Jude: Contend

Jude 3-4

As a pastor and as a teacher, there are lessons (messages) that I like to teach more than others. As a storyteller, I like to teach my kids about Michael Faraday and how he became a scientist. On the other hand, I am not as fond of teaching them how to graph speed and acceleration. It is not that one is more important than the other. It is simply a preference of the teacher. Jude expresses such an opinion in our passage today.

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Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jude 3-4

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Jude expressed that what he wanted to write about was the common salvation. What does he mean by common? Salvation is common in that we are all saved by the same method. To all who are saved, the process is common among them. Jude is not implying that salvation is common among everyone. Jesus said, "Many are called but few are chosen" (Matthew 22:14). Think of it this way, there are approximately 7.9 billion people on the planet. Of those people, there are 40 players and 13 coaches who wear the Atlanta Braves uniform. That official uniform is common to them, but that does not mean it is common in the world.

Instead of writing about salvation, Jude said he felt it was more needful for him to exhort the readers to "contend earnestly for the faith". Obviously this is important, but what does that mean? To contend means to "struggle for" or "fight for". This is commonly referred to as defending the faith or apologetics (Note: the Greek word used by Jude is not the word from which we get apologetics). Jude wanted his readers to stand firm on the Word of God and fight for truth. However, there was a way that they were supposed to fight.

In verse 4, Jude explains why there needs to be a fight for the faith. He tells that enemies (certain men) had snuck into the congregation and had turned the grace of God into lewdness. The Greek word here is a compound word in which the root means control and the prefix negates that. So, it means no control. These false teachers were leading the people to give in to their lustful desires and to not control those lusts.

They were also denying God and Jesus. Paul warned his student Timothy about people like this. He said, "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!" (II Timothy 3:1-5). False teachers are not something that we ignore in the church. They are a cancer that must be removed before they cause serious harm or even death to the local church.

The Gospel is a fun message, especially when we see people saved. It is fun to teach about the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in our salvation. It is wonderful to consider the past, present, and future working of our salvation. Yet, there is a real need for people to struggle for, or wrestle for the faith. We cannot be passive and let people mislead others. Jude is going to equip us for that struggle. The question we must ask is, are we willing to stand for the faith?

Father, it is so easy to be passive and hope that everything works out in the end. Help us to understand the need to contend for the faith and not disengage. Help us to stand so that our faith, and the faith of others, is not shipwrecked (I Timothy 1:19). Equip and encourage us for this fight so that having done all to stand, we stand firm (Ephesians 6:13).