"Two thousand years ago, a simple fisherman who had spent 3 years with Jesus Christ, made a profound statement to men. It’s a very simple statement. You know, he was kind of the First Century John Gray – Men are From Mars; Women are From Venus. His name was the Apostle Peter and he made this statement. I want you to look at it. It’s a key verse in Scripture. 1 Peter 3:7. I want you to look at it, because it’s profound in its implications. He says,
“You husbands, likewise, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker vessel (that is, she’s not physically as strong as you are), since she is
a woman.”
Now let’s just stop right there, before we go any further. “You husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way.” The Greek word there is literally ‘according to knowledge.’ You need information. Don’t guess at it! Load up with skill and info because she’s a woman! Do you get it? She’s not a man! And you need to live with her in that understanding way and you need to grant her honor as a fellow heir in the grace of life. And if you don’t, it not only inhibits your relationship with her, it will inhibit your relationship with God. Your prayers will be hindered.
I want to draw 3 phrases out of that verse and make a few observations here at the beginning, because I believe it’s so important.
1. First of all, on your outline, look there at the phrase “in an understanding way” in that verse. That speaks to insight and skill. It was nice for Bill to call Mark Kuharsky from Poland up here today, because a woman – if you’ve ever been to a foreign country, and I’ve been to Mark’s country of Poland. If you’ve ever been to a foreign country, one of the most unnerving things about being in a foreign country is you don’t speak the language. So it creates all kinds of complications and it requires for you to master certain amounts of basic language skills –or at least some working knowledge of the language to work your way around, so you can interface with somebody from a foreign country. Did you know – for some of you guys today – you’re going to go home and walk in to a house with a foreigner? And for some of you young guys, you’re going to call up a foreigner and invite her out?
You’re going to think that you speak the language and it will be the greatest mistake of your life. You don’t speak the language. To do that – to approach somebody of the opposite sex and try to engage them, thinking you know what you’re doing – is the greatest mistake a man can make. Peter told us; “live with your wives in an understanding way’ i. e., according to knowledge. That means you’ve got to learn “woman-speak”, you’ve got to learn what women feel, you’ve got to learn what women need and it’s all different than you – so it’s totally disorienting. Then you’ve got to address them outside what you’re thinking into what they’re thinking, and you have to interpret as you go. That’s why it’s a skill to live with a woman in an understanding way. That’s why it requires that you have insight and the skill – not guesswork. You can’t do it by accident. You can’t do it by instinct, because your instinct will be wrong.
I remember when I was just married. Our very first Christmas, I was thinking about what I could buy my wife for Christmas. I went out and signed her up for a 24-month membership to a health club. So here it is Christmas and we’re opening gifts. She opens up this thing and it says 24-month membership to a health club. She started to cry. I thought it was such a great gift. I mean, I was just a young 21-year old and I thought that was such a good gift. Why did I think it was a good gift? Because I wanted to belong to the health club, so I gave her what I like! You know what she thought? She thought ‘I’m fat.’ So that’s what I experienced. I made 24 payments to that health club and she never went one time.
That was the beginning of my journey. I didn’t know what I was doing. Now, here we are -- 32 years in the marriage – and I have a whole different skill set. When Valentine’s Day rolled around the other day, I’ve already learned don’t go at the last minute. I went days before, bought my card and then I went and took about 30 minutes and went into a fast food place and got me a little drink, sat down and opened that card and I sat there and thought ‘what are the things I can tell my wife that she needs to hear that’s not natural for me to say?’ That’s the question I’ve learned to ask myself! After a while – and it takes me a while for my computer to boot up - but then, I begin to think ‘man, she really means this to me; and she means that to me’ and I begin to write it all down. So I filled up the whole card.
Now, that’s totally different than going out at the last minute and buying a little card – a woman will still appreciate it. She opens it up; it’s got a little nice thing that you picked out and it’s got “Love, Robert.” That means something to her. But if she opens up the card and the whole left side is filled out with ‘…this is what you mean to me; this is what you’ve done for me; these are the things I could never live without’ and the comments are specific and to the point. Now that’s a skill. That has tremendous benefits in the relationship.
It’s the same when you’re coming home at the end of the day. You walk in and she’s fixed a nice dinner for you, or whatever. In the old days, to me dinner was dinner and then I’d watch TV. But then the message of too many evenings like that is that ‘she is an employee of the little company called the Lewis Family.’ And that has a different payback.
On the other hand, with skill and knowledge you understand that she’s an equal; she’s a soul mate, so you walk in and say ‘how can I help you?’ or ‘let me clean up after dinner’ or whatever. Do you see, that’s engaging a woman with skill and knowledge. That’s what the Apostle Peter is telling us right here from the beginning. “Husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way.” That speaks to insight and skill.
2. Secondly, ‘grant her honor’ – that speaks to appreciation and value. You know, the whole woman’s movement is based on one giant cry ‘do you value us?’ It’s the wise man who will speak into that every day with things that women value. They want to know that they’re valued; that they’re significant. The number one need of a woman is to know that she’s significant. If you’ll remember that, then that will lead you to walk up to her everyday, put your arm around her and look into her eyes and say, ‘Honey, I love you.’ Because when you say “I love you” she knows that’s not easy for you. The fact that you would take the time to do that says, ‘that means I’m valued.’ For you to do the little extras, like I mentioned – writing on a card, rather than just signing a card – doing something extravagant from time to time that just totally surprises her. All those things speak into what a woman is desperately wanting to know, and that is ‘I’m valued’.
For you young guys to call a woman up for date, rather than have her call you – says that you value her. For you to open the door for her says that you value her. For you to say “I want to take care of you” says that you value her. Those are the things that have to be repeated over and over again because she can never get enough of it. Just like you can never get enough admiration for your accomplishments – a woman can never get enough appreciation for her value. Peter knows that. He’s the John Gray of the First Century, and he says you need to speak to her value.
3. Finally, notice the word ‘fellow heir.’ That speaks to equality and worth. It says that she’s a co-heir in the grace of life. That means she’s equal. She may be different, but in God’s eyes, she’s equal. You know, when women don’t feel equal, then they feel like that they have to be the same as men. And that’s a tragedy because then they lose their greatest createdness and that is that they are female, and we don’t want them to look like men and act like men. We want them to be the woman.
We want the counterpart, and we want to do the kinds of things that encourage that femininity while at the same time allowing that femininity to be fully free and equal in our eyes. When they see that equality and the way we handle money with them, or the way we care for them; the way we share things with them on an equal basis, it tells them that they are equal in very practical terms. She may be different, but it’s our role to make her feel of equal worth in a relationship.
Peter says those three things to us right at the outset, ‘Guys, listen, she’s a woman; she’s not like you. She’s not a man. You’re going to have to learn “woman-speak”. You’re going to have to learn that skill. Live with your wives in an understanding way . You can’t get enough information about women. You younger guys – the more you know about women, the more you can speak when you are in that foreign land, and win.