ARE YOU A CONTENDER?

 

February 11, 2025

Jesus’ half brother, Jude, wrote this letter to confront lies about the faith. The struggle to know what’s true about Jesus is as real today as it was in 65 AD. Jude reminds us of the importance of “contending” for truth.

Jude 1:1-4

1 This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.

I am writing to all who have been called by God the Father, who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ.

2 May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love.

3 Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. 4 I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

 

What gets you fired up? Maybe it’s politics, a sports team, or time with family. Wouldn’t you agree that when we love and value something or someone, we passionately defend it and them? For Jude, the thing that fired him up, the thing he passionately defended was Jesus’ reputation and message.

Jude says, when people teach things about Jesus that aren’t true, we should "contend for the faith” that was entrusted to us (Jude 1:3). To contend means to affirm, maintain, argue, even insist. The Message Bible paraphrases verse 3 this way: "I have to write insisting—begging!—that you fight with everything you have in you for this faith entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish…”

Our salvation is a gift, and Jude encourages us to resist distortions of Gospel truth with courage and patience. The reason for this resistance and push back is so that others can hear the same message and receive the same gift of grace that Jesus offered to all. This isn’t about being right and winning a debate, no, Jude has “others” in sight.

Jude will remind us that in order to recognize falsehood and contend for truth we need time with Jesus, speaking to Him in prayer and learning about Him in the Bible. The assumption Jude makes, is that we will never passionately defend someone we don’t know. And we can never distinguish lies from truth without time in God’s Word.

Jesus’ reputation and teaching are worth defending. The Gospel’s “good news” is something worth contending and fighting for. Just think about where you were before you said yes to Jesus and how your life has changed. The transformation through Jesus that you have experienced yourself, and witnessed in others. Can anything else matter more? So, what Jude is saying to us is “Stand up, Stand up, for Jesus!”