1 Peter 3:15,16
The first time we gave away sausages on a Sunday evening more than one person asked, “How much?” We replied that we weren’t fundraising, that this was a gift. To those who asked why we were giving them away we replied, “Because Jesus gives.”
We Christians are different to other people and we do things differently. And that’s the way it is. The lifestyle habits we learn together in church and on our own with God are the behaviour patterns that will allow us to live in a God-honouring way, which will be different from the people around us. Thus we can expect that the loving community of the church will be very different to the non-church community. And the non-church community will react / respond to that difference in various ways.
We can expect that some of the people amongst whom we live will reject us because of our faith, and call us names and try to push our influence out of their lives. But that’s only some of the people. Others will be more interested and curious.
We can expect that we will be asked about our hope. I have a copy of the New Testament that has 8 versions in the one volume. It makes it very easy to compare translations. I looked up 1 Peter 3:15 and found that 7 translations use the word ‘hope’ while one uses ‘believe’. Outside the church community I seldom hear the word hope used in the way Peter uses it here – referring to the unseen certainty of eternal life with Jesus. In the popular vocabulary it has a different meaning – more like wishful thinking. People will rather ask things like, “How come you give us this?” “How come you’re so cheerful?” “Why did you do that for me?” “How are you able to forgive that person?” And so on with infinite variations.
Therefore, as Peter reminds us, we need to be prepared to respond when people ask about the belief we have. The clear implication of Peter’s words is that we will have been living in a way that will catch people’s attention and interest, so much so that some of them will want to know why we act as we do. Why are we as generous as we are, as care-free, as forgiving, as hopeful, as gentle, as joyful?
When this happens, Peter says, we need to respond with gentleness and respect – no manipulation, no aggression, no bullying attitudes. No dismissing people. We are answering a person not an issue. When issues are raised, it’s easy to jump onto them, but everyone raises issues for specific reasons. The more I take notice of the person involved, the more likely I am to respond well.
We can expect that God will use us. Let God speak through you and see what the Spirit does.
A conversation.
In conversation this week my friend said, “I like Buddha because he’s accepting; Jesus is judgmental on account of my sin.” I was ready to say, “Jesus judges your sin and forgives it because he paid the penalty for it on the cross. Then, having forgiven you, he accepts you.” But I didn’t get to say this. I’m not worried. Two reasons I’m not worried: I will get to say this in future conversation with this person and I know I’ve said it already in conversation with this person. Because the conversation is ongoing I know I will have further opportunity to give my answer. And because we are in an ongoing conversation I know how to relate what I say to this friend.
I can come up with an answer because I’m often thinking about how to communicate the Gospel with different people. It’s on my mind. And I get opportunities to practice in real conversations. As Dave Mann showed us in the Hope Project training videos last September, good conversations result when we ask good questions. It’s worth thinking about our questions as much as we think about our answers.
I’ve been exploring the 10-Day Challenge which looks to be useful for helping us to be messengers of the Gospel. The URL is www.10daychallenge.co.nz and I recommend that you go there and explore the site for yourself.
When people ask us about our hope, we answer from the knowledge and experience we have. We don’t have to answer every curly question that’s thrown at us. But because we do get asked curly questions the 10-day challenge website has what they call faith Q&A with brief answers to a number of the more common questions.
If you learn what you need to know and talk from your own experience you have all you need to give an answer to one who asks about your faith. The stuff on this website is additional help to being a messenger of the Gospel.
This video is to encourage us that we have something worth saying so, go on, say it.