For the past few weeks, I’ve been immersed in the short book of Jude. It may be brief, but man does it pack a punch! I preached a two-parter through Jude up in Snohomish, and then distilled it to a single message through Jude at our home church. 25 verses calling believers to fight for the faith. My main point, which hopefully was Jude’s main point, was: Fight for the faith against ungodliness by exercising discernment, growing in the faith, and trusting God’s safekeeping.

You can view my message on Jude through the Littlerock Community Fellowship youtube link at the end of this blog. Be warned: It’s a doosy of a sermon… nearly an hour long!

Jude is the brother of James who was also the brother of Jesus, making Jude the brother of Jesus, but he identifies himself as the “servant of Jesus.” He writes to all believers in a style filled with images and allusions, strikingly similar to 2 Peter. The flow of the book is as follows: After setting the theme in v.3 of contending for the faith, Jude bounces back and forth between describing ungodly people who had infiltrated the church and declaring the judgment coming to them. V.4 has both. 5-7 judgment. 8-13 description. 13-15 judgment. 15-19 description. Jude then moves from defensive discernment to offensive engagement (20-23), equipping us with godly strategies to keep ourselves and others in the faith. Jude ends with a beautiful doxology (24-25) praising God for security as He keeps us in the faith.

The majority of Jude’s epistle is aimed to equip believers in discerning and avoiding beliefs and practices of ungodly infiltrators into the church. Depending how you group the descriptions, Jude uses at least 31 different ways of portraying these bad people and their actions. 12 times Jude makes clear that their condemnation is certain. I summarized these points in this way: ungodly people have infiltrated the church and God will certainly, decisively, eternally judge them. They are arrogant and presumptuous, standing against God, God’s Son, God’s ways and are empty of God’s Spirit, rebellious, sexually perverse, ignorant, greedy, falsely religious yet truly dangerous, selfish, utterly ungodly, bombastic complainers and divisive manipulators.

So Jude is like a watchman (cf. Ezek.3:16-21) warning believers to exercise discernment. In a postmodern age and culture that elevates toleration and open thinking, discernment is not a high value. When wrong beliefs and ungodly practices sneak into the church, and our lives, contending is unpopular yet essential. Certainly there are many dangerous, insidious teachings today that are infiltrating the church and maybe even our own beliefs. Here are a few I think of:

• Works righteousness – Work harder and do more so God will accept me.
• Prosperity preaching – Twist spirituality into getting God to bless me here and now.
• Self-centered faith – Read Bible and come to church looking for things to feed me and feel good rather than drawing near to God and serve others.
• Latest and greatest – “New” teachings and emerging ideas you’ve never seen before in Bible, taught by convincing leaders who oftentimes say one thing and do another.

The final several verses in Jude’s letter are a more positive take on contending, urging us to grow in our faith (20-23). One command (“keep yourselves in the love of God”) with three participles hanging off it (building up in the faith, praying in the Spirit, and waiting for Jesus’ mercy that leads to eternal life.) In addition, we are to help others grow, showing mercy to them and snatching others out of the fire. Jude ends with a beautiful doxology (24-25) praising God who alone is worthy, for He is able to keep us from stumbling, and be presented blameless in His glorious presence. The reformed doctrine of the “perseverance of the saints” is a theme we see running through Jude, offering hope and peace to the persevering believer who rests securely in God’s safekeeping.

May the message of Jude  motivate and inspire church members and leaders to LOOK OUT by discerning and avoiding ungodliness, LOOK IN by cultivating faith, hope, love, and prayer in line with God’s Word as we mercifully help those who struggle, and most importantly LOOK UP, praising God Who is worthy and is keeping us in the faith.