Unless you live with your head buried in the sand, you know that there are vicious assaults going on against the Christian faith these days. Not everybody agrees with, or wants to submit to, God’s plan for their lives and for this world. The opposition is passionate about getting their message out. In this episode, Frank King argues that the church must be just as or even more passionate to contend for the faith.

Based on the words of Jude’s epistle, this assault against the Christian faith is not unique to our day. It existed during the days of the apostles as well. Jude expresses the urgency of his appeal to the believers:

“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” (Jude 3, KJV).

According to Jude, his initial intent was to write to them about salvation, which is extremely important. But that initial intent was overcome by the need to address this more urgent issue. There exists two key terms or phrases in the verse above: “earnestly contend” and “the faith which was once delivered to the saints.”

To earnestly contend for the faith means we must not be passive or noncommittal but diligent to do so. The faith that was delivered to the saints refers to the undiluted gospel that has been given to us by the Lord Jesus and His apostles.

What was the occasion for Jude’s urgent appeal? It was ungodly men who had crept in among the believers unawares. These men denied God and the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 4).

The State of the Church Today

We have the same kind of evil men among us today that existed in Jude’s day.  Some are preachers who have gained access to pulpits in our churches. They are preaching another gospel. Some downplay or outright the deny the need to repent. They turn the message of grace into a message of go to heaven your way. Some don’t even believe in the virgin birth of Christ or the deity of Christ.

Accordingly, the state of today’s church continues to decline. It used to be that if you were an American, the default assumption was that you identified with Christianity as your faith. That’s certainly not true anymore.

It used to be that if you said you were a Christian, we had a pretty good idea of what you meant by that. And that there were some core beliefs that you adhered to. But that’s becoming less and less true today.

We can’t reverse what has happened in the church. But we must not ignore the danger either. God is calling the church to go against the grain of society. To earnestly contend for the faith that was given to us by the Lord and His apostle. Let us not be ashamed of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is still the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.