Sermon Tone Analysis

Our son, Josh, has been studying to become a Paramedic &, recently, he got to dissect the heart of a sheep

I found out that there are literal heart strings that stops the valves of the sheep’s heart from prolapsing (gives a new thought to the idea of someone tugging on your heart strings)

It got me thinking about how amazing the heart is - in one sense, it never rests

You may get sleep at night, but the heart has to keep pumping

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I then thought about the fact that the heart gets the first & richest supply of oxygenated blood from the lungs

All muscles require a steady supply of blood to provide them with fuel (oxygen and nutrients), and this is especially true of the tireless heart which consumes huge amounts of energy.

Even when resting, the heart consumes twenty times more oxygen than a resting skeletal muscle.

To meet this demand the heart has its own unique blood supply, known as the coronary circulation, which encircles the heart, supplying all parts abundantly, with roughly one capillary for each cardiac cell.

Remarkably, when the heart needs more oxygen, such as during exercise, the blood vessels widen allowing more fuel in, preventing the heart from tiring out.

(https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/health/health-conditions/how-does-the-heart-keep-beating-without-getting-tired)

Since the heart is such a vital organ, see how much attention the body gives to it?

I wondered to myself that, if the heart, which is so vital to our existence was neglected - say it didn’t get its vital supply of oxygenated blood - what would happen to your body?

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It seems to me that we have areas in our lives: family, work, social, spiritual, financial etc. that all have relative values

One bodily value, say the heart, ends up being utterly essential & should get the first pickings of the “oxygenated blood” so the rest of the body benefits

Like the heart, the walk we have with Christ should garner the greater supply of attention to make sure it stays strong & healthy & when life is exercised, that rich supply will keep us ticking over

The Christian life must get the best attention - equal to or greater attention than the other areas because without Christ, life is lived in darkness & despair

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After some very strong denouncements of false believers, Jude turns his attention to how, positively, the church can keep itself on track with God

That way is by “building yourselves up on your most holy faith” which, of course, is in stark contrast to what he warned the church of in v.3 - that of the loss of THE faith

Attention is needed; preference & priority is needed for THE faith that was once & for all handed down to the saints

We must give attention to “building ourselves up on our most holy faith”

That won’t happen if it is neglected - like a heart if it neglected & not given that rich supply of vital oxygen; THE faith, likewise, is in danger of collapse

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It may not happen overnight, but if a person is not careful, eventually, it may become so damaged that it might not recover

In life, & in living, we must always make the main thing the main thing

The minute we think that we are ok, while ignoring our conscience, is the minute we start the downhill run

People with heart issues get by ok - for a time - but I don’t need to tell you what ends up happening if nothing changes

Don’t let everything else in life, crowd out the most vital & important part of your life - Jesus

1. Warning from the Apostles

Q. Are you shocked by the reaction of a secular world to the things of God?

Q. Are you dumbfounded why they are so hostile to the idea & even the values of God?

Well, don’t be surprised says Jude - this is exactly what the apostles of the Lord foretold would happen

Even in the church, the impact of the world will be felt

If it’s really true that “all the world is a stage,” then God’s children should all get stage-fright.

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These Scriptures suggest to us that these predictions of the last time began to happen in the church of the 1st century

I point this out because many Christians think that these passages speak to the time that we are in today as some kind of fulfilment of prophecy

Yes, of course it is, but it was not peculiar to our day - it began to have effect in the days during the apostolic missionary period

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So even Peter on the day of Pentecost could quote the prophet Joel...

The last days could be said to have started from, at least, Pentecost - better to understand it as starting from the resurrection of Jesus Christ which clearly began to divide history, divide the ages, into this present age & the age to come

In Jesus’ resurrection, the future began realistically in that Jesus was raised to resurrected life & He is said to be the first fruits of those who died in Christ

God has put in place now the beginning of the future &, of course, this makes perfect sense

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Q.

How could the future not possibly be here?

We enjoy the fruit of the Spirit - the Spirit’s work in our lives - God resides in those who are disciples of Jesus

Forgiveness of sin is a reality, reconciliation with God is a reality

The future age has begun in parallel with this present age - which Paul calls in Galatians 1:4 “this present evil age” - this age which is under the powers of the evil one with people trapped in sin & darkness

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Men & women of the world have been blinded by Satan, are in darkness & are in slavery to their sin - it is an evil age

But the Christian has been freed from the hold of Satan, the hold of darkness & the hold of sin

Q.

How can this not be a foretaste of the age to come?

The full realisation of the age to come will happen with 3 things:

The coming of Jesus Christ; The resurrection of the dead & destruction &/or either renewal of the heavens & earth

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At present, however, the 2 ages exist side by side - not geographically side by side, but you could say the supernatural as opposed to the natural, side by side

Only Christians have the supernatural - which is God dwelling with us through His Spirit

The world, however, is the natural man, devoid of the Spirit

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This is why Jude speaks to those who cause division in the church

He refers to them as worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit

These people are operating on the basis & of the values of this present evil age & are living by its principles, the principles of a fallen world corrupted by sin & darkness

Their minds are set on the flesh & on what the world dictates - that can be none other than displeasing to God

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Q.

What causes people to walk away from the faith?

I’m sure we would be able to come up with a plethora of reasons

But one reason that would put many people off is a church that is loveless

When a church is raked with division, back-biting & malicious gossiping (whoever could think this could be found in a church of Jesus Christ, I don’t know) that church is on it’s deathbed

The key problem that Jude identifies is worldly-mindedness which are those, he says, are devoid of the Spirit

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John Stott on a number of occasions has described Christianity as a counter-culture

When we go out from our situation here, we end up in the world where ideas, values & actions often times conflict with our ideas, values & actions as Christians

What I’m saying is that we have quite the fight on our hands

To be in the world, but not of the world

To try & reach the lost & yet, hold on to our convictions

In the world as it stands now, it is getting very hard & I would think that it is harder now (in the west, at least) than in the last hundred years

2. The Activity of a Most Holy Faith

We turn now to the more positive aspect of this Epistle

Here is what the church should give attention to

I’ve called, Build, Pray & Love

2.1 Build, Pray, Love

The object of building yourselves up in your most holy faith is set against what Jude said at the outset of this Epistle where he warned these churches of the dire consequences of tolerating false teaching - where he says in v.3...

V.3 “...I found it necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints”.

Contend earnestly for THE faith - & now build yourselves up on your most holy faith

Interestingly, this involves the whole church community

As we know, the work of building requires the whole church to be involved

That is our role, to build up one another & to encourage - or to put courage in - to one another to live out the Christian faith & to glorify God in our lives

To build is contrary to tear down or demolish - it might be fun to demolish buildings & I have done that before, but it is a lot harder to build them

In other words, it is easier to tear down than to build up - building up will take love & commitment - but also truth

Part of building up yourselves in this Epistle means guarding the building as well - guarding the most holy faith

That means that the church should not tolerate everything that happens - the most holy faith can be demolished if the church isn’t building each other up correctly

To build up each other correctly has to do with keeping to the most holy faith

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Praying in the Holy Spirit - this sounds like some charismatic, mystic kind of praying

But it is not - the false teachers in these churches are, as he says in v.19, ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded & devoid of the Spirit

In contrast, the church is to pray in the Spirit

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Q.

To help us think on this, let me ask what it would mean to pray in the flesh?

We can see by these worldly-minded ones who cause division that their prayers would be all about me, me, me

Like Diotrephes in John’s Epistles who loved to be first - it was all about him

To pray in the flesh, would mean to pray along fleshly lines which would be all about the person & what benefits them

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To pray in the Spirit, would be to pray in accord with the fruit of the Spirit

To pray in the Spirit means to pray in the motivation of the Spirit which would be in accord with the will of God

Praying in the flesh would be, as an example, like praying for personal revenge

Q.

Which way do we lean in our prayers - flesh or Spirit?

Q.

What is good for me, or what is good for others & for the church?