Sixth Sunday of Easter
April 27, 2008
The Rev. Charles Henrickson
The Hope That Is In You . . . Comes Out You (1 Peter
3:13-22)
During this Easter season, we are hearing a lot about
hope. A few weeks ago the Epistle reading from 1
Peter 1 told us that God has caused us to be born
again to a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead. Last weeks sermon said
that we in the church are Living in Camp Hope, that
we have hope for an eternal future because our Lord
Christ has gone to prepare a place for us. Hope--the
hope that we have in us because of Christs
resurrection--is a major Easter theme.
Today that theme continues, and the question becomes:
How does this hope that we have in us get out of us,
out to others who need that hope too? Today we pick
up on a verse from 1 Peter 3, the part where it says,
always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who
asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.
This is often used as a text for evangelism motivation
and training. Well, lets explore that a little bit
today, as we consider how The Hope That Is In You . .
. Comes Out You.
Weve got to get that message out, dont we? I mean,
thats Job One! Evangelism. Missions. Its up to
us. If we dont get busy and get missional and get
the gospel out, people will be going to hell, and it
will be our fault. Think of all the people who are
dying without Christ! Billions and billions of them!
Its overwhelming!
Tuesday night at the call service at the seminary, our
synodical president pressed this urgent demand upon us
by quoting a hymn (not in our hymnal) that goes like
this:
The vision of a dying world
Is vast before our eyes
We feel the heartbeat of its need
We hear its feeble cries . . .
A couple more stanzas along those lines, and then the
hymn concludes:
The warning bell of judgment tolls
Above us looms the cross
Around are ever-dying souls
How great, how great the loss!
O Lord, constrain and move your church
The glad news to impart
And Lord, as now you stir your church
Begin within my heart.
Wow! How heavy the load that we bear, every one of
us, for the eternal destiny of all those dying souls!
We better get Ablaze! and get busy sharing the gospel,
so we can make our goal of 100 million critical
events by the year 2017. And theres billions more
where they came from! Im told a certain synodical
official illustrates this burden by snapping his
fingers in rhythmic fashion and saying, Every time I
snap my fingers, another soul dies and goes to hell!
To which I want to say, Well then, stop snapping your
fingers!
You see, what I have just set before you is the wrong
way to approach missions and evangelism. This is not
the way to motivate Christians to spread the gospel.
We dont use guilt and demand and pressure to move
Christians to tell the good news about Jesus. We
dont use a Law approach to get a Gospel result.
I cant think of any place in the New Testament where
you get this kind of approach: that the souls of
millions are dying and going to hell, and its up to
you Christians now to get busy and share the gospel
with others. That sort of emphasis just isnt there.
We dont use a Law approach to get a Gospel result.
But thats what we hear too often in the Missouri
Synod these days. I call it the mission activism
sermon. The preacher talks a lot about the need for
us to spread the gospel, but he never gets around to
actually preaching the gospel to his hearers. The
church members never get to hear the good news for
them. Instead, they just get a heavy dose what they
should be doing to be active in missions and
evangelism.
This whole Ablaze! program and missions-activism
approach is a little bit off. It may start out with
good intentions, but somewhere along the line it veers
off the track theologically and pastorally. It starts
in the Spirit and ends in the flesh. The emphasis is
on us and what we should be doing, rather than on the
triune God and what he has done, is doing, and will do
for the salvation of the world, us included.
Today I want to unburden you and free you up from this
load of guilt that people are trying to dump on your
head. And in the process, you just may end up wanting
to share the hope you have in you, naturally, from a
free and happy heart.
Lets get back to that verse from 1 Peter: always
being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks
you for a reason for the hope that is in you. The
first question to ask is, Is this about evangelism,
personal evangelism, as it is popularly conceived?
Well, no, not exactly. The context helps us out here.
The context is about Christians suffering
persecution, not going out doing personal evangelism.
Peter is saying, You Christians, if you get some
grief from those over you--the Roman authorities, for
example--and they begin to question you about what
makes you tick, dont be afraid to tell them about the
hope that is in you because of Christ.
The hope that is in you comes out you. Always be
prepared for that to happen, even in difficult
situations. But how does that happen? How do we get
prepared? Does Peter beat us over the head with the
law? No. Rather, he directs us to the gospel. He
says, In your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy.
Thats how you will be prepared. Focus on Christ.
Let your heart be filled with Jesus, and then your
mouth will speak what your heart is full of.
Thats it! Thats the way to go. More Jesus. More
hope. Hope in, hope out. If you want Christians to
talk about the hope that is in them, dont deprive
them of that hope! Dont assume the gospel or take it
for granted. Dont try to motivate Christians with
guilt and pressure and demand. No, give them the
gospel and forgiveness and freedom. Give them Jesus.
That is how the hope that is in you will come out of
you naturally and joyfully.
Thats where Peter takes his hearers in this Epistle.
He takes them to Jesus. Peter says: For Christ also
suffered once for sins, the righteous for the
unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. That, my
friends, that is the gospel! And it is for you!
Jesus did that for you. Christ suffered for your sins
on the cross. You deserved death under Gods
judgment, but Jesus suffered it for you. You were
unrighteous, guilty under the law, but Christ the
righteous one, the holy Son of God, took your place,
and his righteousness covers all your sins. He brings
you to God, washed and clean and righteous to stand
before the throne. This is the hope that is in you,
for Christs death has tremendous, life-giving
implications.
By suffering for our sins, Christ emptied death and
hell of its power and its claim over us. Peter
continues about Christ: being put to death in the
flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went
and proclaimed to the spirits in prison. When Jesus
died and was buried, he then was made alive and he
descended into hell in order to proclaim his victory
there. Christs reign extends even to the depths of
hell. He holds the keys of Death and Hades. Christs
descent into hell is part of his victory over death
and hell. Its his victory proclamation.
Therefore you no longer need fear death and hell, for
in their place Jesus gives you life and heaven. The
life, the eternal life he gives you is guaranteed by
his own resurrection on Easter morning. And you were
joined to that resurrection life of Jesus in your
baptism. Thats why Peter says, Baptism now saves
you, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God
saved you through that water and raised you from death
to life. And just as Christ has gone into heaven and
is at the right hand of God, so you also will ascend
to be with him where he is. This is the hope you
have, dear people, this is the hope that is in you.
Notice where Peter has taken us: He directs us to
faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord, who suffered and
died, who descended into hell, who rose again from the
dead, who ascended into heaven and sits at the right
hand of God the Father Almighty. Yes, its no
surprise that the Apostle Peter takes us exactly where
the Apostles Creed takes us: to the person and work
of Christ for our salvation. This is the heart of the
hope that is in us. And as our hearts and minds
return every day to the wonderful good news of Christ
our Savior, our hope abounds, our heart overflows, and
our mouth naturally speaks of this hope that fills us.
The hope that is in you comes out you.
Evangelism, biblical style, doesnt happen by dumping
a load of guilt on your head and setting your hair on
fire. No, instead, biblical evangelism happens by
lifting up your head and fixing your eyes on Jesus.
More than a vision of a dying world, I want you to see
the vision of your dying Savior, who loved you so much
that he took all your sins from you and carried them
to the cross. I want you to know that Christs saving
death was the death of Death, and therefore hell has
no hold on you. I want you to know that Jesus brings
you to God in the strength of his own perfect
righteousness. I want you to know that your baptism
connects you to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, your
ascended Lord who will come again and take you home to
heaven. To put it very briefly: I want you to know
the hope that is in you.
Oh, and by the way, you may know some friends and
neighbors youd like to share this hope with. Guess
what? You are free to tell them.
And now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and
peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy
Spirit you may abound in hope.
Charles Henrickson
4749 Melissa Jo Ln
St. Louis, MO 63128
(314) 845-8811 (home)
(314) 779-8108 (cell)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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