If you were asked by someone about God, or Jesus Christ, or salvation – How would you respond? How thoroughly do you know about the nature of Christ and the means of salvation? 1Pet. 3:15 says – “But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (NASB). But the sad truth is that most Christians are not “ready” – By that, I mean that they have not prepared themselves for such opportunities. But being unprepared is not only negligent, but it can also be quite dangerous. Let me give you 3 key reasons why unpreparedness is perilous ground upon which to stand:
1) Being unprepared is dangerous for you personally as you encounter people of other beliefs and convictions. You might know enough not to be taken in by blatant false religions like Islam or Buddhism, but the cults in our country thrive and grow because their members are typically far more equipped and prepared for these interactions than the average Christian is. They are trained on how to use their scriptures to defend their faith, and on how to reason with you. The unprepared Christian is ripe for the picking by such as these. Furthermore, the unprepared Christian is not only likely to be taken in by false teaching from outside the church, but also for the countless heresies that are propagated within the church. You are more likely to have a conversation with another “Christian” with false and heretical doctrine than with people from other religions. If you are not prepared, you will be of no help to them in helping them see their errors, and sadly, you may even absorb their errors for yourself.
2) Being unprepared is also dangerous because you might inadvertently speak heresy yourself. Perhaps you have not considered this possibility – But let me explain. When I am preparing a sermon, I strive to carefully choose my wording because on so many topics to speak without forethought could easily lead to heresy. There have been innumerable heresies that have arisen surrounding the nature of Christ, and the nature of salvation, that literally it only takes one misused or misplaced word to communicate what amounts to heresy. There is no wiggle room to the left or to the right on such matters. For instance, the truth is: Jesus is God, but the Jehovah’s witnesses insert just one letter and change that fact entirely – They say: Jesus is [a] god. Or take for example the truth that Jesus is fully God and fully man, you could inadvertently speak heresy by saying He is part God and part man. Time will not suffice for me to list all the ways this could be done. But please believe me when I tell you that there are an incalculable number of phrases and ways that “Christians” speak heresies after this manner – It is absolutely rampant. We need to be careful to not just adopt the phraseology we’ve heard from others without thinking and testing it, lest we inadvertently propagate false ideas. This should be a great motivator to being “ready” and prepared to share what is true.
3) Lastly, I will mention, it is dangerous in our day to be unprepared because we have become accustomed to utilizing quick and unreliable means to find answers when we need them. For instance, if someone were to ask you to explain your faith in Christ, or if they challenged your beliefs about something, what would be your first reaction? Unfortunately, for many people, their first resort is to turn to Google. Surely, the internet can be a useful tool, but it can also be a dangerous one, as there are way more unreliable and heretical opinions to be found there than accurate ones. And many times, the unreliable sources are difficult to distinguish from the good ones. Just because a website is “Christian,” includes a lot of Scripture, and even says a lot of good things does not mean that it is a safe place to find the right answers. A man needs to have strong convictions and a thorough understanding of the Word before he can navigate such a broad spectrum of information. We need to have our senses finely tuned and trained to be able to discern the subtle variations between what is true and what is error (as I said – sometimes it is as subtle as one word that makes all the difference).
Well, I am beginning to run longer than I intended, so I will end by returning to the beginning. 1Pet. 3:15 said – “But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready…” If we are to “be ready” we must truly sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts. This implies that we must devotedly pursue His purposes for us. His will is that we too would be sanctified in the truth. In Jn. 17:17 Jesus prayed – “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” (NASB) Thus, we must be in the Word. We must study the Word. We must be dedicated to the teaching and instruction of sound doctrine. We must know the Word. Only those who thoroughly know the Word, with Christ seated as Lord in their hearts, can avoid the pitfalls we’ve noted here today. Are you ready?
Comments