Christians, We Must All Be Ready to Answer - Voddie Baucham

0:00 1 Peter chapter 3. We get the word apologetics from 1 Peter chapter 3. There in verse 15, that famous verse where Peter tells us to always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks us the reason for the hope that is in us. and that reasoned response that he tells us to give, and the Greek is apologia. And so apologetics is really a transliteration of a word rather than a translation, kind of like deacon, right? Deacon is not a translation of a word. It's a transliteration of diakonos.

0:42 And sometimes that can be confusing when we do that. But in this case, sometimes it's confusing for people because apologetics, we hear apology. And unless, you know, you have some classical training and unless you, you know, have you have have done some some Greek and Latin in your education, apology sounds like something we don't want to be doing. Right. And, yeah, I've heard preachers even go off on the apologist, you know, because we don't need to be apologizing for the gospel, right? But an apology is a reasoned response, okay? That's what the word means. But in order to grab what's happening there in 1 Peter 315, we need to put it in some context. And so the key text there, There's some keys here to Peter's admonition.

1:58 First, his admonition is for every believer. His admonition is for every believer. We'll make that clear as we go through. It has nothing to do with creating an elite special forces brand of Christian. It is rooted in the context of humility, holiness, and suffering. This is what you're going to discover. And this is why, instead of just dealing with that verse, we're going to deal with this whole section here so that you can see. I want you to see clearly what Peter is doing here because it's a game changer, okay? It's a complete game changer when you see what he's doing here. And it ought to be a natural part of our Christian walk. There's a lost paragraph.

2:52 It's a paragraph that we often don't think of. And the reason I call it the lost paragraph is because it comes before the well-known apologetics paragraph. and that's chapter 13, verses 13 through 17, right? That's the apologetic paragraph. And we know that paragraph, right? And it comes right before that. But it also comes right after the well-known marriage paragraph, 1 Peter 3, 1 through 7, right? So if you ask, you know, I'm not talking about new Christians. I'm talking about staunch Christians who love their Bible. You know, 1 Peter 3, 1 through 7. they can muddle their way through that maybe able to quote it for you they can probably tell you oh yeah I think that's marriage 1 Peter 3 13-17 well they know 15 is in there if I say 1 Peter 3 8-12 how many of us just immediately go oh yeah nope wait a minute right after that hmm so that's why I call it the lost paragraph Because it's right here between these two very useful and very memorable paragraphs.

4:06 But it's very important if we're going to understand 315. The lost paragraph belongs to a broader section of Peter's epistle, which spans from chapter 2, verse 11, all the way down to chapter 3, verse 12. That's very important to know. It's part of a broader section. Hence, the paragraph is actually the conclusion of a section. Because this section of Peter's argument ends in 312. Then we get to the paragraph about apologetics. So, again, think about what we're doing here. Peter is building his argument here in his letter, and he's going to get to this section on apologetics. but before that, from 2.11 to 3.12, he's setting it up. He's laying a foundation for it so that whatever is happening in 13 through 17, we've got to understand what's going on in 2.11 to 3.12 in order to sink our teeth into it.

5:12 And the overarching message of this section is winning the respect of outsiders through your conduct and specifically through your suffering. This is huge. I especially like to talk about this with younger audiences. We talked about that unfortunate phase sometime where you have the sort of obnoxious young man who knows everything. what's the saying you know when you're a teenager you know your father dumber and dumber every year then you get out of the house and get married and start having kids and he becomes smarter and smarter every year right it's amazing how that happens amen and so this is very important for us to press home as it relates to those who may be more confrontational and aggressive and just kind of that natural let's pick a fight type person.

6:23 And apologetics can be seen as kind of an excuse for that. Right? So let's look at the broader context. 2.11 to 3.12. We won't read all of it, but I want to give you that broader context. The section begins with the identification of the people of God as sojourners and exiles. And this is important because, you know, this is kind of during the time of the diaspora. This is during the time of persecution when people are being scattered. Christians are being scattered abroad. And the gospel is basically being scattered abroad because of this persecution. And think about it from a historical perspective. We all think about, you know, when Peter stands up and he preaches at the day of Pentecost, and we think about the thousands who come to the church, and then we think about how the church there is growing in Acts, and we think about how all those people are having problems with, you know, taking care of the Hellenistic widows, this and the other.

7:26 But we don't just stop to recognize that list of nations that you find who are listening to his sermon and how thousands upon thousands of people remained and did not go home. Okay? This is why you've got the church growing exponentially like this. People are remaining, and they're not going home. Okay? But if the gospel is going to spread to all these different parts of the world, people have to go home. What makes them go home? Persecution. Okay? And so he's writing to these sojourners and exiles during the diaspora in the midst of persecution. The apostle then proceeds to address three means through which the conduct of believers wins the respect of outsiders. All three involve humble, faithful submission to authority. Our dual audience. There's two audiences that Peter's making us aware of.

8:20 First, this subjection to authority is an act of obedience to God. we submit to God by and through our submission to authority we submit to God by and through our submission to authority and secondly it's a witness to a watching world it's a witness to a watching world the way we submit to authority especially the way we endure suffering in the process of submitting to authority is a witness to a watching world. And it's important to note that that's a lot of what Paul is dealing with in 315. This is similar to Paul's admonition to fulfill the household codes that you find in Titus. For example, in Titus 2.5, that the word of God may not be reviled.

9:17 Titus 2.8, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. And then in Titus 2.10, so that in everything we may adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior. Again, wearing it before those who are around us. Both audiences are going to be important to remember when we approach the apologetic text in 315. Remember these two audiences, and remember what Paul is saying about these two audiences. So be subject to human authority. First, Peter urges believers to be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution. We find that in chapter 2, verse 13. These words are reminiscent to Paul's words in Romans 13. Peter has in mind, if you look at 13 and 14, the emperor as supreme or to governors as set by him to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good. This, of course, is an admonition to all Christians.

10:18 That's important to remember as well. In these earlier sections, we've got him talking to all Christians. We're going to make the point again that we saw when we looked at Jude. Jude makes it clear that this is for all Christians. Peter makes this clear as well. I'd say even more so than Jude does. And then secondly, he goes from the general to the specific. And he urges slaves to, in verse 218, Be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. That's important. When we get to 315, that's going to be important. Be subject, not just to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. Your subjection is not contingent upon somebody being worthy of it. Right?

11:13 If that's the case, then it's really not your subjection. It's not your submission if it's contingent on somebody being worthy of it. The other problem is nobody will ever be worthy of it. Amen? Nobody will ever be worthy of it. Peter goes on to encourage believers who find themselves in this situation to suffer for righteousness' sake. Look at verse 19. For this is a gracious thing when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. How about that?

11:58 How about that? Two audiences, remember? There's two audiences. Number one, there's the audience of God. What are we saying to the audience of God when we suffer even unjustly? I trust you. I trust your sovereignty. I trust your providence. You are a good God, regardless of what's happening right now. And then we're saying something as well to a world that's looking on, especially when that world is trying to make us respond a certain way. You know, this is something that's very interesting. I grew up very mindful of this. I did not grow up with my father. I told you before I was raised by a single mother. But I knew my father, and I spent time with my father from time to time. My father was a huge man. I'm not, my father's way bigger than me.

12:53 One of the great disappointments of my life when I was a young man was I never got as big as my dad. All my friends got as big as their dad, even bigger than their dad, right? My father was 6'6". Come on, man. He married a woman who was 5'4". I got cheated, y'all. And other people would look at me and they'd be like, yeah, but you were talking, oh, man, come on, don't tell me that. I don't want to hear that. I got cheated. but I saw him in the way that he carried himself and the opportunities that we had to be with each other, and I learned things from him that I didn't even realize that I learned from him, and it's very interesting. Being a very large black man can be intimidating to people, and I remember as a young man, you know, walking down the street and women seeing me and clutching their purses tighter, right?

13:58 Walking down the street and having, you know, police cars slow down to check me out, right? I mean, I remember this. I remember when, you know, just like playing as a kid, being the big kid who's playing. I remember watching when Shaquille O'Neal was in the NBA, you know? If Shaq was being Shaq Diesel and bulldozing people, he's a big bully. If he wasn't, he's soft. you just can't win. And it's interesting how when you are a large person, when you're an intimidating person, when you're a black person and there's not a lot of black people around, which is really interesting for me now that I live in Zambia, I come back over here, man, I'm like, where are all the black people at? You know?

14:48 You kind of learn how to do things to put people at ease. Right? you'll learn how to be conscious of that. And you learn how in certain circumstances, you getting upset is a no-win. I mean, I remember the conversations. Stuff would happen at school. I remember my mom saying to me, son, you have to remember when stuff like this happens. Because I got bused. I went to an all-black elementary school in Los Angeles, and I got bussed to Pacific Palisades Elementary School. It was back when they were, you know, doing all the bussing stuff. Pacific Palisades, that just sounds like a place without a lot of black people, right? And I got bussed to Pacific. I didn't know I went to an all-black elementary school. They told me that they were going to buss.

15:41 We were going to be, I'm like, why? My mom was like, because you go to an all-black elementary school and, you know, whatever. And I was like, no, that's not, yeah, he's black. Well, what, she's black too. Well, man, I go to an all-black school. And so, you know, we got bus docked there. It was interesting. And I'll never remember. I got in trouble one day, and my mother had said something to me, and there was a black teacher at the school as well.

16:11 And again, I was a sort of bigger kid, and I remember the black teacher at the school, a male, sitting me down one day saying, son, there's some things that you need to learn. They're not fair, but they're just true. There are people who are going to provoke you here. And if you respond, you're just the angry black kid. I didn't like that I didn't like that at all but it was just true if other people go off right whatever I go off ah just the angry black guy I hated that I hated that but that's part of what Peter is saying here we live in a place where as Christians we are the extreme hated minority.

17:10 This is what Peter is saying to people. We are an extreme minority. We are a hated minority within this context. And there are going to be times when we suffer unjustly. And if we go off, it's, uh-huh. I knew that Jesus stuff wasn't real. Hmm? Thank you. This is part of what he's saying. Okay? Part of it is, again, because of who Christ is in us, because of what Christ has done for us, we are able to do this, and we are called to do this. And there's the audience of God, right? And then he also points to this other audience. Don't let them have anything to say about you.

18:05 Don't do it. If you suffer, make sure you're suffering unjustly. Because God doesn't get glory.