There is a Reason for the Season

1 Peter 3:13-17

Introduction

As far as I can see, there are two reasons why people choose to celebrate Christmas. One is that they love the symbols, images and beauty of the holiday. This is not as simple as a secular vs religious view of Christmas. There are many people who are ambivalent in their faith who still like the classic carols, the nativity scenes and may even enjoy a good candlelight service in a church. It may be the appreciation of the beauty or feelings of nostalgia. This is not bad and I suspect that many of, myself included, experience aspects of this.

The other reason that people might celebrate Christmas is that they really believe this story. Little baby Jesus is not just a sweet image that tugs on our heart strings. Jesus was actually born in a specific geographical location at a specific historical time. It is not just a wonderful myth, it is an actual event that if we went back in time, we would be able to witness taking place in reality. Not only do we believe that this baby was born, we believe that Jesus was the Son of God who came into the world to save us. This stuff is actually true!

It is common to hear Christians say at this time of the year that “Jesus is the reason for the season.” That is true. But are there reasons to believe that Jesus is the reason for the season?

Peter addresses this in his letter. Here Peter is writing to a group of Christians that lived in a culture that was hostile to their faith. The Roman world rewarded assimilation but Christians stood out in their devotion to Christ and they paid a price. It was a world not that unlike the world we live in. I believe that Peter’s words have much to say to us as we reflect on the reason for the season.

Hope

Peter writes, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” and I’m going to look at what he says in reverse order. We begin with hope.

We began Advent last week with the theme of hope. Hope is central to The Christmas story. Listen to the first verse of Come Thou Long Expected Jesus:

Come, Thou long expected Jesus

Born to set Thy people free;

From our fears and sins release us,

Let us find our rest in Thee.

Israel’s strength and consolation,

Hope of all the earth Thou art;

Dear desire of every nation,

Joy of every longing heart.

The coming of Jesus was the fulfilment of the hope of Israel as they looked forward to the time when God would intervene and bring his kingdom. But Jesus is not just hope for those who lived on that side of the manger. We continue to see in Jesus hope for ourselves.

What is hope? Hope is a confidence that something better is coming. It is what gives us the strength to endure the most difficult circumstances because we believe that our future is not limited by our present.

It doesn’t take much to recognize that the world is not the way things are supposed to be. Things are broken. Hope says that God has a plan and there is a day coming when all will be fixed. That hope is sure because the process has begun with the birth of Jesus.

Reason

Assuming that we have hope, we then begin to reflect on the reasons why we are confident in that hope. This is often called apologetics but it is much simpler than that label implies.

Apologetics is giving the reason why we believe or value something. We should be able to look at any area of your life that is important to you and ask you why that is important for you. We don’t value things for no reason. Why do you go for walks every day? Because you want to stay healthy. That’s apologetics. Why do you spend time gardening? Because you feel the satisfaction of seeing seeds grow into beautiful plants. That’s apologetics. Christian apologetics is simply doing that same thing for our faith. Why do you believe that Jesus is real and that you have good reasons to hold onto hope?

The beautiful thing is that each of us are going to have different answers to that question. Each of us have come to faith in different ways and we all have different experiences. I was once an atheist and so my answer is going to be different from those of you who have never doubted. Some of us have had dramatic answers to prayer and others have experienced a slow and steady sense of God’s presence. Some of us have experienced God by gazing upon the beauty of creation and others have met God during a powerful time of worship in church.

Have you ever thought about why you believe? Is it just that Christianity happens to be your family tradition or is there something more going on? Why do I believe Christianity is true? It depends on the day. There are times it is an intellectual reason such as the existence of the universe or the evidence for the resurrection. On other days it is looking back at the many times God has intervened in my life. The point is we should be thinking about these reasons.

Be Ready

We need to have hope and we need to know the reason for that hope. But that is not all. Peter tells us to always be prepared to give an answer to those who ask. This might sound very scary but it doesn’t have to be. This doesn’t mean that you have to give a scientific account of how the universe started or that you need to explain the historical factors around the growth of the church. What are the reasons for the hope you have? That is all you have to answer. It is good learn more but we are only responsible for explaining our reasons.

The first step is, as already explained, to reflect on our reasons. Don’t wait until someone asks before thinking about your reasons for believing. Prepare yourself now. You don’t have to anticipate all their questions, just the one about why we believe.

The second thing that is emphasized in this passage is that it be done with gentleness and respect. The point is not to win a debate but to share to those who ask in a winsome way why we believe. My observation is that how we say what we say is just as important as what we say. We may say all the right things but if we do it in anger, the message doesn’t get through. This is part of our preparation.

But what if they strongly disagree with us or are even offended? That may happen. In fact Peter writes this to people who were already experiencing such opposition. The point is that we don’t give them any more reason to be angry. We share the truth as we understand it in a respectful way and if that bothers them, that is their problem. After all, what is spoken here is not us imposing our beliefs on others but our response to their questions.

Conclusion

Jesus is the reason for the season. But what is the reason for the reason for the season? Jesus is not just a beautiful image. Jesus is a real person, the Son of God, who was born in this world to offer salvation. It is in Jesus that we have hope. But why do we believe this? You may not believe that yet and I would love to walk with you on that journey. For those who believe, why do you believe? Are you prepared to share those reasons with someone who asks? People are not looking for the “right” answers, they are looking for your answers. Share honestly and respectfully to all those who ask. The hope that we have can be the hope they have.