VISION :: Give a Defense (kindly)!
1 Peter 3:15 ESV
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect
In this passage, Peter instructs us to be ready to defend our faith when others ask about it. If you're a follower of Jesus, have you ever thought through why you believe in Him? Have you considered the difficult questions that often surround Christianity and wrestled with why you still find faith credible?
Tim Keller explains that there is a way to wrestle with doubt that is helpful. He says:
"A faith without some doubts is like a human body without any antibodies in it. 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 experience of tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic. A person’s faith can collapse almost overnight if she has failed over the years to listen patiently to her own doubts, which should only be discarded after long reflection" (Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism(New York: Riverhead Books, 2009), xvii.).
I think this gets at the heart of what Peter is saying in 1 Peter 3:15 when he tells us "to honor Christ the Lord as holy." To honor Christ as holy is to think soberly about why we believe in Jesus. For all of us, this begins by thinking through our personal conversion story. We ask ourselves, "How did Jesus first reveal himself to me and capture my heart?" And then we prepare ourselves to share our story with others. It also means thinking through hard questions like:
Has science disproved Christianity?
Is there really only one way to God?
Can God be real if there's so much suffering?
Could a good God really send people to hell?
Etc.
As we consider good answers to these questions, our faith gets stronger, and we're more prepared to answer the objections of others. If you don't have any idea how to answer these questions, let me suggest two resources:
The other thing Peter reminds us in this passage is that having good answers with a bad attitude, doesn't work. As we wrestle with big questions, and engage in conversation with those who don't yet believe in Jesus, we have to do all of this with "gentleness and respect." If we don't, we undermine everything. Jesus is patient with us, and we need to be patient and respectful with others.
Part of our vision at 24 Church is to be missionaries, and that means honoring Jesus as holy and being prepared to give a defense for why we believe what we believe.
- Ben
