Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who reveal your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. -1 Peter 3:13-17
The National Survey of Youth and Religion (NSYR) was completed a few years back by a team led by a gentleman named Christian Smith. Most striking to me of all the preliminary data that was collected is concerning our youth’s response when they are challenged in their faith. Smith et al found that most American religious teenagers did not have a sufficient faith vocabulary to engage in a theological/faith conversation when confronted by their peers or by strangers. In other words, when a teenager is questioned about their faith, most often they can’t answer and retreat. How many times must a teen, a child, a young adult, or for that matter any Christian, be caught dumb founded when asked questions about Jesus and their faith? How many times must Satan insert doubt and despair in the life of a Christian because there is no defense for anyone that asks about the hope that is there?
I labeled this post “Defensive Evangelism” to bring out the other definition of the word, “defensive,” which is to explain, be prepared, to have the fact base to engage in a learned discussion about a certain topic. We sometimes call this apologetics. Saint Peter wants us to be able to talk about our faith. He wants us to have the tools to engage the world when the world comes to us with questions or when the world attacks us for our faith. The apostle wants you to be able to talk and defend your faith – not with swords and guns, but with the very Word of God that has been planted in your heart by the Holy Spirit.
Yeah, your heart! We have a problem with our hearts. They only breed sin and division, lacking love and faith. We need someone from outside of us to redeem us… we need the Holy Spirit to clean house (“Create in me a clean heart, O God! Psalm 51:10), remove our troublesome heart and give us a Jesus heart. And that is what the Holy Spirit has done. When I say, “Jesus heart,” I mean a heart of faith that has its foundation and its life in Jesus and his cross. And so, the Holy Spirit calls us by the Gospel, enlightens us with his gifts and keeps us in the true faith by those good gifts.
Too often, under the banner of Gospel freedom (more on Gospel freedom in a later post), we decide that we don’t need to read our Bibles, sing our hymns, or study the faith. Martin Luther was no stranger to this problem. To make the faith something that could be taught to little children and old men alike, he wrote his catechism. To put the words, the vocabulary, of the faith back into our hearts and upon our lips, he wrote the Small Catechism for the fathers to teach it to their FAMILY at home. He didn’t write it to be looked through in the 8th grade and then set aside, but rather to be a life long companion of the Christian.
The devil is aware that your heart doesn’t want to keep these words and that your old Adam wants to ditch them and run… He knows this and he attacks in the subtle, behinds the scenes ways that he hopes we won’t notice. Your persecution isn’t with violence (just yet), it is with doubt. The devil always slips his age old question into each Christian’s heart, “Did God really say??” The answer is yes. Yes, God did say that you were his own by the blood of Christ; that all of your sins, no matter how big or bad or horrible, are covered by Jesus death on the cross! Yes, Jesus has washed you in your baptism – combining his death to you and giving you his life in the resurrection.
God wants no doubt. He wants you to know his will and his truth. He calls us again by his Holy Spirit… back to the altar, back to the Word of God, back to the church.
Back to those teenagers in the NSYR… what about their faith vocabulary? Where do they get it? They get it from the Bible and the catechism and the hymnal, they get it from weekly and regular Divine Service… but most importantly, they get it from other Christians. They get a faith vocabulary as we teach them the faith. We as the body of Christ are to build up one another in the faith and that means talking to our youth and young adults about the hard questions. It means if we don’t know the answers, finding someone who does and not shrugging it all off. It means engaging in the Living Word of God. Let us build one another up in faith and good works. Let’s encourage our youth and bring the Word of God into their midst.
StarboCho 
I agree. Now if only parents would support their children in this endeavor, we’d have a Church again.
There is danger in your statement. Kids need to have the Word of God, and it is a parent’s responsibility to teach them the whole of the catechism. But we have to go back to the Word of God, Matt 16:18, Jesus says, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. The parents of children in the pew didn’t start the Church nor will they preserve it nor are they the reason it will exist in the years to come. The Church will always exist because Christ cares for His bride. To say we’d have a Church again, makes it appear as though the Church is gone.
Sorry. Of course the Church will always be here. I was merely lamenting, along with the post, that parents are unconcerned about how or what the children learn, much less if they learn it at Church or not. Thus, along the lines of many churches crying about not having youth in the pews, I made the statement. Meaning, sarcastically, that without youth, there is no future.
However, as you mentioned Rev. Smith, in reality this is not the case, even though its how many feel.