The Lurking Danger of False Teachers: Why We Cannot Be Naive.

Introduction:

Jude has described the false teachers as those who have “entered surreptitiously.”

Jesus warned of wolves in sheep’s clothing (Mt. 7).

Paul warned of messengers of Satan appearing as ministers of light.

We might consider that what is good about genuine Christianity can become an open door for those who wish to oppose the truth in plain sight.

Our meetings are open.

We consider the best motives in others.

We wish to imitate Christ and forgive.

We want to encourage one another, and those who have yet to profess Christ, in the truth and to spiritual maturity.

We want to demonstrate Christ-like love and often do so without considering any godly limitations on what that might mean. In other words, go beyond God’s demonstration of love and practice a love that accepts everything.

Think of the near eradication of church discipline beginning in the 1980s here.

What was that done in the name of? (Love).

Because we would not think of using our faith in Christ as a means of exploiting others, we are taken off guard by those who would feign belief in Christ for that purpose.

False Teachers Hiding in Plain Sight: Love Feasts (Jude 12).

“Loves” used in the plural here refers to a communal meal very common among trade associations and other social groups that formed the basis of Roman society especially in the Greek speaking East.

This may be what Paul had in mind in 1 Corinthians 11.

The Corinthians confused this meal with the purpose of the Lord’s Supper.

Jude calls the “rocks,” or “crags” like one would find so dangerous and destructive to ships at sea.

“Hidden reefs” is the actual term.

Jude conveys the idea, here again, of danger hiding in plain sight.

These false teachers had used the benevolence and care of the congregation for one another as their means of exploitation and entry.

We know that some within the churches often tried to take advantage of the hospitality and generosity of their fellow church members.

So, in 1 Timothy 5, Paul taught that family members were to care for the widows in their own families. Unless the widows met a very high, limited standard of behavior, the church at Ephesus was not to be liable for their care.

At Thessalonica, some tried to avoid work relying on the generosity of others for their financial support. (2 Thess. 3).

Appearances Do Not Make Reality (Jude 12-13)

Could “eating together fearlessly” suggest that the group of false teachers peel off to themselves, not surreptitiously but overtly?

Such refusal of interaction with the broader congregation is a blatant disregard for the showing of mutual love for Christ inherent in the occasion.

Jude appears to use two participles that are intended to describe the false teachers in a direct way.

He follows that with three participles that convey significant information about them but do so indirectly or metaphorically. The direct message he gives is one of arrogance and self-indulgence.

When he writes that they “are feeding themselves,” we may look at this as a commentary on their eating practices, but given the tenor of the letter thus far, it is far more likely in my mind that Jude intends to describe their denial of all teaching authority other than what they’ve apportioned to themselves.

So, denying the true shepherd and all other pastors, they “shepherd themselves.”

They set their own rules and have appointed themselves as teachers of the truth. What is for certain about them is their perceived lack of need for anyone else to teach them.

In light of Ezekiel 34, it is also clear that what Jude has in mind is the failure to show the proper care and concern for God’s people.

Rather than be guided in the truth and to behave accordingly, these individuals only see their position as an occasion to exploit the people of God.

In Ezekiel 34, reference to shepherds occurs 32 times in 16 verses out of a total of 31 verses for the chapter. Most of the time, it is used in reference to the leaders of Israel. The other times it is used of God or of David’s descendant whom the Lord will send to shepherd and feed his people.

A Call to See Them as They Really Are

Clouds, trees, waves, stars are the physical objects Jude then uses for indirect comparison but to make emphatic statements.

Through them, he describes them as the opposite of what they seem to be.

Rather than having a basis for their arrogant and boastful view of themselves, they are, in fact, men of little spiritual foundation and even less spiritual substance.

Waterless clouds - See Prov. 25

The point seems to be that they have nothing to offer.

It isn’t just that they are blown around by everything.

It is that the Word of God they claim to have by new revelation in reality is nothing. Nothing they promise ever comes to pass.

Their “new revelations” only end in destruction.

Fruitless Trees - these are found in autumn.

The teachers bear no spiritual fruit manifesting their lack of spiritual substance.

Waves spewing nothing but shame.

Deceived Stars headed for destruction.