MARRIAGE BUILDING BLOCKS (1)

TOPIC: MARRIAGE BUILDING BLOCKS (1)
TEXT: 1 PETER 3:1-9

If there are strong Christian homes, there will be a just society. A happy home in the society today is becoming an illusion, when we find people who have been married thirty, forty, and sixty years, it kind of takes us back. We are shocked. In marriage, two become one. Two become yoked to a plough, to an instrument. A new relationship is formed. By the way, relationship is not a bad word. What most men call relationships today are not relationships at all. They are arrangements. There is an arrangement in relationship, but there can sometimes not be a relationship in arrangements. A good marriage requires work. It is not automatic; it is not easy; it is not instant. So we need to turn to the Bible.

The Bible is God’s marriage manual. Only God can build a home. The home cannot be better than the people who make it up. Bad people cannot constitute a good home. A good home takes a good man, a good woman, and good children. Society depends upon the home, but the home depends upon its members. Let’s first of all talk about being a wife. There are three truths as concerns being a wife mentioned in 1 Peter 3:1-6, they are action, adornment and attitude.

Action - Peter mentions action first. He says a woman can save her husband without nagging, without arguing, without bullying, without intimidating. He says she can save her husband by the way she lives. Peter tells the woman, “Don’t manipulate; don’t connive; don’t punch; don’t nag; but love.” Peter says, “Have a home life; live so your husband can bask in goodness.” If we are going to have good homes, the wife is to have a holy action.

Adornment - Peter says it is an adornment of the heart. I am not against outward adorning. Make the most of what you have. Go to the beauty shop; look good. But Peter says there is no substitute for a holy life. Nagging is no substitute for loveliness. He says, “You women spend as much time on your soul as you do on your face.” You look at movie stars, the actress, and you discover that a pretty face is all they have. Takeaway the false hair, the false eyelashes and the facelift, and there is nothing left. Peter says the woman has to spend time prettying up her heart. He is interested in who she is. In other words, a beautiful face is the luck of birth, but a soul must be made. A beautiful wedding is important, but spend more time on the marriage than the wedding. We spend all of the money and effort on a ceremony when we ought to be spending more time on the heart, on the character, on the disposition, on who we are.

Attitude - Peter, thirdly, mentions attitude. Peter said Sarah called Abraham lord. You do too. But when accusation displaces affection, you have trouble. What the world needs are the daughters of Sarah. Peter says the attitude must be right. Woman your attitude must be right at home to save your husband from destruction.

Word Affirmation: And God blessed ME, and God said unto ME, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it – Genesis 1:28a (Don't just say it, mean it!)

“If there are strong Christian homes, there will be a just society.”

Central Truth