Philemon?
2 Peter?
2 John?
3 John?
How about Jude.
Jude.
The small book that everyone skips over on their way to Revelation... because beasts coming out of the earth and stars falling are more entertaining (and confusing) than a postcard from the past about false teachers in the church.
Hmmm...
In fact, Jude is so neglected, there once was a call to take it out of the Bible... mostly due to it's quotation of an apocryphal book and it's brevity.
But nonetheless, it remains. It belongs in the Bible.
Jude is a wonderful, beautiful letter of scripture.
And I hope to prove some of that in this post.
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:
May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
-Jude 1-2
Jude opens up his letter introducing himself: a servant of Jesus Christ.
But to specifically give himself some sense of recognition he adds "brother of James"
James was a well known man, he was a leader in the early church, in fact he was an elder of the Jerusalem church. Paul identified James as one of the pillars of the church. (Gal. 2:9) And of course he wrote his own epistle which bears his name, 'The book of James'.
But Jude leaves something out of his introduction... something huge, something that would distinguish himself even more as someone to listen to.
Maybe this just shows his humility... Jude was one of the younger half-brothers of the very man he said he was a servant of.
Jude was a brother of Jesus.
And he had an inspiring, encouraging note that he wished to write to us about our salvation in Christ Jesus... but there's a problem.
Because he finds it necessary instead to write to us about a different topic at hand. One that is also just as encouraging, uplifting, and inspiring.
A beautiful message of God's call to us.
A Call.
God's call on our lives.
To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Because we are called and loved, and because we are kept for Jesus Christ, Jude is exhorting us to contend.
Contend for the faith!
He wanted to write about our common salvation BUT he has seen the perversion of the gospel unfolding in the church... and he instead calls us to contend for grace, contend for the only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
What would we have become, if He had not stopped us in our dead career of living? If we haven't recently teared up or felt that gracious thankfulness in our inner being... then perhaps we need our memory refreshed with our calling. We're called because we're loved.
We're loved... because God chooses to love us.
Even in our depravity?
Especially in our depravity.
God's call on our lives never stops, it never is just one moment that passes by and we have to remember.
God's call is continual.
And it is a call to contend.
Contend for grace.
Because grace is worth fighting for.
Jude is warning us against the false teachers who are perverting the grace of Jesus.
Asking questions like:
Are we saved by grace through faith or do we have to add something to it?
In order to be a Christian do we have to be ________?
This was the issue with the Jerusalem council in Acts 15.
'But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."' -Acts 15:1 (ESV)
For them the 'something else' was circumcision.
Because they were Jewish Christians, they weren't comfortable with the idea of God's grace being given to Gentiles... it was something new, something foreign to them.
They began asking, 'Do they have to be Jewish first?'
Paul said no.
These men said yes.
A dispute arose and a council was convened.
"And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question." -Acts 15:2 (ESV)
When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, "It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses."
The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will."
And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. After they finished speaking, James replied, "Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,
"'After this I will return,and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen;I will rebuild its ruins,
and I will restore it,
that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord,
and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,
says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.'
Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues."' -Acts 15:4-21 (ESV)
I believe this issue is so important to Jude that he felt necessary to write a letter because of this event, as well as others.
James, his own brother, had to fight this same topic.
Peter had to fight this issue.
Paul had to fight over this issue.
All at one large meeting.
But James makes a mistake, when he says to write a letter telling them to abstain from four things... he opens the door for false teachers to hold these four requests as laws.
Because they aren't laws.
God's grace is above food sacrificed to idols.
God's grace is above sexual immorality.
God's grace is above strangled food.
God's grace is above the drinking of blood.
God's grace defeated sin. Jesus rose from the dead.
Jude's echo is clear:
Once you start submitting to the first 'rule' there's a string of others behind it...
Fight for Grace.
Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." (ESV)
Grace through Faith: Is it Jesus + Something?
The +______ is always for you. It's always about us. Our reputation. Our social standing. Our personal view of ourselves.
Because we want to be moral, good, righteous, etc.
However, if we truly analyzed our motives:
Most of our morality is selfish, not to honor God.
Most of our ethics are to impress other Christians.
Our righteousness is given to us from God, not what we have done.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:20, "For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (ESV)
The Pharisees self righteousness was so inflated... it seems impossible to surpass them... and it would still fall short.
We need to change our vocab.
We have attached ethics to the cross.
Going to Church is God's gift to you, not your gift to God.
Same with reading the Bible, Baptism, prayer.
It is God's gift to us to participate in these activities out of reverence, worship, and relationship with Him.
Doing something FOR God is heresy... because EVERY TIME it is works based.
Don't rob the Glory from God.
Fight for Grace.
Fight for Grace.
To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.
We are called to contend.
I hope to write another post on the rest of the wonderful book of Jude, but for this, I pray we can all contend for the grace of God.
Mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance.
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing : once again into the our doors.
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