ENGAGE
An Indiana science teacher promised his class during an active shooter drill that he would sacrifice himself before he would let anything happen to them. On Friday, May 25, 2018, Jason Seaman proved that he meant what he said. That morning he just happened to have a basketball in his hands when a student left class and then returned with two handguns blazing. He hurled the basketball at the shooter and then ran right at him and tackled him to the ground, even after being shot several times. That day Jason Seaman demonstrated by his actions that he was passionate enough about his students to fight for them.
I know that we have a lot of people right here at Thornydale Family Church who are willing to fight for some things that you are passionate about. For some of us those passions really don’t have a lot of eternal value – things like our passion for our favorite sports team or maybe our favorite singer or band, or even our favorite food. But in many cases we would still go to great lengths to pursue those passions.
Then there are some other passions that are much more significant. For Ryan and Natalie Fregoso, and especially for Natalie, their passion for their daughter Gabrielle has led them to fight for her by becoming deeply involved in the PMG Awareness organization. In fact, just last week they were in Denver for the PMGA Convention. As the Vice President and treasurer of that organization, Natalie poured a lot of effort into the planning of that convention as well.
TENSION
So I want you to think for a moment this morning about the people and things in your life that you are passionate enough about that you would be willing to fight for. And while you’re doing that I want you to think about this question:
Are you passionate enough about your faith to fight for it? And if you are, how would you go about actually doing that? Those are a couple questions that we’ll be grappling with this morning.
TRUTH
Today, our sermon series titled “Little Books with a Big Message” takes us to the New Testament where we’ll be studying the book of Jude. It is the next to last book in the Old Testament, right before the book of Revelation, so even though it probably only takes up one page in your Bible, it should be pretty easy to find.
In Greek, the book is titled “Ioudas”, a name that is translated either “Judas” or “Judah” everywhere else it is found in the New Testament. Because the author is certainly not the Judas we are most familiar with – the one of the twelve apostles that betrayed Jesus – I suppose it’s not all that surprising that every major English translation of the Bible calls this book by the shortened form of that name – Jude – in order to avoid any connection to that Judas. So this morning, just to avoid any confusion, I’ll call the author Jude.
Although we can’t be 100% certain, there is good evidence that the author of this letter is Judas, the half-brother of Jesus and brother of James, one of Jesus’ other siblings. (Matthew 13:55). Like his other siblings, Judas certainly had his doubts about Jesus prior to the resurrection - with good reason. If you lived with a brother who was perfect and never did anything wrong, you’d probably grow to resent Him, too. Just think about it, every time that you tried to claim, “It’s Jesus’ fault, He started it”, your parents would just dismiss that claim right away. But after the resurrection, Judas, just like his brother James, became a disciple of Jesus and an important leader in the early church.
Before I read our passage, let me just share a word of caution. We’re going to run into a few verses that are going to seem pretty strange because they refer to events that we just don’t have any record of anywhere else in the Bible. We’ll probably spend some time discussing them during the Bible Roundtable at 11:00, but I don’t have nearly enough time to get into them in any kind of detail this morning, without distracting us from the main idea of this letter. So when we get to the verses that deal with Michael and Moses’ bones or the prophesy of Enoch, please don’t get distracted. With that caveat in mind, go ahead and follow along as I begin reading.
[Read Jude 1-2]
If, in fact, the author is the half-brother of Jesus, it is interesting here that He does not boast in that fact. Instead he calls Himself a servant of Jesus Christ.
The other important thing to note in these opening verses is that he is clearly addressing this letter to fellow disciples of Jesus.
[Read Jude 3]
Here Jude reveals the purpose of his letter. Although he sat down with the intention of encouraging his brothers and sisters in Christ about the faith they had in common, he was compelled instead to address a more pressing matter and to encourage the people to contend for the faith that had been delivered to them.
This is probably a good time to introduce our main idea for this morning, which I have phrased like this:
My faith is worth fighting for, not fighting about
Although that distinction is not going to be fully apparent until we get further into the passage, Jude certainly hints at that idea here when he appeals for his readers to “contend for the faith”.
As I’ve said before, I think it is troubling that in today’s culture, the church is primarily known for what we’re against rather than what we’re for. And unfortunately, that reputation has often been well deserved because far too often we fight about our faith rather than for it.
Jude is now going to describe the problems that have prompted him to write his letter.
[Read Jude 4-11]
The problem is that there are some who have crept into the church unnoticed who are perverting the grace of God and using it as an excuse to pursue their own fleshly desires. Jude, then uses a number of Old Testament examples to help his readers understand the kind of people he is writing about.
He then continues his letter by describing the kind of damage they these people are doing to the church.
[Read Jude 12-13]
When Mary and I go to Hawaii we really enjoy snorkeling. But there have been a couple of time where we got out into the water and ended up right on top of some very shallow reefs. Most of the time that wasn’t a problem, but if the seas began to get choppy, then the waves would push us up against the sharp coral and that coral would cut us up.
That is a great picture of what happens when the church gets infiltrated with people who consider the church to be a playground rather than a battleground. These are the people who think that it’s possible to be a Christian and still live just like the rest of the world. Although that might seem kind of harmless, eventually those hidden reefs can do a tremendous amount of damage.
Jude also uses a few more very colorful pictures to describe what these people are like and the damage that they do.
Then, at the end of verse 13, he hints at the judgment that these people are going to face one day. He continues with that idea in verse 14.
[Read Jude 14-16]
Jude confirms the idea that Jesus is going to return one day. And when He returns, He will be coming as Judge, not as Savior. And when that happens, these ungodly people are going to face the judgment that they deserve for their ungodly deeds.
As Jude continues, he reminds his readers that they shouldn’t be surprised that this is going on, since the apostles had warned of it previously.
[Read Jude 17-19]
We now come to the part of Jude’s letter that I want us to focus on this morning because it is where Jude gives some very practical instructions about how to fight for our faith.
[Read Jude 20-25]
Although we primarily think of the Secret Service as the agency responsible for protecting our President and other government leaders, its initial responsibility was to investigate the counterfeiting of U.S. currency, which is still one of its main missions today.
When training agents to spot counterfeit money, the Secret Service does not spend much time at all exposing the agents to counterfeit money. Instead, they focus on familiarizing the agents with genuine currency. Because there are so many different ways to counterfeit money, the best way to spot those fakes is to be intimately familiar with the real thing.
And here that is essentially what Jude is encouraging his readers to do. After spending so much time identifying the ungodly people who had infiltrated the church, I think most of us would expect Jude to then give some instructions about how to rid the church of these people. While there are other places in the New Testament, particularly in some of Paul’s letters, where we find that is an appropriate response in some cases, that is not the approach Jude takes here. Instead, he focuses on the idea that we began with earlier:
My faith is worth fighting for, not fighting about
APPLICATION
Jude begins his letter with a command to contend for our faith. But one of the things I love about his letter is that he doesn’t leave us to wonder about how to do that. In verses 20-23, he gives us 4 very practical commands, along with some ideas about how to put those commands into practice. And as I was working through that section of Jude’s letter this week, I kept thinking about how much those commands line up with our Discipleship Path. So I’m going to use that Discipleship Path as a starting point to discuss how Jude’s letter instructs us about…
HOW TO FIGHT FOR MY FAITH
THORNYDALE FAMILY CHURCH
DISCIPLESHIP PATH
Although Jude is going to primarily focus on two of the five steps and we’ll spend most of our time there, I’m going to briefly talk about the other three steps because there may be some of you here this morning who need to take one of those “next steps”.
1. COME
Jude never really had to come to Jesus, since he grew up with Him. But we know that at some point as he and his family were exposed to the teaching and ministry of Jesus, they all began to have their doubts. And it may very well be that there are some of you here this morning who are in that same boat. Maybe you’re here today because someone invited you or maybe you’ve been attending here for a long time but you’ve never taken the next step that I’m going to talk about because you still have some doubts.
I want to assure you that if that is the case, this is a safe place for doubters. In a few minutes I’m going to talk more about the instructions that Jude gave regarding how we are to deal with doubters, but I can assure you that here at Thornydale Family Church we will never ridicule you or embarrass you because of your questions or doubts. So not only are questions acceptable, we encourage you to voice your doubts and we’re here to help you get answers to your questions.
2. COMMIT
At some time after the resurrection, Jude, along with his brother James, not only made the commitment to put their faith and trust in Jesus alone, they became committed to being leaders in the early church and were active in helping others make that same commitment in their lives.
While the letter we are studying this morning is addressed to those who have committed their lives to Jesus Christ, I would be remiss is I just skipped over this important step. Here at Thornydale Family Church we encourage everyone to make two important commitments:
• First, and by far the most important, is to make a personal commitment to Jesus. While I don’t have time to explain all that encompasses in detail, it does mean acknowledging you have sinned by rebelling against God, asking God to forgive your sins because Jesus paid the penalty for them in full on the cross and yielding control of your life to Jesus. If you’ve never done that, or even if you’re not sure if you’ve ever done that, or you have some questions about all that it entails, I’ll be available to talk with you some more about that at the end of our gathering today.
• Second, we believe that it is important for everyone to make a commitment to a local church by becoming a member. Not only do we believe that is Biblical, we believe that it is of benefit both to you in your personal spiritual growth and to us as a church. We’ve kept the requirements for membership as simple as possible, so again, if you’ve never made that commitment, we encourage you to do that today as well.
3. GROW
This is the area where Jude gives us the most guidance in his letter because growing in our relationship with Jesus is the most important and significant way that we fight for our faith. It is significant here that before Jude gives instructions about how to deal with those outside the church and the ungodly people who have infiltrated the church, he first deals with how we can grow in our own faith. I believe that is because he understood that the very best way to deal with those whose faith is counterfeit in some way is to know the real thing.
Jude gives one command in verses 20-21 that is then augmented with 3 participles that describe further how to obey that command. We’ll begin with the command, which is found in the middle of the sentence:
• Keep in the love of God
As Jude points out in verse 1, we are beloved by God even though we have done absolutely nothing to deserve that love. But as it seems we’ve pointed out consistently over the past several weeks, we do have a responsibility to work out what God is working into our lives. He provides us with three practical ways to do that.
o By building myself up in my faith
You can’t really fight for your faith unless you know what you’re fighting for. While there is no formula that will guarantee that I am going to be built up in my faith, there are a few basic building blocks that we talk about regularly because they are essential to growing in our relationship with Jesus:
? We need to be reading the Bible on a consistent, systematic basis.
? We need to study the Bible, both on our own and with others
? We need to gather together with other believers on a regular basis so that we can encourage each other and help each other to grow. It’s important to note that all the commands here in Jude are in a plural form, which means he is addressing them to the body as a whole
? We should be investing our time, talents and treasure in the kingdom of God regularly and generously.
o By praying in the Holy Spirit
Jude is not writing here about speaking in tongues or some other mysterious practice. I really like how pastor John Piper explains what Jude means here. He says that praying in the Spirit means “to pray that the Holy Spirit is the moving and guiding power”.
That means that it is the Holy Spirit who moves us to pray – He motivates us and energizes our prayers. And He also guides us how to pray and what to pray. It is simply praying by His power and according to His direction.
o By waiting for the mercy of Jesus
If you go to your doctor, you will spend some time in a “waiting room”. Depending on your doctor that time might be very short or it might be quite a while. But for the most part, that time is spent doing something passive like reading a year-old magazine or watching a game show on the TV.
But the kind of waiting that Jude is writing about in verse 21 is far from passive. In fact, when Paul wrote his first letter to the church in Thessalonica to address the question of how they should be living as they await the return of Jesus, he wrote these words. Would you read them out loud with me?
And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
(1 Thessalonians 5:14–18 ESV)
That doesn’t sound very passive to me. In fact, it leads right into the next step on our discipleship path.
I know that many of you have taken some important steps in all three of these areas over this last year in order to grow in your relationship with Jesus. From what I can see, we have more people than ever spending time in God’s Word on a consistent basis, we have more people praying on a regular basis and going deeper in their prayer life and we have more people serving right here at TFC as you await the return of Jesus. But I also know that there are probably some of you here today that need to take another “next step” in one or more of those areas.
If you need some help either determining what your next step should be or in actually going deeper in one or more of these areas, we are here to help. But you need to let us know that you’d like some help.
4. SERVE
While Jude doesn’t really address this step explicitly in his letter, the very fact that he wrote this letter indicates that he was actively involved in serving the body of Christ. And as we just saw in the passage we read from 1 Thessalonians, we are to consistently serve as we await the return of Jesus.
5. SHARE
This is the other area where Jude goes into some detail. He gives three commands here, each of which addresses how we are to share our faith with three distinct groups of people who are present in our culture:
• To the doubters – have mercy
In our fight for our faith we are called to use some surprising weapons. After Jude spends most of his letter identifying and calling out the ungodly people that have infiltrated the body, the first weapon he instructs his fellow believers to use is mercy.
Jude seems to be writing here about those in the church who have been influenced by the ungodly people within the body, but who haven’t yet left the faith or descended into the kind or moral debauchery that is present in the lives of those false teachers.
Jude says that those people don’t need a harsh smack down. What they need is mercy – the same kind of mercy that God has extended to us. As I said earlier, we want our church to be a safe place for people with doubts – both those who are seeking and are not yet disciples as well as those who are. So when we come in contact with someone like this we need to gently guide them to God’s Word, pray with them and for them, and encourage them, not judge them.
• To the “dabblers” – rescue them
These are those who have fallen prey to the false teaching and who are in danger of rejecting Jesus and slipping right into the fires of hell. So radical action is needed. These are people that only the gospel can rescue so when God puts us in a position to share the gospel with them, there is no time for delay. We need to be willing to be bold and risk rejection because if we don’t act, the potential harm may be eternal.
• To the deceived – have mercy, but be careful
The final group are those who have already given themselves over to false doctrine and moral perversion. Once again, we are to treat them with mercy, but there is a caveat here. We are also to approach these people with fear because there is a danger than we could be contaminated by their depravity and be sucked right into it with them. I think that is the point Jude is trying to make when he writes about “hating the garment stained by the flesh”. As we minister to others, we need to guard ourselves.
INSPIRATION
We have seen this morning that…
My faith is worth fighting for, not fighting about
And we have also briefly talked about some practical steps that we can take in order to actually fight for our faith.
So let me ask you again the two questions I posed earlier:
Are you passionate enough about your faith to fight for it?
I want you to think honestly about that question for a moment. Would you be willing to do for your faith what Jason Seamon did for his students and do whatever is required to fight for, not about, your faith?
If you can honestly answer that question “yes”, then let me ask you a second question:
ACTION
How would you go about actually doing that?
This morning we spent some time reviewing our discipleship path in light of what we learned from Jude. And in that process we identified a number of possible “next steps” that would help you to be able to better fight for your faith. And I’m convinced that every one of us here this morning can take one of those “next steps” to help us grow in our faith. So I’m going to ask you to do two things.
First would you identify your “next step”? One of the things you’ll note about our discipleship path is that it is a circle because this is a process and not a destination. So it might very well be that your next step is something that you’ve done before that you need to do again in a different manner or at a higher level. For instance, maybe you have committed your life to Jesus, but you haven’t made a further commitment to baptism or church membership, which might be your appropriate next step. Once you’ve identified that “next step”, will you write it down in the space I’ve provided in your sermon outline.
My “next step”:
And then once you’ve done that, I’m going to ask you to tell someone else about that next step, preferably someone who can hold you accountable and pray for you and even help you take that step. I know all the Elders would consider it a great privilege it you would share that with one of us. We’d love to pray for you and to provide whatever help and resources that might help you. But if you’re reluctant to do that find tell your spouse or a friend.
The person I will share my “next step” with:
My faith is worth fighting for, not fighting about
What steps will you take today to make that possible in your life?
Discussion questions for Bible Roundtable
1. Jude quotes from and/or alludes to several extra-biblical sources in his letter. Why do you think he might have done that? How should we handle those portions of the text?
2. Why do you think Jude used so many Old Testament references to make his point? Let’s spend some time thinking about what we can learn from each of these examples:
• Michael contending with the devil over Moses’ bones
• The way of Cain
• Balaam’s error
• Korah’s rebellion
3. Why is it often harder to fight for our faith rather than about our faith?
4. How does Jude help us to understand that there is no “one size fits all” approach to sharing the gospel with others?
