Celebrating Our Sue Hope in Christ - 1 Peter 3:15-18
Pastor Dennis Bone
11/20/11
CELEBRATING OUR SURE HOPE IN CHRIST 11-20-11
A young salesman was very disappointed about losing a big sale, and as he talked with his sales manager he lamented, "I guess it just proves you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink." The manager replied, "Son, take my advice: your job is not to make him drink. Your job is to make him thirsty." So it is with our job as Christians when it comes to evangelism; and the responsibility and opportunity to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others. Our lives should be so filled with Christ that they create a thirst for the gospel, so that people will want to know about the sure hope we have within us.
In celebrating our anniversary as a church, there are many things we can thank God for in the past and in the present – His faithfulness, and our friendships and fellowship around God’s faithfulness; His presence, and our worship together in God’s presence; His sustaining grace and mercy, and our prayers for one another to grow in God’s grace and be comforted by His mercy – yet in all of this, and more, we celebrating our sure hope in Jesus Christ our Savior and the call to us as His church to share this hope with others.
In our passage for this morning, Peter speaks to us about this blessed hope we have in Christ; and how we celebrate it by sharing it. Follow along as I read I Peter 3:15 – 18:
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. It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.
Peter is teaching us that our inward hope in Christ as our Savior should so much affect the way we live our lives as Christians that people will want to know what motivates us, because how we live our lives will get their attention; and when it does, we should be able to explain this hope that we have in Christ in a very clear, considerate, yet convincing way, so that they will be thirsty; and will want this hope in Christ as well.
I want to touch on three main points from this passage: Our inward preparation around our hope; our outward presentation of our hope; and our unwavering profession in our sure hope no matter what the reception or the cost. As Christians we celebrate our sure hope in Christ in season or out of season; in good times or bad times; in times of success or times of suffering, because our hope in Christ is permanent and eternal. Our hope in Christ does not change and will last forever.
In verse 15 Peter calls us to be inwardly prepared when he says, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.” What does it mean to set Christ apart in your heart? It means to make Him pre-eminent or supreme in your life. He is the holy Lord, thus we are to recognize this and seek to have our lives directed and led by Him and His holy Word. Christ is the substance or the foundation of our hope, thus He must be the focus of our worship and our obedience. Paul reminds us of this in Colossians 1 when he says, “Christ is the Head of His body, the church; He is the beginning and the first born among the dead, so that in everything He might have preeminence.” As Christians we are to show people this truth by our actions, our actions of worshipping Christ as our Risen Lord and obeying Christ as our Risen King.
Peter had just quoted from Isaiah 8 in verse 14, where God called His people to not be afraid of the Assyrians, but instead you are to regard the Lord Almighty as the one who is holy. Peter applies this verse to Christ: He is the Lord Almighty who we are to set apart as Lord, and who enables us to not be afraid or fear what might come our way; but instead be prepared because we trust Christ as our Savior and Lord, and as Christians we know what we believe. For Peter continues in verse 15 to say, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have.” In order to be adequately prepared, and always ready, we truly need to know what we believe. We need to be taught and equipped to be able to stand up for the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Christ is not only our Lord, but He is the Lord of all. For many Jews in the first century that was blasphemous; to Romans it was treasonous, but this great truth was clear and evident to people because it changed the way Christians lived their lives. Paul tells Timothy that he is not ashamed to testify about Christ the Lord, or suffer for the gospel, because it’s through Christ that God has saved us and called us to a holy life. We are to be prepared to testify or bear witness to our Christian hope in word and in deed. Paul goes on to say, “I am not ashamed, even if I have to suffer, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”
Peter goes on to say that this inward preparation of know whom we believe and what we believe, gives us the responsibility of knowing how to explain what we believe. He says that we need to be able to give an answer. The Greek word indicates giving a defense, or giving good reasons why we believe what we do, and why it leads us to worship and obey Christ as Lord. There needs to be an intelligent grasp or understanding of our hope, not just an emotionally or superficial attachment. Peter’s assumption is that you will be asked, even challenged based upon your actions and behavior as a Christian. The very idea that someone would not know you were a Christian in the first century was unlikely, and it would be foolish for you to not be able to clearly explain why you were willing to be mocked, slandered and persecuted for your faith in Christ.
People should know today as well, even though we might not be persecuted, because we should be giving people a reason to ask about our hope, through our conversation, values and behavior. The second major point Peter addresses is the outward presentation of our sure hope. Our hope is expressed through Christ-like qualities. As Peter has reminded us in previous chapters, we are to follow the example of Christ in our words and in our deeds. The point is that people will see our hope because of the way we live and treat others; and the fact that we live differently than the world, and so when we share our hope of Christ with others it will be done in a Christ-like way as well.
When we share our hope in Christ, Peter says at the end of verse 15, to do it with gentleness and respect – and then verse 16 – keeping a clear conscience. There is a right way to explain what we believe as Christians no matter who the audience is – it might be a sincere seeker, or it may be a hypocritical liar – for either one the gospel is the same, and our character in sharing it must be the same. First, we demonstrate “gentleness” meaning that we are not to be arrogant or self-serving. We share our hope in Christ with others not for our sake, but for their sake; it shouldn’t be an issue of pride in the sense that we have something they don’t have. Our attitude and approach towards non-Christians is not to be offensive or overbearing, even if they are put off or hostile towards us or the gospel.
Paul gives words of wisdom to us as he speaks to Timothy when he says, “The Lord’s servant must be kind to everyone . . . not resentful. Those who oppose us you must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to knowledge of the truth.” We are to present the hope of the gospel with gentleness and kindness in the hope that God will change hearts and minds. This points us to the second characteristic Peter mentions about our presentation of hope: we demonstrate “respect” – in some versions this is translated “fear” – and it means that we are to give due consideration to one’s position, as well as God’s calling.
We can respect people in authority but not necessarily agree with what they believe or do. Paul showed respect for King Agrippa and the leaders of Rome, yet at the same time boldly fulfilled his calling to share the gospel. Our respect for the view points of others, regardless of their position or relationship to us, doesn’t mean that we keep silent about Christ or keep it to ourselves; rather it means that we gently and humbly find ways to share the hope of gospel. Like Paul, we should pray for opportunities to proclaim Christ, and to make the most of those opportunities by making sure that our conversation is always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that we are able to answer everyone when it comes to our hope in Christ.
And then Peter says that we are to do it with a “clear conscience” meaning that we are to speak and act consistently with the truth we believe. Our outward presentation is to be consistent or in harmony with our inward profession of faith. Paul said in Acts 24, “So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.” In 2 Corinthians 1 he says, “Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God.” As Christians we don’t want to be saying one thing and doing another, and in verse 16 Peter gives us an important reason to be consistent when he says, “Keep a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” People can say anything they want against us as Christians, and they often do because of our faith and hope, but we don’t want the lies to be true. Peter is saying that a sure hope is one that is consistent in faith and in practice; and that will ultimately silence the mouth of critics; and as he said in chapter 2: “It is God’s will that by doing good you will silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.”
But we know that even if we are gentle, respectful and have a clear conscience, not everyone will be receptive to our hope in Christ. It’s not our job as Christians to shame or silence unbelievers, nor is it our job to make them believe. But it is our job and calling as Christians to make them thirsty for true hope by sharing Christ. Thus the third point to see from our passage is: our unwavering profession. Peter is teaching us that we must be people who share the hope of Christ even if it’s not popular or well-received. In Hebrews 10 we read these powerful words: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.”
Like the words of Peter, these were written in the context of suffering for their hope in Christ. Don’t ever give up professing and proclaiming this sure hope, for as Peter says in verse 18: “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you back to God.” This is the gospel of hope that we have set apart in our hearts as Christians – the righteous Lord took upon Himself our unrighteousness, so that we can have a right relationship with God – and this is the gospel hope that we are to share with others, so that they too can have a right relationship with God. In verse 17 Peter again says that it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. This time it’s in the specific context of sharing our hope in Christ. One key point to see is that sharing the gospel is God’s will, and it might cause us to suffer, but it’s the most significant expression of “doing good” as a Christian.
What can be better than seeking to fulfill our Lord’s command to make disciples by sharing the gospel? And the essence of the gospel message is verse 18 – Christ died for the unrighteous; He died for sinners once for all – there is no other sacrifice needed, yet also no other sacrifice for sin that brings you a sure hope. Peter is reminding us that although we may suffer for sharing the gospel – not necessarily to the extent that many of his first reader suffered, but we may get mocked or ignored or dismissed for sharing our hope in Christ – we must never soften our stand for Christ or change in any way our message of hope.
What’s the point of giving people what they might like and might taste good initially, but does not quench their thirst or save their souls? As Christians and as a church let us continue to profess, without wavering and with no uncertainty at all, that our sure hope in Jesus Christ and the salvation He has achieved for us, is the only true hope for other unrighteous sinners in this world as well.
With this profession comes the responsibility to present this truth to others, and in the passage for this morning Peter teaches us that in order to present it to others we need to be prepared by knowing what we believe, knowing how to explain it, and the willingness to do it. In 2 Corinthians 5 Paul tells us that our job is to be ambassadors for Christ. We speak for Christ as His disciples, and as His disciples we speak about Christ to others. It’s not our personal hope that we want people to believe in, but it’s the objective hope of Christ, as the crucified and risen Lord and Savior, that we want people to come to believe and embrace.
Thus let us follow the exhortation of the apostle Paul as he says, “Therefore we are Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us: We implore you on Christ’s behalf to be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
This is the sure hope that we celebrate as a church, and the sure hope that we take out into the world as Christians.
©You’re welcome to recycle these resources for your church free of charge. However, if you find them useful, please consider making a donation to the ministry of GCC
Pastor Dennis Bone
11/20/11
CELEBRATING OUR SURE HOPE IN CHRIST 11-20-11
A young salesman was very disappointed about losing a big sale, and as he talked with his sales manager he lamented, "I guess it just proves you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink." The manager replied, "Son, take my advice: your job is not to make him drink. Your job is to make him thirsty." So it is with our job as Christians when it comes to evangelism; and the responsibility and opportunity to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others. Our lives should be so filled with Christ that they create a thirst for the gospel, so that people will want to know about the sure hope we have within us.
In celebrating our anniversary as a church, there are many things we can thank God for in the past and in the present – His faithfulness, and our friendships and fellowship around God’s faithfulness; His presence, and our worship together in God’s presence; His sustaining grace and mercy, and our prayers for one another to grow in God’s grace and be comforted by His mercy – yet in all of this, and more, we celebrating our sure hope in Jesus Christ our Savior and the call to us as His church to share this hope with others.
In our passage for this morning, Peter speaks to us about this blessed hope we have in Christ; and how we celebrate it by sharing it. Follow along as I read I Peter 3:15 – 18:
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. It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.
Peter is teaching us that our inward hope in Christ as our Savior should so much affect the way we live our lives as Christians that people will want to know what motivates us, because how we live our lives will get their attention; and when it does, we should be able to explain this hope that we have in Christ in a very clear, considerate, yet convincing way, so that they will be thirsty; and will want this hope in Christ as well.
I want to touch on three main points from this passage: Our inward preparation around our hope; our outward presentation of our hope; and our unwavering profession in our sure hope no matter what the reception or the cost. As Christians we celebrate our sure hope in Christ in season or out of season; in good times or bad times; in times of success or times of suffering, because our hope in Christ is permanent and eternal. Our hope in Christ does not change and will last forever.
In verse 15 Peter calls us to be inwardly prepared when he says, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.” What does it mean to set Christ apart in your heart? It means to make Him pre-eminent or supreme in your life. He is the holy Lord, thus we are to recognize this and seek to have our lives directed and led by Him and His holy Word. Christ is the substance or the foundation of our hope, thus He must be the focus of our worship and our obedience. Paul reminds us of this in Colossians 1 when he says, “Christ is the Head of His body, the church; He is the beginning and the first born among the dead, so that in everything He might have preeminence.” As Christians we are to show people this truth by our actions, our actions of worshipping Christ as our Risen Lord and obeying Christ as our Risen King.
Peter had just quoted from Isaiah 8 in verse 14, where God called His people to not be afraid of the Assyrians, but instead you are to regard the Lord Almighty as the one who is holy. Peter applies this verse to Christ: He is the Lord Almighty who we are to set apart as Lord, and who enables us to not be afraid or fear what might come our way; but instead be prepared because we trust Christ as our Savior and Lord, and as Christians we know what we believe. For Peter continues in verse 15 to say, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have.” In order to be adequately prepared, and always ready, we truly need to know what we believe. We need to be taught and equipped to be able to stand up for the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Christ is not only our Lord, but He is the Lord of all. For many Jews in the first century that was blasphemous; to Romans it was treasonous, but this great truth was clear and evident to people because it changed the way Christians lived their lives. Paul tells Timothy that he is not ashamed to testify about Christ the Lord, or suffer for the gospel, because it’s through Christ that God has saved us and called us to a holy life. We are to be prepared to testify or bear witness to our Christian hope in word and in deed. Paul goes on to say, “I am not ashamed, even if I have to suffer, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”
Peter goes on to say that this inward preparation of know whom we believe and what we believe, gives us the responsibility of knowing how to explain what we believe. He says that we need to be able to give an answer. The Greek word indicates giving a defense, or giving good reasons why we believe what we do, and why it leads us to worship and obey Christ as Lord. There needs to be an intelligent grasp or understanding of our hope, not just an emotionally or superficial attachment. Peter’s assumption is that you will be asked, even challenged based upon your actions and behavior as a Christian. The very idea that someone would not know you were a Christian in the first century was unlikely, and it would be foolish for you to not be able to clearly explain why you were willing to be mocked, slandered and persecuted for your faith in Christ.
People should know today as well, even though we might not be persecuted, because we should be giving people a reason to ask about our hope, through our conversation, values and behavior. The second major point Peter addresses is the outward presentation of our sure hope. Our hope is expressed through Christ-like qualities. As Peter has reminded us in previous chapters, we are to follow the example of Christ in our words and in our deeds. The point is that people will see our hope because of the way we live and treat others; and the fact that we live differently than the world, and so when we share our hope of Christ with others it will be done in a Christ-like way as well.
When we share our hope in Christ, Peter says at the end of verse 15, to do it with gentleness and respect – and then verse 16 – keeping a clear conscience. There is a right way to explain what we believe as Christians no matter who the audience is – it might be a sincere seeker, or it may be a hypocritical liar – for either one the gospel is the same, and our character in sharing it must be the same. First, we demonstrate “gentleness” meaning that we are not to be arrogant or self-serving. We share our hope in Christ with others not for our sake, but for their sake; it shouldn’t be an issue of pride in the sense that we have something they don’t have. Our attitude and approach towards non-Christians is not to be offensive or overbearing, even if they are put off or hostile towards us or the gospel.
Paul gives words of wisdom to us as he speaks to Timothy when he says, “The Lord’s servant must be kind to everyone . . . not resentful. Those who oppose us you must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to knowledge of the truth.” We are to present the hope of the gospel with gentleness and kindness in the hope that God will change hearts and minds. This points us to the second characteristic Peter mentions about our presentation of hope: we demonstrate “respect” – in some versions this is translated “fear” – and it means that we are to give due consideration to one’s position, as well as God’s calling.
We can respect people in authority but not necessarily agree with what they believe or do. Paul showed respect for King Agrippa and the leaders of Rome, yet at the same time boldly fulfilled his calling to share the gospel. Our respect for the view points of others, regardless of their position or relationship to us, doesn’t mean that we keep silent about Christ or keep it to ourselves; rather it means that we gently and humbly find ways to share the hope of gospel. Like Paul, we should pray for opportunities to proclaim Christ, and to make the most of those opportunities by making sure that our conversation is always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that we are able to answer everyone when it comes to our hope in Christ.
And then Peter says that we are to do it with a “clear conscience” meaning that we are to speak and act consistently with the truth we believe. Our outward presentation is to be consistent or in harmony with our inward profession of faith. Paul said in Acts 24, “So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.” In 2 Corinthians 1 he says, “Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God.” As Christians we don’t want to be saying one thing and doing another, and in verse 16 Peter gives us an important reason to be consistent when he says, “Keep a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” People can say anything they want against us as Christians, and they often do because of our faith and hope, but we don’t want the lies to be true. Peter is saying that a sure hope is one that is consistent in faith and in practice; and that will ultimately silence the mouth of critics; and as he said in chapter 2: “It is God’s will that by doing good you will silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.”
But we know that even if we are gentle, respectful and have a clear conscience, not everyone will be receptive to our hope in Christ. It’s not our job as Christians to shame or silence unbelievers, nor is it our job to make them believe. But it is our job and calling as Christians to make them thirsty for true hope by sharing Christ. Thus the third point to see from our passage is: our unwavering profession. Peter is teaching us that we must be people who share the hope of Christ even if it’s not popular or well-received. In Hebrews 10 we read these powerful words: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.”
Like the words of Peter, these were written in the context of suffering for their hope in Christ. Don’t ever give up professing and proclaiming this sure hope, for as Peter says in verse 18: “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you back to God.” This is the gospel of hope that we have set apart in our hearts as Christians – the righteous Lord took upon Himself our unrighteousness, so that we can have a right relationship with God – and this is the gospel hope that we are to share with others, so that they too can have a right relationship with God. In verse 17 Peter again says that it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. This time it’s in the specific context of sharing our hope in Christ. One key point to see is that sharing the gospel is God’s will, and it might cause us to suffer, but it’s the most significant expression of “doing good” as a Christian.
What can be better than seeking to fulfill our Lord’s command to make disciples by sharing the gospel? And the essence of the gospel message is verse 18 – Christ died for the unrighteous; He died for sinners once for all – there is no other sacrifice needed, yet also no other sacrifice for sin that brings you a sure hope. Peter is reminding us that although we may suffer for sharing the gospel – not necessarily to the extent that many of his first reader suffered, but we may get mocked or ignored or dismissed for sharing our hope in Christ – we must never soften our stand for Christ or change in any way our message of hope.
What’s the point of giving people what they might like and might taste good initially, but does not quench their thirst or save their souls? As Christians and as a church let us continue to profess, without wavering and with no uncertainty at all, that our sure hope in Jesus Christ and the salvation He has achieved for us, is the only true hope for other unrighteous sinners in this world as well.
With this profession comes the responsibility to present this truth to others, and in the passage for this morning Peter teaches us that in order to present it to others we need to be prepared by knowing what we believe, knowing how to explain it, and the willingness to do it. In 2 Corinthians 5 Paul tells us that our job is to be ambassadors for Christ. We speak for Christ as His disciples, and as His disciples we speak about Christ to others. It’s not our personal hope that we want people to believe in, but it’s the objective hope of Christ, as the crucified and risen Lord and Savior, that we want people to come to believe and embrace.
Thus let us follow the exhortation of the apostle Paul as he says, “Therefore we are Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us: We implore you on Christ’s behalf to be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
This is the sure hope that we celebrate as a church, and the sure hope that we take out into the world as Christians.
©You’re welcome to recycle these resources for your church free of charge. However, if you find them useful, please consider making a donation to the ministry of GCC
