Ready To Defend Your Faith

𝐌𝐀𝐘 𝟐𝟒, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑

𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐀𝐜𝐭 𝟏𝟔:𝟏-𝟏𝟎

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟎𝟎:𝟏𝐛-𝟑, 𝟓 “𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐣𝐨𝐲.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐉𝐍 𝟏𝟓:𝟏𝟖-𝟐𝟏

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅.” (𝒗.19) 

         When Jesus told his disciples “𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅” (𝒗.19) he was preparing them for their final destination which is a place in the presence of God in heaven. But Jesus was also telling his disciples that to get to that eternal destination, they will face persecution not only because of their faith but because they chose to be different from the world they were in.

        Similarly, Jesus could be addressing these same words to us especially those who have made a decision to be a disciple of Christ because the world has become so perverted that it has come to a point that it hates what is good.

        And this culture of hate for something that is out of synch with the ways of the world is not new and we should not be surprised if people will sneer at us because we chose to differ from the ordinary practice of the Christian faith.

        In fact this same situation has not changed since the early years of Christianity and we see this in the writing of Tacitus who in 32-37 A.D. wrote: “𝘖𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵. 𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘫𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴.”             

        This only shows that the problems that Christians face today have remained the same since time immemorial and we may not be able to change this situation in our lifetime but it is always good to start somewhere.

        And Jesus knew what will befall his disciples which was why he never fell short in reminding his disciples of what they are up against and through the Scriptures, Jesus is also reminding us that we must “𝒃𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒍𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒚𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒐𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔. 𝑶𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒔…𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒅.” (𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕 10:17-18, 22)        

         The world actually hates people whose lives bring to light the perverse society we live in. Some years back they only talked about aborting a child in the womb and some countries actually legalized it and went as far as subsidizing the cost of abortion and Christians who raised their voices in protest were persecuted.

         Now, we see persons of the same gender being allowed to marry and there is a danger this could sweep even the largest Christian nation in the world especially now that its President has made his bias known in favor of same-sex marriage. I wonder what kind of Bible do some of our legislators have in their hands especially those toying with the idea of same sex marriage because nowhere in the Scriptures does it say man and man or woman and woman can be united and become one flesh.

         What Jesus said in 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝟏𝟎:𝟔-𝟖 in reference to 𝐆𝐞𝐧 𝟐:𝟐𝟒 was very explicit in that “𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒇𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒉.” And nowhere was there any reference in the Scriptures that persons of the same gender can get married.

        There will come a point when we Christians will have to take a stand and there is a possibility we will be persecuted and we can only take comfort and consolation that the world rejected Christ first and we can expect the same treatment as what Christ suffered especially if our ways do not conform to the pattern of the world around us.

        Today the world we live has embraced hedonism, individualism and relativism as an acceptable norm and we merely stand on the sidelines or sit idly by while we witness the moral fiber of the family and society break into loose strands of incompatible behavioral patterns.

        But do we have any choice? I don’t think we have because as John the Evangelist wrote in this Gospel passage today, we are either of this world or of Christ and there is nothing in-between. We are either in and for Christ or against him. It is actually a choice between the kingdom of light or the kingdom of darkness.

        If we want to live in the light of God's truth, we must draw on the power of the Holy Spirit to help us distinguish good from evil. If we truly love God as we confess with our lips during our prayer meetings then we will submit to his truth and Will for our lives.

        We cannot live in two worlds as we cannot take what the world gives and still be in Christ because the world will always be in opposition to God. Christians are called to be different and this is a condition that is fraught with danger but none of us can ever live a truly Christian life unless we are willing to take the risk.

        In his epistle, John warned: “𝑫𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅. 𝑰𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅, 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒎 (1 𝑱𝒏 2:15). Thus, we Christian disciples need to check where our loyalty lies. Are we to remain in the world or are we going to follow Christ?

        The choice is actually easy to make. What the world offers will not last and that’s a fact. What Jesus is offering us is something that is engraved in blood. As one priest said in his talk that I was blessed to hear, he said: “𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮.” Indeed, “𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔, 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒐𝒏𝒆’𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅.” (𝑱𝒏 15:13)

Ed Malay – May 24, 2025