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You Have a Fight Coming

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As it turns out, I was only in one fight in all my junior and senior high years. No, it wasn't because people were afraid of me and my intimidating pro golfer body type. Yes, it was because people were afraid of my best friends and their truly intimidating body builder physiques. I guess because I made them laugh and introduced them to girls, they were willing to defend me if and when my occasional sarcasm dug a little too deep with people.

So what happened in my one and only fighting debut? Well, the end result was me flat on my back, but let me fill in the details.

His name is Jim and her name is Lori. Jim liked Lori and Lane liked Lori but Lori liked Jim so Lane didn't like Jim. Are you with me so far? Good. So in an attempt to "impress" Lori, Lane challenges Jim to a fight.

Now keep in mind there were over 1000 students at my junior high, and when word got around that Jim and I were getting ready to rumble, pretty much everyone cancelled their afternoon plans and showed up at the field down the street from the school for the big face-off.

Let's just say that if they had paid money, they would have demanded their money back. I threw the first punch which by some miracle landed square on his nose, so he responded by putting both fists in the air and standing perfectly still. I thought he was inviting me to take another swing, but in reality, he had been trained in martial arts and that was his defensive stance.

It worked. As soon as my face got in striking range, it got struck. The next thing I remember was looking up at the sky and thinking "wow, that cloud looks like a bunny...but don't they all?" and then I heard sirens, then we all ran.

By the way, Lori wasn't in the audience. By the way again, later on that year after I trusted Christ, I apologized to Jim, and we remained friends through high school.

And you thought you were reading a Soul Fuel about defending your faith, right? Right! Because if you're not prepared, someone might come along and hand you the spiritual version of what happened to me!

Whether you know it or not, whether you believe it or not, you have a fight coming. It's not over a girl named Lori, but over the God-man named Jesus. If you've been keeping up with the world lately, you might have noticed that living out a godly lifestyle and sharing that Jesus is the only way to heaven doesn't exactly score you popularity points with popular culture.

But Lane, the only people with a fight coming are Christians who shove their beliefs down people's throats and major on the whole "you're going to hell" thing...right?

Wrong. But don't believe me. Believe Jesus:

When the world hates you, remember it hated me before it hated you. The world would love you if you belonged to it, but you don't. I chose you to come out of the world, and so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? "A servant is not greater than the master." Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you! The people of the world will hate you because you belong to me, for they don't know God who sent me. (John 15:18-21)

Did you notice what Jesus is pointing out here? It's not if the world hates you...it's when the world hates you.

In other words, you have a fight coming.

Check what Paul wrote:

Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. (2 Timothy 3:12)

Again, did you pick up on those words? Not some or most, but everyone. Not might or could, but will suffer persecution.

If I didn't mention it before, you have a fight coming. The question is...are you ready? Do you know what you believe and why you believe it? Do you have a better answer for people who ask why you're a Christian than "well...b-cuz, that's why"?

The good news is that there are better answers. In fact, you should know that Christianity rests on rock solid ground. The rock is the historical evidences for Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, and the solid ground is the proofs for the Bible being the only inspired word of God.

Ahem. You have a fight coming, and if you can get solid footing on the rock solid ground, I guarantee you won't end up flat on your back.

Head: What you need to know about this truth

All Christians who live a godly lifestyle will face some kind of persecution, so we need to be ready to defend our faith.

Heart: What you need to feel about this truth

Persecution can make you bitter or better. The next time you face persecution for living out the Christian life, remember the attitude of the Apostles who just came through a severe beating and whipping for proclaiming Christ:

They called in the apostles and had them flogged. Then they ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go. The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Jesus. And every day, in the Temple and in their homes, they continued to teach and preach this message: "The Messiah you are looking for is Jesus."

Hands: What you need to do about this truth

One of the first steps in learning how to defend your faith is learning what you are defending against in the first place! The best way to do that is to ask people good questions, so you can learn what they believe and why, and also because good questions can lead to the questioners questioning their own beliefs. The best questions I've come across are found in what we call the 4 -1¹ defense. Here's how it works:

4 questions:

1. "What do you mean by that?" This makes them define the terms in their argument.
2. "How do you know that to be true?" This makes them explain the logic of their argument.
3. "What difference does it make?" This makes them defend the value of their argument.
4. "What if you're wrong?" This makes them think the unthinkable about their argument.

1 statement: "I don't know, but I'll find out"

The worst thing you can do when you're not sure how to answer a question is throw out a lame bluff. It might work in school, but it won't work with apologetics. Trust me, the answer is out there, and sometimes you just need a little time.

Also - if you really want to get serious about learning how to defend your faith, be sure you make it out to the Dare 2 Share GameDay conference.

¹Used by permission from Bill Jack & Andrew Heister