Contend
Jude 22-25
22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 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. 1
In an age where everyone has a hot take on every single issue that scrolls across Twitter or Facebook...when everyone has a electronic megaphone to declare to the listening and non-listening world what they believe about everything (and that means things that matter and things that don’t matter) words are vital.
Words matter.
What you say matters.
How you say it matters.
What you don’t say...matters.
And the wise should take this to heart.
Churches in our nation today are filled with evangelists, but often evangelists for things that are not eternal, not biblical, not gospel-centric, and not godly. We have an overabundance of evangelists for everything else – favorite restaurants, college football teams, pro sports teams, medical issues, political stances, neighborhood beautification and HOA mandates, other peoples’ children, and more.
The megaphone is large and the words are declared. But be careful in the words you use and when you use them or when the words that really need to be heard clearly are stated, they will be largely ignored.
C.S. Lewis gave advice to an American child in a letter dated June 26, 1956. Lewis, the author of the Narnia stories and numerous other books stated the following:
What really matters is:
Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what
you mean, and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything
else.
Always prefer the plain direct word to the long vague one.
Don’t “implement” promises, but “keep” them.
Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you
mean “more people died,” don’t say “mortality rose.”
Don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to
feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was “terrible,” describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was “delightful,” make us say “delightful” when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only saying to your readers “please will you do my job for me.”
Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say “infinitely” when you mean “very”; otherwise, you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
John Green called Jude a “master teacher” last week and he is right. He is the brother of James, the half-brother of Jesus Christ, a leader in the church, a man called by God to serve and to teach. And...in this letter he is shown to be a master wordsmith and one who not only does not beat around the bush, but chooses words wisely and clearly so as to ensure, as best as possible, that the readers understand. Jude does not live in the footnotes or the margins, but comes straight at the reader with the warnings, blessings, instructions, and applications.
Therefore when he stated in verse 3...
3 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. 2
He meant exactly what he said – “appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
And while it may seem that we just keep saying the same thing in this series, it should be noted that we have stated this truth each week because it is so vital for our walk. It is essential. It is a front-burner issue, not a back-burner one.
Jude ends his letter with a call for God’s church to engage and to be wise. We are image-bearers of God and joint-heirs with Christ as Christians. Therefore, our words must be soaked in love. Our actions must display this love. Our words and actions must match. Otherwise, we end up with open doors to false teachings (as Jude addressed earlier) bad doctrine (as Jud addressed earlier) and arrogant, self-proclaimed “leaders” who end up marring the name of Christ for selfish gain (as Jude stated and as we have seen far too many times in recent years here in our nation, among fellow Baptists and evangelicals, and even among those we have historically revered.) Church...the words are clear. The claim is true. We must contend for the faith...THE FAITH...THE
GOOD NEWS...THE TRUTH...JESUS CHRIST...that has already been once for all given to the saints of old.
For anything and everything else becomes wood, hay, and stubble when judged.
HAVE MERCY
22 And have mercy on those who doubt;
Many will doubt. Have mercy upon them. Churches are filled with people who doubt. Our congregation today is likely populated with those who doubt. Some doubt about our message. Is Christ real? Is he who he said he was? Why is this true? What about other religions? What about other beliefs? What if I had been born in a Muslim family, a Buddhist family, a Mormon family, a Jehovah’s Witness family, an atheistic, agnostic, or humanist family? What if all this is a sham? How can I know the Bible is true? Because it says it is? How’s that work?
Doubts.
Some of you doubt. Some students who begin their freshman year of college will be confronted with their doubts loudly. It happens every fall.
The word for doubt here also means “disputing” and truthfully there are some who doubt but end up in disputation.
So, what do you do? Christian church? Christian parent? Christian friend? Christian?
Show mercy. Not condescension. Not pious self-righteousness, but mercy.
Paul said it this way to Timothy:
4
2 Timothy 2:24-25
24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 3
In other words, don’t be a jerk. And that goes for your online version of yourself too. I have some friends who are not friendly only. Not every question is hiding a heretical diatribe. Have mercy!
SAVE OTHERS
23 save others by snatching them out of the fire;
I know that you and I don’t save people. Years ago Tracy and I were in a restaurant and a young man was there eating dinner with his parents. We walked by and I said hello. He had come to our church’s youth group when I was the student pastor. He was excited to see me (not always the case with folks) and introduced me to his parents as “This is David. He saved me.” I corrected him. Yet, he was not trying to be a heretic. He was still overjoyed at what God had done in his life and was thankful I was faithful to tell him of Christ.
Sometimes when we think of “contending” we only think of fighting, but there is a deeper role here. We are in the saving business. Win a fight and you get a trophy that tarnishes. Save a soul and you win a crown that is everlasting.
And yes, you and I cannot save a soul, but we can introduce people to the one who can. David Helm says “In this war we awake in the morning to the task of saving people, not killing them.” Wow!
I fear that perhaps we have chosen to forget that without Christ, a person will experience truth, will not have eternal life, and is destined for what Jude states here as fire. It is real, not some ethereal boogie man designed to keep churches functioning. This is a life-saving mission. And sometimes rather than being bold in our faith and lovingly and mercifully engaging the lostness around us, we focus on the minutia of second and third tier theological issues, watching the world burn while holding the rope that could “snatch them out of the fire.”
I wonder if our cultural love-affair with comfort, possessions, me-time, retirement, and self-care has left many in the church lamenting that so many are not walking with Christ while we stand complacent in our ignorance – NO IT’S NOT IGNORANCE – in our apathy. “It is what it is” has become the theme for far too many Christians when “contend for the faith” should be the banner we gather under.
MERCY WITH FEAR
to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
This is confusing, but I believe this is the warning and instruction here. Show mercy with fear – fear of what?
Hating even the garment stained by the flesh – the what?
Christianity is not going to be easy. The world will not celebrate you. The only way to snatch someone from the fire is to go near the fire, but be careful. Be very discerning, prayed up, God-reliant, and careful.
Temptation is like a magnet. That which is “no big deal” can eventually kill you.
Pastors who have fallen from grace due to sexual and immoral sins likely did not intend to do so initially...but then they got too close. Not just pastors. All Christians.
Lot is an example. Look here at his journey into the sin city of Sodom.
Genesis 13:12
12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom.4
Near Sodom, but not intending to go into the city. The area was nice. The people wouldn’t influence him. No issue he thought.
Genesis 14:12
12 They also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, who was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions, and went their way. 5
A war upon Sodom erupted and suddenly Lot and his family are no longer near the city, but in the city.
Then...
Genesis 19:1
The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth 6
Now, he’s in the gates of the city – a place of power, of prominence, where business and government sits. Not just a bystander, Lot is IN THE SIN. Play too close to the fire and you will be burned.
So, as Jude says clearly “to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.”
Remember who you are. Remember whose you are. Remember the mission and be strong. You cannot just be strong by deciding to be strong. This is based upon your faith. You cannot rescue the perishing (well you cannot do so at all) without holding tight to the Savior. This is the faith worthy of contending.
You can do this, if you will remember that it is God who keeps you from stumbling. If you remember and lean into the one who has already done the heavy lifting, the saving, the redeeming...it’s not up to you, but you have a role. To do nothing is to sin. To do something for unrighteousness is to sin. It is clear – contend for the faith, once for all given to the saints. Because it is why we are here!
The faith entrusted to God’s holy people – to you and to me – to the church – is grounded in Jesus Christ. He is the Messiah. He is the Son of God. He is God the Son. He is God with us. He is the Word. He is God made flesh. He is the Savior. He is the redeemer. He is the ransom for our souls. He is the Name above all Names.
And he is revealed in every single book of the Bible.
Some theologians and intelligentsia seek to remove the Christ from Old Testament writings under the banner of Hebrew contextualization. Now, I’m all for the truth revealed through contextual reading, but to seek to eliminate the Son from the Father’s plans prior to his coming in Bethlehem, as recorded in the Old Testament is to leave yourself with an incomplete (and therefore incorrect) gospel. The good news is Jesus Christ. He is faith we contend for.
I have a poster on my wall my parents gave me back in the early 1990s. It is titled “Name Above All Names” and this lists this:
In Genesis, Jesus is the ram at Abraham’s altar
In Exodus, he is the Passover lamb
In Leviticus, he is the High Priest
In Numbers, he is the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night
In Deuteronomy, he is the city of our refuge
In Joshua, he is the scarlet thread out Rahab’s window
In Judges, he is our judge
In Ruth, he is our kinsman redeemer
In 1 and 2 Samuel, he is our trusted prophet
In Kings and Chronicles, he is our reigning king
In Ezra, he is our faithful scribe
In Nehemiah, he is the rebuilder of everything that is broken
In Esther, he is the Mordecai sitting faithful at the gate
In Job, he is our redeemer that liveth
In Psalms, he is my shepherd and I shall not want
In Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, he is our wisdom
In the Song of Solomon, he is the beautiful bridegroom
In Isaiah, he is the suffering servant
In Jeremiah and Lamentations, it is Jesus that is the weeping
prophet
In Ezekiel, he is the wonderful four-faced man
And in Daniel, he is the fourth man in the midst of a fiery furnace
In Hosea, he is my love that is forever faithful
In Joel, he baptizes us with the Holy Spirit
In Amos, he is our burden bearer
In Obadiah, our savior
And in Jonah, he’s the great foreign missionary that takes the
Word of God into all the world
You go on and see in Micah, he is the messenger with beautiful
feet
In Nahum, he is the avenger
In Habakkuk, he is the watchman that is ever praying for revival
In Zephaniah, he is the Lord mighty to save
In Haggai, he is the restorer of our lost heritage
In Zechariah, he is our fountain
And in Malachi, he is the son of righteousness with healing in his
wings
In Matthew, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God
In Mark, he is the miracle worker
In Luke, he is the Son of man
And in John, he is the door by which everyone of us must enter
In Acts, he is the shining light that appears to Saul on the road to
Damascus
In Romans, he is our justifier
In 1 Corinthians, our resurrection
In 2 Corinthians, our sin bearer
In Galatians, he redeems us from the law
In Ephesians, he is our unsearchable riches
In Philippians, he supplies our every need
And in Colossians, he is the fullness of the godhead bodily
In 1 and 2 Thessalonians, he is our soon coming king
In 1 and 2 Timothy, he is the mediator between God and man
In Titus, he is our blessed hope
In Philemon, he is a friend that sticks closer than a brother
And in Hebrews, he is the blood of the everlasting covenant
In James, it is the Lord that heals the sick
In 1 and 2 Peter, he is the chief shepherd
In 1, 2, and 3 John, it is Jesus who has the tenderness of love
In Jude, he is the Lord coming with 10,000 saints
And in Revelation, life up your eyes, church, for your redemption
draweth nigh, he is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Church – this is the faith we must contend for, for it is in Christ alone that life is offered, that truth is found, that the way is made.
DO YOU KNOW THIS JESUS! We are here to lovingly, mercifully, gracefully, snatch you from the fire...but you must grab the rope.
Footnotes
1 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Jud 22–25). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
2 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Jud 3). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
3 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (2 Ti 2:24–25). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
4 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ge 13:12). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
5 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ge 14:12). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
6 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ge 19:1). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
