So what is happening is that Christians are finding it harder and harder to talk about God,
talk about sex, talk about politics.
We can talk about what you do, mention Jesus, and it's a different subject altogether.
Let's just change that and talk about something else.
Don't want to talk about religion.
I've read, for instance, that Christian teachers are choosing not to wear crosses
because they know that their credibility would be thrown out if they were known to be Christians.
One student group, Christian student group, has decided not to speak about sex to its students on a university campus
for fear of losing its university affiliation.
Last year, new graduate employees at a major bank in Sydney were told on their first day that we don't do religion here.
Talk of faith wasn't welcome and would be considered a breach of corporate policy.
And just recently, you probably saw in the news or in newspapers this week,
the University of Sydney's Union stated that the Sydney University's Evangelical Union
must remove requirements for members to sign a faith-based declaration
and threaten them with deregistration of the clubs and societies program
if they do not comply by the end of this month.
In practice, that means that non-believers could not only just be members of the Evangelical Union,
but in fact could hold leadership positions in the executive committee.
On many fronts, there is pressure to be quiet, to withdraw, to retreat from public spaces.
Christians, not just Christians, in fact anyone who does not agree with the liberal left,
basically, but Christians are being silenced.
And yet God requires us, as his disciples, to be in this world
and to speak as messengers of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus' own teaching in Luke chapter 24
shows that the nations need to hear and repent in order to be saved.
They need to hear the gospel, the good news of Christ,
and they need to repent in order to be saved.
And against the command to himself be quiet about the risen Lord Jesus,
Peter said the same thing in Acts chapter 4, verse 12.
Salvation is found in no one else,
for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which they must be saved.
And this itself was the great commission of the Lord Jesus
to his disciples and to us in Matthew 28.
All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.
Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.
I said in the first sermon in this series,
this is now the end of it, we're coming to the close of front lines.
In the first sermon in this series, seven weeks ago,
I said that understood in the correct way,
vocation, that is understood Christianly,
vocation is centered in a sovereign God
who calls us to embrace the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
and to follow him in the power of the Holy Spirit.
That is a theology of vocation.
And so the first and the primary calling of all people
is to embrace the Lord Jesus as his disciples.
That is, we are called to someone, not something or somewhere.
The means by which God calls people to embrace their primary vocation
is his disciples speaking as messengers of the very gospel
that God calls people to embrace.
But under that primary calling,
we all have a secondary calling,
a secondary position in life
in which we live out our primary calling
with faithfulness and fruitfulness
to the God who has called us.
And so how do we work out our primary calling
to embrace Jesus,
to call other people to embrace Jesus
in a society that wants us to be quiet
about that primary calling,
especially in our places of our secondary calling.
And I think the temptation for us
is in fact to be quiet,
to keep our heads down
and in the end to propagate the secular sacred divide
which this whole series is against.
that is, to live two separate lives,
my private life and my public life.
Now let me say that
there is a lot at stake
for the people of our country at the moment.
There's a lot at stake.
There's a lot at stake for the people who want us to be quiet.
A number of Christians
are starting to speak up
about religious freedom in our country
and I think that's okay.
But,
I get a little concerned
if the motivation for speaking up
is for Christians
to be allowed to be Christians.
That is,
I'm concerned
if we are speaking up
just to protect
who we are
and what we are allowed to do.
Because that's not why
we've been called to speak up.
What's really at stake
is the hope
and the lives
and the souls
of millions of people
who don't have hope.
That's what's at stake.
As Dr. Ralph Winter,
he was a former
American missiologist,
scholar and pastor.
He was one time director
of the United States Center for World Mission.
He made a very significant point
about the task
that is before us as Christians.
He wrote this
in 1978.
We may do well
to recognize
what seems to be
the consistent thrust
of the whole Bible.
That unless
and until
in faith
the future
of the world
becomes
more important
than the future
of the church,
the church
has no future.
as Jesus
puts it,
the most dangerous
thing you can do
is seek
to save
your own life.
Or to turn it around
another way,
being messengers
of the gospel
to our society
is the only
future
of the church
and it's not
about protecting
the church.
Every church
in history
that has not
reached out
has in fact
gone down.
Every church
that has existed
to protect itself,
to protect
its rights,
has gone
down.
God will
always cause
his people
around the globe
to give up
their lives
for the sake
of
his
mission.
but we
have no
biblical
guarantee
that any
given
denomination
or local
church
or individual
will endure
to the end.
Denominations
have come
and gone.
Churches
have risen
up and
disappeared
and many
individuals
like seed
sown among
thorns
have confessed
faith in
Christ
but have been
choked by the
cares and riches
and pleasures
of this life.
Luke chapter
8.
And so the
future of the
Anglican
Diocese of
Sydney,
future of
St. Paul's
Chatswood,
future of
you and
me,
hangs on
whether we
lose our
lives as
messengers of
Christ and
the gospel
for the sake
of others,
not for
our sakes.
And so our
focus today
is our
personal
readiness to
be message of
the gospel
on our
front line.
This is
first base
stuff I
think for
us.
And so the
text which I've
chosen is
1 Peter 3
and especially
14 and
15 which
come along
with me on
this.
1 Peter 3
verses 14
and 15.
What does
it mean to
be ready
to make
a case
for your
hope?
And how
are we to
get ready
and to
stay ready?
A clue to
that is in
1 Peter 3
and you do
need your
Bibles open
because I
want you to
look at some
stuff here
fairly closely.
1 Peter 3
verse 15
is the clue.
It's the
relationship
between the
phrase be
ready and
what comes
just before
it in the
text.
Literally
and sorry
for getting
real technical
here there
is no
verb in
the phrase
be ready
or be
prepared.
Literally
Peter says
set apart
Christ as
Lord in
your hearts
ready always
to make a
case for
your hope.
That's what
he literally
says.
And this
suggests that
there is a
very close
connection
between
setting
apart
Christ as
Lord in
your heart
and
always being
ready to
make a
case for
your hope.
There's a
connection
there,
close
connection.
So one
key to
understand
what it
means to
set apart
Christ as
Lord in
your heart
is to
notice that
it is the
alternative to
fearing men.
Verse 14
is the
Lord.
But even if
you should
choose to
be afraid,
do not be
frightened,
but or
instead
in your
heart set
apart Christ
as Lord.
In other
words,
don't be
afraid of
the sort of
things that
men threaten
you with.
Instead,
greatly
revere
Christ in
your
hearts.
Setting
apart
Christ in
our
heart is
what you
do in
order to
not have
fear in
your heart
of what
men might
do or
say about
you.
That's what
you do.
So whatever
setting apart
Christ means,
it is the
opposite of
fearing men.
And it
is, in
fact, the
source of
your confidence
and your
hope.
In verses
14 and
15, Peter
is giving
a Christian
adaption to
the text of
Isaiah 8
verses 12
to 13.
And you
might want to
look at that
with me.
Isaiah 8
verses 12
and 13.
And it
gives us a
whole lot of
help in
deciding what
it means to
set apart
Christ as
Lord in
our hearts.
God gives
Isaiah a
warning in
these verses
about how
we should
feel, or
how he
should feel
about his
unbelieving
countrymen,
about the
Lord God.
And beginning
at verse
11, he
says,
the Lord
spoke to
me with
his
strong
hand upon
me,
warning me
not to
follow the
ways of
his people.
He said,
do not
call
conspiracy
everything that
they call
conspiracy.
Do not
fear what
they fear.
Do not
dread it.
The Lord
Almighty is
the one you
are to
regard as
holy.
He's the
one you
are to
fear.
He is the
one you
are to
dread.
And so
Peter takes
this word
of God
addressed to
Isaiah about
his adversaries
and he
applies it to
the Christians
in his own
day and
our day in
relation to
our
adversaries.
And he
says,
don't fear
what they
fear, but
regard the
Lord instead.
Isaiah 8,
14 makes
it clear
that the
way to
regard God
or to
treat him
as holy
is to
fear him
instead of
fearing what
men fear
or to
dread him
instead of
dreading what
they dread.
But God
doesn't mean
that we
are always
to be
gripped by
an emotional
fear when
God is
our Lord.
That would
seem to,
in my mind,
to be an
invitation to
misery, I
would think.
And I
don't think
that's what
he means
here.
One clue
that he
doesn't
mean that
is the
very next
phrase in
verse 14.
It's a
promise for
those who
fear him
as God.
It says,
God will
become a
sanctuary.
A
sanctuary is
a place
where you
feel safe
and secure
and peaceful.
Now, it
seems on the
surface to be
somewhat paradoxical.
If God is
your dread,
how can he
be your
refuge and
your sanctuary?
But it's
not as
paradoxical if
we take the
words of
verse 14
to not
mean be
constantly
gripped by
the emotion
of fear,
but rather
or instead
always regard
the displeasure
of God as
more fearful
than the
displeasure of
man.
What God
wants here
from Isaiah
is for the
prospect of
offending God
to be much
more dreadful
thing to
him than
the prospect
of being
persecuted
by people.
And that's
the way
Isaiah
was to
revere the
Lord.
It's the way
that Isaiah
was to set
apart God
in his
heart.
The degree
to which God
was set
apart in
his heart
was the
same degree
of his
desire not
to displease
God.
And what
was it in
particular in
the context
that would
have displeased
God?
Verse 12,
do not
fear what
they fear
or be in
dread of
what they
dread.
God would
have been
displeased
if Isaiah,
he would
have been
displeased
with him
if he
had feared
the same
thing that
his unbelieving
countrymen
feared and
that is
the threats
of people.
And the
reason is
that God
had made
many promises
to his
people that
should in
fact have
taken away
the fear
and instead
filled them
with confidence
and hope.
And so if
Isaiah feared
man and
not God,
it would
show that he
doesn't trust
the promises
of God.
God had
said,
Isaiah 41
verse 10
and 13,
do not
fear for
I am with
you,
do not
be dismayed
for I am
your God,
I will
strengthen
you and
help you,
I will
uphold you
by my
righteous
hand for
I am
the Lord
your God
who takes
hold of
your right
hand and
says to
you,
do not
fear because
I will
help you.
God had
promised him
that already.
God
promised them
that already
and a
bunch of
other promises
and if
Isaiah feared
the threats
of God,
he cast
his vote
against
the
trustworthiness
of God
and does
not revere
the Lord
in his
heart.
But if
we do
not
fear
what
men
fear
but
instead
fear
to
displease
God
and so
trust in
his
promises
then
you
reverence
the Lord
in your
heart.
You set
apart
Christ
as Lord
in your
heart.
And so
what we see
from the Old
Testament
background
of Peter's
teaching here
in chapter
3
is that
setting
apart
Christ
as Lord
in your
heart
means
first of
all
feeling
that to
displease
Christ
is more
fearful
than the
threats
of any
human
being.
Firstly
and more
specifically
since what
displeases
Christ
most
is
unbelief
in his
promises
then
setting
him
apart
in our
hearts
means
setting
your
mind
on his
promises
and
setting
your
heart
on
trusting
his
promises.
Promises
like 1
Peter 5
verse 7
cast all
your anxiety
on him
for he
cares for
you.
Promises
like 1
Peter 5
10
after you
have
suffered
a little
while
the God
of all
grace
who has
called you
to his
eternal glory
in Christ
will himself
restore
establish
and strengthen
you.
To set
apart
Christ as
Lord in
your
hearts
is to
set your
mind on
his
promises
to take
care of
you
and to
trust those
promises
with all
of your
heart.
And if
you do
in increasing
measure
the fear
of men
will
decrease
and instead
be turned
into hope.
And you
will have
a reason
to give
for the
hope that
is in
fact in
your
heart.
Now if
what Peter
has written
here seems
like a
tall order
let's not
forget
that Peter
discovered
this secret
of hope.
He
discovered the
secret of
boldness in
the face of
opposition
after a
massive
failure.
This is the
Peter who
declared that
he would
never forsake
Jesus
but waiting
in a
courtyard
at the
home of the
high priest
while Jesus
was being
questioned
he failed
miserably.
Three times
he denied
he was a
disciple of
Jesus.
He wasn't
with Jesus.
He did
not know
Jesus.
And in the
background in
the shadows
stood Jesus
and Jesus
turns and he
looks at
Peter and
as he
predicted the
crow the
cock crowed
the rooster
crowed the
bird whatever
it was crowed
three times
just as
Jesus said
it would.
And
contrast this
in that
moment in
that dark
night huddled
around that
fire and
the absolute
failure of
Peter running
out from
them bursting
into tears
failing Jesus
to because
he feared
man.
Contrast
that Peter
with the
Peter who
had seen
the risen
Jesus who
was filled
with the
Holy Spirit
he's no
longer huddled
around a
fire but he
stands as
the accused.
He who
had feared
to confront
a servant
girl now
confronts the
high court
and accuses
the high court
of crucifying
Jesus and
he refuses
to be silent
about the
resurrected
Jesus.
He says
we must
obey God
rather than
man.
in Acts
4 and
5.
You see
Peter shows
us that our
hope provides
both the
courage for
our frontline
witness and
in fact the
content of our
frontline
witness.
Our hope is
in the Lord
risen.
Our devotion
to Christ
makes us
ready not
only in
rationale
but in
attitude.
Notice it
says
give a reason
for the hope
you have
in gentleness.
Respect,
gentleness or
another word is
humility of
life is an
important,
is just as
important as
boldness with
the word.
Humility is
the other
result of
setting apart
Christ as
Lord in your
heart.
surely no
pride is
more offensive
than pride in
being trophies of
God's grace.
Is there
anything more
offensive than
that sort of
pride?
You see the
lack of fear
before man
doesn't lead to
pride or
smugness or
arrogance or
abrasiveness.
This humility
is far more
than politeness
and political
correctness.
It's an
attitude that
reflects the
fear of God
in your heart.
You don't want
to disappoint
Christ.
You want to
have the same
attitude of
Christ.
And so I
wonder,
and just
wonder,
if the
reason we
aren't more
free and
natural in
testifying to
the reality of
our hope in
Christ, on
our front
lines or in
our society,
I just
wonder if
it's because
we don't feel
very hopeful
I wonder if
it's because
of lack of
hope that
we're not
free to
testify to
Christ.
And so the
fear of man
grips us.
I think that
if that's the
case, if we're
not hopeful,
when our
hearts are not
full of hope
in the promises
of Christ,
Christ, and
when the
occasion arises
at work or
at school,
university,
at a bar,
and the
opportunity is
there to make
a case for
our hope,
we sense it
in fact as a
duty to defend
doctrine.
If hope's not
there, it's
just a duty to
defend doctrine
instead of a
delight to tell
someone why we
have so much
hope in our
hearts.
Being
messengers of
the good news
of salvation in
Christ Jesus
will always be a
burdensome duty
to defend a
doctrine, as
long as
Christianity
means for us
simply accepting
certain doctrines
as truth and
keeping a
certain list of
do's and
don'ts.
That is, our
mission to the
world will
simply just be a
duty that we
have to do
if we don't
have hope in
our hearts.
Any concept
of being
messengers of
the gospel will
be a painful
duty to be
avoided if we
confess the
lordship of
Jesus with
little more
that are sent
in our minds.
If Jesus is
our treasure
and our
heart's
devotion,
then it is
a delight
to tell
someone why
we have
hope.
and I
fear that
too many
church
people have
simply
inherited the
motions of
church life
and outward
morality and
piety,
but the
heartfelt
reality of
Christ and
a joyful hope
in his
promises,
in spite of
opposition,
are foreign.
And so we
want to
defend our
way of
life,
not see
people wonder
Christ.
And some
people who
are in
that position,
they can
defend a
doctrine,
but they
cannot make
a case for
the hope
that is
within them
because they
don't feel
hope brimming
up within
their hearts.
promise.
And so
the way
to get
ready
to be
messengers of
the gospel on
your front
line,
the way
to get
ready to
make a
case for
the hope
that you
have
is to
get hopeful.
Pretty
straightforward,
really.
it makes
the job
so simple.
It
simplifies it
for us.
Don't
start by
writing out
beforehand a
bunch of
answers to
someone else's
questions.
That's not
where you
start.
Apply
yourself to
settling the
questions of
your own
heart,
your own
mind.
do that
first.
That's
where hope
begins.
Settle
the questions
of your
own heart,
your own
mind.
We have
to find
for ourselves
reason enough
to get over
our fear of
men and to
live in
hope.
And if
our own
hope does
not spring
up from
something that
Christ did
or that
something that
Christ said,
then it
is a
mere
sham to
try and
make a
case for
someone else
to put
their hope
in Christ.
But if
we search
out the
promises of
Christ and
meditate on
his character
and work for
the sake of
banishing our
own fear and
kindling our
own hope,
then this
very act of
setting apart
Christ as
Lord in
our hearts
will be
the
preparation
for making
a case for
our hope to
others on
our front
lines.
And if it
is so,
then our
primary activity
in preparing
to witness
is to keep
our own
hearts happy
in Christ,
hopeful in
Christ.
And so that
means day
after day,
we go to
the scriptures
not anxiously
trying to
amass a
bunch of
arguments for
work colleagues
and university
students and
whatever else,
for every
possible rebuttal
that somebody
might have in
our secular
age.
We go there
day by day
because our
own hearts
are so
desperately
needy for
hope.
Because our
own hope
wanes.
Our own
trust in
the promises
of Christ
wanes.
We have
fears that
need to be
overcome by
the promises
of God.
We have
doubts that
need to be
answers.
The fight
of faith is
waged in
the word
of God
and prayer.
And when
we emerge
from that
encounter with
God,
with a
renewed and
lively hope
in his
promises,
we will be
ready to
make a case
for our
hope.
And in
making the
case for
our hope,
we have in
Christ with
gentleness and
respect, we
are praying that
God would make
us fruitful on
our front lines
for his glory
and the joy of
many people.
for our