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Contending Is the Cost of Discipleship

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20131112_contend

(by Aaron Armstrong)

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.
Jude 1:3

Each of us, at various stages of life, will be called to say “no” to certain things for the sake of Christ and the good of others, even when it seems much simpler and more satisfying in the short term to say “yes.” But to walk closely with Jesus is worth far more than any worldly comfort. Unbelieving family members won’t understand your decisions. Even some believing friends may struggle at times. But contending is the cost of discipleship.

If we love anything—our comfort, our reputations, even our families—more than we love Christ, we will fail to contend for the faith. We will fail to truly live the Christian life as Jude calls us to. We must understand that contending is divisive because Jesus is divisive, and that adds friction to a life that we desperately want to be smooth and easy. The world wants us to be quiet and play nice. Enemies of the cross want us to be content with just doing good deeds and not talking about Jesus. Traitors to the cross portray doctrinal uncertainty on the essentials as humility and confidence in Christ as anathema even to the “way of Jesus.” It can all seem rather perplexing and draining and cause much consternation. The fight takes a lot out of us, and we can easily become weary. If contending is all duty and no delight, then we will eventually throw up our hands and say, “Can’t we all just get along?”

—from Contend: Defending the Faith in a Fallen World

 

Comments

  1. Unless the contender is prepared to come to the shedding of blood to death, it will fall short of what is required to follow our example, Gen 22:3-19.

    J.

    P.s. Fret not, HE alone is faithful.

  2. Death of an innocent in sacrifice to cover, obtain pardon or remove guilt pointed unquestionably to the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The wonder of God. Psa 8:5, Hbr 2:9, Rev 5:5-7

    There is another prefigured event that must be heeded. The Passover preserved Israel and has been commemorated ever since. Exd 12:23-24

    Rev 3:20, Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

    What can be said for those that disregard our Redeemer’s call? Mat 12:30, Luk 11:23

    Luk 13:25, When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:

    • Another example for us to follow;
      Had not the Egyptians forgotten, Exd 1:8 HNV what Yahweh did for them under Yosef, Gen 41:56-57 HNV and then allowed themselves to become jealous for the Hebrews, Exd 1:8-10 HNV that in turn prompted murder in Pharaohs heart, Exd 1:16 HNV, Exd 1:22 HNV, then Exd 12:23-24 HNV may not have need happen.

      J.

      P.s. be sure of this, Yahweh’s word will come to pass.

      • If we love anything more than Jesus we are not worthy of Him.

        1Cr 8:6, But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

        Jhn 14:6, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

        May the blood of Jesus Christ the righteous be on the door posts of your heart.

        • When we take our head out of the metaphysical clouds of high church theology and place our feet on the ground, we see that standing in the Faith of the Hebrew Messiah as our GOD is standing in a bloody mess of sacrifice, Lev 3:1-5 HNV, Col 1:19-20 HNV. Do you agree?

          J.

          P.s. HE alone is faithful.

          • We repent that the sinless was made sin for us, because of our own unrighteousness so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. How utterly jaw dropping astounding, God is without limit.

          • On what basis do we repent by? The church’s basis? A religions basis?

            What ruler do we measure righteousness (holiness) by? Your ruler? My ruler?

            The answer is; the same basis, the same ruler the Hebrew Messiah, Yeshua used. That basis, that measuring rod is known as TORAH. And if we are to emulate HIM in our life that is where we must go just as HE did. HE is our champion of perfection and completion Jhn 19:30 HNV, but this Truth doesn’t allow us the luxury of not trying, nor does it do away with that of which we contend by.

            Yaweh is without limit in HIS power, knowledge, presence, existence, etc., (now comes the but) but HE has limits when dealing with creation. If HE didn’t there would be no punishment and if there were no punishment, there would be no justification of HIS people Israel against the Accuser (Hasatan) and those that choose him, knowingly or not.

            J.

            P.s. as much as we would like there to be so we could all just get along… there is no middle ground on which to contend for before Yaweh. We contend only the BLOOD of HIS sacrifice anything else could be considered just a matter of economics. Thin skin notwithstanding. Jhn 13:18 HNV

          • Thoughts occupied with the law are concerned with sin. The focus is on the things of this physical life, the death that follows sin and that visits every being of this world. Rom 7:7-8, 3:20, Hbr 10:8

            The law prevailed until that which is perfect was accomplished by God. The law is physical.
            Jhn 1:17, For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
            Rom 8:2, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

            The law of faith is the work of God. God is a spirit and we must worship Him in spirit and truth. Jhn 4:24. The things of spirit, the things of God are not of the flesh that can never please Him.

            Rom 9:31, But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
            Rom 9:32, Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;
            Rom 9:33, As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

            As our hearts are with Jesus we are encompassed by His love. Love is the fulfillment of the law. Those in Him abhor the cross yet rejoice in that work, the love of God. We are to be perfect even as our Father is perfect.
            Mat 5:48, Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect

          • It appears you’re saying you’re not concerned with sin or the physical? Good luck with that, Jos 24:15 HNV.

            You use the word “until” in your second paragraph, but I don’t find it used in any of the scripture you quote. A correction; Faith has always prevailed, the Law gives us direction then and now, but Faith is from Bereisheet and is what the Creator wants from us, even before the LAW was provided for all.

            J.

          • Mat 11:13, Luk 16:16
            Isn’t it interesting the civil ruler, Herod the Edomite beheaded John the Levite?

            Those in Jesus do not dismiss sin. We do not look to external law, we obey the spirit of the law written in our hearts.
            Mat 5, 2Pe 2:18-21, 1Cr 10

          • Of Herod Antipas full lineage I’m not sure, but I am sure it was Herodias the Jewess who asked for The Immerser’s head on a plate. Herod was caught making an oath in haste, Mat 14:9 HNV… maybe he was Esau’s descendant after all.

            I can’t continue explaining to you haw the LAW directs our lives other than sending you to the love story of Ruth and Boaz. You find the LAW represented in, Rth 3:12 HNV as the “however” (no heart, how unromantic).

            J.

          • Pity poor Herod, poor Pilate. Both civil rulers executed the power of their office. Both rulers who had that power were powerless but to obey the will of God. Their power arising from their law was forced to do that which neither man desired.

            Passover is a vital grace. Passover was memorialized by our Father so that the children would understand. Passover is so very important because unrighteousness generates consequences. David confessed yet the consequences followed. The Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world. Jesus accepted the consequences for all who believe Him. Believing is not a single act. Those who believe Jesus are working to cease all of their unrighteousness. They repent, they confess any unrighteousness in order to eliminate it. Faith opens the heart for the work of God, His Holy Spirit. This is how the blood of the Lamb is applied to the door posts of our heart. This is the salvation of God for all who accept Jesus. This is the only grace that will accomplish the Passover of God to escape the consequences that are called out by iniquity.

          • Good Bob, let it all out, confession cleanses the heart. Remember; Jesus alone is faithful, not us. When all else burns away, hang on to that.

            J.

            P.s. neither of the Herod’s or Pilate or Pharaoh for that matter were forced to do anything, they decided to follow what was best for themselves ILO facing the GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Israel along HIS commandments. We all have a choice to make.

  3. Aaron is pointing out a very intense verse in Jude. Obviously written to those saved.
    It isn’t possible to understand how or what to contend for without the Spirit of God. From another perspective I am a new creature in Christ hard wired to contend for the faith. So the exhortation is to do what I am already wired to do, “contend the faith.”
    In a day when it appears that an alarming number are falling away from the faith. Aaron points at an excellent scripture, ” contend for the faith.”
    This blog thread is full of pure gold exhortations.
    If I can add anything it would be the the same thing that is the burning bush in my life. The Cross of Christ is not just the place I’m supposed say the sinners prayer and move on. The Cross must be in my life every day.
    11 Tim. 3:7 Pointing out a lot of studying but no apprehension.
    1 Tim. 2:4 Pointing out knowing God. I must ask myself, ” am I really converted, do I know that I know God.” My answer came at the Cross of Christ. I submit these two verses for thought. Jn 14:6 and 1 Cor. 2:2.
    I would also add here that contending for the faith is not supposed to be directed as justification to slam other brethren.
    There is too much of it going on. We have well developed camps in the body that contend for the faith with cults. But for what ever reason these camps are developing to battle each other.
    One says there is a rapture others says not. One says there are spiritual gifts another says no way. We have copious amounts of vacabulary to support any given position. It’s not wrong to take a embrace a point of view. But it is wrong to war against my own brethren with it. It may be better to drop the point of view than fight over it. We will not all agree on everything but we must love one another regardless. Contend for the faith doesn’t mean devour one another over Biblical perspectives. I’d rather sort of embrace all of the views and answer if asked, ” I’ not 100% sure about that.”
    Ep. 4:1-7 I think the early church struggled with these things too.

  4. Amen Stephen
    I’m blessed by the gems dropped by the Holy Spirit through the reflections of my brothers and sisters in Christ.
    Thank you for your post!
    I loved this part especially: Stephen wrote,
    “The Cross of Christ is not just the place I’m supposed say the sinners prayer and move on. The Cross must be in my life every day.”

  5. Amen Tess,
    May I add a small testimony here. When I began my search to know God I wanted to learn the Bible. That was important. After much searching I still could not understand how Jesus could be Man, the Son of God, and God all at once. I still wanted to believe but didn’t know in my heart and mind and soul that Jesus is God.
    And one day I uttered a prayer. “Lord please lead me to the cross.” This was not one day journey. It was over the course of a year tat I found myself laying down my life at the foot of the Cross of Christ. The death of Jesus became deeply personal to me.
    And there at that cross the Holy Spirit of God revealed to me that Jesus is God who was crucified and rissen from the dead. He sits on a throne in heaven next to my heavenly Father.
    You see I went changed form not knowing to knowing that Jesus is God. This change took place in my life searching for the cross of Christ. I take a step even closer in prayer and go through all kinds of changes. Mostly changes that involve death of my human nature and life of the resurrected Lord Jesus to live through me and in me. It is within this real truth that I contend for the faith.

  6. Amen Jerry!
    Amen Stephen!
    Stephen I know EXACTLY what you mean. It was at the foot of the cross where I met Him personally also. I’d gone to see The Passion of the Christ along with many from my church family and I was utterly undone and realized just how much our Lord and Creator has done for us and every person on earth who will make Him their Lord and come into a personal active relationship with Him.

    Each morning I pray, thanking Him for the day and asking Him to be there in those moments just before I speak or act to remind me that I’m His ambassador not my own. (God, please help me be less like me and more like You.) Every evening I talk with Him about whether I was able to pull it off during my day, I ask His forgiveness for the day’s sins and give thanks and He speaks to me while He and I grow closer in relationship. I voice my joy for the days happenings, and my frustrations and hurts and I LEAVE them there, like dropping a big anchor I don’t have to carry around with me. I don’t have to allow satan to persuade me to carry them around or entangle myself in them. Satan also does not own my tongue. I do and Christ does. I’m learning to actively listen for His voice through the Holy Spirit. I’m learning to be present in each moment I’m communicating with someone else. To give them my full attention and really listen before I speak. So often we think we are listening but we aren’t. We get the gist and then begin to think of our response and “our” agenda’s. It’s God’s agenda that matters, not ours.

    When I’m able to make it about Him I get the most wonderful encounters and get the most wonderful little surprise gifts from God. The other day a patron brought me a book that she wanted to donate. It was about faith and birds and she’d underlined in it and she gave me a little witness. It was close to closing time and brought the book home. We have to make sure there aren’t peoples personal notes written in donations and I was interested and knew I could look at it and bring it back for the donation table if it didn’t have too much writing in it that might be personal and identify her. I got it home and as I was reading a hand written poem dropped out that I’ll be giving back to her but this was the poem.

    WE’LL NEVER WALK THIS WAY AGAIN
    We’ll never walk this way again.
    No matter where we roam, my friend.
    It makes no difference where we’ve been.
    We’ll never walk this way again.

    Old things are past, behold the new.
    Old friends are gone the we once knew.
    Treasured memories make us blue.
    Yet tomorrow holds quite a few.

    We won’t repeat the things we’ve done.
    For there’s new victories to be won.
    We’ll work until the setting sun.
    And plan to have a lot of fun.

    But, we’ll never walk this way again.
    No matter where we roam, my friend.
    It makes no difference where we’ve been.
    We’ll never walk this way again.

    By Betty 7/27/78

    Thank you God and Betty for the gems along the way!

    • Until contending becomes just like breathing, you don’t even know it’s happening unless you focus on it or when it stops, Gen 2:7 HNV, Jhn 19:30 HNV.

      J.

      P.s. pure poetry… with just a little added style of our own.

          • I’m not sure what’s at issue here Jerry? I thought you made an EXCELLENT point. As a matter of fact I read it several times because of it’s depth. Not sure how that’s presumptuous and I think you know I’m not a yes man. Could you explain a little?

          • Sorry, I truly wasn’t sure because you didn’t elaborate when you commented and I was trying to be playful at the same time. I was bouncing off Bob’s comment below with the presumption comment in hope you would catch it in my haste.
            J.

          • Just to belabor the point further =-), Agreeing just to be agreeable is not helpful when contending, it could be said it is the opposite of contending. Too often in an effort for unity (one of those loaded words) we agree just to be agreeable, when in our spirit it strikes a bone of “contention” and we don’t speak up in defense of our Faith.

            J.

            P.s. there has to be a certain amount of presumption in there somewhere.

    • Tess, we are self inflicted. At a moment of truly knowing we interject, we overrun with our own agenda. Our Father is so much more intimate than we imagine, we do presume. A temptation overcome is removed. The matter imparts understanding once beyond the temptation that was unrecognized within the struggle. We truly do see through semi opaque lenses. The eyes of our understanding are clouded. 2Cr 4:6

  7. Hi Bob,
    I’m talking more about abiding in His presence. When our hearts are stayed on Him there is a peace that passes understanding and a recognition, given from Him, to have eyes to see what our human eyes can’t see, to have ears to hear spiritual things rather than earthly things.

    Within my own will I can’t always spot trouble before it happens and even when I do my determined human will is insufficient in that moment.

    When we are abiding in Him there’s a peace that you know is not human kind of peace. It’s peace given by Him and you can tell it isn’t your determination not to stumble or sin it’s the presence of the Holy Spirit within you that replaces your natural response with His glory in the moment. I am extraordinarily grateful for that peace. It’s not natural. It’s not a peace that you can be determined to have. It’s part of the sanctification process but it isn’t of you, it’s of Him.

    Jhn 15:4-11
    Pro 19:23, Mic 5:4, Mal 3:16-17; 1Cr 13:9-13

    • True and that is His presence. You also spoke of that which you do. Here we are. As separate entities we interact with and affect others. So this is the challenge of living His purpose throughout our days. Jhn 8:29, 6:53, 14:16

      The message of the New Testament is peace that comes with the Kingdom of God. We experience His peace. We are to share His peace. We are members of His Kingdom.

    • Is there a tipping point? A condition of His presence that prevails where we are observers as our Father acts through our lives? Of all the persons in the Bible only one proclaimed that He is the Father. Jhn 10:30, 14:9

      Jhn 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
      Jhn 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent

      “The righteousness of God is Living, because the righteousness of God is a Person. When we look to any rule, any system of thought, or code of conduct as the means for knowing God, this is antithetical to faith and can only be antagonistic to the ways of God. The legal mind is that which trusts in its own efforts and falls away from the simplicity of Christ. Thus Paul wrote to the Galatians:

      Gal. 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

      Our own efforts, no matter how noble, will fail to bring us into the righteousness of God that is our eternal life. That eternal life is Christ, upon whom we must fall in the day our own works are shown for what they are. Therefore any message exalting an alternative to faith in Jesus Christ, no matter how righteous it may sound or exalting of God’s Law it may seem, only leads into bondage so as to constitute a curse upon the listener” Daniel Irving March 16, 2013