By nature, I am not a detail-oriented person. I tend to think in generalities. I would choose the broad brush before I would choose the one for the more intricate work. As I’ve gotten older, I have seen more and more the importance of details and how they affect the larger picture. One particular verse has been of great help in my re-education.
Most people, including myself (up until recently), when asked if they could quote I Peter 3:15 would say something along the lines of; always be ready to give an account of the hope that’s in you. If that was their answer they would be both right and wrong. Right, in that the verse does have that thought and those words in it. Wrong, in that it is actually only one of three parts to the verse.
In my opinion, those words, when left to stand alone are sterile and incomplete without the other two parts, especially the first part, because it is the foundation for the rest of the verse.
I Peter 3:15 says; “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;”
First of all, we are told to “sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart”. The NIV uses the word “consecrate” instead of sanctify. The ESV uses the phrase, “In your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as Holy”. For me the message here, regardless of the individual translation, is the same. Before we evangelize, before we share our faith, before we make a defense, we should be attending to our own relationship with God in Christ. Seeking His face in prayer, thoughts, and study and regularly repenting of our sins. Now, I don’t think this means so much that if we share our faith and are not in perfect relationship, (when are we ever in perfect relationship?) that He can’t use us to reach others. I think it is more for our sake, in order that we aren’t deceived by the enemy to think that everything is fine just because we witnessed to someone. It’s a simple matter of priority. I would suggest that that is why it’s at the beginning of the verse. God doesn’t offer us salvation for the purpose of us defending the faith and being involved in saving others. Salvation, reconciliation with God and the glory it brings Him is an end unto itself. For Him to use us to be instrumental in reaching others is secondary.
Secondly, we are to “always be ready” to make a defense. We could look up the word “always” but I’m pretty sure we would find that it means “always”. In order to “always be ready”, preparation is necessary. We have to consider what we believe. We have to have spent some time holding up what we believe to the prevailing thoughts of our day regarding life in all its many facets. While it’s true that God never changes and that there is nothing new under the sun and that the Gospel never changes and the Bible never changes, we can’t say the same about the world, the people in it, the way they think, even the definitions of words. If we are not “ready”, if we are not prepared, we cannot fulfill the command we see here in this verse.
Tim Keller, in his book, The Reason For God, says; “People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless against either the tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic. Listen patiently to your doubts and only discard them after long reflection.”
C.J. Mahaney said, “Thinking is the sturdy foundation for our easily misguided affections.”
It takes no preparation to feel.
Be prepared. Always be ready.
Lastly, we are told to be gentle and reverent when giving our defense. On a personal note, I’ve found this to be a most challenging practice. Most of us, especially the guys, are by nature slaves to our egos. We want to win arguments. We want to look smart, smarter than our “opponent”. Of course, this is wrong on more than one level. The person we make a defense to is never our “opponent”.
There is a big difference between giving a defense and being defensive. Jesus was gentle and reverent when talking to the masses as well as with the individual. The only exception was when he talked with the religious leaders. I would say that we can follow both of these examples, if in fact, we have sanctified Christ as Lord. I have found in my many conversations with unbelievers, especially those who are hostile to the faith rather than just indifferent, it is easier to keep gentleness and reverence in my tone when I remember they are the lost ones. The deceived ones. They are us, before we saw the light. Before we came to our senses. Before we came to Christ. Also, it is helpful when I remember God’s continued graciousness to me in my many failures, even after coming to Christ.
In his work Life Together, Bonhoeffer writes; “How can I possibly serve another person in unfeigned humility if I seriously regard his sinfulness as worse than my own?” Dave has said the exact same thing to us, in his own words, hundreds of times.
Sanctify Christ, always be ready, and offer to the lost the Gospel of Christ with gentleness and reverence.
To be continued…