The Struggle Continues: Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Jud 1:4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Good morning. I realize that in todays digital world that words and sentences and paragraphs and pictures and graphs and piles of data can be accumulated and sent around the world almost instantly. Such was not the case when Jude sat down to pen his letter. A quill and some ink and some paper like substance hammered from reed stems and bleached in the sun was about all he had. Writing a letter was excruciating and time consuming. Words and sentences had to be well thought out as mistakes were costly if not impossible to correct. And then there was that matter of space. We now measure space in Gigabytes, Jude was not so fortunate. Nice workable sized writing materials were very valuable and were not to be scribbled upon with crayons or wasted with hen scratch via boredom. So, even as Jude began to write this letter it appears that the content and subject of the letter took a change in direction from what he had initially desired to write about. He wanted to write about salvation. Salvation is such a wonderful subject. It is such an easy prepared message. It gets loud AMENS and almost everyone smiles and nods in agreement when we speak about Gods love, Jesus gift and mans salvation. Granted, there will be some who dont really care for a word about salvation but in general when you can successfully connect most of the people in the room with a message of common salvation you have a pleased and comforted crowd that glows and radiates love back to you. It feels good to speak about common salvation. It feels good to hear a message about common salvation. But there was and remains another message more desperately needed that is not so easy to prepare or easy to deliver or so well accepted or appreciated. Christianity and faith in Jesus seem to run in cycles. It is new and radical and revolutionary. And then it becomes old and normal and quasi religious, maybe best described as lukewarm. What happened to cause such a cycle? Why the ambivalence? Why the sudden change? Is it that we become tired of the old and decide the faith needs to become new and improved? Or, does one or more strong personalities with ulterior motives come on the scene and make changes to the faith? Jude had noticed a change in the faith. These were not positive changes and they were not brought about but good people with genuine faith and good intentions. They were far from godly and Jude calls them exactly what they were! There went that rosy feel good message about everyone being saved and everyone going to heaven we are just marching to the beat of a different drummer! The faith was delivered one time and it was a package deal that could not be changed and never should be changed. Granted, it might be rewrapped and presented in different formats and even different languages and different cultures but the core meaning of the faith could not be changed. What was the problem? Where were those evil ungodly men headed? It appears they were headed away from Jesus. They were minimizing Jesus and maximizing any and every other aspect of religion. As the letter unfolds we will see just how dangerous this direction really was and is. Suffice to say that Jude thought it necessary to contend for the faith. Now, we think that contending means always fighting for and defending and even going on the offensive and though this may be true the root meaning of the Greek word translated contend means to struggle for and stretch as one reaching for an almost impossible to reach goal or prize. This would indicate that the challenge is both inward and outward. The elements of this struggle can never be boiled down to just one aspect. The challenges will be both spiritual, physical and emotional and sometimes they will all hit us at the same time. We will be prompted and tempted to give up and give in. We will be distracted and even bushwhacked by some who creep in unawares. We may want to think the best of all involved but the reality is that the faith is in danger due to the influence of such ungodly evil people. If we are not careful we can or will become disillusioned and discouraged and wonder if the faith is worth such a struggle and stretch that often involves what appears to be fights or at least skirmishes. How could the LORD God and Jesus Christ get so pushed aside during such struggles? How could Christianity, pure and undefiled become so scorned and hated by so many? Our desire for new and improved along with the powerful influences of ungodly men and women who are making fortunes off their versions of the Gospel can combine to be a very negative damning influence on the faith delivered so many thousands of years ago. For now we need to realize that keeping the faith is something we must earnestly contend for. The faith will always be at odds with humanity and therefore will always be at risk of being devalued or undervalued or changed by religious hucksters to the point that there is no salvation found in it at all, much less common salvation. Sure, the roar of AMENS continue and the smiles and happiness and dollars keep coming but salvation isnt found in any of that. Salvation is found in the faith which is only found in the Person of Jesus Christ. He died for my sins and yours too. Why would we want to deny or denigrate such a great gift? Love, Brother Randell
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 13:10:15 +0000
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