A Call To Persevere Series

This week we are continuing our series in Jude. If you were with us last week you’ll remember that we talked about how the things that we need to look out for in the church are the times when we notice someone seems to only ever have complaints, and specifically with a purpose of creating division. Because what these divisive complaints do is ultimately separate people into groups, and in doing so, pit them against each other.

And you know, as I thought about Jude’s warning over the last couple of weeks, I was reminded of a story that my friend told me once about a time when he was working out at Pantex about 17 miles northeast of Amarillo, TX, where I grew up. If you don’t know, Pantex sits on a 16,000 acre site, and is the primary United States nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility who’s primary purpose is to maintain the safety, security and reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.

You can see the guard towers all around the plant - and they’re not really for show either. Nope, they put a lot of money, training, energy, into their security. To the point that when some hunters just happened upon their land - the security team at Pantex knew those hunters were there long before the hunters even realized that they were even close to Pantex property. Cameras, facing every which way. Guards that know what’s going on on the 16,000 acre property. Down the point that a couple of hunters accidentally venturing onto part of the land warranted a convoy of armed guards heading out to meet them, and to understand why guns were being fired on part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s land.

Yet, do you know what one of the threats that they train for - possibly the most? And this comes from a government website.

An inside threat.

A person who is trusted, including employees, organization members, and those to whom the organization has given sensitive information and access.

A person given a badge or access device identifying them as someone with regular or continuous access (e.g., an employee or member of an organization, a contractor, a vendor, a custodian, or a repair person).

A person to whom the organization has supplied a computer and/or network access.

A person who develops the organization’s products and services;

A person who is knowledgeable about the organization’s fundamentals

A person who is knowledgeable about the organization’s business strategy and goals

In short, they train for the potential for an insider to use their trust or understanding of an organization to harm that organization.

And that’s because when someone is brought in from the outside. Especially into a place like Pantex - they have such a large potential to wreak havoc on the inside. And that’s what Jude’s warning is about, that’s what he’s urging us to be on the lookout for. If we could put that Pantex picture back up - that’s the kind of defense that he’s wanting us to have. And the thought of a church being destroyed - especially from the inside, well it’s a thought that he almost just couldn’t bear. For someone to get into the inside and wreak havoc. If we can pickup just a little bit before our main section today, read with me starting in Jude 17:

“But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

— Jude 1:17 (ESV)

“But you must remember, beloved.”

Who is he addressing? Beloved.

“But you...beloved.”

Even though last week we were introduced to this potential for divisiveness from within the church, even though Jude is warning us to be on the lookout - I just really and truly love this phrase right here in verse 17. “But you, beloved.” Because what that means is that there’s an alternative pathway for the believer in the midst of a difficult world. In the midst of an inside threat. In the midst of a dark world. Thank God that there’s that alternative pathway for the believer in the midst of all of that. You know, you’ve got everything going on in the world around you. Maybe you’ve got stuff going on at your family. Maybe you’ve got stuff going on at work. Maybe you have a list like I presented last week. Maybe some of you just did the exact opposite of my advice and you thought through a list on your own of all the things that have “gone wrong” in your life in recent history. And then we get to this...”But you, beloved. You have a different pathway. Remember the predictions of the apostles. You get a different way of responding to these things as a born again believer. With all these difficulties, with all these challenges, remember the words that were spoken of by the apostles.”