Week of Monday December 1 – December 7
Call to Contend – Man as Defender
“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. 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. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” - Jude 1:1-4 ESV
Some things in life are worth defending, even fighting for. Obviously, we fight for our families, we fight for biblical values, and we fight for our freedoms. As a soldier in the U.S. Army, I have literally put my life on the line to defend liberty. As a leader with Family Research Council, we are battling each and every day, from the School House, to the Court House, to the State House, to the White House, for the sanctity of God-created human life, the sacredness of God-ordained marriage between a man and woman, the God-given right to religious freedom, the God-given right for His covenant people Israel to occupy the land of promise, and much more.
For Jude, the half-brother of Jesus, the focus of his battle was for “the faith that was once delivered to the saints” (v 3). Though he had other things he wanted to address, Jude changed up his letter to address the urgent need to “contend for the faith” in view of the clear and present threat posed by false teachers (v 3-4). These depraved deceivers were apparently peddling a form of gnostic dualism, which resulted in loose living. So, Jude’s purpose in his letter was twofold: 1) to expose the false teachers who had infiltrated and infected the church fellowship, whose immoral and rebellious lifestyle was an indicator of their heretical theology, and 2) to encourage genuine believers to stand firm and contend for the true faith that had been handed to them. Again, the faith handed down to us from Jesus and the apostles is worth defending, even fighting for.
