Preached by Michael Cheuk
April 27, 2008, Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A
1 Peter 3:13-22
When I was a college student and active in the Baptist Student Union, now called the Baptist Collegiate Ministries or BCM, one of the things that was impressed upon me was the importance of giving a verbal witness to my faith. I was encouraged to share Christ with my friends, my roommates, and even my professors. Now, as I’ve told you before from previous sermons, I grew up a very shy, introverted child. When given the choice of being alone or being with people, I much preferred being alone reading a book or doing my own thing. And frankly, talking was not one of my strengths, much less witnessing to strangers about my faith! And if you had told me then that God was going to call me to be a pastor, being with people all the time and speaking in front of them almost every Sunday, I would have said you were crazy. But lo and behold, here I am. Just goes to show you that God has an ironic sense of humor!
So back to my college days. This witnessing thing was a major source of anxiety for me. I studiously learned the Four Spiritual Laws and the Romans Road, but I was always afraid that I would get the presentation wrong. I was scared that someone really smart would be able to poke holes through my logic and arguments. I was apprehensive that I wouldn’t be able to answer a skeptic’s question like, “If God is so good and so powerful, why would God allow evil in the world?” And while I shared a couple of times with my classmates, there was no way that I was going to “witness” to my professors. Are you kidding? I was just a student and you want me to witness to someone much older, smarter, and someone who has the power to alter my future academic career with a stroke of a pen? No, thank you. Furthermore, I had heard enough stories of Christian students being ridiculed by their professors in front of the whole class.
As we continue with our sermon series on the book of 1 Peter, I wonder if those early Christians felt the same way I did in college when it came to sharing their faith. As you might remember, this letter was written to a group of people who probably were recent newborn Christians who found themselves uprooted from their homes and scattered throughout Asia Minor, an area what is now known as Turkey. Most of these Christians were not from the upper classes of society. In fact, many of them were slaves and women, not educated, with no power or status in society. Furthermore, they were facing mistreatment and slander because of their allegiance to Jesus Christ instead of the Roman emperor. In the midst of this hostile environment, these Christians were admonished in 1 Peter 2:12 to “maintain good conduct among the non-Christians, so that though they now malign you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God when he appears.” And when questioned by unbelievers, these Christians were taught in 1 Peter 3:15 to “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” It seems to me that Peter was encouraging those Christians to live Christ-like lives and then be a gentle witness when an opportunity presented itself.
Being a gentle witness. Sometimes, it is much easier said than done. I think, many times, when it comes to sharing our faith, we Christians often fall into one of two categories. Most of us, me included, fall into the category of being totally silent, of not being a witness at all. We act no differently than the world around us, and we don’t talk about our faith. Others of us fall into the other category: we pride ourselves in being witnesses, but we are often not gentle witnesses, but obnoxious witnesses. Now, I’m not saying that we should never be bold and stand up for what we believe. But sometimes, we too often assume that since we have the “Truth” with a capital “T,” we have no need to listen to other people around us. As a result, we often come across as judgmental “know-it-alls” who criticize and malign others who do not agree with our version of Christianity. And because western Christianity has so long been associated with power and governmental authority, our witnessing efforts often assume a position of power and force. Even the words we use to describe our evangelism campaigns, words like “crusades,” and “Bold Mission Thrust,” can send the wrong message. After all, would you like to be on the receiving end of a crusade or a bold mission “thrust”?
It is interesting to me that the early Christians did not occupy positions of power. They did not use force to coerce others into the Christian faith. In fact, the early Christians were the ones being persecuted. And yet the powerlessness and suffering that characterized much of the early church did not inhibit its life or growth. Rather, because these Christians were shaped by the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, they understood that suffering can be a part of what it means to be a disciple. But these Christians were also shaped by Christ’s bodily resurrection from the dead so that they had a hope that understood that suffering and death does not have the last word.[1] These early Christians were able to give witness to their faith boldly, but from a position of humility instead of arrogance, from a posture of voluntary submission instead of violent domination. They were gentle and courteous in their dealings with unbelievers, and yet firm in their convictions and faith. And as a result, the Christian movement grew contagiously, even in the midst of the powerful Roman empire that was hostile to the claims of Christ.
So the question for us today is, “How do we faithfully witness our faith not in a way that is arrogant and domineering, but in a way that is filled with gentleness, courtesy, reverence and respect?” I want to share two stories that might give us the imagination to do just that. Last month, in the April 17th edition of the Religious Herald, the Virginia Baptist state paper, there was an article about students with the Baptist Collegiate Ministries at Virginia Tech who spent two weeks engaging the Virginia Tech campus on what students thought about certain topics. This project was called the “Love/Hate Project” because late one night, with the permission of the administration, they put 250 real estate-style signs all over the campus, each with the word “love” emblazoned on one side and the word “hate” on the other.
One week after the first signs appeared, the next stage of the project was launched with eight 4′ by 4′ boards, each having a different topic listed on the top and columns listed “love” and “hate” printed below. Markers were tied to the boards to invite responses. Some topics were faith-related like “Church,” “Religion,” and “Christianity,” while others topics included “Family,” “Government,” and “College.”
These boards were placed around the campus in high-traffic locations. Within three days, these boards were filled with comments from people passing by who wanted to write what the “love” or “hate” about the topic. Some of the writings were silly, some profane, and still other entries were engaging and thought-provoking.
The boards were then brought back to the BCM center and over the course of two consecutive meetings, BCM students prepared eight banners that responded to the comments from the campus. Students who came to the meeting were encouraged to consider their responses with an attitude of humility and graciousness. If a post on a topic seemed angry or negative toward Christianity, BCM students shied away from writing defensive or argumentative responses. Many wrote apologies for moments of hypocrisy in which the gospel of Christ was misrepresented by their hard words, attitudes and actions.
“I am sorry for asking you to believe in Christ without ever showing you the love he has asked of me,” wrote one student. Another shared, “I’m sorry that I am judgmental and act righteous. The truth is, I am a sinner. My thoughts and actions contradict the love God desires me to show. Hopefully, I can show you a glimpse of his love, so that you can see past my misrepresentation of God.”
On Thursday, March 27, these banners with words of grace and apology were sent out to replace the initial topic boards. Over 100 BCMers were t-shirts with the “love/hate” logo that day to identify themselves with the project and to welcome conversations about the love and grace of God. Many reported great conversations and at least three students had opportunities to explain the point of the project in front of their entire class and to their professors.
The article then included a few reports of what students experienced that day. I want to read one from Sara, a student who emailed the BCM. She writes: “I’m a new believer. I recently saw the posters you put up in place of the Love/Hate ones people can write on, and I thought you would appreciate some feedback. When I would see people writing things on the love/hate boards, [and in particular,] the comments [that] were written by atheists, I would get so angry. I thought that [the non-believers] were all so ‘wrong’ about everything, and thought we’d just be better off without them. You can understand why I cried when I read the apologies. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything as perfect.”[2]
The second story I want to share took place last Sunday, when I was in Minneapolis attending the Memorial Service for my uncle who passed away. Now, I must confess, I have not attended a Chinese memorial service before, so I don’t know if this normally happens at such a service. But my aunt came up and spoke about her husband. She told about when and where he was born, how they met, when they got married, . . . things that I normally include in my eulogy and message during a funeral. At one point, my aunt paused, and with conviction, said, “I am a Christian. When I first met Gui Sheng, he was not a Christian. I tried sharing the gospel with him, but at first, he did not want to hear about it. But eventually, he too became a Christian and God has blessed his life.” My aunt Sybil then talked about the time my uncle was diagnosed with lung cancer, and how he fought and won the fight against that disease. She told about the time when my uncle was at the doctor’s office and upon receiving a shot, his heart and breathing suddenly stopped. He was in ICU for two days before he started to breathe on his own again. Both of those times, Sybil thought that the Lord was calling her husband home. But those were not the times. She told the congregation about how my uncle’s health had declined so that he had to be put into a nursing home. And on the night that Gui Sheng died, she talked about just how at peace he was, how he was not suffering or struggling, but how he just gently passed over to be in the presence of his Lord. She and her only daughter Charlene were in his room holding his hand while he slipped quietly away. She was grateful that Gui Sheng didn’t suffer at the time of his death, and she was a peace knowing that he is now with Jesus. And it was her faith in Christ that gave her hope that she will be reunited with her husband one day.
It was a gentle witness that brought tears to my eyes. And throughout her remarks, my aunt was calm, slightly pausing once or twice to gather her thoughts and her emotions. I don’t know how she was able to share those words. All I could say was that the Spirit of God was working in her to give her the strength.
After the service, when we got back home, my aunt shared with me more about just how much God has blessed her and her husband recently. She also said, “I’m 82 years old, and it doesn’t matter to me if the Lord wants me to stay here or if the Lord calls me home. But at the Memorial Service this morning, there was a friend of ours who was attending, and she is not yet a Christian. And I wanted to take that opportunity to share my faith. Who knows? Maybe my words during the service might be helpful to her to lead her to Christ.”
What wonderful examples of how to be a gentle witness! Instead of coming across as arrogant know-it-alls, the BCM students read carefully the comments of critics and skeptics and responded gently with grace and humility. And my aunt witnessed her faith and the Christian hope that is within her, not from a position of power and domination, but in the midst of her own grief and loss. In today’s scripture lesson, Peter writes: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” I pray that God will give us the grace and the courage to do just that in the coming days. Amen.
[1] Tim Keel, Intuitive Leadership, p. 139.
[2] “Tech BCM students encourage campus to share ‘love/hate’ comments,” by Melissa Cheliras and Darrell Cook, Religious Herald (April 17, 2008), pp. 2-3. Also http://www.religiousherald.org/2140.article.
