Friday, December 9 ~ tammi

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Zechariah 5-8; Jude 1.

I really don't want to spend much time in Zechariah today, though, of course, there is much that could be said.  Mostly, we see a series of prophesies that move in succession from God's judgement of sinful people and of evil itself, to the restoration once again of the Holy City and God's chosen people.  Zechariah's prophesies came during the time the temple was being rebuilt after the exile and these reminders and promises from God were to keep the people's hearts mindful of their mistakes in the past and dedicated to steadfastly, whole-heartedly serving God in the future.

It being the Christmas season, one can't go without pointing out the obvious allusion to the coming Messiah in 6:9-15, where Zechariah makes it known that He will be both high priest AND king, which, of course, since the time of the Israelites' deliverance, had been two very separate positions of rulership.  Christ is already our Great High Priest, ruling in the hearts of believers, but will someday return as King of Kings to rule the physical world as well.  We see and hear "separation of Church and State!!" everywhere, but someday under Christ, they will be united again.  I find that extremely encouraging!

Okay, now that I've already said more about Zechariah than I originally intended, let's move on to Jude!

Jude is an interesting little book, warning believers against false teaching and apostasy and this time I tunred to John Piper, who makes a couple of very good points about this letter in his message on just the first few verses, which he feels contain the central theme ~ contending for the faith.

But before Jude really gets to the "meat" of his letter, he opens with very comforting words to Christians. He describes us as called, loved, and kept by God. All three verbs are passive  ~ they have nothing to do with OUR accomplishments. They stress the action of God. Jude stresses the security of the believer in God's electing and preserving love.  He ends his letter in similar encouraging fashion, but sandwiched in between these two comforting, empowering bookends is a call to be vigilant, to take up arms and FIGHT.

Piper makes a good point about how we're to understand all this encouraging stuff in light of the "call to arms" that makes up the main purpose of the letter:  Just because the brilliant Commander in Chief promises victory on the beaches doesn't mean the troops can throw their weapons overboard. The promise of victory assumes valor in battle. When God promises that his church will be kept from defeat, his purpose is not that we lay down our sword and go to lunch, but that we pick up the sword of the Spirit and look confidently to God for the strength to fight and win. Wherever the promised security of God is used to justify going AWOL, we may suspect there is a traitor in the ranks. (all emphasis mine)

Which brings us to the main point of this little book of Jude:  the duty of every genuine believer to contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Piper draws four conclusions from these verses, namely:

1. There is a faith ~ ONE faith ~ ONCE for ALL, DELIVERED to the Saints.  Sometimes it is necessary to stress that Christianity is primarily a relationship with Jesus rather than a set of ideas about Jesus, because orthodoxy doesn't save.  But if our stress on the personal relationship with Jesus leads us to deny that there is a set of truths essential to Christianity, we make a grave mistake. There are truths about God and Christ and man and the church and the world which are essential to the life of Christianity. If they are lost or distorted, the result will not be merely wrong ideas but misplaced trust. The inner life of faith is not independent from the doctrinal statement of faith. When doctrine goes bad, so do hearts. There is a body of doctrine which must be preserved.

2. This faith is WORTH contending for, but we must be careful to discern between the body of doctrine itself and its applications in our lives.  Application of doctrine should NOT be an area of contention among believers (though it SO OFTEN IS!) because the Holy Spirit moves and convicts us all differently and independently as a rule.

It's tough to imagine contending, to the point of martyrdom, for a simple statement.  For loved ones, yes.  In nobler moments, even other people in general.  But for a statement of faith?  Tough to imagine.  The blood of the martyrs is a powerful testimony that the faith once for all delivered to the saints is worth contending for, because when the faith is at stake, salvation is at stake. If the truth is lost, salvation is lost. The apostles and reformers were willing to die for the sake of the faith because they cared about whether the message of salvation would be preserved—they cared about people and about the glory of God.

We need to gain a whole new sense of the preciousness of biblical doctrine.

3. This faith is repeatedly threatened from WITHIN THE CHURCH.  Piper cited numerous examples of Christians martyred at the command of Queen Mary of England, who lost their lives simply because they didn't agree Christ's body was literally present in the communion sacrements.  However, he reminds us that "Bloody Mary" wasn't a pagan barbarian.  She was a professing Christian. "The worst enemies of Christian doctrine are professing Christians who do not hold to the faith once for all delivered to the saints." (emphasis mine)

New Testament teachings repeatedly show us that the greatest threats will continuously come from within the Church.  From those who wouldn't outrightly say "Jesus' teachings don't matter," but rather something more subtle, like: "If we are saved by grace, then it doesn't matter what we do morally. In fact when a Christian sins, it only serves to magnify the grace of God."  "They turn the grace of God against the commandments of Christ and in effect deny the lordship of Jesus."

4. Every genuine believer should contend for the faith.  This letter of Jude is not written to a pastor but to all believers everywhere.  The duty to contend for the faith is, therefore, not just the duty of the ordained ministers of the Word, though they do have a special responsibility. It is the duty of every genuine believer.

The best thing we can do to become a church that is effective in contending for the faith is to become a church well built on the faith. "Build yourselves up on your most holy faith." Study! Meditate! Build! Grow! There is so much wonderful truth about God to learn. And the best defense of the faith is to know it and love it, which is why this blog was started!  Piper also maintains that prayer is an indispensable part of contending for the faith.

Piper concludes by saying we need to remember that contending for the faith can be done in two ways: by intellectual effort or by moral reclamation. Sometimes only one approach is necessary or will work, sometimes a combination will be required. In reality these things always go together: an effort to change the mind and an effort to change the morals. Contending for the faith is never merely an academic exercise. It is never merely mental. "Because the source of all false doctrine is not the weakness of man's mind, but the pride of his heart."

This is why Jude tells us to grow and pray and stay in the love of God and depend on His mercy before anything is said about contending for the faith. The best argument for the faith is when the saints live it. The way you contend is as important as the content of your arguments.

Don't win with your logic and lose with your life.





Tomorrow's readings: Zechariah 9-10; Revelation 1

* As an aside, Jude presents some of the greatest ammunition for those who argue the Scripture is incomplete and/or infallible because he quotes or makes reference to two separate written works that are not included in the Orthodox Canon of Scripture ~ The Assumption of Moses (referred to in v9) and the Apocryphal book, 1 Enoch (ref. v14).

I think what's most interesting to me about all the fuss is that we seem to accept it when Paul quotes pagan poets and philosophers or when the inspired Scriptures record that Gamaliel spoke to the Sanhedrin in somewhat prophetic words, or Caiaphas prophesied about Jesus' death being a "once and for all" sacrifice, and yet here in Jude, including "uninspired" texts/authors/speakers is a problem.  Doesn't that seem a little inconsistent?  Anyway, if you're interested in reading a little more about the controversy and a good, not-too-lengthy look at the three main reasons it shouldn't really be a problem, click here.

I am SO SORRY for the WICKED LONG post!!!! I just couldn't bring myself to cut anything else out!