Fight for the Faith: Jude’s Call to Contend

What are You Willing to Fight For?

What you’re prepared to fight for reveals what is most important to you. Family, kids, dreams, ambitions, friends, money, career – the question; Of all the things worth fighting for in your life, does your faith make it on the list? Are you prepared to fight for faith? One of the most defining lessons which I learned from my dad’s life was also one of the most painful ones.

During my childhood, my dad lost all of his fortune leaving our family destitute and so as he looked to try to regain what he once had, I observed what I thought was him slowly starting to sort of kind of resign himself to his fate which had such a profound powerful impact on me as a little boy watching what I interpreted as my dad just literally giving up and choosing just to accept things as being really shaped my life. Because, as a as a boy, like if I had anything to look forward to in life, you would have thought that your dad would pave the way towards that. But what watching him slowly losing his will to fight u made me sort of kind of feel like he was also equally condemning me to the same fate that he had resigned himself to.

And so, that caused me to resolve to actually always fight for the things that are important in life; like the provision of your family is something worth fighting for to the bitter end. And so, it just gave me that deep resolve to always never go down in life without a fight. Now, I’m not trying to be overly critical of my dad because I think there are other factors that ought to be considered about his life. But I do feel like however that he perhaps could have stayed in the fight a little longer and really fought for the things that was important in life. And so, that’s that has given me just a resolve or gave me a resolve as a young boy to fight to the bitter end for what I would deem to be important in my life.

The Call to Fight For Faith

My guess is that I’m not the only one with such a resolve. What you are prepared to fight for reveals what’s most important in your life; family, kids, friends, career, money and so on. The question is though, of all the things we’re fighting for in your life, does your faith make it on the list? Or have you lost your will to fight for the faith? Are you prepared to fight for faith because of its importance in your life? That is the focus and central theme of the book of Jude – contend, fight for the faith.

As we unpack this book, we will discover who it is that is called to contend for the faith and why? What are they coming up against? How and to what end will they prevail? The claims of Jesus Christ and his power to transform our lives in godliness and the knock-on impact that this godly life that we get in Christ ought to have in the world around us are under constant attack by this world that sees little to no relevance in our faith. Therefore, finding your will to fight for the faith is how Christ will be glorified in and through your life.

Jude

And so, let’s jump in the first few verses.  “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.” Jude and James were the half-brothers of Jesus Christ. They didn’t at first believe in him until he did the whole rise from the dead kind of thing. That convinced them that Jesus had to be the son of God who came as the Messiah. And so, then they went on to become prominent leaders in the early church. And so, Jude is being specific about the reason why he writes this particular letter having changed his mind from what he had intended to write.

The Urgency to Contend For the Faith

Look at Jude 1:3 “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.” And so, the purpose of this letter is to contend literally meaning strenuously fought to defend the faith. And so, what is this faith that must be contended for – fought for? When Jude talks about the faith he doesn’t refer to or simply meaning feelings of surrender or trust that we may have towards God.

Notice that he’s being specific by saying the faith and not just faith as an abstract concept. And so, what do New Testament writers mean when they talk about the faith? Simply put, they’re referring to the body of truths (plural) that constitutes the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so, when Jude is saying “I am appealing to you, I’m writing to you to contend for the faith,” what he means is that he’s calling them to fight to strenuously fight to defend truths about the good news of Jesus Christ.

Now, there are many places in the New Testament that we can turn to that summarizes what is this body of truths that constitutes the gospel of Jesus Christ. One such place is the first letter of Corinthians where the apostle Paul summarizes the body of truth of the gospel into the following, and so, first he talks about that Jesus Christ died in our place for our sin. And so, Jesus’ death was like no other in that it achieved the forgiveness of our sins. Second, Christ was buried and then raised to life and so it worked and so we can be confident that Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf worked. Why? Because God did not allow him to remain dead but raised him back to life. And then the third thing that the apostle Paul summarizes is that Christ Jesus appeared to many as proof of his resurrection. And so having been proven as being the one who has conquered death once and for all, he reigns supreme as Lord over all. And so, this body of truths is so rich and so deep in its implications that it must equally shape the way that we view the world around us and the lifestyle choices we choose to make as we live in the world. And so essentially Jude is saying to his readers, you want to know what you need to be believing so that you will remain anchor in the world. You want to know the kind of choices that you need to be making so that you will thrive in life. Then contend for the body of truths around the gospel of Jesus Christ fight. Fight for it at all cost. And so, the call to fight for faith is actually a call to find Jesus Christ, to drill deep into what it means to know Jesus Christ and then fight strenuously, fight to defend these truths, this treasure that you’re finding in Jesus Christ as the most important thing in your life.

Who is Jude Writing to? The Nameless Christians

Who is Jude addressing this to? Jude doesn’t mention a specific destination to his letter and so we cannot tie it to one particular region. We know that he’s talking to Christians because he addresses them as beloved in God and saints. But who exactly are these beloved saints? we cannot know for sure. And so, in a sense Jude is speaking to nameless Christians. Now, a few significant facts which I won’t get into help us actually tie down, narrow down when exactly Jude could have pinned this letter to somewhere around the mid to late AD60s. Which then makes it so significant for its intended audience and super relevant for our day today.

Now the early 60s were really literally a bloody period of martyrdom for the elders and apostles of the early church. James, Jude’s own brother, and the apostle Paul and Peter were all killed for their faith somewhere in the early 60s. And so, you can just imagine the vacuum of leadership that the early church must have been experiencing in the early 60s. You want to kill off a movement then just eliminate one by one prominent and charismatic leaders like James, Paul and Peter from that very movement and watch it die right? And yet Jude having perhaps witnessed the second of his older biological brothers being killed for the gospel, finds the boldness to write to his audience appealing to them to contend for the faith. Jude’s response isn’t “Well let’s pack it up now. All is lost.” No in the absence of such big names of the faith in the early church Jude still finds the boldness to write to his audience to say that the ongoing life and future vibrancy of the church is now within their hands – contend for it at all cost.

Named By God, Yet Nameless in the World

And so, it is with us, with no intended audience or specific audience being named in the letter or Jude, Jude might as well be speaking to us directly. Nameless as we may be and yet equally called to contend for the faith in the trying times of our day. And so, Jude is calling us to be in a sense nameless heroes who will fight for the faith in our day and age as we contend for the faith, for the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I imagine one of these nameless heroes that Jude is addressing responding by saying “Hey, mamela (listen) chief, how can you be putting the defence of the faith onto our nameless shoulders especially since the mighty have fallen?” And so, I can imagine some of them coming up with excuses like to say “Sho! I don’t have the pedigree or the theological astuteness of Paul.” “I do not have the uncompromising zeal and the practical common sense of a James.” “I do not have the relational intimacy and personal relationship that a Peter would have had.” I also imagine them being just as busy with their everyday responsibilities like we are. Just as anxious and under stress with their everyday pressures as we are. And then just as also equally under pressure to compromise on truth by this society just like we are. And so why place the contending for the faith on our nameless shoulders?

A Childhood Lesson: The Worst Kind of Fight

When I was growing up in the DRC at the ages of 10, the school that I went to had all sorts of cliques in the various age groups. And in my age groups, the boys had self-organized into various camps and crews that felt gang like and so depending on all sorts of factors and politics of boyhood at age 10 you could have found yourself in a crew that all of a sudden became on top of all the other crews – ruling on top. and so, there was always constantly a jostling for power and an attempted coup.

One day after school I decided to go to the property around the corner that sold frozen yogurt. Now rule number four was, never roll on your own. But because I was in the ruling crew and I was known that I could handle myself a little bit, I was like “Ah no biggie. I’m just going around the corner and then coming back.” I got to the property got on and started looking around and there were some other kids from school there. When all of the sudden one I saw from the corner of my eye some cat from another crew walk in and also started looking around and then walked out and I was like, “That did not look right at all.” Now, him I could take but I started feeling a little bit isolated and so I was like, “Sho, I better get back to school to my crew.” The moment that I stepped out the gate of that property I’m surrounded by four or five of them and I’m like “Ah too late to back out of this one.” So now it’s about to go down and God only knows how I come out.” And so, as I’m waiting there for what seemed like an eternity before the onslaught is about to happen, I am saved – get this, at the last minute by my sister. Turns out as these guys were waiting for me outside, waiting to ambush me, some kids started making their way back to school and then they bumped into my sister and her friends who were heading in that direction and told her and say “Hey your little brother is about to go meet his maker.” And so just in the nick of time she popped around the corner and was like “What the heck is going on here?” And I’m like “Ask them.” And so, then the situation got diffused and then I ran back to school to my crew and I was like “Guys this was almost me man.” Man, and then it turned out I found out that one of the guys who had surrounded me ambushed me had just moments earlier taken a beating from two members of my crew. And so, as they were walking home, they must have seen me walk onto that property and they thought to themselves, “Payback time, right?” And so, I was ambushed for something I had no knowledge of. Which taught me a very important lesson that day and it is this, that the kind of fight, the worst kind of fight that you do not want to find yourself in is the fight that you do not know that you are in. The worst kind of fight that you do not want to find yourself in is the fight that you did not know that you were in.

Why the Fight Matters: Jude 1:4

Sisters, brothers in Christ, how many of us are getting ambushed by the world because we’re acting oblivious to the fight that we’re already in? Look at why Jude calls his readers to contend for the faith in Jude 1:4, he writes and he says “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.” And so, Jude is saying to us “Wake up Christian! you are already in a fight.” Why? Because there all around you there is a perversion of the grace of God and a denial of the Lordship of Jesus Christ and so living your life in a fallen world, in a fallen and sinful world isn’t a matter of choice whether you’ll contend for the faith or not because what you have desperately needed – the grace of God and the Lordship of Jesus Christ who then makes you who you are that has somehow come together in presenting you forgiven and reconciled to God is under attack in a fallen world.

And so, it’s not a choice whether you choose to fight for faith or not in a fallen world it is the only way a Christian can survive the onslaught of the sinful world. And so, you’re already in a fight, already in a fight if you truly treasure the grace of God and the Lordship of Jesus Christ you’re already in a fight, you’re already in a fight that you must contend for with great alertness. Why? Because it is a fight that you cannot afford to lose. And so, we are the nameless heroes who are being called to contend for the faith with great alertness. I don’t know about you but with the stakes being this high, I need some reassurance that this is even a fight that I can win. And so, Jude gives us all the assurance that we need in the opening verse look at that, Jude 1:1 “To those who are called beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.” Now, those aren’t just mere pleasantries, knowing what he’s about to call them to, Jude begins by reminding them who they are because they will need to be reminded who they are so that they can fight for the faith.

Called, Loved, and Kept

And so, three powerful reminders:

1.  That they are called. And so, that is called to be a Christian and so being a Christian isn’t a status that you just claim upon yourself no it is an identity that you are given by God. And since it is an identity that God is giving to you, then by his authority he will see you grow into the fullness of who he’s calling you to be.
2. The second thing Jude says is that they are beloved in God. Notice beloved in God not just by God and so this is not just a love that God has for them but it is a love that God has around them. And so, they are called not just to enjoy God’s love for them but they are to rely on God’s love around them that’s sustaining their very existence. And so, God’s love around them would have to fail first if they are proven to be incapable in order for them to be proven incapable to contend for the faith.
3.  And then the third thing that Jude says is that they are kept for Jesus Christ and so the Jesus that are meant to be contending for, that very Jesus is who God is preserving them for. And such is always the grace of God. Whenever we trust him and embark on the journey that he calls us to towards him, no matter how difficult it gets, we then discover on the journey that God had already started his way towards us.

And so, Jude is calling his readers to remember who they are in God. That they have been called, loved and kept by God the Father and what this says to us is this that as you’re contending for the faith, what is most important as you contend in the faith is not who you are in relation to this world but who you are in relation to God. It is who you are in the presence of God that we ought to be reminded about so that we would contend for the faith. And so, we are the nameless heroes who are called to actually prevail as we contend for the faith. Why? Because if God is the one who has called us, is the one who’s loving us, is the one who’s keeping us for Jesus Christ then God himself will work powerfully through us to see us prevail in contending for the faith. In a day and age where the Church can be left wondering whether she has what it takes to move forward triumphantly in the face of it challenges, Jude assures us that the future of our faith is in our hands as we contend to triumph through the one who has called and promises to sustain us. Therefore, fight for the faith unashamed and unafraid. You are the nameless hero God is calling to prevail. May mercy peace and love be multiplied to you.