This morning we begin a new series in the New Year.  The theme for this year's sermons is, drum roll please, "A Reason for Hope!"  Is there a better word in the English language than hope?  Hope is an amazing blessing we have from God.  To know that, regardless of what happens, I have hope.  Regardless of what may go on around us, we, as a congregation, have hope!  I am excited about our study for the year.  We are going to explore the fundamental reasons for the hope we have in Christ.  As Jeff, from Survivor, asks… "Worth playing for?" 

 

Our theme, which is… comes from a verse of Scripture, which will be our theme verse for the year.

 

1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect.

 

The goal I have for these sermons is for us to be able to articulate our hope to others.  Our faith is not randomly selected from the theological salad bar.  There are reasons why we have hope.  There are arguments to be made which bolster our faith.  There are defenses to be made which establish our confidence in the truth of our beliefs.  Why do you have hope?  Can you explain your hope to others, convincingly?  Do you know why you believe what you believe?   That is where we will be going throughout twenty ten; two thousand ten; ought 10; still working on what to call this year.

 

By the very nature of our new study, we will be tackling different topics.  We are going to study things like:

- The resurrection of Jesus as the cornerstone of our hope.

- How can there be a God when there is so much suffering?

- How do we know the Bible is the word of God?

- How do I know there is such a thing as truth?

 

So, by definition this is going to be a topical study.  Unlike last year when we worked our way through one book in the Bible, we will be hitting different theological subjects.  The danger in topical studies is taking verses out of their setting and not getting their full or intended meaning.  Listing a whole bunch of Scriptures on one topic is scary to me.  I hold the Scriptures to be holy and we should not lightly mess with them!  We have to be careful not to assume what we think a verse is saying, in our American, ought ten, context, is what it really meant within its own biblical surroundings. 

 

I just wanted to point out this danger so you can help keep me honest.  If I pop a verse out of its setting and rattle on about it, I want you to say, "Well, Tim what is the context of that verse?  Are you sure you understand what is really going on there?"  Is that a deal?  You can keep me true to Scripture.

 

So, guess what we are going to do this morning?  Attempt to get the context of our theme verse and study what it means in the flow of 1 Peter.  Say it with me…

 

1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect.

 

What in the world does Peter mean by gentleness and respect?  Doesn't he really mean boldly and without fear?  Doesn't he want us to smack evil in the teeth?  What is the point of this gentle thing?  Don't we have the right to be outspoken for the faith?  Those who are wrong don't need to be "catered too?"  We need some knock out arguments.  As we place our verse in the broader context of 1 Peter and then the specific context of verse 15, we will be able to discover why the gentleness and respect thing is advocated.  I believe this will go a long way at understanding how we are to apply our theme verse to two thousand ten.

 

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1 Peter is about persecution.  Not the martyrdom of Revelation, but the verbal abuse, the ridicule, the annoying jibs, perhaps financial and social isolation of a society that rejects who they were. Listen to a couple of verses which establish the overall message of 1 Peter.

 

1 Peter 1:3-7 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-- kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.  In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that your faith-- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

 

1 Peter 2:12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

 

1 Peter 4:12-16  Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.  If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.  If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.  However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.

 

The pagans who lived around these Christians were upset with them.  These Christians, to whom Peter is writing, did not participate in all the idol worship and ceremonies of their culture.  Every holiday, every sporting event, every community activity, involved sacrifices to the pagan/demon gods.  These Christians refused and were blamed for bringing bad luck.  So, these early Christians were abused because of it.  Their faith in Jesus brought them mockery and derision. 

 

So, 1 Peter is about how to live in that kind of society; how to endure; how to evangelize; how to bring glory to God even in an adversarial culture.  We can make some connections.  Our culture is often intolerant of our faith.  Our culture can ridicule our beliefs. Our culture can blame us for bad luck.  We may find ourselves in situations where we are marginalized because of our perceived stubbornness.  We have some connections to 1 Peter.  Here is the question: How can we be gentle and respectful in a culture that is anything, but that, to us?

 

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Now let's look at the immediate context surrounding verse 15.

 

1 Peter 3:13-16  Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?  But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed.  "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened."  But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 

 

Our theme… "A Reason for Hope" is in the middle of instructions about how to respond to malicious attacks on our hope.  In this paragraph is a strategy for how we learn to respond with gentleness and respect.  I believe, as we set off on our adventure in reasons for hope, we need to get this lesson down before we ever open our mouths about our hope.  How can I learn to respond to attacks on my faith with gentleness and respect?  How do you do that?

 

There is a process here which teaches us how to respond to attacks on our faith.  It is like… Someone say, "Here comes another metaphor."  It is like learning to ski.  Last Monday Tyler, Joseph Martin and I went up to ski and it was crowded.  There were ski instructors all over the beginner areas going through a process to teach people how to ski.  If you are learning to ski there are a series of steps you have to master in order to progress to being an adequate skier. 

-You have to learn to put your skis on.

-Then stand up on them. 

-And then learn to walk in them. 

-Getting on and OFF the ski lift is an important lesson.

-And then snow plow.

-And then go a little faster.

-And then learn to carve a turn. 

-Then carve a turn and then turn in both directions… 

 

I think how we learn to respond in gentleness and respect is like that.  It is a series of lessons which teach us how to develop the skill of gentle responding to attacks on our faith.  Let’s quickly look at the progress. 

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Note; there are 5 basic lessons leading up to being an intermediate-level skier for Jesus. 

 

1 Peter 3:13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 

 

1) Doing Good It is hard to argue with good.  The first step in creating the atmosphere of our gentle responses is doing good.  When we do good to others; particularly to those who are hateful to us, we change our own hearts and we change their hearts.  Our lives must be involved in helping and generosity and kindness and plain old doing good.  It is hard to rag on those who are demonstrating the love of God.  You want learn how to ski for Jesus?  Get involved in doing good.

 

1 Peter 3:14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed.

 

2) Recognize the blessing in suffering.  There is power in handling suffering without whining.  How a person endures things going wrong in their lives is a powerful witness.  When we change our view of "bad" in the world to an opportunity to glorify God, that changes us and changes those who are watching us.  Faithfulness in the face of suffering is a powerful witness.  When others see how we have hope, even in adversity, opinions change.  Hey, we are getting better at skiing for Jesus.

 

1 Peter 3:14  "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened."

 

3) Don't fear what they fear.

You can never be a good skier if you are always afraid of falling.  I'm not a great skier because I am afraid of biffing it hard.  To be a skier for Christ we need to not be afraid. 

-We have no fear of death.  Why?  We have eternal salvation! 

-We have no fear of public opinion.  Why?  We only care what Jesus thinks of us. 

-We have no fear of suffering.  Why?  We bring glory to God. 

 

Your faith in fearful situations changes who you are; it makes you a better skier, and it changes the people watching us.  Having faith, not fear, is a powerful lesson to others.

 

1 Peter 3:15  But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.

 

4) Sanctify Christ As Lord.  The word set apart or sanctify is make holy.  It is the same word that begins the Lord's Prayer.  "Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be your name."  It is to recognize the separateness, the holiness, the majesty of Christ as the Lord.  In contrast to being afraid of the stuff the world is afraid of, we instead know whom to have reverence for; Jesus Christ.  It is the internal recognition of who is really in charge.  It is the placing of Jesus on the throne of our hearts.  It is knowing whom we serve.  We don't serve people.  We don't serve ourselves.  We serve Jesus as Lord.  If he is in charge of our lives, we don't fear anything else!  We know who is in control of not only the universe but us! 

 

Wow, see the progression we are making as skiers? 

-We do good.  That sets our minds right and others notice.

-Even if it hurts, we know it is blessing us.  Others see how we respond.

-We don't fear lesser stuff because Jesus is the one who rules all.  He is the one to fear and the one who should be in control.  We are getting better! 

 

Final step:

 

1 Peter 3:15  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

 

5) Be prepared to answer.

This is where we are going to spend the year.  When we are confident in our reasons for hope, we can share them gently and with more respect.  It is when we are unsure and flustered that we get defensive.  Do you know what I mean?  When you know what you believe but you can't really articulate it, we fall back on arrogant and condescending.  But when we know why we believe what we believe then we can share confidently which leads to gentleness and respect.

 

Knowing our Lord, having no fears, dealing with suffering and doing good lead us to being confident skiers for Jesus.  "Look, mom we are skiing!"

 

The Greek word in our theme verse for answer is apologia.  It is a courtroom, lawyer word.  It is an argument that is made against some specific charge.  It is the defense against skeptics who are asking, "Why in the world would we believe something as silly as that Jesus stuff."

 

It is apologetics, but because we are intermediate skiers we can do it…How? 

 

Gentleness and Respect

Wow, can we really do this?  Can we respond to the critics, and skeptics, and cynics, and hatefulness, with gentleness?  Can we give honest and kind and clear answers for the hope we have?  That is what I want to be able to do.  I want to be cool enough to handle any question about my hope, no matter how sarcastically asked, with the smooth assurance that leaves no doubt about where I stand, yet share that hope with the power of respect. 

 

Is that what you want?  Then be here all year as we work on the answers and our gentleness and respect.

 

There is a result of being great skiers for Christ. 

 

1 Peter 3:15-16  But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

 

We can sleep well at night… knowing we have given a gentle answer for our hope!

 

Los Alamos Church of Christ

January 3, 2010s