I Peter 3:15                                                                                                                   Stewardship II, 2009

We Are Able To Speak Out

Talk radio is nothing but news, information, and call-in discussion shows. In the discussion shows, the topic could be war, politics, sex or almost anything else. It’s amazing what people will say when they can say what they want without anyone knowing who it is. They can be as uninhibited as they like and no one can even correct them. And if you’ve listened, you know that some callers can get pretty excited about some topics.

      By contrast, how outspoken and excited are Christians about the more important message of salvation? Why does it seem like Christians lose their voice when it comes to speaking up about Jesus? The same larynx works perfectly well for talking about the latest football player trade, or some re-decorating project.

      It doesn’t have to be that way. As Christians, we are able to speak out about Jesus. Not that it doesn’t take some effort to be able. But our Lord Jesus even makes that effort an easy thing. How? I.) By being our Lord, and II.) By giving us hope.

TR. I   As Christians, we may not even notice words like “Lord” or “hope.” We hear them all the time. But we’re saying a mouthful when we say “Jesus is Lord.” That is an exciting fact. It’s a fact that can certainly motivate us to talk about Jesus.

I. A     But to be excited and motivated to talk about Jesus, we need to notice the fact that Jesus is Lord. Peter urges his readers to do that very thing: “in your hearts, set apart Christ as Lord.” Literally, it means that we should “make Christ holy as Lord.”

      But can you or I make Jesus holy? In actual fact, no. Jesus lived His own holy life. He kept Himself free from sin. But what Peter has in mind here is a matter of our attitude. Isaiah puts it even more strongly than Peter: “The Lord almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, He is the one you are to fear, He is the one you are to dread.”

      How many perfect people do you know? Wouldn’t it be awe inspiring if we could meet one? If there actually was such a person who had the answer for every problem, we’d be anxious to let others know about him.

      In God’s case, it goes one better. God is not only perfect, but He has used His perfect abilities in a loving and caring way to help us out of our troubles. He guides us day by day. He allowed Jesus to come to earth and suffer through daily life and death. That freed us from the guilt we had piled on ourselves with our sins.

      Knowing all this means that we can treat Jesus as the Holy being He is. We can give Jesus the honor He deserves with our attitude toward Him. And it makes sense that if we know how perfect, caring and loving Jesus is, that we will want to talk about Him.

      Peter ought to know. After being ashamed and silent in the courtyard of the high priest, Peter experienced even more love and forgiveness from the Savior. Peter then started to treat Jesus with the love, awe and honor Jesus deserved. And on Pentecost day, Peter started speaking out about Jesus like never before.

B.   But even with the power of the Holy Spirit, this wasn’t something that happened as if a magic wand passed over Peter. Even love for Jesus —in and of itself— didn’t make Peter more able to witness and speak up. What happened was this: Peter had spent more time with Jesus. Peter also learned more from the Bible in the meantime.

      It had to be that way. The fact that Jesus controls everything in heaven and earth is not something we can know by experience. Our conscience won’t tell us that Jesus is a mighty conqueror of sin and death. We have to give it some effort if we want to be able to speak up about Jesus’ lordship. So Peter writes: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

      Why is it so important to be prepared to speak about Jesus? Ask yourself why you are where you are at this point in life. Why has God given you the job He has? Or why did He lead you to retire or visit in this particular area? Could it be that God has seen just perfect events lining up in your life so you could influence some other person to believe in Jesus Christ? You could be the key ingredient which determines whether one or more people spend eternity in heaven or hell. And the difference will depend on whether we were ready to speak about Jesus or not —and whether we actually did it.

APP. I So let’s get serious about our own training to become ready for giving answers about our faith. That means making use of Bible classes that are offered here at church on Sunday’s and weekdays. Know what God says is what makes us ready to witness (do evangelism work).

      No amount of catchy phrases or special methods can make us more effective than the Bible can. Special advertising and signs can help, but that’s only the beginning of evangelism. The completion of witnessing or evangelism is always a matter of speaking up about Jesus. And that’s something we’ll want to do because Jesus is Lord.

TR. II But for Christians, Jesus is more than just an awe-inspiring figure. Jesus also give us hope. And hope is one of the special marks that shows we are Christians… a mark making us want to talk.

II. A    By that I don’t mean the light-hearted use of the word hope. In a restaurant we can say, “I hope the waitress brings my food soon,” or “I hope they make my scoop of ice cream extra big.”

      But the hope that we have as Christians tells us that there is a solution to problems like war, crime, disease and even death. Jesus has already won the victory over every one of these problems. He offers the victory to all of us. In our everlasting future, none of these things will ever disturb us again.

      It’s that everlasting future ahead of us that helps us to wrestle with the hard problems now. It sounds so easy. But it works. And it’s not just a mental trick. Hope in a God-given eternal life is a real cure for our fears and frustrations.

      Can we keep quiet about that? Imagine the newspaper headline if there was suddenly a cure for AIDS. Of what if you were a scientist working in a lab, and discovered a painless, morally acceptable method of eliminating cancer? Once it was certain, wouldn’t you tell everyone?

      Well, we Christians are able to witness, able to speak up about Jesus because the hope of a perfect future in a sin-free heaven is the perfect cure for any problem we have. Shout it, tell it, lecture it. Say it calmly or passionately. “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have.” But don’t keep quiet about the hope of life at God’s side. Hope like that is too good to keep to ourselves.

B.  But when we do share it, let’s also be careful not to just gave pat answers or smug responses. It can be very easy to say: “It’s OK. Everything will be all right.” But that doesn’t tell anyone why everything will be all right. It doesn’t say that Jesus is in control of all life.

      Or it could be easy to tell someone: “You should have known better than to get yourself in that kind of trouble. As a Christian I never would have done anything like that.” But that doesn’t offer any hope to end the trouble. Only speaking up about the perfect life and innocent death of Jesus can offer any real hope that God’s anger over sin is calmed down. We who know about Jesus dare not ever let the gift of God be hidden merely because we didn’t feel like talking about Jesus.

APP. II I personally know of church members who have talked about Jesus while they lay in hospital beds, recovering from illness and surgery. That’s exactly what Peter had in mind. How natural it could be for a roommate in the hospital to ask, ‘What are you so happy about? You’re as sick as I am’ But how natural, also, for us to respond that we are happy because Christ has given us strength, forgiveness, hope and life in heaven.

      If God gives us peace to remain calm in a traffic jam, how appropriate it would be to tell an impatient passenger that he/she could have that God-given contentment, too. That might be just enough for them to want Christ also.

CONC. And that’s a lot more important than what people so willingly talk about on radio talk shows most of the time. Be ready, all the time, and talk, all the time. The Jesus you talk about is Lord and is in control. A–men