Church bulletin:<\/p>\n
Jude 1:3, \u201c<\/em>Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n We may find ourselves in situations where we must disagree with someone over issues related to faith and practice. The Lord Jesus is our example. He was not afraid to call a \u2018spade a spade\u2019 when necessity was laid upon Him. The same was true of the apostle Paul. Ministers must contend for the truth in their sermons. Preaching which never consciously addresses the waywardness of people is bereft of truth \u2013 I can say this because the Bible continually addresses the waywardness of people. In setting forth what we must believe and how we must live, scripture rebukes the contrary.<\/p>\n And so, almost certainly, there will be occasions when Christians should be willing to say \u2018I disagree with you and this is why\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2019 It is one thing, however, to be a contender or a defender of the truth, it is another thing altogether to be of contentious spirit. Rightly contending for the truth is to honour the Lord. The contentious person dishonours the Lord and does more harm than good.<\/p>\n * The contentious person enjoys the fray \u2013 they like the \u2018argy-bargy\u2019 of getting their teeth stuck into an issue \u2013 or rather, an opponent. It makes them feel good to exert themselves and prove a point. The fight is what\u2019s it\u2019s about, not the truth.<\/p>\n * The contentious person will make an issue of almost anything \u2013 they lack the discernment to know what is primary and secondary to salvation. They live in a black and white world, if they believe something, whatever it is, it is worth dying for. They would rather split hairs than rest on common ground.<\/p>\n * The contentious person doesn\u2019t know when to stop \u2013 if their prey is not up for the fight or lost interest, they keep going regardless. Like sharks which taste blood in the water they are hungry to devour the meal.<\/p>\n * The contentious person lacks grace \u2013 they do not engage with humility or caution, they have no qualms shouting down, causing embarrassment, using ridicule or belittling. They see themselves as the prophetic fulfillment of Elijah \u2013 warriors for the truth overcoming the Ahab\u2019s of this world.<\/p>\n * The contentious person is unteachable \u2013 always confident in their own understanding they will not be schooled by anyone who disagrees with them. They are quick to speak and slow to listen. They don\u2019t interact with other opinions, they merely object to them.<\/p>\n It is sinful to not contend for the truth when a situation calls for it. And it is sinful to be contentious because no situation calls for it, furthermore, contentious people do not defend the truth, they dishonour it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Church bulletin: Jude 1:3, \u201cBeloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8496,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6511"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8570,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6511\/revisions\/8570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}