Urging All Christians: Come Out of the Closet and Fight!

A number of years back there was a fad in the ecumenical church where everyone was asking this question: "What would Jesus do?" Everyone was jumping on the bandwagon wearing jewelry with WWJD, drinking from WWJD mugs and buying all kinds of memorabilia with this theme. It was a great question, but where did it get the church? It is getting harder and harder to "see" Jesus living among us in His church. I don't know where people went to find the answer to this question, but as far as I can see, it certainly was not the Bible.

While we need to pray fiercely for God to change the hearts of sinners everywhere, believers who know the truth found in Scripture need to start coming out of their proverbial prayer closets and fighting the good fight. We're hiding out from the very ones we are supposed to boldly proclaim the gospel to. We're afraid they won't like us anymore. We're afraid we may have to give up our nice, comfortable lifestyles and face some persecution for a change. Um...yeah...isn't that what we signed up for when we enlisted in the Lord's army?

People, beloved of God, children of the King, we're losing the battle, in case you haven't noticed. We need more soldiers to lay down their lives and be willing to go out on the front lines of the battlefield. I know it's easier to stay in the closet and think, "Well, somebody else will fight the fight because Jesus said that He would build His church and the gates of Hades would not overpower it." This is true, but He chose to do this work through the church -- through the individuals He called OUT of the world to be a separate people. And wherever you're hiding out, come out of there, too! If that's not your heart's desire, then I have to ask you: 'Why did you say you would follow Him?" There are too many Christian brothers and sisters standing alone with no one to have their backs. And if the ones who are fighting for the truth try to hold these slackers to some level of accountability, the warriors are the ones who are accused of being unloving, intolerant and divisive.

From the moment Jesus established His ministry, He waged a very aggressive public controversy. What would Jesus do? All one needs to do is to study the gospels to find out. Jesus declared war against the religious hypocrites -- the phonies of His day right from the start of His ministry. These religious elite wanted Jesus to let them alone in their comfortable lifestyles. But Jesus kept at it. He kept picking at these infected scabs, if you will. Why? Because He hates false religion. He hates what it does to the souls of men. What would Jesus do? Today, it would not be unlike Him to go into every idolatrous, well-loved religious establishment and tear them to pieces just like He did on two occasions when He cleansed the Temple. Why did He go in and wreck havoc in the Temple at the beginning and end of His ministry? Judaism, which God had established, had become rotten to the core. The Scribes and Pharisees were the ones who represented this religion -- they were the false teachers of Jesus' day. Today we have popes, priests, and many other types of clergy that set themselves above the people.

If you have determined not to leave the closet of your easy Christianity, you must ask this question -- Is my faith real? Or is my faith like the Pharisees who didn't want their world rocked by anyone challenging their belief system. Real faith is bold, powerful, convicting and dogmatic.

Maybe you're still in the closet because you are ashamed of Him who bought you. Let's bring that down to where the rubber meets the road. You ought not to be ashamed of Him, the One who died in shame for you. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

Maybe you don't like conflict. Who does? I hate conflict, believe it or not. It has been one of the biggest struggles I have had to overcome as a Christian. My whole life I have run from conflict. I fear rejection more than the average person fears almost anything else. After stripping layer after layer of 'self' away from me, God has me where He wants me; His passion has finally become my passion. The world would say I'm dangerous. The man or woman who fears God alone is powerful in God's kingdom but dangerous to Satan's. That God has given me boldness to proclaim Him just goes to show His sanctifying work in me. All I must do is yield to Him in obedience, and He will enable me to do all that He calls me to do. And, what He has called me to do is fight!

All these things are the result of pride. Whenever we care more about ourselves than others, we have fallen into the great sin of pride. I can't fear man more than God -- that is the bottom line.

We're to confess Christ to an unbelieving world. Those who have no desire to do that need to hear the truth. Salvation starts with confession and it continues on with even greater confession as we get to know Him. The Great Commission is for every individual believer. Are you taking part in the Lord's work? If not, why? Honestly ask yourself what you are doing to serve Christ in taking His message to a lost and dying world who desperately needs to hear it. Although they will just as much spit in your face as look at you, you must be willing to be laughed at, mocked, ridiculed, and even martyred for your faith. Most unbelievers will run in the opposite direction because when you make known what you stand for, they make no bones about letting you know that what you stand for is what they hate. But if it happened this way to our Lord and Master, why shouldn't we face the same opposition and persecution here on this earth? After all, this is not our home. We're aliens and strangers here. Our home is in heaven, and it won't be long until we get to live in the place we were created for.

To stay in the closet is sin. All sin is unbelief. To say you believe but act in unbelief (sin) is hypocrisy. Any hypocrite today is not any better than the Scribes and the Pharisees, and Jesus ended up condemning them all to hell. Hypocrisy confuses the very world we're supposed to be winning to Christ. We're to be clearly presenting the Gospel to them, but our lives look just like theirs. And then on top of it all, we're not giving them the Gospel accurately for the most part. Who wouldn't want to go to heaven and have a great life here? That's what our watered-down ,non-offensive Gospel promises. Believe in Jesus (we don't tell them what that entails) and you will have a wonderful life and will go to heaven when you die. They say, "Sign me up!" Who wouldn't? But is that the Gospel? Emphatically, no!

The true Gospel calls sinners to a life of self-denial. It calls sinners to come out of their comfort zones and be willing to be treated as Christ was treated. Deny thyself -- lay down your life -- die with Christ. Most would say, "Whoa! Who said anything about that?"

Certainty...conviction...dogmaticism...all have a bad connotation when relating to spiritual things. They all equal one thing to the unbelieving -- close-minded, bigotry. But the Gospel is absolute truth and it is exclusive. We must be dogmatic about the truth. We will be held accountable by God for whether we believe Him, taking Him at His Word, or not. Belief brings conviction. We will live out what we believe. It's that simple. If I don't believe there is a God, then I will live that way. If I believe in a god of my own making, then I will live any way I want to live. If I believe that there is One God who created the whole universe and who created me, then I will live to honor Him and to fear Him with a holy reverence. I'm going to want to be obedient to do all that He asks me to do, whatever it takes.

There is an invisible war raging all around us. How would Jesus respond to this war? Would He take a militant stance or would He be nice? Jesus was kind and loving to those who knew they were lost in their sin, to those who knew they needed a Savior, to those who belonged to Him. But He never stopped fighting the battle against false religion and error.

Ephesians 6:12 refers to the spiritual warfare all Christians are in. We are told that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood...2 Cor 10:4 says we have weapons. Armed physical combat with weapons are for what purpose in war? The intent would be to kill people on the other side, right? The enemy. Spiritual combat with truth is intended to save the enemy from spiritual death. Our weapon is the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God -- truth. We're soldiers in God's army waging war against Satan and his lies.

In Jude 3 we're told to earnestly contend for the once-for-all delivered to the saints faith.
1 Timothy 6:12 tells us to fight the good fight of faith. The other day we saw that it is part of our job responsibilities to guard the treasure. It's a battle for the truth. And spiritual warfare is a life-or-death conflict against the forces of evil and their lies. This is a war with eternal consequences. It is against demonic error, the destruction of falsehoods, NOT people. This war is to give life to those who are in bondage to Satan and to sin who don't even know it. Strongholds of lies and false doctrine have blinded them to the truth and they are held captive by Satan to do his will all the time believing it is the right thing to do. They don't have the ability to be able to discern between right and wrong, truth and error. That's why we must pray that God opens their eyes to the truth we give them and to prepare the soil of their heart to receive the good seed of the Gospel.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 -- For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

We're called to defend the truth and be on the offensive against all false belief system. Paul's strategy to demolish false ideologies was to systematically dismantle erroneous doctrines, cast down false arguments and expose lies with the truth. Shining the light into the darkness will do one of two things -- dispel the darkness or, while bringing conviction, give the one who continues to live in darkness no excuse. It condemns him to eternal darkness. Both things glorify Christ because the truth was made known.

Truth is the only weapon for the believer. Even though false teachers in Corinth were attacking Paul with personal insults, calling him names and trying to destroy his reputation by discrediting him, he answered their deception with the truth of God's Word. It's all he needed because it's that powerful. The goal IS annihilation -- of FALSE DOCTRINE, NOT PEOPLE!

Most would say that Paul was not "nice". In his righteous anger against them with utter contempt for all they stood for, he even cursed those who were giving the Galatians another gospel, which really wasn't another gospel but a false one. There is only one true Gospel of Jesus Christ. All those who preach a false gospel are condemned to an eternity in hell. When the circumstances warranted, Paul could be very blunt, sometimes even using sarcasm (1 Cor. 4:8-10 and all through 2 Cor).

Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Jesus, Paul -- all could employ derision effectively and appropriately to highlight the absurdity of serious error. Even the apostle of love, John, called for believers to shun those who bring a false gospel. In essence, he said, "Don't even give them the time of day."

Love is intense. It's passionate and zealous for the honor of the one loved. Is the Church today characterized by the same fire as all those men mentioned above? Sadly, no. What we see, for the most part, is complete apathy. Just living the good life, enjoying retirement, wanting nothing more than our own ease, comfort and pleasure. We've bought the lie hook, line and sinker. We not only look like the world. If we're truly honest with ourselves, we truly love the world. That's where we find our passions.

There is no shortage of data to clearly show that Jesus did not take a friendly approach in dealing with false teachers and religious hypocrites. It wasn't until my family and I started listening to John MacArthur consistently, faithfully preach through the gospels week after week that we saw a vivid picture of Jesus in His confrontations with the religious elite of His day. The Scribes and Pharisees at times provoked Him, but more often than not, He was the one doing the provoking. Hostile is not too strong a word to describe Jesus' reaction to the false system of religion that they represented. Never shying away from conflict, His passion for the truth is evident in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Four beautiful portraits of the Lover of souls Who also loved the truth, because the love of truth is the foundation for the love of people. He couldn't or wouldn't soften His message if it meant not giving someone the whole truth. That wouldn't be love.

One last note: It wasn't long listening to John before I could clearly see that the religious institution that Judaism had become in Jesus' day is identical in many ways to the Roman Catholic Church of our day. It is like many other religious institutions, but I am quite familiar with the RCC. I have said that I have many family members who are blindly following the RCC leadership into hell, so I have a passion to tell them, specifically, the truth. And, yes, I'm passionate about it. It's why I hate Catholicism so much; it's the one I'm closest to.

When they call me a religious fanatic, do I run to my closet and hide? Not any longer. I say to myself, "What would Jesus do?" and I thank Him for enabling me to see the truth. And, I keep fighting!

Romans 1:16-17 -- For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "But the righteous man shall live by faith." That was my life verse way before I was passionate to proclaim the gospel. Not surprising since the Lover of my soul knew me before the foundation of the world.

Charles Spurgeon -- I never could believe in the Jesus Christ of some people, for the Christ in whom they believe is simply full of affectionateness and gentleness, whereas I believe there never was a more splendid specimen of manhood, even its sternness, than the Saviour; and the very lips which declared that He would not break a bruised reed uttered the most terrible anathemas upon the Pharisees.