Why Are We Failing the Great
Commission?
Chapter Seventeen
Defining Departure from the Faith
One of the greatest transitional
evidences of genuine Christianity in a person’s life is the immediate change
from selfish Narcissism to selflessness and preoccupation with the spiritual
needs of others. This is the
transition we see in the lives of the Apostles once they received the
indwelling and filling of the Holy Spirit of God in Acts chapter two. This characteristic of true (Biblical)
Christianity is presently no longer an evident reality or expectation of what
is Biblically defined as “the faith.” Yet,
in Paul’s epistles to Timothy, he warns that in “the last days” there will be a
departure from “the faith” (Christianity) characterized by selfishness.
The Word of God repeatedly
refers to the teachings of the Bible as “the faith.” Discipleship is teaching “the faith.” In other words, discipleship is not just
teaching the Bible. Discipleship
is TEACHING WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES!
Discipleship is teaching RIGHT DOCTRIINE – ORTHODOXY. Right doctrine (orthodoxy) is the one
correct understanding of what God says to do through understanding the
information He provides to us in the holy Bible. There is just ONE correct faith (Ephesians
4:5).
“1
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy
of the vocation wherewith ye are called {the priesthood of all believers},
2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing
{put up with} one another in love; 3
Endeavouring {make every possible effort} to keep {guard
against loss or ruin} the unity {oneness or sameness; key phrase}
of the Spirit {Although God retains a person’s individuality, there
are certain things that the Spirit of God is doing the same in everyone’s
life. God is a Spiritual tri-unity and
expects His children to grow into that tri-unity} in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye
are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one
faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is
above all, and through all, and in you all. 7 But unto every one
of us is given grace {supernatural enabling of the indwelling Holy
Spirit} according to the measure of the gift of Christ” (Ephesians 4:1-7).
Ecumenicism teaches the possibility that there are
many gods with many names and many doctrines. Ecumenicism teaches we cannot be confident
that any religious writings can be considered perfectly reliable. Therefore,
all religious writings and mythologies must be given some degree of
credibility. This teaching is a complete
contradiction against Ephesians 4:1-7). Ecumenicism teaches that every belief
system is a faith that must be equally considered and given respect and
viability.
Ecumenicism is a broad
definition of Christianity defined by terms like nondenominational,
nonsectarian, universal, all-embracing, all-inclusive.
The Roman Catholics think they have “the faith.”. Yet, they hypocritically claim to be Ecumenical. The Lutherans think they have “the faith” in
Luther’s Large Catechism, but they too are hypocritically Ecumenical. The Pentecostals and the Charismatics claim
they have “the faith,” but they too are hypocritically Ecumenical. The Seventh Day Adventists and the Mormons
claim they have “the faith,” but now both of these groups want to be accepted
into Evangelical Christianity (and are accepted by many).
When has someone departed “from THE faith”? This is the
Emergent church of modern-day Christianity.
This is Laodiceanism
describe in Revelation 3:14-22. The word “depart” in I
Timothy 4:1 is from the Greek word aphístēmi (af-is'-tay-mee), meaning to instigate a revolt or to
desert. We are witnessing these events
of the “latter
times” characterized by selfishness and
desertion “from the faith.”
“1 Now the Spirit
speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from
the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2
Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3
Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God
hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know
the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing
to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: 5 For it is
sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
6 If thou put the brethren in
remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ,
nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast
attained. 7 But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise
thyself rather unto godliness. 8 For bodily exercise
profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise
of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. 9 This is
a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. 10 For therefore we
both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the
Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. 11 These things
command and teach. 12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an
example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in
faith, in purity. 13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to
exhortation, to doctrine. 14 Neglect not the gift that is in
thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the
presbytery. 15 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to
them; that thy profiting may appear to all. 16 Take heed unto
thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this
thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee” (I Timothy 4:1-16).
In his next epistle to Timothy, II Timothy 4:1-14 defines
Fundamental Christianity with its objectives. Fundamental Christianity is simply defined
as a spiritual struggle, consistently and constantly fought on two spiritual
battlefronts.
“For,
when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled
on every side; without were fightings, within were
fears” (II Corinthians 7:5).
The two battlefronts of every
Christian’s life are “fightings” from “without” and “fears” from “within.” From “without” come the external
struggles for truth and the temptations that allure the believer into sin and
seduce him into spiritual adultery and/or doctrinal compromise breaking his
“fellowship” with God and breaching the enabling of the Spirit of God.
From “within” come both the lusts of the flesh that
want the things we are tempted with and the carnal emotions of a fallen nature
that struggles with the issues of the heart such as pride, fear, worry, envy,
hatred, manipulation, bitterness, resentment and unforgiveness again breaking
his “fellowship” with God and breaching the enabling of the Spirit of God. However, the greatest internal
problem is the fears of the outcomes of being faithful to our missional
objectives – preaching the Gospel and making disciples of Jesus.
The
struggle/battle of a militant Christianity is against the forces of
wickedness from satanic external influences and the carnal, enmity of our own
fallen natures against all that is godly, true, honest and above reproach. This struggle of militant Christianity
is a struggle for our own integrity before God so that His power, residing
within us, might be released upon the world through the testimonies of our
lives. These battlefields establish the
militancy of the Christian life.
Dr.
Fred Moritz in a workshop entitled “Stand
For Fundamentalism . . . And Against Attempts to Change It” lists five
traits that Non-Fundamentalist commonly identify with Fundamentalism (as quoted
below).
“1. An emphasis on inspiration, infallibility,
inerrancy, and authority of the Bible
2. An opposition to Modernism
3. Emphasis on separation
4. Opposition to sin and cultural decay
5. A militant spirit”
In order to understand why militancy (fighting against the
erosion and degeneration of “the faith”) is necessary, we must first define
why it is a fundamental aspect of Christianity.
(Fundamental Christianity is defined by ALL the fundamental truths that
define New Testament Christianity, not by a list of major doctrines.)
William Ward Ayer, in a speech to the National
Association of Evangelicals in April 1956 (as quoted in Louis Gasper’s book, The
Fundamentalist Movement (Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 1981 reprint)
gives an excellent definition of Fundamentalism:
“Fundamentalism represents a resurgence of ancient
practices, which began not with Martin Luther but at Pentecost. Fundamentalism is apostolic, and the doctrine
of justification goes back to Paul. That
branch from which the fundamentalist movement sprang lived obscurely through
the ages and had never been completely silenced even in the Dark Ages . . .
What fundamentalism did was awaken the slumbering apostolicism from lethargy.”
If we accept this definition (and I do),
Fundamentalism is about maintaining and defending the historic, apostolic, New
Testament Christianity. Fundamental, New
Testament Christianity is steeped in terms of militancy. Therefore, if we believe the Bible is
authored by God (and not men), we must believe that God purposely chose militant
terms to both describe and define New Testament Christianity.
“11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things;
and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto
thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many
witnesses” (I Timothy 6:11-12).
There is a movement,
whether acknowledged or not, in modern Bible believing Christianity (Fundamentalism)
to move away from its historic militancy. I believe this
to be the result of theological reactionism to the obnoxious, mean spirited and
unloving attitude displayed by many professing Fundamentalists of the
past. (This is a fair criticism of
Fundamentalism, but it is not a justifiable reason for abandoning it.)
Secondly, I believe the movement away from a
militant Fundamentalism is due to our natural tendency for self-protection and
our desire for sociological acceptance.
(Fundamentalism has been denigrated by our society. It is easier for us to disassociate ourselves
with this negativity by trying to redefine ourselves than it is to define and
defend historic, militant Christianity.)
In the last forty years, I have watched the development of a pacifist
Christianity that has not only lost the concept of the fight for the
faith and against worldliness; they have
adopted a form of neutralism towards the enemies of Biblical militant Christianity
and towards the carnal influences and advances of this world.
The
Bible has a consistent warning to the pacifist Christian. Satan destroys the lives of his
captives. A Christian cannot be
neutral, he cannot surrender, and he cannot make peace with the forces of evil. The
goal of the “mystery of inequity” is annihilation. Let down your guard for a moment and they
will take your head off.
What many
Christians consider neutralism, God considers surrender and treason.
“34 Think not that I am come to send
peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword {division}.
35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and
the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against
her mother in law. 36 And a man’s foes shall be they of
his own household. 37 He that loveth father or mother more
than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more
than me is not worthy of me. 38 And he that taketh not his
cross {willingness to die as a faithful witness}, and followeth
after me, is not worthy of me. 39 He that findeth his life {saves
it for his personal selfish purposes} shall lose it: and he that
loseth his life {uses and sacrifices it for Christ’s purposes} for my
sake shall find it” (Matthew 10:34-39).
To take up the Cross of Christ is military
terminology defining the essence of the Christian faith. The Cross of Jesus Christ is the banner under
which the soldiers of the Cross fight.
Therefore, the very nature of this symbolism identifies Christianity as militant.
For
some reason, many Christians have decided to be at peace with the Satanic world system against which Christ is at war. For some reason, many Christians have
redefined Christianity away from a militant warfare with real casualties
to playground mentality where they think they can be weekend warriors
who draw their blessings but never need to take any real risks.
Even though we may not have realized it, when we accepted God’s gift of
salvation and became a child of God by rebirth, we were joined with the family
of God in a fight against the forces of evil for the lost souls of all of mankind. It is not a game we play. The stakes are far too high. We cannot be at peace with those who are at
war with Christ (Matthew 10:37).
1. To
take Christ’s side is to take truth’s side.
2. To
take truth’s side is to take the side of righteousness.
3. To
take the side of righteousness is to take the side of “Light” against
“darkness.”
4. To
“take up the Cross” is a proclamation of spiritual militancy against anything
contrary to the truth it stands for.
Central to the
revival of any local Church is the return to a militant Christianity.
The
struggle of the Church militant is both a struggle to maintain truth and
a struggle for the lives and souls of people. Why did God choose to give of the words of
Paul to Timothy in II Timothy 2:1-4?
Paul understood the overwhelming responsibility of the transfer of
doctrinal truth without compromise (“the whole counsel of God”) from one
generation to the next (II Timothy 2:2).
Whatever truth is compromised by one generation is usually lost to the
next generation. Every “jot and tittle”
must be fought to be retained or that ground will be
lost in the battle for the lives of the next generation.
Even if we personally and
individually stand for Christ throughout our lives but fail to transmit the “whole
counsel of God” to the next generation, we will not have one person to take up
the banner of the Cross of Christ and fight on for proceeding
generations. We can expect the Cross
of Christ to become battle-scarred and worn when it is constantly carried in
the battle for truth, but it is a sad testimony to the generation that
purposely removes large portions of it so it will not be such a heavy load to
bear.
Many
professing Christians are so entangled with the affairs of this world that they
have little time and less desire to fight the fight of faith (II Timothy
2:4). Such a person will never be a militant
Christian. Such a person will never
have the time for evangelism (the fight for souls) or discipleship (the fight
for lives). A real soldier of the
Cross understands his purpose in life.
It is not to get rich or to be famous.
It is to fight the fight of faith and fight to the death if
necessary.
II Timothy is the mission’s statement of the Church
militant (II Timothy 4:1-8).
The
statement of II Timothy 4:1-8 is the inspired Word of God written by the
hand of an old battle-scarred warrior by the name of the Apostle Paul. He was writing from a prison cell where he
was waiting to be executed for being a militant Christian. Paul was passing the banner of militant responsibility
from one generation to the next. It
is the lifelong responsibility of every soldier of the Cross to pass his banner
to many others in the next generation who will take up their Cross and fight
on.
The non-militant, “seeker sensitive” Christianity of today seems to think
the purpose of the Church is to avoid any doctrine that is divisive or
controversial or that which contradicts the lifestyles of those they seek to
reach. That is what Paul refers to by
the words “itching ears” (II Timothy 4:3).
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Numerous studies and series are available free of charge for local churches at: http://www.disciplemakerministries.org/
Dr. Lance Ketchum serves the Lord as a Church Planter, Evangelist/Revivalist.
He has served the Lord for over 40 years.
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