Dear Christian friends:

Are you ready? Ready for what? Are you ready for work? Are you ready for church? Often we ask someone these questions.

You know that if you want success in your work or anything you need to be prepared and ready.

It is the same with church work, witnessing. That's what Peter tells us here in our text, which is the first verse of the Epistle Lesson I just signed for you: "Always be ready to answer anyone who asks you to explain your hope."

Perhaps someone will ask you today about your faith. Can you give that person a good answer? Jesus, our dear Savior, expects us, each one, to be ready for that.


This means that we live a good holy life so that unbelievers will notice and be curious and ask us why we live differently and in a special way.

We Christians should live a special way, not the same as the unbelievers live. In our verse Peter says, "Let Christ rule in your heart as Lord." That means what? (See if any one can answer.) Yes, it means that we love Jesus, because He first loved us and died on the cross to win sin forgiveness and eternal life for us. Because we love Jesus we want to obey His commands.

"Do you love Jesus? You should. He has done so much for you. He has made peace between you and the Father. He has fought and defeated death for you and given you all His things? Should you not repay His love? Should you not thank, praise, honor and serve Him with your life? (Martin Luther)

In the Gospel Lesson for today Jesus says: "If you love me, keep my commands. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them." (John 14:15&21) Martin Luther: "When you believe in Jesus love and good works flow."

What are Jesus' commands? "Love one another." "Forgive on another." "Help one another." "Pray for one another." "Be kind to one another." "Visit the sick." "Feed the hungry." "Give homes to the homeless." etc.

Jesus also commands us to preach the Gospel and witness to those who believe not.

If we love Jesus and eagerly obey His commands we "Let Christ rule in our hearts as Lord." Then unbelievers will see that we are different, special people and they will notice our love ways and kind ways. They will become curious and perhaps they will ask, "Why do you do that way?"

Then you will have the opportunity to explain to them about Jesus: Why you believe in Jesus: Why do you believe in Jesus? Why do you love Jesus? Why do you love and help others in need?

But if we do not let Christ rule in our heart as Lord, we will not love Jesus and we will not obey His commands. Then we have someone else ruling in our hearts as Lord. Who is that? Yes, Satan. Then we will be proud and selfish and hate others and quarrel and refuse to forgive someone. Then we will not influence the unbelievers because we will live the same as they do. They will not notice us.

They will not ask us about our faith and hope. They will not believe us if we try to tell them about our faith. Why? Because our life does not agree with our faith. They will say that we are hypocrites!

Therefore, it is important that our life agree with our faith. When we fail to love Jesus and obey His commands we need to ask Him to forgive us and then ask Him to help us love Him and obey.

Being ready to answer those who ask about our hope also means that we have knowledge about our faith and hope.

We need to know the Bible History, and the Bible Stories and the Bible teachings.

We need to know about sin and the terrible punishment for sin and sinners. We need to know about sin forgiveness and the reason why God now forgives sin. We need to know the Apostles Creed and its teachings. The Apostles Creed summarizes our faith. We need to know about Baptism and the Lord's Supper. If we know these things we can give a good, correct answer to those who ask about our hope.

It is important for us to come to Bible Class on Sundays for two reasons: In the Bible Class we hear again some things we learned before so that we don't forget. We need to hear, learn again and again and again or else we forget. Also in the Bible class we can learn new things that we did not know before. Secondly, here at Bible Class we have the opportunity to stand up and tell one another about our faith, our love and our hope in Jesus.

If we in Bible Class practice telling one another about our hope here among friends, then we will become more skillful and can tell strangers who do not yet believe. Practice makes us become better witnesses for Jesus. We need to become ready to answer anyone who asks us to explain our hope.

But we need more than knowledge of Bible stories and Bible teachings. Many church members have a good knowledge of the Bible, but they fail to win others for Jesus. Why? Because they are not humble and kind when they explain to unbelievers. They do not show respect to them.

In out text Peter says, "Always be ready to answer anyone who asks you to explain your hope, and do it with meekness and respect." It is our nature to be proud and think ourselves better than others.

Church members are tempted to be proud and think themselves better than people who do not go to church. If we think that way and feel that way we are not meek and we do not show respect to those people and they will see that. They will not listen to us if we are proud and think ourselves better than they are.

We must always be ready to explain our hope and do that with meekness and respect for those who ask us. We must always remember that we, the same as them, are sinners before God, and that we are saved only by His mercy and kindness, which He has shown to us in His Son, Jesus.

We must talk to the unbeliever as one sinner to another sinner, as one dying person to another dying person.

Here is a story to help us understand this: A pastor went to visit a man in prison who was on death row, waiting to die in the electric chair. The pastor spoke to the prisoner about sin and his need to confess his sin and believe in Jesus to receive forgiveness. But the prisoner refused to answer the pastor and seemed not sorry for his crimes. The pastor left feeling frustrated and disappointed that he had failed to touch the prisoner's heart.

The pastor decided to visit another prisoner who was a Christian and asked him to go and speak to the prisoner on death row. The Christian prisoner agreed and got permission from the warden. The Christian prisoner went into the cell on death row, put his arms around (mime) the condemned man and said to him, "Is it not wonderful what God has done for us in His Son Jesus?" Then the condemned man broke down and cried and accepted Jesus.

Like that we must explain to others, as one prisoner to another, as one dying man to another.

"But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. 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." (verse 15)

Amen.