This week's Bible Study - September 5, 2010
Making Your Case
 Background Scripture:
Acts 21:37-22:10; 1 Peter 3:15-17
Quote of the Week:
“Any fact is better established by two or three good testimonies than by a thousand arguments.”
-- Marie Dressler
This unit begins a study in apologetics. Over the next several lessons, there will be an introduction and several lessons making the case for God's existence, his love and his involvement in our lives. There will be lessons on why we need a savior, why Jesus is the savior we need and how we ought to respond to him. There will also be lessons on why the Christian life is the best way to live, and the right and responsibility we have as believers to share the gospel with all people everywhere.
The first thing that many people may ask is for a definition of apologetics. Simply put, it is why you believe what you believe. In Christian circles, it is concerned with the defense or proof of our faith. There are all sorts of people who believe something simply because that is what they have been told. While this works for a while, each of us needs to understand why we have our belief and be able to share our belief with others. You won't always have a teacher or a pastor to turn to when you are asked about why you believe what you believe, so it is important to understand why you believe what you believe.
Several years ago, I put together a page on the web that outlines why I believe what I believe. You can find
it here - http://crosstowncreations.com/Akers/WhyBelieve.html.
While it is good to have a webpage that you can easily bookmark, apologetics is something that each of us as
believers need to have a handle on. There are also several other Apologetics resources available on this website -
from lessons taught in the past - http://www.crosstowncreations.com/BibleStudy/Apologetics/index.shtml. Check those out, as well. Truthfully, there is nothing that you can say that will convince a nonbeliever of the truthfulness of Christianity, but you can certainly make a defense for what you believe. Christianity is NOT the religion of simpletons and fools - there is much to back it up. When you couple that with your own story of what God has done in your life, you can rest assured that you are armed with all you need to make your case.
Paul was one of the greatest missionaries of all time. Although he spent the first part of his life persecuting believers, he became one of the greatest evangelists of the early church. One of the things that Paul consistently did was to look for opportunities to share his faith. In Acts 21, some Jews raised complaints against Paul for defiling the temple by bringing Greeks in, and as they were getting closer to killing him, he was arrested by the Roman army.
As Roman soldiers were taking Paul into the barracks, Paul asked to speak to the people. (He asked the commander, while speaking in the Greek language). One of the things that I've found about many believers is that instead of looking for the chance to share their faith, they are often shirking away from opportunities. They may hear faith based conversations coming up at work, school or in some other place that they frequent. Some people see this as a time to step up and listen and speak as God leads. Others, however, will find any excuse to avoid the situation. Sadly, I've been in both camps. At times, I have shirked away and at other times; I have stepped up to the plate. What would you do, or more importantly, what do you do?
Paul stood up on the steps and motioned to the crowd. Not only was he willing to speak, but he wanted to have as large of an impact as possible. When they were all silent, he spoke to them in Aramaic (Hebrew).
When he spoke in Aramaic, he got their attention. He was speaking in the language that any of the Jews who had gone to the temple knew, and that the Romans would not understand. As he spoke in a language that they could relate to, he got their attention and they became quiet and listened. This is a huge point, in that we need to speak to others in a way that they hear. We need to meet people where they are, in a way that they can be reached. I've been on several mission trips to different parts of the world. Languages and cultures are very different in different areas of the world. I've seen some cases where missionaries had tried to start churches in Taiwan that most closely resemble churches you'd see in the southeastern part of America. The inside of the church looked the same as what you might find in Georgia, and the order of service was eerily similar (it was the same from week to week - does that sound familiar?). While the language spoken and words written were not English, they still meant the same thing. The impact of reaching the people was very minimal. Over time, most missionaries have learned that and are now trying to reach them through their culture. Even while there, we noticed Mormon missionaries - yes, on their bikes; yes, with white shirts and ties and yes, with dark slacks. I saw no Taiwanese that looked that way, which did hinder their impact as well.
As Paul spoke, he gave his own story. He told of his background. He was a Jew, as they were. He was trained as a Pharisee and was as zealous for God as any of them were at that time. When we stop and think, we have to give them some credit - they were zealous for God, but they were zealous in the manner that they thought appropriate, with little regard for what God wanted and how he wanted it. Paul went as far as to persecute believers. He imprisoned many and was also responsible in many ways for several deaths. The high priest and the Council could testify to the truthfulness of what he said. His main intent seemed to be to the purity of the Jewish faith. Paul didn't candy coat his story. In sharing, some of them surely could relate and in many ways they may have respected him all the more.
This had to be difficult for Paul to share. This was not an area of his life that he could take a lot of pride in. But, this is where he was. I know in my own life that I have experienced some things of which I am not proud. I have made major mistakes, but I have found mercy, grace and forgiveness through Christ. Part of our story is where we have been. It may be where we were before we were believers, but it also may include times in which we have strayed since coming to the faith.
Too often, Christians want to paint a rosy picture and give the perspective that life is nearly perfect. In reality, we all struggle with sin to some extent. When we portray perfection to others, we lose the ability to relate with those we are trying to reach. They need to know that we really are not all that different. We need to point to the change that God has made in our life, and continues to make, rather than to give the impression that we have it all together and that others should want to be like us. It's not me that I want anyone to be like - it's to be like Christ and to experience that transformed life.
As Paul continued, he began to explain his conversion experience. As he was going about his business (persecuting Christians (with a smile on his face)), God hit Paul's pause button. When God gets your attention, it is more than a speed bump - it is more like running into a wall and having a life interruption that makes you change focus, at least for a while. Your response to that interruption is the most important part of how things go from that point forward.
Paul was made aware of his rebellion. While he thought he was keeping his faith pure, he was actually persecuting the Lord. In Matthew 25:40, Jesus basically says that whatever you've done to the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. We tend to disassociate people from Christ, but there is a correlation as to how we treat people. Do we treat some people differently just because we think they deserve it? Do we realize how we are in essence doing this to Christ? When God starts to move in your life or mine, we are made aware of our sin and our rebellion against God. Surely, you and I have not been persecuting believers to their death, but there are areas of our lives that we must agree are out of line with where God wants us to be.
As Paul spoke, he made it clear that he saw and heard Jesus. Others around him saw something, but they couldn't comprehend what was happening. There are times that God speaks to a group of people through a pastor or teacher or through some event, but there are other times when God will speak specifically to you. It may not be an audible voice, but you can certainly hear God speaking. When this does happen, don't expect everyone around you to believe and be supportive. There will be times when God is at work in your life, molding you and making you into the person he has called you to be - and others may not understand at all. The key is that we must be true to God's calling on our life and most focused on following him, rather than seeking the approval of others as we live our lives. Some people want to steer you where they want you to go and care little for how God is moving in your life. If Paul was to listen to his companions who thought they had God's calling, he never would have experienced the change in his life that God was directing. We must focus on being true to where God is leading.
Paul asked what it was that he should do. He knew he had to change something. He was told to get up and go. When God speaks to you directly, there is some action that needs to be taken. He generally does not speak to you to just make you feel better where you are. There are certainly times when God will wrap his arms around you and comfort you in the time of grief and loss or in other times of deep sadness and despair. But, even during those times; the intent is to enable you to make some change in your life. When God really speaks in your life, you are to come out of that time as a different person than before he spoke.
Paul was told to go to Damascus and there he would be told what he had been assigned to do. Paul was made aware that he had a purpose, but he was not clued in to what the purpose would be. In some ways, the Christian life is somewhat like a scavenger hunt in which you find one clue that leads you to the next clue. You generally don't have the full map handed to you at one time. In reality, none of us would be able to comprehend it. What if ten years ago, God told you in detail what you would experience in the next ten years? Some of us would be devastated. I know of many people that have experienced a tremendous amount of loss of many different types in the past ten years. Some have lost loved ones - others have lost jobs - others have lost their homes - and on and on. As we live our lives, it is more like driving your car at night. You have headlights that illuminate the area that is immediately in front of you. It lights up what you need to know as you are driving, but it does not light up the road for miles and miles. Similarly, we are told what we need to know when we need to know it, as believers. Are you listening for God's next step that he has planned for you - and did you follow the last one that he told you? We seem to want to know the 'bigger picture', but that is only accomplished through different pieces of that picture as we live our lives.
In this passage, we are told to set apart Christ as Lord - in our hearts. For many believers, setting Christ as Lord apart in our minds is more of the norm. Apologetics or anything else you learn was never intended to just make you 'Christian' book smart. It isn't to make you a better Bible Trivia player, but it is to give a reason for change in your life.
We are told to always be prepared to give an answer. This implies that we need to be ready to give that answer before the question is asked. If you are taking a class in a school and you know that a test is coming, you would not wait until the test shows up on your desk to see if you knew the answers. I suppose some people work this way, but their grades generally are indicative of how they prepare. If you aren't ready prior to the time of sharing, you'll find yourself at a loss for words. This doesn't mean that you need to script everything down to a word for word discussion, but that it should become so engrained in you and you should have thought ahead enough that you are prepared whenever that time comes.
Peter says that we should be prepared to give an answer to those who ask you to give the reason for your hope. We need to open our eyes and look for the opportunities. Some people want to force the issue on anybody that breathes. I don't believe this should be the case. If we open our eyes, we'll begin to notice opportunities. The key is to notice when God is moving and to be ready to act upon that. In the 'Experiencing God' study by Henry Blackaby, Blackaby mentions several things only God can do. Only God can draw people to him, cause people to seek him, reveal spiritual truth, convict of guilt of sin, righteousness and judgment. When you see these things in the people around you, God is at work, so you need to be ready. I pray that we open our eyes to the opportunities that God places around us each day.
We are to give our answer with gentleness and respect. I don't believe that most people that share their faith intend to beat people with the knowledge that they have, but if it isn't intentional, you may accidentally place yourself in a position of looking down on others. If you think about it, some of the knowledge that you have took years to attain. We can't expect others to get it in a few minutes. That is why you need to be willing to share whenever, so that you can help plant seeds that may eventually come to faith.
We are told to be concerned about our actions and motives. Why do we share? I know in the past, I have been part of churches that had contests with other churches to see which church could reach more people. While this may seem good, the intentions may be wrongly placed. We are to share with a clear conscience - not only based on our motives, but also on our lives. It isn't to say that we are to be perfect, but we are to live in such a way that when people speak against us, it is more along the lines of slander and not the truth. Unfortunately, many people's perceptions about believers or churches smell more of the truth than slander. We need to realize that we are human people and organizations that rely upon God and not upon ourselves.
Closing
Look for opportunities to share your faith. I believe that God places them around us every day. We walk past co-workers, neighbors, friends and others that are being actively touched by God. Do we notice and are we willing to share what we know?
Understand your own story. In your own words, can you explain to someone where you were before Christ, how you recognized your need and how God spoke to you? Can you tell someone what he has done in your life? Can you share how you have struggled with something even since following Christ and how God has been at work in your life? It doesn't have to be scripted but it needs to be well thought out in your head. If you were asked right now, could you share this in the matter of a few minutes?
Although this is something we surely know, we must realize that no matter how incredible your story is, and no matter how clearly you understand why you believe what you believe, there is nothing we can do to draw someone to God. God must be at work in a person's life, just like he was in yours. To become a Christian is not something that you must convince somebody to do. It is something that you can tell them how you can to faith and how they can too, but the initiative of accepting is not your responsibility - it is God's. So, whenever you are sharing you faith, remember to pray that God will be active in that situation and that the Holy Spirit will speak to the person you are trying to reach. Without that, you may have a good conversation that will never result in any chance to their life. With the Holy Spirit, a life can truly be transformed.
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