"18Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, 19holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith." -- 1 Timothy 1:18-19
All over America, in deed, all over the world, Christianity has come under attack. Groups like GLAD, who promote a sinful lifestyle as normal are urging Christians to stop giving their tithes to churches that speak out against homosexuality. Some individuals are calling in bomb threats to Christian Churches and schools who do the same. In Canada, the goverment has passed legislation that makes parts of the Bible illegal as 'hate speech'. Here in the U.S., groups like the ACLU are fighting to remove every mention or even hint of Christianity, this side of the church doors, from all over America. For more information, I encourage you to read the following article from Mary Ann Collins, entitled Persecution of Christians in America.
Jesus and His apostles told us that all of this would happen. They also told us to fight the good fight of faith, to perservere until the end. There is a battle going on, and whether we like it or not, all Christians are involved. In this study, we will talk about the battle that is going on, the tools we have to fight and defend with, and the victory we will have in Jesus.
Everything that is going on now has been predicted by Jesus and His apostles:
17"Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. 18On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.The world does not like us; the world is fighting against us. Whether we like it or not, we are at war with the world. Not only that, but there is a spiritual element behind the world:
21"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes." -- Matthew 10:17-23"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." -- John 16:33
"10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." -- Ephesians 6:10-12We Christians, are called to fight. We must stand for the truth, and fight back against the world:
"11But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12Fight 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 6:11-12Either man will be destroyed or man will be saved. There is not in between. We all need to make a choice. Are we going to stand for Christ or will we stand against Christ? Just as the Isrealites needed to choose either the LORD or idols, so must we either to be WITH Christ or AGAINST Christ:27Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel 28without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved--and that by God." -- Phillipians 1:27-28
If you are not standing with Christ, if you are not fighting for Christ, then you are against Him. There is no neutrality in this battle, nor can their be. The quickest way for the world to win is for Christians to do nothing. We need to fight. We need to take a stand, a stand for Christ. We need to fight against the world, or, in this case, fight back against the world."14 'Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD . 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.'" -- Joshua 24:14-15
"Elijah went before the people and said, 'How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.' But the people said nothing." -- 1 Kings 18:21
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other." -- Matthew 6:24
"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters." -- Matthew 12:30
So what does this all mean? Should we take up arms against the ACLU? Bomb abortion clinics? No, not at all. I am not advocating that, nor should Christians do that. We fight differently then the world does:
"3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." -- 2 Corinthians 10:3-5So Just how do we fight?
" 6in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left" -- 2 Corinthians 6:2-7 "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death." -- Revelation 12:11We fight in truth, through Jesus Christ. We fight for Christ, with Christ and through Christ. As we will see in a little bit, we will be victorious through Christ, but in order to attain victory, we must fight. God has shown us how to fight and has given us weapons to fight with. The most important of these, His Word, is the main weapon of the Christian warrior:
"12For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." -- Hebrews 4:12-13The Word of God. Truth. It will expose the lies of the world, and thus is what the world will attack first. We need to use it, defend it, stand on it, and stand for it. Do not be misled, as soon as you make your stand and defend the Word of God, you will become a target of the World as well. Sadly, you may even become the target of other Christians. Be it the world, or other Christians it is important to stand firm. The enemy will use anything it can to come at you with everything they have, but God has given us what we need to protect ourselves as well:17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints." -- Ephesians 6:17-18
"The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." -- Romans 13:12Faith, hope, love, righteousness and peace, these are the qualaties we defend ourselves with. If we carry ourselves like Christ, then the world will not be able to say anything bad about us. They will be forced to use lies, and they will lie, but we have the sword of the spirit, the Word of God, to shed light on their darkness, and expose their lies with truth. The key here is "like Christ". We must follow His example. We need to show love to our brothers and sisters, and to those who oppose us. We can also actively pray for those who persecute us, and for what is going on in the world. I once read a quote that said, "The most effective fighting position is on your knees". If we emulate Christ, and get on our knees, we will take the world by storm." But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet." -- 1 Thessalonians 5:8
"14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." -- Ephesians 6:14-16
We know how we must fight, but it is important to understand that battle as well. The battle will be a long one, the fight a tough one, but we must perservere and continue to fight until Christ's victory. Christ will be victorious and if we keep fighting for Him, we will be victorious with Him:
"24Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death." -- 1 Corinthians 15:24-26If we fight for Christ, if we perservere, we will share in the victory with Christ. We will overcome, we will be victorious. Then we will be able to claim our prize, our reward:"They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings--and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers." -- Revelation 17:14
"3This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith." -- 1 John 5:3-4
"13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." -- Philippians 3:13-14The victory is assured, as is the prize for those who overcome. In order to be victorious though, we must fight the good fight. we must stand stand for the truth, for Jesus Christ. He died for us, he fought for us, and won. Now, we must fight for Him, then we too, will win and will recieve the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus."To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne." -- Revelation 3:21
All throughout the world, Christiantity has come under attack. Those who choose to make a stand for Christ and for God's Word become targets of both the world and even other Christians. Various groups all over the world are attacking Christianity head on. Well, we need to make a stand and fight back. We need to join together. We need to be of one accord. We need to be one with each other, one in love. We need to be of one Spirit, one purpose. We need to put aside our differences and stop fighting each other. We need, to fight the good fight of faith. "'Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things,' says the LORD Almighty." (Malachi 4:3)