Mission Briefing
Fight for the Faith • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
Christ’s mission brief to His Church involves …
Establishing identity and responsibility
Declaring the objective
Highlighting the threat
Christ’s mission brief for His Church involves …
I. Establishing Identity and Responsibility
I. Establishing Identity and Responsibility
A. The C.O. (Commanding Officer)
The author of Jude isn’t certain, but it is most likely Jude (Judas) the brother of Jesus.
54 He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? 55 “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 “And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”
So, we know that Jesus had 4 brothers and it says He had sisters, so we know He had at least 2 sisters. So Jesus was the oldest of 7 kids.
Can you imagine being the brother of Jesus?
And we learn in John 7:5, that even His brothers didn’t believe in Him.
5 For not even His brothers were believing in Him.
His brothers were converted
14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
Even though Jude is Jesus’ brother, He’s only His half-brother.
Jesus taught with authority
28 When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; 29 for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
When we read both James and Jude, we see they speak with incredible authority.
Yet, when they introduce themselves in their letters, they don’t introduce themselves as brothers of Jesus.
Jude, a bondservant, of Jesus Christ
We use the word bondservant, but it’s really slave.
Jude, a willing slave to Jesus Christ and brother of James.
In other words, Jude says he writes not on his authority, but on the authority of the King of kings, and the Lord of lords.
B. A solider in Christ’s army
The Christian’s Identity:
Christ’s intentionally reminds those who serve Him who they are with three indisputable, unquestionable truths:
You are called
You are beloved
You are kept
Called
The moment we choose to accept Jesus Christ, you come face to face with the stark realization that you we never seeking God on your own, but God was always pursuing you.
Left alone to ourselves, we want nothing to do with God. But God, out of His deep love for His creation, calls you relentlessly.
Every single one of you is called. Called does not mean God chose some for salvation and some for damnation.
Beloved or Sanctified
Every single person is loved by God. That’s why He’s been calling you.
If you don’t know Jesus Christ and have not put your faith and trust in Him, know this on the authority of God’s Word: He loves you!
If you have put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, know this on the authority of God’s Word: He loves you! And as a Christian, not only does He love you, but He loves you with a special love because under His blood you have been declared a son or daughter of God!
And as a son or daughter of God, you are sanctified by His blood, set apart for His glory and His purpose.
Kept
As a son or daughter of God, you are kept in Him
38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
C. In recognizing this identity, confidently receive what Christ provides:
Mercy
Love
Peace
Mercy
God’s calling of you demonstrates His mercy upon you.
Even as soldiers sent out on mission by Christ Jesus, even as Christians, you will continue to sin
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
You will continue to sin, you will continue to make mistakes, you will continue to fail. But rest assured that Christ by His blood lavishes mercy upon you.
22 The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
This is important, because as a soldier, Christ calls you to action, not inaction
I know far too many Christians who resort to passivity out of fear that they will fail. You are going to fail! So make mistakes in the fight!
And when you turn to Jesus, and fall down at His feet, He will pick you right back up again and declare, “My child, My grace is sufficient for you.”
In recognizing the mercy God extends to us, He calls us to extend the same to those around us.
Love
Beloved means dearly loved.
And what do we do because God loves us?
We love because He first loved us.
19 We love, because He first loved us.
Sent out on mission for Jesus Christ, we are called to love those around us, because we have experienced the incredible love the Father has for us.
1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
Peace
And through recognizing we are kept in Jesus Christ, we are able to experience perfect peace.
27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.
Even in the midst of a fight, of an intense struggle, we are able to live in the peace supplied only by Jesus Christ.
Multiplied
As we talked about last week, Christ invites us into a daily relationship with Him where He washes our feet, where He cleanses of our sin.
Every day we continue in this journey with Christ, we need more mercy, we need more peace, and we need more love.
Christ’s mission brief to His Church involves …
II. Declaring the Objective
II. Declaring the Objective
A. After understanding our identity and our responsibility, Christ’s briefing now turns to the ultimate objective, which we can approach in confidence.
Jude says he initially sat down to write to Christians concerning their common salvation. As we often experience in our lives though, God had different plans.
This only increases the significance of the threat we will discuss in a minute.
What example do we see in Jude?
We see a man who was sensitive to the leadings of the Holy Spirit!
Jude abandoned his original intent, his will, to address a greater need, to submit to the will of his Master.
God can do this to me as a pastor.
God can do this to Sunday School teachers.
God can do this to your witness.
God can do this in your life.
We have to be willing to listen to the gentle leadings of the Holy Spirit.
The purpose: Contend for the faith
Contend literally means to struggle intensely for.
Struggle for what?
The faith that was once for all delivered
What does that mean?
Faith here does not mean trust in God. More broadly, it means adherence to the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.
Once for all delivered means there is no other gospel. It means there are no new additions. It means there are no new revelations.
Jude, the commanding officer, acting under the direction of the General, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, felt it was more important to urge Christians for defense of their faith rather than explaining it to them.
He is issuing the orders.
He is rallying the troops.
And like soldiers in any army, our responsibility is not only to obey, but to throw ourselves at the objective with all our muster.
Why is he doing this? Why is this the objective?
Christ’s mission brief to His Church involves …
III. Exposing the Threat
III. Exposing the Threat
A. There exists an imposter, an intruder, a trojan horse of counterfeit teaching
Apparently there had arisen false teaching that was had elements of the truth and was deceiving believers.
Remember, all the best lies and all the best deception have elements of the truth. Notice what Jude says:
Certain men have crept in, or slipped in, or I like the NLT which says wormed their way in.
Not only that, but they have done so secretly or unnoticed.
This is why the threat is so serious, so sinister, so nefarious.
A counterfeit is an imitation of an original with the intent to deceive.
When we think about counterfeits, money is often the first thing that comes to our mind.
Have you ever used cash at a store and the cashier took out a pen and swiped it on the bill?
Those pens are only used to detect the type of paper used when the bill was printed. They contain iodine which reacts with wood- or starch-based paper (like common copier paper).
But what about the bills that are expertly crafted, ones that might even make it past this test?
To identify these counterfeits, experts are trained not in fake money, but are trained to throughly know the original.
If a bill lacks any of these elements, it is a fake.
Watermark - embedded into the fibers
Microprinting
Closer look
Sometimes the counterfeits are obvious (those outside the Church).
But more dangerous is satan’s work to infiltrate the church with teachers and teachings that add to the Scriptures, subtly deny the authority of God’s Word, distort the person of Christ, and distort the Gospel message of salvation.
Jesus Himself warned of this 14 times in the Gospels
15 “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.
Other NT authors did the same
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
How are we to test the spirits though?
11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
Come to church expecting to hear God speak directly to you.
But never assume that just because a pastor said it, or a Sunday School teacher said it, or anyone else whom you trust, that it is automatically true.
I am fallible. The Word of God is not.
So every time you come to church, come expectantly. But you then should be able to turn around, search the Scriptures, and see exactly where that teaching came from.
Living in the most biblically illiterate generation ever to exist, we ourselves have opened the floodgates to a surge of false teachers.
B. How have these false teachers gone unnoticed?
Some started out as genuine Christians with a fervent desire for sincerity and truth.
But because of their pride or their own immoral desires, they began to change the message of God’s Word.
We saw a perfect example of what this looks like last week in the person of Judas Isacriot.
Some were never believers in Jesus Christ, but were specifically planted by satan to undermine the beauty and the simplicity of the Gospel message.
12 But what I am doing I will continue to do, so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting. 13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.
So how will we know them?
C. You will know them by their fruit
16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
We test their character
How is their prayer life?
How is their marriage?
Do they love what is good?
Do they hate what is evil?
Do you see the fruit of the Spirit in their life?
Do they love sinners?
We test their motives
Do they seek to honor Christ and live for Him?
Or do they want to live how they want to live and worship what they want to worship?
Do they lead the church into a lifestyle of holiness?
Or do they lead by their own rules or the worlds standards?
We test their methods
Does the pastor seek to shepherd the congregation into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ?
Does he seek to feed, and nourish, and care for the flock which God entrusted to him?
Or does the pastor seek to exploit the congregation to serve his own selfish motives?
Does the pastor or the church seek to glorify themselves, or to glorify the God they humbly serve?
We test their fruit
Do these leaders follow the Word of God, or do they live with a rules for thee, but not for me mentality?
How do they treat the Lord’s money? Is it responsible and with integrity?
How is their relationship with their spouse and their children?
How are those under their leadership living? Do you see evidence of Christlikeness in their lives?
Do they adhere to the full council of God? Or do they change it to suit their motives?
Conclusion
Conclusion