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Mark Wheeler
I Peter 3:13-16
11/14/2021
“Talking the Walk … Words of Good News!
Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church
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Welcome everyone!
Who’s ready for a pop quiz? (Last Sunday I gave you one with no warning, and, of course, y’all got a 100%! Last Sunday I needed you to complete this sentence cultural pop wisdom: Actions speak louder than _____ — what? [WORDS – exactly]
Today’s pop quiz asks: Faith without works is _____ — what? [DEAD – exactly] James 2:14-17: 14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
So last Sunday we talked about how our words and our actions need to go hand-in-hand, side-by-side. One elaborates on the other – at the same time.
Actions, we all agree, are important! But words also are important. That was our emphasis last week. Today we see a little more clearly how they function together.
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Thank you, on behalf of our Elders’ Council, thank you for …
“Wearing your mask while inside the building.”
We truly want that no one should feel judged, and everyone should feel safe, so continue to be gentle with each other. Using the Philippians 2:4 passage:
“If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion, make my joy full by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself; each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.” Philippians 2:1-4
We are gathered in our church sanctuary – a holy place – and it’s also a safe place – where the divine and the human connect together. Welcome to this holy sacred and safe place today.
CAMERA
Let’s take a second to welcome each other, and those in the room, look at the camera and say HI to your friends who are at home. Tell your loved ones, whoever you can see , “The Lord be with you – and also with you!”
Welcome to this “gathering” in God’s name. We are assembled in NorthEast Spokane, WA, along with people from all over the world. We are very glad you are “here” with us.
Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit presence and power, in your homes, through your phones and computers, in this building here, and in your lives. Pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.
Join in our Call to Worship from Matthew’s Gospel led by … Linda Tufto
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Our opening song of praise and devotion –– #514 – Blessed Assurance – led by Chan & Sherry Park and Deanna & Gene Peden!!Please join them and sing with words proclaim your story of faith together.
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Through the Written Word,
And the spoken word,
May we know Your Living Word,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
This Fall we are in a series of sermons from God’s Word to take us through next weekend.
This series is not about how we Walk the Walk of Faith, but rather how we TALK the Walk of Faith. How do we speak about God’s righteousness and grace, justice and mercy, truth and love when we live in a world that does not believe, maybe even that tries to shame us when we do believe.
Today, from the New Testament letter written by one of Jesus’ most vocal apostles, we hear the Word of God, from I Peter 3:13-16 —-
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13 “Who will harm you if you are devoted to doing what is good? [“doing good” is actions!] 14 But even if you should suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Never be afraid of their threats, and never get upset.
15 Instead, exalt Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you to explain the hope you have. 16 But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak evil of your good conduct in Christ [“your good conduct” is more actions!] will be ashamed of slandering you.”
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When we follow Christ through difficult times, through hardship, people take notice. When we follow Christ even when persecuted, the whole world takes notice! On a large scale, when that Amish community was attacked in 2006, they forgave their attacker, and the news media was in shock. In 2015, when Mother Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina was shot up, they prayed for their shooter, and the whole world saw God’s grace. When Rev. Craig Goodwin, Millwood Presbyterian Church’s pastor a few years back, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, the nurses and caregivers wondered at his peace.
The non-believing world around us sees the hope of the Gospel, and they will ask where that hope comes from!
That hope and peace is found in a saving relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ. If your faith is real, your hope and peace is just as real as theirs. We expect and count on an eternal Victory because Christ has promised “salvation”.
Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a fore-taste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long!
This experience of suffering and endurance, of faith and hope, this is what lies behind this passage in I Peter we read this morning.
Thor Madsen, New Testament professor and dean of Doctoral Studies at Midwestern Theological Seminary in KC, MO, says, “In verse 13 the Apostle presents a general rule: good behavior invites peace, not suffering. If we do not ask for trouble, we tend not to get it; however verses 14-15, Peter resumes a darker theme introduced in his first chapter. God has called us to suffer and then to explain what keeps us going through bad times.”
The truth is, the world around us will ask what keeps us going, why we still have hope and peace, and we need to be ready to answer. “Exalt Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you to explain the hope you have.”
Most of us are a little hesitant, nervous, scared-to-death, to even allow our neighbors or our children or our parents or our siblings, our colleagues, our nurses and caregivers, the social media, the world around us, to even allow them to ask questions of our faith. Most of us are afraid for one of two reasons: 1) what if they’re right and my faith doesn’t have what t takes to answer their questions?; 2) what if my faith really does have the answers, but I don’t know what they are?
This morning I am throwing three facts to you; three facts to calm those fears and to offer confidence:
- Paul assures us that everybody, non-believers and believers alike, understands that God exists. Even the most ardent atheist and most querisome agnostic believes that God exists, that God created every one of us, and that we owe our lives to this God. What’s the old Veterans’ saying? “There’s no atheists in a foxhole.”
It’s true that our dearest atheist friends will deny this as a fact, but Paul says in Romans 1:28 that even the most science-minded atheist stands in wonder of a night-sky of stars, the majesty of mountain peaks, the beauty of birds and butterflies. That wonder, majesty and beauty point them to the Creator!
- No other religion or world philosophy can compete with Christianity’s logistics, because Christianity addresses all of life’s big questions:
- Where does the universe come from?
- What makes the universe act in predictable ways that science can measure?
- Can we trust our minds and our senses to inform us about the world around us and about the principles of reason and value?
- Do objective values really exist?
We will not argue someone into belief, but the answers to these questions add to the defense of the Gospel – they offer us reasons to explain the hope we have.
These are the kinds of questions that C.S. Lewis and Lee Strobel asked when they tried to prove the fallacy of Christian understanding – and their research led them to fully believe the truth claims the Church makes.
I am not saying that every researcher reaches the same conclusion – but that for those whom God calls to His Glory the truth of New Testament claims become irrefutable.
- And this third one may be the most important to recognize: No belief system will answer every question we might bring to it – including Christianity. Some mysteries will remain mysterious. God is bigger than our brilliance can understand. What’s the saying? “A god we can explain is too small to be the God we need.”
- How is God a Trinity – Three-in-One?
- How is the second Person of the Trinity both fully human and fully divine?
The mysteries of Christian faith boldly state “Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again”
We bear witness to the Resurrection when we still believe, when we hope beyond hope, even in the midst of struggle and turmoil.
But also – when we are asked questions – whether they are honest questions asked by sincere seekers, or sarcastic questions asked to trip us in our own mysteries – that’s OK. It is OK to say, “That’s a great question that I do not have an answer for … yet.” Just admit that we don’t have a credible answer. That’s OK. Remember that Peter tells us to be ready with a reason for the hope we have, with gentleness and humble respect!
It is vital to remember that it is not, ultimately, up to you or me to save sinners – only God can do that. It is just such a privilege that God invites you and me to participate with Him.
Our job, one might say, is to be ready to invite people, as Philip does to Nathanael in John 1:46, to “Come and see.” St. Augustine, Bishop of the young Roman Catholic Church in the city of Hippo Regius in modern day Algeria, found faith in the challenge to “take up and read” the Scriptures – a late 4th Century way of saying “Come and see”.
We Talk the Walk of Faith by being ready with reasons for the hope we carry! And our answers to skeptics’ questions, gentle and respectful, must always keep our neighbors’ hearts and souls at the center of our Talk.
We love, because God first loved us. Those are the Words of the Good News that give us hope – always.
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Perfect submission, all is at rest – I in my Savior and happy and blest; watching and waiting, looking above, filled with His goodness, lost in His love – THIS is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.
I love to tell the story of unseen things above, Of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love.
I love to tell the story because I know ’tis true; It satisfies my longings as nothing else can do.
11-13 We pray this day for … [call out a name or a situation]
14 [The Lord’s Prayer]
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We receive Tithes and Offerings as a way to put our words of faith into action. Truly, God blesses us with the rich, varied, and abundant gifts of creation. From God’s abundance, let us also give abundantly.
– Offering (4449 N Nevada St, Spokane, 99207 ; or click HERE, or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”)
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16 Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward person is decaying, yet our inward person is renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory, 18 while we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. II Corinthians 4:16-18
Expedition Song – I Love to Tell the Story #498 –! – Lilly Haeger!
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As followers of Jesus, , may we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, ,be filled with the power of Holy Spirit Life, , and give glory to God today and every day! Amen.
24 Announcements
25 November Birthdays! 8 – Del deLeon 14 – Jennie Bernet 30 – Louise Anderson
This is your Birthday song – it isn’t very long….. Happy Birthday!
Resources:
Madsen, Thor; “Apologetic Discourse”; TableTalk; August 2020; Pp. 33-34.
II Cor 4:16-18
16 Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward person is decaying, yet our inward person is renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory, 18 while we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
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