Digging Deep
Pastor Harold Warner
Most of you know that for some time now, we have started off each year with a particular theme.
I’m always careful, whether from the pen or the pulpit, to emphasize that this practice is not some sort of gimmickry. It is far more weighty and worthy than a simple cute rhyme or slogan.
These themes are birthed out of a genuine pastoral burden and passion to feed the flock of God; to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
Last year’s theme, Where is the God of Miracles? was taken from Gideon’s words about the nature and workings of God. Wow! Little did we know in January all that 2020 had in store, and nothing short of the God of miracles would have been sufficient to see us through.
I believe that the theme for 2021, Contending For The Faith, will prove spot on, as well.
It’s curious, even to me, that my initial theme message always seems to expand into a series of messages. The Holy Spirit is at work, to be sure, and I really want the Word to go deep into people’s souls – enlightening their minds, stirring their hearts, and provoking their wills.
Or, to use Bible phraseology, to become the implanted word: “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21).
It’s amazing that from a book of the Bible the size of a postcard – the Book of Jude – can come a wealth of truth that directs and equips us to contend for the faith.
What are the truths that I want to see planted deep in our hearts? From these verses, Jude singles out two in particular: 1) a dynamic understanding and application of the grace of God, and 2) a recognition of and relationship to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
If I could capture this for families, for parents and children, adequately summing up the truth and sentiment of Jude, I would say that the first thing it tells us is that some things are worth fighting for.
This has been a truth about life ever since the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, with the Fall of Adam and Eve. God tells man that the curse for his sin is that “in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread.” It’s always been so, that anything worthwhile in life requires a determination and a struggle. Your children need to know that they are not simply entitled to things, but that if they expect anything from life, they must work, push back, and apply themselves in order to succeed.
The Book of Jude also takes us into the arena of battle: “I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.” Here is a challenge that involves both intensity and direction (that is, context).
To contend means to fight for something. It is an athletic word, agonizomai in the Greek, which means to compete; to give everything to win and prevail; to struggle against; to strive in hand-to-hand combat.
One Bible translation puts it this way: “Fight hard (with everything you have) for the authentic Gospel message.” These words describe something that is intrinsically worthy of our full-fledged effort and teamwork. Jude is calling us all to engage in the noble conquest.
The second thing to be planted deep in our hearts (and that parents need to teach to their children) is this: What is it, exactly, that I need to fight for? I want to be clear about the focus of this passage. He’s not challenging us to have faith, or even to develop more faith.
What Jude says is that we need to contend for The Faith. An interlinear Bible will show that the definite article, the, should appear before the word faith, making it a specific kind or level of faith which is distinct from all others.
Anybody can have a spiritual faith in somebody or something – even in Creator God – and still not have the faith, saving faith, to which Paul refers here. Many believe in a Creator God yet do not know Him, do not understand His purpose, do not understand the extent of Satan’s influence on them or the world, and do not obey God’s commandments (His will).
In short, The Faith is talking about the core beliefs that define and make up the Truth of historic Christianity. It is The Faith “once for all delivered to the saints.”
It needs no refinement; it doesn’t need to be made relevant for our post-modern world.
Jude is telling us that the noble conquest involves knowing what we believe and why, and loving that, and being willing to fight to hold onto The Truth.
Why is it that every time I write for the Bullseye, I keep coming back to Deuteronomy 6:6-7, the heart of the great monotheistic faith of Judaism? Because it is the Old Testament example of contending for the faith: a faith that is intended to lead us to the fulfillment in the person and work of God’s Savior, Jesus Christ: “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children.”
Parents are the conduits through which God’s truth is engraved on the hearts of their children. The what and the why have always been part of the noble conquest.
Tell them God’s story. Not just a few isolated memory verses, but the whole of the grand narrative that has been communicated from before time began.
Start with the truth of Creation: how that all that we see around us did not just happen; that it wasn’t the result of a big bang, or millions and millions of years of random evolutionary chance.
No! In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. There was a divine Designer for this world.
The visible creation speaks to the reality and creative power and genius of the invisible God. Find ways to make these things come to life in their minds.
Tell them how that all of history was inexorably moving toward the fullness of time when Christ was born: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law” (Galatians4:4).
Let them know that the angels held their breath in wonder of Jesus, the God-Man, our Immanuel (1 peter 1:12). Talk often of the stated purpose of Jesus’ coming was to save sinners, which includes us all, no exceptions. “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15).
As we move through the season of Lent towards Easter, make sure that you continually go to Ground Zero of our Christian faith, which is the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ: “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1Cor.15:1-4).
Then, with a newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other, you can talk about the promise of Christ’s second coming. Yes, He came the first time as the Lamb of God, but the second time, He will return as the triumphant Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
There is no age limit when it comes to the necessity of defending the faith. You are shepherding your child into being both a lover and a fighter.
In the constructing of a life of an abiding faith, we are all called to love deeply, sincerely, and divinely, as modeled by God’s love in Christ, His agape love. This is in no way contradictory to the need for putting on the whole armor of God – you are still in a fight, whether you know it or not – and fight fiercely for The Faith, which is the Truth of the Gospel.
To lead a full and influential life, we will need to learn to do both.
The timeless apologetics message found in Jude is this: Knowing what you believe and why you believe it; and being able to communicate your faith in a winsome and effective manner to others, and to the next generation.