Missions and Preserving the Faith

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (Jude 3-4).

 “The faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” exists. Many people would like to think that we’ve moved beyond such exclusivity into an enlightened age of tolerance. However, if we are going to take the Bible seriously, then we cannot escape the fact that there is one, true, uncompromising faith that has been handed down from Christ through the Apostles in Scripture, and since it exists, it is vitally important that we understand, preserve, and teach it.

However, Jude (the author of the Letter of Jude and brother of Jesus, not to be confused with my son) reminds us just how easily the faith can be lost. These people who have perverted the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ, have “crept in unnoticed.” Even though their theological errors and sins are egregious, this church to whom Jude writes has not immediately perceived the threat and have allowed these people to enter their fellowship and propagate their views.

Jesus instructed his sheep to “be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” because he was sending them out among wolves (Matt 10:16). Unfortunately, we have not followed his advice. All around the world, God’s people and even the leaders of God’s people are ignorant of God’s truth. In the West, we have no excuse for our ignorance because we have access to biblical resources that are unprecedented in human history, but for many Christians around the world, their ignorance is due to a lack of opportunity and resources in their location or in their language. Missions means more than just reaching people with the gospel. Missions means preserving the gospel by teaching able men who can teach others also (2 Tim 2:2), and without the ministry of teaching church leaders, the gospel is quickly lost and perverted.

God has and continues to engrave this need on my heart. I am not certain how God will use me throughout my lifetime—whether as a pastor, professor, or missionary. He will open and close doors to determine my path, but wherever I am and whatever I become, I want to continue to fight for the preservation of God’s truth, especially on behalf of our brothers and sisters who lack the opportunities and resources we have in the English-speaking world. This is why I am going to Greece in January. I pray that God will use me to preserve the faith. Will you pray with me and will you consider supporting me in this effort?