1Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2“Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with a promise: 3“that it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth.”
4You fathers, don’t provoke your children to wrath, but nurture them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
5Servants, be obedient to those who according to the flesh are your masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as to Christ, 6not in the way of service only when eyes are on you, as men pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men, 8knowing that whatever good thing each one does, he will receive the same good again from the Lord, whether he is bound or free.
9You masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him.
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13Therefore put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14Stand therefore, having the utility belt of truth buckled around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15and having fitted your feet with the preparation of the Good News of peace, 16above all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18with all prayer and requests, praying at all times in the Spirit, and being watchful to this end in all perseverance and requests for all the saints. 19Pray for me, that utterance may be given to me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the Good News, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
21But that you also may know my affairs, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will make known to you all things. 22I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know our state and that he may comfort your hearts.
23Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love. Amen.
Jude 3: "Beloved, while I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I was constrained to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For there are certain men who crept in secretly, even those who were long ago written about for this condemnation: ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into indecency, and denying our only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ."
Even though Jude wanted to write about our life in Christ, he felt compelled to address the false teaching, problems, and assaults we encounter as believers. He wanted to write about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and our salvation in Him, but Jude says that he “found it necessary” to write exhorting them to “contend earnestly.” When he talks about contending for the faith, he means, “to strive in opposition or against difficulties; to struggle…as those in a race.” Strong’s Concordance speaks of it as “to struggle upon, appropriately.. with skill and commitment in opposing whatever is not of faith.” I always hate to bring up struggle because it's not very fun to listen to, but much of our Christian journey truly is a struggle against opposition. So why is that? Why does it never let up? Scripture gives us the answer,
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12, KJV).
For our entire lives, we will be in a wrestling match with the rulers of darkness in this world. We will never be done contending for the faith. There will be attacks on the gospel until we go home to be with the Lord. You might be wondering why we must contend for the faith. Well, for one thing, we contend for the faith because it is the truth. Truth is valuable to all men, and it takes men out of bondage. The truth of God’s Word is what will set us free. “32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32, NKJV). It is the truth of Christ crucified and raised that sets us free. It not only frees us from damnation, but it frees us from the power of sin in our lives.
One reason we must contend for the gospel is the freedom or deliverance it offers. It is constantly under attack. The enemy desires to kill, steal, and destroy, but Jesus offers an abundant life (John 10:10). Jude tells us to “contend for the gospel.” It is interesting that Jude is not telling us to “contend for the truth.” By that, I mean that we don’t have to get wrapped up in every current fight for what is true. If we do, all we will be doing is fighting for the truth. Truth is based on objective facts and reality - not imagination or illusion. There are so many untruths and so much false information in society and culture today that if we get wrapped up in fighting on every front, we risk losing sight of the gospel itself. We can become so distracted in fighting every untruth in society that we’ll be sidetracked from THE FAITH that we are told to contend for: Christ crucified, buried, and raised from the dead as the payment for our sins on the cross. Here are just some of the truths of the faith for which we must contend: The proclamation of that blessed hope of Jesus coming again. He will come back for His bride, and then He’ll come at the last battle, the Battle of Armageddon. He will gather His own unto Himself. Wow! That’s something to hope for. These are the things for which we must contend. Let’s not get caught up in fighting every battle on every hill.