IN TIMES LIKE THESE --- GOD NEEDS NO DEFENDERS BUT OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH DOES
In a recent episode of the TV Program Family Feud the question put to 100 women was: “If you arrived in heaven and found that there were no men there, what would you say” . . . and the number one answer was: “Thank God”. Hilarious!
In the same humorous vein of thought but with serious implications was my response this week to a friend who asked me if God is working through the strong stance taken by some leading public figures in our country to set up a fire wall for slowing down and stopping further infringement upon our freedoms - religious liberty in particular. My answer:
“Thank God for the bullishness of those who are on the side of Judeo-Christian values” - on the side of religious liberty which was fought for and won by brave men and women to keep us free on many fronts - but in the case of Christianity, to keep us free to BE Christian - and free to PRACTICE Christian principles without restraints imposed by government.
The conversation that prompted her question and my answer was the controversy over the demand made of the Salvation Army to revise the Christian organization’s biblical positions regarding gender and marriage - and to show their change of doctrine (meaning acceptance of the gay and transgender lifestyles) by making a large donation to the gay community.
Christianity, and also Judaism, are increasingly coming under attack by secular forces that have methodically gained control of certain segments of society and brainwashed people into accepting the falsehood that all belief systems - amoral, immoral or moral - are equally valid. AND, their argument goes something like this:
Since many practicing Christians and Christian institutions still cling to their Bibles and principles taught therein, we demand they revise, redefine and restate their doctrinal positions to reflect acceptance of all beliefs . . . lifestyles . . . behaviors, or else - by law or intimidation - be restrained from public expression of their Christian beliefs. Example after Example!
As an antidote to attacks on Christianity , some ministers and their parishioners have renewed minds . . . rededicated hearts . . . had our commissions re-signed to: Be strong in the Lord, stand by Christian beliefs, strengthen resolve to teach the Word and, when necessary, to defend our faith.
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, for example, will be conducting a one-week Defend the Faith Conference in January --- sort of a “show stopper” type of get together to ask an awakened clergy to interrupt their previous plans to consider how to help one another deal with current threats to the public pursuit and practice of Christian ideals.
What Christians are up against today is not new! The pages of Church History are filled with accounts of persecution, mostly in countries other than America! But here we are: talking about it . . . reading about it . . . hearing about it . . . witnessing much of it firsthand in America.
Timely, therefore, is our study of the one chapter 25-verse little “book” authored by the brother of James, half-brother of Jesus – Jude - whose intention it had been to write on the subject, The Faith We Share as Christians, but felt the need to interrupt himself due to the rise of some alarming views that posed a threat to the early Christian Church – Jude 1-4 . . .
Consider Jude’s opening statement about what it means to be a Christian. Notice that Jude was content to be known as a second-place servant who was willing to take a back seat to his elder brother and play “second fiddle”. Yet, Jude makes it clear that he is a “servant” not of his brother nor anyone other than Jesus Christ. So are we! As servants:
Christians are folks who have been called by the Lord God to assume the highest role afforded to any person on the face of the earth – that of being: the beloved of God the Father . . . sanctified . . . preserved for eternity by God’s Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Folks:
We were called out of sin into salvation . . . responded in the affirmative . . . are servants of Jesus Christ . . . are being sanctified . . . are being “kept” in Christ.
If WE do not contend for the faith, who will? After all, the Christian faith was delivered to us – not manufactured by the figment of someone’s imagination but a set of facts passed on from generation to generation --- facts of actual miraculous occurrences that began with Jesus Christ himself. Not some fantasy . . . fictional tale told by an idiot. Facts!
Furthermore: The Christian Faith was ONCE AND FOR ALL delivered to US! It’s not each generation’s prerogative to come up with their own Redeemer . . . reinvent that which has already occurred - with the coming of Christ into the world. Once and for all Christ came to live and die to bring salvation to all who believe and receive. So, in times like these:
With the rise of deniers of the Faith . . . defiers of God’s sovereignty . . . deceivers who target immature Christians – those who chase every wind of doctrine and fall for false narratives that twist the grace of God and the Word of God to mean what they want it to mean - as a way of justifying immoral, ungodly lifestyles and behaviors - the Christian Faith must be defended!
Defended from whom? The peril from within - professing Christians who could not care less about adherence to “out of date” or “old-fashioned” views of morality and spirituality, but who have become “enlightened” by intellectual arguments, such as those being expounded on college campuses - to dissuade young minds from clinging to teachings of their godly parents and biblical churches, so as to persuade them to “get with” a new age of feelings.
John Wesley had trouble with folks who fell for such new-age brainwashing. He said of them that they were preaching a gospel of the flesh . . . laboring hard in the Devil’s service . . . “fierce, unclean, blasphemous” deceivers.
Wesley told about a congregant who seemed at first to be a spiritual-minded person, had been welcomed into the Church at Birmingham, and was thought to be suited for Christian service and ministry. In his Journal, Wesley related a conversation he had with the pretender --- that went something like this:
W: “Do you believe that you have nothing to do with the commands of God?” P: “I live under no laws – whether of God or men. I only live by faith.” W: “As a man living by faith, have you a right to everything in this world?” P: “I have. All is mine since Christ is mine.” W: “May you then take anything you want, anytime and anywhere – for example, take something out of a shop without consent of the owner?” P: “I may if I want. God will forgive me.” W: “Have you a right to all the women in the world?” P: “Yes, if they consent.” W: “And is not that a sin?” P: Yes, to him who thinks it is a sin - but not to those who have been set free."
My grandson an officer of the law told me about a raid conducted by his vice squad on a prostitution ring. One of the men arrested was put in the back seat of his police car. He asked the guy: “How did you get into this mess?” And the lawbreaker replied: “Well, sir, my preacher told us we ought to show agape to everybody, and I was just showing her some agape!”
Jude reprimanded those who preach a gospel of the flesh (v 10): They have no spiritual discernment concerning things they do not understand. They allow themselves to be corrupted by the things they do understand (the demands of fleshly instincts like those of wild animals).
The terrible thing about this condition is that the first is the result of the second. If a sinner’s innate sense of right vs wrong is corrupted and goes unchecked -- he or she reaches a stage at which they become deaf to “thus sayeth the Lord” and blind to that which is right.
. . . Defend the faith in the spirit of God’s love and mercy - Jude 20-23 . . .
To be told “it is what it is” should in no way deter you and me from pressing on toward that mark of our high calling in Christ Jesus . . . persevering all the way to the conclusion of our sojourn on planet earth. And if defend the faith we must, let us do so in ways that please God our Father and honor Christ our Lord. Thus:
Our best defense is a good offense: building ourselves up in the faith - making sure our foundation is Jesus Christ and our lives show we are set apart unto Him as Lord . . . praying in the Holy Spirit - making sure we test what we want to say to a sinner to see if it meets God’s approval and, if it does, to be endued with power to speak the truth in love . . . keeping ourselves in the love of God - making sure our aim in helping someone is for their good and God’s glory . . . looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life - making sure our motive is the salvation of the lost and the restoration of the fallen.
We who have received mercy make a difference in the lives of scoffers and unbelievers by defending the faith in love - with compassion that does not berate nor condemn to hell fire but seeks to rescue from harm or danger just as a fireman rescues a victim from a burning building or a pet animal from a pit into which it has fallen.
Jude 24-25 - “Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen!”
