Mission: Multiply | Faith-Defending
The following post was written by Andrew Jacobson in 2014 as part of a discipleship blog series. We are revisiting these topics in our current sermon series and publishing his writings here with his permission.
It’s important to understand that we live in a post-modern and post-Christian culture. This means that even the very idea of truth, let alone truth as Christians believe it, is in question. We no longer have the benefit of a Christianized society that affirms basic Christian values or ideas. We don’t have the luxury of being able to ignore the question, “why do you believe what you believe?” This is why the ninth component of our discipleship vision is faith-defending. In this area of discipleship we want everyone at First Free to be equipped to defend against attacks on the truth of the Christian faith and to be able to give a defense for the reasons we embrace Christ as the true Savior.
An important piece of the Christian life that this discipleship component covers is worldview formation. As Christians we should have a distinct view of the world and everything that makes it up that is founded upon and informed by the Bible. We all view the world through some sort of spectacles. The question is, are our spectacles made with the 20/20 vision of Scripture. If we are not anchored down by the truths of Scripture then we are vulnerable to whatever waves and winds of error may sweep us up (Ephesians 4:13).
Not only is there a need to fight against the dangerous doctrines of this world but we also need to be equipped to go on the offensive for Christian truth. We should be offensive for the truth of Christ not so we might offend people, but so we might pierce darkened minds with the validity and credibility of truth. When we can give a proper defense of the historical reliability of the Bible, it gives our preaching that much more credibility. When we show that the resurrection of Christ is a historical, viable fact, we remove another obstacle to an unbeliever’s reception of the Gospel.
At First Free we want to build up believers who not only believe the truth but know why they believe what they believe, so that they are equipped to give a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in them (1 Peter 3:15).
