(This is part one of a 10 part series from a lecture I gave in Chicago in the Summer of 2019 on growing the right heart attitude for apologetics) 

²⁰ “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; ²¹ that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.  ²² The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; ²³ I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

John 17:20-23

Apologetics is the discipline of defending the Christian faith.  There are multiple passages in which we are called to defend the truth of God and the gospel such as Jude 3 and 1 Peter 3:15 and we will cover all of them in this series.  There are a few misconceptions about apologetics, so my goal here is to provide a proper understanding of apologetics as taught in the Bible.  The first thing to know is that apologetics is a discipline for all believers to practice in the same manner as reading, praying, fasting, serving, and other disciplines in the life of the disciple.  It is not a special gift for some believers, but the responsibility of all disciples.  It can be intimidating, but my hope is that by the end of this, you will recognize that God has equipped you and that divine appointments are already happening in our lives if we can slow down enough to see them.  One quick example happened just last night at the gym.  A very simple greeting grew into small talk that snow balled into a meaningful conversation over the course of an hour in which we discussed historicity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a topic which included the reliability of the Bible, and the claims of Jesus.  A good conversation that will continue as well as gives me an opportunity to pray for the person.

Many organizations teach the mechanics of apologetics and provide a valuable service in doing so, but our goal is the heart of apologetics or the spirit of apologetics.  The conversation that I described above was good and it was type of conversation that I have prepared for over the years, but the most important thing was someone asking genuine questions and a dialogue that wasn’t contentious.  One thing that contributed to that framework was that I wasn’t anxious and I felt prepared, something that we all have to work at the life of discipleship.  I would not have been prepared for this conversation early in my faith journey, but the practice of spiritual disciplines over many years put me in a position for a conversation that God arranged, something that I believe He does for all of us.

In thinking through this topic, I would encourage you to take some time to reflect on what role apologetics played in your own journey to finding saving faith.  In my own experience, I wrestled with the topics of evolution and the historicity of the resurrection, and God brought people into my life to remove barriers to faith in addition to prayer warriors who were faithful to ask God to save me.  Those early conversations as an unbeliever would become building blocks to develop a passion for apologetics once my scales were removed and God revealed Himself to me.

So, as we embark on this conversation, we must begin with the life of discipleship.  When I was in college, I started an apologetics ministry in which we held weekly classes to discuss the current challenges to our faith and the right answers to address those topics.  As I reflect on that period of time, it is quite evident that there was a major gap in the program, despite the fact that we provided a lot of valuable information.  What was produced is people who were good at winning arguments and ill equipped at winning souls.  In practicing apologetics, it is imperative that we do this within the framework of the two greatest commandments which are to love God and to love people (Matthew 22:37-39; Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18).  That means that we need to be cultivating our relationship with God through the daily reading of His word, prayer, listening, giving, participating in Community among other practices characteristic of a follower of Jesus Christ.  The cultivation of these disciplines will then produce the fruit of the Spirit which are love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, goodness, patience and self-control.  These fruits that grow out of our communion with God are portrayed in our actions towards people and thereby produce the right attitude that we are to caring into an apologetic or evangelistic conversation.

It is actually a quite simple process, but sometimes we get ourselves worked up about not having the right answer or talking to someone who is smarter than we are.  However, when we are walking with God, the Holy Spirit lives in us and the Word of God is being internalized as we read daily, so we have the Spirit of Truth (John 14:17) and we have the Word of Truth (John 17:17), which make for a grace filled conversation administered by the fruit of the Spirit.  Even the most hardened hart can begin to soften when shown patience, kindness and gentleness, in short they begin to feel loved and that we are genuinely concerned for them.  We will unpack this further in the coming days, but for now we are to prepare our hearts by growing our own faith and relationship with God!

¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, ¹⁵ but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; ¹⁶ and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.

1 Peter 3:14-16