Endure Part 6
"Vital Keys to Relationship Endurance.”
1 Peter 3:1-7
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I think all of us have found out that it is easy to start a relationship but it’s much harder to have an attitude of endurance in that relationship.
The quality of our life will be attached to the quality of relationships we develop.
Good relationships do not just happen; they are not just for the lucky ones, but for those who choose to become intentional in developing that relationship.
The Church can never be healthy if the relationships in it are sick!
We need to learn to endure and not let the problems out their become the problems in here!
1. Every relationship needs a mission.
Your relationship is more than just about you as an individual (Your rights!); it is about helping each other reflect who Christ is!
Our relationships need to become examples to the world not a reflection of it.
Even if you think they are never listening they are always watching.
1 Peter 2:11-12 “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.
The foundational mission of any relationship should not be to make each other happy but to help each other become holy!
Is my relationship about making me happy or holy?
Am I stewarding my relationship to be missions minded in this season?
2. Know your duty. (The role you play)
1 Peter 3:1-2 “In the same way, wives, submit to your husbands; so that even if some of them do not believe the Word, they will be won over by your conduct, without your saying anything, 2 as they see your respectful and pure behavior.”
Submission today is looked at as a violation on our personal freedom.
When it comes to relationships, we only have two options; submission or selfishness (Ambition)!
Submission will not confine you it will challenge you to be a champion!
Submission is the only way to become who the Father has called us to be!
The only way we can produce fruit in a relationship is to know our role!
Ladies, if they are not worth submitting too, they are not worth marrying?
Men are you becoming a leader that is worth submitting to?
Marriage does not solve problems it magnifies them!
Each one brings their strengths (Given by God) into that relationship, but those strengths will never be celebrated without knowing our role!
Do I encourage and celebrate the strengths of people I am in a relationship with?
3. What you do speaks louder than what you say!
My behavior will always show what I believe!
“… Be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, 2 as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. ”
What I project others will reflect!
We must have self-control if our example is going to do the talking.
I will never change people by just telling them what they need to change!
4. Give proper attention to the inside.
1 Peter 3:3-5, “Your beauty should not consist in externals such as fancy hairstyles, gold jewelry or what you wear;”
This passage was never just about the external; hairstyles, gold jewelry etc.
4 rather, let it be the inner character of your heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit. In God’s sight this is of great value.
Peter wanted them to pay more attention to the interior than the exterior.
5 “This is how the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves and submit to their husbands,”
Peter did not want them spending more time on fixing the shell than fixing the soul!
Exterior beauty without inner depth is just cheap decorations.
Buying new clothes does not change the mind set; just because someone photographs well does not mean they will endure well!
Am I putting my hope in the temporary or the eternal?
7 You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a [fellow heir of the grace of life], so that your prayers will not be hindered.
5. Disrespect is dangerous and destructive.
The way you behave in your relationship dictates the way God is able to communicate with you!
The way I am treating others is the way I am treating God.
You will never be able to force anyone to respect you but you can refuse to be disrespected!
Any man who disrespects a woman does not deserve a woman!
“Show her honor…” Live an honorable life and respect will find you!
Just because I disagree with them does not give me the opportunity to disrespect them!
Men we are not called to tolerate, we are called to celebrate the strength of our wives; (Their dreams) so, the relationship can elevate!
“… Show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.
Malachi 2:13-16 “Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because He no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.
14 You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
15 Has not the one God made you? You belong to Him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? [Godly offspring]. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.
Lasting relationships are not built on being tolerate but on love, acceptance and forgiveness; this is the way God created it to be.
Our job has never been to straighten them up; our job is to lift them up!