God is able
Jude 24,25
1. Look at the order of our worship in the bulletin. Regular worshipers have come to expect several public prayers in a worship service.
Opening Prayer/Invocation- The first prayer of a worship service has one purpose: to invite and acknowledge God’s presence among the worshipers who have assembled. It helps the congregation focus on the need for God and his presence, so the worship service can be what it’s intended to be.
Pastoral prayer/Morning prayer: when the leader prays for the people. (Eph. 3:14ff) This prayer is offered by a worship leader or pastor and grows out of timely concerns or joys that have arisen in the world, our city, sickness or death in the church membership, or other concerns and celebrations.
Offering prayer: may come before the offering or afterwards, but the purpose of this prayer is to thank God for the privilege of giving and to ask God’s blessing on the tithes and offerings.
Benediction: a prayer for God’s blessing on His people as they leave the place of worship. The word Benediction comes from two words in Latin: "Bene" which means “good” and “diction" which means “word,” so literally it means a "good word." The Benediction sends us forth with the blessing of God's power over our lives. Perhaps the most familiar benediction is found in Numbers 6:24-26.
2. Today, in our second and last message from Jude, I want to focus on a familiar benediction found at the end of this letter. Turn to your bulletin insert (printed book of Jude) and find the very last paragraph titled Benediction. Read together.
3. These verses provide a wonderful blessing at the end of any worship service. Several months ago, someone here told me how appropriate this prayer was after I had used it one Sunday because he had almost lost his balance when he stood up for the benediction and I had prayed to God “who is able to keep you from falling.” However, when Jude wrote these words, he had a different kind of falling mind. So, let’s take a closer look at the message in this prayer of blessing.
4. Remember that Jude was written to enlist believers in the effort to contend for the faith that God had entrusted to the church (See v.3). The church has always depended on God’s Word and clear teaching so that people know how to live in obedience to God.
5. Unfortunately, when Jude was writing, the beliefs and direction of the church were being undermined by false teachers who were traveling around, worming their way into the congregations where they taught things that God never intended. In particular, they were saying that God’s grace was a license to immoral living, that since God readily forgives anyone anytime, the moral standards God has provided can be taken lightly. They may have said things like:
• Yes, God says we shouldn’t steal, but if you need something that someone else has and you take it, God will forgive you, so it doesn’t matter.
• Yes, God says we shouldn’t lie, but if a lie can keep you out of trouble or make you look good, go ahead and lie because God will forgive you.
• Yes, God has set up boundaries and guidelines for relationships between males and females, but if it feels good to violate those boundaries, go ahead and do it because God will forgive you.
6. That is the kind of reasoning these false teachers were using. And if you look at the underlined names in your insert like Sodom & Gomorrah, Cain, Balaam, & Korah, you see the examples Jude gives from the Old Testament of people who were punished because they disregarded God’s standards. Jude didn’t want that to happen to them. So, he ordered them to be vigilant and to mount a vigorous defense against these false teachers.
7. Maybe we can use an example from computer usage. Computers are wonderful tools, but if you are not careful with the web sites you visit and the files you exchange with people, pretty soon a malicious virus will find its way into your computer that can damage or destroy not only your files, but those of your friends. If left unchecked, these viruses can do so much damage that your computer will become unusable. What you need to do, using the words of President Obama regarding the government’s response to the earthquake in Haiti, is to mount a swift, coordinated, and aggressive effort if you are going to maintain a virus-free computer.
8. In the same way, in our spiritual lives and in the church, unless we are vigilant we will become so contaminated, so filled with worms and viruses that we will become completely useless in the kingdom of God.
9. But it doesn’t have to end up that way. I find it amazing in Jude that in spite of the way these people were sliding down the slippery slope of moral relativism, Jude not only warns them, as we heard last Sunday, but he concludes his letter with a blessing, a benediction.
10. The other day, we had to take measures to get rid of a virus in our computers at home. The advisor I talked to said to run an anti-virus program to get rid of it. And, he said, “Be sure to use 3rd party software.” In other words, run a program from the internet or another source from outside, one that you don’t have on your computer now.
11. In a way, that is what Jude is saying here. “You can’t just do your own thing and think everything will be all right. You need a third-party solution.” And in this benediction, we see where that solution comes from.
12. Jude makes clear that there is only one source of help that can keep us from going the wrong direction. And that is God.
13. So, what does this benediction say about who God is and what he can do?
a. First, God is able to keep us from slipping (falling). The meaning behind the word used for falling is one used of a sure-footed horse that doesn’t fall and of a person who does not fall into error. (Ps. 121:1-4). Now how is God able to do that?
a. God gives us his word to serve as a map so we don’t go off in the wrong direction. When Sue and I hike a new mountain trail, we consult a trail map to see where the trail begins, what we can expect, and where it ends. We prefer trails that are clearly marked. In the same way, if we follow God’s instructions we won’t fall into error. Ps. 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” His word gives us the knowledge we need to know how to live.
b. God provides fellow travelers in the community of faith. Sometimes the Bible calls them saints. Other times they are called brothers and sisters in the faith, members of the family of God. One way mountain hikers keep from falling is to travel with others, sometimes roping themselves together, but always encouraging each other. That is what we do in the church; we depend on each other. Eph. 4:16 says, “As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” We help bear each other’s load. We encourage each other.
c. God provides examples and traditions and footsteps of those who have gone before. Again and again the Bible points to examples of faith and faithfulness using names you are all familiar with: Abraham, Moses, Miriam, Hannah. The writer of Hebrews 11 compiled a long list of such names. I have been re-reading the stories in the Elm Leaf over the past 20 years about people who could serve as examples for all of us in their faith, their testimony, their witness.
d. God provides his Holy Spirit to guide us. Just before Jesus left this earth, he told his disciples in John 16 that the Holy Spirit would come and “will guide you into all the truth.”
God provides all of these resources to keep us from falling, to keep us from sliding into error. I dare say that many of us have gone through experiences in which we were about to do something when we recalled something from God’s word that reminded us about who we are, or just at the right time some Christian friend came along side with some advice or we felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit. God is able to keep us from falling.
b. Second, God is able to make us stand before Him without fault or blemish. The word blemish comes from the vocabulary of sacrificing animals in worship. The sacrifices the Jews brought to God had to be perfect: no three-legged lambs or cross-eyed pigeons. They had to be perfect in every way because God is perfect.
Some of you know what it is like to enter a competition in sports or music or writing or maybe speech. You need to stand before those judges without fault. I remember when I was a senior in high school I entered a contest for the best speech about world peace. Unfortunately, I ended up second. My speech wasn’t good enough for first place. And, as much as I don’t want to admit it, there were only two of us in the contest!
The Bible tells us that someday we will all stand before God. That thought probably makes us little bit nervous, because none of us is perfect. And no matter how hard we work at it, we won’t become perfect. God is the only one who is able to clean us up and make us worthy to appear before him. And he does it through the sacrifice of his Son Jesus, who was without fault or blemish. As I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God’s action can make us appear as though we had never sinned. God is able to do that.
I know that lots of people are going from place to place, looking for the perfect church. The best advice I have heard about that is that when you find the perfect church, don’t join it, because you will spoil it.
I take great comfort in Eph. 5:27 where we read these words. None of us is perfect. You don’t have to be here long to know that this church isn’t perfect. But one day the church will appear before God, free from stain, fault or blemish, free from the sin that wants to cling to us and we will be able to say in the words of MLK, “Free at last, Free at last. Thank God almighty, We’re free at last.”
c. Finally, God is able to bring us into his presence with rejoicing. As sinners, we would expect to enter God’s presence in shame and fear and trepidation. Some of you may feel fearful when you enter the doctor’s office or hospital even though the doctor is there to help you, to make you whole. God is known as the loving Father: the one who can heal your broken spirit, the one who can set you on the right path, the one who has the best in mind for you.
The Bible says that if we allow God to work in us to accomplish his purposes, according to Matthew 21, God will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been trustworthy in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.”
Because of who God is, He is able to bring us into the presence of his glory with rejoicing. What more could we ask for?
Conclusion
Jude reminds us that we serve a God who is able. Romans 16:25 says that God is able to strengthen us. Ephesians 3:20 says that God is able to do far more than we can ask for or dream of. He is able.
This benediction is a prayer that God will preserve his people from spiritual disaster because of false teaching and bring them to the eternal destination he has for them if they are willing. He is able to keep us from falling. He is able to make us stand before him without blemish. He is able to bring us into his presence with rejoicing. This is the God who is able. Are we willing?
