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[1267.64 --> 1273.12] And I will just say, you have leaders, church, that love Jesus, and they love the church. |
[1274.58 --> 1277.52] But for the next few minutes, I want to talk about contending for the faith. |
[1277.52 --> 1285.28] This might sound like a strange first place to go, but this is in my own wrestling as I think about what it means to be the church today, |
[1286.18 --> 1287.96] how contending for the faith looks. |
[1288.08 --> 1294.96] First, I think it requires us having a sense of what we believe clear in our own hearts and minds, right? |
[1295.14 --> 1301.34] It's hard to fight for something and stand for something that is confusing and maybe uncertain in your own heart and mind. |
[1301.34 --> 1306.60] And I know that for many of us, there's some new believers in our church, people who are just starting their journey of faith. |
[1306.60 --> 1312.24] And it's hard to sort of get clear, like, okay, what is the gospel versus what I heard this person say it was? |
[1312.44 --> 1317.34] What does it mean to be a disciple versus what I've read here or what my family said about it that doesn't go to church? |
[1317.48 --> 1324.92] And there's a sense of, like, you want to gain some clarity on what it is you believe and how to follow Jesus with every sphere of your life |
[1324.92 --> 1327.18] in order to then contend for the faith. |
[1327.18 --> 1336.92] And I would even say this, it's dangerous if you try to, quote, unquote, fight for the faith when you do not have clarity about what the gospel is all about. |
[1338.10 --> 1339.82] And this is a bit of a sidebar. |
[1340.60 --> 1348.10] But when I say fight for the faith, the last thing I want you to hear is street preacher, right, with a bullhorn, arguing with people. |
[1348.44 --> 1352.84] Every now and then on, like, my video feed on social media, I'll see these videos and it just kills me. |
[1352.84 --> 1360.06] And it's not that they don't have good hearts, but it's like, do you really think that arguing with strangers is the way to invite them to the way of Jesus |
[1360.06 --> 1364.52] rather than hospitality, conversation, friendship, and all the rest? |
[1364.70 --> 1370.02] Now, God uses it in his own way sometimes, but that is not what I think contending for the faith is first and foremost. |
[1371.78 --> 1374.94] Malcolm X, maybe you know who that is, famously put it this way. |
[1375.00 --> 1379.36] He says, if you do not stand for something, you'll fall for anything. |
[1379.36 --> 1388.18] And I know that there's a fear among many Christians, and I'm sure even in this room, of a coworker or a friend or someone on public transit saying, |
[1388.28 --> 1391.96] hey, wait a minute, why do you Christians believe that when there's this other religion who does this? |
[1391.98 --> 1394.66] Or why would you follow Jesus when this is the abuse happening in the church? |
[1394.80 --> 1400.52] And you have a fear of people asking these hard questions because you're not sure what you'd want to say or how to say it well. |
[1400.52 --> 1411.94] And because of that, it seems to me that the invitation to contend for the faith for the church then is an invitation for us today to go deeper in our faith. |
[1412.80 --> 1413.18] Right? |
[1413.38 --> 1418.86] And that doesn't mean becoming the smartest person in the room on all the topics, but it does mean reading the scriptures. |
[1420.02 --> 1423.44] Having a sense of being able to say why you believe what you believe. |
[1423.44 --> 1427.76] Sharing what it is that the gospel really is and why it's good news to you. |
[1427.84 --> 1431.30] Not just a source of argument, but it's actually good news for you and for the world. |
[1431.94 --> 1438.12] And then being able to stand against the heresy, the false teaching. |
[1438.12 --> 1444.46] And I will say, like, one fascinating connection between then and now, the heresy of the church then is, |
[1444.52 --> 1446.58] you've got these teachers who are saying, hey, we're free in Jesus. |
[1446.84 --> 1448.34] We're free to do whatever we want. |
[1448.42 --> 1451.80] We're free to engage in sexual immorality and greed and all the rest. |
[1451.94 --> 1454.98] And trust me, that's still the case in the church. |
[1455.30 --> 1455.56] Right? |
[1456.02 --> 1457.14] I'll just ask for forgiveness. |
[1457.62 --> 1458.72] Jesus is good with this. |
[1458.92 --> 1460.76] There's not a distinct lifestyle of Christians. |
[1461.18 --> 1463.68] That heresy still needs to be confronted by the church today. |
[1463.80 --> 1467.18] Not just with our words, but with our lives. |
[1467.70 --> 1467.90] Right? |
[1468.90 --> 1475.90] Embodying the way of Jesus as a way of showing the right way of discipleship and what the gospel looks like in real, ordinary life. |
[1477.92 --> 1482.26] I want to finish with this comment that's been stirring in my head the last couple days particularly. |
[1483.00 --> 1487.38] I have a lot of patience for the mess of the church in the book of Jude. |
[1487.50 --> 1489.04] Like, it's a pretty messy situation. |
[1489.46 --> 1494.16] Imagine a small house church with very powerful, toxic, and divisive leaders. |
[1494.48 --> 1495.74] That's a tough situation. |
[1495.74 --> 1503.74] But what makes me patient with them is that when they were gathering for worship and discipleship and all the rest, they didn't even have this. |
[1504.74 --> 1506.28] Like, this bound Bible. |
[1506.28 --> 1509.96] They had, like, scrolls and letters that they were sharing with other house churches. |
[1510.28 --> 1515.18] They had friends who were trying to communicate what they thought was being written by Peter and James and all the rest. |
[1515.42 --> 1517.84] Like, it was a very young stage of the church. |
[1517.84 --> 1523.12] And they would have been so jealous of us having a bound Bible. |
[1523.84 --> 1533.08] Much less thousands of years of faithful Christian leaders writing out the content of the Christian faith. |
[1533.08 --> 1543.72] We have creeds and confessions and written documents from the church for the last 2,000 years that are such a gift to us. |
[1543.72 --> 1551.02] You might not know this, but most of the creeds of the church, which might sound dull to you, those were written for the sake of the church. |
[1551.48 --> 1553.68] To defend it against one heresy or another. |
[1553.80 --> 1560.02] And you should know that most modern heresies, false teachings, are just repackaging of old heresies and new clothes. |
[1560.40 --> 1561.32] Trust me on that one. |
[1561.52 --> 1563.24] There's not that much new under the sun. |
[1563.24 --> 1571.48] And if you want to know a giant red flag for me, it's whenever someone in the church will say, you know, I've been reading the Bible by myself. |
[1571.78 --> 1579.50] And I've come up with this amazing new idea that no other Christian has ever thought of that revolutionizes everything we think about the church and Jesus. |
[1579.60 --> 1580.32] I'm like, wait a minute. |
[1580.68 --> 1584.74] We've got, like, thousands of years of really smart people who have studied the Bible. |
[1585.02 --> 1586.26] Have you consulted them? |
[1586.38 --> 1588.96] And if they have and they've done the work, I'd listen to it. |
[1588.96 --> 1594.46] But that's, like, a red flag of, like, maybe you should just be a little more humble about this brand new idea that's probably not true. |
[1595.24 --> 1597.04] Especially if you're reading Revelation by yourself. |
[1597.54 --> 1598.30] Tell me I'm wrong. |
[1599.18 --> 1602.18] If you grew up in the church, Revelation is, like, this super divisive book. |
[1602.44 --> 1605.18] And it needs a lot of people reading it carefully together. |
[1607.06 --> 1610.00] Because of this, we're going to finish this sermon in a strange kind of way. |
[1610.88 --> 1613.72] And I want to introduce, so we're going to read the Apostles' Creed together. |
[1614.28 --> 1615.60] If you grew up in the church, maybe you did that. |
[1615.64 --> 1618.20] If you didn't, this is sort of this weird moment where everyone's going to chant. |
[1618.20 --> 1619.06] And it's okay. |
[1620.10 --> 1622.60] I remember someone saying, I don't like the chanting church. |
[1622.64 --> 1623.62] It's like we chant together. |
[1623.90 --> 1624.58] But here's why. |
[1624.84 --> 1629.78] This is the earliest, most unifying statement of faith that exists in the church. |
[1630.86 --> 1634.94] Millions of believers today, as they gather, will be reciting this with us. |
[1635.58 --> 1636.86] Two more things you need to know. |
[1637.50 --> 1643.58] One, it was first penned, at least portions of it, to help people as they prepare for baptism. |
[1644.08 --> 1647.66] As sort of, like, this is a summary of the core of the Christian faith. |
[1647.66 --> 1653.64] And so we're reading something that has been used to disciple believers for thousands of years and around the world. |
[1653.86 --> 1655.94] I don't know about you, but that's very beautiful to me. |
[1656.42 --> 1657.98] Secondly, a lot more sobering. |
[1659.20 --> 1664.36] Christians around the world and throughout history have died for what they say with these words. |
[1664.36 --> 1671.42] Many Christians have been killed and been forced to say, like, either take this back, your commitment to Jesus, or we will take your life. |
[1671.50 --> 1678.12] And they chose to have their life taken because they believe that everything about Jesus written here is the core of the Christian faith. |
[1679.24 --> 1683.62] And the last thing I'll say before we read it, I get this question every time we read the Creed. |
[1683.62 --> 1688.36] That word Catholic there with a lower C and an asterisk, my daughter asked about that yesterday. |
[1688.58 --> 1689.04] She's not here. |
[1689.66 --> 1691.54] That just means Christians everywhere. |
[1692.14 --> 1694.62] The Catholic with a capital C is the Roman Catholic Church. |
[1694.74 --> 1699.00] Capital or small c means it's all your believers around the world and throughout history. |
[1699.46 --> 1702.28] And this is going to be a creed where we recite, where we take our stand. |
[1702.42 --> 1703.60] So would you stand with me? |
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