Tag: Jude

Trip Down Memory Lane Part 2 (Jude 11-13)

On By joshnnomiIn Insights from JudeLeave a comment

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Jude continues his trip down memory lane with verses 11-13. Jude is continuing to “contend for the faith” against the false teachers that “have crept in” the body of believers and leading some astray. We can rest assured that the people Jude is writing to know Jewish history and can draw the logical conclusions in Jude’s comparisons. The reason we can assume this, as we seen in part 1, Jude refers to these events and people without giving any background information. Jude assumes or expects his readers to know the stories and the background as well as all the undertones that go with the stories. Let’s jump right into it.

The Way of Cain

When we think of Cain we immediately think about him murdering Abel out of jealousy. But is that the way of Cain that Jude is referring to here? I believe Jude not only wants us to think about what Cain did to Abel, but he also wants us to see how Cain came to God. If you read the narrative again in Genesis 4 we see that Abel brought an animal sacrifice and Cain brought an offering to the fruit of the ground. So what was the deal? Why was Cain’s offering rejected? Abel came to God in “the way” that was prescribed by God, animal sacrifice. Cain came to God in his own way. Many believe that animal sacrifice was instituted in the Garden when God clothed Adam and Eve. Cain and Abel’s parents passed this on to them, and from the beginning we have man attempting and inventing his own ways to get to God.

The way of Cain is manmade religion, man inventing their “own way” to God and denying the “only way”, grace through faith in Jesus. These false teachers were prescribing their own way to God, and in so doing rejecting the only way to God, Jesus. In proclaiming their false gospel they were in effect spiritually murdering their brother by leading them down a false way. Throughout the Old Testament we read many time “obedience is better than sacrifice.” We must in obedience to God, come to Him in the way He has prescribed. There is only one open door to the Father and it is through Jesus.

Greedy Balaam

Jude pronounces that “these people” are not only like Cain, devising their own ways to God but they are like Balaam. Balaam is another infamous apostate in Jewish history. Balak, The king of Moab, wanted to hire Balaam to curse the Israelites, but the Lord had different plans, even using a talking donkey to get Balaam’s attention. Through the Lord’s intervention Balaam had no choice but to speak the word of the Lord to Balak and bless the Israelites. So instead of speaking curses against the Israelites, Balaam and Balak devise a plan to get the Israelites to intermarry with the Moabites and follow after false idols. In the book of Revelation we read this about Balaam;

But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. (Rev. 2:14)

You can find Balaam’s account in Numbers 22-25.
Balaam was a greedy prophet for hire influencing others in the wrong way and Jude is pronouncing these false teachers are just like him. The false gospel they are propagating and teaching others to follow was for their own profit or gain. False teachers were and still are selfish by nature, they will promote teaching that elevates man’s wants and needs over the Glory of God.

Rebellious Korah

From walking in the way of Cain, to influencing others in the wrong path for selfish gain like Balaam, we move to an all-out rebellion against the truth and its leaders. Korah lead a rebellion against Moses and Aaron, and it was not just a few people, he led thousands in rebellion, a movement against God and His plan that he put in place through Moses. Korah’s cry “All the people are holy”. Korah was saying we don’t need you Moses or Aaron, forget all this, we don’t need leaders, we are all leaders. Korah in his rebellion led thousands to their death because God in His judgment caused the ground to open up and swallow them all (Numbers 16). God takes false teaching serious and will bring them all into judgment.

The Way, The Truth and The Life

Notice the progression Jude uses when speaking of the false teachers of his day. They walk, involving only themselves, then it moves to abandoning themselves in error for gain, and finally it leads to all out rebellion and ultimately perishing in God’s judgment. False teachers will attack the true way, will pervert the truth and ultimately perish in God’s judgment. On this Good Friday we must remember Jesus claim “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). It is solely through Jesus life, death and resurrection that we have any hope at all. All those who walk in the way of Christ, believe in the truth of Christ, live in dependence in the life of Christ are required to stand up to the false teachings that pervert the truth.
Until Next Week
Rejoice in your Salvation as we Celebrate all that Christ has done for us this weekend.

Don’t Just Sit There, Do Something!

On By joshnnomiIn Uncategorized3 Comments

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Have you ever been involved in one if those peculiar situations? You know the one I am talking about, where one person or group is the victim of a wrongdoing but everyone just sits and watches. You know what is happening is wrong but for some reason you just sit and watch and don’t get involved. Your conscious may be screaming “don’t just sit there, do something!”

The situation that is happening to the group of believers that Jude is writing to is that some “people have crept in unnoticed.” These people slithered their way into the Church, maybe into positions of leadership, teachers or deacons. Jude is interesting here, because he tells us very little on what these false teachers are teaching. He doesn’t give us a point for point rebuttal of their errors. What the rest of the book of Jude informs us about is the character behind the false teachers. Jude is teaching believers how to recognize false teachers. You know what astounds me? Much hasn’t changed, but I am getting ahead of my self.
What are these false teachers teaching?

These people are referred to by Jude as “ungodly” and these people “pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” This is the only description Jude gives us of what they are teaching, which seems to be some sort of libertine theology “go ahead and sin God’s grace will cover it.” In doing so they deny the Lordship of Christ because they are not submissive to His Word and the commands of The Lord Jesus Christ. Other than this brief description Jude moves on to focus on their character. But what we are going to focus on today is Jude’s forceful echo all the way from the first century, “don’t just sit there, do something!”

A First Priority Issue

When Jude sat down to write his letter, he tells us his intentions were to write about our “common salvation.” Now we can all agree that salvation is of vital importance. The salvation of a person is a matter of heaven and hell, it is a first priority issue. Yet, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Jude “found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith,” The words Jude uses here are critical to understanding his urgency. Jude’s use of necessary and appealing are important. Jude is saying, “I wanted to write to you about our salvation, but I am compelled to say this first so I am begging you to listen to me please,” If salvation is a first priority issue, Jude makes it very clear, contending for the faith that saves us is also a first priority issue. But what exactly is Jude asking of us? What is this verse implying?

Contend for the Faith

The word contend that Jude uses is an athletic term. In a couple of days our nation will be enveloped by a little event called the Super Bowl where the Seahawks and the Broncos will play a football game to find out who will be this years champions. In this game they will each do everything possible, within the rules, to keep each other from scoring points and score more points than the other. They will contend for the right to be champion of the NFL. This is the term Jude uses, he uses “fighting words.” Jude is telling us, when necessary; fight, defend and contend for the faith against these false teachers.

Secondly, Jude isn’t asking us to fight for the sake of fighting. Jude tells us to contend for “the faith.” Jude has a specific set of beliefs, a creed, in mind here. Maybe something like 1 Corinthians 15:3-4,

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

Jude wasn’t the only New Testament writer to use “the faith” to refer to objective truth, which is the gospel. When Paul was telling his story to the Galatians he says,

They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” (Gal. 1:23)

Jude is imploring us to fight for the Gospel, for truth. Now the assumption Jude is making here is that his audience actually knows “the faith.” We are Jude’s audience now, do we know the Christian faith? Do you know the “what” of the Gospel? Do you know why you believe the Gospel? Can you defend it against false teachers in and outside the church? Jude’s assumption is yes.

Finally, Jude tells us that “the faith” “was once for all delivered to the saints.” Why is this important? The false teachers that were slithering into the church were claiming to have “new revelation.” They were coming claiming an authority that did not belong to them. Jude told this group of believers “the faith” is a done deal already delivered, so if any one tries to add to the Gospel, defend it and drop them like a bad habit.

My friends, take Jude’s exhortation seriously and know what you believe and why you believe it. Also be ready to stand up and defend it. When false teachers come to your church, your home or into your world “don’t just sit there, do something!”

Just who is Jude?

On By joshnnomiIn Insights from Jude1 Comment

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Do you remember the TV show Lost? I was a huge fan of the show. There were certain episodes that would start at the end of the story and work their way to the beginning. I feel I kind of did that here with Jude’s introduction. I started in the middle with Beloved, Called and Kept. Then moved on to Jude’s prayer of blessing for mercy, peace and love. Now let’s try and discover just who the author of Jude is.

Jude is short for Judas or Judah, which was a common name in that era. So it shouldn’t surprise us that there is more than one Judas mentioned in scripture. There is the infamous Judas Iscariot, the apostle that betrayed Jesus (Matt. 10:4). We know he didn’t write Jude because he committed suicide soon after his betrayal of Jesus (Matt. 27). There was another Apostle named Thaddeus (Matt. 10:4; Mk. 3:19), who also went by the name of Judas (Lk. 6:16; Jn. 14:22). We know that it wasn’t this Apostle Judas who wrote Jude because the writer of Jude seems to make a distinction between himself and the apostles (Jude 17). After the Apostle Paul’s conversion, Ananias was told to go to Paul, at that time called Saul, he was at the house of a man named Judas (Acts 9). There was also a Judas, called Barsabas, that was sent with Paul, Barnabas and Silas to inform the Gentile believers of the decision from the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:22). I don’t believe either one of these Judas’ were the writers of Jude, mainly because we are never told that they have a brother named James.

The only other Judas it could be is Judas the brother of Jesus. The Gospels provide us a list of Jesus’ brothers, among them is Judas (Matt. 13:55; Mk. 6:3). The writer of Jude doesn’t identify himself as the brother of Jesus, but he does identify himself as the brother of James (Jude 1), who was also a brother of Jesus. James was very well known as the leader of the Jerusalem church and was referred to as a pillar by the Apostle Paul (Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18; Gal. 1:19; 2:9). So when Jude refers to himself as the brother of James his audience knows exactly who is writing to them, Jude the brother of Jesus.

The Bible doesn’t give us much information about Jesus’ brothers and sisters. But we do know that he had at least four younger brothers and at least two sisters. So Jesus was part of a large family. There are a couple of places in scripture that we can glean some insights concerning Jude.

Jude the Rejector

We know from the Gospels that Jesus’ brothers did not follow him. Honestly they flat out thought he was crazy (Mk. 3:21). Jesus began healing people, telling them He was God and started to develop a following. He even began to call specific disciples to walk with him. When his family saw all of this, it made them nervous, and quite honestly can you blame them? This is Jesus, the brother that grew up with them. I mean we might have thought the same thing. So what do his mother and brothers do? Yes, you guessed it, they plan an intervention. They go find Jesus and he is amongst a large crowd, people began to tell Jesus that his mom and brothers are here. Jesus answers and says, “whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother (Mk. 3:35). We know that his brothers left that day as unbelievers, they rejected Jesus’ message and claims.

We have another recorded instance of Jesus interacting with his brothers (Jn. 7). At this time in Jesus ministry the crowds began to defect and the religious leaders wanted to kill him. Jesus goes to Galilee refraining from going to Judea because it is not his time yet. While in Galilee he runs into his brothers and they have an interesting conversation.

Now if you have brothers this conversation most likely makes sense to you. His brothers basically tell him, “hey Jesus, why are you hiding out here? If you are who you say you are go to Judea and put your works on display. Show the world who you are.” His brothers are not being supporters here, they are being sarcastic, and may I add that they know fully what would happen to Jesus if he went to Judea. They knew that the religious leaders wanted to kill him, everyone did, it was the talk of the town. Yet at this time Jesus’ brothers are not showing support but sarcastically ridiculing Jesus, their half brother, the Son of God. Jude rejected Jesus’ claims before the cross.

From Rejector to Contender

So what happened? How does Jude go from someone who rejected and ridiculed Jesus to writing one of the books in the New Testament? My friends, the Resurrection of Jesus changes everything!

We know from the Gospels that Mary, the mother of Jesus,watched her son experience a grueling death, death on a cross. The Gospels don’t tell us his brothers were around, but we can know for sure that they knew what was going on, everybody in the region did. We can be sure that Mary would have told her sons what she has seen and experienced. I am not sure what is going through their minds at this time- maybe guilt, sadness or relief that the spotlight is off of their family.

The Apostle Paul gives us one line that is the epitome of grace, “Then he appeared to James” (1 Cor. 15:7). I wonder how that went down, did Jesus show up and give James and his brothers the ultimate, “I told you so.” I doubt it, but Jesus does show himself to James, and we can safely assume that his other brothers and sisters, including Jude, were there. The resurrection of Jesus changed everything.

Now, this must be said, Being the brother of Jesus, Jude and his other brothers and sisters would have known Jesus. They grew up with him. I have brothers and sisters, and I could give a list that could fill hundreds of pages of why they are not God. But his family couldn’t point out one fault in our sinless Savior. That is amazing.

After the resurrection we know that no longer were they rejectors but believers and contenders of the Gospel of Jesus. We see that they are among the hundred twenty in the upper room (Acts 1:14). As we mentioned earlier, James became a pillar of the church in Jerusalem and a leader of the early church abroad. He wrote the book of James in the New Testament. Both James and Jude describe themselves as servants of Jesus Christ (Jas. 1:1; Jude 1). They don’t use the title, “brother of our Lord” as The Apostle Paul does, to describe themselves. This may reflect their humility. It certainly reflects on how they viewed their relationship they now have with Jesus.

We also know that Jude became an avid defender of the Gospel. In the book of Jude we have his great exhortation to “contend earnestly” which can also mean to continually fight. Fight for what? The faith, continually fight against those that pervert the Gospel. Continually fight to proclaim truth in the midst of lies, and false teachings in the church and outside the church. Jude went from rejector to contender because the resurrection changes everything.

But in my study of Jude and learning about Jesus’ family I found this one statement in the book of Jude very enlightening, “and have mercy on those who doubt;” (Jude 22). Could it be that Jude, while writing this line, was reflecting on his days before he was a believer. Not only was Jude a contender for the faith against those that pervert the Gospel, but he also knew that there were some who truly struggled with the truth. What does Jude exhort us to do with these that struggle with the truth? “Have mercy on those who doubt.”

Until next week as we look closer at the false teachers Jude is writing of may we become like Jude, contenders for the truth. May we know and love the truth and be avid defenders of it. May we also have mercy on those that honestly struggle with the truth and walk alongside them explaining and loving them and guiding them to the truth as if we are, “snatching them out of the fire;” (Jude 22).

Blessings Multiplied to You

On By joshnnomiIn Insights from Jude2 Comments

Last week, we took some time and looked at how Jude opened his book. Specifically looking at how he described the believers he was writing to, The Called, Beloved and Kept. This week we are going to look at his prayer for them. But before we do let’s look at some background information.

In this digital age we don’t write letters very often because we live in an age where texting, tweeting, Facebook and email rule. However, I remember when I was in grade school, probably around the fourth or fifth grade, we learned how to write a letter. Every letter we wrote had to contain certain elements like an introduction and greeting, next the body of the letter, which would contain the purpose of the letter. Finally we would end it with a final goodbye, like sincerely a comma and then your signature.

The authors of the New Testament epistles (letters), used the letter writing genre and structures of their day to communicate God’s truths to their audience and ultimately to us. Most ancient Greco-Roman letters followed a certain form;

  1. Opening- which contained from and to.
  2. Greeting- which was basically the word “greetings” sometimes contained a wish of good health and/or a thanksgiving
  3. The Body of the Letter- which contained the purpose  of the letter. This section can be broken down further, but for brevities sake we will move on.
  4. Final Greetings and Farewell.

The New Testament authors not only used this literary style, but under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they expanded it with Christian thoughts and ideas. For example, Jude didn’t just write, “I, Jude write to believers, greetings.” Jude writes, “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.” Look at all Jude adds here, so rich.

Which leads us to Jude’s prayer of blessing for his audience and ultimately us. Jude writes; “May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.”  Here again, Jude expands on the simple “greetings” in his letter. Here he prays that God multiply or increase his mercy, peace, and love to us.

In Romans 7, Paul, in agony over his own sinful condition exclaims, “Wretched man that I am!” Paul knew that the Christian, in this world, would be in a constant struggle with sin. Jude knew this too, and because he knew this, he prayed that God’s mercy be multiplied to us. When our struggle with sin is tough and we fall into temptation, Jude’s prayer is for God to multiply his mercy. What exactly is mercy, it is God withholding from us what we deserve. I know I need a multiplication of mercy in my life, how about you?

Jude also knows that we need a multiplication of peace. I am reminded of the words of Jesus in John 16, “in this world you will have tribulation.” Jesus tells his disciples, and us very plainly, you will have trouble. You are going to have problems, struggles and hard times. Then Jesus goes on to say, “but take heart; I have overcome the world.” Before he said this though, he told His disciples why he was telling them all this, so that, “in me you may have peace.” Jesus told them hard times will come, but in the midst of hard times “in me” you can have peace. Why? Because Jesus has overcome the world. Once you were an enemy combatant but in Christ we have peace with God. We have also been made a peaceful citizen of God’s kingdom. That peace can be experienced by us on earth, even in the midst of hard times. Paul describes this peace in Philippians 4, as a peace that surpasses all understanding. This is the peace that Jude is asking God to multiply to us.

Finally, Jude asks for God’s love to be multiplied to us. Last week I briefly wrote about God’s great love for us. In Romans 8, Paul explains to us that there is nothing that can separate us from God’s love. Paul also tells us in Romans 5 that God’s love has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. 1 John 3 explains what this kind of God love/agape love looks like, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for you.” John doesn’t stop there he continues to say, “and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” John tells us that this is the kind of love we should have for other believers, the same kind of love that God has for us. Jude wants us to experience and live in this love. He wants this love to be multiplied in us.

Can you imagine if we prayed Jude’s prayer for our fellow believers? Now imagine if we lived Jude’s prayer out with our fellow believers. Jesus’ words come to mind from John 13:35, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Until next week, as we continue to look into the book of Jude; may His mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you.