Text:  1 Peter 3:15-22                                                                                   6^thEaster Sunday: Rogate

Be Prepared

You know, fast food had to be an American invention. In most of the world people enjoy taking a couple hours around midday to have a leisurely meal (maybe in several courses) and then perhaps a short nap before returning to work. It’s just the way things are: kind of relaxed. The very idea of rushing to a drive-through to grab a greasy pre-made sandwich and then wolfing it down on the way back to work just couldn’t have originated in other places. But we Americans are different. We’re always in a little more of a rush. And one thing we don’t like is to have to wait for things: we want it ready when we are. For us prepared in advance is a good thing. I’m certain that T.V. dinners and those microwaveable meals had to be American inventions too.

And I think maybe it goes back to the time of the American Revolution, what with the Minutemen and all - so called because they were supposed to be ready to march or fight at a moment’s notice. We just can’t imagine anyone saying to Paul Revere on the night of his famous ride, "Paul, have you any idea what time it is? Look, my uniform isn’t pressed, my boots aren’t polished, my musket needs to be cleaned and oiled, and my powder is a little damp. Relax, would you? I’ll be ready in a few hours. Or better yet: call me back in the morning - after ten!" No, that just wouldn’t have been acceptable. It wouldn’t be American. We see this same sense of urgency and premeditated vigilance handed down through our history. "Be prepared" is the Scout’s motto, as we all know. And the elite U.S. Army Rangers have as their first standing order a rule that expresses the idea in somewhat more sophisticated form: "Don’t never forget nothin’." And I think it’s fair to say that the same basic value of preparedness is evident in the way we approach pretty much everything we do, be it our jobs, our family lives, our vacations, you name it: we are a people who appreciate the need to always be ready for anything - and perhaps part of the reason for that is that we have branded into our collective consciousness such dates as December 7th (and now September 11th) that remind us of the bitter price of not being prepared.

Well anyway, it’s good that we appreciate this basic value of being prepared because in today’s Epistle lesson St. Peter tells us that it’s necessary for us as Christians to be ready at all times. Specifically, he says you need to "be prepared to give answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." The word there translated "answer" is in Greek "apologia" from which we get the word "apology". But it doesn’t mean making an excuse for doing something wrong, or saying that you’re sorry for a mistake you made, as we usually use the word "apology"; rather it means making an organized presentation or explanation of what you believe, like a lawyer might do before a court of law, or a candidate for a doctor’s degree might do to defend his thesis. What Peter is saying is that you need to be ready always, wherever you are, to present a clear and reasoned exposition of your Christian faith. It means too that you need to understand it well enough to be able to adapt the message to the level of the person asking you about it, because you never know where or to whom you might be asked to give an account of what you believe.

We have a very good example in this morning’s reading from Acts where we see St. Paul presenting the fundamental truths of the Christian faith to an assembly of scholars on Mars Hill in the city of Athens. And to understand exactly what Paul is doing, it will be helpful to know that Athens was the intellectual and philosophical capital of that time. What Hollywood is to the motion picture industry and New York City is to worldwide economics, is what Athens was to the disciplines of wisdom and learning in ancient times. And it’s here that we find Paul addressing a group of men whom the entire world recognized as the giants of human knowledge. From their perspective, Paul would appear to be little more than a babbling yokel from the insignificant land of Judea - an academically backward province way out on the nether regions of the empire. And Paul too must have been a little intimidated to be standing here in front of them: it would be like one of us making a speech before the National Academy of the Sciences or to an assembly of Nobel prize winners. But despite the celebrated wisdom of his audience, Paul, though he is very tactful about it, is standing here telling these brilliant scholars how completely ignorant they are for worshipping idols of stone and precious metals instead of the one true God who made heaven and earth.

It’s funny, isn’t it? Most of us tend to think that it’s only in the past hundred years or so that there has been a huge gap between scientific scholarship and human philosophy on one hand and the Christian faith on the other. This text makes it clear that it’s been that way from the very beginning. The only real difference is that in our time scholars have substituted nameless forces of nature and chance for the old named gods of stone and metal. The essential argument is still the same: the truth of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ on one side, and the hollow and deceptive speculations of fallen man on the other. And here we see that St. Paul is not ashamed to present the unvarnished truth even to those who are likely to be his most challenging opponents and sophisticated critics.

Well, it’s doubtful that any of us will ever be called upon to witness to our faith before such an august assembly. Nevertheless, the Lord requires us to be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks about the reason for the hope that we have - and when that happens, there’s no guarantee that the situation will be any less intimidating than that faced by St. Paul, nor are your hearers likely to be any more receptive; which are all the more reasons to be prepared in advance to give an answer.

And in one sense we are giving a witness of our faith all of the time, whether we know it or not. This is implied where it says, "give an answer to those who ask". Well, why did they ask you in the first place? Why? It’s because they saw something different or unusual in you. Whether or not they know that you are a Christian, your faith makes you appear different to the rest of the people around you.

St. Peter mentions two things specifically that people see in your life. The first is the hope that you have in Christ. Which begs the question, "How can anyone see what I hope for?" And to better understand what Peter means, it will be helpful to know the word "hope" in this context is not a whimsical, "Oh, gee, wouldn’t it be nice if" kind of hope, but rather a firm, confident expectation that because of certain facts and circumstances the end result will be this - whatever that happens to be. For Christians such as us, hope is built on the truth of the Gospel - the Rock that is Jesus Christ. And this hope might be expressed this way: even though I am a wretched sinner who deserves only God’s wrath and judgment, I know that Jesus, God’s own Son, because of God’s great love for me came into the world to bear my sin and its just punishment. I know that God accepted the sacrifice Jesus made for me because God raised him from the dead and placed all authority in heaven and on earth in his hands. And because he lives and reigns forever, and because of the promises he has made to me, I know that one day I too will be raised in glory and live with him forever.

That’s the hope of every Christian; and if you have that hope it will be apparent in the way that you live. Specifically it casts an overall sense of peace and security over your life. It’s that sense of "if God loves me this much and has given me so a great salvation in Christ, then I know that whatever else happens must surely also fit into God’s great plan for me - so it’s nothing to panic about." Some of you may be familiar with this: it’s an article by Garrison Keillor entitled Singing with the Lutherans. If you’re not familiar with Garrison Keillor, you should know that he does a radio show called Prairie Home Companion, which is usually broadcast from St. Paul, Minnesota, and in it he often tells humorous tales of growing up in the little town of Lake Wobegon in that largely Lutheran state. Keillor, who is not Lutheran himself but is a Christian, often pokes a little good-natured fun at us Lutherans - which is just fine with me: we need to be able to laugh at ourselves a little. But one of the things he says here that he finds amusing about us is our "excessive calm". We don’t seem to get so excited or worked up about things as other people.

Now, he’s likely to attribute this "excessive calm" to some kind of northern European stoicism, that tendency of Germans and Scandinavians (a lot of whom happen to be Lutherans) to hide their emotions. But I would attribute it instead to our hope. Whatever else people might say about us Lutherans, they always admit that we’ve got the Gospel message down tight and that it always prevails in our teaching and worship. If we tend to be relatively calm in a crisis it’s because we know we are standing on the Rock in the middle of the storm.

And nowhere is this more evident than at a funeral. You who have been to many can attest to this. You know that some funerals tend to be a recapitulation of all the wonderful things that the deceased did in life; how much the person was loved, and how sorely they will be missed. But when all is said and done, you go home feeling kind of empty and uncertain. I feel compelled to add at this point that all the wonders of modern science and the best thoughts of our brightest philosophers aren’t much help here either. They become strangely silent at the graveside of a loved one. But there’s something marvelously different about a funeral where people hear clearly the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You notice that "excessive calm" that Keillor talks about. But why is that? Is it that the survivors and friends hurt any less? Is it that they not suffering the grief of loss as intensely as other people? Are they just better at hiding how they feel? No. Instead they’ve been given something concrete that fills the void and softens the loss. They have real hope. Because they are standing on the Rock, they can see beyond the present storm to the happy conclusion in Christ.

And of course, it’s not just at funerals that people see this in you. They might see how you handle a difficult problem in your life, for example, and think, "That’s not the way I would have done it; but you know, I like the way you handled it better." This is what might prompt them to ask, "Tell me, why do you think the way you do?" This is the sort of opportunity that St. Peter says you need to be prepared for. You know, there are a lot of people out there looking for something solid on which to build their lives. It’s hardly fitting for us who know the love of Christ to stand idly on the Rock and watch them get swept away by the flood.

But it’s also true that not everyone is going to receive your answer well. Many people in their blind rebellion against God simply refuse to believe his truth. They want nothing to do with the Lord or his salvation. Others are so caught up in the short-term pleasures of sin that they can’t be bothered with the vital issues of death and the coming judgment. And still others are unable or unwilling to admit that they cannot handle things themselves. They refuse a salvation that is dependent on God’s love and grace rather than on what they can do by their own efforts. Whatever the reasons, some people are not going to like what you say about your faith in Jesus.

Many of them will simply choose to ignore what you say. But from some you will receive active opposition. This will range from the ridicule of those who marvel that you can actually adhere to a bunch of silly, ancient myths, to those who feel it’s their job to tear down your faith by undermining its foundation, all the way to those who may go so far as to attack you physically. And it’s at this point, Peter says, that the second visible part of your faith plays to your advantage. And that’s the godly life you lead as a disciple of the Lord Jesus.

Those who trust in Jesus and follow him cannot help but show his love in the way they live. His Holy Spirit who dwells within them shapes and influences their behavior. Or as Jesus says in this morning’s Gospel lesson, "If you love me, you will obey what I command." So righteousness of life is a necessary result of having the hope that we do. And while certain people might think that you are a deluded fool for trusting in the Gospel, no one will be able to argue against the acts of love and compassion that you do. Peter writes, "keep a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." That is to say, someone who attacks you for doing good only embarrasses himself and shows how wrong he is. The best way to silence your critics and enemies is to love them. And coupled with your testimony to the truth about Jesus, it can even help save their souls from destruction. And saving souls from destruction is what our hope in Christ is all about.

So I guess at this point, as I begin to wrap up, the question for each one of us is, "Are you prepared?" Is the hope you have in Christ evident in your life in such a way that someone may be moved to ask you about it? If they were to ask you, have you thought about and prepared at least the outline of an answer that covers the essential truths of what you believe? Could you lead a person to saving faith by your witness? And finally, is the life you are living one that shines forth with godliness in such a way that evil slander thrown at you just isn’t able to stick? If so, I’d say you were ready.

But if not, it’s time that you got that way - for the time is shorter now than when you first believed. And how do you get prepared and remain that way? The same way you did when you first came to faith: by listening to the voice of the Lord Jesus, hearing his Gospel message, and by receiving his healing touch. It happened when you were baptized. Then he told you about his death for your sin and his resurrection to raise you to new life. He touched you in the water, he washed away your guilt, and he gave you his Spirit. He does the same thing today when hear his teaching as you are right now, and when you confess your sins and shortcomings and hear his word of forgiveness. And very soon he will touch you again in the sacrament of Holy Communion. In that way he will again assure you of the hope you have in him. Though these means he prepares you to be his faithful witness, and to live in such a way that shows that the power of his resurrection is even now raising you to a new life.

So may he always prepare us, that by his grace we may be ready at all times to give a faithful and eager answer to those who ask about the hope we have in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!