If You See A Good Fight...get In It

"Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

In the 1994 movie, “The Road To Freedom: The Vernon Johns Story starring the great actor James Earl Jones who portrayed the late Baptist preacher, civil rights leader, and predecessor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Rev. Dr. Vernon Johns, there is a quote spoken by Dr. Johns which says, “If you see a good fight…get in it” when the new pastor Dr. King asked Dr. Johns for some fatherly advice on how to handle those deacons known for fighting authority at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Dr. Johns said, "Purchase a sledge hammer."

Now of course Dr. Johns was not advocating violence because there is no virtue in just fighting for the sake of fighting because one who fights for the sake of fighting wastes his life. If we are to fight it must have a cause that is worthwhile and Dr. Johns along with Dr. King fought vigorously for racial equality and social justice under the law, which was indeed a cause worthy of fighting for.

The Christian faith does not offer an illusory hope of life on earth without evil. Instead, Christian faith calls us to fight evil with good in the world as it is. Therefore, fighting is necessary for the Christian because of the entrance and reign of sin in our world. When I speak of fighting most assuredly I am speaking of the Christian way of fighting. The Christian way of fighting is known as the “good fight of faith,” did you know that true Christianity is a fight? There is a reason we are called “Christian soldiers” because in actuality we are meant to fight and in America today there are good reasons we need to fight. One in particular is the fight for the traditional family unit as established by God which consist of a man and a woman with children or a home led by a single parent due to death or divorce, there is a powerful group of people who have emerged in America today, namely the LGBT ((Lesbian, Gay, bi-sexual, and transgender) and they are hell bent on changing what God says in His Word to fit their purpose—and I really don’t see the Christian community doing anything about it. And as far as I am concerned, it is a ‘good fight’ for us to get in because our fight is mostly in the spirit, and is fought with weapons found in the Word of God.

1. The Preparation To Fight

Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12 that "we wrestle" against the powers of darkness.” The Kingdom of Light is in conflict with the kingdom of darkness, if you were to examine the lives of the saints of God in the past you will discover that each and every one of them had a conflict. In fact, Hebrews 11 gives us a list of these saints: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Esau, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel. None of these men and women was exempt from conflict and sufferings, and conflict occurred because of the presence of sin in the world.

Here is a news flash, our world has not changed since the time these saints walked the earth. There are a few of us who may believe that the world has gotten worse. Nonetheless, these same circumstances surround us in spite of the fact that Jesus is coming back. There will be conflicts as long as we live and as result we are in a fight and if you see a good fight get in it.

Through the years I have watched great boxers like Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Mike Tyson, George Foreman, etc., I watched them when they all were at the peak of their career and it was obvious that they prepared long and hard before they entered the ring. Training to become a great boxer, takes a lot of effort, discipline, and confidence. It takes much concentration in order to stand toe to toe with an opponent. An athlete must train regularly to complete for their gold medal, we, too, must train regularly to compete for our gold medal, which is Heaven.

You see we have to be prepared to fight but our weapons are not of this world. A wrestling match is only 6 minutes long. A wrestler will train for hours every day to prepare for those few minutes. He does it for one reason; to go the distance. It does no good to be ahead, only to stop short of the finish line.

A boxer needs boxing gloves and shoes to fight his opponent, and a soldier needs hand grenades and M-16’s to go up against his opponent in a physical conflict. But the Christian soldier has to deal with a totally different kind of conflict; a spiritual warfare and he or she needs a spiritual weapon to do so. Our weapons are much different than the weapons that the world uses in trying to solve the problems of society. You see the world uses: coercion, manipulation, pressure groups, compromises, myths, falsehood, or demonstrations that ultimately result in raised voices, clenched fists, and outbreaks of conflict which seldom accomplishes anything.