, Who is Christ the Lord.

No one knows this better than Peter, who had demonstrated a weakness and inconsistency in his life prior to falling upon the Rock of Christ and being completely broken.

Brokenness is - in essence - submission to a cause greater than yourself.

This is alignment with the Chief Cornerstone, and it begins with submission to the Word of God.

What follows? Submission to governing authorities as they uphold order and peace in culture, and submission to the authorities set over you in the workplace. This is the case whether they are benevolent masters or not - as long as God has called you to be in that land and in that workplace.

Now we understand all of our lives are to be living testimonies of the brokenness born of the sacrificial love of Jesus, and the many opportunities we have in life to demonstrate sacrificial love right where we live, and in the times that we live.

And Peter extends this sacrificial love of brokenness upon the Rock of Christ into our homes, and certainly into our married life. With this important instruction for wives, and then for husbands, Peter is informing us our only gain comes by serving the purpose of Christ for marriage, and in our marriage. There is nothing to gain from being self-serving, and there is everything to gain by being self-sacrificial.

When the flesh is willingly made to suffer, the Spirit is permitted to soar. Since God has ordained Christian marriage to be the building block of society, we further understand the impact Christian marriage is to have upon government, and in the workplace. It is all interconnected, and it all begins with submission to Christ in marriage. It is that important.

The failure and weakness we see evidenced in our society today can be laid at the feet of selfishness and rebelliousness in marriage which has infected the entire culture to the extent we elect selfish and godlessly rebellious leaders to govern us, and we have become self-seeking and cutthroat in the workplace. All we truly know any more is selfishness and rebelliousness. We know it so well we are shocked whenever we see self-sacrifice.

This only further indicates the great opportunity we have to witness by our faithfulness to Christ, and it begins with selflessness in the home .

Pastor Bill