Contending for the Faith
Introduction
Well, church, welcome. How are we doing today? It’s good to hear. For those of you who are live here at Clovis, I’m grateful for you. For those of you joining us online, I’m grateful for your presence as well. My name is Mike, I’m one of the teaching pastors here at The Well, and I get the great privilege of opening up the book of Jude with you. We’re going to continue our blistering pace through this book and cover two more verses today. So, yeah—don’t hold your breath. We’ll finish at some point, but it’s going to be a slow, fun journey, Lord willing.
As you recall, we introduced this book last week, and Brad did a great overview. It was written during quite interesting times. The waters Jude is writing in are turbulent. This week, we’re going to get to what is really the bedrock of why Jude wrote this letter and what he is asking of the believers he’s writing to.
The Need for Theological Triage
As I was preparing for this over the last couple of weeks, God gave me two very poignant illustrations to help me wrap my head around this idea of “contending for the faith” that we hold so dear. Last week, I had the privilege of sitting in our active membership class. Many of you have been a part of that; it’s the process where we help guests become family, walking through who we are as a church. One of the things we do in almost every class is ask people where they are from. We want to know what other church backgrounds are represented in the room.
People start raising their hands: “Well, I came from a Catholic church,” “I was Methodist,” “I was Baptist,” and “I was Southern Baptist.” And then someone says they were “Fresno Baptist,” which apparently—and I didn’t learn this in seminary, I learned it last week—are Baptists who go to the rodeo. That is amazing! Then you’ve got Episcopalians, Pentecostals, and all these different groups. There were only fifty-something people in the room, but that body of believers was incredibly diverse.
You realize that if you put those people in a room together and say, “Let’s hash through some issues,” you’d have a lot to talk about. How do you do baptism? Do you sprinkle? Do you dunk? Do you baptize a baby or an adult who has put their faith in Christ? Can you have wine at communion, or is it just grape juice? Can you raise your hands during worship, or do you have to be part of the “frozen chosen” with your hands in your pockets? You know the type: “I love Jesus, but this is where I stay.”
There are so many issues in that group that could divide us, and yet, what is profound is that there is something greater that unites us. There is something that bonds us together as believers.
I saw this again in a Serve Fresno meeting led by Kyle Guerrero, our missions director. It was a group of pastors and lay leaders from around the city who love the Lord and want to put that faith on display. We were asking, “How do we serve the Kingdom—not just our little body of believers, but the entire Kingdom—and serve our city well?” I guarantee you, if you took a theological survey of the people in that room and asked them to agree on every issue, there were a ton of things that could have divided us. Yet, among the diversity, there was clearly something uniting us.
It begs the question: How do you discern those things? What are the things that unite us that truly matter, and what are the things that could potentially divide us—things we see differently that maybe aren’t “closed-handed” issues, but “open-handed” ones?
It reminded me of a class I took in high school for people who thought they might want medical careers. They taught us how to work through a mass casualty drill. If you come upon a huge car accident in the fog on the 99 in Bakersfield, and there’s a massive pile-up, how do you discern who is most critical and who is least critical? You have to be able to do triage. You have to discern. As important as a broken arm is, you handle it very differently than someone with a sucking chest wound. One is life-threatening; the other is important but can be dealt with less immediately.
The same is true theologically. We have to theologically triage our Bible. We need to know what things in the Word of God are closed-handed issues. What are the things that we as believers have always held dear—not just at The Well, but for two thousand years of church history? What is the “least common denominator” that binds all of us as the capital-C Church together? And then, what are the other areas we can hold more open-handedly? Where can we agree to disagree, have opinions, and have biblically informed thoughts, while acknowledging that other God-fearing men and women might see it differently?
A Personal Confession
I say all that confessionally to tell you I haven’t always done a good job at this. When I think about some of the debates I had in college or as a young believer, I didn’t have these categories. I put everything in one bucket. Everything had to be “died for,” in a sense. I treated the deity of Jesus Christ with the same intensity as other issues that weren’t as central. I believed them strongly, and I had convictions, but I decided that if you didn’t agree with me, you were “outside the camp.”
I did that in an unhelpful way. If I’m honest, I did it in an ungodly way at times, unnecessarily creating division between me and another brother or sister in Christ, and wounding them in the process. My heart wanted to defend biblical truth, but in my zeal and lack of maturity, I didn’t always do it well.
These categories that Jude is going to walk us through are incredibly helpful for this purpose. As you recall, this was Jude’s reason for writing. He was concerned about the church losing its tethering to biblical truth. He feared, as Paul said, that we would ultimately be like children tossed here and there by waves, carried along by every wind of doctrine and the trickery of men. That’s not what Jude wants for us, and it’s not what any of us want as believers.
Contending Earnestly for the Faith
In verses three and four, we see a strong admonishment from Jude to fight for the things we need to fight for and to hold loosely the things we don’t. Let’s look at verses three and four together.
“Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once handed down to all the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”
Jude 1:3-4 (NASB)
Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Jude says, “Hey, I really hoped to write you a more positive letter, maybe a letter of encouragement, but circumstances demanded that I change direction.” He had to write something more timely and poignant because of the false teachers and persecution at hand. He says these false teachers have entered the church and changed his direction. He needs to speak to this issue because they have abandoned the core elements of the faith and the person and work of Christ. This is theological triage level one. We need to deal with this immediately.
He addresses them as “beloved” and talks about their “common salvation.” By “common,” Jude doesn’t mean ordinary or everyday. He means a common, shared experience—a shared body of beliefs that bind us together. Whether it’s a believer in a house church two thousand years ago or a believer thousands of miles away today, we hold certain things in common.
Paul, when he wrote to Titus, called him “my true child in a common faith.” He was saying, “Titus, this is what you and I hold dearly together. We both believe these things to be true.”
Titus 1:4 (NASB)
To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Jude says, “I’m appealing to you,” which literally means he is making an earnest effort to encourage them to do something. This isn’t a “just think about it” letter; it’s a call to action. He says they must “contend earnestly.” That word is only used once in the entire New Testament, right here. It’s where we get our English word “agonize.” He’s saying, “I want you to take this disposition as you think about this issue.” It means to struggle, to fight, or even at times to attack on behalf of something.
And what are they contending for? He calls it “the faith.” Often, we think of faith as our individual response to God, but that’s not what Jude means here. He means a body of beliefs—historic doctrines about life-giving salvation. These are the things that all saints hold in common. These are the beliefs that make us Christians.
Notice that he says this body of belief was “once for all handed down to the saints.” The idea that truth needs to morph or change to appease culture is foreign to Jude. He says, “No, what I believe is what I handed down to you, which will be handed down to the next generation.” These core elements of Christianity do not change based on the winds and waves of culture.
The Threat of False Teachers
Jude explains why this is necessary in verse four. These “wolves in sheep’s clothing” have “crept in unnoticed.” It’s the idea of entering through a side door. They deceptively came into the body with the intention of doing harm and eroding the foundations of the faith. Jude describes them in four ways.
First, they are “marked out for this condemnation.” Their fate is clear and sealed by God. Second, they are “ungodly,” or literally, godless. Jude isn’t just accusing them of disbelief, but of moral rebellion. Remember, biblical truth informs right behavior. Their lack of right behavior shows that their core beliefs are wrong.
Third, they are living in “licentiousness” or “sensuality.” This refers to sexual deviance. As Brad mentioned last week, one of the first areas where culture tries to “trim the sails” of biblical truth is sexuality. These men were abusing grace to indulge their flesh. Paul dealt with this in Romans as well.
Paul says in Romans chapter six, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may increase?” As believers, we know that no sin can supersede God’s grace, but Paul says the logic of sinning more to get more grace is backwards. He says, “How shall we who have died to sin continue to live in it?”
Romans 6:1-2 (NASB)
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
That makes no sense, and that’s exactly what these false teachers were doing. Finally, Jude says they “deny our only master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” They misrepresented who Jesus is and what He accomplished. They were seeking to destroy the foundations, and Jude is calling the church to action.
The Three Circles: Defend, Disagree, and Discuss
So, what did Jude have in mind? What were the closed-handed issues? What are the things that all saints—including us two thousand years later—share in common? And what are the things we should hold more loosely?
Brad gave us a helpful framework a few weeks ago using three “D’s”: Defend, Disagree, and Discuss. Think of them like concentric circles.
At the bullseye is Defend. These are the essentials. These are the things Christians must be willing to die for. These are the things that have made Christians Christians for two thousand years. If you don’t hold to these, you are outside of orthodox Christianity.
Moving out from the bullseye is Disagree. These are things we can feel very strongly about, but we recognize there is room for disagreement. At The Well, we call these our “distinctives.” These are the things that might make us different from the church down the road, even though we are brothers and sisters in Christ.
Lastly, there is Discuss. These are opinions where the Bible isn’t as clear, and we shouldn’t be dividing over them at all.
Circle One: What We Must Defend
Let’s talk about four things in that innermost circle of “Defend” that define historical orthodoxy.
First is Jesus. He is at the center. We believe in His eternality—that He has always existed as the second person of the Trinity. We believe He was virgin-born, supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit. He is fully man and fully God—100% of both. As a result, He is the only person who could die a sacrificial death for humanity. He was the perfect, sinless sacrifice who bore God’s judgment for us. We believe He didn’t remain dead; God raised Him from the dead in bodily form. And we believe in His bodily return to rule as King.
This is what Paul meant when he wrote to the Corinthians about things of “first importance.”
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (NASB)
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Second is the Godhead or the Trinity. We believe God eternally exists in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—yet is one God. All three have the same nature, attributes, and perfection. The early church went to bat for this, writing creeds to clarify this truth in the face of error.
Third is Salvation. We believe salvation and eternal life are possible solely through Jesus Christ. No human effort can earn it. It is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. There are no works on the front end to earn it, and no works on the back end to merit it. It is a gift of God.
Fourth is the Scriptures. We believe in the inerrancy and authority of the Word of God. All Scripture is the literal, written Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit and without error. If we don’t hold to this, we have no basis for the other three. The Bible is our authority for navigating all of life’s issues—including morality, gender, and marriage. Even when culture shifts, the Bible remains our authoritative guide.
These four things are a package deal. Now, does this mean you have to understand every single nuance to be a Christian? No. My five-year-old put her faith in Jesus, and it was genuine, even though she couldn’t explain the “hypostatic union.” There’s a difference between a posture of learning and a posture of active rebellion.
Circle Two: Where We Can Disagree
The next circle is “Disagree.” These are convictions. This is where most denominations draw their lines. We can say, “I love you, you’re my brother, but we see this issue differently, so our Sunday mornings might look different.”
These are things like the mode of baptism (sprinkling vs. immersion), how you do communion, the ordination of women, the gifts of the Spirit (tongues, healing), church government, end-times theology, or the tension between the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man.
This is the bucket I struggled with most. I used to take these Tier Two issues and elevate them to Tier One. I fought for them like I was fighting for the deity of Christ. It unnecessarily divided believers and created friction. Instead, we should have a posture that says, “It’s clear you love the Lord and hold to the authority of Scripture. Help me understand how you arrived there, because I arrived somewhere else. I don’t agree, but I love you, and we are unified in Christ.”
Circle Three: Issues to Discuss
Finally, there is the area of “Discuss.” This is where the Bible simply isn’t clear. What do you do with dinosaurs? I don’t know! I’m not going to take a bullet for my theory. These are open-handed issues: worship styles, small groups vs. Sunday school, how churches navigated COVID, or politics.
Politics has literally divided churches. People say, “If you don’t vote for this person, you aren’t a believer.” That is a Tier Three issue, not a Tier One issue. We can agree to disagree. The Scriptures should inform our thinking, but we have to recognize where there is room for different applications.
Avoiding the Extremes
As we land the plane, let’s be aware of our tendencies. There are two extremes we can move toward.
On the far right is Fundamentalism. Fundamentalists tend to put everything in the “Defend or Die” bucket. Everything becomes a Tier One issue. Author David French defines fundamentalism as an extreme sense of certainty along with extreme ferocity. It is intolerant of dissent and emphasizes confrontation. That is ungodly and unhelpful. It divides the body unnecessarily.
On the far left is Liberalism or Progressive Christianity. This side says there is nothing in the “Defend” bucket. There is no Tier One. Everything is a Tier Three issue up for debate. This is characterized by a disrespect for biblical authority and the church’s legacy. It’s arrogant to think that after two thousand years, we are the first ones to finally get it right while ignoring the historical church.
At The Well, we probably aren’t going to lean toward liberalism. We are more likely to lean toward fundamentalism. We need to be careful. We must hold dearly to the Word of God, but do it in a loving way, knowing what is truly worth fighting for.
Fighting for Unity
Lastly, let’s be about fighting for unity. Years ago, I sat in a leadership conference where the pastor was celebrating the different denominations present. He had the Presbyterians stand, then the Baptists, then the Bible churches. Everyone cheered.
Then he paused and said, “Actually, that’s incorrect.” He read from Ephesians chapter four.
“Being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, there is one Spirit, just as you were also called in one hope to your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father who is over all and through all and in all.”
Ephesians 4:3-6 (NASB)
being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. [There is] one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
He said, “There is only one Church here this morning.” We need to celebrate the unity of the Bride and not unnecessarily divide her over peripheral issues.
Church, can we be a people who die on the right hills? Can we hold dearly to what orthodox Christianity has held for two thousand years because the Bible is clear? And in other areas, can we be open and unified? Let’s live by that old saying: “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.”
Conclusion and Prayer
Father, thank You for Your Word and the clarity and conviction it brings. I pray that as a body, we would wrestle with this tension well. Help us to hold to the things that matter and hold loosely the things that don’t. May we stand firm in Your Word and exalt the person and work of Christ.
God, would You help us in the midst of these turbulent cultural times? Help us to love our neighbors and yet be firm on the truth. May we put that on display in a Christ-like manner in all that we do. We love You and we thank You. In Christ’s name we pray, amen.