“Heeding the Warnings”
Jude
It was 1 am in the morning and I had just finished my last day of work before I headed to Dallas to enroll in seminary. I stopped by Giovanna’s apartment to say goodbye and then got on the road. I had scrimped and saved all semester to have enough money to get a place to live and start the next leg of my education and God’s call on my life. I got on the road with $565 of tips. I turned off I-10 past Baton Rouge onto Highway 71 (this was before I-49 opened.) Around 4:30 AM, I came to a small town with the speed limit dropping. I took my foot off the break allowing the car to slow down in time for the 45 mph speed limit. As I passed the sign, I saw lights turn on in my rear view mirror. Long story short, when I pulled away, I was $150 lighter in the pocket. Before I did, he told me to go the speed limit in all of the small towns in LA. Just south of Shreveport, I was on a two lane road and the cars ahead me were doing 10 miles over the speed limit so I followed them. A few miles later, I saw a sheriff’s car coming the other way and he u-turned and pulled me over. He asked me where I was going and I told him SMU in Dallas to enroll in seminary. Because of that, he said he was going to give me a break and as I pulled away, I was only $75 lighter in the pocket. So when I arrived in Dallas, the fines plus the gas gave me less than $300 to get a place to live, go grocery shopping and pay for summer school. There had been signs all along warning me that something bad was going to happen if I didn’t change. If only I had listened to the signs!
That’s what God does with us. Along our journey of life, God gives us signs and warnings through people, circumstances and events. God doesn’t want to bum us out or spoil our fun but wake us up to the reality that this road doesn’t lead where you think it does. The prophet Ezekiel was called to warn God’s people that judgment was coming. God tells Ezekiel that his job as a prophet is like that of the watchman, who sits in the tower and blows a trumpet when he sees an invading army coming and impending doom. In other words, there’s a lot on the line and we need to listen. “He who takes warning will save his life.” (Ez 33:2-5) The book of Jude is like Ezekiel’s trumpet warning us to be wise in our choices because great consequences are at stake.
We’re in a series called “Postcards” where we’re looking at the 5 smallest books of the Bible and gaining the wisdom found in them. Each has one big theme and Jude’s is warning believers to be wise. Jude is so important for us because we warn those we love. You teach your kids to look both ways before crossing the street because you love them. We warn our friends who are about to make a poor financial decision because we care about them. God gives us the warning in Jude because He loves us and wants the best for us. That’s why Jude is so powerful.
Jude begins his notecard with these words: “I, Jude, am a slave to Jesus Christ and brother to James…” There are two things we learn. First, Jude is the brother of James, and also the brother of Jesus. They had the same mom, but Jude’s dad was Joseph and Jesus’ was God. When Jesus taught in the Nazareth synagogue, those who heard him were astonished and said, “Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us?” Matthew 6:3 Yes, Jesus had siblings. Now can you imagine growing up with Jesus as your bother? Like when Mary would say to Jude, “Why can’t you be more like your brother Jesus?” “Mom, it’s not like He’s perfect!” Mary says, “Oh yes he is!” Talk about having it tough when growing up! What I want you to notice is that Jude doesn’t tout his relationship to Jesus. There is great humility there.
The second thing that we learn about Jude, is that he’s “a slave to Christ.” Paul and Jude uses this image because it was such a common sight in the Roman Empire. Upwards of 50% of Italy were slaves. Urban slaves in the Roman Empire was very different from antebellum slavery. They were teaches, bookkeepers, doctors, cooks and accountants. Many were entrepreneurs and even encouraged to start their own business. Slaves lived with the family in their homes and were treated like family. They were even paid a stipend and encouraged to save up to buy their freedom and become Roman citizens. Many chose not to because they were treated so well by their masters and had the Master’s protection. So Jude uses this image to describe his relationship to Christ, not as a brother but a slave.
Jude gives us 4 serious warnings that we are unwise to ignore... The first has to do with the immediate threat the church was facing. Warning #1 - Be Alert to False Teachers. v. 4, 12-19. There were false teachers preaching a message contrary to the foundational beliefs of the faith. And to make matters even worse, they were inside the church. Like cancer, it must be rooted out. Jude describes them in very strong terms every description he gives is of something that has the appearance of being good, but in actuality has nothing to offer or even worse, could be detrimental: Clouds without water, trees without fruit and stars without light. Paul writes, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)
I had difficulty with this warning of Jude because we don’t talk about false teaching in the church much these days. But it is an issue today. For example, the prosperity gospel which says if you give to God you’ll receive a 10 or 20 fold increase. Or the ‘Easy Gospel’ which says all you need to do is believe in Jesus and you’ll receive eternal life without any expectations of the life you need to lead to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Or the expectation that if you just give your life to Christ and hand all your problems over to God, He’ll take care of them. There won’t be any difficulties or challenges or pain or suffering in life, when that doesn't reflect the life and experience of Jesus at all. How can we ever expect that those of us who follow Jesus and do His will shall have an experience of life and service that will be any different from what he experienced?
Do you know why false teaching is so deadly? Tragically, they do more than bring harm to themselves. They damage the reputation of Christ and His church. Eventually false teachers get found out and many of the followers get disillusioned about God because they were deceived by someone claiming to be godly. Some get led astray and endanger their salvation. Even worse, some never do see the false teachers for what they are and lose their life as a result, like the followers of David Koresh and the Branch Davidians or Heaven’s Gate or Jim Jones.
So how do we keep ourselves from falling prey to false teaching? Know God’s Word. This is what we are commanded: “meditate on it (the Word of God) day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.” Joshua 1:8 The Word not only guides your footsteps but also protects you against false teaching. So check whatever teaching you’re exposed to against God’s Word. This is what the Berean Jews did: “for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.” (Acts 17:11-12) Did you catch that? They didn’t just accept what Paul said. They checked it against the Scriptures to make sure it was true. That’s why you need to know the Word of God and bring your Bible with you to church. Because I’m not expecting you to just accept whatever I say. Instead, you should be checking if what I’m saying is true and in agreement with God’s Word.
Here’s three things that are common in false teachers. First, they use the Bible loosely - They’ll quote the Bible, but it’s rarely in context - because you can make the Bible say anything if it’s out of context. And second, they don’t like being questioned. False teachers don’t like it when you fact check. They want you to believe what they say and never question it. The reason we preach from the Bible is because my opinions don’t really matter. They aren’t going to change your life. Only the truth in God’s Word will change your life. And then third, they promote immoral living. They endorse and live out a lack of moral restraint, especially with respect to sexual conduct. Peter says that such teachers deny the Lord Jesus by following “sensuality”. And that leads us to the second warning.
Warning number two - harness Your Passion. Jude says he is a slave to Christ. A slave thinks, “What can I do to please my Master today?” A servant thinks what’s the minimum I must do to just get paid. Now that word ‘to’ is very important because there’s a difference between a slave to Christ and a slave of Christ. A slave of someone has been taken against their free will. But a slave to someone has intentionally chosen to put themselves under the teaching, leadership and direction of another. So Jude is saying that he has put himself under the direction and teachings of Jesus. Whatever the Master says, he does. His sole desire is to please the Master. And so Jude says his intention was to write a letter about the salvation that we share as together, but instead, the Holy Spirit led him to write message to “earnestly contend for the faith.”
What does that mean? Literally, it means to strive to the point of agony. The Message translation puts it this way: “fight with everything you have in you for this faith entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish.” That should be the passion of our life, not just to believe the faith but to fight with everything we have in us to live the faith, to do the will of God, to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit and to guide and protect it. Are you “earnestly contending” for the faith. Does that describe your life in Jesus and for Jesus? If we’re honest, many times we don’t earnestly contend or fight with everything we have. Instead, we casually attend. We just show up and go through the motions. We attend only if the weather is good, if we didn’t stay out too late the night before, if we feel like it and if it is convenient.
There is a second passion at play in that the false teachers Jude is facing are saying you can believe in Jesus Christ and go on living as you had been. Specifically, they were given the freedom to live as the Romans lived all around them. Rome is about the spectacle, entertainment and pleasure, the sensual and the sexual. If it feels good then do it! They had no notion of piety or holiness, or living a good life in honor of God. And so Jude says, don’t fall prey to the pleasures and passions of the world around you. Instead, harness those passions for God and His Kingdom. If you aren’t serious in your walk with God, not fighting with everything you have to live as Jesus and not earnestly contending, then you’re casually attending and you’ll get caught up in the culture and its ways and it will shipwreck you.
Warning #3 - Be Careful in your Associations because as the Proverbs writer says, “Iron sharpens iron.” The people we spend time with inevitably influence us, for good or for ill. That’s why it’s so important to have people in our lives who lovingly push us in the right direction and lead us to contend for the faith. Those who had crept into the church were leading people into all kinds of immorality so Jude says, be careful who you associate with. “Remember, dear friends, that the apostles of our Master, Jesus Christ, told us this would happen: ‘In the last days, there will be people who don’t take these things seriously anymore. They’ll treat them like a joke, and make a religion of their own whims and lusts.’” Be careful who you associate with because it won’t end well.
Warning #4 - Be Intentional in Your Growth. v. 20-25. Few good things in life happen by accident, especially spiritual growth. Instead, it’s only when we’re intentional that what we want to see happen happens. Jude gives us four keys for intentional spiritual growth. First, have a spiritual, growth plan where you not only have goals but strategies of how you get there. Verse 20 says, “Carefully build yourselves up” Paul puts it this way: “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” (1 Tim. 4:8-9) Have a plan and pursue it. Second, pray. “Praying in the Holy spirit,” in other words praying for the things of God as God guides you. Third is surround yourself by, live by and share the love of Christ in all you say and do. Fourth, live and prepare as if Jesus is coming back to tomorrow. When I was on my internship at Boston Avenue UMC in Tulsa, OK, I realized that one of the leading scholars in the world on the parables of Jesus taught at Philips Seminary in town. I got special permission from my seminary to audit one of his classes as we weren’t supposed to take any courses while on internship. I went to the seminary to sign up only to discover that Dr. Brandon Scott wasn’t teaching on the parables of Jesus but rather the Book of Romans. By mid November we weren’t even half way through the book and I was thinking I wasn’t going to get my monies worth. And then just before Thanksgiving, Dr. Scott made a statement which shocked all of us. “I don't think Jesus is going to return. It’s been 2000 years since he died. If he was going to return, he would have done that already by now.” And all of us in the classroom just remained silent. If we don’t believe that Jesus is coming back and we discount his promise and the establishing of the Kingdom of God here on earth when he returns, then Jude says we lose a major catalyst for growth and change in our lives.
This week is Thanksgiving. I’d made it a point in most of my conversations to ask the question, “So what are you doing for Thanksgiving?” I’ve heard the gamut of responses from “We’re going to the beach” to “We going to see family” to “We’re having people over to our house.” I then ask, “So how many people are you cooking for?” The numbers have ranged from 15 to 30 people. That’s a lot of people. Now, if you’re having family and friends over for Thanksgiving, what are the days leading up to Thanksgiving going to be about? Cooking, cleaning, straightening up and making sure your home is ready for your guests. Now if we’re willing to put all effort into preparing for our family and friends for Thanksgivjng, shouldn’t we be doing all the more in preparation for the return of Jesus? Amen and Amen.
