Words of Wisdom #30

We have been looking at the urgent warning Jude gave this group of believers about a dangerous invasion into the church: the twisting of the love and grace of God in Christ to be merely the acceptance of sinful behavior.  These people, some of them leaders, were bullying their way in, making all sorts of false accusations against God's people, dividing the church - but most of all, they were rebelling against Christ. 

So, how should they respond? How should we respond? Hold fast to and contend for the true faith and grace of God.  We are not to bully in return, but definitely show ourselves to be different.  We are to show mercy to the confused and doubting, but also cling to our own purity. We are to live like Jesus is Lord. Jude now concludes with a blessing my dad used almost exclusively in his ministry, which is very appropriate in where we find ourselves today:

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

As we submit and commit ourselves to Him, and the true Gospel of Grace, He will see us through this assault on grace, full of hope and joy. 

Words of Wisdom #29

Jude has been giving a dire warning to beware the infiltration of the church by those who had redefined "grace" into a "whatever-you-want-to-do permissiveness." Such things have been judged in the past and will be judged in the future. That's God's business.  How are we to respond?

17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. 

First, Jude says: "Remember the Apostles warned you about that." And where did they hear that? Jesus had told them. Don't be surprised that there are people like that who try to make their way into the church.

Second, he says, "Keep on encouraging each other with the true Gospel, pray with and for each other, and live lovingly with each other, waiting together for the hope of Christ's return. You're in this together.

Third, display God's character to those who confused.  It won't do any good to bash them. Notice the key characteristic of God we are to demonstrate is mercy - a willingness to give help when asked, a readiness to share the real Gospel of grace,which is able to save, and a commitment to holiness balanced with mercy.  Don't let them take over your heart, mind, or church, but do continue to show them true grace.

Words of Wisdom #28

Jude was addressing his fellow believers with a very urgent matter: The doctrine of grace was being perverted into the allowance of immorality in their midst. Yesterday we saw three examples from the Old Testament of how those who had done so before had received harsh punishment, and therefore so would these. He continues:

 8 In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. 9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.
11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.
12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

Jude says "It's not just their gross immorality. It is their blatant irreverence toward God and their blasting His people and His godly leaders like Cain did against God and Korah did against Moses and Aaron in Numbers 16."  They treated everyone like they had the right to do wrong and no one was allowed to confront them, while they could make false accusations, finding fault against anyone they wanted. Jude says: "They don't belong with you.  It is not yours to judge; step back and let God take care of that. But don't let them give the world the impression they are part of my God's people; step back away from them, lest they infect your thinking, your way of speaking, or your lifestyle."

Words of Wisdom #27

Yesterday, in the opening verses of Jude, we saw a warning against the twisting of grace. Grace is not letting someone stay in their sin and do whatever they want to; it is God's gift to help us change and live our lives in obedience to Christ.  In our verses today, Jude strengthens his warning with some Old Testament examples:

5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

These are three examples of judgment, where those who are punished at one time knew and experienced the goodness of God.  Note that in the first example it is Jesus, the Son, who saved Israel our of Egypt, and He later destroyed some of the same people who rebelled in the wilderness. Christ has authority to save and to judge. The same thing applied to the fallen angels: created to praise God, but judged when they puffed up with pride. Thirdly, Sodom and Gomorrah, the most pointed and appropriate example of the three: it had been a place of plenty, which God had caused to prosper and bloom - that's what had drawn Lot there.  It became a place not only allowing sexual immorality, but promoting it officially.  The implications are obvious: the same thing would happen for the people of God in Jude's day if they twisted grace into saying such sexual perversions were not only permitted, but to be celebrated.  Judgment was to be expected. 

Words of Wisdom #26

We just finished looking at the letter of James, with what many see as words of wisdom; how about Jude?

1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,
To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Jude is addressing a group of people who, much like James' audience, were going through some hard times; they found themselves calling out for mercy, and their faith was being challenged.  Jude was going to remind them about how great their salvation in Christ was in order to encourage them, but something more pressing had come up: a group of people were infecting the church. These people were perverting the grace of God, twisting it into the idea that God doesn't care how we live our lives. Such a concept leads to people living in sensuality - it's what feels good to me that matters most. This is a deadly error. It denies the Lordship of Christ; it makes Him our stamp of approval to do anything we want to do. Grace doesn't do that. True grace changes our lives. We've seen the same thing happen in the American church the last couple of years, but like Jude says here, this began long ago; it has just surfaced and we need to respond to it wisely, calmly, lovingly, but with conviction. We need God's wisdom for sure. 

Words of Wisdom #25

We come today to the last verse of the letter from James:
19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

James had been talking to us about the impact our words have on others - often negative. In yesterday's passage he focused on the positive impact we can have on one another with our words through prayer. This concluding paragraph again focuses on our positive impact: speaking words of truth to one another. You never know, James says, when you care enough to confront a member of your fellowship with their error, when God will use that act of love to bring that person back from his wandering from the truth and heading down the wrong path.  Of course, it is never us who saves another person; only Christ can do that, but we can have the privilege of planting the seed of the truth of God's Word into one another's lives and be used of Him to make a positive difference

The last phrase of this passage has caused a lot of discussion among theologians throughout the centuries: will cover a multitude of sins. How does this action of helping to lead a person gone astray back to the right path do this? Whose sins are covered?  Probably both. The one who was going astray will end up not committing a number of sins they would have, and the loving believer who helped them will have done something to "make up for" a lot of sins he or she had committed with their mouths.  This, of course, is not saying that our sins and good deeds are put in a balance to see which we have done more of, but only that when looking at our lives, as we grow more like Christ, we should see our mouths doing more good, and less evil.  Who can you use your mouth to help today?

Words of Wisdom #24

We've been looking at James' instructions on how the proper attitudes and motives should come out of the mouth of a follower of Christ. He continues on in chapter 5, verse:

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

As he has done previously, James picks a biblical character to illustrate his point: Elijah was a man of powerful prayer; he prayed boldly, specifically, and persistently for years, during a time of oppression. These believers were being oppressed for their faith and tempted to turn in their hearts and with their mouths to complaining, backbiting, and all sorts of abusive behavior with their speech. "Inappropriate!", James says. No matter our circumstance, as Christ followers we need to be people of prayer: praising God, praying for one other, willing to humbly ask others to pray for us, so we do not become bitter complainers. What have you allowed the difficult circumstances of your life do to your prayer life? Maybe it's time to let your prayer life control your circumstances.