FALSE TEACHERS ARE HIDDEN REEFS IN YOUR LOVE FEASTS – Jude 1:12
INTRODUCTION
We have some people here who did not hear the first two messages given on Jude. Just very, very briefly, Jude’s father was Joseph the carpenter and his mother was Mary, known as the virgin Mary. We know the names of all four sons who were half brothers to the Lord Jesus. Mary had 5 sons and some daughters. James who wrote the letter near Hebrews is the full brother of Jude and the half brother of Jesus.
Look at verse 3. {{Jude 1 v 3 “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you, appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints.”}} Jude was sending a letter to his readers when it became necessary to change the whole tone and direction of his letter because he had to confront news of error that was coming into the churches. His most earnest appeal to his readers was to contend or fight for the faith that had been delivered to the saints. Those who want to contend for the faith do it on two fronts. They must strongly oppose error, and they must encourage and educate the believers to establish them, and make then wise to error.
Jude 1 v 12 These men are those who are hidden reefs in your love feasts, when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit doubly dead, uprooted; Jude 1 v 13 wild waves of the sea casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.
The NASB and the ESV translate “hidden reefs”; the NIV uses “blemishes”; the Holman uses “dangerous reefs”; the KJV uses “spots”.
Verses 12 and 13 go together with 7 descriptions of these evil teachers who act in the way of Cain, Balaam and Korah. They are murderous, self-willed; make merchandise of God’s things; and are rebellious. Jude does not hold back on the attack against these men because he knows we are in a battle, and the purity of the Church and God’s redeemed people are at stake.
All this goes back to verse 3 which I ask you to note carefully. It has been a while since we looked at verse 3. It was there that Jude was saying he wanted to write to the saints, the Christians, about the common salvation we all share in Christ, but while he was beginning that, the urgency of pure doctrine, and the danger of the false teachers weighed heavily on his mind. The necessity to write to Christians about this great threat was what compelled him to write his letter. He was constrained by the evil and damage these wolves represented. He urged all the believers to contend, or fight for the faith that has been delivered to us. Too many Christians are asleep; either they don’t care, or they are not interested in knowing what this precious faith is.
Jude explains that these false teachers, who are the tares promised by the Lord, and confirmed by Paul to the Ephesian elders, have crept into the churches; came in as creepers and thieves who sneaked in unnoticed and now are causing great damage.
Some time ago I noticed the fan in my Nissan X Trail was making a severe rattling noise and Graham suggested that it might be a leaf caught up in the air duct. When driving to a shopping centre some days later I was aware of an unpleasant smell all through the vehicle, and when I arrived at the parking area, I looked under the bonnet and discovered a big woolly collection sitting on top of the wheel strut near the motor. I had no idea what this was, but thought something had to be making it, or someone put it there. I threw it away and later that day called into Nissan, and there, I was told that the cause was probably a rat that had been building a nest. What had happened, was that this rat had crept into the vehicle and was doing its devious and destructive work unseen. It had been chewing off the linings and padding under the dashboard, going in and out with the material to build the nest. It got stuck in the air fan motor ducting and died, or was caught by the fan once it started and got chewed up. However, this creeper had done its damage. The bill to repair that was $900. These false teachers who make a mockery of the gospel, are just like that rat which crept in unnoticed to do the damage.
They were ungodly individuals heading for condemnation, licentious persons who serve themselves, not Christ. I can just see Jude all upset about the state of things, and as he writes, he tries to find descriptions for these false, dangerous teachers. He recalls the evil done in the biblical record, and comes up with a lot of comparisons making reference to faithless men, workers of gross immorality as like in Sodom, ones who defile the flesh and revile angelic majesties; people who are unreasoning and work according to their natural instincts. They have gone the murderous way of Cain, followed the greedy, pernicious error of Balaam and act in rebellion to God as did Korah.
THE DESCRIPTION – HIDDEN REEFS
Thus, verse 12 begins with “These men are those”, and all the false teachers netted in the previous 11 verses, are the ones now laid out on display by Jude, as the Holy Spirit prompts him to find descriptions for their character and behaviour. Now he reaches out to enlarge the descriptions and He gives 7 of them which are all interesting to look at. We do just the first one today.
[1]. THEY ARE HIDDEN REEFS IN YOUR LOVE FEASTS.
First of all we must understand what the love feasts were. The only certain biblical reference to the love feast is here in Jude 12, where the plural form of the word "love" with the definite article (hai agapai) probably denotes a communal celebration in the church. It was a fellowship meal eaten by Christians in the early church. Christians gathered not just for the sake of sustenance and socialising, but for the sake of fellowship.
The church is like an octopus. I am sure, if you think about it, you can find 8 functions of the church to match the 8 arms of the octopus, but I am positive one of them is “fellowship”.
DEVELOPMENT AND MENTIONS OF THE AGAPE LOVE FEASTS
Now let us trace the development of this Agape feast. Each Sunday here, we remember the death of the Lord Jesus Christ for us in the bread and the wine (cup, if you like, as most places do not use wine these days, but grape juice), but when we go back to the time the Lord instituted this remembrance, we find this – {{Matthew 26:17 “Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus saying, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?” Matt 26:18 and He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is at hand. I am to keep the Passover at your house with My disciples,”’ . . . . Matt 26:26 While they were eating, Jesus took some bread and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat. This is My body,” Matt 26:27 and when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them saying, “Drink from it, all of you, Matt 26:28 for this is My blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.” What we see from this is that the bread and the cup as we know it, came out of the greater Passover Feast. They ate this Passover meal together.
The next significant mention of this practice of meeting together, comes in Acts – {{Acts 2 v 44 “All those who had believed were together, and had all things in common, Acts 2:45 and they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need, Acts 2:46 and day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, Acts 2:47 praising God, and having favour with all the people, and the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”}} This is the early church in action, and we must note the expression used of all the believers – “All those who had believed were together, and had all things in common.” In verse 46 they were eating from house to house, having their meals together. Can you catch the fullness of joy in these early disciples as they came together as one, sharing their lives and their possessions and fellowship, which included the Lord’s Supper as we call it. It is believed that in these early days, the Christians remembered the Lord more than once a week and did that during their communal meal times. What can be said, is that the event was to be a visible expression of love and unity.
Let us pass on for a few years and come to Corinthians. There we read this – {{1Corinthians 11 v 17 “In giving this instruction, I do not praise you because you come together not for the better but for the worse. 1Cor 11:18 In the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you and in part, I believe it, 1Cor 11:19 for there must also be factions among you in order that those who are approved may have become evident among you. 1Cor 11:20 Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, 1Cor 11:21 for in your eating each one takes his own supper first, and one is hungry and another is drunk. 1Cor 11:22 What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink or do you despise the church of God, and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you, 1Cor 11:23 for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread, 1Cor 11:24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, “This is My body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” 1Cor 11:25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me,” 1Cor 11:26 for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. 1Cor 11:27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord, 1Cor 11:28 but let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup, 1Cor 11:29 for he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 1Cor 11:30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep, 1Cor 11:31 but if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged. 1Cor 11:32 When we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the world, 1Cor 11:33 so then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 1Cor 11:34 If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you may not come together for judgment and the remaining matters I shall arrange when I come.}}
This sad state of affairs was a disgrace to the Corinthians who had degenerated from what the love feast was all about, and abused the practice. Instead of having all things in common, we read in verse 18 there were divisions. In verses 21 and 22, one was gluttonous and another missed out. Some had plenty, and the poor had nothing. What a mockery of having all things in common. Paul had to remind these Corinthians how the Lord’s Supper came into being in the first place.
Two Church Fathers, Hippolytus of Rome and Tertullian both wrote about communal meals, though Hippolytus does not use the term agape but calls the meals simply “love feasts.” Chrysostom, another Church Father, says that after the early community of goods had ceased, the richer members brought to the church contributions of food and drink, of which, after the conclusion of the services and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, all partook together, by this means helping to promote the principle of love among Christians. In the Didache (ca. A.D. 80-100) there is no sign as yet of any separation of a meal and the Lord’s Supper, and Ignatius (ca. A.D. 110), confirms that the Lord’s Supper and the agape are still found in combination in his letter to the Smyrneans. Clement of Alexandria (ca. 200) also writes the agape and Eucharist are joined.
The church order of Hippolytus (Apostolic Tradition26.5), which is much later than the New Testament, gives the fullest description of what had come to be called the agape. It consisted of a meal that was taken by believers at someone's house or in the church and was presided over by a church officer. All the material suggests that it was at, or near the end of the meal the remembrance of the Lord was held.
In time, even though the agape and communion started to go their separate ways, the church continued to practise both of them until some time after the time of Constantine. Perhaps the love feast would have continued on down to our times if the original apostolic pattern (holding the love feast and the Eucharist together) had not been broken. The love feast and the Lord’s Supper separated, mainly due to a prohibition against it by the Council of Laodicea chaired by Constantine, and in time the love feast disappeared. Today, love feasts are still observed by the Moravians, Church of the Brethren, Old German Baptists, Dunkard Brethren, and some other denominations.
A DEEPER LOOK AT HIDDEN REEFS
What we have just considered, is a feast the Christians were united in, where they shared the common joy and salvation in the Lord. They were absolutely beautiful events, so any blot or ugliness in the feasts was a great travesty. To describe this travesty, Jude used the term “hidden reefs” (some have translated “sunken rocks”).
Australians used to know the history of Captain James Cook when he discovered the unknown southern land he called New South Wales in 1770, because it was taught in schools. When he was sailing north he got roughly to the area of Cape Tribulation when suddenly his ship, the Endeavour, crunched into a hidden reef and was badly holed in the wooden bow. This is Cook’s journal - "Before 10 o’Clock we had 20 and 21 fathom and continued in that depth until a few Minutes before 11 when we had 17, and before the Man on the lead could heave another cast, the Ship Struck and stuck fast."
Fortunately for the Endeavour, some coral was stuck in the hole and a sailor managed to plug the hole – look that up!! That is why he named the landmarks in the area, Cape Tribulation, Mt Sorrow, Mt Disappointment, as he struggled to the Endeavour River at present Cooktown to repair the ship. Well that hidden reef, today known as Endeavour Reef, caused destruction and hardship to Cook and his crew. That is exactly what these evil agents of the devil were doing as they began to destroy and corrupt the love feasts in the early church. These are the same men who corrupt correct teaching today, and destroy churches and unsettle the saints with great errors like the prosperity doctrine and other false behaviour. They are the hidden reefs upon which many a church has floundered and sunk in the watery depths.
The waters of the world are littered with the wrecks of men caused by hidden reefs, just as many churches now lie beneath the waters having been snared on the hidden reefs of false teachers and false teaching and the adoption of strange doctrines. Christ's local churches won’t survive if they adopt the unbiblical behaviour of these men, men of Cain and men of Balaam, and men of Korah.
You know, when there are dangerous reefs and shoals, men build lighthouses to give warning of the threat. If a sailor or captain ignores the warning of the lighthouse, then he puts his whole crew at peril, and acts in a rebellious and self-willed way, just like Korah and Cain. Christ is our Lighthouse and the Holy Spirit is the light who directs our path through hidden reefs, but more than that. He has given us the whole detailed map of the Christian faith and doctrine, because He is the Author of the bible so we are fully equipped to recognise false teaching, and to fight against it using the sword of the Spirit, the word of God.
Yes, there are thousands of hidden reefs and I will name a few for you – The Non-Deity of Christ Reef; The Prosperity Reef; The Healing Atonement Reef; The All will be Saved Reef; The Hell-less Reef; The Good Works Reef, and thousands of others. Again, I say to all, the only way we can avoid hidden reefs in our personal lives is to be engrossed in the word of God. You can not neglect the bible without becoming shipwrecked on a hidden reef in your personal life. When it comes to our corporate life as a church of the living God, namely, this [Your own church] here, it is vital, yea, ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL that we are aware of the hidden reefs in the world and keep our foundation built on the bible, 100% on God’s word. We must not add to it or subtract from it.
We must be like the Bereans who examined daily what they were being told. Don’t accept what preachers or teachers say here, or elsewhere, without having the word of God affirm it. Examine what you are told in the light of the word. I appeal to us all, please plant your faith in the bible, and feast on, and in the bible. Make it your sole standard for faith and doctrine, and your way of life. Know the written word of God and the eternal Word of God. It is your chart and the map to alert you of hidden reefs. True Christians are not hidden reefs. They are lighthouses. False teachers are the hidden reefs!
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
