Run to the Fire (2)
Notes
Transcript
As Pastor Aaron mentioned last week, its often difficult to come in a preach a one-off sermon in the middle of a series. It is just as difficult, I’m sure, to hear a one-off sermon when your ears and heart are tuned to a particular biblical writer’s style, but all of God’s Word is relevant, so hopefully, today, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we will be encouraged and challenged from the book of Jude. Let me also apologize for my frequent use, this morning, of military anecdotes. As I read and re-read Jude in preparation for this morning, I was struck by choice of words Jude used in this letter. The overall theme of Jude is one of contending or fighting for the faith and his letter reads like an intelligence briefing, threat assessment and wartime strategy document. So this morning, I want to review this intelligence, I want us to assess the threat, and then I want to talk about the strategy that we, the church, should take to combat this timely threat.
This cou
Intelligence
Intelligence
Look with me at verses 17 and 18.
17 But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.”
Jude is providing us with reliable, contextual and timely intelligence. Its reliable in that Jude is repeating a warning that other apostles have given.
We have
Reliable
Contextual
Timely
3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.
3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
Not only is he saying that this will happen, as the apostles have warned, but he his telling us it is an active threat. Look in verses 3 and 4. “certain people have, crept in. unnoticed.” The tense and voice of this word, Parees-dooyo, which means to sneak or secretly slip in, indicates that it is an event that has taken place.
Reliable
Jude, Paul, Peter. They’ve all given us fair and dramatic warning of the ever present threat that the church faces. To be clear, it is both an external and an internal threat. Churches become infiltrated.
4 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.
So, like Paul and Peter, Jude gives us fair and dramatic warning of the ever present threat that the church faces. To be clear, this tells us that this threat, while originating externally, has become an internal threat.
Infliltrated
Threat Assessment
Threat Assessment
Just how big is the threat? What are the consequences? Look with me at verse 19.
19 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.
18 They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” 19 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.
Jude
Churches are undermined and weakened when they are infiltrated with thelogical error. This causes divisionIn May, the United Methodist Church will vote on a proposal to split the denomination over what it called "fundamental differences" regarding its beliefs on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy. Orthodoxy, right doctrine, has fallen prey to theological liberalism and deconstruction stories.
Josh Harris
Jenn Hatmaker
Rob Bell
Rhet and Link
Strategy
Strategy
So how do we combat this threat? Well, let me give you three strategies from Jude that we need to be constantly practicing in order to counter this threat. We must be continually in a state of preparation, confrontation, and extrication.
Preparation
Preparation
How do we prepare? Look with me at verse 20.
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
The only way that error can be accepted in the church is if people are no longer going to hold a doctrinal standard.
In order to resist infiltration, we need to be constantly fortifying our defenses.
Build up (our faith) In order to resist infiltration, we need to be constantly fortifying our defenses.
This is how we fight the battle—we become doctrinally strong. We “Build, strengthen, reinforce our faith with solid doctrine. This means that we study God’s Word, but not just study…we study with the aim of obedience to the Word.
The only way that error can be accepted in the church is if people are no longer going to hold a doctrinal standard.
1 I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! 2 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
2 cor 11:1-
Jude tells us that we must: Build up (our faith) In order to resist infiltration, we need to be constantly fortifying our defenses.
Build up (our faith) In order to resist infiltration, we need to be constantly fortifying our defenses.
This is how we fight the battle—we become doctrinally strong. We “Build, strengthen, reinforce our faith with solid doctrine. This means that we study God’s Word, but not just study…we study with the aim of obedience to the Word.
Prayer (Communing with God)
Keep
Wait (look forward) our hope is in Christ, not circumstances
Confrontation
Confrontation
Preparation, is key strategy. Strong theological doctrine is critical in preparing us to address theological error, which brings us to our second strategy—Confrontation.
The most important lesson I learned in the Navy was to “Always run to the casualty.” If there is flooding on a submarine, you literally have seconds to address it before all are lost. I always hated being on watch, when a fire or flooding casualty took place.
Brothers and sisters, We have to address threats. The Holy Spirit is telling us, as a church, and as church members, that we are not called to ignore these issues. Can they be uncomfortable to deal with? Yes. Can they get ugly? Yes. Does that mean we have the option to ignore them? No.
We don’t have the option of being non-confrontational.
22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
22 And have mercy on those who doubt;
Jude
Confronting, without hesitation. Run to the Fire.
1 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.
9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. 10 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him,
8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
Essentials, unity, non essentials, liberty, all things charity.
Essentials, unity, non essentials, liberty, all things charity.
Essentials, unity, non essentials, liberty, all things charity.
The most important lesson I learned in the Navy was to “Always run to the fire.” We have to address threats. The Holy Spirit is telling us, as a church, and as church members, that we are not called to ignore these issues. Can they be uncomfortable to deal with? Yes. Can they get ugly? Yes. Does that mean we have the option to ignore them? No.
Reminder on context (within the church)
Mercy to doubters. (hesitant)
Jude 22
tough love, snatch those who are no longer doubting, but have become convinced
snatch is a participle, both verb and adjective, and expresses an
to take something forcefully
Jude calls the church to forceful and swift action to rescue those who have come under the sway of the heretics’ teaching.
He calls the church to forceful and swift action to rescue those who have come under the sway of the heretics’ teaching.
Gene L. Green, Jude and 2 Peter, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), 125.
Restoration
Restoration
We prepare with strong doctrine. Orthodoxy. We must be willing to confront the threat of scoffers and wordly opportunists, but our confrontation should be tempered with love, with the goal of restoration or rescue.. Look again in verse 22 and 23.
22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
We see here three different groups. Those who are doubters or hesitant, who are in the midst of being led astray. These are those who are confused. We also have those who are no longer confused, but are convinced of a lie, they have been led astray. Then we have those who are doing the coercing, the scoffers.
Jude 23
Three things to see from these two verses regarding our rescue mission. Mercy, Urgency and caution.
You know, we want to protect the church, but we also want to show mercy and love to those who are being misled. There are those who are hesitant, or are doubting, who may be being influenced by these scoffers, from unbiblical theology. We are to show them mercy, pity. Is it more loving to confront a person caught in sin or to let them continue down a path that is damaging not only to themselves, but to the body of Christ as well?
You know, we want to protect the church, but we also want to show mercy and love to those who are being misled. There are those who are hesitant, or are doubting, who may be being influenced by these scoffers, from unbiblical theology. We are to show them mercy. Is it more loving to confront a person caught in sin or to let them continue down a path that is damaging not only to themselves, but to the body of Christ as well?
For those who have been convinced, Jude tells us there is a sense of urgency. We are to snatch them or drag them from the fire. There is a sense of urgency here, a sense of tough love. Don’t miss the image of fire in this verse. It speaks to the destructive nature of the threat.
Finally, we have a group that we have to deal with with fear or caution.
We are called to love our enemies. Our evangelism efforts don’t just apply to those who agree with us politically, philosophically or morally. We are to extend, even to those who are our spiritual threats, mercy, but we must do so in a spirit of fear, less we become corrupted by evil. To be sure, there is no power
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
But our association with these enemies might cause others to stumble. Look at the word choice here. Jude tells us we are to hate the garment stained by the flesh. The Greek word here for garment refers not to the outer garment but the undergarment. That should be our attitude—we should be appalled by the sin to the degree that we avoid all contact, yet extend mercy/love/tenderness to the sinner.
The faithful are urged to show all possible tenderness for the fallen, but at the same time to have a fear lest they themselves or others whom they influence should be led to think too lightly of the sin whose ravages they are endeavouring to repair.
J.B. Mayor, “The General Epistle of Jude,” in The Expositor’s Greek Testament: Commentary, vol. 5 (New York: George H. Doran Company, n.d.), 276.
Mercy to doubters. (hesitant)
We are to
We are to
tough love, snatch those who are no longer doubting, but have become convinced
snatch is a participle, both verb and adjective, and expresses an
to take something forcefully
9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. 10 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him,
Jude calls the church to forceful and swift action to rescue those who have come under the sway of the heretics’ teaching.Mercy to “Others” using caution not to be swayed.
love our enemies.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Run to the Fire (2)
Run to the Fire (2)
22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
Preparation
Preservation or Confrontation
doubters
burners
enemies, Love them, seek to evangelize them, but be wary of their filth.
Protection or Preservation
Church, the threat is real. It was real in the apostle’s time. It has been real throughout 2000 years of church history, and it is true today.
English Standard Version Chapter 1
And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by asnatching them out of bthe fire; to others show mercy cwith fear, hating even dthe garment7 stained by the flesh.
Run to the Fire
Danny Butler / General
Jude (One-Off) / Flock /
Introduction
Introduction
As Pastor Aaron mentioned last week, it is often difficult to come in and preach a one-off sermon in the middle of a series. It is just as difficult, I’m sure, to hear a one-off sermon when your ears and heart are tuned to a particular biblical writer’s style, but all of God’s Word is relevant, so hopefully, today, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we will be encouraged and challenged from the book of Jude. Let me also apologize for my frequent use, this morning, of military anecdotes. As I read and re-read Jude in preparation for this morning, I was struck by the choice of words Jude used in this letter. The overall theme of Jude is one of contending or fighting for the faith and his letter reads like an intelligence briefing, threat assessment and wartime strategy document. So this morning, I want to review this intelligence, I want us to assess the threat, and then I want to talk about the strategy that we, the church, should take to combat this timely threat.
Intelligence
Intelligence
Look with me at verses 17 and 18.
ESV
17 But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.”
Jude is providing us with reliable, contextual and timely intelligence. Its reliable in that Jude is repeating a warning that other apostles have given.
ESV
3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.
ESV
3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
Not only is he saying that this will happen, as the apostles have warned, but he his telling us it is an active threat. Look back in verses 3 and 4. “…certain people have, crept in. unnoticed.”
ESV
4 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.
“Crept in unnoticed” is translated from a single Greek word Parees-dooyo which is a two word contraction comprised of pareeme to come along and dooyo (to put on as clothes) This contraction literally means to sneak in secretly. The early church had been infiltrated.
So, like Paul and Peter, Jude gives us fair and dramatic warning that this threat is ever present, that it originates outside of the church, but slips its way in. That is the intelligence, the warning that we have received.
Threat Assessment
Threat Assessment
Just how big is the threat? What are the consequences? Lets assess the threat. Look with me at verse 19.
ESV
19 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.
Churches are undermined and weakened when they are infiltrated with theological error. This causes division. Let me give you a couple of examples.
In May, the United Methodist Church will vote on a proposal to split the denomination over what it called "fundamental differences" regarding its beliefs on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy. Orthodoxy, right doctrine, has fallen prey to theological liberalism. It has also been under attack from deconstruction stories.
• Josh Harris
• Jenn Hatmaker
• Rob Bell
• Rhet and Link (former Missionaries, CRU)
Strategy
Strategy
So this threat does exist as, to borrow a Tom Clancy title, a Clear and Present danger to our churches. So how do we combat it? Well, let me give you three strategies from Jude that we need to be constantly practicing in order to counter this threat. We must be continually in a state of preparation, confrontation, and restoration.
Preparation
Preparation
Look with me at verse 20.
ESV
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
• The only way that error can be accepted in the church is if people are no longer going to hold a doctrinal standard.
• Jude tells us that we must: Build up (our faith) In order to resist infiltration, we need to be constantly fortifying our defenses.
· It shouldn’t be lost on us that this practice of building, constructing requires effort, work.
• This is how we fight the battle—we become doctrinally strong. We “Build, strengthen, reinforce our faith with solid doctrine. This means that we study God’s Word, but not just study…we study with the aim of obedience to the Word.
• As we study, we do so with a dependence on the Holy Spirit.
• As we study, we do so with the aim of obedience. Look at the phrase in verse 21. “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” Where do we experience the blessing of being in God’s love? By being obedient to His word. Our aim should always be obedience. All too often when we study God’s word it is just an academic exercise. Instead, our study should be made manifest in our obedience.
• Wait (look forward) our hope is in Christ, not circumstances, not in what the world has to offer.
So we prepare by practicing these disciplines: The study of God’s Word, prayer and communion, living in obedience and living in hope.
Confrontation
Confrontation
Preparation is a key strategy. Strong theological doctrine is critical in preparing us to address theological error, which brings us to our second strategy—Confrontation.
Illustration: The most important lesson I learned in the Navy was to “Always run to the casualty.” If there is flooding on a submarine, you literally have seconds to address it before all are lost. I always hated being on watch, when a fire or flooding casualty took place.
We don’t have the option of being non-confrontational. If we ignore these issues, the problem becomes much worse. They truly are matters of life and death, spiritually.
Jude commends us in verse 22 and 23 to address these issues. He doesn’t call us to isolation. He doesn’t tell us that this is someone else’s problem. He tells us to confront.
ESV
22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
Now, let me be clear, Jude is not talking about non essential issues. He isn’t talking about eating meat sacrificed to idols or matters of conscience. That would be legalistic. Let me give you some scriptures for this.
ESV
1 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.
ESV
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
ESV
9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. 10 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him,
Essentials, unity, non essentials, liberty, all things charity.
This is even more evidence as to why we need to be prepared, built up, and grounded in the Word. We need spiritual discernment. We need to clearly understand what matters are essential and which are matters over conscience or
The Holy Spirit is telling us, as a church, and as church members, that we are not called to ignore these issues. Can they be uncomfortable to deal with? Yes. Can they get ugly? Yes. Does that mean we have the option to ignore them? No.
We can’t be afraid to confront these issues. Paul in tells the church that they have become too readily accepting false teaching. The church in Corinth was tolerant of error and this tolerance resulted in them accepting a false gospel. We should not be tolerant of false teaching. Intolerance, despite all the baggage that word has, does not have to be unloving. It is more loving to confront a person caught in sin than it is to ignore it and hope it goes away. It demonstrates love for the church, the body of Christ and love for the sinner. That brings us to the final strategy.
------------------ Not necessary to read
ESV
1 I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! 2 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
Restoration
Restoration
Our confrontation should be tempered with love, with the goal of restoration or rescue. Look again in verse 22 and 23.
ESV
22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
We see here three different groups. Those who are doubters or hesitant, who are in the midst of being led astray. These are those who are confused. We also have those who are no longer confused, but are convinced of a lie, they have been led astray. Then we have those who are doing the coercing, the scoffers.
-----
You know, we want to protect the church, but we also want to show mercy and love to those who are being misled and to those who are misleading There are those who are hesitant, or are doubting, who may be being influenced by these scoffers, from unbiblical theology. These are the confused. We are to show them mercy, pity. Our hearts should be broken for those who are being led down this path.
For those who have been convinced, we are to snatch them or drag them from the fire. There is a sense of urgency here, a sense of tough love. Don’t miss the image of fire in this verse. It speaks to the destructive nature of the threat. It requires a snatching, seizing, an attacking to bring these brothers and sisters to restoration.
Finally, we have a group that we have to deal with with fear or caution.
We are called to love our enemies. Our evangelism efforts don’t just apply to those who agree with us politically, philosophically or morally. We are to extend, even to those who are our spiritual threats, mercy, but we must do so in a spirit of fear, less we become corrupted by evil. To be sure, there is no power that can rob us of our salvation, that is not our fear.
ESV
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
But our association with these enemies, if we aren’t careful, might cause others to stumble. Look at the word choice here. Jude tells us we are to hate the garment stained by the flesh. The Greek word here for garment refers not to the outer garment but the undergarment. That should be our attitude—we should be appalled by the sin to the degree that we avoid all contact, yet extend mercy/love/tenderness to the sinner.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Church, the threat is real. It was real in the apostle’s time. It has been real throughout 2000 years of church history, and it is real today. We shouldn’t ignore it. We should prepare for it through the study of God’s Word, prayer, communion, and living in obedience to the Word. We should confront it with urgency. and in the spirit of restoration and reconciliation. Not doing so risks division and disunity in the body of Christ.
Let me end with a bit of encouragement. This may have seemed like doom and gloom, but we should never live in a spirit of fear. We are waiting in the mercy of Lord Jesus Christ, who is able. Verse 24
I can remember growing up, folks in the church would say, “I can’t believe how bad the culture is, it can’t get any worse.”
24. 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, 25 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.
Heavenly Father. We thank you so much for your Word. It is insightful and powerful. Your Word is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that we may be complete, equipped for every good work. Equip us Lord, through the power of your Word to be ready to stand for theological truth. Give us boldness to confront those who are being led astray, who are believing a false gospel. Break our hearts, Lord, to love our enemies while protecting us from sin. You are truly able to keep us blameless and are sanctifying us daily. Help us to be obedient and to protect the body of Christ, for it is His name that we pray. Amen.