Defender!

For Saturday, April 20, 2024:

Philippians 1:16 GW: “Those who tell the message about Christ out of love know that God has put me here to defend the Good News.”

Paul was the original apologist to the Gentiles. Apologists are charged with defending or proving the truth of Christian scriptures and doctrines. Historically and knowledge-wise, this was a confusing “in between” time. Let me explain.

Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi was written about 60 years after Jesus’ birth, and about 30 years after his death. If it had been written closer to Jesus’ day, eyewitnesses could have testified as to exactly what had occurred and what was said. The truth would have been well-known. If more time had elapsed, Gospels and what we call the New Testament would have been assembled, becoming the textbook for Christianity. But in these “in between” years, the job of defending the Gospel fell to Paul.

Nowadays, since Paul is no longer with us, the job becomes one for all believers. We should each know enough about Jesus to defend the Gospel and put forth the principles we learned from Christ. Be prepared – you never know when you’ll have to testify for Jesus!

Yesterday a man was questioning me about the Bible. Right up front, he stated, “Nothing you say will apply to me, because I’m an atheist!”

We were kind of in the same position; he doesn’t believe in Jesus, and I don’t believe in atheists! I regard them as future believers who haven’t yet seen the light! You might call them, “Pre-saved!” By the end of our conversation, he agreed to try attending a couple of church services to learn more about our faith in the Messiah. I left him with a couple of specific church suggestions.

Since Jesus wants us to share the Good News with all nations, we need to get comfortable evangelizing and defending the faith. Like the hymn says, we all should be prepared to, “Stand up, stand up for Jesus!”

Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship