Sermon 67
Defend Christ
1 Peter 3:15
May 29, 2011
Sisters and
brothers in Christ, grace and peace to you, in the name of God the
Father, Son (X)
and Holy Spirit. Amen.
1 Peter 3:15 tongue-ties us with fear because it tells us to be
ever ready to defend the hope that is within us – which is Christ Jesus
our Lord (1 Peter 1:13). This scares us because we don’t think we can do
a good enough job of it, against the barbs slung at us by smart,
critical people. So we cower before this command.
Don’t Be Defensive
And when we’re backed into a corner like
this, it’s likely we’ll behave badly, and snarl like a wolf with his leg
caught in a trap (Acts 20:29). But that would be as wrong as quitting
because we’re afraid to fail. No, we are to defend Christ – but with
gentleness, as 1 Peter 3:15 also says. That means we can’t rush in and
clobber whoever disagrees with us. No, we instead are to sympathize with
our foes – even though they might lash out at us. This is what Martin
Luther (1483-1546), our most eminent teacher, says we should do [The
Book of Concord (1580), ed. T. Tappert (1959) p. 576]. He says, when
attacked, we should let them “walk all over” us, and “gladly give way”
to them (Luther’s Works
23:330)! That’s because it’s tough to follow Christ since it includes
dying to ourselves (Acts 26:28; Romans 6:4; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15). For
no one (LW 30:86), mind you,
can readily say that we can’t “by our own reason or strength,” obey the
Lord Jesus (BC, p. 345)!
How Arguments Work
But Luther, by his own admission, was
also a rude lumberjack (R. F. Marshall, “Luther the Lumberjack,”
Lutheran Quarterly, Spring
1996), arguing tenaciously in the manner of
when Christ is concerned, I stand my
ground…. [Then] we must pass for unrepentant, stubborn, and impetuous
hotheads. Yes, in matters involving Christ, …. I am stiff-necked, for my
person is not concerned…. [Therefore we should] gladly let you [then]
call us… headstrong asses (LW
23:330).
That’s because we’re also taught that
when we are defending Christ with gentleness we’re still expected “to
destroy…. arguments and every
proud obstacle to the knowledge
of God, and take every thought
captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). And in order to do that,
we’ll at least have to know how arguments work.
The best book on that is
The Uses of Argument (1958, 2003) by Stephen Toulmin. In this
classic study he shows in diagram form (Toulmin, p. 104) that an
argument is a straight-ahead move, like an arrow, from some data, fact
or material (D), to a conclusion (C). But this straight line is
complicated in ways that can either weaken or bolster the argument – by
noting what firms it up (W) and what supports that strengthening (B), as
well as by qualifications (Q) to the conclusion based on possible
critiques of it (R):
|
D ————gSo, Q, C h h
Since
Unless
W
R h
On account of
B |
Of Surpassing Worth
But what is it about Christ that we want
to defend with our arguments and counter-arguments? We have come to
believe that he is the holy One of surpassing worth (Philippians 3:8) –
but in what ways precisely? Luther explains what’s best about Christ
Jesus:
When we were created,… the devil… led us
into disobedience…. [So] we lay under God’s wrath,… doomed to eternal
damnation, as we had deserved…. until [the] eternal Son of God… had
mercy on our misery…. He… snatched us poor lost creatures from the jaws
of hell… and restored us to the Father’s favor…. [To do this] he
suffered, died, and was buried that he might make satisfaction for me
and pay what I owed… with his own precious blood (BC,
p. 414).
Just about every word in this
declaration can be disputed and has been argued about over the years.
Take for instance the blood sacrifice of Christ, which satisfies God’s
holiness so that believers in Christ won’t have to suffer the
everlasting fires of hell. This message is at the beating heart of
Christianity. The best and most thorough current defense of it is in the
over 300 page book entitled,
Pierced for Our Transgressions (2007). It helps defend our doctrinal
conviction that Christ alone, our sole mediator, can be “pitted against
God’s wrath” (BC, p. 136;
LW 26:120). Critics (2 Peter
2:1) within the church are now opposed to this, insisting “bluntly” that
such a view rends asunder the Holy Trinity [Paul Sponheim,
Speaking of God (2006) pp.
25, 166]. But this critique misses the vigorous interaction within God
himself – including glorifying, loving, and punishing, in ways that
clearly capture “the mutual involvement of the [divine] persons without
implying symmetrical involvement” (Pierced,
pp. 281-285). And so, on Toulmin’s model diagram, the argument against
our Lutheran view of Christ’s sacrifice fails because the warrants (W)
and backing (B) for its conclusions don’t sufficiently take into account
the rebuttals (R).
Kierkegaard’s Dynamite
Does this then mean that what we’ve
argued for concerning the blood sacrifice of Christ restoring us to
God’s favor has been established beyond question? No, not at all. Does
that then mean we’ve been wasting our time arguing over it? No. All it
means is that our arguments are necessary but not sufficient. And that’s
because our rejection of Christian teachings can be rooted in cultural
boredom and adolescent rebellion as well as in the more intellectual
pursuits of factual adequacy and logical coherence [Herbert W.
Richardson, Toward an American
Theology (1967) pp. 7-8].
So we’re rightly told that Christianity cannot be grasped by the
“wise and understanding” (Matthew 11:25), and furthermore, if we’re
going to understand Christianity, we must first believe in it (Hebrews
11:3; 5:11; John 7:17). And so Luther taught that when it comes to
understanding the biblical faith, there’s “no room… for a smart
intellectual,…. there’s no room for disputation and argument” [Luther’s
House Postils, ed. E. Klug (1996) 2:31]. And his great admirer,
Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), goes on to say, all the more pointedly,
that Christianity “needs no defense,” and that “those who defend it most
often betray it” (Kierkegaard’s
Writings, 17:162; 22:80). So Kierkegaard thought that prayer was the
better way to go – and his short, little prayer on this problem is pure
religious dynamite. And so he invites us to pray:
Lord, give us weak eyes for things of
little worth, and eyes clear-sighted in all of your truth (KW
19:3)!
Kierkegaard probably based this prayer
on John 9:39, where Jesus is saying in effect that he has come to poke
out the eyes of the proud, and give sight to the humble (Luke 18:14;
James 4:6).
The Shed Blood of Jesus
So pray Kierkegaard’s powerful little
prayer – and give thanks to God when faith is granted (Ephesians 2:8)
and then understanding comes along after it (2 Timothy 2:7). And rejoice
in Christ Jesus who comes to you by way of this gift of faith. For, as
Luther explained, “there are not several ways to reconcile God, but
[only] one way. [For] his majesty is much too high to be reconciled by
the blood of all the men on earth… Christ’s blood [is] poured out… that
he may avert from us the wrath of God…. And if the wrath is gone then
the sins are forgiven…. Here we clearly see that only faith in… the shed
blood reconciles [for it alone] obtains the reconciliation which Christ
has performs for us” (LW
36:177).
So trust in him – and come to the Altar today and receive the
Lord’s Supper, noting that just as “Baptism leads us into a new life on
earth; [so] the bread guides us through death into eternal life…. and
[is] instituted for a strengthening against death” (LW
35:67)!
Study the Arguments
And finally, be sure to live by James
2:26 which says that “faith apart from works is dead.” Thus Luther
vigorously admonishes us:
If before you believed in Christ you
were an adulterer, a miser, a coveter, a maligner, you ought now to
regard all these sins as dead, throttled through Christ; the benefit is
yours through faith in his sacrifice, and your sins should henceforth
cease to reign in you [Sermons of
Martin Luther, ed. J. Lenker (1988) 7:267].
So let us fight against the sins of
theological ignorance and cowardice (Ephesians 4:14), and become
students of the arguments for and against Christianity. Two books worth
studying, which stand against our faith, are Michael Martin’s
The Case Against Christianity
(1991) and The Christian Delusion
(2010) by John Lofthus. And on our side are Lee Strobel’s
The Case for Christ (1998)
and Richard Purtill’s Reason to
Believe (1974, 2009). Read, study, and ponder what these books,
among others, have to say, but do so remembering that only children
enter God’s kingdom (Matthew 18:3). But do so recalling as well that
we’re also to be mature (1 Corinthians 2:6) – which then will lead us to
defend Christ. Amen.