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"The Hope That Is In You . . . Comes Out You" (Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter)
April 27, 2008 | The Rev. Charles Henrickson

Posted on 04/26/2008 8:45:17 PM PDT by 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 week’s 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 Christ’s 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, let’s explore that a little bit today, as we consider how “The Hope That Is In You . . . Comes Out You.”

We’ve got to get that message out, don’t we? I mean, that’s Job One! Evangelism. Missions. It’s up to us. If we don’t 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! It’s 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 there’s billions more where they came from! I’m 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 don’t use guilt and demand and pressure to move Christians to tell the good news about Jesus. We don’t use a Law approach to get a Gospel result.

I can’t 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 it’s up to you Christians now to get busy and share the gospel with others. That sort of emphasis just isn’t there.

We don’t use a Law approach to get a Gospel result. But that’s 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.

Let’s 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, don’t 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.” That’s 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.

That’s it! That’s 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, don’t deprive them of that hope! Don’t assume the gospel or take it for granted. Don’t 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.

That’s 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 God’s 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 Christ’s 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. Christ’s reign extends even to the depths of hell. He holds the keys of Death and Hades. Christ’s descent into hell is part of his victory over death and hell. It’s 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. That’s 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, it’s 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, doesn’t 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 Christ’s 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 you’d 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.”


TOPICS: Religion
KEYWORDS: easter; lcms; lutheran; sermon
1 Peter 3:13-22 (ESV)

Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

1 posted on 04/26/2008 8:45:18 PM PDT by Charles Henrickson
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To: lightman; old-ager; Cletus.D.Yokel; bcsco; redgolum; kittymyrib; Irene Adler; MHGinTN; ...

2 posted on 04/26/2008 8:49:35 PM PDT by Charles Henrickson (Lutheran pastor, LCMS)
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To: Charles Henrickson; Sopater; Mr. Silverback; Alamo-Girl; Cindy

We don’t use guilt and demand and pressure to move Christians to tell the good news about Jesus. We don’t use a Law approach to get a Gospel result.


AMEN!


3 posted on 04/26/2008 10:02:21 PM PDT by The Spirit Of Allegiance (Public Employees: Honor Your Oaths! Defend the Constitution from Enemies--Foreign and Domestic!)
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To: The Spirit Of Allegiance

Thanks for the ping!


4 posted on 04/26/2008 10:05:30 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: Charles Henrickson

Thanks for the ping Pastor. Looks like the severe weather will be out of our area before it’s time to head to services today.


5 posted on 04/27/2008 4:59:59 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952 (Typical white person, bitter, religious, gun owner, who will "Just say No to BO (or HRC).")
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To: Charles Henrickson

Thank you Pastor, I needed that!


6 posted on 04/27/2008 8:51:35 AM PDT by MHGinTN (Believing they cannot be deceived, they cannot be convinced when they are deceived.)
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As a famous tagline at FreeRepublic conveys (paraphrasing here), “Share The Lord of Glory, and sometimes even use words!”


7 posted on 04/27/2008 8:53:10 AM PDT by MHGinTN (Believing they cannot be deceived, they cannot be convinced when they are deceived.)
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To: Charles Henrickson

Thank you.


8 posted on 04/27/2008 8:13:41 PM PDT by mojo114
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To: Charles Henrickson

Pastor Henrickson,

Thank you for the sermon - I read it before heading out on my round of 4 LCMS churches yesterday morning. I especially appreciated your “take” on the hymn “The Vision of the Dying World” and the (feared) impact it may have on the newly-called workers. Hopefully, the waters of reality will put out any misguided self-generated blazing fires of emotional zeal ... and lead these new pastors to be faithful, warm-hearted pastors who feed the souls in their care through their Scriptural Law and Gospel preaching. One thing is required of stewards - faithfulness ... not cleverness or creativity or “success.” Thank you for your helpful words!

Tom Baden - San Angelo, Texas


9 posted on 04/28/2008 1:02:43 PM PDT by T Baden
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