Gentle Defenders

I Peter 3:15-17 (Main Passage)

Context:

“Enduring Obedience”

+ I Peter 1:1-2 actually gives a breakdown of I Peter - an overall brief summary:

Testing of our Faith in times of challenge:

Being faithful and obedient in hard trials, when its challenging to express our faith and be obedient to God.

It’s difficult to be faithful in a world that is unfaithful. It’s hard to obey and express our belief in God in a world that is so against Him.

And because of that, it’s hard to gauge how we are to ENGAGE the world (How we should act).

We are in the world, not of the world (Chosen from the world), who else was not of this world? Jesus. He is our example, our Lord.

John 17:11,14 (ESV)

“And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You [the Father]” (v. 11)

“I have given them Your [the Father’s] word, and the world has hated them because they are not of this world.” (v. 14)

Personal : I do get frustrated when I hear individuals say, “there is no God,” or “there’s no evidence for God”, when it’s so evident He’s real (Romans 1:19-20) - and these, like what a lot of 1 Peter is about, is a challenge to the faith. It’s a direct challenge to the faith.

I’ll be transparent, it really does irk me, but even though it does, its all the more reason to go back to Jesus, when I feel like giving into my angry flesh, I have to think back to...

How did Jesus Engage?

(MAIN PASSAGE) “But in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil” I Peter 3:15-17

This book, being written by Peter, one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, saw how Jesus interacted and shared with others - knowing full well His compassion, His gentleness, His love when interacting with others - Gentile and Jew alike.

Usually, when hearing the word “defend” or “defenders”, it never fails that I think of heroes. Heroes like batman, superman, spider man. They’re all great in their own ways, I will not deny that.

but they defended what they valued how? By fighting. Attacking. Going on the offense.

Based on the entirety of 1 Peter, and honestly all of Scripture and the example Jesus set, we can see the Christian is set apart for a much harder, but greater approach.

Jesus engaged with....

Scripture References:

Gentleness (or lowliness - the heart posture)

“Come to Me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest, take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Jesus was gentle enough for others to approach Him. Which is why He says, “come to Me.”

Think about how gentle and how inviting He must’ve been for even children to see Him and be excited and comforted by His presence and demeanor.

His approach was humble. Like He says in Matthew, here, “gentle” and “lowly” cannot be separated.

Engagement/Illustration: What are some ways we can be gentle when talking with others about Jesus and the Gospel?

[Ex: Patient, gracious, quick to listen & slow to speak (James 1:19),

He was inviting and approachable to others.

Respect (Outward expression of gentle/lowly heart posture)

In Matthew 9:10-13, Jesus gives us the prime example of His hospitality and respect.

Jesus respected and loved others enough to meet them where they’re at.

Do you think these individuals would eat with Him if He slandered them? If He started bashing them and condemning them when the Pharisees already condemned and dehumanized them?

His respect, the same respect we ought to have, is one to meet others where they’re at, but recognizing they have the free will to choose Christ or reject Him.

Paul respected others as human beings, following the example of Christ.

“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1)

“Therefore imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1-2)

At a recent outreach with Jordan’s ministry organization, CRU, there was an interaction with a first time student who shared a different belief, though He still attended the club.

We talked with him and opened the floor for any questions in the small group - about God, about faith, etc.

This student asked, “Am I even supposed to be here, since I’m not Christian?” I really felt for him - since it was his first time there he probably didn’t know the methods or how we interact as Christians, but it had me thinking about if he had any interactions with any Christian before and what was that like? I fear the worst because I’ve heard many stories of Christians not being very gentle or respectful.

So, though he may not believe, prayerfully “not yet”, we reassured him he’s welcomed.

We also tried to reassure him, this is an environment where we will surely share Christ with him, that he may learn since he is open to knowing about God, but that we are also willing to learn about what he believes too. Paul learned about what others believed...

Acts 17:22-28

This passage (Acts 17:22-28) perfectly records how Paul was able to respect those of different beliefs, yet engage them in a manner that did not compromise the truth.

Let us be gentle defenders.