The Battle Cry

Excerpted from John MacArthur’s book, The Truth War:

“Much of the visible church nowadays seems to think Christians are to be at play rather than at war. The idea of actually fighting for truth is the furthest thing from most churchgoers’ thoughts. Contemporary Christians are determined to get the world to like them - and of course in the process they also want to have as much fun as possible. They are so obsessed with making the church seem “cool” to unbelievers that they can’t be bothered with questions about whether another person’s doctrine is sound or not. In a climate like that, the thought of even identifying someone else’s teaching as false (much less “contending earnestly” for the faith) is a distasteful and dangerously countercultural suggestion. Christians have bought into the notion that nothing is more “uncool” in the world’s eyes that when someone shows a sincere concern about the danger of heresy. After all, the world simply doesn’t take spiritual truth that seriously, so they cannot fathom why anyone would.

But Christians of all people, ought to be most willing to live and die for the truth. Remember, we know the truth, and the truth has set us free (John 8:32). We should not be ashamed to say so boldly (Psalm 107:2). And if called upon to sacrifice forthe truth’s sake, we need to be willing to be willing and prepared to give our lives.”

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” - The Apostle Paul (Romans 1:16)

How many Christians do you know who don’t talk about God much, in the workplace, at school or college, in a recreational setting, etc.? I know quite a few, not just in a ‘mixed’ public setting, but even amongst themselves in any of those settings!  I know a lot who come to church on Sunday morning and talk about everything BUT God, in the sanctuary, when spiritual music is softly playing, even when there is a big slide up front inviting them to pray!

Having made that observation, it comes as a pleasant surprise when I meet other believers who like to discuss their faith, what God is doing in their lives, how a scripture verse jumped off the page at them, and of course when there’s some ‘earnest contending’ for the faith going on. 

It’s sad though, when the contending, which might just be sharing scripture, or asking if what someone ’says scripture says’ is seen as intolerance and bigotry. It seems that some of the time, sharing one’s personal thoughts and opinions (no matter how crude or vitriolic) is inversely proportional to the desire for biblical truth.

But that’s to be expected - biblically speaking. . .

From a sermon preached in the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, England in 1879:

“The church of Christ is continually under the figure of an army, yet it’s Captain is the Prince of Peace; it’s object is the establishment of peace, and its soldiers are men of a peaceful disposition. The spirit of war is the extremely opposite point to the spirit of the gospel.

Yet nevertheless, the church on earth has, and until the second advent must be, the church militant, the church armed, the church warring, the church conquering. And how is this?

It is the very order of things that so it must be. Truth could not be truth in this world if it were not a warring thing, and we should at once suspect that it were not true if error were friends with it. The spotless purity of truth must always be at war with the blackness of heresy and lies.” - C. H. Spurgeon

Every Christian, by his or her mere profession of Jesus Christ as Savior is part of a war - a war between truth and error. That assertion begs the question: “What truth; what error? “  The answer can be gleaned from a a single verse in the gospel of John.

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

With these few words, spoken to his disciples shortly before his betrayal, Jesus claimed that there is only one way to God. Although the disciples might not have realized it, the two words ‘through me’ referred to the crucifixion to come, Christ’s death in our stead, the atoning sacrifice as payment for OUR sin. 

Christianity, by its nature, stands in opposition to every other religion on earth. All other religions are based on pleasing God, or a god, through human effort in order to obtain eternal life, ultimate consciousness, or the highest state of being. To paraphrase Spurgeon, ‘truth isn’t truth if error is its friend.’

The war is between truth and error, not between individuals. If I share the truth of Jesus with someone it doesn’t mean that I hate them, or that I am ridiculing their ‘religion’ or ‘non-theist’ beliefs.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12

Although the war is not between individuals, soldiers are engaged in battle. Where there are battles being fought, there are ‘rules of engagement’ (ROE).  If believers are to share the truth (our mission) we need to know what to share and how to share it. Those will be subjects of other posts to this blog.