Learning to Guard and Contend
Learning to Guard and Contend:
An Introduction to 2 Peter and Jude
This summer, when the Southern Baptist Convention met in Indianapolis, Daily Wire reporter, Megan Basham, spoke to a packed room of 1000 people. In her speech, which you can now find online, she revealed various ways that pastors, churches, and other ministries have been targeted by well-funded political activists.
More recently, Megan’s book, Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda, became a New York Times Bestseller, as it uncovers multiple instances of evangelicals compromising their Christian commitment to the truth to have a place at the world’s table.
In eight chapters, she highlights how false teaching has been brought into the church. These issues include making climate change a Christian mission, opening borders to permit illegal immigration, diluting the pro-life movement, hijacking Christian media, employing the church to promote COVID protocols, preaching Critical Race Theory, refusing to call homosexuality a sin, and weaponizing the claims of sexual abuse.
Sadly, these eight subjects are not just matters that we find outside the church. All too often, they have been brought into the church, and they have been brought into the church by otherwise faithful pastors. Megan’s book highlights these compromises, documents their sources, and calls on faithful Christians to stand against these progressive trends.
As she reports, the weakness of the church in America today has not happened by accident alone. It is has also been planned by outside agitators who are looking for Christians willing to sell their birthright for a bowl of stew (Gen. 25:29–34). And sadly, many evangelical leaders have done just that. Megan’s book chronicles the last decade to show how this has happened, and Christ Over All recently sat down with her to discuss her book and why it matters for local churches. I would encourage you to listen to our podcast and then, if time and interest allows, read (or listen) to her book and pray for the church in America.
Every month, we gather on the third Wednesday to pray and one of repeated prayers is for revival to come to America. Yet, such revival will not come until repentance is led by church leaders. Judgment, Peter says, begins with the household of God (1 Peter 4:17). And to be sure, the Spirit, in order to build an unshakeable kingdom (Heb. 12:25–29), is shaking the church in America today.
So, let us pray that he grants us grace and pleas for mercy (Zech. 12:10), even as God exposes many faults in his churches. Today, as in every generation, churches need pruning. And so, let us not despise the discipline of the Lord, but let us trust him and see his lovingkindness in it.
False Teachers in Our Day
At the same time, let us also return to the Word of God with fresh conviction.
In Jude, the Lord’s brother seeks to write a letter delighting in our common salvation. Yet, instead, the dire situation of the church requires a different letter. In Jude 3–4 he writes,
Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
“I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith.” Indeed, just as Jesus found it necessary to go to Samaria to find the woman at the well and pronounce salvation to the world (John 4:42), so now Jude finds it necessary to urge his hearers to contend for “the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints.” And why? Because “certain people have crept in unnoticed.”
Apparently, “shepherds for sale” is not a new issue. Rather, it is the very reason why the Spirit of God inspired Jude. Equally, the Spirit inspired Peter to address the same problem in 2 Peter. Equally, Paul tackles false teachers in all three of his Pastoral Epistles, and by my count there are more than 40 places in the New Testament where false teaching and false teachers are addressed. In the days to come, perhaps, I can highlight some of them. For now, however, I want to focus on 2 Peter and Jude.
If you read these two books together, there are obvious similarities. Scholars debate whether Jude depended on Peter, Peter on Jude, or whether they both depended on other material (e.g., 1 Enoch). Regardless of the relationship, and whether or not they are tackling the exact same people or false teaching, the response is the same: Guard the flock by contending for the faith. Truly, this is what shepherds do.
Shepherds do not merely feed the flock, comforting the hurting and strengthening the weak. Shepherds must also protect the flock, preaching the true word of God, opposing error, and laboring to cultivate faith, hope, and love. In 2 Peter and Jude, this is what the apostles do. In the former, Peter addresses the problem of false teachers who deny the coming judgment of the Lord, by reminding his audience of God’s judgment in the past. Yet, he does more than pronounce a message of judgment; he also preaches the good news of Jesus Christ, who is Lord and Savior. Thus, he begins with a chapter on cultivating faith that leads to holiness and love. Truly, this is the aim of his letter, but it is occasioned by false teaching and false teachers.
Similarly, Jude’s singular imperative is to keep yourself in the love of God (Jude 21). Yet, he writes this imperative in the face of false teachers who have crept in unnoticed. If you weigh his word count, he spends most of his time pointing out sin and sinners. He is not softly and gently urging the people of God to love Jesus with greater sincerity, though that may have been what he wanted to write. Rather, he is forcefully (even, violently) chastising those in his midst who are causing divisions.
Remarkably, the way that Jude is seeking to incite love in his hearers is not by being sweet and sympathetic, as Evangelicals for a Diverse Democracy would have it. He is not urging tolerance or letting sin go unnoticed. Instead, he is pointing at the sins of the “creepers.” He is exposing their errors; he is making a case for the true saints to see their falsehood and to disassociate with them. Indeed, as a true shepherd Jude is making distinctions between sheep and wolves wearing sheepskins. And Peter does the same.
Stressing the fact that God does judge, he preaches a message of salvation from judgment, such his hearers would know the true God and not some false approximation. Peter calls his hearers back to the Word of God and he illustrates the sins of false teachers by comparing them to those who were judged in the past. As it stands, the best way to see false teachers in the present is by learning from the past. In 2 Peter 2 and Jude 6–19, both apostles illustrate their arguments with multiple examples of God’s judgment. And again—don’t miss this—this is how aim to cultivate love.
Love Comes By Contending for the Faith
As love is defined today, it is assumed that it should be cultivated by soft hands and soft voices. Hardness, harshness, and hatred are incompatible with love, so many think. Yet, the truth is, any time sin is treated softly, it will not produce soft hearts, only hard. True love will only remain love when it hates evil, opposes wickedness, and stands forcefully against falsehood.
Why have so many churches compromised in recent years?
Because they have bought into a false gospel that prioritizes Jesus as gentle and lowly, without other continuing to stress Jesus as holy and almighty. In truth, all of us are unbalanced in our vision of Jesus and in our conformity to his image. Some need to grow in gentleness, while others need to grow in boldness. Yet, all of us need to learn how to contend for the faith, so that love may abound.
As 2 Peter and Jude teach us, one of the greatest ways for love to fade or become corrupted is for division to spring up in the church caused by falsehood and false teachers. To that, therefore, we need to study the inspired books of 2 Peter and Jude. And for the rest of the Fall, that is exactly what we will do. We will start with Peter’s second epistle and then before and after Advent (Christmas) we will turn to Jude.
As we study these books, we will also have time in Sunday School to learn about how the early church contended for the faith. Along the way, if you are interested in studying these things on your own, you can find a handful of resources on the Bookshelf. This will include a commentary on 2 Peter and Jude, a short book on church history, and Megan Basham’s book Shepherds for Sale. In truth, fidelity to the Lord is not simply the task of the pastors, as Paul reminds us in Galatians 1:6–9, it is the task of the whole congregation.
And so, for the sake of cultivating faith, hope, and love this Fall, let us learn how to contend for the faith, so that God may keep false teachers out and the living truth of God’s Word in.
For His Glory and your joy,
Pastor David
More recently, Megan’s book, Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda, became a New York Times Bestseller, as it uncovers multiple instances of evangelicals compromising their Christian commitment to the truth to have a place at the world’s table.
In eight chapters, she highlights how false teaching has been brought into the church. These issues include making climate change a Christian mission, opening borders to permit illegal immigration, diluting the pro-life movement, hijacking Christian media, employing the church to promote COVID protocols, preaching Critical Race Theory, refusing to call homosexuality a sin, and weaponizing the claims of sexual abuse.
Sadly, these eight subjects are not just matters that we find outside the church. All too often, they have been brought into the church, and they have been brought into the church by otherwise faithful pastors. Megan’s book highlights these compromises, documents their sources, and calls on faithful Christians to stand against these progressive trends.
As she reports, the weakness of the church in America today has not happened by accident alone. It is has also been planned by outside agitators who are looking for Christians willing to sell their birthright for a bowl of stew (Gen. 25:29–34). And sadly, many evangelical leaders have done just that. Megan’s book chronicles the last decade to show how this has happened, and Christ Over All recently sat down with her to discuss her book and why it matters for local churches. I would encourage you to listen to our podcast and then, if time and interest allows, read (or listen) to her book and pray for the church in America.
Every month, we gather on the third Wednesday to pray and one of repeated prayers is for revival to come to America. Yet, such revival will not come until repentance is led by church leaders. Judgment, Peter says, begins with the household of God (1 Peter 4:17). And to be sure, the Spirit, in order to build an unshakeable kingdom (Heb. 12:25–29), is shaking the church in America today.
So, let us pray that he grants us grace and pleas for mercy (Zech. 12:10), even as God exposes many faults in his churches. Today, as in every generation, churches need pruning. And so, let us not despise the discipline of the Lord, but let us trust him and see his lovingkindness in it.
False Teachers in Our Day
At the same time, let us also return to the Word of God with fresh conviction.
In Jude, the Lord’s brother seeks to write a letter delighting in our common salvation. Yet, instead, the dire situation of the church requires a different letter. In Jude 3–4 he writes,
Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
“I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith.” Indeed, just as Jesus found it necessary to go to Samaria to find the woman at the well and pronounce salvation to the world (John 4:42), so now Jude finds it necessary to urge his hearers to contend for “the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints.” And why? Because “certain people have crept in unnoticed.”
Apparently, “shepherds for sale” is not a new issue. Rather, it is the very reason why the Spirit of God inspired Jude. Equally, the Spirit inspired Peter to address the same problem in 2 Peter. Equally, Paul tackles false teachers in all three of his Pastoral Epistles, and by my count there are more than 40 places in the New Testament where false teaching and false teachers are addressed. In the days to come, perhaps, I can highlight some of them. For now, however, I want to focus on 2 Peter and Jude.
If you read these two books together, there are obvious similarities. Scholars debate whether Jude depended on Peter, Peter on Jude, or whether they both depended on other material (e.g., 1 Enoch). Regardless of the relationship, and whether or not they are tackling the exact same people or false teaching, the response is the same: Guard the flock by contending for the faith. Truly, this is what shepherds do.
Shepherds do not merely feed the flock, comforting the hurting and strengthening the weak. Shepherds must also protect the flock, preaching the true word of God, opposing error, and laboring to cultivate faith, hope, and love. In 2 Peter and Jude, this is what the apostles do. In the former, Peter addresses the problem of false teachers who deny the coming judgment of the Lord, by reminding his audience of God’s judgment in the past. Yet, he does more than pronounce a message of judgment; he also preaches the good news of Jesus Christ, who is Lord and Savior. Thus, he begins with a chapter on cultivating faith that leads to holiness and love. Truly, this is the aim of his letter, but it is occasioned by false teaching and false teachers.
Similarly, Jude’s singular imperative is to keep yourself in the love of God (Jude 21). Yet, he writes this imperative in the face of false teachers who have crept in unnoticed. If you weigh his word count, he spends most of his time pointing out sin and sinners. He is not softly and gently urging the people of God to love Jesus with greater sincerity, though that may have been what he wanted to write. Rather, he is forcefully (even, violently) chastising those in his midst who are causing divisions.
Remarkably, the way that Jude is seeking to incite love in his hearers is not by being sweet and sympathetic, as Evangelicals for a Diverse Democracy would have it. He is not urging tolerance or letting sin go unnoticed. Instead, he is pointing at the sins of the “creepers.” He is exposing their errors; he is making a case for the true saints to see their falsehood and to disassociate with them. Indeed, as a true shepherd Jude is making distinctions between sheep and wolves wearing sheepskins. And Peter does the same.
Stressing the fact that God does judge, he preaches a message of salvation from judgment, such his hearers would know the true God and not some false approximation. Peter calls his hearers back to the Word of God and he illustrates the sins of false teachers by comparing them to those who were judged in the past. As it stands, the best way to see false teachers in the present is by learning from the past. In 2 Peter 2 and Jude 6–19, both apostles illustrate their arguments with multiple examples of God’s judgment. And again—don’t miss this—this is how aim to cultivate love.
Love Comes By Contending for the Faith
As love is defined today, it is assumed that it should be cultivated by soft hands and soft voices. Hardness, harshness, and hatred are incompatible with love, so many think. Yet, the truth is, any time sin is treated softly, it will not produce soft hearts, only hard. True love will only remain love when it hates evil, opposes wickedness, and stands forcefully against falsehood.
Why have so many churches compromised in recent years?
Because they have bought into a false gospel that prioritizes Jesus as gentle and lowly, without other continuing to stress Jesus as holy and almighty. In truth, all of us are unbalanced in our vision of Jesus and in our conformity to his image. Some need to grow in gentleness, while others need to grow in boldness. Yet, all of us need to learn how to contend for the faith, so that love may abound.
As 2 Peter and Jude teach us, one of the greatest ways for love to fade or become corrupted is for division to spring up in the church caused by falsehood and false teachers. To that, therefore, we need to study the inspired books of 2 Peter and Jude. And for the rest of the Fall, that is exactly what we will do. We will start with Peter’s second epistle and then before and after Advent (Christmas) we will turn to Jude.
As we study these books, we will also have time in Sunday School to learn about how the early church contended for the faith. Along the way, if you are interested in studying these things on your own, you can find a handful of resources on the Bookshelf. This will include a commentary on 2 Peter and Jude, a short book on church history, and Megan Basham’s book Shepherds for Sale. In truth, fidelity to the Lord is not simply the task of the pastors, as Paul reminds us in Galatians 1:6–9, it is the task of the whole congregation.
And so, for the sake of cultivating faith, hope, and love this Fall, let us learn how to contend for the faith, so that God may keep false teachers out and the living truth of God’s Word in.
For His Glory and your joy,
Pastor David
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