Worth fighting for
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. —Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)
In our quest to be peacemakers, there are some things worth guarding, some ideas worth proclaiming, some principles worth fighting for. Not as a justification of ourselves, but to be held as a standard of truth. It must be clear what we are inviting people to and our lives must match our message.
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. —1 Timothy 6:12 (NIV)
The default for humans is to overthink, over-engineer, and over-complicate. Living for Jesus is not easy, but the message of Jesus is surprisingly simple. Attempts to "improve" and "enhance" the gospel emerged early.
Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge… —1 Timothy 6:20 (NIV)
When Paul was instructing Timothy in the leadership of the church at Ephesus, he kept calling his young protégé back to the simplicity of the gospel.
What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. —2 Timothy 1:13-14 (NIV)
The commandment and the exhortation was that the truth would have to be guarded.
Jesus entrusted the message of the gospel to the apostles. It has been passed from generation to generation, and is now entrusted to us. To combat confusion around what the gospel consists of, early church leaders developed some statements of faith, notably the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. They are not inspired, but they are useful in providing a concise framework of orthodoxy for professing Christians.
Nicene Creed (first developed in AD 325)
We believe in one God,
The Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.
We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Begotten Son of God,
Begotten of the Father before all ages,
God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God,
Begotten not created, of the same essence as the Father, through Whom all things were made.
Who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary and became human.
Who for us too, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried.
The third day He rose again according to the scriptures, ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and life-giver,
Who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Who together with the Father and Son is worshiped and glorified.
Who spoke by the prophets.
We believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sin, and we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come. Amen.
Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. —Jude 1:3 (NIV)