Standing Firm

Rob Bergfalk

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I’m excited for us to continue our series tonight, called Salt and Light. This is our 3rd week as we talk about how Christians should live in this culture. There is a white board over there with topics and questions you’ve written, and each week we’re tacking a couple of them. The first week, we talked about how we are to be the salt of the earth; meaning that we should preserve this world just as salt preserves meat; and that we should add flavor to life, or make it better. We then talked about being the light of the world and letting our light shine so that others may see it and that our Father would be glorified.

Last week, we talked about how we should respond to people swearing or taking God’s name in vain. You may remember that we talked about responding with grace and truth. This isn’t going to be the last time I use this verse; you’ll find that as we respond to different situations and people in our culture, I’ll reference back to grace and truth. I argued that we should lead with grace rather than truth.

John 1:14 NIV

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

I wanted to give you a heads up that it’ll be a little different for the rest of the series, including tonight. Because we’re going to start getting into some more sensitive topics, I’m changing the way we do our discussion groups. Instead of breaking into connection groups at the end, I’m going to keep us as a large group. I’ll have questions mixed in and want to make these messages more interactive. That means we’ll be staying as a large group until we finish, but won’t be breaking into smaller groups. Some of the things we’ll be talking about can be difficult for adults to lead, nevermind student leaders. I want to be able to lead these conversations, and help answer questions that may be beneficial for all of us to hear. Cool?

and wanted to give you a heads up that it’ll be a little different tonight and the rest of the series. Because we’re going to start getting into some more sensitive topi

Your Questions:

How should we defend our faith?

How should we witness to Muslims?

How to Witness to Muslims

The first thing I’d like to do is to talk about the difference between defending our faith, and witnessing to others. I’m curious to hear form you about the difference between the two?

What does it mean to defend something?

What does it mean to witness about something?

To help with that, I’m actually going to have you guys help me.

DEFEND THE CANDY BAR!

I need 2 volunteers to come up here, choose a candy bar, and defend why you believe that candy bar is the best. Whether it’s actually the best or not, I want you to defend it. Use ingredients, logic, price, brand, whatever.

BE A WITNESS OF THE CANDY BAR

Ok, now I want you to be a witness of what this

I want us to think about this just as we would think about a lawyer and witness in a case. A lawyer has facts, does his or her research, and proves a point. It all comes down to a final decision on whether they proved the case well.

A witness in a case though, tells their story. They explain what they saw, a lot of times with raw emotion. The hope of having a witness in a case is to give clarity to something that was seen

Which one do you think is more important to do as it relates to our Christian faith?

The primary passage that gets used for the importance of defending our faith comes from .

1 Peter 3:15 NIV

15 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,

This is a great verse that clearly says that we should be prepared to answer questions people have and properly defend our faith. I want us to catch with this, as well, that we are to give the reason for the hope that we have. What I’d like to do, though, is read this verse in context. I want to back up to verse 8, and read verses 8-17. After I read this passage, I’m going to ask what the main point of this passage is.

1 Peter 3:8–17 NIV

8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. 11 They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” 15 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, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

Now, it’s important to know that the context of this passage is that it’s in a letter that Peter wrote to churches experiencing persecution. Church as a whole was around 35 years old, and he most likely wrote this right after Emperor Nero’s persecution of Chritians in 64-67 AD. This letter was born in a time of great suffering, and was reminding people that it shouldn’t be strange for Christians to suffer. Just as Jesus suffered on the cross, we can expect to suffer as people telling people about Christ as well.

Verse 8 - Peter urges Christians to be like-minded, sympathetic, love one another, compassionate, and humble. then in verses 10-12 he quotes from talking about the importance of not repaying evil with evil. In the second half of this passage, he switches to how we should respond when suffering. He says even if we should suffer, always revere Christ as Lord. Be prepared to give an answer so everyone knows your hope.

This passage is not saying that Christians should be leaving their houses, looking for people that don’t know Christ, and to defend their faith. It’s in the midst of suffering where we ought to defend our faith.

Now, remember how we talked about the difference between defending our faith and witnessing? I want to be clear; I believe it is important to defend Jesus as our Lord and Savior, but being a witness of Him comes first. I believe that imitating Christ is more important than defending Christ. That doesn’t mean defending Him isn’t important, but that if we don’t love Him and love others just as we’re commanded, we’re off base. I want to do an experiment to show you what I mean.

I want you to raise your hand if you had the opportunity to defend your faith within the last 24 hours.

Now, I want you to raise your hand if you had the opportunity to show Christ’s love to someone within the last 24 hours.

As a youth pastor, one of my concerns is that we get so focused on wanting to defend our faith and study apologetics, that we lose sight of the importance of loving one another. The word in Greek for “one another” is used around 100 times in the New Testament. Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind and that the second one is like it; to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Matthew 22:26–30 NIV

26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?” 29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.

Matthew 22:36–40 NIV

36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

My simple answer to the question of how we should defend our faith is this: In Love. I know that’s not super helpful for you, so I want do want to spend time in a passage that gives us 6 things we should point to when defending why we believe what we do. There are more than this, but I think this is a passage that can be helpful for us. Ready?

Acts 1:8 NIV

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

1 Peter 3:15 NIV

15 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,

When sharing our faith:

- Our approach should be gradual. The goal isn’t for someone to move from not believing in God to giving their life to Christ in the same conversation

- Primary focus - Who is God? People tend to push God away, and we’re trying to help others know the truth that God is personal, and because He is personal He can make himself known which He has done through Jesus Christ.

See each individual as a whole person. They won’t be motivated by just rational arguments, but by needs and emotions as well.

How do we witness to Muslims?

Spectrum of Religions and Religious Beliefs

There is a wide range of religions and what people believe.

Concept of God

Montheism - one transcendent God

Dualism - two gods

Polythesim - many gods

Atheism - no god

View of Humanity

Awareness

What’s different about Christianity and our Gospel?

JESUS!

1 John 4:9–10 NIV

9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Romans 1:20 NIV

20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

1. Jesus lived in history - “among us” and “into the world”

while other religions are oriented primarily toward teachings and practices, Christianity is oriented toward the actual saving work of Jesus Christ. If Jesus didn’t live, die, and rise from the dead, then Christianity has no foundation. If you look at Buddha or Muhammed, though, they are not essential to the truth-claims they made; anyone else could have made them.

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 NIV

3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

1 Corintians 15:3-4

2. God Himself Became Flesh - “his one and only Son”

John’s not saying that Jesus is the Son of God in some mystical sense which makes us sons of God, but that Jesus is the Son of God in an entirely unique way. The word “son” implies someone who is of the same nature, not an actual biological son. So, Jesus is unique because He is of the same nature as God. Jesus isn’t just an appearance of God, but an incarnation of God. Through Jesus, God became man in the flesh. Remember what we read last week in the first several sentences of John?

John 1:1–3 NIV

John 1:1–5 NIV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

3. Humanity Is Spiritually Dead - “that we might live” & “atoning sacrifice for our sins”

Indicate that Christianity considers humanity in its sinful condition to be spiritually dead. Other religions do acknowledge that humanity has problems, but they also teach that humans have the ability to fix them. Only Christianity says that humanity is spiritually dead, and that we have no hope outside of God’s transforming power.

Hinduism believe?

Buddhism believe?

4. God is Absolutely Holy - “Sent his son’

God required the one of the most severe penalties - death - as the payment for sin. God has zero tolerance for sin. And althrough our tendency as humans is to rebel against this standard and diminish it, God demonstrated his love by sending His son. He demonstrated his justice. Through Christ’as sacrificial death, both God’s love and justice are fully satisfied, without diminishing either.

Jesus Conquered Death

5. Jesus Conquered Death - “We might live through him”

Thankfully Jesus’ story doesn’t end in defeat; death didn’t have the final word. . It ends in victory, Jesus rising physically from the dead. No other founder of a religion has ever made this claim. Jesus’ victory over death means victory for us as well. Jesus’ resurrection is why John can write that “we might live through him”.

6. Salvation is a Free Gift - “not that we loved God, but that he loved us”

Notice the direction of love is from God to us, not from us to God. Salvation is based entirely on the free grace of God. When we choose to depend on God alone to provide salvation through Jesus Christ, we can have complete assurance that we have received salvation - because it depends on Him who is true and faithful, and not on us.

CHART

For Christians, We uphold God’s holiness, and we have complete assurance that God has completed the word of salvation on our behalf through Jesus Christ.

For other religions, there is a diminished view of God’s holiness, and they have no assurance for salvation because it’s based on their own efforts.

One thing I will tell you before we move on to talk about witnessing; one of our parents LeAnne Nicholson and one of our leaders Zach Arco will be co-leading an apologetics class through the majority of the summer. Starting in the June and going through the first Sunday of August, they’ll be using different materials and resources to help teens understand some of the main things we believe. So for those of you interested and wanting more, definitely plan to be a part of our Sunday School class.

Ok, so let’s talk about witnessing. is very clear that as Christians, we are witnesses. Our denomination says that we are an family. If you go to our website, this is what it says under the about us section; describing who we are.

Acts 1:8 NIV

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The U.S. Alliance is part of a Christ-centered global movement more than 6 million strong. Our :8family—inspired by Jesus’ love and empowered by His Spirit—is passionate to bring the good news about Him to our neighborhoods and world.

The U.S. Alliance is part of a Christ-centered global movement more than 6 million strong. Our family—inspired by Jesus’ love and empowered by His Spirit—is passionate to bring the good news about Him to our neighborhoods and world.

Acts 1:8 ESV

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Our job as Christians is to be Christ’s witnesses until the day of His return. To be a witness means to speak from personal knowledge of facts and their significance

;

Our job as Christians is to be Christ’s witnesses until the day of His return. To be a witness means to speak from personal knowledge of facts and their significance

Catch this-the essential resource to be an effective witness is the Holy Spirit. We’ve talked quite a bit about the Holy Spirit, so I’d like to open it up to you to share some insights you have.

How does the Holy Spirit help us witness?

How do we get the Holy Spirit?

When sharing our faith:

- Our approach should be gradual. The goal isn’t for someone to move from not believing in God to giving their life to Christ in the same conversation

See each individual as a whole person. They won’t be motivated by just rational arguments, but by needs and emotions as well.

5 Ways to be a better witness (according to CRU)

1. Be filled with the Spirit

Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control

Galatians 5:22–23 NIV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

It’s important to be in a right relationship with God as you talk to others about how they can know God.

2. Pray for Opportunities

We need to understand that God is the one who changes hearts and is at work, not us. He uses us to make a difference in His Kingdom, but God is the one who changes lives. We need to be asking Him for opportunities. Also, take opportunities to pray with people in the moment. Too often, we say “I’ll be praying” but never actually pray. Stop in the moment, and pray.

3. Be Authentic

People want to know you care about them and that you’re not just in it for something. Be real, be vulnerable.

4. Ask Questions

It is so important that we have the desire to learn about people’s stories. Jesus taught a lot by asking questions. There’s a book called God Space that has a list of 99 questions.

Ask people for a Response

5. Ask people for a Response

Depending where people are at on the scale of being an atheist to being close to a believer, this could look differently. This could look like inviting to meet on a weekly basis, or ask the person to respond to Christ’s invitation .

Witnessing to Muslims

Muslims belong to the religion of Islam, and the religion can be divided between beliefs and obligations. Muslims make up 24% of religious groups (1.8 B); 2nd largest behind Christianity in #1 with 31.2% (2.3B) as of 2015.

and the religion can be divided between beliefs and obligations.

Major Beliefs

God. They believe that God is one and there is no one associated with it. The doctrine of Trinity is offensive to Muslims.

There is a hierarchy of angels in between God and humans. There are 2 angels assigned to each person; one that records the good deeds and one of the bad deeds

God has sent a prophet to every nation to preach the message of there being only one god. 124,000 prophets total were sent, and they include biblical characters like Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jonah, and Jesus. Muhammad is the only prohpet who is for all time; all the others ones were given for a particular age.

4 of the highest ranking prophets were given books of divine revelations

Moses, David, Jesus, and Muhammad. Of these 4, only the Qur’an has been preserved, which was given to Mohammad

They believe the God of the Qur’an will give a day when everyone is judged. Everyone’s deeds will be weighed in the balance.

Good deeds > Bad deeds = paradise

Bad deeds > good deeds -hell

This means that there is NO assurance that they’ll be accepted by God.

Obligations

Recite the Shahadah “I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is his messenger. All it takes to be a Muslim is to say this sincerely

17 cycles of prayer each day. They must wash themselves in a specirfic way before praying. They gather together at the mosque and face toward Mecca

Fast during daylight hours in the month that Muhammad received the Qu’ran

To give Alms - 2.5% of income to poor and needy

Make the Pilgrimage - make the trip to Mecca at least once during their lifetime.

When witnessing to Muslims

Love and respect them

With permission, pray with them

Consult the Bible often to explain and support what you believe. Gospel of John!

Meet one-on-one.

Point to Jesus as often as you can without being offensive. Former Muslim once said “It is vital for the Muslim to see Christianity not as a religion but as a living, new relationship with God”

Use Jesus’ parables and stories. They are more influenced by stories than logical arguments

Read some of the Qur’an so you’ll become familiar with their concept of God (2/3 length of NT)

Be patient, persistet, and prayerful. Muslims are notoriously slow in turning to Jesus for Salvation

Handle the Bible with respect. They keep the Qur’an on the highest shelf in the house; they also don’t write in it.

DONT’S

Don’t be critical of Islam, the Qur’an, or Muhammad. Avoid these subjects and point to the Gospel

Don’t bring them to church until they’re ready for it

Don’t argue

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