Contending for the Faith

Grace is under attack and you’ve been drafted to defend it.The battle has risks. Your friend may put you down or try to make you feel less than fully Christian. But grace is worth fighting for.

By Rev. James Winsor

I can’t remember a time when waging war was more popular in America than it is right now. When I was about 14 we were pulling out of Vietnam. My childhood memories include death counts, war protests, and a public distaste for what was going on halfway around the world. An anti-war climate took over and hung on for a generation. But things are different ever since September 11 because this time we ourselves have been attacked. We’re literally defending ourselves. A survival instinct has taken over, and this means that we can now easily recognize war as the right thing and the only thing to do.It’s a choice between more terrorist attacks or going after the terrorists. It’s black and white. It’s this or that.

Patrick Henry once cried, “Give me liberty or give me death!” Today many of our young military volunteers are essentially crying, “Give me security or give me death!” They have decided that the safety of their fellow citizens is more important than their own individual lives. When you pay a price for something, it’s because you value the thing purchased more than the purchase price. These soldiers value national security more than their own lives. When push comes to shove, they’re willing to pay the price. It’s black and white. It’s this or that.

Push comes to shove in the Christian life also. Many Christians today and throughout history have found themselves strangely willing to die. There is something more important to them than their own lives. It’s the name of Christ. They have found that they would sooner die than deny Christ. It’s black and white. It’s this or that.

The Christian faith is a diamond with many beautiful facets. As we delight more and more in the beauty of each facet, we find things that are worth fighting for. Some friend at school insists that in your infant baptism God did nothing at all. This friend says you have to make a decision for Jesus. The saving baptismal work of God suddenly becomes a battlefield. Grace is under attack and you’ve been drafted to defend it. The battle has risks. Your friend may put you down or try to make you feel less than fully Christian. But God graced to you in your baptism and that grace is worth fighting for. Your trust is in God’s hidden work and not in the dramatic decision your friend wants to score through you. God’s saving work is more important to you than your friendship or your reputation. Suddenly, you are willing to put on your boots, ship out, risk loss, take a chance, dare, do, or die. Of course, you won’t stop loving your friend. In fact, to be silent would be to stop loving him. It’s time to get out your Catechism and wage the war of words. It’s grace or works. It’s black and white. It’s this or that.

Since many people now have a better understanding of why war can be necessary and right, these are good times for the modern church to reconsider attitudes about the war of words that must always be waged in defense of sound teaching and practice. This war, while clearly biblical, has become very unpopular and has attracted a host of anti-war protesters crying for peace at any cost. Even the generals—pastors and other church leaders—have often become war protesters instead of taking up spiritual arms to contend for the faith. The church’s homeland is not secure. Things we love and should love are wide open to attack. We're told we should emphasize what we have in common with various brands of Christians, instead of emphasizing the differences. We’re told we should ignore certain facets of the diamond of divine saving truth. Like terrorists who won’t honestly carry a national flag and stand with an army, many a pious enthusiast promotes his clearly denominational views as “non-denominational basic Christianity”. We’re told we should put denominational barriers behind us as some sort of irrational prejudice—a quaint and unenlightened relic from our beastly Crusader past. When you won’t just go with the flow in a Christian gathering, you’re pegged as arrogant, dogmatic, and guilty of a “head Christianity” rather than a “heart Christianity”. You’re told you shouldn’t act like everything is black or white.This or that.

But precisely the opposite is the case. Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). You are speaking and standing up, fighting the good fight of faith because God has gotten to your heart. He has created a new heart in you that clings to grace, loves grace, fights for grace. So He’s opened your lips so your mouth declares His praise and speaks up for grace. It’s black and white. It’s this or that.

And, of course, we should and can contend for grace gracefully. We’re not out for blood. But we’re willing to shed some of our own blood if need be. It’s lies or truth. It’s black and white. It’s this or that.

The Rev. James Winsor is pastor at Risen Christ Lutheran Church in Arvada, Colorado.