Prayer of the Day: O God, the giver of all that is good, by Your Holy Spirit, help us that we may think those things that are right and by Your merciful guiding accomplish them as well. We pray this through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

But regard the Lord, the Christ, as holy in your hearts. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that is in you. But speak with gentleness and respect, while maintaining a clear conscience, so that those who attack your good way of life in Christ may be put to shame because they slandered you as evildoers. Indeed, it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil, because Christ also suffered once for sins in our place, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in flesh but was made alive in spirit.”

There are times in life when it’s really important that you give an answer. And not just any answer, but the right answer. A good, well-thought out answer even if it’s just a “yes” or “no.” Here are a few examples of questions that you wanted to give the right answer to: “Are you ready?” “Is this safe?” “Will you marry me?”

Giving an answer to questions like these can literally change your life. So whether it’s a student taking their final exam or a person trying to lose weight who is asked by the waitress, “Do you want fries or a salad?” giving an answer—and giving the right answer—is very important.

The same is true when it comes to giving an answer for our faith. Peter says in our text that we should, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that is in you” (v.15). The word that is used here in the Greek for “answer” is the word “apologia” from which we get the word “Apologetics,” which means “give a defense.” This word was used as a legal term to mean a speech in defense of oneself; a verbal defense. As you might imagine it is important to give a good, well thought out and proper verbal defense of oneself in a court of law. The same is true when this word is used in a religious context. It refers to a verbal defense—giving a good answer—in regards to the Gospel, which is the basis for our faith.

In just a few weeks our 8^th graders will be giving answers about their faith at their examination and confirmation. You can bet that over the past few years they have spent a lot of time studying and will spend a lot of time over the next few weeks studying and preparing to give good answers for their faith in Jesus Christ as revealed to them—and us—in Jesus’ own words, the Bible.

It may not be your examination this Spring, but you may be asked sometime this week “to give a reason for the hope that is in you” (v.15). If you are, will you be ready? Peter instructs and encourages us by inspiration in our text to “Always be prepared to give an answer…to give a reason for the hope that is in you” (v.15). “Always.” Not sometimes. Not only on Sunday morning, or only in a church setting, or when you have time to prepare. “Always be prepared!” He says this because many times our opportunities to share the Gospel and Give an Answer and “a reason for the hope that is in [us]” come at very unexpected times, and we may not always have a lot of time to Give an Answer.

If we want to “Always be prepared to give an answer” we need to “know the hope” that is in us. The “hope” that Peter is speaking of in our text is “hope” in the Biblical sense. “Hope” refers to the Christian’s “joyful expectation of the fulfillment of God’s promises.” Most often it refers to the promise of the sure “hope” of salvation in heaven.

This sure and certain “hope” and faith that we have are founded on the “Good News” of the Gospel. You can sum up the “Good News” of the Gospel with just this one word: Grace. Grace is a word that means “undeserved love.” But do you understand what grace means? It means that even though we were all suffering from the “terminal illness” of sin and could do nothing to cure ourselves, God, purely out of His love for us—a love which we didn’t ask for, earn, or deserve—sent His Son Jesus to be the cure for our sin. He did this by becoming one of us and taking on the “sickness” of all our sins upon Himself and taking the “terminal illness” of the cross and hell in our place that we would be cured and have eternal life in heaven.

This is the message we need to have buried deeply in our hearts, both the reality of our sin, and the “Good News” of God’s grace. This “Good News” is what creates faith in our hearts and in the hearts of others. That faith, the Bible tells us, is what makes that salvation—the “cure” for our sins, forgiveness—our own!

That faith is what Peter is referring to in the first words of our text when he says, “But regard the Lord, the Christ, as holy in your hearts” (v.15). It is a genuine, heart-felt faith. Not “phony” in any way, or simply just “head knowledge” of what Jesus has done. It is a faith that fills your heart, giving the #1 place to God. The #1 place is “holy,” literally “set apart” just for Christ. When Christ fills our heart, we are going to think about Him and His Word, we are going to speak about Him, and we are going to live our lives for Him!

Peter also reminds us in our text that it’s not just WHAT we say when we are sharing the “hope” of the Gospel with others, but it’s also important HOW we witness the “Good News” of Jesus to others. “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that is in you. But speak with gentleness and respect, while maintaining a clear conscience, so that those who attack your good way of life in Christ may be put to shame because they slandered you as evildoers.” (v.15b-16).

Unfortunately, some of the methods of evangelism that the Christian Church has used over the years have been extremely disrespectful and arrogant rather than gentle and respectful, as Peter encourages in our text. How successful do you think those methods have been? Let’s put it this way: How would you want someone to share a message of any kind with you? In an arrogant and disrespectful way? Or with “gentleness and respect”?

We read a great example of witnessing for Jesus with “gentleness and respect” (v.15) even in a very unlikely and rather difficult situation. Think back to the account of the apostle Paul in Athens which we read in our Scripture reading from the Book of Acts chapter 17.

Paul wasn’t arrogant, phony, or disrespectful to the highly educated, but obviously very pagan, unbelieving men of Athens. Notice also that he expressed his interest in who they were and found a way to turn a topic of conversation that they were obviously interested in to tell them about the true God and His Son, Jesus, who was crucified and raised again to save them. We read again from Acts 17, [Paul said], “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; “for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you.” (Acts 17:22-23).

Paul didn’t make fun of them for their pagan beliefs, while at the same time, in no way did He condone them, or imply that they were somehow just as good as having faith in Christ. What he did was witness the truth about the true God and Jesus Christ, but he did it with “gentleness and respect.” (v.15)

Finally, notice that Paul ended His words to them with a call to repentance from sin and the worship of false gods and gave a very clear testimony of the Gospel and the resurrection of Jesus, “…but now [God] commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:29-31).

Would you “be prepared” to Give an Answer in a similar situation? Our culture and society is not much different than that of Athens in Paul’s day. The true God is truly an UNKNOWN GOD to many people in our day, just like He was to the people of Athens. We have the truth about Him and His Son Jesus. We have His “hope”—a living “hope” for a dying world! Do we know our hope? Are we prepared to Give an Answer for that hope which we have, with “gentleness and respect”? Look around you today. An opportunity to share that hope will be presented to you today—and every day—by the Holy Spirit. With His help and with His Words, we can Give an Answer “to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that is in you.” Amen.

—Pastor Luke Bernthal

Messiah Lutheran Church
Hales Corners, WI

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