To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout the earth, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:

Grace and peace be yours in abundance. You are invited to come to the Wednesday evening prayer meeting and pray. (8:30 PM EDT Wed., Nov. 28, 2001) (If you have e-mail prayer requests, please send them before 5:00 PM.)

This passage is a continuation of Peter's discussion of suffering for doing good. Jesus did very much good. He rescued us from death and gave us eternal life through his own suffering and death. I included the end of last week's passage, "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord," as part of this week's passage. To set apart means to hallow, as in the Lord's prayer: "Hallowed be thy name." In order to put Peter's teaching into practice, we have to know in our hearts who Jesus is -- that he is God.

Peter's teaching (inspired by the Holy Spirit of God) is, first of all, that we are to "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks us to give the reason for the hope that we have." What is the hope that we have? This question and the answer to it come up again and again. We have a living hope of not perishing but being raised from the dead to glory, honor and immortality -- eternal life (Romans 2:7, 1 Peter 1:3). We have the hope of an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, kept in heaven for us (1 Peter 1:4). We have the hope of seeing the creation, itself, which was subjected by God to frustration, being liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God (Romans 8:20, 21). And we have much more. And finally, we have the hope of being with Jesus and seeing him as he is and being like him. And incidentally, in case you have forgotten -- and it's easy to forget -- when the God of the universe, our Creator and Redeemer, talks about hope, it is not hope as in, "I hope it won't rain tomorrow (but it probably will)," but rather, it is hope as in, "I am continually looking forward to this with great expectation. I know for certain that it will happen."

We really do have this living hope. But the question that we will be asked is this: "What is the reason for this hope that you have?" The reason we have this hope is that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead (1 Peter 1:3). He died for our sin and was raised from the dead and is reigning at the right hand of God. "I know that my redeemer lives (Job 19:25)."

The word translated "answer" in the exhortation to always be prepared to give an answer, is the word from which the English word "apologetics" is derived. It means to give an explanation or a defense for what you are claiming is true. In this passage, when Peter is telling us to always be prepared to defend what we believe, he is speaking about a defense before people. But we also have an unseen enemy that regularly questions our hope. He is our enemy the devil who prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Peter is going to say more about this later (1 Peter 5:8), but the reason I am bringing it up now is that our enemy gives us an opportunity to practice defending our faith. The devil asks the same sort of questions that people ask. If fact, it can be said with quite a bit of assurance that it is the devil who suggests the questions people ask in the first place.

These questions are the "flaming arrows of the evil one" to which the apostle Paul refers in Ephesians 5:16. You extinguish them by taking up the shield of faith. Here's a sample question: "There are a lot of different religions in the world. Some have hundreds of millions or even more than a billion adherents. Why should you think that your religion is any more likely to be true than any of the others?" To make things even more difficult, the devil will suggest to you that there is no answer, so you might as well give up trying to find one. Don't believe the lie. He is a liar and a murderer (John 8:44). To extinguish the flaming arrows, you take up the shield of faith. How do you do that? Start with prayer. Ask your Father in heaven to prove this liar and murderer wrong. Expect an answer from the word of God.

Now to get back to what Peter is telling us: "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." Do this with gentleness and respect. Peter is talking about how we are to relate to people. You don't need to treat the devil with gentleness. He is the enemy. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Eph. 6:12)." People are not the enemy.

Here're a couple of examples of situations where we may be called upon to defend our faith with gentleness and respect. In both cases our good behavior in Christ is spoken maliciously against and slandered. Basically, good is called evil. The first example is the homosexual issue. If we speak against homosexual practices, we are called bigoted and hateful. The reasoning is that we are condemning a person for being the way he was born -- or at least because he chose to do something that he claims harms no one. The same arguments are used that are used against racial bigotry even though the situation is quite different.

But God says this: "Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9b,10)." God says that neither male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders will inherit the kingdom of God. They will not inherit the kingdom of God. They will be condemned. How is it hatred or bigotry to not want someone to be condemned to eternal destruction?

Two or three years ago, my wife went to a "Love Won Out" seminar sponsored by the "Focus on the Family" organization. Outside of the meeting place were some protesters carrying signs. The news people showed pictures of the protesters, but didn't say much about the meeting. In the meeting however, some of the issues were presented by various speakers. Eternal salvation, although it would certainly be the most important issue, is not the only issue. There are many other harmful consequences of homosexual practice during this present life. (And by the way, I don't want to imply that our eternal salvation depends upon whether or not we engage in homosexual practices. It doesn't. Our eternal salvation depends only on faith in Jesus Christ. How we live our lives is a reflection of this faith.)

The "Love Won Out" seminar, in addition to having speakers who talked about the issues, also had some former practicing homosexuals who gave their testimonies. According to what some of them said, the name of the seminar was completely appropriate. Love won out. Some of them had come to one of the seminars expecting hostility and condemnation. They had come expecting to prove that the people putting on the seminar were really hateful and bigoted. Instead, they found love and encouragement. That's what changed their minds. They were proved wrong by an attitude of gentleness and respect. When you confront someone on this issue, Peter says, let it not sound confrontational or like a threat. Instead, let it sound like, "I'm afraid you're dying and I want to save your life." Give the reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and respect so that when they see your good behavior, they may be ashamed of their slander.

The second example I have is the result of the terrorist attacks. Because the attacks were perpetrated by radical Muslims, there has been quite a bit of effort to make sure we don't condemn all Muslims because of the actions of a few. We are told that Islam is a religion of peace -- which is something that at least a couple of former Muslims that I know of would disagree with -- we are told that Islam is a religion of peace and that the terrorist were not following the teachings of the Koran any more than the crusaders were following the teachings of the Bible when they slaughtered many people in the Holy Land. So we are told not to say anything bad about Islam. But, in truth, we know that there is only one way to salvation, only one way to eternal life and it is not through Islam. Jesus Christ is the way and the truth and the life. No one can come to God except through Jesus (John 14:6). Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). The Koran teaches directly against this truth. Islam is like poison that destroys the soul in hell. I am not bigoted or hateful in saying these things (except maybe against the devil). If someone were eating or drinking something poisonous that would eventually lead to his death, would you call it bigotry or hatred to warn him? But the way you warn him is important. If it is not with gentleness and respect, he will consider himself to have been proven right when he spoke maliciously against your good behavior in Christ.

To go on, verse 17 says that it is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. Even in doing good, even with gentleness and respect, we can expect to suffer. Jesus told his disciples, "If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also (John 15:20b)." The Apostle Paul said the following: "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead (Philip. 3:10,11)." We can expect to suffer for Christ.

So then, why should we be ready to give an answer? Why should we be willing to suffer? Because Christ died for sins once for all (that is, once for all time), the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God (v18a). He died to bring us eternal life and all the very great and precious promises that we have from him. But most of all, he died to bring us to God. Knowing God and knowing Jesus whom he sent is eternal life (John 17:3).

So in your heart set apart Christ as Lord. Know who he is. Let his name be hallowed. And listen to what the writer of the book of Hebrews says about Jesus:

"In these last days he (God) has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven." (Heb. 1:2,3)

And here's what the apostle Paul says:

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." (Col. 1:15-20)

He is our Lord. He is our God. He is our Savior.

Pray for us to, in our hearts, set apart Christ, who is Lord. Pray for us to always be prepared to give the reason for the hope we have in him.

Come and let's pray for each other as well as for the whole church. Come and encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Love them.

Love in Christ,
Dean

PS: If you absolutely can't make it to the prayer meeting, send your prayer requests back to me by e-mail and we'll pray for them.