Sharing Your Faith1 Peter 3:15-16

Adapted from K. Edward Skidmore, Charles Mallory & James Kirkland

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“I am a Christian and a Saint”The "evangelist" walks up behind a person standing on stage, gets in their face and

says, "I am an evangelist! A Christian and a Saint! Are you saved? Are you washed in the blood? Are you redeemed? Are you

sanctified? (the victim begins walking away) Wait! Come back here. I have tracts for

you!“ (Borrowed from Jeremiah People skit)

This is NOT what we’re going to talk about today. When we talk about sharing your

faith that doesn’t mean you have to get into awkward conversations with complete

strangers. When you develop a relationship with Jesus, sharing your faith is something

that will flow naturally out of your day to day life. You’ll find that every day is full of Divine Appointments that God will give you so that

He can share His love through you.

Today we’re going to look at a couple of verses in 1 Peter that give a good blue print

of what it means to share your faith. 1 Peter 3:15 NET But set Christ apart as

Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about

the hope you possess. 16 Yet do it with courtesy and respect, keeping a good

conscience, so that those who slander your good conduct in Christ may be put to

shame when they accuse you.

Set your heart on ChristNotice the FIRST step to sharing your faith with others. Verse 15 says, set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts. You can’t share what

you don’t have! Step 1 is to SET YOUR HEART fully and completely ON CHRIST. Jesus does not want to be just a PART of

your life. Jesus wants to BE your life.

When Jesus is the center of your life, everyone who gets to know YOU will just naturally have some connection with Him through you. People can’t get close to you

without knowing something about Him because He is central to who you are.

May we all be committed to living as Christ would have us live. If you do that you will

find that sharing your faith is going to happen naturally. For one thing, People WILL ask you about your connection to

God.

Have your actions & attitudes caused anyone to ask you why you act the way you do? I’ve had it happen. At one job it seems the simple action of holding the door open

for the women & being nice caused co-workers to ask questions. At another job it was the absence of vulgar language & just being nice that caused some questions to

be asked. Waitresses at a restaurant I frequent have asked questions.

Did any of these interactions cause the other person to turn to Christ? I don’t know, but they knew my faith in Christ was behind

what they saw & heard.Notice that these folks didn’t call me, come

by my house or to Church to ask their questions. To my knowledge they didn’t call

any preachers out of the blue to ask questions. When God’s Spirit moves in their

hearts, your neighbors, friends and co-workers are going to feel comfortable

asking YOU.

John 13:34 NET "I give you a new commandment — to love one another. Just

as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 Everyone will know by this

that you are my disciples — if you have love for one another."

Speak with respectThat’s why Peter goes on to say, always be

ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess. Yet do it

with courtesy and respect…1 Peter 3:15b-16a NET

Don’t be afraid to answer when people ask you questions. It’s not WHAT you say that will make the big difference. It’s more the

way you love them. Just tell them why Jesus is important to you. Tell what the

church means to you.

Don’t argue with them. It’s up to God’s Spirit to convict them of the truth. And if they ask something that stumps you, just let them know you’ll try to find an answer for them. That’s one reason we join together in the church. Someone here will have a good

answer you can give to any questions you encounter.

Being an effective witness for Jesus Christ was never intended to be a competitive

strategy in hopes of winning an argument or debate.

The gospel should never be linked with arguments or belligerence. Gentleness is

the quality that trusts god to do the work of changing attitudes.

2 Timothy 2:24 NET And the Lord's slave must not engage in heated disputes but be kind toward all, an apt teacher, patient, 25

correcting opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance

and then knowledge of the truth 26 and they will come to their senses and escape the devil's trap where they are held captive to

do his will.

When we are being opposed for our faithfulness and facing adversity and

hostility for our Christian stance, we must resist the urge to use bitter language or any form of retaliatory speech. You will always lose with aggressiveness and arrogance.Proverbs 15:1 NIV A gentle answer turns

away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Colossians 4:6 NET Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer

everyone.16 Yet do it with courtesy and respect…

Courtesy, gentleness, graciousness, will win out every single time. Along with courtesy comes the attribute of “respect.” This is a very peculiar word as it comes from the Greek word “phobos” (fah-bos) which

means “fear.”

What makes this “fear” peculiar is that it may be defined as “to be alarmed,” “to be frightened” or “to be afraid,” Peter’s use

here means quite the opposite in terms of standing graciously to those who oppose

the truth. In other words, what I think Peter means here is that we should not be afraid

or fearful in the face of slander, persecution, and hostility.

Our “fear” is an obedient, worshipful, and over-powering reverence for Almighty God

that we have the privilege and duty to witness not only with newfound boldness in

our faith, but with respect and humility towards the message that Christ entrusted

to us.Peter knew exactly what it meant to fail

under the weight of fear.

Just after the frightening scene in the garden of Gethsemane, Peter loses it.

Matthew 26:74 NET At that he began to curse, and he swore with an oath, "I do not know the man!" At that moment a rooster

crowed.Peter denied Christ out of fear in words that

were neither gentle nor respectful. No wonder he was so adamant about being a gentle and respectful witness because he had real-life experiences of utter failure.

If you attend Bible Classes and read Christian Books and take advantage of the

opportunity to know God better through Scripture, then you will be more and more ready to give an answer to ANYONE who asks you. But always keep in mind that all the clever techniques in the world won’t

matter if you don’t have the ATTITUDE of Jesus Christ when you speak up for Him.

Consider Jesus and the Woman at the well (John 4) – Since there was no

communication between women and men in Jesus day, or between Jews and

Samaritans either for that matter, It would have been natural for Jesus to simply

ignore the woman who came to the well to draw water while Jesus sat there waiting for his men to return from town. Instead, Jesus

broke all protocol by speaking freely with this woman and even asking her for a drink.

He showed that he was no slave to the usual customs of the day, and that his

openness to her was genuine and honest. He broke custom and in the process gained

her as an ally.Zachaeus – Jesus didn’t see him as an

unwanted interruption; wasn’t intimidated by his position as TAX collector; wasn’t afraid

to associate with someone who was despised by most of the religious folks.

Show Christ in your actions

There’s one more part of this blueprint for sharing your faith. Peter adds this caveat: 16b keeping a good conscience, so that those who slander your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame when they

accuse you.

* Step ONE is to have Jesus at the Center of your Heart.

* Step TWO is to be ready to answer those who approach YOU – which WILL happen.

* But Step THREE goes beyond this. Our actions DO speak louder than our words.

Nothing hurts your witness more than behavior that dishonors Christ.

This doesn’t mean that we have to be PERFECT in order to share our faith. Notice

it says to keep a clear conscience. The operative word here is “transparency” which

implies that we avoid the pretense and hypocrisy common to most people in the

world.

A person with a clear conscience is not putting on airs to impress others, instead he

speaks the truth with love in all that he says. His yes is yes and his no is no.

People who encounter a person with a clear conscience realize that what this person

says is the real deal. This is not a snow job, not a dog and pony show, not a sales job. It is a refreshing change from the usual sales pitch we have all come to expect and have

built up resistance against.

As Christians we can do MORE than just wait for the people around us to ASK about

our faith. In Luke 15 Jesus told three parables about the lost, the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost

son (prodigal) all reconfirm the same theme. In every case, the person who was seeking went OUT OF THEIR way to FIND

what was lost. The lost coin was worthy of a thorough house cleaning to find even though the owner had nine other coins in hand.

The lost sheep was worthy to leave the 99 other sheep safely in the fold and go out to search for the missing sheep. The prodigal son was worth bringing out the ring, robe, and sandals, and slaughtering the fatted

calf in celebration of his return to the father’s loving embrace. All of this lets us

know that the lost are precious to our Lord and therefore should be equally precious to us. We are not wasting time to go out of our

way to seek out the lost.

Luke 19:10 NET For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

Matthew 28:18 NET Then Jesus came up and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all

nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with

you always, to the end of the age." To know what the Lord expects of you is

getting ready to serve.Joshua 3:13 NIV And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD—the Lord of

all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off

and stand up in a heap.”

When the Priests entered the water with the Ark, were they ready to go swimming or were they ready for God to do something

big?Moses instructed them to step into the

water, but would they have done it if they did not have faith that Moses was following

God’s instructions? They were ready for God to stop the water so they could be

victorious in their obedience. Their faith was ready for God to use them.

On your mark, get set, GO! Getting ready, be prepared, now do what you are prepared to do. Are you where the Lord can use you? Are you ready to be used? Being ready is to be in a place where God can use you. I’m not just talking about being in a physical place at the right time; I’m talking about

your spiritual place with the Lord.

He needs to know that you will step into the water in faith so He can stop the river from flowing. He’s not going to stop the river’s

flow until you put your feet it. Your readiness can change your world and the

world of others around you.Go out of your way to love the “unlovely” – even those who speak against you. This is what Christ will do through you if you are

setting your heart on HIM…