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CONTENDING AGAINST APOSTASY (IV)
MONDAY, APRIL 27
Jude 22-23
2 Timothy 2:24-26
 
“… the servant of the Lord
must not strive …”
 
CONTENDING AGAINST APOSTASY (IV)
 
In earnestly contending for the faith, our duty with respect to others also opens with a contrast, a “difference” (Jude 22) or distinction, that must be made. There is a discernment that must be exercised, in other words; the same instrument cannot be used for every operation. We are to respond appropriately to each situation.
 
With some, we are to “have compassion” (Jude 22). Some who are in the grip of false teaching need gentle, compassionate counsel. They do not need to be loudly or openly denounced and condemned! They are deceived. They are bruised reeds, and if the Saviour would not break them (cf. Matt 12:20), how can we? Even an open denial of the Lord, as Peter’s, received a merciful restoration by the shores of Galilee! The Lord knew Peter’s heart. Peter was not an apostate, but a struggling, fallible saint. What such people need is gentle, patient, meek instruction in the truth, “if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil” (2 Tim 2:25-26).
 
With others, however, what is needed is not compassion, but “fear.” They are in great danger. They are as it were in the fire, and must be pulled out. As was the case with Lot, who “lingered” while the fire of judgment impended, and had to be taken by the hand and pulled out of Sodom (Gen 19:15-16), so it is with these. What such people need is to be rebuked sharply, “that they may be sound in the faith” (Titus 1:13). The time for “compassion” is past. If they are to be saved at all, it will be “with fear,” that is, by causing them to see the danger they are in, and fear it. At the same time, we must ensure that we ourselves are unspotted. We aim to pull them out, not join them in the flames!
 
Dear reader, you see that to “earnestly contend for the faith” (Jude 3) does not mean merely to argue, or debate; it is not simply an intellectual exercise, an exchange of opinion in the marketplace of ideas. It is a matter of life. We earnestly contend for the faith by living it out in our own lives, and seeking to exhort others ‒ some, with patience and compassion; others, when needed, with fear ‒ to do the same.
 
THOUGHT: Truth is for the whole of my life, not just my mind.
PRAYER: Father, help me truly to earnestly contend for the faith.

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