Date and Time: 7pm. 5 Feb 2007.
Title: Apologetics
I wonder if any of these statements are familiar to you ….
“I believe all religions are the same …”
“Jesus was a good man, but …”
“Obviously it’s true for you, but don’t push it down my throat”
“Christianity is so intolerant …”
“How can God allow that little girl to die?”
“All truth is relative …”
I like the last one in particular because the obvious answer is “Are you absolutely sure?”
What comments have you heard?
When you or I respond to questions like this we are engaging in something called “Apologetics”, this comes from the Greek word Apologia which means to give a word back. It was used in biblical times for the response an accused gave in defence of themselves in court. For example, a Roman governor (Festus) in Acts (25:16) said that in line with Roman traditions Paul had the right to make an Apologia to his accusers “face to face.”
How many of you have been to an Alpha course?
How many have read some of CS Lewis?
How about having heard Ravi Zacharias on the radio or read one of his books?
If so, then you’ve benefited from some of the best apologists of the last 50 years. These people and others all help us understand the answers to some of the difficult questions
- “Where is God when it hurts?”
- “How can God allow evil?”
- “How can Christianity be so exclusive?”
etc.
It is not the apologetics of intellectual giants that I want to talk about today, but the apologetics that you and I are exhorted to engage in by Peter in his first letter where he wrote:
“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” 1 Peter 3:15
Apologetics is the “give the reason” bit.
Peter was not writing to CS Lewis or Nicky Gumbell exclusively, but to Christians who, like us, a minority living amongst non-believers – pagans – who, at best were indifferent to them, at worse they hassled them.
CONTEXT
Peter was in probably in Rome and he was writing to Christians dispersed across what we not think of us North and East Turkey
It was a
•Fearful society (3:14) [Recall Paul in Athens who found an alter to an "unknown god" whom people offered sacfices to just in case this god got upset and caused them some problems!]
•Unrestrained society - drink and sex (4:3)
•Pluralistic society – idols (4:3)
•Hostile society to Christians
–Fiery ordeal (4:12)
–Maligned as evildoers (2:12)
–Considered shameful
This hostility was not from the Roman authorities (whom Peter told the Christians to honour), but from the locals. The exact nature of the persecution is uncertain but it appears to have involved a lot of false accusations – some of them quite serious. You may recall that Paul got in trouble with locals once when the local silversmiths got upset because his preaching diminished their trade in silver idols! They may have also been accused of things like cannibalism because of the communion ritual. In short, their suffering was because they were different, others were ignorant of what they were really about, and because of fear.
Another aspect of the society around them was that it was extremely concerned with showing honour to others - something that usually involved praising publicly the good deeds of others. They also were extremely concerned to avoid shame.
Peter reminds the Christians that their honour does not come from others, or the emperor, but through the genuiness of their faith and their behaviour during the siffering. In fact should they suffer for doing right (3;23) then it is to their honour and to the shame of those who persecute them.
PARALLELS
I see many parallels here with us and the society we live in …
Fearful
From yesterday's Press:
Dire climate warning
By PAUL GORMAN and PATRICK CREWDSON - The Press 05:00am
More violent floods and hurricanes, acute droughts and frequent heat-waves will plague the Earth if there are no massive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, scientists say.
We are fearful – not so much of capricious Gods, but of what will happen to us and our planet. Will global warming “get us” as this Press article suggests.
Will it be terrorism?
Will we be destitute?
Will our friends still like us if we don’t get drunk with them?
Will he still like me if I don’t go to bed with him?
We are still a fearful society
Unrestrained
From yesterday's Press:
Alleged sex act by police officers
By STAFF REPORTERS - The Press 05:00am
Christchurch police are investigating allegations that two officers had sex outside a city station.
Such headlines should cause us shock, but they don't anymore because we are so used to a society which has seperated sex from love and revels in the debauchery involved.
Pluralistic
"Tolerance" is the new meta-religion.
Even our own church leaders have fallen for the myth that we must somehow show our tolerance by accepting other religions. Last year they allowed the erction of Buddhist statues on Cathedral property, and a Hindu text on an alter cloth.
Hostile
There are plenty who are publicly hostile to Christianity. One of the most vehement in recent times in Biologist and popular author who has not dropped all pretence of being a scientist and come out scathingly against the church in a new book called "The God Delusion" in which he
asserts the irrationality of belief in God and the grievous harm religion has inflicted on society, from the Crusades to 9/11.
On a local scale - I heard this mornign how a son-in-law had been preventing a grandmother from taking her 2 year old granddaughter to church.
You'll have your own stories of hostility.
PETER'S RESPONSE
You must Remeber (read the first chapter of 1 peter):
–Who you are in Christ – chosen, made holy (1:2)
–What God’s done – Prophets (1:10) – Jesus – New Birth (1:3)
–What God will do
•Inheritance – revealed in the “last time” (1:6)
•Give honour when Jesus returns (1:7)
•Fulfil our purpose – salvation of our souls (1:9)
Peter’s response was to remind everyone of who they where, what God has done and what God will do.
We live in a society that resists any overarching story (metanarrative) – a characteristic of postmodernism has been to reject the idea that anyone or any country can some how say how history really is.
We need to be reminded that God created, we messed up, and God put in a plan that peaked with Christ’s coming, but is yet to be fully played out.
In short
Christ has Died, Christ has Risen, Christ Will Come Again
and Peter continues
THEREFORE (we must ask what is it there for) prepare your minds for action.
In those days the mind was not centred in the brain but in the heart. When the Bible speaks of heart it is not speaking of passion or some ill defined feeling, but the core of our thinking that drives our behaviour.
What we put into our mind will ultimately come out of us – positively we focus on the promises of Christ – of Jesus coming again to right all wrongs, to bring us to completion in him
Negatively, we reject the ways of the fearful, pluralistic society around us and we set our lives aside for Christ. We are to be holy even as God is holy – a big call, but by the grace of God one we can strive towards every day of our lives.
In this way, Peter says, we will influence those around us – our friends, our bosses, our spouses. Even when some are hostile there will be questions to be answered and by preparing our minds for action we will be prepared to answer them.
Why should we be prepared?
I began talking of some of the things people say
“Jesus was a good man, but ….” “All truth is relative …” “Science has proved there is no God …” “If there is a God he wouldn’t have allowed …”
It is very tempting not to rock the boat and just ignore those comments. I can easily in my mind justify this by saying “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion “ (a postmodern cliché), or “God doesn’t need my help to defend the gospel”
This, though is very muddled thinking. We are asked to “give a reason” for two reasons
1. to prevent evil.
Today’s ideas are tomorrows actions, look at where some ideas led ...
–There is no God therefore everything is permissible (Nietzsche) – Hitler
–“Religion is the opiate of the masses” (Marx) – Stalin
– belief in God is not just wrong, but potentially deadly (Dawkins) - ????
Hitler was some one's grandson, he was someone's class mate, he was someone's work mate ... if one of them had managed to give him reasons for hope centred on Christ, how different history would be!
Who knows about those around you - they will be teachers, parents, and leaders. Are you ready to respond to them to prevent evil.
2. so that others too may have hope
We have no right to deny anyone hearing of the hope that we have. To the contrary for the sake of their souls – for the sake of their eternal life and all the other people they may come into contact with and may influence we must be prepared to speak of the hope that we have – of who we are in Christ, of Christ who has dies, Christ who has risen and Christ who will come again.
HOPE
Unlike lotto our hope is not pie in the sky – a “might”.
It is not individualistic, but for everyone.
Our hope is a certainty.
Our hope is based on Truth and the Truth shall set you free. One of the greatest challenges as a Church in New Zealand is to responds to a society that rejects absolute claims to truth. Personally, this is a challenge I have given myself – to try and understand the various subcultures of New Zealand and to find ways to respond to their questions with the truth. I am very interested in working with anyone else who wants to help me build bridges to convey the truth of the gospel and the hope that it brings.
The Challenge
Where do you place your hope?
Are you prepared?
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
