Taking Back the Church

I have come to believe that it’s time for believers to fight for our faith. Not with pitchforks or guns or verbal attacks across the aisle. There’s a better way and it will do us well to learn it and live it. Join me in the book of Jude.

His opening words set the tone: “I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (v. 3). Jude wrote about the danger of “godless men” slipping into the church to “change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord” (v. 4). If ever a verse applied to the church, it is this. It is appalling and grievous to see the immoral condition of the Body of Christ. But it’s also apparent that this has been going on for a very long time.

Jude warned his readers that these wicked people have no regard for the things of God. Their motive is to cause disruption and discord – “these are the men who divide you (v. 19). They are: grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves, flatter others for their own advantage . . . follow mere natural instincts, and do not have the Spirit” (v. 16, 19). I know Jude was talking about his own day, but it’s almost as if he was peering into the future – to the twenty-first century.

So how do we fight? How do we take our church back from the vile hands of wicked people? Jude gave the battle plan: “But you, dear friends, built yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life” (vs. 20-21). That’s it? How is that “contending” for the faith? Where’s the fight? In the spiritual realm.  Paul said it best: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom 12:21). We chase away darkness by introducing light. We drive away wickedness by living in righteousness.

The truth is Beloved, you’re in this battle whether you wanted to be or not, so you’d better learn how to fight. Put down your pitchfork and pick up your Bible.  We’ll reclaim the church by being the holy people of God.

Ancient Paths

 

“Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths; ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.            Jeremiah 6:16

Though God had called them to be His own people, rescued them time and time again, provided, protected and cared for them, and blessed them with His presence in the Temple, the people of Israel had rejected Him, disregarded His laws and worshiped pagan gods and their own pleasures.  At one time they were God’s holy and righteous nation, but slowly, in seemingly insignificant ways, a drift away from God had been taking place.  You know – a small compromise here, a tiny little concession there – just to get along, to make living among others of different beliefs a little easier.  Before long, they discovered that they had drifted far from the ways of God – and right into captivity. Psalm 74 is written during that captivity.  The writer Aseph, a servant in the Temple of the Lord, grieves the presence of the enemy in God’s holy Sanctuary. Verse 4 says “[The enemy] have set up their own standards for signs. And in verse 9 he says, “We do not see our signs.” (emphasis mine) The people could no longer see the signs (the root meaning of “signs” is “a line of measure”) that the Lord had given them, they were lost and confused, and easily draw into captivity without them.

We would like to believe that we are a wiser people in this “age of enlightment,” people who would not be so easily drawn away from the truth, but human nature really hasn’t changed very much.  We are still a people adrift in compromise, concession and a desire to “go along to get along.”  The Christian Church today has drifted dangerously away from the moorings of the truth.  We have slowly, imperceptibly allowed the world to influence the church’s beliefs and standards, and we have allowed the heart of the church to become cold to God, His Word and His ways.  The church has been taken captive by the world, and we didn’t even realize it was happening.

Least we forget, the church is you and I.  And if the church has been taken captive, it is because you and I have been taken captive as well.  If the church has drifted, it is because you and I have drifted. The church is not where we go, it is who we are.  The church is not the buildings, nor the Pastor and leadership.  The true church is every person who claims themselves to be a Christian.  Notice I didn’t say “religious” or “a person of faith,” but those of who have identified with Jesus Christ; who have accepted His death on the cross as the atonement for sin and His resurrection as the promise of eternal life.  I mean those who have chosen to live by His truth, His teachings and His example.  If the church is to turn back to God, it will only happen when Christians turn away in repentance from worldly influences, deny our selves the pleasures of sin, and seek God’s face in whole-hearted devotion.  The church – you and I must turn our hearts back to the Lord.

Jesus’ half- brother Jude, in his epistle, called believers in Christ to “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. (verse 3)”  His is a call to return to the basic tenants of the Christian faith, the words, ways and truth of Jesus, and to stand firm against every false teaching.  How can we know what those tenants are?  By studying God’s Holy Word and an old article of faith, called “The Apostle’s Creed.”  Every Lord’s Day, in churches all around the world, people of God still recite the Apostle’s Creed, as an Affirmation of our Faith and a reminder of the foundation on which the Christian Church was built.  The Apostle’s Creed is not just for the church, it is a very personal statement of faith for your life and mine.

THE APOSTLES’ CREED

I believe in God the Father Almighty

Maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord;

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

Born of the Virgin Mary,

Suffered under Pontius Pilate,

Crucified, dead and buried;

He descended into hell

The third day He rose from the dead;

He ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit;

The Holy catholic* Church;

The communion of saints;

The forgiveness of sins;

The resurrection of the body;

And the life everlasting.

* or “universal”

We will begin looking at this ancient creed in a series of Thursday devotionals over the next few weeks, understanding its original message and its application for Christians today. Please join me in studying the “Deeper Roots” of our faith.

Remember the lament of Aseph, the Temple Servant?  Though the enemy had set up their own standards in the Temple, Aseph knew where his salvation and his loyalty lay.  In Psalm 74:9 he says, “Yet God is my King from of old, who works deeds of deliverance.” Aseph knew that only by keeping his heart devoted to God and to His ancient ways and words, would he be delivered from the hands of the enemy.  His deliverance is our deliverance too.  Only through faith in and wholehearted devotion to Jesus Christ, who is “the same, yesterday and today and forever,” will His church, His people – you and I – be delivered.

Ancient of Days, Your Name, Your Word and Your ways are eternal and timeless. You are the God who is, who was, and who will forever be.  Teach me to walk in Your ancient ways.  Amen