Sermon Brief
Date Written: July 01, 2014
Date Preached: July 02, 2014
Where Preached: OPBC (Wed - PM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: A Series in Jude
Sermon Title: A Deeper Look: Verse 1
Sermon Text: Jude 1:1 [ESV]
Introduction:
1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are: called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
The ‘audience’ to whom this letter was written is described by Jude as “…those who are called…” The entire story of redemption throughout its development AND all throughout Scripture has ALWAYS been shaped by the DIVINE ‘calling’ of God!
That ‘divine’ calling invites us to be an active participant in God’s work and here Jude relates that these people to whom he is writing HAVE been divinely ‘called’ by God!
Let’s think about what it means ‘to be called’ by God. When we think about that phrase … mostly we understand that it refers to our indentity that we have Christ based on His invitation to forgiveness and redemption.
When we are ‘called’ we enjoy membership within the family of God because we rec’d a personal invitation from God to join the party! I know how awesome it is to receive an invitation to a party where the one giving the party take the time to personally write and invite you to be a part of their celebration…
When we are ‘called’ by God…this means that the person throwing the party… GOD! Has taken His own time to issue a personal invitation to us to join Him. The ultimate party will happen in Heaven, but he invites us to be a part of his invitation process to others as well…
It is like the person inviting you to their party telling you that if you have some friends, tell them about the party and they will also get a personal invitation like you did…
The ‘calling’ that is extended BY God to us is done so thru His love for His creation! He took the initiative AND action to offer the invitatino for His creation to come back into a right relationship with Him.
Without His invitation (calling)… no amount of effort on our part would be enough to save us! But God has offered His invitation (calling) to us THRU His love…
Jude points this out in the next part of this verse…
1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are: called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
In a later verse Jude actually illustrates God’s love by referencing the deliverance (Exodus) of the Children of Israel from Egypt. BUT we see that he puts a new eschatalogical shape to it by saying, “…that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt…”
This is clearly Jude’s effort to tie the delivery of the nation of Israel out of slavery in Egypt TO the act of love Jesus accomplished on the Cross that delivers a people out of the bondage of sin! While this is the only focused illustration about God’s love mentioned here, I don’t believe Jude is saying that the Cross was God’s only act of love…
We find that God’s love is eternal and that it is HIS character…who He is and not just what He does. John tells us in 1 John 4:7-9 tells us that “God IS love”
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
John’s focus is NOT on the fact that God DOES love us… The fact that God DOES love is evident! But rather, John wants us to know that God DOES love because God IS love!
God’s love is a love that is eternal and everlasting… a love that cannot be broken or removed! God’s nature of love toward His creation is so deep and so encompassing that in His love we are safe and secure!
Jude completes the trifecta here by revealing that NOT ONLY are we called by God out of His deep LOVE for us… but that if we accept His loving call on our lives, that He is faithful and powerful enough to KEEP us and never let us go!
1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are: called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
This parallel thought along side of God’s divine invitation and His eternal love is that God ‘guards’ His people… or as Jude puts it He ‘keeps’ them.
Jude tells us that God keeps us, “…in Jesus Christ…” Once again Jude uses the perfect tense to indicate – not only are we kept—BUT that we are constantly ‘being kept’ by Christ as a condition of our redemption!
The promise Jesus makes in Mattew 28:20 that says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” and in John 10:29 “…My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.…”
The ‘agent’ of us being KEPT is of course Jesus… and this represents the promise that when we become a child of God we can NEVER be removed from that position! Also it reveals we are being kept in a justified state here in this world (thru God’s grace) until such time as we will be perfected when salvation is complete upon reaching Heaven.
He invites us because He loves us and He loves us because that is WHO He is… and because He is love, He will keep us in Him till the day we make it home to heaven.
This phrase ‘those who are called’ is Jude’s reference a divine & loving call from God. God desires to commune with us & His calling is not based on our works or acceptance of His invitation… but solely on His grace & mercy! It is also a reference to the QUALITY of the promise… it is from God who is our creator and He will not go back on His promises!
2 Tim 1:9 tells us:
9who saved [redeemed] us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began…
Our calling is not based on what we do, but is solely based on what God has done! We are called out of a divine love for us and called because God’s desires to commune with His creation.
Rom 8:28 says:
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
God’s calling is to bring good into the lives of those who are called… this promise is ONLY for those who have rec’d Christ as Savior… ONLY for those called by Him according to His purposes!
Jude uses the illustration of a ‘calling’ or an invitation and it is fundemental in our thought and understanding about the identity of the church and all those associated with the church.
Here Jude actually provides believers with a divine intiative… God’s calling us to salvation… and it gives us a framework of assurance that His promise is true! That frame work is best explained in 2 sections:
First, to those who are called… the ‘called’ status is a direct result that flows out of the love of God for His creation. Jude tells us we are called by God who loves us… The term ‘beloved’ is used in the perfect tense (having been loved) underscores our ‘invited’ status! We would NOT have been ‘invited’ unless we were first loved!
The perfect tense of this term should also be understood as the present and ONGOING result of God’s love… a love that took shape in the person of Jesus Christ and His act of love on the Cross of Calvary!
Jude speaks to the church being ‘called, loved and kept’ … again a 3 pronged approach to revealing God’s plan for His people! A vision of God that brings his people encouragement and a firm foundation for their faith!
The next study I lead, we will take a look at Jude v4 and the intruders who invaded the fellowship that Jude was writing to…
