How Can We Be Prepared to Defend Our Faith?

The commentators will go over the two combatants, talking about their strengths, their weaknesses, their accolades, and their defeats. Regardless of what you may think about the sport, I want you to think of the referee inside the ring. What is always said right before the fight begins? The referee looks at one fighter and says, “Are you ready?” Then the referee looks at the other fighter and says, “Are you ready?” The referee will then motion to both fighters and say, “Then let's get it on!” Then, the two fighters will meet at the center of the room ring, and the battle will commence.

There was one announcer that was used for wrestling matches. His phrase was, “Let's get ready to rumble!” And, of course, he would hold out the pronunciation of the last word.

So why did the referee and the announcer say their respective phrases? Was it for our benefit or the benefit of the athletes? I would have to say that it was for both the athletes and the spectators. 

Here, in the third chapter of First Peter, Peter does the same thing. If we were to break down the book of First Peter, we would see the following:

• 1 Peter 1:1 – 2:10, Peter speaks on the blessings of God to His people.
• 1 Peter 2:11 – 4:19, Peter speaks on the conduct of the children of God who were in the middle of suffering.
• 1 Peter 5:1 – 5:14, Peter speaks of God shepherding His people who were suffering.

Today, we are going to look at 1 Peter 3:8- 17, a section on suffering for doing good, but we will try to point out one verse, that of verse fifteen.

In verse eight:

Peter gives us five principles that all believers should have:

1. Harmony – “Be ye of one mind.” (United for the same purpose.)
2. Sympathy – “Having compassion one of another.” (Responsive to the needs of others.)
3. Love – “Love as brethren.” (Seeing each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.
4. Tenderhearted – “Be pitiful.” (Affectionate, sensitive)
5. Humble minds – “Be courteous.” (Encourage each other and be happy with each other’s successes.)

These five principles go far toward aiding other believers in serving God successfully. In doing so, we will not be haughty or condescending to or over other believers.

Peter did not start out his ministry with these qualities due to his hasty and impetuous behavior (Mark 8:31-33; John 13: 6-9). But we know that the Holy Spirit changed Peter’s attitude so that the Lord used his strong personality. This was effective in teaching him how to be tender and humble.

In verse nine:

Peter gives a list of things that Christians should not do:

• “Not rendering evil for evil.” Do not be vengeful.
• “Or railing for railing.” Do not be insulting.
• “Refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile.” Keep from being deceitful.
• “Let him eschew evil.” This means to turn away from.

In our society today, it is widely accepted to ‘get back’ at someone who has hurt us, usually in some type of verbal response. However, Peter is remembering the words that Jesus spoke back in Matthew 5:39 to turn the other cheek. In other words, we should be praying for those who have wronged us, not for the Lord to punish them, but for their soul. We are not to have vengeful behavior, nor are we to insult anyone in any shape or form. We are to pray for the people who have hurt us, not retaliate.

In verse ten:

This verse is all about controlling the tongue. Psalm 34:13, “Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.” Not only are we not to speak evil, but we are also to keep evil from our hearts. Matthew 15:18, “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.” We are not to be deceptive in our speech, but we are to tell the truth. 

In James 3:6, James illustrates the likeness of how the tongue and an out-of-control fire are to each other. The tongue can cause severe damage. The devil has a way of utilizing the tongue to separate people and cause animosity between them. The tongue can easily spread destruction, which is difficult to repair. Words that are spoken in anger could devastate relationships. We must remember that words can be like wildfires that we might not be able to control or put out.

In verse eleven:

“Let him eschew evil and do good.” The word eschew means to turn away from, so we are to turn away from evil. That means do not go there!

The latter half of verse eleven tells us to do something; “Let him seek peace and ensue it.” That means to pursue, follow, or to come after. A capable peacemaker is one who diligently pursues peace. He does not just sit idly by in a passive manner, looking for the absence of any conflict. He works to build good relationships. He knows that a healthy commitment will produce peace. He keeps a watchful eye out for any negative issue that may arise and deals with that issue before it has time to grow. It can be harder to make peace than it is to make war, but the outcome is gladness and life.

In verse twelve:

Peter is reciting from Psalm 34:15-16, “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.” Does God hear the cries and prayers of His own? Yes, but He does not hear the call from sinners unless they pray to God to forgive them of their sins and they accept Christ into their hearts; that is a prayer from a sinner that God will hear.

In verse thirteen:

This verse seems a bit odd, “Who can harm you if you are a follower of good?” Does this mean that those who do constantly do good are less likely to be harmed or mistreated in some way by others? This is not necessarily true. Accomplishing something good for others seldom moves them to vengeance. But as we can see in verse fourteen, sometimes Christians will suffer for doing good (“righteousness’ sake”). We are not to be afraid of what the world throws at us. Why? Because “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

I want to skip verse fifteen here for a few moments and move on to verses sixteen and seventeen. Then, we will end our message with verse fifteen.

In verse sixteen:

We see that “whereas they speak evil of you…that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.” That “good conversation” is your Christian behavior. We might not be able to prevent people from assaulting (making a false statement about) us, but we can refrain from giving them any type of ammunition. If we are living right, what people may say about us will have no effect and will only bring humiliation to themselves. 

In verse seventeen:

Peter is essentially saying that it is better to suffer for doing what is right than it is to suffer for doing what is wrong. We can rejoice if we know that we are suffering for the sake of Christ. If we suffer for doing something that is wrong, then that is our own fault. There is no joy in that at all. We were the fool because we got ourselves into trouble due to some sin.

We will now go back and read verse fifteen:

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15).

What does the word sanctify mean? It means to have reverence for. We are to trust in God and believe that Christ is in full control of our lives, not our enemies. Meekness and fear are another way of saying gentleness and respect. Did you know that some believers think that we should keep our faith to ourselves and that faith is a personal matter?

I believe that we should not be overexcited, irksome, or annoying to others when we share our faith with others. However, I do believe that we should always be ready to answer in a respectful manner if we are asked about our faith or our perspective on life as a Christian. Our hope and faith in Christ should be easily seen in our lives when people see us, and we should be able to tell others what Christ has done for us. 

But let us look at two words I believe are important. Remember, at the beginning of our message, we talked about the phrase, “Are You Ready? Are You Ready? Then Let’s Get It On!” What I want each one of us to think about is this: we are to be ready to do something. We are to be prepared, as the Boy Scout motto used to be. We should be ready to do any of the following:

Be Ready:

1. To Preach
2. To Teach
3. To Witness
4. To Sing
5. To Sacrifice (suffer)
6. To Die
7. To Wait (for His return)

Are we ready and willing to do any of these things in some way? There are many Christians around the world who suffer and die because of their faith. But what about the so-called Christians here in America? Regardless of how bad our society is getting (which is worse than in the past and more sinful each day), are we ready? If you truly believe that you are, then get at it!

Photo Credit: @Pexels/Thiago Schlemper

Chris Swanson answered the call into the ministry over 20 years ago. He has served as a Sunday School teacher, a youth director along with his wife, a music director, an associate pastor, and an interim pastor. He is a retired Navy Chief Hospital Corpsman with over 30 years of combined active and reserve service. You can contact Chris here, and check out his work here.