1 Peter 3: A Ready Witness - 9/21/14
Turn with me this morning to the end of your bibles, to the book of 1 Peter. As you are turning there, let me ask you why you are here this morning. Why do we come to church? We come to worship, we come to gain encouragement, we come to learn. We come because that is the “Christian” thing to do. We come this morning as Christians. But what is a Christian?
Over the summer in Sunday School we talked about this idea of being a Christian. It is NOT the idea of saying a prayer and getting a spot in heaven. Rather Christians are disciples, followers, those who want to be just like Jesus in every way. What He says, we do. And when you look in the mirror, let me ask - is that what you want to be? Do you want to be a man or woman who follows the instructions of Jesus Christ?
If so, let me remind you of two passages - they record the last words of Jesus while he was here on earth. The first we call the great commission. It is what we are to be about as Christians. Jesus told his disciples shortly before He left them: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” And then the very last thing Jesus says, right before He ascends up into heaven we find in Acts 1:8 - But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
Jesus said that if we are serious about being his followers, the thing that should concern us is not how nice of a church building we have, or what songs we sing on Sunday. The thing that should be our focus is being a witness - telling what we know to be true to others - so that they also will become a disciple, a follower of Jesus. So this morning, let me ask you: How good of a witness are you?
But let me say - this witness is NOT missions. We like to give an excuse - We give money to our missionaries - they are the witness! But that’s not the plan of Jesus. Jesus wants YOU to be His witness. Wherever you are, whatever you do, we are to look for ways to testify about what we have learned to be true.
So, having said that, let’s move on to the book of 1 Peter. In Acts 1, Jesus gave this call to his followers to be witnesses. And they said, That’s great - let’s pray that God sends someone else to go! And they all stayed at Jerusalem. So in Acts 8, God allowed great persecution to come on the church. And as a result, almost all the followers of Jesus, Christians, left Jerusalem and were scattered throughout the Middle East. Acts 8:1 says, On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
So, they didn’t want to leave their “comfort zones” - but once things became uncomfortable in Jerusalem, they left. That brings us to Peter. Paul has a ministry to the Gentiles, largely starting new churches in Turkey. But Peter has a ministry to the Jews. And this first letter he writes, as it says in 1 Peter 1:1 - To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. Peter is writing to these Jewish Christians who had been “scattered” in the dispersion because of persecution. And Peter is writing them a letter to remind them that even though they have faced difficult times, they still have HOPE!
He writes in 1:3 - 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.
This is a great passage - Peter says that even though we suffer through all types of trials in life, we have a living hope! What is hope? It is not just “wishing” that things turn out well. No, the biblical idea of “hope” is confident expectation - we can count on what the future holds because of who God is and what He has promised. So Peter says that even when we are struggling in life, we hold on to hope. Why? Because of the resurrection of of Jesus Christ - in the words of the song, Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, because He lives, all fear is gone, because I know He hold the future, and life is worth the living, just because He lives.
Peter says we also have hope because we have an inheritance waiting for us in heaven.
We have hope because God is shielding us by His great power.
In verse 13, we see we have hope because Jesus Christ is coming back for us. Jesus said in John 14 - I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
And in light of this hope we have in the midst of trials, Peter says it should affect how we live. In 1:22 we see we need to love one another deeply, from the heart. In chapter 2, Peter says because we have this living hope, we need to grow spiritually. In 2:12, Peter says we SHOW our faith by how we live. He says, 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. We are called to LIVE our lives daily in such a way that others are pointed to the truth of God. And that is one of the key ideas about our witness. Being a witness for Jesus does not mean that once a week for an hour or two we pick up our bible and start going door to door telling people about God’s salvation. Rather it is the idea that every day, wherever we are, we LIVE in such a way that when we DO speak about Jesus, people will want to listen to us because they have been watching our lives and they see that we live out what we are telling them. The only way we will be effective witnesses is by living a consistent testimony before those we are around.
This morning, you could stand up in church and say “Oh How I love Jesus” - but if I asked your family, you co-workers, your teammates, your neighbors if you love Jesus - what would those who watch your life say about your faith?
Peter tells us that we need to live our faith out before others. But then in chapter 3, Peter reminds us that even if we live a godly life, things may not always go well for us. Some Christians get the idea that if we just love Jesus we’ll have a good job, plenty of money, friends galore, and a family like Leave it to Beaver. But the truth is just the opposite: sometimes we can do everything right in following God, and yet we suffer in life. So Peter goes in to give us some help when we face those difficult times. He writes in verse 14, 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.
This is the passage I want us to focus on this morning. Peter says even if we suffer, we are blessed. How can that be true? How can it be a blessing to suffer? Peter knows that life is NOT just what we face here on this earth. Instead, we who follow Christ believe wholeheartedly that ONE DAY God will set everything right. In the book of Hebrews, in chapter 11, the great FAITH chapter of the Bible, we see that all throughout history, followers of God faced adversity but rejoiced that God would one day set things right.
The chapter closes with these words: Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawn in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and ill-treated-- the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
History is filled with believers who suffered for their faith. And the constant source of HOPE for them was that ONE DAY God would set everything right. And the author of Hebrews reminds us that they together with us, will one day enjoy all that God has prepared for those who love Him.
Peter knows that even when we try our best to live a godly life, there will be those who seek to cause us trouble. People will mock you, insult you, make fun of you, try to intimidate you, slander you, and do all kinds of mean, insulting things to you if you try to live like Jesus. But Peter reminds us in verse 15 - But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. What does that mean? Here’s my take on it - who are you going to fear? Those who are out to intimidate you, or God Himself? Jesus said in Matthew 10 - Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
In Isaiah 8, the prophet Isaiah writes these words for us: The LORD spoke to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people. He said . . . do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread.
Why is it that we get so fearful of others? One of the key reasons we aren’t witnesses, telling others about Jesus, is because of FEAR! We are afraid of what others might say. We get afraid they will laugh at us, that they will mock us, that they won’t want us to be their friend. But the truth we need to get down to is making the decision - what do we really believe? Do we really believe that all that we talk about at church on Sunday is really true? Do we really believe that those without Christ face eternal damnation? Do we really believe that God can use US to be His witnesses?
Because that IS God’s plan - He wants to use US to be that witness to others. But when we start talking about our faith, we can expect that others will have questions for us. Peter goes on to say, Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. WHY do you believe the bible to be true? WHY do you believe in God? and heaven and hell? WHY not just live it up and do whatever you feel like doing? We need to be prepared to answer for why we believe what we do.
This Saturday night we are showing a movie here called God’s Not Dead. And the storyline is that a young college student is forced by his philosophy professor with signing a statement, God Is Dead. Everyone else in the class signs their name. But this bold young man can’t do that. And so the movie goes on to show how he stands up for his faith. It’s a great movie, and if you haven’t seen it, plan now to come join us Saturday at 7. If you already have seen it, you’ll probably want to come back and watch it again. I’ve already seen it a couple times!
The movie also has some cameo performances - Korie & Willie Robertson from Duck Dynasty are shown standing up for their faith - the Christian singers the Newsboys are shown facing confrontation about their faith. The movie is an encouragement to us as Christians to stand up for what we believe and to speak out as a witness for our faith. But it also encourages us to go about that witness in the right way.
Peter talks about how we do that - he says be prepared to give a reason for our hope - but he goes on to say, But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. Three rules for our witness:
1 - Be gentle - one danger we face in our witness is being brash, harsh, forceful. Because we know we have the truth, sometimes we can be arrogant. We can be a pain to the unsaved. Think of the wife who constantly nags her husband to become a Christian. If we are going to seek to be a good witness, first we need to be gentle with others. Second,
2 - Show Respect - Don’t belittle nonChristians. If someone doesn’t believe in God, don’t make fun of them. Don’t call them idiots. Don’t gloat over the fact that one day they’ll burn in hell. Show respect for them. If you belittle them, that will just cause them to put up “walls” that keep them from hearing you out. But if you respect them, let them know that you care about them, it will open the door for you to share why you believe what you do. And third,
3 - Do Right - Peter says keep a clear conscience - don’t besmirch the name of God by saying you believe one thing and then living another. Yes, we all sin, we all have areas where we struggle, but we want to do everything we can to live in such a way that when others look at our lives they wouldn’t think about slandering us because they know no one would believe them.
Peter goes on in this chapter to talk about Christ’s preaching and baptism and his whole point is vindication - that God will vindicate us, that God will show that we are right, that God will ultimately have the victory.
You’ve hear the expression “they won the battle but lost the war.” We never want to get to the point where we seek to win every confrontation. Instead, instead of winning arguments, we want to see lives changed. When we constantly, consistently live out our faith on a daily basis, other will notice. They will ask us why we live the way we do, why we believe what we believe. And when we are prepared to give an answer, and give that answer in a gentle, respectful, right way, God’s spirit can work through us to bring others to faith in Christ.
So, today, what kind of a witness are you? Do you seek to live out your faith on a daily basis? That is God’s plan for us- to be His witnesses. May God help us to be faithful this week in living faithfully and speaking out boldly. Let’s pray.
