LifeWay Bible Studies for Life Series for September 5: Making your case

1 Peter 3:15 and 16 are powerful and challenging verses to say the least, maybe even more so when you consider once again the author. Since the epistle is dated around A.D.64, we now see Peter as an adult who is able to look on his past experiences and draw on them for wisdom.

He writes, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks.” Think about it, we’re talking Peter the big mouth here, the one who was the first to open his mouth and have a response to most any question thrown out there by Jesus, even when some of those questions may have been rhetorical. This is the same Peter who was caught off guard by the questions being asked him after Jesus was arrested and ultimately led to him denying Christ, once even to a child.

So when he writes to “be ready” you can be assured he understands full well the consequences and turmoil you put yourself in by not being ready.

Part of the premise in this verse is that you can be assured that people will in fact ask you. That shouldn’t be something that frightens or intimidates you, but excites you that God will put people in your path throughout the days and weeks and for all of your life who are searching for him.

Let’s face it, God is serious about calling and bringing people to himself. The charge here is to be ready, not “if” that happens but “when.” And you can expect the unexpected, who knows when you will be asked? Isn’t that part of the adventure and excitement of following Christ?

And aren’t you already ready? Peter even writes that the answer you give is in response to the hope “that you have.” Perhaps it would be wise to spend some time actually thinking about the great hope you already possess. And in understanding that it actually possesses you.

Let’s go back to Peter and his final denial in Mark 14:71. He calls down curses on himself and swears to them. Now fast forward about 30 years and hear him when he says you respond in “gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience.” Think he knows what he’s talking about? Imagine, too, hearing Peter recount his denials of Jesus to Mark, how difficult and gut-wrenching it must have been. You certainly hear it in Mark’s retelling of the account.

Paul presents us with a bit of a puzzle. At times, he writes and indicates we are to forget what is behind and press on, moving forward (Philippians 3:13-14) and then at times he obviously is calling upon his past. Strange? Maybe not so much when you look at the context in which Paul is writing.

The writer of Hebrews says to throw off those things that would entangle us and drag us down (Hebrews 12:1) and much of that can be our pasts. But there are those situations when it is the right time bring your past up. And that time is when you use your past to glorify Christ, which is exactly what Paul is doing at the end of Acts 21. He’s using his past to ultimately lead to his encounter with Christ.

Paul celebrates who he now is in Christ, and part of that is in remembering who he once was. It’s been said the reason most Christians don’t share their faith is because they have forgotten what it’s like to be lost. When we forget this, we also begin to lose our willingness to engage the lost, and engaging the lost is exactly what Jesus did (Luke 19:10).

Your past, passions and experiences are great tools to connect you with other people. You have everything you need to connect with any other human being. Maybe it’s a certain type of music, or a favorite movie or a particular sport. Our problem and challenge in today’s society is that we’re choosing and engaging people on our terms and not God’s.

In 1 Peter, we saw you already possess the great hope in Christ and have everything you need to make that known. What if the same is true when it comes to sharing your faith with someone else? Why is it that the word “evangelism” strikes fear into our hearts? Perhaps you know this feeling. Your heart starts racing, palms get sweaty and you think you’re going to pass out.

But Jesus had a radically different approach to sharing faith that was outside the realm of formulas and gimmicks. In his conversation with Nicodemus and a flurry of questions from him, Jesus simply says: “Look, Nicodemus, you’re making this too difficult. We’re only talking about things we know to be true and what we have seen” (John 3:11). And it must have made a huge impact because Peter and John say almost the exact same thing in Acts 4:20 when they were brought before the Sanhedrin.

What do you know to be true about Jesus? What have you experienced because of it? How can your past be used to connect those things?