Pearls from Peter: Part 3
Welcome to the third and final part of the series of reflections on verses from 1 Peter. In a few weeks, I will be introducing a new series I have been working on for the last three months or so: Three Pillars of Truth, so watch out for this multimedia experience coming up.
Reflection One
This instruction is to readers who were enduring various degrees of persecution. However, I also take it as a model for how we are to witness to everyone in all circumstances. Only some believers are called to the ministry of Evangelism (Ephesians 4:11), but we are all called to be witnesses.
A witness is someone who testifies to something they have personally experienced. In a court of law, witnesses tell the judge what they have heard, seen, or otherwise experienced. The judge does not accept second-person evidence. Our witness to Jesus Christ is also not accepted when it is hearsay; it must be personal to have any weight and influence.
The ‘reason for the hope that you have’ is not a structured argument or a slick sales pitch. We don’t have to attend a special course to learn how to witness. We just need to have experienced the things we attest to. If I want to speak convincingly about what it means to be ‘born again’ then I need to have experienced this myself. And if I have personally experienced this miracle, then I should be able to explain it in simple personal terms. I will have also experienced the conditions of being born again and what follows from this new reality, and so be able to speak about these as well.
Salvation is not a matter of knowing the answer to questions a person might have, but of knowing the one who can answer them.
No, I am not referring to your pastor or the theologian you know; I am referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. The hope that we have in this life and for the life still to come is based on knowing Jesus and not a knowledgeable person or a book. To know Jesus means:
- Being born again of the Holy Spirit because we relate to him spiritually and not physically.
- Reading and comprehending what is written in the bible about what he said and did.
- spending time with him in prayer and contemplation.
- Finally, it is trusting and obeying him. This is, I think, what Peter meant when he wrote, ‘In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.’ If you know Jesus, then you can certainly witness to this.
Reflection Two
I have an aversion to bible-bashing of any kind. By that I mean the mistaken idea that we can beat someone into the Kingdom of God by metaphorically whacking them over the head with bible verses. I have yet to meet someone who says that they were bullied into being genuinely born again. New spiritual life cannot be attained through knowledge or coercion because it is a miraculous gift of life from God and not just a change of mind or lifestyle.
1 Peter 4:11 ‘If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.’ Peter wrote this in the context of the end times because he and the other apostles thought that Jesus would return in their lifetime. ‘The end of all things is near, therefore …’ Well, the end of this series of reflections is also near, so here goes with something really profound – well I think it is. I don’t think that Peter, and the Holy Spirit who inspired him to write, had casual chit-chat in mind. The King James Version translators chose the words ‘oracles of God’, which best means inspired prophecy. I have long believed that preaching should be regarded as a form of prophecy because it is the speaking forth of the words of God. I get a shiver of annoyance every time I hear a preacher start with “I just want to share with you …” “No!” I cry out inwardly, “I don’t want to hear your conjectures. I want to hear what God has to say!” Sadly, my need is very seldom met. I started preaching at the age of 30, and I am now 77, so I realise that I have to point back at myself when I level a criticism like that. I can only say in defence that I deeply desire to speak the very words of God every time I preach, and I pray earnestly for this during my preparation and before my delivery. I do recognise, though, that this does not always seem to be realised. There have, however, been many times when I have seen someone in the congregation crying, or sitting forward in rapt attention. The highlight of my preaching career was when, many years ago now, a lady came up to me after the service to tell me what her daughter had said to her. “Mom, when I hear that man preach, it is like Jesus himself is talking to me”. Now that brought tears to my eyes. I just wish that this would have always been the response to my preaching, but of course, it wasn’t. However, although I preach seldom now, my aspiration is still the same: “Lord, please let them hear your words today.” So I end this series with a question for all preachers to ask themselves: ‘Although it is the highest of aspirations, do I truly want to preach as though God himself were speaking?’ Perhaps you think it’s presumptuous or prideful, but I don’t feel that way. I believe that every preacher is called to the highest standard; a standard that can only be attained with the help of the Holy Spirit. Refection Three
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