1 Peter 3:15 - Hope for a Reason

It was an amazing summer! We more guests than we've ever had before - we baptized several people in our hot tub - God was (and is) faithful! But I'm excited about the slower pace for a while and a chance to get back to 1 Peter - its like visiting an old friend!

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone for the hope you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,”

Peter instructs us to set apart Christ as Lord. His next statement is very interesting: “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone for the hope you have.” Peter predicts that when our hearts are set on Christ, our hope will be as evident as the clothes we are wearing. And why wouldn’t our hope be evident? Let’s take a look at our hope...

When Christ is set apart as Lord in your heart, you have an enviable hope for the present – God’s presence, guidance, comfort, joy, peace, etc – and an never-ending hope for the future – eternity in the perfect presence of God. We have a hope that all things work to good for those who love Jesus – no pain is left unredeemed and all joy is just a hint at the future joy we are promised. That is a lot of hope, and it is a hope that many around us do not have.

How do we live so our hope is obvious? I’ll answer that by focusing on the word “hope”. We are not talking about, “I hope I win the lottery…”, in other words, hoping for something that we know probably will not happen. That is an empty hope and is better defined as wishing. Biblical hope is a confident expectation of something that WILL happen. It is like hoping for summer vacation – we know without a doubt that it is coming, but it is not here yet. So we look forward to it, we plan for it, we talk about it, we live in expectation for it. That is the hope we have in Christ!

When you live your hope that way, people around you will notice and they will ask you about it. When those times come, Peter calls us to have an answer for the hope we have. Your answer should be your own, but hopefully it would sound something like this:

“The reason I have such hope is that in His great love for us, God sent His only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for my sins. He was raised from the dead which defeated death once and for all and by accepting his sacrifice on my behalf, I am allowed relationship and fellowship with God for now and eternity. Even now, Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, interceding on my behalf. God is no longer my enemy, but my friend – and if God is for me, who can be against me? No matter how bad things get, my hope and my eternal destination are secure, so what do I have to fear? Nothing. My life is defined and guided by confident hope, peace, and love; not guilt, shame, and fear.”

There are many things about our hope that I didn’t mention, so don’t think your reason needs to look just like my example. The main thing is this: have an answer.

And as Peter says, whatever you say, it needs to be said with gentleness and respect. Your attitude communicates as much about Christ as your words do – so don’t be a condescending know-it-all. I’m afraid the Christian attitude turns people off before they have a chance to hear the Christian message.

Your assignment for the week…take a few moments and write out the reason for the hope you have in Christ. It will be good to think about it because who knows, someone may ask you about it…

“The word which God has written on the brow of every man is Hope.” – Victor Hugo