Contend for the Faith

"Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints."

Jude 1:3

In writing to believers, Jude exhorted them to contend for their common salvation and faith in Jesus Christ.  He found it necessary to urge them to continue the struggle to walk in obedience to Jesus Christ themselves because many among them who lived lives that denied the LORD Jesus Christ.  Instead of following His example and heeding God's word, they justified licentiousness by grace, were given over to fornication, spoke arrogantly in pride, and were greedy for rewards and power.  The love feasts of the church had been corrupted by ungodliness in the lives of nominal believers who lacked the fear of God.

What fascinates me about Jude's exhortation to contend for the faith does not involve what we might think.  They were not called to point fingers at others, ferret out evildoers, seek to expose the ungodly or threaten them.  Why?  Consistent with all the examples provided was God's ability and power to judge the wicked Himself:  He destroyed those who believed not after the exodus from Egypt, bound the angels in prison to await judgment, burned Sodom and the surrounding cities with fire from heaven, rebuked Satan, marked Cain for his sin, slew Balaam with the sword and caused the earth to swallow up Korah with those allied with him.  Without being contentious, the genuine children of God are marked by their humility in contending earnestly to trust and obey Jesus themselves.

Notice how the practical ways Jude describes to contend earnestly for the faith are to be taken and applied personally in Jude 1:17-21:  "But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: ¹⁸ how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. ¹⁹ These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit. ²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."  The first way to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints is to remember what God has said. We ought not to be surprised or shocked there are pretenders who worm their way into Christian fellowships.  We ought to ensure we are not numbered among them who walk according to ungodly lusts or are divisive.  As children of God we are not at the mercy of others, rather we are enabled and empowered to do what God has said by His grace.

Christians are to contend with our own flesh, selfish arguments, ambitions and folly to be built up on our most holy faith, heeding and obeying what Jesus has said.  We ought to pray in the Holy Spirit as we keep ourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our LORD Jesus Christ.  Many people assume the battles we are engaged in are primarily against the world and ungodly influences and heresies in the church, taking the fight to what or who they believe is "wrong" without faithfully putting in personal practice these means of contending personally.  If we will not contend in the secret place of our hearts and lives--putting off the lusts of the flesh, confessing our pride, being built up in faith by obedience, prayer, walking in love and looking for the mercy of our LORD Jesus--our contending with others will be contentious, pointless and powerless.  If we will not abide in God's love by faith and obedience to Christ ourselves, we are part of the problem and under vain delusion we contend well.

"What about giving an answer to the hope that is within us?" some will say.  "What about studying to show ourselves approved, workmen that need not be ashamed as we rightly divide the word of truth?"  Amen and amen, but anyone who keeps watch well must first take heed to themselves.  The log must be addressed in our own eye before we can go about looking for specks in our brother's eye.  The exhortation of Jude to contend is not to subvert or tangle with those we judge to be ungodly, but primarily to face the ungodliness that manifests itself within us every single day by faith in Christ marked by obedience, dying to self, loving God and others, seeking and serving Him rather than pleasing ourselves.  Jacob did not become Israel without a personal wrestle with the LORD, and contending earnestly for the faith ourselves is how we embrace our sanctification and yield to Him.

Pastures of Green

The cliche "The devil is in the details" highlights how a small detail can lead to a big problem.  A simple body posture or eye movement can lead a discerning observer to suspect someone is being dishonest and not telling the whole truth.  Innocuous behaviour or statements which could have been easily overlooked have led to convictions of murder that stuck.  On the flip side, as we travel through life and read the Bible to hear from God it is evident the smallest details point to His wisdom, goodness and grace.  Every word of God is pure, and as we read the Bible a single word has meaning and insight beyond definition alone to teach us of our glorious God and Saviour.

David wrote in Psalm 23:1-2, "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. ² He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters."  The picture of the LORD being a good shepherd Who protects and leads his sheep provides enduring comfort.  Sheep do not lie down unless they are at rest and feel secure, and blessed is the man who finds the rest only Jesus Christ can provide.  I have driven by many green pastures with sheep grazing and meandering around, and seldom do I see them laying down.  The pasture being described as "green" speak of lush growth and good nutrition.  What I recently considered is how the description using a colour also means the pasture is bathed in light.  This may seem like a very minor detail, but it is an important one.

Whilst sheep depend largely upon their hearing to detect danger, they can see colours.  Their eyes do not see as clearly or far as humans, and we require light to see colour.  When the shepherds kept watch over their sheep by night outside Bethlehem, it could not be said they were in pastures of green because of darkness.  Because Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11) who is also the light of the world who gives the light of life (John. 8:12), He indeed leads us to pastures of green.  In Him is light and no darkness at all!  What the pastures supply for a healthy sheep Jesus does much more for us body and soul, for in Him physically and spiritually we find rest.

Take heart, Christian, for Jesus makes us to lie down in green pastures and children of the day.  The exhortation of 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10 is most relevant for us:  "But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. ² For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. ³ For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. ⁴ But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. ⁵ You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. ⁶ Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. ⁷ For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. ⁸ But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. ⁹ For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him."

Miracles and Repentance

Many times I have heard people suggest how ideal a miraculous intervention by God would be due to the potential prompting of unbelievers to believe in Jesus Christ as LORD and receive the Gospel.  One issue I have with this suggestion is the implication God has not already provided ample evidence in the Bible, the testimony of history and the lives of Christians transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Besides, how many people saw the miracles of Jesus and still chose to reject Him?  God has done and continues to do miracles without number, and the miracle man needs most is not in healing a sick body but the redemption of lost souls.

As Jesus went through Judea and preached repentance and the kingdom of God, He confirmed the truth of His words with miraculous signs and wonders.  Many times He did miraculous healings so people would believe He was the Christ.  This, however, was not the only reason He did miracles.  His purposes reached far beyond the being motivated by human pity, power or sympathy:  Jesus did miraculous signs so people would repent of their sin.  I do not often hear this provided as a reason for God to do a miracle, that He would miraculously heal people so they and their families would exercise faith in repentance.  Though repentance may not be a popular reason, it is a biblical one.

Matthew 11:20-24 says of Jesus, "Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: ²¹ "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. ²² But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. ²³ And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. ²⁴  But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you."  The sound rebukes of Jesus came for the witnesses lack of repentance, and with divine insight said should those miracles had been done in other cities--ones infamous for their iniquity--people would have repented in dust and ashes.  Because they did not believe Jesus was the Christ they did not see their need to heed His command to repent, as they harboured unbelief they ought to have repented of.

Had I been numbered among the unbelieving in Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, what cause would there be for repentance?  I suspect I would need to repent of unbelief Jesus could have done anything to heal sickness, cast out demons, open the eyes of the blind, cleanse lepers and raise the dead.  As Jesus preached the law to the proud there would have been much evidence of sin of which I was guilty and had no excuse to deny.  I would repent of pride that caused me to justify myself according to the Law when I was only condemned by it, and that I had trusted in my own works to save me rather than faith in Christ alone.  I could repent of my stubbornness to repent!  How patient is God and marvelous His works to provide opportunity to repent by faith in Jesus Christ.  Faith in ourselves or tradition cannot save, but Jesus is a Saviour we ought to forsake all to follow.

Life Without Regrets

The more I consider it, the more I am convinced regret has no practical benefit for those who wallow in it.  While feelings of regret can prompt us to consider our ways and draw valuable life lessons from the past we can practice, regret itself never invites us to look to the future.  Regrets chain us to a past we cannot change and all the "If only..." and "I wish..." thoughts and desires we could entertain are fantasy  the current reality rejects.  Regret is intrinsically self-focused, for it demands we be our own saviour by figuring out what we should have done.  It weaves an unrealistic image of how things could be, even ought to be, and we are to blame things did not turn out differently.  Regret can be a willful denial and rejection of God's power to redeem evil for good like we read about countless times in scripture and have also experienced ourselves.

Regret presents a mirage and lie that we alone have the power to determine our future, essentially removing God's sovereignty from the picture.  It is the true our decisions have consequences that impact the future, but we would be foolish to assume a righteous decision always has an outcome we agree is positive.  To allow what we perceive as a negative outcome to dictate what we should or could have done in the past is to trade a biblical perspective for likely a selfish one where only our decisions matter and have all the power the change our lives.  If our regret is a matter of sin, regret ought to lead us to repentance.  Once having repented of sin and put it far from us, the power regret once wielded over us is broken by Christ and we are enabled by God's grace to look to Him in the future.  Most of the time it is not sin we regret but the uncomfortable situation we find ourselves in presently we wish we had power to change.  Holding onto regret suggests we prefer to change our past behaviour and masks our need to be changed by God now.

In one sense, regret can be a personal hell we make for ourselves.  Regret is akin to perpetual mourning over the past without hope moving forward.  Having the ability to remember is a blessing from God, yet memories for those tormented in hell will cause them to be plagued with perpetual regret.  In the story Jesus told of the rich man who suffered in Sheol, he was told by Abraham in Luke 16:25, "...Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented."  The rich man could remember all the good things that brought him comfort in life when he could not even access a drop of water to cool his tongue.  He also was able to remember his brothers and begged Abraham to send Lazarus back to them.  He wanted Lazarus to do for him and his brothers what he had not bothered to do during his entire life.  Apart from the physical pain the previously rich man was subjected to, memories and regrets would have been part of his continual torment apart from God forever.

Paul was a man who could have saddled himself with many regrets, seeing as he persecuted Jesus and his followers before coming to Christ in faith.  Instead of doing some sort of self-imposed penance, he embraced repentance for sin and received forgiveness from Jesus.  Paul did not hide his past because it had no longer held him guilty; he did not waste energy lamenting what he could not change and Jesus would redeem.  He wrote in Philippians 3:13-14:  "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, ¹⁴ I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  Paul did not see himself as perfect in the past or present, and at the same time did not beat himself up over past mistakes or bask in self-congratulatory affirmation over his current state.  Failures and success were put behind him as he reached forward to a glorious future with eyes on Jesus, focused on fulfilling the call upon his life by God.  This is a posture Christians do well to maintain, for following Jesus is a life not to be regretted.