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. . .

“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception….” 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

“The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart.” Jeremiah 14:14

There is an excellent chart here that shows the progression from Biblical Belief to the New Spirituality currently sweeping across the religious landscape of America. The chart lists topics of Belief and shows the Transition from historic Biblical Christianity to this New Spirituality. The information presented is supported by quotes, citations and links to source material from which it was drawn.

Below is the entry for the topic of TRUTH - Timeless or Relative?

Biblical Christianity

God’s eternal, unchanging Word! Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

Transition

Truth is de-emphasized to avoid division: “Humanity is recognizing the need for a more vital approach to God… men are tired of doctrinal and dogmatic differences….”

New Spirituality

“…a portion of truth… is found in every religious and philosophical system…. There is no room for absolute truth…. But there are relative truths.”

“When we can contact our own inner God, all truth will be revealed to us.”

Of course there is really ‘new’ about this New Spirituality.  It’s nothing more than  centuries old heresy dressed up in a new suit. The Emperor however, is still naked!  What troubles me with this regurgitation is not so much it’s apparently widespread appeal to the ‘postmodern’ intellect, but infiltration into the church, aided and abetted by some so-called ‘evangelical’ leaders!

There are some apologists that would tell you that it might well be developing into the one world religion spoken of in the Bible.

The question for believers is what to do about it. I really see only two options;  we can ‘cluck’ about it like barnyard hens, or we can present the TRUTH. . . with LOVE.

Most professing Christians would agree that we are to share the good news of Christ (the gospel), using words, deeds or both. Most are also in agreement that the sharing of the gospel applies to individuals as well as the corporate church. Furthermore, ‘good deeds’ in the Name of Christ speak for themselves. When it comes to ‘words’ however, there is a lot of opinion out there regarding the correct approach and even the words we should/should not use approaching the subject with non-believers. We would all probably agree with the need to share the CORE of the gospel. Is it possible to define it?

We have heard it all. It’s about ‘having your best life now’, discovering God’s custom-made plan/purpose for your life, experiencing health/wealth & prosperity (abundant living), etc., and all because God loves us so much he can’t wait to make it all happen for us. These are things for which Christ died. One Sunday morning I heard that Christ died for my ‘dreams’. I have heard that God loves us so much He can’t even imagine His heaven without us. We package the presentation into neat little set of a few laws or canned verses designed to elicit certain responses followed by a self-evident decision. One set of study materials, with which I am very familiar, stated that the very core of Christianity, the reason Christ died on the cross was God’s passionate desire for a relationship with us. ‘Relationship’ with God through Christ is certainly inherent in God’s reconciling work - the very work that is passed to all believers, but is it the very center, the CORE of the gospel message?

This post isn’t about ‘pinging’ on all the promoters/proponents of all the ’stuff’ we have heard, whether I mentioned it above or even if you have ‘filled in a blank’. I think it would do us well to define what the gospel IS, for two specific purposes: 1) to make sure we have the necessary ‘basic ingredients’ in our message and 2) so that we maintain the proper balance in our presentation of the gospel message. The higher goal is to be able to faithfully deliver His message to the praise of His glorious grace!

For a concise definition of the gospel we need look no further than the Apostle Paul and what he had to say on the matter. Although we could start with John 3:16, the odds on favorite, but I thought it wise to consult someone whose life work after meeting his Savior was exactly that - spreading the gospel and ‘growing’ the church. I chose Paul because although he possessed the equivalent of was several post-graduate degrees, he kept it simple. So let’s turn to Paul for a concise definition of the gospel:

“Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you – unless you believed in vain. For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received – that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 15:6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at one time…” - 1 Corinthians 15:1-5

This is not the first time Paul presented this message to the church at Corinth and before he re-delivers it he tells them that is ‘of first importance’, not second, third, or something to bring up a few months after a more ‘relevant’, ‘comfortable’, or non-threatening’ message to get folks through the church doors. What is of first importance are two last events that happened to Christ before His ascension to sit at the right hand of the Father.

• Christ died for our sins (according to the Scriptures), and was buried (validation - they didn’t bury dead folks).
• He was raised on the third day (according to the Scriptures) and was seen by 500+ people (validation - too many for a conspiracy).

Each event was according to previously declared scripture and validated after the event’s occurrence.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I am NOT saying we shouldn’t include God’s awesome love, the promise of abundant life,or His plan for our lives. We just need to keep central what IS central and discuss all the rest using God’s definition and according to His terms, not ours.

If we want examples of evangelistic encounters we can start with the book of Acts. There are about nineteen of them and guess what? ‘God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life’ isn’t one of them. Should that tell us something?

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.