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Jude calls Christians to contend for the faith without contention and without compromise. Instead, we are to loving serve Jesus by engaging with others mercifully, peacefully, and lovingly. This means we have to contend without quarreling.
But that’s easier said than done because people love to pick fights, and we hate to lose an argument.
Look at the ministry of Jesus. His adversaries couldn’t get around the perfect logic that He used based on Scripture, so they came up with all sorts of controversies in the hope of tripping Him up and silencing Him. They posed seemingly unanswerable dilemmas like: In heaven, which one of the seven brothers will be married to the woman they all married on earth? Should we pay taxes to Caesar? Should we pay the temple tax? What’s the greatest commandment of all? They tried to get Him to take the bait about religious traditions, laws concerning the Sabbath, and the punishment for a woman caught in adultery.
Jesus never got fluster or frustrated—He never took the bait to quarrel with them, but He simply stood unwaveringly and lovingly on God’s Word. But once again, that’s easier said than done!
King Solomon pointed out the difficulty of this in Proverbs 26:4-5. Do we answer a fool or not? Yes, but we answer wisely not foolishly.
I believe Jude would agree with Solomon, Jesus, Paul, and Peter, but then he uses three examples that could spark a controversy:
the fate of fallen angels (Jude 6)
Michael and the devil arguing over the body of Moses (v. 9)
Enoch prophesying (v. 14)
But notice that how Jude uses these examples by not addressing any more than what we already know from Scripture. In this way, Jude keeps this from becoming a foolish, quarrelsome controversy (v. 10).
Notice the consistent instruction of the Bible on how to handle critics:
Michael the archangel: The Lord rebuke you! (also 2 Peter 2:11)
Jesus: Away from Me! (Matthew 4:10) and Get behind Me! (Mark 8:33)
James: Submit to God and then resist the devil (James 4:7)
Peter: speak gently, respectfully, and with a clear conscience (1 Peter 3:15-16)
Paul: warn people without becoming quarrelsome (2 Timothy 2:14, 16, 23-25)
In Luke 13:1-5, Jesus addresses two events that could have become quite controversial, but Jesus defused the controversy by simply saying, “No matter what, everyone needs to have their sins forgiven by God.” Paul continued this singleminded focus on Jesus. I love how the Amplified Bible captures his words in 1 Corinthians 2:2. And then Paul encourages his friend Timothy to operate the same way (1 Timothy 1:15-17).
Don’t let foolish controversies sidetrack you from the faith entrusted to us, but take everything back to Jesus as He is revealed in the Scripture.
If you’ve missed any of the other messages in our series called Earnestly Contending, you can find them all here.
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Last week we were reminded that sanctification (or as I call it “saint-ification”) is an ongoing process that usually involves the help of other saints. There is something else we need to do with other saints: serve them.
We are all a part of the same Body so it is beneficial for the whole Body if we care for every part of the Body (1 Corinthians 12:25 AMPC; Ephesians 5:30).
In order to serve others, we are going to have to check our attitude. We have been called to have the attitude that Jesus had about the Church (Ephesians 5:29; Philippians 2:3-7; John 13:3-5, 14-17).
We must all know:
I have a gift—notice the phrase each of you in 1 Peter 4:10
I must use my gift to serve the Body of Christ (Luke 17:10)
In the early Church, we see so much togetherness that they rewrote the definition of the Greek word koinonia (see Acts 2:42). Here’s what koinonia looks like in the Church:
(1) Testifying in church (Psalm 40:9-10 NLT)
(2) Being present with saints outside of church. From Acts 20-28, the pronouns “we” and “us” are used over 80 times! Paul was blessed simply by Luke being with him, just as saints are blessed when you are truly with them.
(3) Love notes when a saint is absent. The apostle John was brilliant at this. Look at his three epistles:
dear children 9x in 1 John
chosen / dear lady 2x in 2 John
dear friend 4x in 3 John
(4) Hospital-ity whenever it’s needed. Be a place of healing and refreshment for the saints God has placed in your life, just as Philemon did (Philemon 2-7, 22).
What a testimony it is when we live this way (Romans 12:10, 13)!
Remember the saint-ification process brings fruitfulness, joy-fullness, and an enhanced testimony. I love this quote from Richard Stearns, “The beautiful simplicity of our faith is that it distills down to the exact same bottom line for both the brilliant theologian and the five-year-old child: love God and love each other—period. Everything else derives from that.”
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Sanctification (saint-ification) is an ongoing process that brings out fruitfulness, joy-fullness, and enhances our testimony to others. And an essential part of this process involves other saints. Notice that this word “saints” it plural. That’s because it is a plural word every place it appears in the Bible.
Saints have gotten themselves into trouble when they tried to go solo. Like David’s sin with Bathsheba, Elijah’s slide into depression, or Peter’s denial of Jesus. But we also see saints thriving through difficult situations when they have a fellow saint alongside. Like how Barnabas gave Saul his start, Paul and Silas could sing together in prison, Silas and Timothy helped Paul minister, and how Jesus sent out His ambassadors by twos (Luke 10:1).
How does accountability to other saints work? Since we see togetherness so much in the early Church (look for the phrases like “each other” or “one another”), think A.C.T.S.—
(1)Admit my need for accountability. James tells us that we all stumble and that even my so-called little slip-ups are major in God’s eyes (James 3:2, 2:10). So I need help.
John Maxwell said, “Every person is undisciplined in some area of their life; in the area that I am undisciplined, that is the area where I need greatest accountability. I will not do well in my areas of weakness unless I am held accountable for better results.” We all have blind spots, we all have weak areas, and we must be humble enough to admit to those things.
(2)Choose my accountability partners prayerfully and carefully (Proverbs 12:26; 2 Corinthians 6:14). These should be trustworthy people who have the emotional and spiritual capacity to be able to come alongside me (Proverbs 17:9; Galatians 6:2).
(3)Trust my friend. Trust their counsel even when it stings a bit (Proverbs 27:6), and trust the effectiveness of their prayers for me (James 5:16).
(4)Stick with them through thick and thin. Be your brother’s keeper and let them be your keeper (Hebrews 3:12-14). We need to keep at it especially in difficult times. Notice the phrase “let us” that appears five times in Hebrews 10:19-25.
If we are living with a biblical worldview, we realize that the saints here on earth are those we will also be with for eternity. Our biblical worldview should form our understanding of both being accountable to another saint and holding other saints accountable as well.
As Jack Hayford so wisely noted, “The believer’s best defense against self-deception is through mutual accountability to one another.”
If you would like to check out the other messages in our series B.A.S.I.C. Christianity, you can click here.
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Most of our Royal Psalms have taken us from King David to King Jesus. Psalm 72 is a bit different because King David is speaking some of his last words as a blessing and a reminder to King Solomon. Jesus, Peter, and those in a church prayer meeting all affirmed that David’s words were inspired by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 22:43; Acts 1:16, 4:25), so these words in Psalm 72 are just as inspired.
The introduction to this psalm in the NIV says “Of Solomon.” But because the Hebrew word for “of” can also be “for” and since v. 20 says these are the final words of David, I think we can say that this psalm is of David and for Solomon.
David has received God’s promise of an heir always on the throne of his kingdom. Here is the first transfer of power, and David is foreseeing the blessing that Solomon will be to the Israelite nation because of the endowment of God’s righteousness. Those blessings for his subjects include:
fair judgments (v. 2; 1 Kings 10:1-3)
prosperity (v. 3; 1 Kings 10:7, 27)
safety from enemies (v. 4; 1 Kings 10:26)
longevity (v. 5; 1 Kings 10:8)
favor (vv. 6-7; 1 Kings 10:9)
Historically, we know of the fulfillment of these things. We can especially see it in the visit of Queen Sheba in 1 Kings 10.
In this next paragraph, as we have seen with other royal psalms, there is a modulation back-and-forth between King Solomon and King of kings Jesus (vv. 8-11). Verse 8 is the ends of the earth rule of Jesus; vv. 9-10 are the local rule under Solomon; v. 11 then speaks of all kings…all nations bowing to Jesus as the King of kings.
This modulation reminds us that no earthly king can ever stand-in for the Eternal King. After the static of switching back-and-forth, from our perspective at this point in history a flashback event becomes crystal clear.
David gives instructions and a warning to Solomon (1 Kings 2:1-4)
Solomon wields his power in Israel (2 Chronicles 1:1)
Solomon falters under his power by becoming intoxicated by it (1 Kings 3:3; 11:1-4)
Solomon’s kingdom is diminished (1 Kings 11:10-13)
This is not the case for our King of kings! His kingdom has no end because His rule has no end (Isaiah 9:6-7; Luke 1:32-33).
The devil tried to limit Jesus by offering Him a shortcut, but Jesus stood firm. So the remainder of this Royal Psalm can only be fulfilled by Jesus:
vv. 12-14 foreshadow the prophecy of Jesus Isaiah 61:1-2 and its fulfillment in Luke 4:21
vv. 15-17 foretell all nations being blessed forever under the lordship of King Jesus
Don’t get caught up in looking at what’s before your eyes right now. Don’t get discouraged by the voice that’s in your ears right now. Don’t get mesmerized by the glittery things of earth. Keep your focus on the Eternal King. David’s conclusion to this Royal Psalm is that we worship our King above all else (Psalm 72:18-19).
And David’s final words should echo from our lips as well: Amen and Amen!
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My book When Sheep Bite is a manual of help for church leaders who have been hurt by the very sheep they are attempting to help. This book was birthed from a very painful chapter in my own ministry.
But as dark as that time was, there was a ray of light that helped me to smile during the dark times and for years and years afterwards. Here is an excerpt from the chapter ‘Cry Before Your Confront’ in When Sheep Bite—
We used to have a funny saying in our family. Our puppy would be straining to get free and one of us would cry out, “Release the hound!”
After reading the previous chapter about imprecatory prayers, and hopefully putting that into practice, I hope you felt some relief from your anger. But when you read my reminder that David’s “Get ‘em, God!” cry was for God’s ears only, perhaps you were a little disappointed. Maybe you were hoping for someone to give you a green light to “release the hound” on those biting, kicking, and wayward sheep.
Wouldn’t it be so wonderful to unleash something—anything!—on those difficult sheep? As shepherds, we have so many ways we can dress up our unleashed hounds in biblical-sounding language. Maybe a righteous rebuke like the psalmist recorded: “You rebuke the arrogant, who are accursed, those who stray from Your commands” (Psalm 119:21). Or perhaps a well-timed prophetic thunderbolt like when Samuel was praying and “the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic” (1 Samuel 7:10). Or even a strategic lightning strike from God’s throne as when the soldiers from King Ahaziah came to forcibly take Elijah to the king (2 Kings 1:11-12).
One of my favorite prayers is a prayer of David’s that is given added emphasis since it is recorded twice in the Scripture (2 Samuel 22 and Psalm 18)—
In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice; my cry came before Him, into His ears. The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because He was angry. Smoke rose from His nostrils; consuming fire came from His mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under His feet. … Out of the brightness of His presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning. The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. He shot His arrows and scattered the enemy, with great bolts of lightning He routed them. (Psalm 18:6-9, 12-14)
Wow, how good it must have felt for David to unleash these words! And yet we still see that they were words only for God’s ears, spoken when David was alone with the Almighty God. Isn’t there something we can say or do to our obstinate sheep? Yes, there is, but there is something we need to be reminded of first.
After a particularly grueling day of being bitten, kicked, and attacked by the angry sheep in my pasture, I came home and announced, “Tomorrow is ‘Be Kind to Craig Owens Day!” While driving home and licking my wounds, I had determined that I needed a day off—a day to unplug from all of the madness and make sure I was taking care of myself.
Let me add a very important truth here. In fact, it’s so important that I’m going to print it in bold letters: Self-care is not selfish! Far too many shepherds think that taking time off to care for themselves, especially in the midst of all of the chaos, is a selfish thing to do.
Selfish is different. Selfishness is self-centered. Selfishness is saying, “I’m going to take care of myself and I don’t care what happens to others while I’m doing what I want to do.” Self-care is a strategic withdrawal to take care of myself so that I can return to take care of others. It is like the instructions on an airplane to put your own oxygen mask on first before you try to help a small child with their mask. If I pass out, I’m no good to anyone else. Just as Jesus “often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:16), we must find times to care for ourselves so that we are strengthened to help others when we return to the fray. This concept of self-care is so vital that I have dedicated all of Chapter 12 to explaining this idea to you in more depth.
My family still celebrates the Be Kind to Craig Owens Day “holiday” but we mainly remember it because of something else that happened in our family.
On this inaugural event, I planned a day of reading, praying, walking, and recuperating. I silenced my phone and withdrew for that entire Friday. After a nice evening with my family, I decided to extend my self-care time into Saturday. My daughter and I went out to breakfast, and because we both enjoy animals so much, we decided to stop into a new pet store and play with the puppies for a while.
Almost instantly, both of us were captivated by a very special dog. There was something about her that drew us to her. In short order, we were on the phone with my wife and my sons asking them to join us at the pet store. We ended up walking out of the store that morning with a new addition to our family.
My wife later remarked that this puppy was the best irresponsible decision we ever made. Part of the reason this was true is that this puppy became my constant companion. I took her to my office with me so that I would have a source of unconditional love to offset all of the brutal attacks I was absorbing.
When John Bradford saw a cartful of men going off to Tyburn to be hanged for their crimes, he said to a friend, “There goes John Bradford but for the grace of God.” When I stopped to think what was different between my behavior and the behavior of these biting sheep, I realized it was only the grace of God that had kept me from descending into the same ugly behavior. That’s when I decided to name our new puppy Grace. I wanted to say that name over and over and over again. I desperately needed to be reminded of God’s grace for me. I also needed to be reminded that God wanted my biting sheep to know His grace too.
When we cried out, “Release the hound,” it was because Grace was straining at her leash to overwhelm someone with her love. She wanted nothing more than to show them how much she welcomed them into her presence.
I’ll be honest with you: When some of my biting sheep came storming into my office to berate me for something and Grace wanted to run to them with love and acceptance, I wanted to scold her and keep her back. This, I think, was the attitude of the older brother when his wayward brother returned home and was lovingly welcomed back into the fold by their father (Luke 15:11-32). But when I paused to think of God’s amazing grace that “saved a wretch like me,” I was reminded that God’s grace also wants to restore other wayward, obstinate, unreasonable sheep.
Our annual reminder of this event is really remembering our dog Grace’s “Gotcha Day.” It’s our annual reminder that grace is best seen in times and places that it is least expected.
If you are a church leader, please pick up a copy of When Sheep Bite to help you on your healing journey. And if I can be of assistance to you, please get in touch with me.
Like Jesus, when we are full of and led by the Holy Spirit everywhere we walk is holy ground; every moment is a sacred moment; every work is worship to God because we are occupied about the Father’s business.
Check out the full series of messages about the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in the series We Are: Pentecostal.
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The Holy Spirit’s involvement in our lives isn’t reserved for just the “big” things, but He wants us to be aware of and tuned in to His voice and His thoughts all the time. There shouldn’t be a secular-sacred divide in our activities, but we should make every place holy ground and every moment a divine opportunity for God to be glorified. Or said another way, we shouldn’t have times of work and times of worship, but our worship should be seen in every single thing we do.
I think everyone of us has experienced at one time or another a poor employer or manager. Maybe it’s an employer that demands results but doesn’t give you the training or the tools to do the job. Or maybe you have the training and tools but you don’t know exactly how much you are able to use these things without crossing a line.
Maybe you have known a boss that is barely present, but when they do stop by the worksite, they aren’t happy with the work that has been done. On the opposite side, maybe it’s a boss who does everything and then gets mad that you aren’t keeping up or working as hard as them. It’s drudgery working for someone like this!
But, somewhat surprisingly, Jesus used more work examples to talk about the Kingdom of God than He did worship examples. He talked about farmers, bakers, builders, employers, managers, and employees way more than about worshiping, singing, or preaching.
One of the few glimpses we have of the early life of Jesus shows Him talking about His mission while on earth. Consider the story of Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem when He was 12 years old (Luke 2:41-49). The phrase in the NIV where Jesus says that He must be “in My Father’s house” can be translated…
Jesus was consistent about this idea of working while He was on earth (John 5:17, 36; 9:4; 17:4). For Jesus, His work was a delight because it was directed by the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:21-22; 4:1, 18-19; Acts 10:38).
Remember that I mentioned the unreasonable employer that gives us no training, no tools, no goals for which to aim, but expects us to work for his benefit alone. This was not the case with Jesus! He trained us, provided us with the Holy Spirit to guide us, told us the goal for which we were to aim, and said that both His Father would be glorified and we would be rewarded by our Kingdom work done on earth.
Jesus wants us to work as He did, and He promised that the Holy Spirit would help us in this (John 14:10-12, 24:49; Mark 16:19-20).
We saw that Luke 2:49 in the AMPC has Jesus saying, “occupied about My Father’s business.” In Luke 19:13 Jesus tells us to “occupy till I come” (KJV). This word is also translated into phrases like:
put this money to work (NIV)
do business (NKJV)
invest this (NLT)
Jesus is talking about the “talents” given to His stewards (Luke 19:11-13, 16-23). Every servant received the same thing: one mina. We all have been given one life to live; we all have been given 24 hours in a day; we all have been given opportunities to be occupied about our Father’s business.
The Holy Spirit as our Counselor is there at every moment, every conversation, every decision to help us hear His voice, think His thoughts, and sanctify every experience. Jesus says that He will reward our occupying until He returns. Just doing things like feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, taking care of those in need. This sounds a lot like the work of Jesus in Luke 4:18-19 and Acts 10:38. This Spirit-empowered work earns the commendation from our Master, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into your Master’s happiness!”
Be baptized in the Holy Spirit and let Him help you be about your Father’s business until Jesus returns.
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In his Gospel, John gives eyewitness testimony to the physical death of Jesus. “Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe” (John 19:34-35).
John was at Calvary to report this event as an eyewitness, and so were the women who had been so involved with the public ministry of Jesus.
Matthew, however, was not there. He ran away when Jesus was arrested. So in his historical account, he shares the eyewitness testimony of those who were there—
When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, ‘Surely He was the Son of God!’ Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for His needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons. (Matthew 27:54-56)
These details in both Matthew and John’s Gospels are what lends credibility to this whole event. I’m sure it was embarrassing to Matthew for him to admit, “I ran away and hid in fear.” I’m sure it pained him again and again when he heard John, the women, and the Roman centurion recounting their eyewitness testimony.
But this is what makes the reporting of this account real.
If Matthew and John were attempting to perpetuate a hoax on the world—if they were concocting a conspiracy to fool people about the resurrection of Jesus—they certainly would have told their stories the same way. Matthew could have inserted himself as personally there on Calvary. John and Mark could have listed the names of the other disciples as eyewitnesses. The disciples could have given falsified information to Luke for his Gospel. And all of them could have left out the part about the female testimony, since in their day women were deemed unreliable witnesses in the courtroom.
Details like these are just another factor in a long, long list of evidences that attest to the historicity of all that is recorded in the Bible.
Earlier in his Gospel, Matthew tells about the doubts of John the Baptizer (Matthew 11:2-6). John was imprisoned and sent his friends to ask Jesus, “Are You really the One?” Jesus sends John’s friends back with eyewitness testimony, and with these words: “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of Me” (v. 6).
The testimonies of both eyewitnesses and those who were embarrassed that they couldn’t give eyewitness testimony should bolster your faith in all that the Bible says. If you don’t stumble away from these testimonies, you can know the blessing of your faith in Jesus.
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Last week we talked about the Voice of the Holy Spirit. I love the phrase from 1 Samuel 9:15 where God “told Samuelin his ear” about Saul’s arrival and what he should say to Saul. Then the Holy Spirit’s Voice for all of us is foretold in Isaiah 30:21.
It’s great hearing the Spirit’s Voice, but He also empowers us to know the Mind of God.
This is not something that automatically comes to every Christian at the moment they invite Jesus to be their Lord and Savior, as we see mention of immature Christians throughout the New Testament.
Even after Jesus is resurrected from the dead, we see His followers as unsure, troubled men. We meet their…
This is all post-resurrection but pre-conversion, but look at what happens next. After Jesus breathes on them (John 20:22), they are peaceful (vv. 19, 21, 26) and they can now understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45-48).
As we’ve said, we shouldn’t stop at salvation. Certainly, Jesus wanted more for His followers than merely salvation. He wants His disciples empowered for witnessing and disciple-making (Luke 24:48; Acts 1:4-5, 8).
Check out these examples of the Holy Spirit sharing with us the mind of God:
Joseph—Genesis 41:16, 38-40
Daniel—Daniel 2:19-23, 27-28, 47
Peter—Acts 2:14f; 3:17-26; 4:8-12
Stephen—Acts 7
Philip—Acts 8:30-35
And just in case you think this is just for “super spiritual” people, look how the Holy Spirit helps the whole Church share the Gospel—
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly. … Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. (Acts 4:31, 8:4).
This was always God’s plan! Paul harkens back to prophecies like Isaiah 55:8-9, Isaiah 40:13, and Jeremiah 31:33 when he writes about Christians having “the mind of God” in 1 Corinthians 2:6-16.
He says, “These are the things revealed to usby His Spirit” (v. 10).
What things? “Things God has prepared for those who love Him”—things which human eyes haven’t seen, human ears haven’t heard, human minds haven’t conceived (v. 9). These are the the very thoughts of God Himself!
Just as my spirit is the only one that knows what’s really in my mind, the Holy Spirit is the only One Who knows the mind of the Father and Son (v. 11). We have been given the Holy Spirit “so that we may understand what God has freely given us” (v. 12). Contrast this with the dull, unfruitful minds of both unbelievers (2 Corinthians 4:4) and carnal Christians (Philippians 3:18-19).
This mind of God is given to us for our edification so that we can be empowered witnesses and disciple-makers. So don’t stop at salvation, but be baptized in the Holy Spirit, and then keep on being filled with the Spirit.
Jude calls Christians to contend for the faith without contention and without compromise. Instead, we are to loving serve Jesus by engaging with others mercifully, peacefully, and lovingly. This means we have to contend without quarreling. 
In Luke 13:1-5, Jesus addresses two events that could have become quite controversial, but Jesus defused the controversy by simply saying, “No matter what, everyone needs to have their sins forgiven by God.” Paul continued this singleminded focus on Jesus. I love how the Amplified Bible captures his words in 1 Corinthians 2:2. And then Paul encourages his friend Timothy to operate the same way (1 Timothy 1:15-17). 
Craig T. Owens 