Contend for the Faith

timothybobw

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Pre-Introduction

Which brings us today to the book of Jude. Jude is a short book and unfortunately a greatly neglected book. This may be partly due to its position in the Canon between 3rd John and revelation. But also I think it is partly neglected because it uses a number of obscure references and confusing imagery that make this book seem daunting to most readers.

However; i believe that Jude is actually the easiest epistle in the NT and probably the easiest book in the entire bible. What do I mean. What i mean is that the biblical authors did not write chapters or verses, they wrote letters or books in their entirety. Yet when we read, we tend to focus on understanding the parts, either a verse, paragraph, or chapter and try to understand what the author is saying in that section. Yet rarely do we try to understand the meaning or purpose of an entire book or epistle. to understand what the entire work is about and why it was written. This is especially difficult to do with Paul’s letters as he tends to cover a broad variety of topics in all of his letters which makes it difficult to recognize the central purpose which unites each of his letters into a single unified work.

But the Epistle of Jude on the other hand is actually very easy to identify the main purpose of the author. He plainly tells us in verse 3 that his purpose for writing this letter is as an appeal to the recipients to contend for the faith. And there are two aspects of his appeal, the first aspect answers the question of WHY… why it is critical for his readers to contend for the faith. The second aspect is the HOW… how his audience is to contend for the faith. And that’s it. Every part of this epistle directly relates to this main point.

It is such a simple letter that you could teach the entire thing in a single lesson. So I say lets go for it! Lets start and finish an entire epistle in one day. If you haven’t already, go ahead and open your bibles to the book of Jude and we will begin with the greeting of verses 1 and 2

Jude 1-2 “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.”

Our author identifies himself as a slave of Jesus Christ and also the brother of James. Most likely, the James he is referring to is James the brother of Jesus who was a prominent leader in the Jerusalem church. That would mean that Jude himself is also the half brother of Jesus. However, Jude cannot introduce himself as Jesus brother because that would place Jude on equal footing with his Lord. Instead, Jude describes his relationship with Jesus in terms that maximizes the gap between himself and Jesus. The relationship is not that of older brother and younger brother. But of Master and slave.

Secondly he introduces his audience, he is addressing those who are called by God, beloved by God, and being kept for Jesus Christ. Pay special attention to that final description of those being kept for Jesus Christ. Jude is going to reuse this idea of “being kept” for something. Here he is addressing his letter to those being kept for Jesus but he will also speak of those “being kept” for eternal punishment.

Next, in Verse 3 Jude introduces the purpose of this epistle.

Lets read, Jude 3 “3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, ...”

Before he tells us what is is going to write about he tells us what he actually wanted to write about. He wanted to write a doctrinal letter on the nature of our salvation. he wanted to write something like the first three chapters of Ephesians. BUT instead he found it necessary to write a letter appealing to his readers to contend for the faith. But what does it mean to contend for the faith? How is it done?

Jude answers this question by providing for us 5 commands guiding our fight for the faith.

However, before he gives us these 5 commands guiding our fight for the faith, he first is going to explain WHY it has become necessary to contend for the faith. What has happened that has made it necessary for Jude to alter his plans to write a doctrinal treatise on soteriology and instead to write a battle plan. And immediately in verse 4 he tells us why.

Lets read Jude 4 “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.”

He tells us that certain people have crept in. Crept into where? Clearly it is into the church that these people have crept into. And who is the church for? The church is the gathering called by God and saved from His wrath. And yet these people who have snuck in clearly do not belong, for Jude tells us that these people have been “designated for condemnation” Clearly these people do not belong.

and yet they managed to sneak into the church undetected. This implies that they looked, behaved, and spoke enough like a genuine follower of Christ so as to be accepted. But despite initial appearances, Jude tells us that these ones are ungodly.

But it is not merely the presence of unsaved people in the church that is a problem. It is what these men are doing that has necessitated the writing of this letter.

And he describes their activity in two ways.

First, that they change the Grace of our God into Licentiousness. Grace is the unmerited favor. Or to receive something you didn’t earn through works. The grace of our God is that we have recieved the gift of salvation through God’s desire to give it and have not earned it through our own works. And it says they have changed God’s grace into licentiousness. In other words, they are claiming that since salvation is not earned by our righteousness that we are free to BE unrighteous.

But as Paul says in Romans, may it never be that we who have died to sin should still live in it. And the problem of this teaching is the same today as it was in Jude’s time. We continue to fight the error of those who would minimize the believer’s call to righteous living.

Additionally, he says that these people deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. I believe what Jude is saying here is that these people deny the truth of who Jesus Christ is. Either they deny that he was God, or that he was truly human, or some other important truth concerning our Lord.

But at the core, these men are teaching falsehoods intended to lead people away from the truth of the Gospel. These are not just unbelievers in the church, but unbelievers in the church who make themselves out to be teachers.

Now, at this point we would expect Jude to begin explaining to his readers how they are to contend for the faith against such false teaching. However, like many good preachers, Jude gets a little distracted from his main point and instead goes into a lengthy diatribe against these false teachers. In fact, the majority of this epistle, verses 5 through 16, is a portrait of these false teachers. In contrast, it is only verses 17 through 23 that further elaborates on his stated purpose of the letter which is the exhortation to his readers to contend for the faith.

But nonetheless his description of these people is helpful to the purpose of his letter. Furthermore, it helps to highlight the severity of the danger that these men present.

And so let us also quickly examine Jude’s descriptions of these individuals before we look at the 5 commands guiding our fight for the faith.

(5-7) But I wish to remind you, although you know it. Sin is always Judged, these have been warned and you don’t have to fear that they will somehow escape judgement for what they are doing.

The unbelieving saved from Egypt Jesus destroyed

Angels who departed their domain are kept for judgment

S&G sexual immorality & strange flesh are made examples of eternal punishment

(8) Despite these examples they forego what is written for their own dreams

Defile the flesh

Reject authority

Blaspheme the majestic ones

(9) Even though Michael dared not judge blasphemously. He was not willing to blaspheme against Satan’s position of authority, and yet these people speak blasphemously against the authority God has placed in the Church.

(10-12)Three examples of the way they have followed. These illustrate the motivations of these false teachers.

The way of Cain (Jealousy against the righteous)

The error of Balaam for gain (desiring worldly possessions and honor)

The rebellion of Korah (Spurned God’s designated authority, desired it for themselves)

(13) 5 further metaphors describing what these people are like.

Hidden reefs (unseen, cause destruction to those caught by it)

caring for self

w/o fear

waterless clouds carried by wind (The appearance of bringing life giving rain while providing nothing)

Harvest time trees w/o fruit (appearance of fruit but having none)

twice dead and uprooted

Wild waves foaming shameful deeds

Unrelenting

restless, never at peace

Dangerous

Wandering stars destined for gloom

These stars do not follow a consistent course and could lead its followers astray. They may appear brilliant for a short period, but their end is eternal darkness.

These Even prophesied by Enoch to receive judgement. Emphasizes age of prophecy

Starting in verse 17 Jude explains to his readers how they are to contend for the faith against those ungodly false teachers he has been describing. He does with through a series of 5 imperatives. Here in verse 17 we begin with the first of his 5 commands guiding our fight for the faith.

and the first command guiding our fight for the faith is the command to Remember. He says in verse “17 But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.” and what predictions are we too remember? Jude 18-19 “18 They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” 19 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.”

Now it might initially seem surprising that Jude’s first command for us in this fight is to remember. However, we must recognize that it would be very difficult to contend for the faith if our faith is shaken. And there are few things that can potentially shake our faith as much as to witness the fall of those we trusted as our leaders and teachers. If THESE people can fall into depravity and heresy then we might wonder whether there is any real power in the faith we hold.

However, if as Jude commands we remember that it has been predicted beforehand that such people would infiltrate the church . Then our faith does not need to be shaken when it happens. If we fail to remember this then doubt has an opportunity to creep in. Doubt in the power and truthfulness of the gospel, doubt in God’s power, doubt in God’s love for us. But if we remember that we have been prophetically warned beforehand by Christ and His Apostles then we have no reason to doubt.

This is the first of Jude’s commands to us because we cannot stand firm in the fight of faith if our faith is shaken. We must remain confident in our faith.

The second command guiding our fight for the faith is to keep yourselves in the love of God. This is interesting of course because in Jude’s greeting he addresses those who are “being kept for Jesus Christ” and in his closing doxology he uses a different but synonymous word to say “to him who is able to keep you from stumbling” and the false teachers are also described as being “kept” for eternal judgement. So although we are “kept” by God, we are here commanded to “keep ourselves in the love of God”

Now, if Jude did not elaborate we might find ourselves questioning how we are to keep ourselves in the love of God. Thankfully,, however, he explains its meaning with 3 participial pär-tə-ˈsi-pē-əl phrases. The first two phrases precede the command while the final phrase immediately follows it.

Lets read in Jude 20-21 “20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.”

The first component of keeping ourselves in the love of God is to be building ourselves up in our most holy faith. It is important to recognize that this is a corporate appeal. What he is NOT SAYING is that we are each to individual build up ourselves. Rather, what he is saying is that together we are to be building up one another. This is similar to Hebrews 10:24 to stir up one another to love and Good works. But the idea of building ourselves up in the faith also carries the idea teaching, encouraging, admonishing or singing to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Whatever it takes to build up our knowledge of and obedience to the object of our faith.

The second component of keeping ourselves in the love of God is to be praying in the Holy Spirit. And this couldn’t be more critical. If, after all, it is God who keeps US - then how else could we possibly hope to keep ourselves except through prayerful petitions to the one who is able to keep us. We cannot hope to successfully fight against the schemes of the enemy in our own strength. Neither are we called to outmaneuver our enemy or out Scheme the schemer. Instead, we get our victory by relying on the power and the wisdom of the one who has overcome.

By contrast, the ungodly ones spoken of by Jude are boastful and proud. There is no place in the love of God for the one who is arrogant and proud. By contrast God loves the one who is humble and contrite. and prayerful dependence on Him is central to remaining humble before God.

Thirdly, we keep ourselves in the Love of god by “waiting for the mercy of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” We cannot be a people in the love of God if we are not a people looking forward to and longing for the full consummation of His love in eternity. We must steadfastly look to the promises of our Hope which is our faith.

Moreover, recognize that WAITING is not a completely passive idea. For example if your children tell you that they are hungry, and you respond to them “you need to WAIT, dinner is at six” Your expectation is that your child would forgo eating until dinner is ready.

Likewise, if a women is engaged to a man that is being deployed into military service, and He asks her to WAIT for him. He would be very disappointed if he returned to find that she had been dating other men.

Waiting implies that in anticipation of one thing, we are forgoing our opportunity for something else. When your at an amusement park in line for ride you are forgoing something else you could be doing in anticipation for the ride you are waiting in line for.

So, if we are to be waiting for eternal life ,, it is implies that there is something in this present age we forego. And what is that? In anticipation of the unlimited pleasures to be found in the presence of God for all eternity we must, for the time being, forgo the sinful pleasures offered to us by the world.

The false teachers confronted by Jude in this Epistle teach the opposite. They claim that we can both be waiting for eternal life and be presently enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. This cannot be. We cannot hope to be eternally united to Him if we were unwilling to wait out the fleeting days of this life for him.

And with that we have addressed the first 2 commands guiding our fight for the faith. The first being to Remember that this had been predicted so that our faith his not shaken. The second is to keep ourselves in the love of God. Both of these initial two commands are primarily defense in nature. They prevent us ourselves from falling victim to the schemes of these ungodly people. The following three are more offensive in nature. And given the way that Jude has described these people we would expect to use equally strong language encouraging us to fight back. We would expect him to demand that we really let these people have it. However, what we actually tells us is much different than what we would expect.

Lets read Jude 22-23 “22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.”

So the three commands listed here are “have mercy”, “save”, and “have mercy” Lets look first at verse 22

Jude 22 “22 And have mercy on those who doubt;”

So the question here, is who are those who doubt. I believe that Jude is referring to those who did not hold fast to the truth when the false teachers began spreading their heresy. These are those who “doubted” the true gospel when it was under attack. It would be the temptation of those who did stand firm, those who consistently defended the gospel from the beginning to treat scornfully those who did not stand with them. However, instead he encourages us to have mercy on them. Our desire should be to see them fully restored. If they have come to see their error we must welcome them back with all the love and Mercy that God extended to us when he forgave us of our transgressions.

Now, having mercy on these doubters also involves our active efforts to save them from the error that has caused them to doubt. It is not enough to simply wait for them to come to their senses. God had mercy on us by sending his son. In the same way, we need to go those whose faith has been shaken.

jude 23 “23 save others by snatching them out of the fire;

Now, these who need to be saved from the fire are different than the previous group which doubt. The doubters have had their faith shaken, but these here are those who have embraced the lifestyle taught by the false teachers. They are living in a way that puts their life on a course for eternal judgement. Jude encourages a rescue mission to pull these ones out of their sinful lifestyle.

He tells us to Snatch them out of the fire. This word implies taking something which is in the power or control of another. This group is not just those who doubt, these are those that have gone over into the camp of the false teachers. And yet Jude calls us to make effort to snatch them away from the false teachers.

Lastly, we are told to Jude 23 “... to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.”

Now this final exhortation to show mercy comes with a dire warning. This final group are those who’s life and teaching is so stained with sin that we are to use great caution as we extend mercy. We must have mercy with fear. Fear that our own proximity with them could be dangerous to us. Specifically, we are to hate the “garment stained by the flesh”

In essence, we are to treat their current lifestyle and teaching like it is a poopy diaper. So although we are still to show mercy to these, we are not to draw close so long as they remain dressed in their polluted garments. We cannot be restored to fellowship with these unless they put off their sinful lifestyle and heretical teaching. The danger of being corrupted by them is to great to openly embrace them without a degree of fearful scrutiny.

If you have a friend that falls into the sewer, you wait to give him a hug until your sure he is no longer covered in human excrement. And yet, even these, if they are willing to repent are to be welcomed and shown mercy.

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