Living Hope (3)

Introduction: As a Christian, we are soldiers for Christ. As soldiers in Christ's army, you all are on the front lines of ministry. As we gather together each Lord’s Day we are like soldiers gathering for boot camp, special operations training, or weekend drill for the national guard. As we scatter into the everyday routines of our week, we are being dispatched and deployed to the front lines of a spiritual battle ground. When you go to work, have conversations with your friends, families, neighbors… If you are a Christian, you are on the front lines of evangelistic ministry.

Transition: Today, we are again focusing our attention on a key aspect of that front line battleground. The last two weeks we have been discovering from 1 Peter that Living with Hope is a key way to practice evangelism. We have been asking his question, “What does living with hope look like?”

What does living with Hope look like?

Transition: We discovered the repeated emphasis from 1 Peter to “do good.” When we have hope of salvation in Christ we are made ready to do good while we wait for the glorious day of His return.

Last week, we discovered that the heart of doing good is honoring Christ. Our hope is put on display when we fear Christ, identify with Christ, and behave like Christ. When we honor Christ and do the good deeds that God has created for us to do, it is inevitable those around us will ask us to give an answer for the hope that is in us. This leads us to proclaim Christ…

Read text…

Proclaim Christ.

1. What we say... is important. We must speak the clear truth of why we have hope. For Christians, the reason we have hope is contained in the truth of the gospel.

1. How do we do this? Be prepared.

2. What is included in the spoken message of the gospel?

A. God, Man, Christ, Response

The gospel gives credit to God for being Holy and all His creation must answer to Him. The gospel tells us that as those create din God’s image we have fallen short of treating Him as He deserves. We cannot make ourselves good, righteous, or holy. God’s love has been demonstrated to sinners in that Jesus did all the righteous deeds to pay for our sin by dying on the cross and rising again. When God the Spirit brings new spiritual life and causes a person to be born again they respond in faith be repenting of sin and trusting in Christ alone for salvation. And so the result of that salvation is hope. Hope that I know who I belong to and where I came from. Hope that my life has purpose and means. Hope that I can live now doing good and pleasing to God and that I'm gong to live in eternity with Him in the future.

4 key components of the Gospel

3. A note on gifts and gadgets. Proper place. ( tracts and cubes)

4. (make note of and hand out some books, gospel primers) Who can share about a conversation you had this week that was asking for an answer for hope?

Illustration: Our hope and confidence in evangelism is not so much in the tactics, methods, or strategies… rather our confidence is in the seed we are sowing. Mark 4:26-29 Consider the farmer…(Jesus’ parable of planting and waiting for it to grow) Planting the seeds of the gospel recognizing that God will birth that seed in those He is calling to Himself. Our confidence in evangelism is that when the gospel seed lands on good soil, God will give the increase. Even as apostle Paul recognized..

Mark 4:26–29 ESV

And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

I Corinthians 3:6-7

1 Corinthians 3:6–7 ESV

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

Pause to pray… for God to give this kind of growth. Speaking names of those we desire to see saved.

Transition: What we say is vitally important, but also how we say it.

Proclaim Christ.

2. How we say it.... is important. Notice in the text Peter says do this with gentleness and respect.

A. This is responding in an opposite fashion to those who are demanding an answer. Again, the whole tone of this letter is that of suffering at the hostile treatment of those who persecute Christians. When people who have no hope, see hope put on display they hardly respond with interest, rather they respond by demanding an answer. And so, just like Jesus did not return so too those who are His should respond in Humility toward those who are asking, and fear of the Lord. Interesting that Jesus would rebuke the self righteous and show gentleness to the humble. We proclaim Christ because He is our only Hope. There is much wisdom in recognizing that we catch more flies with sugar than we do vinegar.

B. How do we do this?

a. gentleness because this is how God treated us when we were hostile against Him.

b. Respect because we recognize that the person demanding an answer has been create din the image of God. So “everyone” who ask gets a respectful answer. This is really something because there are probably many people whom we interact with that we've written off as those whom we don't hang out with much. Rightly so, but when anyone asks.. we need to be prepared to answer with gentleness and respect. They may not look, smell, think, believe, speak, dress, like me… but they are still a soul made in God’s image. No matter how scarred that image may have become we can give everyone a gentle and respectful answer.

Now, we cannot possibly prepare for every conversation that we might have.. (Examples) be encouraged with what Jesus told His disciples before sending them out like sheep among wolves.. See Matthew 10:16-20

Matthew 10:16–20 ESV

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Transition: Last week I offered the challenge to seriously consider how we might honor Christ by encouraging one another. To find a practical way to offer another brother or sister in Christ hope. Today, I offer a different Challenge…

Closing: We live in a culture that is increasingly hostile against Jesus Christ. This isn’t a new problem for Christians. Since the birth of the Church, she has endured suffering for righteousness sake. Living with hope does not mean we live without suffering. Quite the opposite, one of the major themes of 1 Peter is that suffering comes before glory. Pain comes before exultation. This is exactly the example of our Lord Jesus who suffered and died before He raised from that dead and ascended on high. This is exactly the good news of the gospel for those who will believe in Christ. Let us go from this place and walk in the extravagant grace of God in such a way that those without hope will threaten us with the task of giving an answer.