Be Ready to Give a Defense

Hope in a Fearful World

The world today is consumed with fear. Headlines in the news are designed to make us be afraid. Fear sells. Many people seem to want to promote dread about the end of the world and the return of Christ. Yet it is meant to bring hope. People may not realize how much they need hope, love, and faith. These are the very things Jesus offers. We can share these things with them. They might be surprised that we don't face the future with hopelessness and fear.

Believers are called to live with confidence and hope in spite of what terrible things may be happening around them. Peter urged persecuted believers to be ready to give a defense for their hope that remained strong even in suffering. That same challenge is ours today. When others see calm assurance instead of anxiety, or faith instead of fear, they begin to wonder what makes the difference. Our lives become a witness that points to the reality of Christ and the hope He gives to all who trust in Him.

Facing the world with courage may be the simplest of acts. In our small town, students and adults gather publicly around the school flag pole at the beginning of the year to pray for students and teachers. Some of those who come have faced the fear of public ridicule for standing up openly for their faith.

Be Ready To Give A Defense

Peter’s message to persecuted believers speaks directly to this kind of fear. In 1 Peter 3:15, he says,

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.”

Instead of fear, hopelessness and despair they were showing those around them that they had enduring hope. Those who didn't know Christ saw this and wondered about it. Why weren't these Christians afraid? What were they hoping in? Peter tells us to be able to answer this question. The Bible tells us over and over not to fear, but how? We don't have to fear because our God is with us. Because of this, sharing our hope should come naturally to us.

Sharing Hope

When we share the reason for our hope, some people will hear what we have to say to them about Jesus and what He has done for us. Some will listen to us tell about His sacrifice, His forgiveness, His great love, and some will come to Him from hearing this. But others may have to experience great despair and hopelessness before they recognize the awful guilt of sin. At that moment, they will recognize the truth of what they have needed their entire lives.

In Romans 5:13, Paul also talks about hope, "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Paul tells us to abound in hope and that the Holy Spirit will give us the power to do this. He says that God is our hope and God wants us to be filled with joy, peace, and His abounding hope.

Hope-Confident Expectation

One misunderstanding we have today is understanding what hope meant to the writers of the Bible. For us today the word 'hope' implies an element of doubt but to writers in the Hebrew and Greek there was no element of doubt to that word. To them hope meant a confident expectation or assurance that something would happen. When we say our hope is in the Lord, we are not expressing doubt we are telling a fact.

The Evidence

In the beginning of the great chapter in Hebrews on faith, chapter 11, we find this in verse 1,

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Faith makes our hope a reality. Faith is our evidence, our proof, and our facts for the things that we cannot see. When we give reasons for our hope, as Peter tells us to in I Peter 3:15, the idea here is to respond in much the same way a lawyer would in explaining a case to a jury. A lawyer uses facts.

We are to present our case in a kind, respectful manner, not angrily or in a shaming way. What is the evidence for our case? We read in the gospels the true accounts of eyewitnesses to the words and actions of Jesus. We don't divorce our faith from the facts of what was recorded by these men with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Even our very lives, changed by the Holy Spirit, are also evidence of the truth of God.

Faith and Hope

Faith is trust in God, not in ourselves. We rely on God, not on ourselves. It is God who gives faith, God who grows our faith and God who saves us. We rejoice in our hope in Him. 1 Corinthians 13:13 says that faith, hope and love abide but love is the greatest of these. Faith, hope and love abide—eternally. Without the love of Christ we can't experience faith, and without faith, we can't experience hope.

Faith and hope surrounded by love are the great foundations of Christianity. We have faith; therefore we hope. But what do we hope in? We hope in the promises of Christ. Our God is faithful and true. Our God is just. In Deuteronomy 31:6, He tells the Jewish people that He will never fail them or forsake them. He repeats this promise in Joshua 1:5. In Matthew 28:20, Jesus says He will be with us even to the end of the world. And in Hebrews 13:5, we are reminded again that Jesus will never leave us or forsake us.

In Colossians 1, Paul gives thanks for the faith of the saints at Colossae noting that their hope was in Heaven. They knew this because of the truth of the Gospel. As Christians today, we too, hope for Heaven with faith, and our faith is our evidence of it. Whether we have little faith or great faith, it is enough. Heaven doesn't depend on us, but on the One who is faithful and true. In a fearful world, may we live in such a way that our hope in Christ becomes the clearest testimony of our faith.

Be Ready to Give a Defense