Jude

The man Jude who writes this brief letter identifies himself as the brother of James. Both James and Jude were sons of Mary and Joseph, and thus were half brothers of Jesus Christ. Jesus was a Son of Mary, but Joseph was not His father. Conceived by the Holy Spirit, He was the eternal Son of God. Neither James or Jude draw attention to their familial connection with Jesus. Calling themselves servants of Jesus Christ, like us they were sons of God in Christ Jesus, called by God, beloved in God the Father, kept by Jesus, and kept for Jesus.

This exalted position that we share with these two men as recipients of the mercy and love of God springs from our common salvation. Who can imagine a more wonderful connection with God than what we already have in Christ? And yet not all the news is good. Although Jude would like to dwell further on our privileges as believers in Jesus united together in worship as citizens of heaven, he feels compelled to write about the danger the church faces from false teachers. He must contend for the faith that was given to all of us once for all time. This true faith can never change, but our understanding of it and appropriation of it can grow or recede. Our experience of faith diminishes through the poor example set by those who claim to believe the truth, but are teaching and living a lie.

Some take the message of grace and pervert it into a strange justification for their own lives of immorality. They do not really have God or Christ. They live for themselves and bow the knee only to their own sensuality. Their lies and snares are as old as God's Israel, the Lord's son who turned against Him in the wilderness and faced a discipline that included the death of an entire generation. Older still is the story of the angelic “sons of God” who were insubordinate to the Father, winning for themselves eternal chains in gloomy darkness. Whole cities, like Sodom and Gomorrah, were wiped off the face of the earth, servings as signposts of the future judgment of everlasting fire. Do you really want to be your own god and king? Will you ignore the will of God and insist on your own pleasure, hiding under a cloak of supposed grace? The fake outer garment only makes the inner deviance more disgusting, like the strange makeup on the elderly Jezebel, or a ring in a pig's snout.

But in every age there have been great spiritual personalities who have made proud boasts. Some insist that they have secret knowledge of angelic realms, and contend that they can safely speak against powers that they do not really understand. This is not the humility of the One who calls us to follow Him in the love of the cross. Could it be that Satan might fall from heaven more readily because of the secret gift of a poor widow or because of the praise that springs from an infant's faith? Could these expressions of true worship mean more than all the pronouncements of proud men who claim to know so much? And when it comes to pretensions of great spiritual experience and insight, must we presume to speak to powers of darkness? Decency limits us to more sober words, such as these: “The Lord rebuke you.” That is more than enough to say.

Pride, pride, pride! What a killer of men! Where are all the great men of renown today? Where is Cain who was so proud that he had to murder his brother to prove something? Where is Balaam who needed to be rebuked by an animal lest the strange prophet misrepresent God and speak lies? Where is Korah, who was offended by the position of others in the Lord's assembly, claiming that Moses and Aaron had gone too far? This deadly pride will stain and damage the church until the Lord of Glory comes Himself to put a stop to evil imposters. The Lord who bought the church with His blood will come again to judge the living and the dead with thousands of mighty angels. Who can stand in that day? We must heed the warning that Jude gives to us in this letter. It will not be safe for us to follow loud-mouthed boasters and malcontents who show favoritism to others only to gain their own advantage. These men cause divisions within the churches with their scoffing insolence. They are devoid of the Spirit of God.

Why would God allow these imposters to have any position in His church? But the Lord knows His good plan. The best thing for any of us to do is to humble ourselves before Him, and to follow the better example of those who are not loud, proud, deceptive, and immoral.

Positively, we should listen to the Word and give ourselves to prayer. And is there any reason why sermons need to veer so far away from what the Scriptures have said? Is the Bible so uninteresting that we need to be entertained with everything else? How are we going to be built up in the Word if our ministers refuse to deal with the passages that God has left for our growth in faith? Pray, brothers and sisters! Pray for a day of humble preaching that does not exalt the ambassador, but glorifies the King who died on the cross! And then listen to that good Word of Jesus, and keep yourselves in the love of God. Wait for Jesus, and have mercy on weak people who doubt. Snatch others from the fire, knowing the danger of the sea of worldliness that is both outside and inside the church.

Most of all, put your hope in God. You will again praise Him. See Psalms 42-43. When you feel the nausea of your own moral decay, remember that Jesus died for your sins, and that the Lord is able to keep you from stumbling. One day He will present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, because of the unfailing righteousness of His Son. To God be the glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Yes, glory, majesty, dominion, and authority to the King of the new heavens and the new earth, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen and Amen!