Earnestly Contentious

Foul? What Foul?

When I lived in a Midwest state shaped like a mitten, there were some ‘brothers’ I used to play basketball with.  They played in the school gym on Monday and Friday evening and they were quite particular about who played.  The few students they allowed to play affectionately referred to these guys as the ‘brothers’.  Some of them were Pastors and Elders of local churches others were laymen at these churches, so obviously, they were ‘brothers’.  They were a competitive bunch, though all of them were past their prime, they played with an urgency that suggested an NBA scout may have slipped in the building and they might still have a chance to make a run at the league.  Often, at least five or six times a night, play was stopped to argue a call.  These arguments could last from twenty seconds to three minutes, it seemed much longer.  It was a battle of wills that sometimes lasted the rest of the night as they continued to argue even after the game on the sideline.  The call didn’t matter; it usually had no bearing on the outcome of the game.  It was annoying to the rest of the players on the floor, and on the bench, who just wanted to play some basketball.  But it was important enough for them to hold the ball until their points were made clear and considered by everyone in the gym.  They were earnestly contending.

Those who know me the best know that I have an ever-so-slight-bend in the direction of competitiveness.  I don’t mind losing… I don’t hold a grudge about losing that sword drill competition at camp 25 years ago to Jenny Benson because we had to pack and clean our rooms before the awards ceremony and final completion and I packed my Bible in my suitcase which was buried on the bus and they wouldn’t get on there and find it and get it out so I had to try to compete using one of those hard back pew Bibles with the razor thin pages that all stick together so you can’t turn them and half the pages are folded or torn and so Jenny Benson got my trophy that I definitely would have won if it had been a fair competition with each of us having our own Bible. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  See, those kinds of things just roll off my back as unimportant and inconsequential… It certainly didn’t shape my psyche in a negative way or have any long lasting effect on me.  Con-grat-u-la-tions (gritting teeth) Jen-ny. 

My favorite game ever.

Not everything is a competition, just basketball, soccer, softball, golf, mini-golf, football, fantasy football, chess, Scrabble, Powergrid, video games, and puzzles. (Yes, Puzzles, take two 1,000 piece puzzles go to opposite ends of the dining room table and race to see who finishes first.  With three brothers everything is a competition.)

Fine.

Hello. My name is Tim.  I have Obsessive Competitor Disorder.

All kidding and excuses aside, Jenny and I earnestly contended for that trophy.  Well, I don’t care about the trophy, just the victory, but you get the point.

Jude writes in verse three, ‘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’. 

In a way this appeals to my flesh… I can earnestly contend, no problem.

But wait, 2 Corinthians 10:3 says ‘For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh’.

Fine, crucify the flesh, yield to the Spirit, that’s the right thing to do.

Now that we are being obedient to the Word…, let’s go look at the context of who to war against.

Jude four tells us who to contend against ‘ungodly men’, ‘crept in unawares’.

Ha Ha, loophole, Yes!, the people I think are ‘ungodly’, I get to make war against them!

Oh, wait, Galatians 6:1; ‘Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted’.

So… if I’m spiritual, my goal is not victory, per se, but restoration.

And… if I’m spiritual, my spirit is one of meekness, not of hostility.

And… if I’m spiritual, I’m careful not to become the very thing that I oppose.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 

And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. James 3:18 

This is my goal.  How do I earnestly contend for the Faith?  Well, not in the way that the ‘brothers’ argue a basketball call, but through yielding my flesh to the Holy Spirit.  It isn’t through works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21), it isn’t desirous of vain glory, or provoking one another, or envying one another (v. 26), but through crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof (v.24).

Scofield said, ‘Christian character is not mere moral or legal correctness, but the possession and manifestation of [the] nine graces.  Taken together they present a moral portrait of Christ.’

My desire is ‘to be conformed to the image of his Son’.

This blog is not about winning an argument, it is not about taking sides, and it is not about conforming to or denigrating Fundamentalism.  It is one person seeking to find the truth of God’s Word from God’s Word. 

As I said in an earlier post, I appreciate what the great preachers of the past have done for Fundamentalism, but if we were to talk to them today they would acknowledge mistakes and errors that they, in good conscience, made.  Though we hold them in high regard and place them on a pedestal, they were, after all, just men.  They had not apprehended, they had not reached perfection, they simply ran their race. 

There are some who may read my blog and disagree.  That is absolutely reasonable.  Please contact me and let me know what I missed and I will prayerfully consider your disagreement.  There are some who simply want to fight, have at it, there are plenty of opponents out there, but not here. 

There is a stark difference between earnestly contending and earnestly contentious.

Don't take this guys word, and don't take my word,
unless it lines up with God's Word.

As I look at the issues and the stands of today, I will do as I have been taught, I will not take the professor’s word for it, I will take God’s Word for it.  If God doesn’t take a hard stand on it, then neither will I, and frankly, neither should you.  

If you are interested in agreeably disagreeing, I accept that.

If you are earnestly contentious please click the red X in the upper right corner of your screen for a special message from me to you.