Christ the King Keeps Us Faultless & Focused On Our Fight

11.21.21 [Jude 20-25] River of Life (Christ the King Sunday)

Jude is a book that is easily overlooked. For one, it’s short. The fifth shortest book of the Bible with just under 500 words in the original Greek. Secondly, it’s near the end of the Bible, right before Revelation. It isn’t as striking as Revelation. It isn’t as quotable as Romans or Ephesians. It doesn’t tell us much of anything about the person and work of the Christ. In fact, Jude only references Jesus 5 times.

Jude is a book that is easily overlooked. Part of that is because of the anonymity of the author. Jude doesn’t have the cache of Peter. He doesn’t have the missionary resume of Paul. Jude isn’t even an Apostle.

But Jude isn’t interested in attention for himself. He wants his readers to pay attention to a problem that is easily overlooked. So he gets down to brass tacks quickly. He identifies himself and his readers ever so briefly: (Jude 1) Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.

Throughout this short letter, Jude makes more references to the people and events of the Old Testament than he does to the life of Christ Jesus. The Exodus and Sodom and Gomorrah. Cain and Balaam. Korah and Enoch. Jude doesn’t hesitate to hit some of the deeper cuts of the Old Testament. That tells us that he is likely writing to an audience of Jewish converts—men and women who had grown up in the Law of Moses. And now that Christ had come and fulfilled the Law in their place, they were struggling to understand the role and function of the Law in their lives.

So, inspired by the same Holy Spirit who moved Peter and Paul and Isaiah and Moses to address God’s people, Jude urges his readers to (Jude 3) contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. Right away, that verb should grab our attention. Contend. Not study or review, but contend. Jude is telling us that God entrusting faith to us brings about a conflict, a contest, a struggle. This is the language of the stadium and the courtroom. Fight the good fight, with all your might.

Jude tells us with whom and what we are contending, too.(Jude 4) Ungodly people have slipped among the people of God and they are perverting the grace of our God into a license for immorality and denying Jesus Christ as our only Sovereign and Lord. And this is where our ears ought to perk up because Jude, the writer of this easily overlooked book, is identifying an easily overlooked problem. The name of that problem is licentiousness.

So what is licentiousness? Licentiousness is using the freedom we now have because Christ paid for all our sins to suit and serve our sinful nature instead of loving and serving our neighbor and glorifying God. In short, it is exploiting the forgiveness of sins. It is treating the mercy and grace of God like it gives us diplomatic immunity to break the laws. Peter gives us this great picture (2 Pt. 2:22) a sow that is washed returns to wallowing in the mud. As people who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, how can we return to the muck and mire of immorality and wickedness?

But we do and far too often we delude ourselves into thinking we’re doing better than we really are. One way that we delude ourselves is by comparing ourselves to those who are muddier, messier, and more immoral than we are at this moment. We know we aren’t perfect, but we can point out a half-dozen people who are doing sinful things that we would never do and aren’t doing some of the good things that we do occasionally. The real shmucks are domestic abusers, sexual deviants, murderers, thieves, pathological liars, and racists.

This is one of the devil’s favorite deflection tactics. We may not be abusing those we live with, but are we loving them sacrificially the way God has called us to? We may not be unfaithful to our spouses, but are we fleeing the many sexual temptations that are so prevalent in our culture? When sexually explicit scenes pop up in our entertainment choices, do we flee as Joseph did Potiphar’s wife or do we lust from the rooftops as David did over Bathsheba? We may not be convicted murderers, but are we not convicted when Jesus says anyone who hates his brother is a murderer? We may not be guilty of grand larceny, but are we grateful for all that God has given to us? Are we generous? Are we content? We may not be pathological liars, but aren’t we people who bend the truth to put ourselves in a better light? Aren’t we quick to deceive when we determine it is in our own best interest? We may not be professing racists, but are we quick to judge those we barely know? Even if we are not bigots, don’t we struggle to listen and love those who do not think or talk or act as we do?

Another way we wallow in the mud of our misdeeds is by scorning those who are contending for the faith. We disdain those who are spiritually self-disciplined. We mock those who keep a tight rein on their tongues. We roll our eyes when someone brings up the Bible. Instead of encouraging and imitating those who are spiritually mature, we treat them like Ned Flanders. We ought to be (Titus 2:14) eager to do what is good.

Remember what Jude called us to do? Contend. Fight the good fight with all your might. And this is where things get messy. They have to. Jude is telling you that your life as a Christian should be a struggle. So I have to ask. Where are you contending? Where is the struggle in your spiritual life, right now?

If it takes more than a few moments for you to answer that question, it could be because you aren’t really contending. You’re content to sit on the sidelines. Perhaps, as you look at where you were and where you are now, you think you’ve made enough progress. Maybe, after many years of fighting and struggling against your sinful nature, you’re worn down. You’re convinced that your struggles with sinful pride, selfishness, anger, anxiety, and worry will always plague you. Maybe you’re frustrated with sacrificially loving those who seem to be skilled at taking advantage of your Christian charity and love.

Are you fighting the good fight with all your might? (Jude 3) Dear friends, Christ is your strength. (Jude 17) Dear friends, who are weary of fighting and burdened by this struggle, look to Christ who lived for you, who loves you, who has taken away the heavy burden of being perfect and has replaced it with (Mt. 11:30) an easy yoke. (Jude 20) Dear friends, remain (Jude 21) in God’s love as God’s love remains in you.

Jesus gave his dear friends, his disciples, directions on how to keep themselves in God’s love as they waited for eternal life. In John 15, Jesus gives us this masterful illustration of what Jude encourages. (Jn. 15:5) I am the vine. You are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.

Do you see how Jesus contends with licentiousness? He doesn’t resort to its polar opposite—legalism. Jesus contends with licentiousness with his powerful and sacrificial love. Whenever Jesus sees sinners wallowing in the mud of their sin, he loves them. He goes after them. This is why Jesus was known as the friend of sinners. He broke bread with the tax collectors and the prostitutes. He invited himself over to Zacchaeus’ house for dinner. He washed the feet of Judas just hours before he would betray him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus was never ashamed to associate with those who were notorious sinners.

At the same time, he was never afraid to rebuke sinners. Jesus didn’t pull any punches with Nicodemus or Zacchaeus. When he sat down at the well with the Samaritan woman, he was the one who said that she was living in sin. Even when the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees recognized that they were disqualified from casting the first stone at that woman caught in an act of adultery, Jesus still declared to her: (Jn. 8:11) Go now and leave your life of sin.

Jesus loved sinners and he loved the Scriptures. He lived a life of strict spiritual self-discipline, but did so in a way that humbled himself instead of exalting himself. Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. He kept all the laws that we overlook and diminish. God’s Word was a lamp for his feet and a light for his path. That path led him to Calvary. There Jesus paid the price for all our faults and failings. There Christ was crucified for our licentious attitudes and actions. The Son of God was plunged into hell for all the times we wallowed in the mud of iniquities. The Son of Man did this because he is merciful. He came to save others from eternal condemnation. By standing in our place, he has snatched us from the fires of hell. Christ is our strength. And he imparts this strength to us through his means of grace—through Word and Sacrament. (Jn. 15:5) I am the vine. You are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Jesus has made you a promise. As you remain in Christ, as you engross yourself in God’s Word and partake of his Supper, you will be strengthened and spurred to contend for the (Jude 20) most holy faith. You will be prompted to pray in the Holy Spirit for God’s guidance and wisdom. You will be moved to ask God for patience and perseverance as you work out your salvation, as you strive to leave the mud behind and live as the cleansed child of God you are. We understand the purpose of the Law. First the Law drives us to our knees and shows us we need a Savior. Then the grace of God appeared. The Son fulfilled the Law in our place and now the Law is transformed. No longer is it the way we earn our salvation, but it directs us in how we can show our gratitude and thanks for all God has done. (Titus 2:11) God’s grace teaches us to say no to ungodliness and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age. And God helps us in this, too.

Jesus says: (Jn. 15:1) I am the true vine. My Father is the gardener. (Jn. 15:2) Every branch that bears fruit, the Father prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. Jesus is telling us how God builds us up, how he equips us to contend for the faith. He prunes us. He cuts back parts of us that we may think we need so that we might be more fruitful. So that God might present us (Jude 24) )without fault and with great joy.

(Titus 2:14) Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. And that is what you are, in Christ. Dear friends who are being built up in your most holy faith. Dear friends who pray fervently in the Holy Spirit for the ability and opportunity to do good works. Dear friends who are eager to show mercy, quick to listen and love, overjoyed to forgive those who have trespassed against us. Dear friends who are tough-minded enough to have tough conversations with people so that they might be snatched from the eternal fires of hell by the power of the Gospel. Dear friends who are tender-hearted enough to be gentle and merciful with those are dealing with doubts about God’s power and love and plan for their lives. Dear friends (1 Th. 2:4) who have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Gospel. We are not trying to please people—not even ourselves—but God, who tests our hearts. Dear friends who are eager to do what is good and right and knowing that we represent our king in everything we think, say, and do in this world. 2 Cor. 5:20 We are Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.