What Comes Next

Scripture:  1 Peter 3:13-19

​               In the early 1980’s McDonald’s had claimed the spot as the top fast-food chain in America.  To challenge this dominance, A&W went all in on a new strategy.  One of McDonald’s most popular items was the quarter pounder, so A&W launched a 1/3-pound burger for the same price.  Despite huge marketing push and despite being a bigger burger for a better value, The A&W 1/3rd pounder absolutely flopped.   When the company did research into why this happened, they discovered that for the average consumer a 1/4th a pound felt bigger than a 1/3rd a bound because four is bigger than three.  The product failure was due to consumer feeling, even though that feeling had no basis in factual reality.  

               The A&W 1/3rd pounder failure is a case study in social science about how feeling can have a bigger impact than fact.   Sometimes the way we feel actually runs counter to the reality of the situation and this can influence our personal decisions but also larger cultural movements and even official policy.   In the realm of faith an example of an area where feeling does not keep up with fact is the idea that in the United States persecution of Christians is increasing.   This has been a persistent thought for more than a decade now.  A 2016 Barna study found that among those who identify as evangelical 60% stated they believed it was somewhat accurate or very accurate that they were being persecuted in society.   A 2021 Lifeway research study found 59% of all those surveyed who identified as Christians believed they faced increased persecution and a 2023 Pew Research survey found that 60% of evangelical Christians believed they faced increased discrimination.  

               Yet, the reality does not match that feeling.  By any objective measurement or standard American Christians are not persecuted.  There is full freedom of religion, churches still receive privileges like tax exempt status, and there is not systematic violence or discrimination against Christians.  There are several places in the world where persecution does actively happen today, but we are fortunate not to live in one of those places. Despite there not being real persecution, feeling like there might has been persistent for years.   This is because while there is not persecution there has been a loss of cultural relevance and cultural privilege for Christians in the United States. 

 For instance, Sunday used to be a protected day.  Because it was the Lord’s Day, all businesses closed, and the day was reserved for church.  Today, Sunday is another day, and in fact it is usually the best day to hold youth sporting events.  In a lot of ways, Christian used to be the default setting in American culture, and that is not the case anymore.  Commentators have pointed out that the United States is steadily moving to a post-Christian culture, and if trends continue then by 2070 a minority of Americans, 46% will identify as Christian. A loss of cultural standing, privilege, and trust does not equate to persecution, but the surveys have consistently shown that for a lot of people it feels that way.  
These feelings come about because the Christian faith does not quite fit with the culture around us the way many of us remember.  Given those feelings and given that our culture is an ongoing shift to being post-Christian, this morning’s scripture can be a helpful guide.  The audience Peter was writing to also found their faith out of sorts with their culture, and his advice to them is still incredibly relevant to us today.   In this morning’s scripture Peter guides us in how we can respond to whatever comes next. 

Trying to get a good feel of ancient culture is never an easy task, but there are some solid historical context clues that Christianity was not terribly popular in the culture at the time Peter wrote this morning’s scripture.  First, we have the accounts in Acts where Paul met significant resistance.   On more than occasion Paul was driven out of town or had to be snuck out of town to avoid violence because there was some much resistance to the message of grace that challenged the conventional religious systems of the day.   Second, 1 Peter is often thought to have been written during the 60s AD, which is during the reign of the Emperor Nero.   Nero is often remembered as setting off the first official Roman persecution of Christians.   This is because when Rome burned in AD 64 he needed a scapegoat, and   he picked Christians to be the target.   The fact that Nero felt Christians would make an easy scapegoat hints at their general unpopularity in the culture at large. 

This morning’s scripture also gives us a context clue, because in it Peter acknowledges that this first generation of Christians that he was writing to have a fear of being harmed for their beliefs.   Seeing as how persecution under Nero was just around the corner, their fears were not entirely unfounded.   Even though these believers did not know exactly what would be coming in their future, in this morning’s scripture Peter told them how to be ready for what comes next.  Today, we live in a shifting culture where the Christian faith is becoming less relevant in larger cultural conversations, and the culture is moving to a Christian minority standpoint.  The same advice that Peter gave in this morning’s scripture is still what prepares us for what comes next.  

In this morning’s scripture, Peter writes that we are revere Christ as Lord, and we also should “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who ask you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”   There are a couple things that I really like about Peter’s direction here.  First, he puts forth the best thing we can do in a potentially hostile culture is to always be willing to talk about our faith.  If we truly revere Christ as Lord, if we believe he is the most important thing in the world to us, why would we be quiet about him?   I do not like how, for decades faith has been considered one of the forbidden topics that is not supposed to ever be talked about, and it is supposed to only be a private affair.  In general, we talk about what we care about, what we are passionate about, and what we think is important.   Peter wrote to an audience that faced a greater possibility of harm for what they believed than we do, and he told them not to be afraid to talk about what they believe.   We should also be willing to do the same. 

Second, I really appreciate how Peter encouraged the believers to talk about their faith.   He did not write “always be prepared to give a three-point argument, citing credible sources, for what you believe.”   He did not write that we need to be prepared to win an argument or have the right witty one-liners to shut down all objections.  Sometimes to talk about our faith we feel like we must have all the answers before we say anything, but that is not what the scripture states.  We do not have to have all the answers; we have to have hope.   As followers of Christ, we should have hope.  This question this scripture really puts before us is what is your reason for hope? 

You may have never considered the question of why Jesus gives you hope.   Yet according to this morning’s scripture, that is question we need to be most prepared to answer when it comes to sharing our faith.   If you consider yourself a Christian, if you revere Christ as Lord in your hearts, then there should be a reason why you find hope in Christ.   While the reason that resonates with us, might be a little different from someone else we all should be able to point to how following Christ fills us with hope.  The good news is that there is no shortage of ways we can find hope in Christ. 
 
Perhaps, you find hope in the forgiveness of grace.   There is hope that your past does not define your future, and that God is a God of second chances.   Perhaps you find hope in the radical inclusion of God’s love.  There is hope in the assurance that you are uniquely hand crafted by the same God that creates universes.  That you are not broken, that you are not junk, and that you are loved as you are and that God proved this love through his son Jesus Christ.   Perhaps you find hope in the transformative power of Christ.   There is hope in knowing that even though there is darkness in the world, the light of Christ has come, the darkness can not over come it, and through the power of Christ we can also shine that light and make a real difference for tomorrow.    Perhaps you find hope in an eternal Christ that was and is and is to come.  There is hope in knowing that the body of Christ existed long before any of us and it will endure long after any of us, but we each have are part in it.  There is hope in knowing that there is a seat reserved for us in eternity.  Following Jesus means that we should have a reason for hope.  We should know what our reason for hope is, and we should be able to express the hope we find in Christ.  

Verse 15 does contain a final instruction about sharing our hope.  It says we are to do it with “gentleness and respect.”  When it comes to dialogue in our current culture there is not a lot of gentleness and respect.   Too often conversations about important topics like faith are treated less like conversations and more like debates.  Instead of a honest dialogue, too many people just wait for their turn to speak, or more often stop pretending to listen and talk over the other person.  Too often topics like faith are treated like contests to be won.   Perhaps this is why the words that non-Christians most associate with Christians are words like judgmental and hateful.   Instead of treating faith conversations like debates, this morning’s scripture gives us a better starting point: gentleness and respect.  

               We should have a baseline level of respect for all people, because every single person that we have ever seen, that we have interacted with, that we have talked to is beloved by God and has sacred worth.   Every single person is a precious creation of God, and so we should treat every person respectfully because we should respect the God who made them.  Not only should we treat people with respect, but we should also treat them with gentleness.  We should do this because Jesus told us to.   In the gospel of Matthew, we find Jesus teaching these words: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.” 

               When it comes to having conversations with people, especially conversations where there may be room for differing opinions or disagreements, gentleness is how we would want to be treated.  We do not want to be yelled at, talked down, dismissed outright, or insulted.   Yet when it comes to topics of faith this is how those conversations have gone for far too many people.   We should treat people with respect because God cares about them, and we show that we also care by treating people with gentleness.  There is an old adage that has a lot of truth to it.   People do not care what we have to say until they know that we care.   Perhaps the best way that we push back against a culture shifting away from Christianity is not to yell louder, but it is to show we care and then when people are ready to listen, we show them hope and not judgement. 
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               Like the audience that Peter wrote this morning’s scripture to, we also live in a culture that has a rocky relationship with Christianity.    Peter’s advice on how to deal with what comes next is just as relevant today.   May you know the hope that you have and.   may you be prepared to share your hope.   May the hope we have in Christ work in our lives to increase our love for other people so that we treat them with gentleness and respect.   May we share our hope with others and with our community so that what comes next is we make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.