Picking Your Battles

Picking Your Battles

Recently I’ve been having some challenging dialog with a few of my nieces and nephews over content and methods of expression on Facebook. Because most of them live far away, I like using Facebook as a means of keeping up on their lives and seeing them in their world. We have quite a large family, and even if I can just catch a glimpse of which classes are hard and which relationships are thriving (or not), it helps me feel as though I know them a little bit. 

Often I find myself looking at their lives and wondering what kind of a parent I’ll be when my son gets to be that age. What will the conversation be like when this happens? Will my son engage in this or that behavior? How will I react? But just like spending a lot of time and energy worrying about when or if Charlie’s cancer will come back, anxiety over life’s potential worst case scenarios really doesn’t ever pay off. 

In the past few days I’ve been reading and rereading the letter Jude wrote to the early churches that helped me find some perspective in my meanderings through Facebookland. The things I worry about facing in the future are not the things that should necessarily be occupying my mind. The book of Jude is very short – only one chapter with 25 passionate verses. I would encourage you to read it through from start to finish.

Jude’s letter addresses “those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ” (verse 1). And he encourages them to “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” because “certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you” (verses 3 and 4). There are foxes in the henhouse. Heretics in the church. And Jude is promoting a zero tolerance policy for heresy. 

In the short but powerful letter Jude writes, he uses some Old Testament examples of men who have rebelled against God and suffered the consequences as well as beautiful imagery to describe the effects these kinds of men can have on the community of faith they may infiltrate. 

Here are some examples of the attitudes and actions Jude warns his readers about:

• They are godless and change the grace of God into a license for immorality. (verse 4)

• They deny Jesus as Lord. (verse 4)

• They pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. (verse 8)

• They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted – twice dead. (verse 12)

• They are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. (verse 16)

• They are divisive. (verse 19)

Jude isn’t writing about outsiders exhibiting these behaviors. These men are in the church pretending to be part of the faith community. And they are a like a virulent disease that will spread to cause potentially irreparable damage to the body of Christ. 

So what does Jude propose as an antidote to the poison that’s found its way into the community? Harsh punishment? A robust dialog to reveal bad theology? A public tongue-lashing to shame the offenders? “Yeah!” we shout. “Let ‘em have it!” We’ll make signs that say, “Heresy Free Zone” with a big red circle and a slash through it. Let’s see what Jude’s suggestion is:

“²⁰But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. ²¹Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.²²Be merciful to those who doubt; ²³snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear – hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.”

Mercy? Prayer? Rather unexpected responses to the severity of the charge Jude has just laid out, don’t you think? But how beautiful in its focus. The first verses identify the readers as those who have been called and loved by God and kept by Jesus. A firm foundation and identity, to be sure. Then lines and lines of what to look for in the offending parties – in attitude, theology and actions. And a few encouraging words at the end, referring followers of Jesus back to our identities in Christ as a means of standing firm and resisting the forces of evil. The final verses of Jude’s letter place the burden of rebuttal squarely at the foot of the cross. Take a look:

²⁴To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy – ²⁵to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

So, is it possible that Jude is telling us to press harder into our relationship with Jesus and maintain a good relationship with other believers in order to combat those among us who threaten to divide or damage our community? I think that’s exactly what he’s suggesting! And it’s brilliant! What if we knew our foundational beliefs so thoroughly and loved each other so well that counterfeits among us were obvious but not life-threatening? What if I knew the truth that I am kept strong by Jesus’ love so deeply that I could recognize a divisive force in the family of God, but was confident enough to keep encouraging other believers, even those who may doubt or have legitimate life issues to deal with? I’m not sure what the grumblers, faultfinders and godless men and women would do with that, but the rest of us sure would be better off if we could live that way, wouldn’t we? 

There is a healthy balance between doctrinal vigilance and paranoia. And there is no substitute for knowing what we believe and the One who has loved and saved us. However, in the face of heretical opposition, we can contend for the faith by going deeper with the Author and Perfecter of our faith.

• Do you know what the Bible says about Jesus’ deity? Salvation? Sin? Relationships? God’s character? My challenge for you this week is to research any areas of your faith where you are not sure what you believe. If you find yourself in a dialog about spiritual issues, ask God to reveal truth to you – truth about the issue as well as the heart of the one you’re speaking with. Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual powers that wage war against our God.