22.11 | Prepared

1 Peter 3:8-4:11

‘…but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect’

1 Peter 3:15

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Leaving the house has never come easily to me.

Phone. Keys. Wallet. Shoes. Bag. Laptop. Car keys. Church keys. Bottle of water. Jacket. 

The list is long. I’ve made systems to try and make it as simple as possible. Virtually everything required for leaving the house is located in a two metre radius of the front door. And yet, something is invariably forgotten. Most times that I leave the house, I re-enter a few minutes later, to collect what I forgot.

Being prepared is not always easy.

Always be prepared, Peter says, to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

Evangelism is among the most avoided, disliked, and overlooked terms in Christian faith in a culture of pluralism. Most of us hear this word with a feeling of latent failure, knowing of the occasional person who has carried a clear evangelistic gifting—who seem to walk seamlessly between Gospel conversations in coffee shops and airport lounges—and then comparing our own hopeless efforts with them. Evangelism has become the gifting of a few exceptional individuals, who are so few and far between as to be absent from most churches. 

And yet, Peter gives us this beautiful insight into a different manner of sharing the story of Jesus with a world that so deeply needs it. 

Always be prepared to make a defence…

To be prepared is to have made preparations. It means forethought and planning. It means being clear on why we believe what we do. Every believer has arrived at the place of belief through some journey of thought and events. What were yours? Why do you find Jesus so compelling? What is it about His story that has made you want to wrap your life around it? To be prepared is to be expectant of and ready for each and every opportunity as it arises, dropping the name and story of Jesus into our conversations as naturally as if we were discussing the weather.

…to anyone who asks…

An answer requires a question. Evangelism—sometimes and for some—means speaking before crowds, and yet Peter (who spoke before crowds in Jerusalem) urges ordinary believers to be ready and expectant to give plain answers before a questioning world. To meet their wonderings and uncertainties with truth and clarity. To respond to their places of pain and longing with the story that interrupts. To watch where hunger is stirring in the heart of those we meet, for something greater and more substantial than the superficial narratives of the world.

For the hope.

To be asked about hope requires us to live with hope. Do you nurture hope in your soul? Peter longs for us to do so. Peter longs for us, when faced with our suffering, or the suffering of others, to continually turn our eyes towards the surety of God’s coming wholeness, which breaks into the present upon the faith and prayers of His people. Few things are more countercultural than hope, for our reason for confidence and joy, and the substance of our vision and values, is built on no flimsy ideology, imperfect human leader, or set of idealised circumstances. Nurture hope, my friends—in song and Scripture and prayer—for when we live with hope, it raises questions from a disillusioned world.

Gentleness and respect. 

Two words that shatter the most aggressive images of evangelism. Truth is clear, but can be shared with a gentle heart. Truth corrects, and yet never comes with a side-helping of judgementalism or the need to win an argument. The sharing of the truths of Jesus looks to restore dignity, to invite a person to a life that is more truthfully and beautifully alive than anything else they could follow. Hold the heart of the person as you speak, for so the Father does for us.

Be prepared, my friends. For when the people of God live with hope, questions soon follow.

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Reflect:

Consider my story with God. What brought me to my belief? What sustains me to walk with hope today? 

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Pray:

Father,

I am often

Not ready,

For my mind is often more frantic

Than clear.

I have fears in my mind—

Of what I do not know,

Or what they might think,

Or how evangelism has been done badly in the past—

And thus, Father,

Too often I am

Not ready.

But Father,

Today, 

I ready myself.

Grant me confidence in what I do know,

And the validity and power of your work in my story.

Flood my heart in living hope,

That my ways of being and speaking and doing would stir eternity questions.

And Father,

Grant me boldness, simplicity, gentleness and respect

To direct the souls around me

Towards the hope that I have found

In You.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen

Old Testament: 

For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:

Ezekiel 43-44 | Proverbs 28:17-22