To Anyone Who Asks

“So are you one of those Christians that actually believes the world was created in six literal days?”

The question caught me off guard. The guy who asked was sitting across the table from me. We had met an hour earlier and we now had a backgammon board between us and were playing a fairly tough match. We were sitting in a bar with other backgammon players as well as a few people having drinks and eating dinner. Earlier in the evening, he had asked my profession and I had told him that I was a pastor and a professor of religion. In the crowds I normally find myself in, these answers typically provoke some sense of respect. In this crowd, they had provoked a playful curiosity. They had also brought questions.
As I did my best to discuss the intricacies of creation, young-earth and old-earth, and why the topic is hotly debated among Christians, he continued to ask more questions. We discussed determinism and free will, likening it to the differences between chess and backgammon. All the while, we continued to play and I did my best to give him suitable answers to these questions that are difficult enough when they are the only thing you are focusing on.

His questions would not be the only ones that I would field. The other guys in the room took their own opportunities to ask questions. I figured out quickly that for many of them I was the first Christian they had hung out with socially who was willing to discuss these things. I also found out that I am not as good at answering these questions when I do not know they are coming. This was revelatory for me because unlike many of you, I am rarely the only Christian in whatever room I find myself in. As a pastor and a teacher, I am often surrounded by other believers. Even when in situations where I find myself sharing the Gospel with someone, I am usually in a situation that I sought out. I am usually talking with a person that I had gone to specifically for that purpose. A conversation that I had been the one to start. So whatever muscle needs to be strengthened to be ready for faith conversations at a moment's notice was relatively weak when I had sat down to play that night. But I was exhilarated to find myself in uncharted territory because I soon realized that everything I said (and didn’t say) meant something to the guys I was hanging around with. However good or bad my answers to their intricate questions meant a far greater deal than my carefully curated posts and videos on social media that are usually circulated mostly to believers who already agree with what I have to say. And I had an opportunity to become friends with people who see and experience the world in a vastly different way than I do, all because we had a similar interest in a game. I found myself being propelled to become a better missionary. One who does not always have to start the conversation, but can have one when the Lord gives me the opportunity.

1 Peter 3:15 says, “...in your hearts honor Christ as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” For years, I have insisted that Christians had too often missed the last part of Peter’s charge- that we give our defenses with “gentleness and respect”. We greatly prefer apologetics and evangelism that perform well on a stage or on social media. One that is neatly curated, and is usually speaking more to believers about non-believers and is hardly aimed at non-believers themselves. Not only this but the popular apologetics movement of the last 20 years seemingly is aimed at addressing philosophies and ideas that are no longer as applicable as they once were.

But what we have missed most in Peter’s encouragement to the churches in Asia Minor is that phrase, “...to anyone who asks…”

We have spent thousands of dollars training Christians how to start conversations. We have seen content go viral with titles that indicate arguments have been won. But how often do we find ourselves in environments where it is the non-believers asking us the questions? I had learned in that bar that I am too often cloistered from the non-believing world until I am ready to ask them questions. I have too often waited for moments where I have something to say. But boots on the ground evangelism and apologetics more often happen when we least expect it. It will sometimes be the most fruitful when you are not the one driving the conversation. And it is safe to assume, or at least hope, that the Holy Spirit is the one who has provoked the person in front of you to ask the question in the first place. It may have been the Spirit that had provoked you to sit across from them as well.

So we need not only be trained and equipped, but we must also be prepared to live out our lives of following Christ as Lord publicly and give others the opportunity to ask why. Before I had walked into that backgammon club for the first time, I had thought to myself, “What am I going to say when they ask what I do for work?” And I had previously chosen to simply tell them in a way that might bring follow up questions- and it had.

So let’s take our faith into the public square. If no one at work knows how important your faith is to you, tell them. Live it out. And seek out communities where you might be able to hear questions that someone has never been able to ask- because no one like you has ever been there.