Contending
- Jerry Witham
- May 5, 2008
- Series: The Church
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Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. Jude 3
The gospel and truth is under continual attack by Satan who sends out false teachers, false shepherds, false apostles and false prophets to wage war against the church, God's people. There is a battle for truth and much is at stake. At stake is God's glory and the eternal destiny for all. The Epistle of Jude, whose author is the brother of James and half-brother of Jesus, speaks more to this present generation than any other New Testament book. It is full of warnings and an uncompromising stand against those who teach something other than the gospel (the truth).
Jude begins his letter by addressing the present crisis. He is moved to write about the errant teachings and views by heretics in his day. Ron Allen of Dallas Theological Seminary says, The heretics were subtle. Their primary tactics were to pervert God's grace and deny the authority of the Lord (Jude 4). These same tactics are being used in our day. Just as Jude encouraged the church of his day to contend earnestly for the faith, I want to encourage you to do the same. Paul told the young pastor Timothy to fight the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6.12). That is what Jude is telling the beloved. We must not be passive when it comes to faith and truth. We must take a vigilant stand for Jesus and His Word.
The Word of God
But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, "In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts (Jude 17-18)." The words of the apostles are very important because they express the will of God. We must use the Word of God as the only sure standard for evaluating what is true and right. There are savage wolves (Acts 20.29), those paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons (1 Timothy 4.1) and those who want their ears tickled, who are turning away from truth to myths. From Oprah and her boy Tolle to certain aspects of the emerging church movement we must be careful and on guard. Paul says, Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth (Ephesians 6.14). We must be girded with the whole counsel of God's Word, not just parts. The truth, which is Jesus, must be our belt. This is what keeps our pants up. I do not know about you, but I do not want to be in a battle with my pants down! If they are down around your ankles you cannot walk or run. You will stumble!
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible, eternal and God-breathed. Paul says, All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work (1 Timothy 3.16-17). I pray that the only label people put on me besides Christian is Biblicist. In fact, I pray that when people put a label on our church that they would put
Staying focused, while standing on the Solid Rock
These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling (so you will not be deceived), and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen (Jude 19-25). Jude keeps the church focused. He encouraged them to stay in the love of God, to have mercy on others, snatching others out of the fire and all for the glory of God. This is our focus statement, just as it was Jude's:
The
Jude gives us some great insight to cultivating our love for Jesus. He says, to build yourselves up on your most holy faith and to pray in the Holy Spirit. The New Living Translation translates Jude 20 as, but you, dear friends, must continue to build your lives on the foundation of your holy faith. And continue to pray as you are directed by the Holy Spirit. What is the foundation of our holy faith? Paul says, For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3.10-11). Jesus is our foundation. At the end of the day my greatest desire for myself, my family and for you is that you would grow deeper in love with Jesus. It is all about Jesus and us falling deeper in love with Him. This is our foundation. This is the thing we stand on, which is the Solid Rock and as the great hymn says, all other ground is sinking sand. We must build our lives on this foundation. Not on money, not on where we live or what we live in, not on stuff, not on other people, but on Jesus. This week we began to share with you what we hold as essentials here at The Ridge. We will continue to share those, this coming Sunday. You can also find those on our website at: http://www.ridgeonline.org/about-us/what-we-believe/.
We must make sure that we do not become rigid. We must have good doctrine, but if we do not love it is just a bunch of noise and at the end of the day lives are not changed and God is not glorified (1 Corinthians 13.1-3). To keep from becoming rigid and to sustain a loving heart we must pray in the Holy Spirit. We must walk in the Spirit. As we pray and walk in the Holy Spirit we will bear fruit of the Holy Spirit (The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5.22-23). As
When we minister with this as our focus, lives will be transformed to live for Jesus. Not by us, but by the Holy Spirit. God will take those who are doubting, those struggling with sin, those destined for hell and set them free by the gospel of truth. So, we must have an open hand to rescue those around us meeting their spiritual and physical needs, but with our essentials in the other hand closed tightly so we do not stumble as we minister. We must use wisdom and caution.
Glorify Jesus
The aim of Jude is to glorify Jesus (Jude 25). Jesus is the foundation, He keeps us from stumbling, He is the way to heaven (presenting us to Himself as blameless), He makes our joy complete and this is all for His glory (Jude 24-25). I want you to notice that one must first have Jesus as their foundation. They must repent and trust in Jesus. Next, note that for one to have the opportunity to stumble they must be walking or running. Are you walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5.16)? Are you running the race (1 Corinthians 9.24; Hebrews 12.1)? So, to conclude, I implore you to walk and run full of wisdom and caution, with the essentials in a closed hand, while the other hand is open in love to rescue all people for the glory of God and your great joy!
