Jude - A Handbook For Battle: Prepare for the Fight

Jude 1-4 - Prepare for the Fight

Opening Illustration

Saving Private Ryan

There is a character in the movie named Corporal Timothy Upham.

He outranks most of the men in the unit where he was serving, but is looked down on by most of these men who are enlisted/drafted privates in the Army.

They despise him because he is painfully naive and is more of a poet than a warrior - and they see this as a threat to the safety of the group.

As the movie goes on, Upham easily becomes the most hated man in the movie - and don’t forget… there are Nazis…

It all culminates at the Battle of Ramelle (which wasn’t a real battle in WWII), where Upham is supposed to be running ammunition to the men who are engaged in the heaviest gun fighting.

As he arrives to bring the ammo to Private Mellish’s position, and he listens horrified as Mellish is engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a German soldier.

He is literally carrying a loaded M1 Garand rifle and stands there paralyzed with fear as Mellish had a knife driven slowly into his heart.

He had all of the capacity to kill the enemy and save his brother in arms, but he failed to do so.

It is easy to see what Upham is the most hated character in the movie.

We want him to man up and do what he is supposed to do, because if he did, then Mellish would still be alive.

Connection to the book of Jude

Sadly, Christians are far too often like Upham.

We have been given everything that we need to do battle against the enemy.

We have God’s Word and the power of the Holy Spirit living in us.

Yet when the enemy shows up, we are too paralyzed to engage him - that is if we even recognize him in the first place.

As a result, our churches become the devil’s playground where he is allowed to operate unchecked.

We tolerate terrible theology, because we don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings by challenging their “deeply held beliefs”

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Intro to the Book of Jude

We are told that the author’s name is Jude, and although there are a few different theories about which Jude this one might be, I think that the most plausible is that this is Jude, who was brother to James, brother to Jesus.

So, Jude, was one of Jesus’ brothers.

It is an interesting little book - just a single chapter comprised of 25 verses.

He doesn’t waste any time in his letter - going straight to the point of why he is writing.

Jude is rarely preached in the church, and I think partly because it is a bit rough.

Jude is brash and unfiltered.

1. Start from your position in Christ (vv. 1-2)

Christian, if you hear nothing else today, I need you to hear this.

You are called by God

You are beloved by God

You are kept by God

2. Prepare for the Battle (v. 3)

“We have hundreds of jellyfish clergymen, who seem not to have a single bone in their body of divinity. They have not definite opinions; they belong to no school or party; they are so afraid of “extreme views” that they have no views at all.

We have thousands of jellyfish sermons preached every year, sermons without an edge, or a point, or a corner, smooth as billiard balls, awakening no sinner, and edifying no saint.

We have Legions of jellyfish young men annually turned out from our Universities, armed with a few scraps of second-hand philosophy, who think it a mark of cleverness and intellect to have no decided opinions about anything in religion, and to be utterly unable to make up their minds as to what is Christian truth. They live apparently in a state of suspense, like Mohamet’s fabled coffin, hanging between heaven and earth and last.

Worst of all, we have myriads of jellyfish worshippers — respectable church-going people, who have no distinct and definite views about any point in theology. They cannot discern things that differ, any more than color-blind people can distinguish colors.” - J. C. Ryle

Christians are far too polite.

We constantly worry about how the message of the gospel might offend someone

So we sand off the rough edges and try to present this sanitized version of Christianity.

3. Recognize the threat from within (v. 4)

This is the WHY behind the Battle.

WHY are we supposed to contend for the faith?

Because the fight has already come to us - whether we want to admit it or not, it’s here.

We worry about the threat outside the church when we need to be worried about the threats within

Jude was writing in a very tumultuous time in the world…

He likely wrote while Nero was ruling - so the Church was heavily persecuted…