Having the Right Attitude of Separation

Introduction

We are coming back to where we began in our study of separation: Jude 3 “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”

Have you ever noticed that what you say is often times just as important as how you say it? Take for example, If I were to say to my kids, I love you. There would be a tenderness to it. What if I yelled at them “I love you.” It communicates an entirely different message. How about if I say it sarcastically, “ I love you.” It adds doubt to what I just said. Standing for the truth is a message we communicate with others. We don’t stand for truth by blowing up buildings or shooting guns; we stand for the truth by proclaiming, teaching and refusing to back down for the truth. But our message can be communicated in a wrong way; so that it actually communicates the opposite of what we are saying.

If you have traveled around at all, you may have come across some styles of preachers who always have to have a chip on their shoulder, they seem to always be angry. The way they communicate is often unloving and mean. These men think they are doing battle for truth but acting in such a way, but what I have found is that they often are pushing people away from the truth.

Throughout scripture, preachers are commanded to treat the flock as Jesus would treat the flock. In 1 Peter 5, they are told to feed and oversee the flock not as overlords, but as examples. So if we are to contend for the faith, how should we do it in a biblical way? Tonight we are going to look at three Attitudes we should have when dealing with separation issues or contending for the faith. We need to have the right attitude of separation.

Militancy

Jude 3 “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”

Let’s talk about one criticism that fundamentalists have often received. We are often told we are isolationist and mean spirited. For sure this is true of some, a mean streak is not essential to being a Fundamentalist. But there is an essential element of Militancy in fundamentalist because we are contending for the faith. Those words earnestly contend are militant words. They translate one Greek word which means to make a strenuous effort in a conflict, debate or legal suit. The Greek word is the root of our word agony. Standing for truth is not easy. It takes effort. It will require debate and conflict at times.

Christianity is consistently presented in scripture as a battle. Consider Eph 6, with the weapons of our warfare, 2 Cor 10 where we tear down strongholds. Or consider the Heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11:33 “Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,” same root but this has the idea of winning. That phrase subdued is the same root word as our word contend in Jude. In 1 Timothy 6:12 “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.” Paul told Timothy to fight the good fight of faith. Literally in Greek it says fight the good fight of the faith. There is a battle for the hearts and minds of believers, of our children and of the lost around us and we must fight that battle because the stakes are high.

Modern Christianity does not like the idea of contending. They would rather get along. They want to be liked by everyone and approved of by everyone. Next week we will be looking at the rise of New Evangelicalism and this was at the heart of its popularity. But consider that going to war does not have to mean hatred, going to war does not have to mean cruelty and meanness, going to war does not have to mean a lack of love. Is it mean to shoot an enemy who is invading your country? Because that is the type of battle we are talking about. Jude 4 says these men have crept in. They are the invaders defiling the truth. Do you have to have a hateful attitude to defend your family? Not necessarily. What if a family member came in to hurt your kids? You would beg and plead with them to put the gun down, but when it came down to it you would do what is necessary to protect your family. Warfare does not inherently imply cruelty like killing kids and torture. We can do battle without stooping to evil.

William Laws who coined the term Fundamentalist once said:

We suggest that those who still cling to the great fundamentals and who mean to do battle royal for the fundamentals shall be called Fundamentalists.

An essential part of standing, contending for the faith is a sense of militancy in our fight. When the enemy comes, we are going to deal with it. We will not let terrorists walk down our streets armed, why would we let those who attack God’s truth parade down our church aisles, our seminary classrooms and in our libraries?

Love

The counterbalance that many men have failed to lay hold of is love. Militancy and love must go hand in hand. I mentioned that the word love is used in this small book six different times. But notice Jude’s conclusion to the book in Jude 22 “And of some have compassion, making a difference:” Compassion is an expression of love. It is a love for the truth, a love for our brothers and sisters who might be influenced by this error and a love for the one who is deceived by this error. So we are to have compassion when we fight.

My mind thinks of a soldier in Iraq who sees a little girl crying on the side of the street because her town has just been hit by a bomb. Any normal man’s heart would go out to that child. We would want to comfort and take care of it and get it to safety. Only in our sick twisted world where children are used as weapons has this natural compassion been driven out of the soldiers heart.

We fight with love.

The rest of the verse goes on to say Jude 22 “And of some have compassion, making a difference:” Some have misunderstood this verse to mean that compassion makes a difference in people’s lives. For sure it does, but that is not what Jude was intending to say here. That word difference means making a distinction. We are to make a distinction between the enemy and those who have been deceived by the enemy. We are to make a distinction between general and footsoldier. We are to make a distinction between Hitler and the children of Germany. And each distinction requires a different response.

some we show compassion to understanding how they got where they did- Not everyone who says they believe wrong doctrine or practices sin knows why they do so. How many of us know why we believe the things we believe. The false teachers victims are not necessarily the enemy or opposed to the gospel, but have been led astray. Those beset with inner doubts and questions must be dealt with compassionately. In 2 Timothy 2:24–26 “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” Paul seems to hold out hope that some can be rescued. Some men and women have just never been confronted with the truth. All they ever heard was lies. And this takes time.

others we rescue with urgency and carefulness- others we are to rescue with some urgency and carefulness. Some are on the brink of hardening their hearts to the truth. There is still hope but not for long. We snatch them out of the fire just as they are about to fall in. There isn’t the same amount of time for gentleness. We must make a bold declaration of truth to wake them up. But we must also beware of ourselves lest we also be singed by that fire. Sometimes in fighting for truth we have to look at the lie and we must be careful not to let the lie makes headway in our minds. (Example) Galatians 6:1 “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” In moral areas, we can be tempted to entertain thoughts of the sin we are confronting. We may never have thought of it before, but now it won’t leave our minds.

Jude 23 “and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” Love reminds us that there is a soul worth saving and that it must be possible. We must not become so jaded in our fight that we think all men are hopeless cases.

Carefulness

The last attitude we ought to have in our fight is carefulness. Notice in Jude 23 “and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” Those two word with fear describe our caution when fighting our battle.

Fear for them- pulling them out of the fire- We see where this is taking them and we are afraid for them. Our separation should not be out of animosity towards compromising brothers, but it should be out of concern for them. If no one ever says, we can’t go there; they may just plunge headlong into the fire. Someone has to speak up.

Fear for ourselves- But this is a concern and fear for ourselves as well. We hate even the garment contaminated by the flesh. The picture here is as we are plucking them from the fire we are concerned about the contamination from sin.

To illustrate this imagine one of your kids was playing in the back yard over where the septic tank was. Over time the roof to the tank has gotten weak and begun to crack. Just as you kid jumps to grab a ball, it cracks and when he lands he falls straight into the septic tank. As a parent you would rush out to get your child out, but I imagine you might also be caution not to get the waste on you as you do.

This phrase is where we get the common phrase love the sinner and hate the sin. Our love does not overlook or excuse the sin; rather, it despises the sin. An honest look at sin will cause love to hate it. Sin brings destruction. Sin brings death. Think about all the consequences that that person has suffered because of their sinful choices.

Conclusion

This message is a reminder that it is not only important what we do but how we do it.

Fred Mortiz in his book Contending for the faith concludes

Biblical militance is mandatory along with a biblical spirit and ethical conduct. A mean streak is not intrinsic to fundamentalists. It is a human sin problem that must be avoided and I have seen it in all circles. We must be careful not to reject carnality and latch onto compromise.

Let’s bring this down to an everyday practical level because you may not be asked to contend for the faith and or separate from a brother in Christ everyday, but we act on the premises of this verse quite often when we confront sin in our children, our friends, our spouses. It is important that we not shy away from those confrontations because they may just be what turns someone around from a destructive direction in their lives, but it is also important that we do it with the right attitudes. Think about those you have had to confront recently. How did you do it? What attitudes came across in the way you confronted them? We need to confront but we also need to do it in a Christlike way.