Revere Christ With Readiness

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Revere Christ With Readiness

Easier said than done. Sunday after Sunday we say these words: “hallowed be thy name.” But, as soon as we say these words, we begin to have some questions about these words. What does it mean to “hallow”? Hallow means to treat something/someone as being holy. How do we do this? Martin Luther takes a good stab at answering that question in these words:

God’s will is done when he breaks and defeats every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world and our sinful flesh, which try to prevent us from keeping God’s name holy and letting his kingdom come. And God’s will is done when he strengthens and keeps us firm in his word and in the faith as long as we live. This is his good and gracious will.

Easier said than done. We have a sinful flesh that wants us to do what is wrong. And we often listen to it. In the words we are looking at this morning, God’s word invites us to “hallow” Christ—to revere him. And we are invited to hallow him in a very specific way. In 1 Peter 3, we read: “¹⁵ but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. ¹⁶ Yet do this with gentleness and reverence, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame. ¹⁷ For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.” (1 Peter 3:15–17 CSB17)

What is one of the ways we can revere Christ and hold him as holy in our hearts? We can be ready. We can be ready to give a defense to someone who asks us anything about what we believe. Ahh, but there is where the problem comes in. There is a difference between defending our faith and destroying someone who attacks our faith. There’s a real temptation and trap we face, isn’t there? We have the real temptation and trap of not defending our faith with humility and fear. Instead of reaching out, we lash out. Instead of reasoning, we rant. There is this huge temptation that there are things we would never say to a person’s face that we say in other ways. We say unkind words behind their backs. We say unkind words in emails, in our comments in social media. And my friends, very often what we’re talking about here is not the what; it’s the how that we are talking about. Jesus asks us to be ready with a defense. But he asks us to do this with humility and fear. And he tells us this for a reason. If we do not do this, then we either embarrass ourselves by ranting and raving with rash words. Or we destroy the other person. If we don’t approach people with humility and fear, we can destroy the god they worship, whether that god is science, or entertainment, or even themselves. And what good is that if we don’t give them the true God to worship? And where that ends up is a bad conscience. Our conscience accuses us because we lashed out with ranting when we didn’t have to. Our conscience accuses us because we destroyed someone else’s god but didn’t give them a real God to worship and trust in. When we consider all of this, we realize that what we need is forgiveness and fuel. We need forgivness for our sins of not being ready. We need fuel, motivation to take up the task where we have failed before. And what follows in these words is exactly that. We read: “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,” (1 Peter 3:18 CSB17)

If you are looking for forgiveness for all the times you should have been ready, but weren’t, look to these words. Consider Christ’s Humiliation Now, when I say, “humiliation” I mean that in a very specific way that the bible speaks. Christ’s state of humiliation is where Jesus gives up, not the possession, but instead the use of his divine powers while he was here on this earth. He does this so that he can suffer and save us from our sins.

Where do we find that in these words? Peter tells us that Jesus was put to death “in the flesh.” Here is where I need you to put on your thinking caps for just a moment. For in the bible we find this word, “flesh.” This word has two basic definitions. The first is our own sinful flesh—that, from the moment we are conceived, there is this natural, innate need to do evil. But there is also a second definition. Flesh can also mean humble humanity.¹ Here God’s word reminds us that Jesus took on flesh and blood and yet remained completely and fully true God. But he did not make full and frequent use of that divine power. When he was made fun of, he did not destroy that person’s esteem. When he was put to death, he did not lash out in vengeance, allowing all of Jerusalem to be swallowed by the earth. He had every right to do this, but he did not. And he did this for us. He did this so that when God sees us he would see someone who was ready to revere God in our place. He does this so that when our Father sees us he does not see rants without reason or readiness. Instead, he sees righteousness. He sees the righteousness of his son in our place.

My dear friends in Christ, let that be your forgiveness. For all the times you were not ready with humility and fear, but instead you were ready with wrath and ranting, know that those sins are forgiveness. But also let that be your fuel—your motivation. What that person who lashes out against you, either in person or online, because you are a Christian needs is a replacement. That person needs Christ just as much as you do. And the great relenting, restraining, redeeming patience that Jesus has for you will lead you to show the same to that person. But there’s another fact to consider. We read: “¹⁹ in which he also went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison ²⁰ who in the past were disobedient, when God patiently waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared. In it a few—that is, eight people—were saved through water. ²¹ Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²² who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.” (1 Peter 3:19–22 CSB17)

We revere Christ with readiness. And as we do this we consider Christ’s humiliation. But we also consider our own salvation. There is some very patient and beautiful teaching going on here. Peter makes a comparison. He says that just as water saved Noah, so also water saves you. Then he clarifies and says that he is not talking about dirt on the body. Instead he is speaking about sin and salvation. Baptism saves you. That is the point that Peter is making here in such clear and eloquent words. And then he gives an example of what this looks like. It is the promise or appeal in front of God that you have a good conscience.² For the times you should have been ready and weren’t; for the times you thought you were ready and instead just gave into ranting; for all the harm those acts brought your conscience, baptism saves you from them. Baptism gives you a good conscience. For Jesus suffered and died on the cross. There is where he won that salvation. But here in these waters of baptism is where Jesus delivers this salvation to you. For this water is connected to his word.

When we speak about readiness to share our faith, what we need is forgiveness. And there in these waters of baptism we find it. But this fact of forgiveness is also fuel and motivation for us. We now have the privilige to replace our enemies’ idols with real truth. The forgiveness they cannot find out there in the world or in themselves is here, waiting for them in God’s word connected with water.

And we conclude then with an irony. If we want a place to practice our humility, baptism is where we are going to find it. For unbelievers do not understand what baptism is. And as a result, they will make fun of us because of it. And sadly, other Christians will do the same. For there are, sadly, many Christians out there who conclude that baptism is a bare act of obedience that we give to God instead of the gracious gift that he gives to us. Revere Christ with readiness. Let these words be your forgiveness. And let these words be your fuel. Amen.