but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; 1 Peter 3: 15 (NRSVA)
Hope is the opposite of despair. Charles Swindoll tells the story of a missionary who was sitting by her second-story window when she was handed a letter from home. As she opened the letter a crisp, new, ten-dollar bill fell out. She was pleasantly surprised, but as she read the letter her eyes were distracted by the movement of a shabbily dressed stranger down below, leaning against a post in front of the building. She couldn’t get him off her mind. Thinking that his financial need might be in greater than hers, she slipped the $10 in an envelope and wrote on it DON’T DESPAIR! She threw it out the window. The stranger below picked it up, read it, looked up with a smile and tipped his hat as he went away.
The next day she was about to leave the house when a knock came at the door. She found the same shabbily dressed man smiling as he handed her a roll of bills. When she asked what they were for, he replied: "That’s the sixty bucks you won, lady. Don’t Despair paid five-to-one!¨ [1]
There are two commands, imperatives for the Christian believer in Peter’s words:
A. To sanctify Christ in your heart. Sanctify means to set something apart from the common thingsKgive it a priority. NASA has a "clean-room¨ approach to their space equipment environmentsKyou clean everything off before you get inside. This is the purity Peter is asking for; sanctifying is putting Jesus on the throne of your heart, with nothing else in sight.
B. To be ready to defend the faith. An apologia is not giving an excuse, but literally "answering back¨ when someone questions you about your faith in Christ. It means we are to be ready to engage the culture on behalf of Christ’s Gospel.
Obeying those commands requires more than understanding, or knowledge; it requires a decision and commitment to follow-through. In ancient Athens, birthplace of much of our democratic ways, every citizen was expected to join in the debates of state. Every Christian believer should be just as ready to defend the faith.
The question before the house this morning, then, is:
How do I sanctify Christ in my heart so I can give a good defense of His Gospel in this world?
The question is answered by addressing three related questions, beginning with a definition of the hope, understanding the destination of the hope, and then tackling the transformation by that hope.
What IS the Hope?
The "hope¨ that is within is the reality that Jesus did just exactly what the Bible says He didK [2]
He was God’s son,
He came to die for us and did, and
He rose from the dead and is coming again.
This is the Gospel; it is what places hope in our hearts when we trust that Jesus did that because we couldn’t do it for ourselves.
To choose that hope requires understanding of what is truly hope, and what masquerades as hope. The "major¨ religions of the world are full of false hope.
Islam, like Christianity, offers a paradise after this life, but it is a religion filled with hate.
Humanism and Atheism are "religions¨ that offer nothing past this life.
Buddhism, Hinduism and the New Age Religions offer love as a way to live, but generally present the afterlife as annihilation or absorption into some ethereal, nebulous existence like you are a droplet of water in an unending cloud.
Christianity is the faith that speaks of love as a way of life, and receiving love back from the God you serve. If you have any sense of faith in order in the universe, you know that we are created to be like that V to love and be loved. It is the only faith that gives hope, a purpose for existence.
So, the bottom line here is that, for me, it is either that the Gospel is true, or there is nothing that makes any human existence worth living. And the Gospel is true, and that explains then, this great hope of the Christian faith that lays beating in my heart! This leads us to the second great question about this hope:
Is "IT¨ (the hope) Really there, in my heart?
According to Scripture this is the easiest of questions, although it seems to give so many people a hard time. The hope is there if God put it there. If you believe in God, and trust that Christ did die for your sins, and you’re willing to turn away from those sins to Christ, the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit places that hope within.
AND SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU: BUT YE ARE WASHED, BUT YE ARE SANCTIFIED, BUT YE ARE JUSTIFIED IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS, AND BY THE SPIRIT OF OUR GOD. 1 COR 6:11
A dear friend wrote to me this week. She shared just that kind of testimony about the Christian hope being inside:
As a young girl at the age of 11 during a revival service at Midway Baptist church in Eastman, Ga. It was on Monday night that I began to feel convicted of my sin and felt God drawing me to him....I didn’t understand it all, but by Friday night I was weeping so much during the invitation and I went forward and gave my life to Christ. The pastor’s wife had given each of us kids a little lapel book pin that she had personally made that we wore all week. As the pastor’s wife opened one of the little books she began to explain. The first page was totally black, she explained that we were all sinners and the black stood for our sins as we lived in darkness. The next page was red and she explained that was for the blood Jesus shed for my sins. Next page was white which she told us that stood for cleansing of my sins. Then there was a green page which stood for growth in Christ...and last was Gold which she explained that stood for HEAVEN a home GOD was preparing for me. From that Friday night ....until today I know the Holy Spirit lives within my heart. Along my journey of life I have made many mistakes and I know I have disappointed the Lord many time. Every time I have sinned, the Holy Spirit has tugged on my heart and I knew that the only way I could have peace was to repent and turn away from my sin and back to the arms of my Savior!.... I am secure in his GRIP!!!! [3]
That’s how that hope gets in thereKa matter of surrendering to God with your will. The Scripture says it clearly:
10FOR IT IS BY BELIEVING IN YOUR HEART THAT YOU ARE MADE RIGHT WITH GOD, AND IT IS BY CONFESSING WITH YOUR MOUTH THAT YOU ARE SAVED. ROMANS 10: 10 (NLT)
The assurance of that event comes (as Mr. Wesley testified) as a heart (inner life, soul-sense, inner peace) that is strangely warmed. It is a life that comes to know and depend on Jesus Christ for all things; it is a life that becomes bent towards love, both giving and receiving. It is a life that trusts God with the outcome. My friend also reminded me that her brother is dying. He is slowly, painfully advancing towards death. His daughter, Jill, wrote:
When sorrow seems to surround you
When suffering hangs heavy over your head
Know that tomorrow brings
Wholeness and healing
God knows your need
Just believe what He said
He gives beauty for ashes
Strength for fear Gladness for mourning
Peace for despair
When what you’ve done keeps you from moving on
When fear wants to make itself at home in your heart
Know that forgiveness brings
Wholeness and healing
God knows your need
Just believe what He said
He gives beauty for ashes
Strength for fear Gladness for mourning
Peace for despair
I once was lost but God has found me
Though I was bound I’ve been set free
I’ve been made righteous in His sight
A display of His splendor all can see
He gives beauty for ashes
Strength for fear Gladness for mourning
Peace for despair
Peace, the hope of God’s perfect love, takes over for despair!
That’s the reality of what hope really means, and how it really resides in your heart.
The final question is about sharing that hope:
How will I defend the Christian Hope?
There are two parts to the answer for this question. First, you will only be prepared to defend the hope when you have a
Radically-Transformed Mind
Paul wrote to the Roman church:
2DON’T COPY THE BEHAVIOR AND CUSTOMS OF THIS WORLD, BUT LET GOD TRANSFORM YOU INTO A NEW PERSON BY CHANGING THE WAY YOU THINK. THEN YOU WILL LEARN TO KNOW GOD’S WILL FOR YOU, WHICH IS GOOD AND PLEASING AND PERFECT. ROMANS 12: 2 (NLT)
This transformation doesn’t happen overnight. It is true that when we give our lives to Christ we become new creatures in the sight of God. God doesn’t hold our sins against us. But it takes a while before we begin to act like new creatures.
I have two other friends who wrote to me this week. Their testimonies are of this kind of transformation - the radical surgery God does on your inner being and mind, in the everyday ordinary and in the incredibly hard trials of life.
Anne speaks of the ordinary:
When people are sharing their faith stories, I long to tell my own story and end with a flourish, a great statement of monumental faith. I never quite get there because I’m just a common person with common experiences; Yes, I’m greatly loved by God, but I have yet to move so much as an ant hill with my faith, never mind a mountain. My faith is an inner thing that resembles a stake. I’m an older person and can look back on many years. With that backward view, I can see that God was with me all the way. I had my share of hard knocks followed by struggle and depression, but I had that stake in the center to hold on to. It was a beautiful gift - faith is a gift of God. As it gradually came to me that God had guided me in the past, I know with more certainty every passing year that He will be with me next year, the year after that, and so through eternity.
By reading the Bible, listening to sermons and thinking about people who are wonderful role models, my life has changed over a long period of time. It isn’t dramatic; it isn’t very interesting, but it is effective. I know that even a little sin separates me from God, and He is faithful to keep calling me back and forgiving my sins. [4]
Tom speaks of the overwhelming times that developed the strength of the Christian hope in his life:
Threads are not much to hold on to. But in times of disaster, upheaval and tragedy, threads can be enough. In November of 1983 at the age of forty two my wife Joan was diagnosed with lung cancer. And for the next four months the circumstances went from bad to worse. Her health deteriorated rapidly; the effects of radiation and chemotherapy ravaged her already delicate frame. The children wanted answers, the hospital wanted money, the boss wanted his employee back at work. Bills piled up, stress exacerbated every twist and turn. What can possibly bring a glimmer of hope in the darkest of days? Threads. Threads of faith; threads of promise; threads of the Word. "I will never leave you or forsake you. My strength is perfect when your strength is gone. I will not allow more to be put on you than you can bear. You are loved with an everlasting love.¨ Golden threads of love are enough, even through the cold hours of a February funeral, golden threads are enough. Threads twisted into a cable strong enough to carry me into the unknowns of a life lived to His glory. [5]
Now, the radically-transformed mind is what leads to the
Radically-Christian lifestyle
People who live-out their faith in Christ (this hope within) are "radicals¨ in modern day culture. They don’t fit-in with any demographic you can imagine. The only real demographic they care about is what they’re doing to the final exam - the one where the A+ is handed to you by a king who says, Well done, thou good and faithful servant!
This kind of radical transformation that leads to a radical Christian lifestyle doesn’t come easy or overnight. Gary Player is a hall of fame golfer, and the spokesman for the World Golf Hall of Fame in St Augustine. If you’ve seen the commercial he always says, If you love the game, you’ve got to go [see it]. Player was always the epitome of a gentleman while playing; his easy swing and smile made golf look easy; it isn’t!
If you’ve seen the commercial you also know Gary Player has traveled several million miles and hit 3 million golf balls in his career. It took dedication for him to develop a good golf swing; it took tenacity and faith for him to take that golf swing into the professional arena and become a success.
It is that kind of dedication and commitment of life that Jesus seeks in you. He said the Father was looking for those who would worship Him in spirit and truth; THAT’s what Jesus meant.
That’s how the hope in you becomes transparent enough for others to see, and ask;
That’s how you become ready to defend the faith. You live that hope, church.
They’ll ask; you’ll defend - and Christ will be honored, set apart, and sanctified in your heart!
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ENDNOTES
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1] Charles R. Swindoll, Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life
2] See 1 Corinthians 15
3] Deborah Brockus
4] Anne Mehrling
5] Rev. Tom Goode
