WELCOME
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SERIES INTRODUCTION
The word apologetics can be intimidating, but it doesn't need to be. This series will remove the anxiety you may have when it comes to giving a defense for your faith. In fact, the goal of this series is to equip you with the tools to have genuine conversations about your faith with anyone and everyone.
Perhaps one of the best passages in the Bible that lays a foundation for apologetics is in 1 Peter 3:15. The Apostle Peter writes,
“But in your hearts revere 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” (1 Peter 3:15).
As Christians, it’s our job to be ready to answer questions that people have about Jesus, the Bible, and what we believe. I believe this series will be a great tool for us to use in learning how to talk about our faith with other people.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS
Our word “apologetics” comes from the Greek word apologia which means to “speak in turn” or to “defend oneself.” It was a formal verbal defense either in response to an accusation or persecution in a court of law. Christian apologetics arose as a result of persecution within the Roman Empire. Early apologists like Justin Martyr (100 – 165 AD), Irenaeus of Lyons (130 AD – unknown), Athanasius of Alexandria (unknown – 373 AD), Gregory of Nyssa (335 – 394 AD), and Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430 AD). These men became known as Christian Apologists because of their work in defending and explaining the Christian faith.
Some of the most well-known apologists of the twentieth century were men like C. S. Lewis (1898 – 1963), Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1909 – 1945), and Lesslie Newbigin (1909 – 1998).
Contemporary apologists include men like Ravi Zacharias (1946 – 2020), Timothy Keller (1950 -), and Alister E. McGrath (1953 -).
The purpose of all of these apologists was and continues to be to articulate a verbal or written response to the questions people have about God and the Christianity faith. To do apologetics is to give a defense for the Christian faith either to people who oppose Christianity or to clarify a certain belief to people within the Church: Who is God? How can a good God create evil? Why is there suffering in the world? What does it mean to be human? Who is Jesus? What qualifies him to be a Savior?
Believe it or not, every Christian is an apologist. You and I are apologists. It’s not a luxury or a special call for a few brilliant intellectuals. We are apologists by association and that’s why the Apostle Peter tells us,
“But in your hearts revere 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” (1 Peter 3:15).
Just because our faith is personal—we have a personal relationship with Jesus—it doesn’t mean that it should be kept to ourselves. Now, we don’t need to be obnoxious about it, but we should be able to respectfully give a response for why we believe what we believe.
KIDS, VEGGIES, AND INFLUENCE
More than anything, apologetics is about influence, not manipulation. Allow me to illustrate. Often, I try to get our boys to eat their vegetables. And often it becomes a battle of two competing parties and before long we’re all sitting at the table locked in a stalemate.
In his book, Influencing Like Jesus (2008), author Michael Zigarelli tells a funny story of the struggle he encountered when he tried to get his kids to eat their vegetables. As any parent will know, there are a few—seven to be exact—classic strategies you can employ in your noble quest to get your children to eat their veggies:
• There’s the classic Authority Tactic: “Because I said so…”
• Then there’s the Social Evidence Strategy: “Look how nicely your brother is eating his broccoli…”
• Many of you have also probably tried the Limited Availability Principle: “I’m setting the timer—you have 2 minutes to eat your peas, after that Daddy’s Fury will be released…”
• There’s also the Nurturer Approach: “Did you know that eating your vegetables makes you big and strong?”
• Or maybe you like to use the Likability Factor: “You make me so happy when you eat your kale.”
• On the opposite end of the spectrum to the Likability Factor is the classic Ultimatum Proposition: “Eat your veggies or else…”
• And then, as a last resort, you may turn to an Inspirational Story, that every parent has used at least once: “Let me tell you about the kids in Africa who spend their days begging for food. If they had a piece of broccoli, they would inhale it!”
If I was a gambling man, out of the seven classic strategies, I’d say that the most used strategy is Eat or Else. Usually, this strategy works because our children know that Mommy and Daddy can really create some serious consequences:
• “No Nintendo for a week!”
• Or something a little more realistic [said sarcastically] like “No TV for the rest of your life!!”
The thing about all of these tactics is that we are not creating long-term solutions. We’ve solved the problem for Sunday night, but guess what, the menu calls for veggies again on Monday night!
The key to getting your children to eat their vegetables with a smile on their faces is persuasion; not manipulation but influence. Influence, by definition, is
“The capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something.”
Influence is an important part of becoming an effective apologist.
APOLOGISTS ARE INFLUENCER
According to Zigarelli, God calls us to be influencers.
“In fact, the Great Commission is a mandate to make disciples. God invites us to encourage people to consider the claims of Jesus.”
God gives us opportunities to make a persuasive case of Christ at home, at work, with our friends; wherever we are. God has called us to be influencers.
THE CONTEXT IN WHICH MODERN APOLOGETICS HAPPENS
I think doing apologetics has to begin with identifying our context; what is our world like and what are the questions people are asking? The presentation of the Gospel and the Christian faith happens in a twenty-first-century world which is very relational, highly educated, connected by technology, accustomed to instant gratification, and thoroughly self-absorbed. People are also desperately searching for meaning. They look for purpose through experiences. They question truth and morality.
Our world is also highly relativistic. We’ve blurred the lines between absolutes. Truth is relative; it depends on the circumstances. What’s right for one person is not necessarily right for someone else. And anyone who begs to differ is labeled as a fundamentalist, a bigot, or a hater.
Our world is also violent. Violence is a pandemic; it’s around every corner. In fact, in the twentieth century, more people were killed than all the proceeding centuries combined! Historians have estimated that a total of 123 million people died in all the wars of the 20th century; 37 million military deaths, 27 million collateral civilian deaths, 41 million victims of democide (genocide), and 18 million victims of wartime famine. To us, violence is an everyday occurrence. We see it on the news, we watch in movies, we glorify it in video games.
Our world is also pluralistic; religious pluralism rules. Co-existing is cool, and there’s a buffet menu of new religious movements for people to choose from; from the Human Potential Movement (HPM) to Tree Huggers and Jediism. Yes, you heard me right, Jediism is a “religion.” According to Peter Clark, former professor of History and Sociology of Religion at King’s College at the University of London, Jediism has 70,000 followers in Australia and 390,000 in the United Kingdom. Not surprisingly, most of the adherents are in their twenties.
And our culture is also highly visual. Think about how much time we spend on our Smartphones or in front of a computer screen scrolling through images, playing games, watching the news. We learn through visuals as opposed to learning through contemplation/thinking. Once upon a time, reading a book was a was the way children grew their imagination; today kids scan through 60-seconds of images on a phone and tell their parents,
“I’m bored. I’ve got nothing to do.”
In his (2011) book The Shallows, Nicholas Carr put it pretty bluntly when he wrote that technology and the internet has turned us into
“It [the internet] turns us into lab rats constantly pressing levers to get tiny pellets of intellectual or social nourishment.”
In essence, what’s happening to us is that technology is changing how we think and what we think about. Ravi Zacharias characterized this generation as
“…a generation that thinks through its eyes and that listens with its feelings.”
What’s happening in our world today, is that we are constructing opinions, forming meaning, and basing our beliefs on fragments of information; information that is often misleading. It’s no wonder truth has become relative and circumstantial.
OUR RESPONSE, APOLOGETICALLY SPEAKING
I think there are three important aspects that have to define the modern apologetic: (1) An Apologetic That Reveres Jesus, (2) An Apologetic That Is Seen and Heard, and (3) An Apologetic That is Deliver with Conviction. Let’s take a closer look at each of these three principles.
1. AN APOLOGETIC THAT REVERES JESUS
Christian apologetics starts with Jesus. In fact, He is The Apologetic. The Apostle Peter tells us,
“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord” (1 Peter 3:15).
The New Living Translation puts it like this:
“Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life” (1 Peter 3:15, NLT).
What does this mean? It means that we need to make sure we understand what it means to set Christ apart as Lord. Jesus must be fully honored and revered. He is the King of our Heart. When we revere Christ as Lord, He is the fundamental doctrine of our faith. Jesus is Lord over our will, our imagination, our entire life.
In the Bible, the heart is the center of a person. If the heart is not calibrated correctly, our life will be out of alignment. That’s why the Bible tells us,
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23).
When the center of our life is in the right relation to God, we are able to respond properly to the challenges we face, and the questions people ask. When Jesus is at the center of our hearts, we are positioned to love God and love people. Loving God and loving others is at the core of the Christian faith. If our apologetic is void of either, we will not win anyone to Jesus.
2. AN APOLOGETIC THAT IS SEEN AND HEARD
Is it not true, that people are likely to forget what you said in a matter of minutes, but they will remember what you did for them for much longer? The saying, “Actions speak louder than words” holds its own, right? Imagine then, the impact a person could have if what they say is bonded together with what they do. When there’s a marriage between saying and doing, the fruit is irresistible.
If we want to learn what effective apologetics look like, we need to look at the way Jesus modeled it for us. In Matthew 9:1-8, we encounter the story of a few friends, who brought a paralytic man to Jesus. The Bible says,
“When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, ‘Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven’” (Matthew 9:2).
When the teachers of the law heard this, they accused Jesus of blasphemy. Blasphemy is claiming to be God and applying His characteristics to yourself. The religious leaders saw that Jesus was claiming to be God, but what they didn’t understand was the Jesus is God and has the authority to forgive sins. The Bible says,
Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, ‘Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” Then the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.
Talk is cheap and if it is not followed by action, what’s the purpose? Jesus backed his claims with action. The result was not only the healing of the paralytic, but the man’s healing resulted in the crowd praising God. Right there and then, Jesus demonstrated that He was exactly who the religious leaders weren’t ready to accept: the Son of God.
Similarly, we can say that we love God and that we follow Jesus, but if we are not taking practical steps to demonstrate that love, our words are empty, and our apologetic is meaningless. The world is watching, and we have the opportunity to be seen and heard by being the hands and feet of Jesus.
3. AN APOLOGETIC THAT IS DELIVERED WITH CONVICTION
Personal conviction is essential in apologetics; you don’t want to obnoxiously argue your point. People want to feel your conviction.
As I look back on my own experiences—so far, at least—I think the most effective moments I’ve had in talking to people about Jesus have happened when they’ve seen my passion for God.
[Use a personal example here] Once during an outdoor evangelistic meeting in Africa, I was giving my testimony. I’m sure people were interested in what I was saying, but my testimony reached new heights when my inner zeal for Jesus was awakened. It happened in the oddest way. I felt like heard the Lord telling me to begin jumping up and down in front of the crowd and declare:
“I love Jesus! I love Jesus!”
Bear in mind: I was a young boy from Finland. People in Finland are extremely composed. Finns don’t do small talk, and sometimes they just don’t talk at all.
So, as a stout Finn, I resisted the prompting to jump up and down in public. But luckily, God also gave me an Australian heritage where—let’s just say, people are a little more outspoken—and I thought to myself,
“There’s a high likelihood these people will never see me again, so I might as well just go for it.”
So, I jumped with all my heart, as high as I could, and declared my love for Jesus.
Just then a Maasai tribal woman—who we later found out was a witch doctor—walked toward me and fell to the ground. The tone of the meeting switched quickly. All eyes were on the convulsing woman on the ground. She was demon-possessed. Our team rushed over to her and we began to pray in Jesus’ name. The peace of God fell over the woman and the team as we prayed. Our translator asked if the woman would like to give her life to Christ. She said, “Yes” and gave her life to Christ that day.
It wasn’t until years later, in Seminary, that I learned jumping is a highly recognizable rite of passage for young men in Maasai culture. Maasai warriors jump to invoke courage. Young Maasai men jump to demonstrate skill and strength and express that they are ready for the next phase in life. Little did I know at the time, but God was using a cultural form to establish his lordship in the park and in the heart of the Maasai woman.
I’m convinced that doctrine doesn’t just need to be argued from an intellectual standpoint, Christian apologetics needs to be delivered with conviction. Let’s pray.
PRAYER POINTS:
• Become an influencer in culture by developing an apologetic that (1) reveres Jesus, (2) that is seen and heard, and (3) an apologetic that is delivered with conviction.
