“CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH”

“Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”

Jude 1:3

We’re living in a day and age when disagreeing with someone is being unloving and divisive. We have gone too seeker-sensitive that we barely teach doctrine. We’d rather hear a sermon on how to succeed in life or how to behave better. I’m not saying those aren’t important; of course, they are. But my point is that many congregations are filled with people who don’t even understand the words grace, gospel, justification, or atonement. And to make things worse, countless people in the pews don’t even know how they got saved. Most of the time, we think that, as long as we go to church, we will do just fine.

But when should we train our people to get deeper into their biblical roots? Aren’t soldiers train years before they are deployed? Why should the church be any different?

The Book of Jude is frequently neglected, but it is actually a fascinating, real-talk kind of book that you and I should spend some time studying. This book was highly likely written by Jude (Judah), the brother of James, who was the half-brother of the Lord Jesus. Initially, he wanted to write an encouraging letter about salvation, but the Holy Spirit guided him to change topics and write about defending the faith instead. Why? Because as early as their time, the church had already been infiltrated by ungodly false teachers, deceitful men, who are enemies of God’s grace (verse 4).

If you have read 2 Peter, you may have noticed its similarity to Jude. Both of these letters share the same purpose: to call the church to arms. We are living in the last days and apostasy is all over the place. False teachers are in the church, and we have to do something about it. God commands us, believers, to contend for the faith, meaning, we should proclaim the teachings of the Lord Jesus, which He passed down to the Apostles. If we remain silent and avoid discussing doctrine, how can the sheep distinguish truth from error?

But here’s the caveat: if we study doctrine, we must understand that it is tedious and takes a lot of time and patience. There are no shortcuts to understanding God’s word. Has there ever been a soldier who did not face the challenges of rigid training? How can a cadet graduate from military school and eventually go on a mission without going through the entire training program? In the same way, we cannot identify—let alone refute false teachers unless we labour in God’s word.

Everything we need to know about our salvation is written in Scripture. However, wicked men and women are out there, subtracting from or adding to the essential aspects of the Christian doctrine, and we have to stop them. I am not promoting hatred of false teachers. I’m advocating that we should arm ourselves with the truth. If we know what’s authentic, why would we settle for counterfeit, right?

How about you? What is your part in proclaiming the Christian faith? What sort of training are you going through to prepare for ministry? I encourage you to stand up, train and contend for the faith.

Pursue the Saviour today!