I just wanted to share such a great sermon that was made last Sunday at New Life Baptist Church. I have started to attend a new church with my family, and I truly felt like this week (my second time going) really stuck with me, so I wanted to share an overview of the sermon here:
- Peter 3:1-6 Intro: God’s instruction to the woman is not only to seek to enhance her outer beauty but also to develop her inner beauty!
- Developing Inner Beauty
A. By accepting and receiving God’s love. In John 4:7-8 describes that God is love, and His love is pure, unconditional and eternal. His love contains forgiveness, which is able to take away the guilt, the shame, and the weight (condemnation) of sin. As II. Corin. 5:17 tells us that His love transforms us into a new creation! A new beginning, with a better future, and with a holy position before God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! I really truly felt like this message about forgiveness is so important for us women, since we tend to be our own harshest critics.
B. By abiding in the truth. As John 14:6 states “Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” Draw your life, peace, hope, joy, and your significance from the truth, which gives you eternal inner beauty. Psalm 139:14 states “praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” You are not ugly, nor a mistake; for you were created in the image of God, and God doesn’t make mistakes. The world, nor others, were ever to be the judges to decided who is beautiful and who is not. God created you to be a virtuous woman and you can be a virtuous woman. Just as Philippians 4:13 states that “I can do all thing through Christ who strengthens me,” means that Jesus is able to help you be the woman God created you to be!
C. By coming under God’s authority. In verse Peter 3:1-2 states “Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.” Remember outer beauty may turn a man’s head, but inner beauty will turn a man’s heart toward God and toward you! (I also love how the pastor mentioned that women are not the only ones who should submit themselves to the husband, it works the same way the other way around.)
Conclusion: As followers of Christ we must all seek to develop inner beauty, for it is very precious in God’s sight.
I loved this sermon so much because we as women and as people in general, measure our standards and who we think we should be by a number on a scale, a picture in the magazine, an old picture of ourselves years ago, or even comparison with a friend. None of that matters and we must remember that “the world, nor others, were ever to be the judges to decide who is beautiful and who is not.”
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