Doxology
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Tonight we come to the final verses in the book of Jude. Throughout this series we have talked about contending for the faith and here at the end we finish off with a worshipful doxology. Now often when we think of doxology we think of the chorus “praise God from whom all blessings flow...” What a doxology is though is a worship method that is giving glory to God and can be used in public worship. I have been in churches that would end their service with verses like this each Sunday.
So these final verses are a shift, they go from the depths of contending to praising God, this shift though is not as major as you might think. Lets go ahead and read these verses and see their significance in the context of Jude.
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
In the previous section there is the call to persevere as we contend for the faith. We know that it will be tough, we know that there will be people seeking to lead us astray, we must endure to the end. Then when we get here we see that it is Christ who can keep us from falling into all of those things, it is Christ that can help us to endure to the end. Because this is who Jesus is then we must give him all glory, majesty, dominion, and authority forever. Because of who Christ is and what he does for us he is worthy of all of our worship and praise.
Given the very real and present danger of false teaching it is reassuring for us to know that we serve a God that will keep us from stumbling.
Keeps us
Keeps us
The passage starts off with Christ keeping us. When we look at the bulk of this short letter it deals a lot with false teachers, these false teachers cause us to stumble. They are the opposite of the godly. The hope though is that Christ can keep us from falling into their traps. We are warned over and over of these false teachers and how to recognize them and how to contend against them and we have the hope that Christ will empower us to resist them. It says in Romans 14.4
Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
The Lord will make us stand. This allows us to go in with all boldness as we contend for the faith. He is able but we must be in him. We must put our faith in him to receive this.
Presents us
Presents us
The goal of all of this is not just survival, it is not just to be constant war torn endurance. The end of all of this is glorious, joyful presentation before God as blameless. This does not mean we will be perfect but it means that we have been cleansed and justified by Christ. Our future is secure in him as he keeps us and seeks to present us in this way. It says in Colossians 1.22
he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
This verse goes into even more depth of what this looks like. It is a holiness over us, it is being above reproach before a holy God. This is the great length that Christ goes through for us. This is the beauty and joy of what we get to experience! Because of this we can go forward in life contending for the faith, standing up when nobody else will, not giving in in any way. Truth is something that we need to stand for.
Remember in our definition of sin that anything that we don’t do that displeases God is a sin. That means when we are silent on issues it is sin. We must stand and contend knowing that we are kept by God from stumbling and that he will present us blameless and holy.
The culture preaches tolerance and equates it with love. Tolerance and love are not equal but rather opposite. True love does not require tolerance but rather hate. God truly loves us so he hates sin. I love Courtney so I hate anything that would bring harm to her. We cannot be silent in the name of tolerance because the Bible never tells us to be tolerant of sin but rather to confront it and contend for the truth knowing that Christ is there with us on our side.
We Worship
We Worship
Knowing this is our God and this is what we are supposed to do we only have one right response to him and his character and that is worship. He is the only God and he did all things through Jesus our savior. This is a final note reminding us that the gospel is not a side note but rather the center. The gospel is the source of our security and our worship.
It says to him be first glory. This is the outward display of his worth. This is our chief purpose, to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Then there is his majesty, the greatness of who he is. Dominion, his rule over everything. And finally his authority, his right to rule over everything. This is the God we serve!
Conclusion
Conclusion
In the end this whole letter warns against ungodliness, apostasy, and false teaching but it ends with worship. Why is that? Because when the battle is intense our confidence is not in our own abilities but rather in him. Jesus saves, keeps, and brings us home all with joy.
This needs to be our reminder as we contend for the faith. Contending is something that we should do and we can do it with confidence because of he great God that we serve.
