Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, who are beloved in God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ: 2May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance. 3Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 4For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude 1-4; NRSV)
If you are familiar with the nascent Under Armour commercials, you will remember the ones in which the pre-game pep talk included the statement ‘We must protect this house!’. That is a declaration that inspires and creates a common purpose.
But long before the Under Armour commercials, that same declaration was made in Jude’s epistle. The readers of the letter were informed that they would have to contend for the faith; the welfare of the church would not roll in on the wheels of inevitability. The text suggests that there were people among the believers who had hidden agendas; these agendas would result in derailing the growth and credibility of Christianity. Interestingly, these intruders were not looking for spouses or access to the offering plate. Rather the object was two-fold: (1) to pervert God’s grace and (2) to deny Christ as Master and Lord.
We may look at this text and say ‘That was a long time ago; people don’t do that anymore’. Especially in the United States – we have a constitutional right to practice our faith and most churches are open every Sunday. Hence it is well with our souls. However, if we think carefully about the two problems mentioned, I think we will see that this ancient text is still applicable today.
Let’s work our way through the text. As the author expresses an eagerness to write about a shared salvation, he first issues a warning. There are people who are in the fellowship of forgiven sinners that want to exploit God’s grace for their own purposes. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that our salvation is a gift from God. But there were persons who wanted to pervert this grace. There are a couple of ways that could happen. First, one could say that we can continue in sin, that grace may abound - licentiousness; do what you want – give in to your desires – think, say and do whatever you want because it is all under the blood of Christ. As second way is to attach some ‘house rules’ – the things that people must do be accepted by the fellowship beyond having faith in Christ. In either case, to pervert God’s grace cannot be done without ignoring the letter or the spirit of the scriptures. In those areas of life that the scriptures do not explicitly address, there is enough from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament to give us a sense of how we should relate to God and each other. To love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves means that the grace of God is fine ‘as-is’ – straight- no chaser.
The author also mentions a desire to deny Jesus Christ, described as Master and Lord. Please note that ‘Christ as Savior’ is different from ‘Christ as Lord’. The title of Savior speaks to His death for us, but the title of Lord speaks to our death for Him. Colossians 3:5-11 puts it this way: 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. 7 These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life.8 But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices 10 and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.
Hence to deny Jesus as Master and Lord means that we will accept His sacrifice but not return the favor. It means that we want to live on our own terms but not make the effort to conform to His expectations of righteousness. The expectation of righteousness is not a prepayment for salvation (for we are saved by grace through faith) but rather a response to the salvation that we freely received.
Let’s ask ourselves, do we as a body of believers faithfully preach, teach and live out the grace and righteousness of God? Do we pray for each other, encourage each other, support each other, and cry with each other? Are we patient with each other as Christ is being formed in us? Do we admonish each other when at risk of going astray? Do we seek to live in a manner that does not contradict our testimonies of faith in God? Are we a church who seeks to restore the fallen; are we willing to mimic the Master as he said in John 8:11 ‘neither do I condemn you: go and sin no more’?
I encourage us today to ensure that we protect this house by honoring God’s grace and the Lordship of Christ. We must protect this house so that others may have the same chance for a changed life as we have. We must protect this house so that it serves as a beacon of Christ’s light and not as a mirror of the world’s darkness. We must protect this house so that the broken may be healed. We must protect this house so that we can share God’s love and encourage holy living.
Protect this house because Jesus died for it. Protect this house because the Holy Spirit dwells here. Protect this house so that the songs of Zion may ring out. Protect this house because as imperfect as we are, God is doing a perfect work through us.
Protect this house until the valleys of low living are exalted. Protect this house until the mountains of big egos learn to live humbly. Protect this house until crooked lives are straightened and every rough life is made smooth. Protect this house until every knee is bowed and every tongue confesses that Christ is Lord of all.
We must protect this house; we must protect this house; we must protect this house – Amen.
