CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH
JUDE 1:1-4
Introduction: Jude in writing to believers expresses a deep concern that the precious faith that has saved and keeps them is repeatedly being threatened both from without and within the church. He further states that it is every believers responsibility and duty to contend (struggle, strive) for the faith that once for all was delivered to the believer. Unfortunately many have mistaken views of what contending for the faith really means.
I. Contending for the Faith is not Complacently Congealing: it is Confronting the Culture.
A. Matthew 16:18 “...I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
B. Gates are a defensive object. They are designed to keep things in or out. When was the last time that a gate attacked anything? The gates of hell do not attack us. But we sit waiting for the world and the lost to come to us and ask us about our faith or how to become a Christian. We are to be on the offensive not sitting idle. The key word in the Great Commission is GO!
C. Too many Christians are settled and at ease, content to be passive Christians.
D. In Luke 19:23, Jesus Christ taught that we are to “Occupy” until He comes. Some seek to interpret this as to take us space when what Christ was saying that we are to “engage in His business until He comes” by confronting our world with the truths of the gospel.
E. Christianity spread rapidly during the first century because ALL Christians saw themselves as responsible for disseminating the gospel. – Erwin W Lutzer
F. The church is under orders. Evangelistic inactivity is disobedience. – John R. W. Stott
G. The church must go into the world because the world won’t come into the church.
H. Mark 16:15 “And He said to them, Go into all the world, proclaim the gospel to all the creation.”
I. Luigi Tarisio was found dead one morning with scarce a comfort in his home, but with 246 exquisite violins, which he had been collecting all his life, crammed into an attic, the best in the bottom drawer of an old rickety bureau. In his very devotion to the violin, he had robbed the world of all that music all the time he treasured them; others before him had done the same, so that when the greatest of his collection, a Stradivarius, was first played it had had 147 speechless years. Yet, how many of Christ’s people are like old Tarisio? In our very love of the church we fail to give the glad tidings to the world; in our zeal for the truth we forget to publish it. When shall we all learn that the Good News needs not just to be cherished, but needs to be told? All people need to hear it. – -James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 492.
J. We are to be world changers not to be changed by the world.
II. Contending for the Faith is not Unconscious Contentment: it is Conscious Comprehension.
A. There are two reasons for us to be skilled and knowledgeable in our faith – first to defend against corruption within because of apathy and second to be able to give a logical answer for our faith when asked.
B. Jude 1:4 “For certain men crept in secretly, those having been of old previously written into this condemnation, ungodly ones perverting the grace of our God for unbridled lust, and denying the only Master, God, even our Lord Jesus Christ.”
C. I Peter 3:15 “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason of the hope in you, with meekness and fear.”
D. In the early and middle 20th Century, liberal theology began to challenge conservative Christianity under the guise of scientific and intellectual enlightenment. In reaction, many conservative Christians adopted an attitude of anti-intellectualism. They were content simply to say, “I don’t understand it and don’t need to.” To too many Christians ignorance is bliss.
E. I believe a very large majority of churchgoers are merely unthinking, slumbering worshipers of an unknown God. – Charles H. Spurgeon in Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 11. Christianity Today, Vol. 40, no. 1.
F. Part of contending for the faith is knowing what we believe and why we believe it.
G. Scripture never denounces gaining knowledge. It is the world’s wisdom not its knowledge that God considers as foolishness.
H. I Corinthians 1:18 “For the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those being lost, but to us being saved, it is the power of God.”
I. It is interesting that word for preaching is logos – logic, or reasoning.
J. Give us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for, because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything. - Peter Marshall in Mr. Jones, Meet The Master
K. John Wesley once received a note that said, "The Lord has told me to tell you that He doesn’t need your book-learning, your Greek and your Hebrew." Wesley answered, "Thank you, sir. Your letter was superfluous, however; as I already knew the Lord has no need for my ’book-learning,’ as you put it. However, although the Lord has not directed me to say so, on my own responsibility I would like to say to you that the Lord does not need your ignorance either." – James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 315.
L. Proverbs 23:23 “Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.”
M. Be to the world a sign that while we as Christians do not have all the answers, we do know and care about the questions. - Billy Graham (1918- )
III. Contending for the Faith is not being Coldly Cantankerous: it is having Compassionate Concern.
A. Jude 1:22-23 “And of some have compassion, making a difference: and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”
B. Many mistakenly believe that in order to stand up for their faith they must become obstinate and obnoxious. They fail to catch the truth that while you hate the sin you love the sinner.
C. What will it profit a man if he gains his cause, and silences his adversary, if at the same time he loses that humble, tender frame of spirit in which the Lord delights, and to which the promise of his presence is made! - John Newton, from The Letters of John Newton. Christianity Today, Vol. 33, no. 11.
D. Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. – MLK Jr.
E. Matthew 5:43-44 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you.”
F. Alexander, Caesar, and Hannibal conquered the world but they had no friends. ... Jesus founded his empire upon love, and at this hour, millions would die for him. ... He has won the hearts of men, a task a conqueror cannot do. – Napoleon Bonaparte, Leadership, Vol. 7, no. 1.
