Provide For The Common Defense Series

Good morning! Please open your Bibles to the book of Jude. Jude is a tiny little book—only one chapter—and it’s the book right before Revelation. It may be a little hard to find. So when you find it, just say, “Hey—Jude!”

Today, we are going to talk about some of the passages in this week’s reading, but the sermon isn’t really going to deal with the content of the passages. Hopefully that will make sense to you in a few minutes.

Let me also say that I hope you’ve made some room in your Memorial Day plans for some reflection time. I know Memorial Day can mean the kickoff to the summer season, the time when summer blockbusters start rolling into theatres one after another, and (inexplicably) the time when you can find the best deals on mattresses. But more than that, and before all that, Memorial Day is a time to remember those that fought and died in the service of our country. If you haven’t gone downtown recently, I would encourage you to go down and see the Alabama Poppy Project. One of our local artists, Juliette Hansen, started making these beautiful ceramic poppies a few years ago, and asking Alabamians to sponsor a poppy in memory of a family member or friend who died in battle. It’s a very moving display, and a great way to remember the price that was paid for the freedoms we enjoy.

This past Tuesday I was having breakfast with one of the guys in our church. We’ve been meeting for a couple of weeks now, just praying together, talking about our families, our work week, and what we are learning from the Bible. And toward the end of the breakfast, we talk about how we can be praying for each other. And this week, my friend said, “I’d like you to pray that I’ll have the knowledge and the confidence to defend my faith in my workplace. This man has a Hindu coworker who is open to spiritual conversations, and he just wants some guidance in what Christians call apologetics. Now, apologetics has nothing to do with being sorry about something. It’s a Greek word that means “speaking in defense.”

And just as the US Constitution was established in 1787 to “provide for the common defense,” God’s word provides for the common defense of our faith. And it’s our job as a church to make sure we know how to defend it!

And so with that, let’s look at the first few verses of Jude. Verse 1 says the author is Jude, the brother of James. We know from Galatians 1 that this James was the half brother of Jesus, then we know that Jude was another half brother of Jesus. He’s mentioned in Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3, only he’s called Judas there. By the time he wrote this letter, most likely around 60-70 AD, he was going by Jude and not Judas (for obvious reasons!).

We also know that during Jesus’ lifetime, he was not a believer. John 7:5 says that even his own brothers didn’t believe in him. And that single fact is, in itself, a defense of the gospel. If you have a brother, think about it this way: What would it take for you to be convinced that your brother was the Messiah, the Son of God? For me to believe that about my brother, he would have to be raised from the dead!

Tim Keller, who passed away this week, said this about the resurrection:

If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn't rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.

Look at verses 3-4.

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.

These verses tell us two things. Verse 3 tells us what we are fighting for and and verse 4 tells us why we have to fight for it. Jude apparently wanted to write a letter about the salvation the believers shared—verse 3 says he was eager to write about their “common salvation” circumstances demanded that he write to them about contending for the faith.

“Contend” is a word that means “to exert intense effort.” It’s the same word Paul used in 1 corinthians 9 when he talked about athletes who go into strict training to “compete” in the games.