By: The Very Rev. Canon David Roseberry
What does it mean to ‘fight the good fight of faith’? It is an interesting juxtaposition. On the one hand, we know that we cannot warrant our confidence. It is not a fight at all; at least, it is not our fight. Jesus has fought the fight for us, and those who believe are living in the light of his victory. Faith does not have to fight.
On the other hand, Paul tells us that there is still a battle to wage! We should ‘fight to good fight’!
So which is it? Are we to live in the light of Victory or are we to fight for faith? Isn’t having faith supposed to produce a sense of peace that passes understanding and brings an end to the fight? Aren’t we supposed to “Keep Calm and Carry On” knowing that Jesus is the author and perfector of our faith. (Hebrews 12).
No! On the contrary, Paul tells us to, in essence, wage war! And he says the same thing in other places as well. We are saved for eternity, but we are also called to stand up and fight for the truth that saved us, the truth of Jesus who fought and died and lost and won, that we might win.
Christians should think carefully here. We should look to the great leaders of the past. Their ‘blessed assurance’ (the faith they believed) motivated them to fight for reform and the renewal of the culture and their faith. Their assurance made them aggressive for their faith. One thinks of Whitefield, Newton, Wilberforce, Nightingale, Bonhoeffer, Shoemaker, and King. What motivated them to fight? Their belief!
And we can all name the lesser-known saints of our churches whose faith caused them to fight the good fight. Why is this so? Because, when you are assured of your eternal life, trust Jesus for your eternity, and have accepted the gift of salvation, you are also open to the leading of God the Holy Spirit. And it is the Third Member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, who gives a vision of what you can do with the rest of the life God has for us. We are saved by Christ, but for what? The Holy Spirit will make it clear and understandable. You will not have to guess.
In Christ, now, when you have nothing more to gain, you can live, work, and pray as though you had nothing to lose! You can be sold out for others’ lives because God paid the price for their life.
I believe that we should commend those who have come to believe in the Lord Jesus and have taken their faith as a set of marching orders to fight for their faith against the evils of the world. To do less is to sit on our ‘blessed assurance’, as we say in Texas (ironically “Blessed Assurance was written by Fanny Crosby. Just sayin’ ) and let the darkness fall across the land. As John Dewey has said, “While saints are engaged in introspection, burly sinners rule the world.”
Let’s fight the good fight of faith wherever the battle may take us.