Jude Pt 4: The Disciple's Duty

 

May 22, 2022                 NOTES NOT EDITED
The Real Pandemic Pt 4:  The Disciple’s Duty
Jude 17-23

SIS:  It is not enough for the church to recognize false teaching, we must do something to combat it.

The Thrilla in Manila.  Even people who have no idea what that phrase stands for immediately recognize it.  It is the media description given to the final of three meetings of the two heavyweight titans of the “square circle,” Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier.  Without a doubt, these are two of the greatest heavyweight boxers to ever contend for the title:  Heavyweight Champion of the World.  This fight took place in 1975 in the Capital City of the Philippines, Manila.  The term, “Thrilla in Manila” was coined because of the rhyming expertise of the Pugilist Poet, Muhammed Ali.  Ali was known for his rhyming antics, such as “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.  You can’t hit what you can’t see.”  In the prefight promotions for the Manila fight, Ali disparaged Frazier by nicknaming Frazier, “The Gorilla.”  Ali then poetically punched Frazier saying, “"It will be a killa and a thrilla and a chilla when I get the Gorilla in Manila.”  Hence, “Thrilla in Manila” became the title for one of the greatest boxing matches in the history of boxing.  It was a brutal fight.  At the end of the ninth round Ali was exhausted.  He said to his trainer, “This is the closest I’ve been to dying.”  When Frazier rose from his chair for round 13, his eyes were nearly swollen shut.  By the 15^th and final round, both fighters could barely stand.  Round 14 had been particularly brutal for Frazier.  Frazier’s manager signaled to end the fight before the bell of the 15^th round.  The trainer felt Frazier could not, and should not go on.  What Frazier’s corner didn’t know is that after the 14^th round Ali told his trainer to cut off his gloves because he was finished.  The trainer ignored Ali’s requests.  Ali would later admit, “ "Frazier quit just before I did. I didn't think I could fight anymore.”

Boxing is a brutal contest.  Sometimes, the winner is as beat up as the one declared the loser.  The final of three matchups between Ali and Frazer lived up to it’s nickname:  “The Thrilla in Manila.”

Today, I want to talk about another fight—a much more brutal and a much more important fight.  This is the fight Jude calls, “contending for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.”  Let’s read today what Jude says about a “Disciple’s Duty to Contend for the Faith”.

(CSB) ¹⁷ But you, dear friends,Œ remember what was predicted by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ They told you, “In the end time there will be scoffers living according to their own ungodly desires.” ¹⁹ These people create divisions and are worldly, not having the Spirit. ²⁰ But you, dear friends, as you  build yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. ²² Have mercy on those who waver; ²³ Ž save others by snatching them from the fire; have mercy on others but with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

There are three distinct commands given in this section which can be spotted because they are in the “imperative mood” according to the grammar. Every verb has a tense—past, present, future; a voice—active or passive; and, mood such as indicative, imperative, and sujunctive. There are actually more than three, but there are three very distinct imperatives. The imperative mood represents a command to “do” something.  In this passage we are told to do three things in regard to false teachers in the church and world:  “remember the apostles teaching; keep (stay, wrap, guard) ourselves in God’s love; and save (snatch, rescue) others from the fire.”

God’s three commands in regard to dealing with the “fake news” and “false teachers” of our day are to:  1. EDUCATE; 2. INSULATE; and 3. INITIATE.

1.  EDUCATE ourselves (v17)

(CSB) ¹⁷ But you, dear friends, remember what was predicted by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Remember the apostles.”  This is not the first time Jude tells us to remember something.  In verse 5 Jude said, “now I want to remind you though you know all these things.” 

DOCTRINE MATTERS! We can never get too much Bible teaching.  In fact, the current state of Bible literacy is abysmal. 

According to a recent Southern Baptist survey through our educational division, LifeWay, only 20% of Americans have read the Bible completely just one time.  Only about the same number, 22%, say they read a little bit every day.  This neglect of the Word of God is the reason for so much error in the church and world today.  When the Bible is neglected, doctrine suffers.  Less than half (47%) of Americans believe the Bible is 100% accurate.  About half (51%) of Americans believe that the Bible was written so that each person could interpret it any way he or she chooses.  Three out of four people (74%) do not believe that even the smallest sin deserves eternal punishment.  Almost 8 out of 10 (77%) people believe that an individual person must contribute (work for) their salvation.  Almost half of all Americans (45%) believe there are many ways to get to heaven.

The depth of Biblical ignorance in American churches has directly contributed to doctrinal error in the church and “false teaching” outside of it.

According to Southern Seminary president, Al Mohler, “multiple surveys reveal the problem in stark terms. According to 82 percent of Americans, "God helps those who help themselves," is a Bible verse. Those identified as born-again Christians did better--by one percent. A majority of adults think the Bible teaches that the most important purpose in life is taking care of one's family. A Barna poll indicated that at least 12 percent of adults believe that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife. Another survey of graduating high school seniors revealed that over 50 percent thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife.” (Albertmohler.com).

What Jude is pointing out is:  doctrine matters!  But, apparently it doesn’t seem to matter much to Americans, either in church or out.  Throughout the N.T. we are warned to preach and practice sound doctrine.  For example, Paul said to his young protégé, Timothy:

2Tim.1:13^{(CSB) 13} Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Another young protégé of Paul’s was Titus. Paul left Titus in Crete, a Greek Island in the Mediterranean Sea.  Paul had preached the gospel there earlier, but false teachers had come in and were destroying God’s work.  Paul’s advice to Titus about how to correct this problem was Titus 2:1 (CSB):

 ¹ But you [Titus] are to proclaim things consistent with sound teaching.

A major part of the remedy for false teaching is to educate ourselves in the sound teaching of the Bible.  Each of us should be able to answer any and all objections launched against the Truth.  We should be able to give a biblically-based, scientific answer to those who believe the false teaching of evolution.  We should be able to give a biblically-based, scientifically sound answer for why “quantum tunneling” cannot create something out of nothing.  We should be able to give a biblically-based, philosophically reasonable answer for why Critical Race Theory is nothing more than the lie of Marxism in academic disguise.  There is a biblically-based, rational answer for any and every false idea floating around in the ether of today’s world.  This is why we must EDUCATE ourselves so that we can address the false ideas of the world with the foundational Truth of God’s Word. 

The first duty of a disciple is to EDUCATE oneself by “remembering the Apostles teaching.” Second, we need to

2.  INSULATE ourselves against the errors of the world.

(CSB) ²⁰ But you, dear friends, as you build yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life.

To help you better understand the primary emphasis in these two verses, let me give you another quick lesson in Greek grammar.  I’ve already told you that the major force of this entire text (17-23) swings on the hinges of three primary verbs in the imperative mood—the grammatical structure of giving a command.  Verses 20-21 represents one long sentence and the main verb is, “keep.”  The other verbal forms, “build up (actually building up), praying, and waiting” are verb forms called, participles, or -ing words.  The imperative tells us WHAT to do, and the participles tell us, HOW to do it. So, a good translation of this verse would be:

²⁰ But you, dear friends, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, by building yourselves up build in your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit, and by waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life.

Now, let’s look a little deep at what it means to “keep ourselves in the love of God.”  The word, “keep,” means to “guard, watch carefully, or preserve.”  The idea is to “keep, as in, not lose something.”

Think of insulating a house.  We insulate a house so that we do not “lose” the heat in the house to the cold environment outside of the house.  What Jude is referring to in regard to “keeping in the love of God,” is to prevent losing the “heat of our faith” by reckless contact with the world.  It is about “guarding our hearts.”  It is not enough to EDUCATE ourselves by learning what is right and wrong, we also must INSULATE ourselves so that we do not lose our love for the Lord.

I am not talking about “Isolating” ourselves from the world, but I am talking about “Insulating” ourselves while in the world.  If we do not “INSULATE” ourselves while we engage with lost people, our love will grow cold.

This is why every Christian must get their children out of government controlled, forced schooling.  We do not want to isolate our children, but we want to insulate their hearts.  We want to make sure they are adequately “wrapped in the insulation of God’s love” so that they will not lose the hot passion for serving Him.  Listen to what Paul says to Timothy about keeping the fire of devotion to God ablaze.  The NIV gives a better translation of this verse by saying,

2 Tim 1:6 (NIV84) For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

When we are not careful in our interactions with the world, our love for Jesus and devotion to God will “lose heat” and grow cold.  Jude is talking about what will take place in the “end times” (v18, CSB):

They told you, “In the end time there will be scoffers living according to their own ungodly desires.”

In the Last Days, or End Times, the characteristic of the church, and therefore the community at large is what Matthew describes:

Matthew 24:12 (CSB) Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold.

To keep from losing our “hot passion” for the Word of the Lord and the Lord of the Work, we need to wrap ourselves in the insulation of God’s love in three important ways.  One, “building ourselves up.” This word refers to the building of a structure and is used in the N.T. to describe the relationship between believers, or fellowhip.  Eph. 2:20-22 explains the individual Christians important role in the fellowship of the Church:

²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. ²¹ In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²² In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.

Second, we stay INSULATED in the love of God by, “praying.” That speaks for itself. Third, Jude tells us we keep INSULATED in the love of God by, “waiting expectantly for the Lord.”  Nothing will help you avoid being overly entangled with the world is to realize that this old world will one day be completely destroyed by fire and brimstone.

Consider what happens with an ice cube and why we need to INSULATE OURSELVES FROM THE WORLD.  When you put ice in water, it has an immediate influence on the water.  It changes the water.  However, as time goes on, the water changes the ice and the ice becomes water. 

We “contend earnestly for the faith” against false teaching by EDUCATING ourselves, INSULATING ourselves

3.  INITIATING ministry with the Lost (22-23)

²² Have mercy on those who waver; ²³ save others by snatching them from the fire; have mercy on others but with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

This is some of the strongest evangelistic language in the N.T.  “Save others by snatching them from the fire!”  This reminds me of how Zechariah 3:1-2 (CSB) describes salvation:

¹ Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord, with Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. ² The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! May the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”

A lost person has one foot in the flames of hell. The gnarled hand of of the Devil has a death grip on the soul of the lost and is literally dragging them into the eternal flames of the abyss.  We are God’s Firemen and Firewomen, snatching souls from the flames of eternal damnation. 

When I said earlier that we need to INSULATE ourselves from the world I DO NOT mean we are to ISOLATE ourselves from it.  Absolutely not!  With the love of God wrap tightly around us we must INITIATE contact with the lost world to bring them the message of salvation.

This was the summary of the Lord’s Prayer in John 17, particularly verses 15-16 (CSB): ¹⁵ I am not praying that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

Simply stated, the Bible says, “we are to be IN the world, but not of the world.”  We are like a ship sent to sea on a mission.  There is no problem with the ship being in the sea as long as the sea doesn’t get into the ship.  Our mission is to sail into the sea of the world to rescue lost souls.  It is our job to INITIATE the meeting.  The gospel begins with G-O.  The Great Commission is:  Ya’ll go, not ya’ll come!

We are God’s Firemen on a mission to snatch souls from the fires of hell.

It is said of Firemen, “They are the brave souls that run into a burning building when everyone else is running out.”  That takes INITIATIVE and a degree of courage that is almost superhuman.

That is our mission as believers:  to charge the gates of hell and snatching souls from the fire of damnation.  It takes a great deal of INITIATIVE and courage to perform our Duty as Disciples.

The Disciple’s Duty is to “contend for the faith.”  It is a battle against the false teachers of the world that would destroy the souls of men, women, and children with false teaching.  As disciples of Christ we must EDUCATE ourselves about the world with the Word as our guide.  We need to INSULATE ourselves from the evil influences of the world by wrapping ourselves in God’s love through the fellowship of His church; and we need to INITIATE ministry to a world that is sliding down a deep slope of disinformation right into the fires of an eternal hell.