The Christian Response To Progressive Christianity

Recap

So far, the book of Jude has been a fiery expose on false teachers, false Christians, and apostates. By now, we know that Go has not changed. He still judges sin, and Jesus is God. By now, we know that the Old Testament is one with the new and that we should heed the stories we read there. God has nothing to repent for, but we do. So what’s our response to all this?

In a word, its faithfulness. Jude is going to give us three categories and that is our outline today. He’s going to mention the scoffers, the beloved, and God.

Scoffers

Jude 17–19 ESV

But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.

The first category is the scoffers, the mockers. Our passage begins with a command to remember the warnings of the apostles.

Remembering in the Scriptures does not involve mere mental recollection, as when we remember a person’s name that we had temporarily forgotten. Remembering means that one takes to heart the words spoken, so that they are imprinted upon one’s life (cf. v. 5).

Schreiner, Thomas R. 1, 2 Peter, Jude. Vol. 37. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003. Print. The New American Commentary.

Peter is one of the apostles who warned about this.

2 Peter 3:3–7 ESV

knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

We shouldn’t be surprised by people like this. These people overlook the fact that God judged wicked people in old ages and that there is a day of judgment coming for the wicked. Just because it has been so long doesn’t mean God doesn’t care.

4 things characterize scoffers. They follow their own ungodly passions, they cause division, they are worldly people, and they don’t have the Holy Spirit. To summarize, these people who claim to be spiritual, who claim authority from their dreams are worldly. The word in Greek can refer to someone’s mentality. They rely on their own mind and not God. This shows that they don’t have the Spirit. And because they do this, they teach false doctrine that divides people. It’s sad.

The Beloved

Jude 20–23 ESV

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

This section shows us how to respond to apostacy and apostates. We need to strengthen our faith. Again Thomas Schreiner has some wise words for us:

Jude recognized that his readers would not continue to be devoted to the faith if they concentrated only on resisting the opponents, as important as that was.

Schreiner, Thomas R. 1, 2 Peter, Jude. Vol. 37. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003. Print. The New American Commentary.

The best defense against losing your faith is strengthening it. That’s key! Those who have left the faith simply reveal that they were not serious about their faith to begin with. How do we get strong? We pray and we keep ourselves in the love of God. We remember what love is and we stay faithful to the biblical definition of love. That love is Jesus going to the cross for our sins. Love is expressed for God by obedience. That’s the love of God. And as we walk in obedience imperfectly, we trust that God will be merciful to us, because contrary to false teaching, God is not mean.

That same mercy is what we show to those who are doubting. Our attitude is one of compassion, unlike the unfortunate reputation that the church has come to have. We are not hostile to people who have questions. Doubt is not bad, it is quite natural, and it can serve as an on-ramp to deeper faith. Even John the baptist had a moment of doubt.

Matthew 11:2–3 ESV

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

Deconstruction is not bad if we are talking about doubts. It becomes bad when we don’t push into those doubts looking for real answers. In other words, don’t leave questions unanswered. We are to be patient with people who questions while not getting sucked into unbelief ourselves, so we must be serious about going deeper in our own faith. The text says “save,” which means to snatch people to harm, and in context, the harm of following their own sinful desires.

God

Jude 24–25 ESV

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.

Where’s the hope? The hope is that God’s got us. If we were left to ourselves to be faithful, we will all fall away. We need God to keep us steady, and this a promise that he will help us do that, blameless for the day of judgment! Jesus himself said,

John 5:24 ESV

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

What a promise!

Conclusion

Evil people will continue to chase their own instincts because they don't have the Spirit of God. Our response should be to keep ourselves in God's love by praying and waiting for God's mercy for us, since God is no longer our judge but our Savior. Since God still judges scoffers, we need to have compassion for these people who are headed to destruction, being ready to bring people back to the truth.

This passage is about the preservation and perseverance of the saints. Faithfulness is twofold, rejecting sin and loving righteousness. So we must reject Progressive Christianity and stay faithful to orthodox faith.