Author: Brian B.

1 Peter 3:4-6

“4 but 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. 5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands,
6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.” – 1 Peter 3:4-6.

Laurel Thatcher, a Pulitzer Prize winning author once said that, “Well behaved women rarely make history”.

Well Laurel Thatcher, Sarah from the Old Testament would beg to differ, and more importantly, her great grandson Jesus the risen Lord would also.

Sarah was not a feminist, and neither was Jesus Christ.

Sarah’s holy faith was grounded in the character of God and his faithfulness to His promises. This was a work of God’s Spirit in Sarah, and her submission to her husband, was the outworking of God’s holiness in her conduct.

God adorned Sarah with His imperishable beauty on the inside and that character came spilling out towards Abraham through Sarah’s “the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious” 1 Peter 3:4 .

This beauty is what the world wants women to reject outright.

What they do not realize is that, “in God’s sight is very precious” (1 Peter 3:4). What the world loves (autonomy from God in pride), God hates.

God’s Holiness repudiates the world’s vicious attack on His beauty and glory and his rightful desire of it from humanity.

Sarah, through the Holy Spirit of God working righteousness in her, was following in the footsteps of Her great, great, great, great, great great, great grandson Jesus Christ as He willfully submitted to God the father.

Sarah wasn’t a feminist, and neither was Jesus Christ. Peter writes just previously in chapter 2:21, “For to this (unjust suffering as servants of God in the world, just like Christ) you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

Christ left us an example by entrusting himself to God, whilst dying in our place for all of our unwillingness to humble ourselves and serve God and others. What a wonderful, wonderful savior He is. Truly there is no one like Him.

Sarah, the great, great, great, great grandmother of Jesus, walked in submission like her grandson Jesus Christ. She was justified by faith in her grandson and walked in submission and obedience to her husband on account of that faith.

Here in the west, there is to varying degrees a covert and sometimes unrecognizable “‘resting rebellion” in the hearts of Christian wives and women (this is in the hearts of men as well).

As a pastor I have seen it an experienced it as I meet with married couples of varying degrees (this is not present in all married couples).

We emulate what entertains us unfortunately, and Jesus Christ is not entertaining to the church in the west. The reason why Jesus Christ is not entertaining to the church, is because the church is so much like the world in what is entertaining to it, and what it loves.

The church, here in the west, fallen in love with what the world. It looks to the world to tell it what it is most important, instead of to the one who sits on God’s eternal throne, Christ!

The more we see Christ from the scriptures, the more God will change us so that we see Christ’s submission and humility along with God as precious as we ought to.

The church is guilty of its rejection of its suffering servant as He offers up His life in our place because it doesn’t increase our brand and suffering service is not entertaining to us…But it is precious in the sight of God.

To God, Jesus is, “a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, ⁵ you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ”.

What a gift to women (and men) to walk the road following the Son of God to the cross. What a gift to get the privilege to step in the footsteps of the the eternal Son of God as He suffers and serves God. It is pride that kills a women’s ability to submit to her husband and it is pride that poisons a husbands love for his wife.

I know this is true of me with my wife.

Notice Jesus our savior and our example had neither pride nor self-centeredness: He had no pride in going to the cross in submission to the father (Philippians 2:1-11) and He poured himself out in sacrificial selfless love for the sake of His bride (Ephesians 5:22 – 33).

Wife and husband) it is your pride that killed your savior. It your pridefulness that He took to Himself , as He sacrificially loved and obeyed the Father, and loved us, by humbling Himself and submitting to God .

Jesus is not a feminist and neither was Sarah who believed on Him by faith and served and submitted to her husband Abraham. Neither was Eve, Mary the mother of Jesus, Deborah, Jael, Ruth or Rahab.

Great women are women who trust in God’s promises by faith and humble themselves in service to almighty God.

Christ’s glorious humility is what we get to be a part of. What a sweet sweet blessing from our father. May we cherish Him as we ought to. May God be so gracious and give us a spirit to make us more like Jesus for his glory and for our joy. He is So worthy of everything!

1 Thessalonians 1;9-10

“⁹ For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, ¹⁰ and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” 

I hate waiting. It is my flesh that hates waiting for something and my pride against God which poisons me against trusting in God and His timing. Here, Paul is talking about waiting for Christ to return. The word waiting here, means to  “actively wait with rising intensity and clarity about what is hoped for” (biblos.com).  

In this case, the Holy Spirit is building a rising intensity in our waiting. It is an active hoping (desiring) of what is to come, and what is to come is the revelation of the Glory of the Son of God (1 Peter 1:3-7). We will see God because we will see Jesus Seated on His thrown where He is now and where He belongs…Forever.

Therefore we don’t wait like the world waits, in annoyance and impatience. Instead We Wait with growing hope, desire and enjoyment, having been filled with love of God in Christ

Waiting then, has never been so enjoyable and so wonderful, for we wait for our King who is the Risen Lord, in whose eyes there will never be even an ounce of shame, but rather eyes of love and shining face of glory and power forever; “And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he (Christ) is pure” (1st John 3:3). The hope which has been infused in us by the power of God’s Spirit, purifies us just as Jesus Christ is pure!

Christ is God’s Holy, Earth Shattering Love to us!

We live in a world which is offended by God’s sovereign “NO”. We are plagued by our sinful inability to wait. It is only The Holy Spirit which infuses us with a desire for the King who is coming, and our waiting will finally be over, and our souls will be filled with the deepest and more enjoyable satisfaction in Christ Himself. He is just so worthy; Oh, He is just so worthy. Waiting has never been so wonderful. 

Be encouraged, church, our God rules and reigns no matter what. God’s love for His Son, is His love to us. May He be exalted above all things.

Philippians 2:1-11, Mark 8:34-9:13

I am easily discontented, which has a direct reflection on my humility. Humility flows from and is a product of rightly understanding who God is and therefore, who I am.

It is an inward attitude of the heart flowing from the joy of the knowledge of God almighty, administered and revealed by the Spirit of God: The more I see of Christ lifted up, the less I hold on to my life as a result in humility….even the good things in life. Satisfaction in Jesus, is everything (even good things) properly reoriented around His worth to God and therefore to us here on earth (Mark 8:34-9:13).

The gift of God, given by the Spirit, is the satisfaction that God finds in His Son Jesus Christ. Christ himself becomes my contentment, and God shares this with us.  Faith is found in Christ. This is a gift.

This what Paul meant in Philippians 4:10-13 when he wrote, “I have learned that whatever situation I am to be content….I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me”.

The common denominator in all Paul’s situations (and ours) is the glorious King Christ Jesus.

The grace of God and the glory of Christ are stronger enough to withstand the exacting wrath of God.  For Paul, God had a firm grip on his heart’s satisfaction in Christ. The ups and downs of Paul’s situations (which would put our easy life to shame) did not endanger his love and joy in Christ. For Paul and us, all the glory and power of God stays the same to us in Christ no matter what. Christ never loses His satisfying power for Paul and for us since we have the same Jesus Christ. This is a revelation of the Spirit, and this is faith.

Through the Spirit, Christ puts everything in its proper place (me, my spouse, my purpose, my success, comfort, money, love). The greatest gift anyone can ever have is Christ, for it is in Christ that we get to have what the Father enjoys: His glorious Son Jesus Christ. To walk in discontentment, self-pity is to pridefully say to God, “You owe me something other than Christ”.

This is foolish, dangerous and the root of apostasy. I have felt this discontentment and self-pity rise up in myself and seen it in others. By God’s grace and His love alone, I was kept from shipwrecking my faith. For this I am forever grateful to my Lord, for the world, my flesh and the devil are no small enemies and the cross tells us so. 

Jesus truly does save sinners from the wrath of almighty God by sending His Son to wear our pride and self-pity, as though He Himself had been the one to violently repudiate and attempt a treasonous siege upon God’s throne. 

Jesus never complained about his job, and His job was was to die in our place.

What will separate each human being will be their response to Christ. Seen this way, Hell is the right and fitting place for sinners like me to go, and Heaven is the fitting place for Jesus Christ to be glorified in all those who have loved and trusted in Christ as their sole meaning and purpose in life.

The world is a wasteland of hatred toward God, and God is a God of Holy love and mercy to vile sinners in Christ. There is no greater gift God could have given to us to be satisfied in, than His glorious Son.

Prayer: We love you our Lord, would you please purify us and prepare us for your Kingdom no matter what. Thank God for Jesus Christ. He is just so worthy.

Be encouraged Church, God’s love for His Son, is His love for us. The strength of our salvation is the worthiness of Jesus Christ.