BE READY TO DEFEND YOUR BELIEFS!
Rev. Mark F. Bartels
Historical Lesson;
Acts 17:22-31
Gospel Lesson;
John 14:15-21
Sermon Text;
1 Peter 3:15-18
When I was in high school, there was a kid by the name of Dave Pywansky. Dave Pywansky was a skinny, little guy. But, Dave Pywansky was an ‘eating machine’.
About five minutes before the bell would ring for first lunch period, you could see Dave Pywansky sitting at his desk, starting to get fidgety. He would close his books and hold on to them, ready for that bell to ring. And, you could tell he was not paying attention to what the teacher was saying, anymore. He was ready for that bell to ring!
As soon as the bell would ring for lunch period, he would be up out of his seat, like a runner out of the blocks! He would be like a freight train, heading down the hallway! And, he was usually one of the first ones in the cafeteria line.
When he went through the line, you would always look at the mound of food that he had on his tray and wonder, "How in the world is that skinny, little body going to be able to hold all of that food?"
If you sat by Dave Pywansky, while he was eating, you would notice that he had turned eating into almost an art form. Dave could take the most hideous looking food and make it look like the best tasting food you could possibly imagine in your life.
Dave was not a dainty eater, nor did he take his time. He would aggressively attack that food. The way he went after it, he could have made a pile of sawdust look like it must be the most awesome tasting food in the world. It just made you want to try it!
And then, one half an hour later, after Dave Pywansky was done eating, you would see him in the hallway, standing at his locker, pulling out some snack that he had brought from home! Dave Pywansky was an ‘eating machine’!
How I wish that were true for all of us, when it comes to the Word of God. I wish that we treated the Word of God, the way Dave Pywansky treated food. I wish that all of us were Dave Pywanskys with the Word of God. I wish we had eagerness and a desire to study, learn, hear, and be filled with the Word of God. I wish that we had a real hunger and thirst, day after day, after day, for the Word of God. I wish that we saw the Word of God as a pearl of great price that we longed for, aggressively studied and searched. And, I wish that none of us could get our fill of the Word of God. We should all be Dave Pywanskys, when it comes to the Word of God.
And yet, we all have to admit, "I am not a Dave Pywansky, when it comes to the Word of God." All of us have to admit that, when it comes to the Word of God. For example, on a Sunday morning, even our pillow can be a threat to our hearing the Word of God. Our pillow may seem more important to us, than going to church with an eager desire to hear the Word of God. And, when we do go to church, maybe often it is out of a sense of duty, rather than a longing and a desire to be filled with the Word of God.
How many of us are truly hungering and thirsting to learn as much about God’s Word, as we can?
How many of us here are involved in not just coming to church on a Sunday morning, but in Bible Study, where we get together with a group of people and study a book of scripture, where we dig deeply into scripture to find out what scripture has to say about this or that subject?
How many of us, in our homes, day by day, by day, by day, get out our Bibles, and get out our devotional materials, because we are hungry and eager to hear and use the Word of God, and we want to grow more and more deeply in our understanding and knowledge of what God has to say to us?
Even if you can answer yes to all of those questions, "I do all of those." How many times, if we really study and learn the Word of God, are we like the Children of Israel, out in the wilderness? Day after day, after day, after day, after day, they received manna (food) from heaven, from God, and finally they got tired of it? They wanted something new. They wanted something different. How many times, after hearing the Word of God maybe forty, or fifty, or sixty, or seventy years, do we push ourselves away from the table and say, "I am tired of the same old thing. I want to hear something new. I want to hear something different. I want a new revelation from God."
We all have to admit we are not Dave Pywanskys, when it comes to hearing the Word of God. And yet, scripture even has a commandment about the Word of God. The Third Commandment says,
"You shall keep the day of rest holy.
What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it."
Why should we so gladly hear and learn the Word of God? We should gladly hear and learn the Word of God, because the Word of God can do what nothing else can do.
v
The Word of God, (not my family, not my friends, not anything else in my life) teaches me the way of salvation.v
The Word of God distributes to me the forgiveness of sins that nothing else can do.v
The Word of God builds me up in my faith. The Holy Spirit works through the Word (and nowhere else), and strengthens me in Jesus.v
In the Word of God, I find comfort, guidance, direction, and peace that I can find nowhere else.We all should be Dave Pywanskys, when it comes to the Word of God.
So, the question is, "How can I become a Dave Pywansky and why should I want to become a Dave Pywansky, when it comes to hearing God’s Word?" That is what today’s scripture reading talks about. How do I become someone who hungers and thirsts for God’s Word, and is eager and wants to dive deeply into the Word? Our scripture reading for today says, "In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord." That is how we become Dave Pywanskys, with the Word of God.
"In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord."
A lord is a master. And when Jesus is the master in my heart, I love Him and He is the master, whom I want to listen to. I want Him to rule over me. I want Him to guide and direct me. There is only one place that the Lord Jesus rules over me, guides and directs me, as my master. And that is the Word. And so, in our hearts, when we truly set apart Jesus, (not our family, not our friends, not our fun activities, not the things we see on TV), but Jesus, as our master, then the Word of God becomes something we long to hear.
So, how does Jesus become master in our hearts? There is a simple answer. And, you all know the answer to the question. The answer is Jesus becomes my master through repentance and faith. As I look at my own life, there is much that I have to repent for. We can all say that. Even with regards to how we use the Word of God. Just think about the Word of God. The Word of God is a personal communication from God Himself, the almighty maker of the universe, the one who holds the destiny of your soul in His hand!
The Word of God is God’s Word to you!
There, He is speaking to you! What an awesome treasure that is! And yet, we look at our own lives and say, "Here is the Word of God, that awesome treasure! I have had it for 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 years, and I have not even read through everything that God has to say to me. I have sinned against God and His Word. I don’t see His Word as a great treasure, the way I should. And, I ought to be condemned by God, for the way I despise His Word and don’t use it, the way I should."
That is repentance. Repentance is understanding that I have failed God.
And then comes faith. Faith is trusting the promises of God to sinners. In our scripture reading for today, the last verse of it says,
"For Christ died for sins once for all,
the righteous for the unrighteous,
to bring you to God."
That is an awesome promise in scripture to me, a sinner. That is an awesome promise that tells me Jesus is the righteous one. Jesus did what I can’t do, and what I have not done.
With regards to God’s Word, Jesus used God’s Word, perfectly.
As a twelve-year-old boy, we see Him in the temple of God eager to hear the Word of God. The leaders of the church were astounded at Jesus’ knowledge of the Word of God. He was a student of the Word of God.
We see Jesus, when He becomes an adult. The Bible tells us, "He went to the synagogue, on the Sabbath, as was His custom." Jesus was eager to go to the House of God, and use and hear the Word of God.
We see Jesus in His life eager to spread the Word of God to all people, preach and teach the Word of God.
We see Jesus in His life knowing that scripture had to be fulfilled. He loved scripture. He loved God’s Word. And, He knew that part of scripture was that He, Himself, would suffer and die for the sins of all people.
Jesus willingly, willingly submitted Himself to the Word of God. Jesus willingly died, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God.
When Jesus died on the cross, He paid for all of the sins that I have ever committed, fully, completely, totally. They have been wiped away in God’s eyes and forgiven for Jesus’ sake.
There is nothing else that can get me to Heaven, but Jesus.
There is nothing else that can save me, but Jesus.
There is nothing else that can bring me to God, but Jesus.
That is why Jesus is master in our hearts. It is through repentance of our sin, faith in Jesus, and trusting that He alone is our salvation. He loves us so dearly that He kept a perfect life for us, and gave His life for us. "I want Him; I want Him to be my master."
Therefore, I want to hear what He has to say to me. I want to learn His Word. Which then gets us to the question, "Why should we become real students of God’s Word?"
Our scripture reading today goes on and explains one of the reasons why. It says, "Always be prepared, always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."
Do you understand what that passage is saying? All of us should be witnesses to Jesus. No matter what our Bible knowledge is, if you are a Christian, you should be talking about your faith in Jesus, because it is a privilege, an honor, and a necessity to tell other people about Jesus. And, the better you know your Bible, the better prepared you are to be a witness to Jesus, as your Savior.
In this scripture passage, where it says, "Always be prepared to give an answer," the Greek word for answer is apologia, which means defense. "Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."
How do we defend what we believe? We don’t defend it by saying, "Well, that is what the pastor said." We don’t defend it by saying, "Well, that is what I think." The only way to defend our beliefs is from scripture. The only way to defend what we believe in Jesus is to be able to point to the Bible and say,
"Thus saith the Lord."
Be able to point to scripture and say, "It is written." The Holy Scriptures are the foundation and the truth for our faith. And so, the better I know scripture, the more I learn and study scripture, the better prepared I am to witness my faith to others who need the truth.
Let me ask you this. If you started talking about your faith today at home, or tomorrow at work, and you said, "I believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven, the only way."
And then, someone asked you, "Why do you believe that?"
Would you be able to defend your faith? Would you be able to point to a clear passage in scripture to prove and defend what you believe? That is important to their souls, to be able to do that.
If you got into a discussion with a friend about baptism, and they asked you, "Why do you believe in infant baptism? Why?"
Would you, today, be able to point to a passage in scripture or some passages in scripture and say, "Thus saith the Lord," and defend your faith, with scripture, so that you can guide them better into the Word of Truth, in the way of truth?
The more we know our scripture, the better we are able and prepared to defend our faith. And, how important that is to lost souls or souls that are in error.
I can’t encourage any of us enough to be eager, hungry students for the Word of God, to use the Word of God in every way that we can. Martin Luther said about this passage, "Here, in this passage, Peter is not just talking to pastors that you should be able to give the reason, scriptural reason why you believe. Peter is talking to pastors and he is talking to lay people. He is talking to the young and he is talking to the old. He is talking to male and he is talking to female. Be able to give an answer from scripture."
And so, let us use the Word of God. Let’s go to church. Let’s study our Bibles. Let’s use the Word in our homes and in our personal lives, and become true students of the Word.
Maybe one of the best ways, to become really better at defending your faith is to get out your old Catechism. That old Catechism, which Martin Luther put together, is designed to give you topics in scripture, for example baptism. Then underneath it, it gives many, many passages that you can point to, to show why we believe what we believe. Get out your catechism and study it. That is one of the great heritages of the Lutheran Church.
There is another great heritage of the Lutheran Church. In Luther’s day, when he was a young man, the laity was forbidden to read scripture. Luther understood that lay people need the Word of God, so he made it his goal to put the Word of God into the common language of his day, which was German, so that the lay people could be armed with the Word of God and be ready to defend their faith. What a great heritage we have!
Let me end with this story. Some years ago, when Ukraine was still part of the Soviet Union and the Word of God was not permitted into the Ukraine, one of our pastors would periodically go there, and smuggle a few Bibles into Ukraine.
About 10 years later, he visited Ukraine. While he was there, an old woman came up to him, and handed him a Bible that was tattered and beaten. As she handed it to him, she could not express her thanks enough to him. He recognized it as one of the Bibles he had smuggled into Ukraine. He opened it up and there in the cover of that Bible was written signature, after signature. She explained to him that the Bible had been passed from one person, to the next, to the next, to the next!
That Bible was underlined. Pages were dog-eared. Notes were written in. There is an example of people who were Dave Pywanskys with the Word of God. They were eager to hear, study, and learn what scripture had to say.
Let’s all have it as our goal, to be Dave Pywanskys, when it comes to learning scripture.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Top of Page
|| Church Sermons || Return to Home Page