Get Engaged In the Battle

Introduction

Let me begin by asking you a question. If someone took the time to write down what they believe do you think they really believe it or are they just words on a page?

Follow up with this question: Is it appropriate for us to evaluate what they wrote to discern the validity of support or rejection of them?

Let me give you some examples: You can go to their websites and find these words verbatim.

Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

from the home page of their website, scroll to the bottom of the page you will read this: “RCRC’s clergy and laypeople proudly support 1) access to comprehensive sexuality education; 2) family planning and contraception; 3) affordable child care and health care; 4) support for and access to adoption services; 5) safe, legal abortion services regardless of income or circumstances. (Repeat the name for emphasis)

All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church of Shreveport, Louisiana

From their website: FAQ Page

7.  What goes on during the worship services?

Our worship services start at 11:00 AM on Sunday and we usually finish between 12:00 Noon and 12:15 PM (important information if you have Sunday afternoon plans).

As in many Unitarian Universalist congregations, our services vary in both content and character, and we often encourage newcomers to attend at least five or six services in order to experience fully the practice of worship at All Souls. Generally, however, the weekly format of our services is very similar to that of a liberal Protestant congregation.

We always light the chalice, the symbol of our faith, to begin the service, which includes a Unison Affirmation, various readings, hymns, prayer or meditation, and a central sermon or message — delivered by our minister Rev. Barbara Jarrell, a lay reader, or a guest speaker.

Readings come from various sources, including the Bible and the scriptures of other traditions, but may also include poetry, literature, philosophy, science, or even the morning newspaper (depending on the theme of the service).  Hymns and special music selections are also likely to come from a variety of sources and styles.

9.  Are you a Christian church?

The short answer is “Yes and No.”

Yes, we are “Christian” in the sense that our faith is deeply rooted in the Christian tradition. We respect and honor that tradition as well as the Jewish tradition that gave birth to Christianity and continued its independent growth alongside Christianity. We celebrate its holidays and teach our children its stories. We attempt to follow Jesus’ teachings and examples in how we interact with others both within our congregation and in the wider community.

No, we are not “Christian” in the sense that we would ask all prospective members to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior in order to achieve salvation. Our views on the concept of “salvation,” even on the meaning of the word itself, are as numerous as our members, and we feel that our coming together in community enhances and enriches our individual faith journeys… We do have members who identify themselves as Christian, and even some who have had a personal conversion experience. They are here because they appreciate the accepting, inclusive, and justice-affirming attitudes of our church.

However, many of our members are not Christian. Although they may acknowledge the Christian history of our faith, Christian stories and symbols are no longer primary for them. They draw their personal faith from many sources: nature, intuition, other cultures, science, civil liberation movements, and so on.  We cherish the rich tapestry created through our shared vision and our personal spiritual journeys in our community where those who are Christian and non-Christian work together for the greater good.

My purpose in sharing all that this morning is to hopefully challenge all of us to realize that there are people in our community, across our nation, throughout the world who, in the name of God, are promoting ideas that clearly violate the faith that was once and for all handed down to the saints.

And we have to understand that not only do these people exist, others are following them, joining them. Some of these people could be the person you work with, your next door neighbor, perhaps even a family member.

We have to decide what we are going to do? Do we just let it go or do we take a stand?What does God want us to do with information like this?

Small Books with Big Messages

With all that in mind, please turn to the book of Jude.

This morning we’re concluding a short series we’ve been doing entitled, Small Books with Big Messages. We are living in a time right now where the battle for absolute truth is raging. (When a worship gathering includes a reading from the morning paper…)

Not only is there a battle to identify the truth, there is also a battle to recognize the ways that truth ought to impact us. (Salvation in ways apart from Christ)

Each one of these books brings an important perspective to the question of how we relate to others in light of absolute truth.

2 John – we studied the importance of knowing and living the truth and how to relate to those who want to teach something contrary to the truth.

John says there are some false teachers that you cannot associate with, who you should not even invite them into your house or support them in any way.

You have to separate from them because you do not want to confuse or compromise the truth.

3 John — Pastor Matthew gave us an overview of the book and the impact walking in truth ought to have on us.

One of the important facets he brought out was how sometimes walking in truth can bring resistance.

Diotrophes loved to have the preeminence. He wanted to keep the church small and isolated so everyone would be exactly like him.

He had a habit of resisting the truth and making it hard on those who taught truth and accepted truth.

There are going to be people, that no matter what you do, will resist you and some may make it very difficult for you to walk in the truth without retribution.

So it begs the question, when others resist the truth, compromise the truth, or even follow their own form of the truth, do we stand up and fight or ignore it and them?

What does God say about being engaged in the battle for truth?

Big Idea: Believers Must Fight For the Faith.

This morning as we come to the book of Jude we see the clear purpose of this book is identified in verse three.

Read Jude 1-4.

God, through Jude, directs us to contend earnestly for the faith.

Appeal = to come alongside, urge, implore

Contend = to exert intense effort on behalf of something; it is not a passive term.

Evangelical Commentary on the Bible II. Reason for Writing (3–4)

It is a word from which we get our English agonize and was used in New Testament times of the struggle between wrestlers. The emphasis is upon great effort being expended

The faith = is the body of truths taught by the apostles that God entrusted to the saints.

The writer of this book is the half-brother of Jesus Christ.

What we mean by this is that after Jesus, Mary and Joseph had other children.

Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit while Mary was still a virgin.

Scripture tells us that Jesus had siblings who did not believe His message until after the resurrection.

John 7:5 “For not even His brothers were believing in Him.”

James, the author of the book that bears his name, who also was the pastor of the Jerusalem church, did not believe in Jesus at first.

Jude and James were brothers, making them half-brothers of Christ.

After the resurrection they became faithful followers of Jesus. Jude refers to himself in verse 1 not as Jesus’ brother or half-brother, but as what, a bond servant and brother of James.

We read in verse three that Jude initially wanted to write something encouraging to this church about their common salvation, but something necessitated the change.

Look again at Jude 4: For certain persons have crept in unnoticed.

Jude is calling us all to Engage. This is such an important book for our time.

We want to try and answer the question today, How can I engage in the fight for truth?

Time will not permit a thorough examination of this book, so like Pastor Matthew did last week, we will take a bird’s eye view of this powerful letter.

You Have to Know the Opposition (4-16).

Know their character (4)

We don’t know exactly who these people were. All we know is what Jude gives us.

They operate stealthily inside the church

crept in unnoticed — let that sink in for a moment…Jude calls us to fight not with those outside the church (governments, media, general community).

The fight here in Jude is because there are certain people who came into the church unnoticed — verb here means to get in by the side, to slip in by a side-door. It implies that their true character and motives were hidden.

Sadly what was happening here is also happening today. The church is allowing the falsehoods of worldly philosophies to creep in by allowing people to come in professing one thing and practicing another.

Or in the case I read earlier, basically everything is acceptable in the desire to be woke and affirming.

They pretended to be godly members of the Christian church.

Many churches today do not require membership or even discuss it. Others might have a loose agreement of membership.

In fact, many believers do not see the necessity for membership.

There needs to be very specific criteria (in contrast to holding any truth you want) for those who are considered members in the local church, for this very reason.

The church (the saints) has been entrusted with the truth and we must guard it by making sure the truth of Scripture and the essential truths of the gospel cannot, are not, and will not be compromised.

As a church, we cannot allow just anyone to come in and teach or hold positions of leadership who do not believe or practice the truth of Scripture.

There ought to be an expectation that those who claim Christ will choose to live biblically because they have been made completely new.

2 Cor 5 17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

Eph 4 17 “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk...

Their arrival and judgment was predicted long ago

These people did not take God by surprise. God knows all and sees all. Jesus spoke about these people, Paul talked about them. God will ultimately end them!

marked out (NASB); designated (ESV); written about long ago (NIV); ordained (KJV) = translate a word meaning “to write beforehand”.

Simply means other writers had sounded the warning about these apostates!

Jesus spoke of them in Matthew 7:15 ““Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

Paul in speaking to the Ephesian elders says in Acts 20:29-30 ““I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.”

So don’t be surprised to hear that in our own backyard we have churches that do not teach or practice the truth as it was delivered to the saints.

They are ungodly

They live without reckoning with God, as though He does not exist, therefore there is no need to honor Him as their Lord and Master.

Look at how many times Jude uses this word.

v.4, now look at verse 15, also v. 18

means living without regard for religious belief or practice; destitute of reverential awe of God;

in other words, they did whatever they wanted to do and could care less about what God thinks

They turn grace into a license for sin

turn (NASB); pervert (ESV, NIV) = has the sense of changing something from one thing into another, altering its very nature.

licentiousness = absence of moral restraint, often denotes sexual sin or some kind of gross debauchery, conduct that violates all bounds of what is socially acceptable.

They have taken the undeserved favor of God and turned into the freedom to do what ever they wanted to do, believing and teaching that there was nothing wrong with what they were doing. It is a freedom from the clear commands of God’s Word regarding personal holiness.

They deny the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

The evidence of the way they lived their lives pointed to a denial of Jesus’ lordship over them. The two titles “Master” and “Lord” stress Jesus’ complete authority and deserved submission from those who claim Him as Savior.

Jude doesn’t reveal how they were doing this but the construction of the text (present participle) indicates it was a continual action…which leads me to believe they simply did not walk in obedience…I know what God says but...

Know their end is certain (5-16)

What we have in these verses unpacks what is said in the previous verse.

These are illustrations that Jude uses to prove his point that their judgment is certain and deserving.

Three historical examples that warranted God’s judgment (5-7).

All three of these examples function as illustrations of the rebellion of these apostates.

Israel — most of the Israelites who left Egypt were not faithful. An entire generation died in the wilderness because of their unbelief.

Angels — Some angels remained in their first abode and obeyed God, while others chose to disobey.

Sodom & Gomorrah — what happened there is an example of what happens to those who turn from God to follow their own lustful natures. It serves as a foreshadow of judgment for those who deny God and ignore His warnings.

Actions of present day apostates also warrant judgment (8-16)

Reject authority (8-10)

They appealed to their dreams as their source of revelation and justification for a sinful lifestyle

defiled the flesh = polluted

Dreams were often viewed as communication from the gods, and in this context, they appealed to their dreams to say that sexual freedom was from God himself, that they transcended moral norms.

Some still use dreams today, others rely on science or societal norms for justification of their wickedness.

Reject authority = there is no accountability to live by the moral standard that God ordained

Spiritual irreverence

v. 9 — is a reference to Jewish tradition, not found in Scripture, rather gathered from extra-biblical writing, The Assumption of Moses. The people of Jude’s day were familiar with this story, so he used it to illustrate his point. Evidently the people Jude spoke of here had no respect for spiritual authority or angels. Jude contrasts their behavior with that of the archangel, Michael, who would not dare slander Satan, the chief of the fallen angels. Only God could do that!

v. 10 — they spoke abusively against what they did not understand. Their understanding was no better than animal instinct.

What they claim to be a progressive and better school of thought was nothing greater than what can be observed in the animal kingdom.

They lack spiritual discernment, yet they speak against anyone and anything.

See also verse 19 — devoid of the Spirit and cannot comprehend spiritual truth.

1 Cor 2 14 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

Walk in error (11)

Here we have three more OT examples of wickedness that Jude uses to pronounce judgment on the people of his day and to warn the believers of the dangers of following them.

They have taken the way of Cain — arrogantly devised their own form of worship, disobedience doesn’t matter

Balaam’s error — under the guise of serving God, he encouraged others to sin while seeking monetary gain from it.

Korah’s rebellion — rejected God’s ordained leadership of Moses and Aaron but in reality rejected God!

Jude is so confident in their destruction he writes it in the past tense = perished

Lead falsely (12-13)

Jude masterfully uses metaphors here to describe these people.

hidden reefs in your love feasts — is a reference to the destructiveness of these people. This word is also translated as stains, blemishes elsewhere.

They slipped in the side door of the church by attending the love feasts (similar to our communion and community). They ate together with the believers as if to say they were part of the family when the reality was they were dangerous to the body like a unseen reef to a ship.

Caring for themselves = shepherd — leaders who cared only for themselves instead of the flock.

Four metaphors from nature

Clouds without rain = deceptive = (farmers hope for rain but only get clouds) — nothing they say is substantive or refreshing — promise much, but deliver little

Autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead = useless = at harvest the tree is fruitless so it is pronounced dead, uprooted, then the dried up tree is burned = twice dead — bear no spiritual fruit

Wild waves of the sea = unruly = waves are unpredictable and forceful picking up debris and scattering it abroad. The evil committed by these people is forceful, untamed, unpredictable and impacts those around them.

Wandering stars = disobedient = navigation was often done by fixed stars in the sky (remember the wise men followed a star), these people pretend to be guides but instead are wandering stars and those who follow them will end up in everlasting darkness.

Please self (14-16)

Time will not permit a full disclosure — Jude’s point here is that these people need to be recognized as completely ungodly in every way and that their destruction is certain. It is to serve as a warning not to follow them.

Verse 16 identifies why they are so ungodly. Here is how one writer depicts these descriptions

The Bible Knowledge Commentary V. 16

Vocally discontented, sinfully self-centered, extravagantly egotistical, and deceptively flattering—such are apostates, then and today

Jude provides a huge brush stroke to identify these people and warns against following them. He then provides the guide for help!

You Have to Employ A Biblical Strategy (17-25)

Many of these need no explanation

Remember the Scripture — 17 - 19

Measure everything by the Word! (Stress the importance of Scripture memory)

Take advantage of every opportunity afforded to you to know the truth. (We don’t just meet at 11 am on Sunday. We also have Bible Study classes at 9:30. We have an adult small group on Sunday evening. In the very near future we hope to provide more. The point is if you are going to engage in the battle you have got to be prepared to fight. Prepare yourself by knowing the Word. Remember the Scripture.

How long are you engaged with what you hear on Sunday? Statistics show that during a given Sunday we retain only 30% of the message preached that day. By the end of the week it dwindles to less than 5%.

Build up your faith — 20

Again strengthen your knowledge of the truth. You have a responsibility to grow. The more you are built up in the faith, the less likely you are to be taken captive by worldly philosophies.

Colossians 2:8 “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”

Pray in the Spirit- 20

not speaking in tongues, but rather out of a heart that is mindful of the presence and power of the Spirit to take our requests before God, shows our dependence on God

Keep yourselves in the love of God — 21

does not mean to keep yourself saved (contradicts Scripture), rather doing your part to work out the practical implications of your new life in Christ

Phil 2 12-13 “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

Look forward to Jesus’ coming — 21

Are you expectingly waiting for the fulfillment of your salvation? Keeping our eyes fixed on the author and perfecter of our faith.

Stay engaged but don’t lose your focus!

Show mercy to others — 22-23

There are some believers who are confused and led to doubt, and we need to not criticize them or belittle them, but rather show them mercy. Build them up, don’t tear them down.

Others are about to fall into the fires of hell by entering eternity without Christ. Know who they are and make every effort to snatch them up.

Be careful — we are to have mercy on all people, but we must be careful to not get drawn into their wickedness and pollute ourselves

Rest in God — 24-25

This is one of the most beautiful benedictions in all of Scripture.

You can be engaged in the battle while being at rest in knowing God will keep you from stumbling. He will empower you to stand. He makes you blameless in Christ. He is the source of great joy!

Engaging in the battle is for His glory, His majesty, His kingdom, and on His authority!

Let’s ask for God’s help!