Without A Word
by Johnny Hunt
| Title: | Without A Word |
|---|---|
| Bible Book: | 1 Peter 3 : 1-6 |
| Author: | Johnny Hunt |
| Subject: | Witness; Wives |
| Objective: | How does a Christian wife win her unsaved husband to the Lord? Dr. Johnny Hunt deals very effectively with this question in the sermon entitled: Without A Word. |
| File: |
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Introduction
There are some other possible sermon titles for this message. For example: How To Get A New Husband? - Not a different one, nor the old one made over, but the same one transformed by the miraculous saving power of Christ. What An Unsaved Husband Needs! What To Do With A Non-Christian Husband! The best title, however, is Without A Word. You keep talking but he keeps walking away. You keep trying but he keeps denying the faith. Again and again you share Christ with him. You've said all you know, but you know he's heard nothing you say. You keep preaching but he keeps saying 'No way.' You keep reaching but he keeps pushing away. Words alone just won't do. Heavens love must come through. It's not what you say, but the way that you live everyday. Without a word let him hear you speaking. Without a word let him see Christ living in you. Live your life in such a way, there's no denying the change He's made. Sometimes actions speak louder - without a word. A quiet spirit speaks to him so loud. A gentle answer quickly tears walls down. When the you that's within reaches out touches him, he'll turn and he'll run to the One where true love is found. So close are the ones we love (so close, yet so far). So close and yet so hard to touch. We care so much our love gets in the way. Live your life in such a way, there's no denying the change He's made. Sometimes actions speak louder without a word. Sometimes actions speak louder without a word.
In Chapter 2, Peter taught that living successfully as a Christian in a hostile world would require relating properly in two places: the civil society (13-17) and the work place (18-25). At the start of Chapter 3, he adds the family (1-7) and later the church (8-9). With this in mind, Peter addresses this section of his letter to Christian wives who had unsaved husbands, telling them how to win their mates to Christ. By the way, it is not sufficient to say that God is needed in their homes, because even many Christian marriages are falling apart. I believe the text before us concerns itself with married women who had been converted to Christ recently and, as a consequence, were greatly disturbed as to what they should do about their unbelieving husbands, some of whom were extremely bitter and cruel as a result of their mates' newly-found faith.
I. What You Should Not Do
A. Leave Him? Emphatic No!
Look at 1 Corinthians 7:13, "And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him."
B. Nag him? Emphatic No!
Proverbs 21:9, "Better to dwell in a corner of a housetop, than in a house shared with a contentious woman." Proverbs 21:19, "Better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and angry woman."
C. Demand Your Rights
Should you demand your rights? Be submissive! We read in 1 Peter 3:1, "Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives." What the saved wife should do.
II. What You Should Do
"Wives, likewise be submissive to your own husbands"
A. Example
Refers back to the Ultimate Example: Christ NOTE: 1 Peter 2:21-25. It is the same principle found in Phil. 2:5-8, "In the same manner." If we imitate the best model, we will become better people. Jesus was submissive and obedient to God's will, so a Christian wife should follow His example.
B. Exhortation
"be submissive" - strongest evangelistic tool she has is the loving, gracious submission to her husband. This does not refer to inferiority or quality; this is God's design. Fact: My wife is superior in many areas to me. One, she is superior to me in being a woman. This does not imply inferior personhood or spirituality. The Bible simply places Christ in submission to God the Father, the church in submission to Christ, and the wife in submission to her husband. This is a God-ordained truth. Headship is not dictatorship, but the loving exercise of divine authority under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Even Christ Himself became a servant and submitted to God's will. Remember: Christians are to marry Christians! Look at 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God." As God has said: "I will dwell in them and walk among them.I will be their God, and they shall be My people." Therefore, "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you." "I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." Submission is voluntary selflessness. It is based on the death of pride and the desire to serve.
1. Submission Is An Obligation
It is mandated.
2. Submission Is An Opportunity
"if some do not obey the word" - (obey not) means not to allow one's self to be persuaded; possibly would not listen to reason. The wife had often given them the Gospel, but with much resistance. The words "obey not the word" is often rendered unbelief. These are men who are refusing to be obedient to the word. This is helpful because it suggests that these husbands know the word but have thus far chosen disobedience. "They without a word" - not the word; no definite article. Does not mean without the Word of God, because "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."(Romans 10:17) John 5:24, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life." Peter is talking about "wordless" witnessing after sharing the gospel has been resisted. Stop talking but start or continue living! Moving from preaching lips to a practicing life. Special Note: Don't put "4 Spiritual Laws" under his pillow! Don't put John 3:16 stickers on his beer can! Don't play my sermon tapes loud during the Nascar race!
J. Allen Blair Story: "A wealthy society woman was invited to church one night in one of our large cities where she responded to an invitation to receive Jesus Christ into her heart. Later the pastor who led her to the Savior visited in her home, and found that not only was her husband not a Christian, but he was a very bitter infidel. He was full of contempt for his wife's conversion, and disgustedly expressed the opinion that she would soon get over it. Six months passed and one evening the man called on the minister. 'I have read all the leading books on the evidences of Christianity,' he said, 'and I can stand out against their arguments. But for the last six months I have had an open book before me, in the person of my wife, that I am not able to answer. I have come to the conclusion that I am wrong and that there must be something holy and divine about a religion that would change that woman into the loving, prayerful, singing saint she is now.'" "May be won by the conduct of their wives" - no one observes behavior at a more basic level than those in one's own house. "Won" - gained; the mood of this word is indicative rather than subjective. Means reality rather than potentiality. The tense is future. Translates, "they also shall be won." The word "won" means to acquire possession. The husbands are "acquired" for Christ.
Note 3 WORDS:
1. Unsaved
2. Unpersuaded by her witness
3.Unavoidable (He cannot deny the life change)
One of the greatest examples of a godly wife and mother in church history is Monica, the mother of St. Augustine. God used Monica's witness and prayers to win both her son and her husband to Christ, though her husband was not converted until shortly before his death. Augustine wrote in his Confessions: "She served him as her lord; and did her diligence to win him unto Thee...preaching Thee unto him by her conversation; by which Thou ornamented her, making her reverently amiable unto her husband." Without a Word. Galatians 6:9, "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."
