Living Good Lives – Part 6

This newest series of messages on Internet Pastor is called “Living Good Lives”.

We are talking about living good lives, lives that please God, lives that satisfy us, and lives that impact the world around us for the Kingdom of God. We have been using as our foundation for this series the book of 1 Peter. In theses verses, Peter has challenged us to live good lives and then he is giving us direction on how to do that. As we continue on in chapter three, Peter brings up the concept of telling other people about Jesus, about salvation, about God, about the Good News.

Things were quite different at the time Peter wrote and the way things are now. In Peter’s day, they didn’t have dove or fish logos to demonstrate their Christian life. They didn’t have bumpers, so there were no Jesus bumper stickers (if you are riding around with Jesus bumper stickers, your driving better be sanctified). There were no “I’m with Jesus t-shirts”. What did they have? The type of advertising that we still see everywhere, simple testimonials from satisfied customers.

I want to talk about four ideas that Peter gives us to help us tell other people about Jesus.

1. Focused Hope

I Peter 3:15 “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

We often use the term “sharing our faith” when we talk about this process, but Peter introduces a different term, he calls it “sharing our hope”. I like that idea. Sharing our faith sounds like we need to really have our theology down and have a lot of Bible verses ready to go. But sharing our hope speaks to me about telling people what Jesus has done in my life.

Our hope isn’t based on a bunch of wishes we have for the future, but it is focused on the promises of Jesus. The promises of life now and forever. It is the idea of this focused hope that Peter is communicating with the words, “but in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord”.

2. Prepare to Share

Peter says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

This is where the difference between sharing our faith and sharing our hope really displays itself. A lot of people are hesitant to talk to others about Jesus because they are afraid that they just don’t know the Bible well enough, or that they just aren’t very quick at trying to answer questions and some skeptic is going to tie them in knots with some philosophical problem that they can’t answer.

The great thing about sharing your hope, is that it is your hope. It is your Jesus story of how Jesus has moved in your life and what He has brought you through, and the promises that you have received from His word. It’s your hope. It’s your reasons. It’s your reason you individually prepare.”

How do I get prepared? Take a few promises from the Bible that apply to your life right now and think about how you might talk to other people about them. When your circumstances change you’ll find a couple of other promises that fit where you are then and you think about how you might share with others. And you just keep doing this with the each new season of life that you move through. That way you’re always ready to share your hope.

3. With gentleness and respect

One of the things that you need to understand is that you don’t have to force these opportunities to share. You just need to be prepared to talk when the opportunity arises. Some people have a personality that allows them to talk to anyone anywhere, but I don’t think that is what is required for most people. I had a friend that I used to go into the prisons with to minister to people, and he was way more confrontive than I am. We would get into the elevator to go up three floors, and if someone got on with us, he would always say something like, do you know Jesus? And I would always be so uncomfortable but it seemed to work for him.

We are encouraged by Peter to use gentleness and respect. Gentleness sincerely expressed. People need to see that you are speaking from your heart. That you do not have some sort of agenda that is trying to get some sort of response from them. You are just talking about your hope and then maybe getting an opportunity to listen to their feelings so that you can empathize with them.

We are looking for an honest connection that lets people hear your story and perhaps consider it for a while before dismissing it. Many people have had someone try and force feed some religious belief on them and so if we can just kindly love them and in being ourselves (I have seen some people that almost take on a different persona when they are going to talk about Jesus) speak with gentleness and respect we have a better opportunity of sharing our hope.

4. Yes, but

You have to know going in to this that some people will not listen. They might have even asked you your reasons and as soon as they here Jesus they want to shut you down as “one of those”. Peter knows this will happen and he brings up the days of Noah.

The illustration to Noah is the illustration to your “Yes, but…” For 120 years, the Bible tells us, Noah lived and he didn’t just build a ship. It says he was a preacher of righteousness. For 120 years it was Noah — his shipyard and petting zoo. Noah always had to be prepared for the reason why there were giraffes in his backyard. For 120 years he did that. Amazingly, nobody got saved. There were 8 people on that ship but they were just Noah’s family.

Even more amazingly, Jesus was there. Obviously, not physically, since Noah lived before Jesus. But He was still in heaven as the Eternal Son of God. But it says, Jesus went in Spirit and was there with Noah. Yet nobody got saved. While that seems to me to amazing, there are three things that you need to know from that story:

a) As He was with with Noah, Jesus is with us.

As believers, the Holy Spirit is in you and with you and He will help you in sharing your hope. He will often give you just the right thing to say and the right way to say it.

b) As with Noah, the results are on God

We just need to remember, as Christians, it’s my job to speak, it’s God’s job to save. It’s my job to do the possible, it’s God’s job to do the impossible. I can’t save anybody, but I can share my hope and leave the results to God.

c) As with Noah, there will be some persecution

You will have some people who respond in very positive ways, and you have will have some people who respond in very negative ways and everything in between.

What we need to do is be prepared and then God is faithful to do the rest.

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