Out-Live and Out-Give

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.” 

1 PETER 3:15-16

 

PONDER THIS

Living as a light means your life will be different because you follow Christ. You will be blameless. That doesn’t mean sinless, but you will be blameless. Verse 15 says people are going to ask questions because of the hope that’s in you. Why? Because they can see something different about you.

The way you live and the hope you have sets you apart in this hopeless, dying world. People are to see your life—at school, in the neighborhood, on the job—standing out like a diamond in a coal mine, like a gardenia in a garbage can. You should be different. You need to out-love, out-live, out-give, out-pray, out-witness the people of this world. Are you willing to do that? It requires sacrifice.

You want others to believe in us and what we believe in? Let them see your good works. When we begin to live this way, others will begin to ask us, “What makes you tick? What is the reason for the hope that is in you?” And we get to tell them all about Jesus.

How is your life different from the people around you? How is it the same?

Who in your life has lived differently for Christ? What have you learned from them?

PRACTICE THIS

Encourage someone you know who lives differently because of Jesus.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Gain of Serving God

“They shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.” (2 Chronicles 12:8)

Serving God is utterly different from serving anyone else.

God is extremely jealous that we understand this — and enjoy it. For example, he commands us, “Serve the Lord with gladness!” (Psalm 100:2). There is a reason for this gladness. It is given in Acts 17:25. God is not “served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”

We serve him with gladness because we do not bear the burden of meeting his needs. He has no needs. So, serving him can’t mean meeting his needs. Instead we rejoice in a service where he meets our needs. Serving God always means receiving grace from God to do what we have to do.

To show how jealous God is for us to understand this, and glory in it, there is a story in 2 Chronicles 12. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, who ruled the southern kingdom after the revolt of the ten tribes, chose against serving the Lord and gave his service to other gods and other kingdoms.

As judgment, God sent Shishak, the king of Egypt, against Rehoboam with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen (2 Chronicles 12:2–3).

In mercy God sent the prophet Shemaiah to Rehoboam with this message: “Thus says the Lord, ‘You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak’” (2 Chronicles 12:5). The happy upshot of that message is that Rehoboam and his princes humbled themselves in repentance and said, “The Lord is righteous” (2 Chronicles 12:6).

When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, he said, “They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak” (2 Chronicles 12:7). But as a discipline to them he says, “They shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries” (2 Chronicles 12:8).

The point is plain: serving the enemy and serving God are very different. How so? Serving God is a receiving and a blessing and a joy and a benefit. Serving Shishak is exhausting and depleting and sorrowful. God is a giver. Shishak is a taker.

This is why I am so jealous to say that the worship of Sunday morning and the worship of daily obedience is not at bottom a burdensome giving to God, but a joyful getting from God. That is the true service that God demands. In all you do, trust me as the giver.

John Piper 

Bible Study

Isaiah 26:13

    [13] O LORD our God,

        other lords besides you have ruled over us,

        but your name alone we bring to remembrance.

Isaiah 2:8-9

    [8] Their land is filled with idols;

        they bow down to the work of their hands,

        to what their own fingers have made. 

    [9] So man is humbled,

        and each one is brought low—

        do not forgive them!

Psalm 20:7-8

    [7] Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

        but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. 

    [8] They collapse and fall,

        but we rise and stand upright.

Proverbs 21:31

    [31] 

    The horse is made ready for the day of battle,

        but the victory belongs to the LORD.

Strength Under Control

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.” 1 PETER 3:15

 

PONDER THIS

If we would be bright lights in a dark world, we must practice genuine humility. This is no time to strut in arrogance. Peter says to share our hope, “with meekness and fear.” Meekness is not weakness; it is strength under control. Fear is not trembling at what is happening around us; it is holy reverence for Almighty God.

You can have reasons for your faith, but people will not be won by arguments alone, not by the ballot box, and not by organization. So many people think of Bible believers as people of arrogance. They think of us as hatemongers. They think of us as intolerant. We must be very careful that we do not use angry rhetoric when we respond to them. James 1:19-20 says, “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” Your anger does not bring about God’s righteousness. We must humble ourselves before God and invite Him to move instead of speaking with our own agenda.

What does it look like to answer someone with humility and love?

Where is it most difficult for you to respond with love? What is your reaction to those opposed to Christ?

PRACTICE THIS

Confess to God when you have lacked humility and love. Ask Him to help you share His hope and love with others.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Something to Boast About

By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)

The New Testament correlates faith and grace to make sure that we do not boast in what grace alone achieves.

One of the most familiar examples is Ephesians 2:8. By grace, through faith. There’s the correlation that guards the freedom of grace. By grace, through faith.

Faith is the act of our soul that turns away from our own insufficiency to the free and all-sufficient resources of God. Faith focuses on the freedom of God to dispense grace to the unworthy. It banks on the bounty of God.

Therefore faith, by its very nature, nullifies boasting and fits with grace. Wherever faith looks, it sees grace behind every praiseworthy act. So it cannot boast, except in the Lord. The author of grace.

So Paul, after saying that salvation is by grace through faith, says, “And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). Faith cannot boast in human goodness or competence or wisdom, because faith focuses on the free, all-supplying grace of God. Whatever goodness faith sees, it sees as the fruit of grace.

When it looks at our “wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,” it says, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:30–31).

John Piper 

Bible Study

2 Timothy 2:24-26

[24] And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, [25] correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, [26] and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

Colossians 4:6

[6] Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Isaiah 29:23

    [23] For when he sees his children,

        the work of my hands, in his midst,

        they will sanctify my name;

    they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob

        and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

1 Peter 1:17-19

[17] And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, [18] knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, [19] but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

Do You Know What You Believe?

“Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘Whatever could this mean?’”

ACTS 2:7-12

 

PONDER THIS

Is there something about you that is unexplainable according to human wisdom? Can you explain your story apart from Jesus Christ? Has anybody ever asked you, “What is the reason for your hope?” You are to sanctify the Lord in your heart, and you are to be ready to share the hope that lives inside of you.

I’m appalled at how little the average Christian knows about what to believe. One man asked a woman, “What do you believe?” She said, “I believe what my church believes.” He asked, “Well, what does your church believe?” And she told him, “My church believes what I believe.” Then he wondered, “Well, what do you both believe?” And she responded, “Oh, we believe the same thing.” Are you being changed by the hope of Jesus so that your life looks different than the lives of those around you? Are you ready to share that hope with others?

When has someone asked you about the reason for your faith? How did you respond?

How ready are you to share your faith with others today?

PRACTICE THIS

Share with others your hope in Christ. Ask about their hope and listen to their responses.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers