What's Your Story?
1 Peter 3:13-18:
13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.
Transcript
Please forgive any errors in this automatic transcript. Thank you!
If I were to walk around the sanctuary right now and ask you, what is your story? What would you say? Let's say I even had a microphone and I walked around the sanctuary and I just picked somebody and said, what is your story? What would you say? And there's obviously going to be a few people who I know I can handle microphone to. And y'all would probably preach the sermon for me. I'm thinking of Tristan and Robin. I'm not going to do that. But what would you say? Besides, what in the world are you doing? Or some of you would suddenly realize you want to go make sure the paint in the back is really good and dry, and you need to do that right now. What are you doing? But what would you say? Would you talk about your family? Would you talk about places you've lived? Some of y'all have lived mostly in this area. Others of you, like me, have lived in various places in Georgia or the United States or beyond the United States for some of you. Would you tell me about your education, your work? Would you tell me about your story of faith, the ways that Jesus has walked with you, or perhaps even the ways you walked away from Jesus and somehow he found you anyway? Would you talk about finances? Do you have a rags to riches story, or have you learned to be content with your daily bread? Would you talk about your happiest moments? Graduations. That's a big thing this weekend. My whole Facebook feed is graduations. Would you talk about those big moments? Graduations, weddings, births, home ownerships? I have one of those special memories that just popped in my mind this morning. We found out that Ellie was going to be part of our lives on Mother's Day five years ago. It's part of my story, but part of my story is also the hardest moments illness, funerals, accidents, various kinds of trauma. So no, I'm not going to walk around and hand you a mic and ask you to start telling your story. But by the end of this sermon, I want you to be ready to do that. So be willing at least to think about what would you say if I asked, what is your story? What is your story? This text that we read, one of the verse says, but in your hearts Revere Christ as Lord. This reminds us that your story is not your story alone. Your story is God's story. Your story begins when he made you out of the dirt as a beautiful little dirt ling you meaning all of us. Humanity. And then our story continues. When Jesus saved us by his very blood on the cross. Our story is his story. Your story is his story. And as a body of Christ, a believing congregation. I've said before, we're the body of Christ, not the aisles of Christianity. And so we are in this together, which means that my story is in some ways your story, or at least tied in with it. And your story is tied in with mine. But certainly all of our stories are God's stories. We are not our own. But I've heard some of you say, Oh, you don't want to hear my story. It's not very interesting. It's just an ordinary life story. Other people have it. But your story is God's story. I don't care how ordinary it feels to you. Your story is part of God's story. And it's God's story too. Ordinary. I don't think so. But we gotta remember our story is part of his story, not the other way around. We kind of like to make God in our image sometimes, right? We want to make God something we can understand and put him in a box that's making his story, our story. But no, my story and your story is all part of his story. And then it says, always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you. Again, We are the body of Christ, not the idols of Christianity. And by the way, the early church, the people that Peter is writing to have never, ever heard of a private faith. Never mind the fact that they were persecuted for their faith. There was no such thing as a private faith. It was a corporate thing. It was something we do together. We build each other up and our strengths and our weaknesses. We build each other up in one body. So always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you. That could be somebody in this church. It could be somebody outside of this church. It could be somebody who doesn't know Jesus, which is really what Peter had in mind here. Remember these, the original audience were slaves in Rome, and so they were not treated kindly as Christians. And certainly they were asked all the time, why do you keep on with this Jesus thing? You see where it gets you? Why bother? This doesn't seem like it's actually helping you very much. And so they can share their story, their reason for the hope. But what I'm asking you really, when I say, what is your story is what is your apology? And you're like, I feel what you're thinking. It's all Greek to me. That's correct. It's Greek. Apology is where you get the term apologetics, which you might have heard me use before apologetics. Uh, my simplest definition for it is defense of the faith or asking and answering tough questions. But really, it's this word. Answer or reason, which I think is translated answer here. Reason. What is your reason for the hope? What is your reason? Why are you a Christian? What is your apology? That is part of your story? Now I'm going to shift into a little being a little bit of a a nerdy Greek lady for a second. Okay. Um, because I know some of you guys love the Greek stuff. So if you do tune in. If not, I'll let you know when we're done. You can tune back in then. We're good. Apologia is a Greek word. Uh, back in the day, it meant a reasoned defense in a court of law. So when Peter is writing this and saying, always be prepared to give an answer, he's painting this picture of a courtroom. He's like, be ready to stand up in front of a judge. And everybody who some who think that you're innocent, some who think you're guilty and give a reason for the hope that you have. Be ready anytime for anyone. That's the image here. Apologia. What is your apologia? What is your reason? And today we're saying, what is your story? Okay, we're done with the apologies. We're moving back to English. We are not going to have to stand in a court. Almost certainly, almost certainly not going to have to stand in court and explain why we're Christians in this country. But we do need to be ready to share our story with anyone, anytime. Always. That means that we have to be ready to share our story on the best days weddings, graduations, successes, good days. We tell our story of hope. It also means on our worst days, we're ready to tell our story of hope. Days of surgery, of immense pain. Days where we experienced death. Those are the days in particular. People are going to look at you and go, how can they still believe in Jesus when that happened to them? How could a good God allow that? This is one of those opportunities for the gospel to shine through both beautiful stories and even the ugliest moments of our lives. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you. I love this to give a reason for the hope that you have. If you've read First Corinthians, it says the greatest faith, hope and love remain, but the greatest is love, right? So why are we focusing on hope right now? What is it about hope when it comes to giving a reason for our faith that Peter is hitting on here because he doesn't say, give a reason for the love that you have, but that could be appropriate. He doesn't say, give a reason for the faith that you have, which again, could be appropriate to why hope? Why the word hope? To answer that, I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story about a wife and a mother and a missionary. Very fitting for Mother's Day. Her name was Elizabeth Elliot. Her life was in some ways very ordinary. She went to college. She fell in love. She got married. She had a daughter. A story that many of us have lived or witnessed countless times. In some ways, her life was very ordinary. She spent a lot of her time in America, but not all of her time. In fact, the school she went to was seminary, where she was studying biblical languages to become a Bible translator. And she didn't actually marry her husband, who was also in that seminary. While they were in seminary, they both were called to Ecuador to serve the people there. And then when they kept doing ministry together and continuing to build their relationship, they fell in love and got married in Ecuador and then became pregnant in Ecuador and then had her baby in Ecuador. Her husband, Jim, and four other missionaries were trying to make peaceful contact with a remote village that was known for violence. So they were being as careful as they reasonably could. They were actually using helicopters to drop goods to them as a way of reaching out, trying to be friends. Show that you know we come in peace. We're just here to be with you, to support you, to talk to you. We come in peace. And so Jim and those four other missionaries worked tirelessly to make contact with this tribe so that they, too, could know the reason for the hope. They, too, could know the gospel, that Jesus came and died for them, that he loves them. That Jesus wants to have a relationship with them, no matter their violent past or in that case, present. Jesus wanted to come in and redeem even this remote tribe, and this was their passion. And finally, there was one joyous Friday where they received word from the tribe that it was, it seemed really friendly. And so they went, and they finally visited the tribe. They began communicating as best they could with one another. It just seemed very friendly. And then two days later, on Sunday, all five missionary men were speared to death. Including Jim, the young husband and father. Elizabeth Elliott was twenty nine years old. Her baby was not even one when this happened. And in a single moment, her circumstances changed forever. But her mission did not. She committed herself, she and a few other missionaries to learning the language of those people. And then several years later, she and her friends and her three year old returned to Ecuador and ordered to continue the work of her husband in trying to convert those violent people who killed him. She offered the gospel to the very men who took her husband's life. She invited them into the same eternity that Jim now lives in. There are people who killed him in heaven with Jim right now. Wow. This is not a story of human strength. It is a story of love and faith. But it's more than that. It's a story of supernatural hope that it'll be worth it to continue her husband's mission, no matter what they did to her family, despite the fact that they made her child fatherless. There's this hope in Jesus that there's something so much greater that the good to come and the good of a relationship with Jesus is so much greater than even that immense pain. Hope shines brightest in suffering and challenges, whether that be the persecuted church. Elizabeth Elliot and her family, or our own challenges. I am assuming that none of you have had a spouse murdered, but many of you have lost spouses and you know the pain of that. You know, the pain of losing a spouse, watching your kids lose their dad. Some of you have lost children and grandchildren and other little loved ones who were gone just way too soon. Or friends. Even as kids. Kids lose friends too. You've all suffered. Some of you are suffering in many ways right now. You're just you're in a really challenging season and you're hearing this going, God, I want to shine this hope in my life, but I just feel so empty. And yet in these moments. This is when God can shine his hope the most. So when people look at us and say, how do you carry on? And you say, because there's something greater coming, because I have a relationship with Jesus, and that overshadows even the worst days. And I'll tell you, that's not necessarily a feeling. It's a choice. It's a choice. And it's part of our sanctification. It's why we we give ourselves to God. And we can even say, I don't feel hopeful. I don't feel faithful. I don't feel very loving right now. I would like to go back to bed and stay there for a week. But the mission you've given me to share your love is even greater than this deep challenge. And so, God, where would you have me go today? Who would you have me share my story with? Your story with today? But the how of it matters too. It says, do this with gentleness and respect. I'm sure it was tempting for those early persecuted Christians to not feel very respectful to the people who were persecuting them. Like, why would I be polite to them? Besides the fact that maybe it'll help me not get treated so bad? Why would I be gentle with someone who has been abusive to me? And this isn't passivity. It's the same Christ likeness that Jesus showed those at the cross when he prayed, father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. Keeping a clear conscience matters because suffering can tempt us towards anger. Sometimes we do tend to go to poor coping skills or anger, or lashing out when life is hard. That's our natural human way to handle it. Peter says, no, you. You need to be watching your character, watching your choices, giving them to God. Remember, we're not doing any of this alone. We're not doing any of this alone. And there's no there's no shame in this game. There's no. Oh, I said something mean. I'm not a good Christian anymore. No, we just we give that to God. We say, Lord, forgive me. Do I need to reconcile this? Help me next time we. There's no shame here. God is with us and helping us every step along the way. I wonder, too, if Elizabeth Elliot struggled with resentment when she went back, like she had decided to go back. That was a pretty big decision to to raise the funds and do the moving and everything involved to get back over there. But I wonder if there was some resentment deep in her heart to that. Every morning she had to give to the father like, God help me forgive them like Jesus forgave us. Help me love them the way Jesus loved us. Help me teach them the hope that I have. That I'm going to see Jim again someday in heaven. And. And they can too. And he's going to forgive them. They really they really are already forgiven. So what is your story? Now, maybe by this point you've decided, okay, yeah, if you did come around with a microphone, I would need to be ready to share my story, even though I don't like being put on the spot. And I wish you wouldn't do that. Leah I understand. But you're like, okay, I think I do need to know my story. Stories can be so powerful. They can point people to God because your story is God's story. But where do I even start? Where would I even start to know my story? So for your sermon notes today, I put in some prompts. Learn to tell your story so you can take this with you. Or you don't do paper. Take a picture of it on your phone so you can reference it again, just a few questions to get you to start thinking about your story in particular as being part of God's story. Can you recall a moment when Jesus became real to you? Or if you weren't raised in the faith when you began to realize that Jesus might be might truly love you, that all of this Christian stuff might actually be true. What happened? Where were you? Who was involved? Who was part of your story? When was the time you experienced divine expectant hope? Because this is not wishfulness, by the way. This is not wishful hope. This is expectant hope. It's. It's pregnant hope. It is hope that that expects a good end. What was going on and how did God meet you in that moment? Have you had any moments where someone's hope or faith or love in Jesus shone brightly, even in gloomy circumstances? Or perhaps it happened to you? What happened? Who was involved? And where do you see Jesus at work in your life today? Whether that be in those around you, at church or in other circles of your life? In whom do you see Jesus? These are just a few questions. I could have put a many different other questions on here, but just to get you started, write it out in your bulletin. Write it out in your journal, speak it out loud to a friend or your spouse. The one thing that I'm going to tell you not to do is don't just think about it. Because God made our brains to to process actively, we need to say things out loud. We need to write them down. It helps it. It helps. It really cement itself in our being. That's how God made us. So don't just think about it. Do something about it. Write it out. Talk it out. Even if you're talking to yourself in the car. I do that a lot. People say it makes you sound crazy, but I don't care. And I have a special call for mothers in particular. We have faith stories, and we have these precious people that God has put in our lives. But the most unique and beautiful relationship. Do they know your faith story? Maybe they know pieces of it. But do they know your story, whether it be pieces or all of it up until this point? Do they know your story? Because your witness of faith and hope can bear witness to your kids in powerful ways. You, you, you've probably been in this place where you were going through an old boxes where you found a, a grandma or grandpa or an aunt's journals and or Bible, and you started reading through it and seeing their faith lived out in their words. What a witness. Do you have something like that you could pass along to your kids? So what's your story? Do you know it? And do you know how it ties in to Jesus story? Now, if you're somebody who has already done this, you're like, yes, I know my story. Hand me that microphone. Do it. I can handle it. I, and I have it passed down to those in my family. I feel really good about this. First of all, congrats. That's awesome. That's so encouraging. But I'm going to push you one step further. Can you look at somebody this week and ask, what is your story? What is your story? It could be a neighbor. It could be someone at work. It could be someone at school. It could be a grocery store clerk. What is your story? And then listen. Is there somebody, maybe God is calling you to be a student of God, calling you to learn someone's biography so that you can help them see Jesus in it and invite Jesus fully into that story, or rather, allow their story to be part of Jesus's story. So I ask you, what's your story? And I hope you will ask someone else. What's your story? Because when it comes to the reason for the hope that we have, much of it is based on our own experiences and struggles rooted in Scripture, of course. And so the apologia you need to know is you need to know your own. And you need to know those around you who God has placed in your life to disciple, to nurture. For some of us to mother and ask them, what's your story? And help them see God in it. So know your story. Tell your story. There's no such thing as an ordinary story that's tied into God's. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you. For so many things. I always pause after saying thank you because I don't know how to pick just one. But I thank you for the gift of motherhood. I thank you for the gift of stories. I thank you for the gift of people like Elizabeth Elliot, who have passed their stories along to us, which includes their deepest moments of pain in order to show us the hope that's in Jesus that is so much greater than our circumstances. And we thank you that we do have hope, that the suffering we experience now is not going to last forever, and the good we experience now is a glimmer of the glory to come. Let that hope take root in our hearts so that even when we're not feeling it, you are making it grow and bloom. In Jesus name, Amen.