Greetings from a Slave of Christ

Transcript

GR 2292
06/21/2020
Greetings from a Slave of Christ
Jude 1-2
Gil Rugh


We are going to begin a short study of a short book, the book of Jude, one-chapter book. I was reading through commentaries on the book of Jude, they make comments like this is the most neglected book in the Bible, maybe for a couple of reasons. One, it is sometimes viewed as very negative because it is a book that has a lot of judgment for a short letter. It is also very similar in content to the second letter of Peter and his second chapter. So when you study 2 Peter you think when we did 2 Peter 2 we covered most of what is in, it seems, the book of Jude. So it gets left out, some of those reasons. But we're going to walk through it in the coming weeks because it is a very important book and very pertinent. One commentator wrote in his commentary done in the 1970s that it might be the most pertinent message in our days of apostasy, and for sure things have not improved in the last 40+ years.

It is written to address the issue of apostasy, the error, heretical teaching that was infiltrating in among believers and was not being recognized and dealt with. In fact it was being handled in some sense like it's not that big a deal and Jude is very concerned. It is a heresy, an error, as always the case it is both doctrinal and moral, it has to do with the teaching, it has to do with the conduct and we'll see as we work through this epistle.

As I mentioned it is very similar, the letter of Jude, to 2 Peter 2. And you can go and read almost any of the commentaries you pick out on Jude or 2 Peter, they will talk the pros and cons. Did Jude copy from Peter, did Peter copy from Jude? One writer that I think is very good and I've profited from said what Peter prophesies shall come to pass Jude records as having taken place. His view is Peter wrote prophesying these things would happen and Jude now is using Peter and just updating it saying these things are now happening. So he thinks that Jude is using Peter's writing. Another commentator that I've found very helpful says 2 Peter appears to have been written after Jude. In the second chapter of the epistle lifts many texts dealing with the error straight out of Jude. And this is the way it goes as you read and they'll give you their list and reasons why they think Jude used Peter's writing and copied from it or Peter used Jude and back and forth it goes and I don't have any idea. Or whether the Spirit directed them separately. I don't have any problem if one of them used the other's writings; since both are writing under the inspiration of the Spirit what they write is true. And I don't know that it can be resolved, and it doesn't make any difference in interpreting the letter. So I'll leave you to work on that. The fact that the Spirit would direct Peter or Jude to use the other person's writing is still, when he is directed to write it, inspired Scripture. It's like Luke when he did his writing. He said while he examined, talked to people, gathered the evidence and then under the direction of the Spirit he wrote it. So it's not a problem of Jude trying to be dishonest and use Peter's material, or Peter being dishonest using Jude's material. The Spirit is directing both men and they are writing as the Spirit would have them to their particular audience.
Jude begins… short letter, long letter, they begin basically the same way in biblical times like our letters. We have somewhat of a standard format, you'll start a certain way and you end a certain way, and Jude does the same thing. The first two verses are what we call the salutation. He identifies himself as the writer, he identifies his recipients, and he gives them a word of greeting, that's the standard way. We usually identify the recipient in our letter, dear so-and-so, then we sign our name off at the end. They put both of that at the beginning of the letter which makes sense since these would be letters circulated out.

So we'll pick up right where Jude does. “Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ.” Jude, it's a very common name in the Bible. In the Hebrew Old Testament it is Judah so we see Judah, it's one of the tribes, one of the key tribes, of the tribe of Judah, that's the name Jude. In the New Testament there are five men identified by this name. The Greek text that has been somewhat adjusted for the book of Jude, the name is Judas so that's what it is in the Greek text here, Judas. Maybe perhaps because of the detrimental association with Jude, that apostate, but there were two of the apostles named Judas. So it's a common name. Jude, that abbreviation, and we have adjustments of name all the time, we shorten it, adjust it. When we had a Hebrew guide in Israel on our first trip over there, his name was Yehudah, but you called him Yudah, it's just an abbreviation of Yehudah, the shortened form. So that's what we have here, we have Jude. But I mention it because if it weren't for an identification he is going to make, we wouldn't know which one of the Judases, we could eliminate Judas Iscariot the betrayer, but of the other men we wouldn't have any way of assuredly identifying him.

But he identifies himself further, but at this point he just identifies himself first as a bondservant of Jesus Christ. And have to look at that a little bit. And that's an accurate translation, but the word order is a little different in the Greek text here. Of Jesus Christ comes first, of Jesus Christ a slave. And it puts some stress and emphasis on the person of Jesus Christ; I am the slave of Jesus Christ, we would put it, but as you would read it here, of Jesus Christ a slave. So that's his first way of identifying himself. One writer put it “as a slave all rights over his life and property belong to the master.” I wrote an extensive definition and explanation of the word ‘dulos.’ We have it translated bondservant in our English Bible, the New American Standard translation translates it bondservant, some of the other translations just have servant, for whatever reason it has not usually been translated a slave. But this expansive Greek dictionary on this word says the slave was on the lower level of humanity, by law the slave was classed with immobile goods, had no rights at law, could not own property, even his family did not belong to him, it was the property of the master, and on it goes. What you would identify was a slave, you were the property of another. Remember Paul wrote to the Corinthians, you are not your own, you have been bought with a price. Jesus said, why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and don't do what I tell you, you don't obey Me? I am the Lord, I'm the Master, you are the slave, you should be doing what I tell you. What is the problem here?

In that sense Jude brings it right up to the front. All of us believers need reminded of that because we get caught up with our own rights, what we should be getting, how this should be affecting us. I say wait a minute, I am a slave of Jesus Christ, it's His will that matters. We talk about the sovereignty of God as we have been in our study of Romans and say God is sovereign, He is over all, He is in control. As the slave I have no right to complain about what He is doing. Do I think that all of a sudden it is out of control? Do I think He no longer is in charge? So the reality of what it means to be a slave under the total control of the master. He bought us, you are not your own, you have been bought with a price. We talk about that word in the context of salvation, the purchase from the slave market. We did it in Romans 6, you were the slaves of sin, now you are the slaves of righteousness; you were slaves of the devil, now you are slaves of God. But we alter that, I'm not giving up all my rights. Well, if you are truly saved you have given them up, It's not your life, it's not your body as Romans 6 is talking about, it is to be used consistent with His will as revealed in the Word.

So using this word in biblical times where some estimate over half of the population, in Rome for example, would have been slaves, they well knew what a slave was. But Jude here I don't think is just talking about that I am a slave, I have no rights, and the status of society, I am a nobody. I don't think that's what his emphasis is here. It will always carry the idea I belong to another and it's His will I am carrying out. But with that, let me read you a couple of comments from some commentators that base it on the Greek text that I think are helpful. First, this one commentator says as a slave all rights over his life and property belong to the master, who in Jude's case is Jesus Christ. Jude's high Christology is implicit in this identification. We need to be reminded of that. When we are complaining as believers, are we complaining against our Master, about our Master? I am proud to tell people I am secure in these days of turmoil, I belong to the living God. He controls my live, He directs my steps, He sifts whatever comes into my life and then they hear me complain, dissatisfied, unhappy. What am I really saying? I am unhappy with what the decisions of my Master happen to be at this time. I don't see why I should have to submit to what I don't like. That's not good theology.

But this commentator goes on and I think we want to have the balance to appreciate Jude is saying that he is under the absolute control and authority of Jesus Christ. But Jude's readers being familiar with the biblical narrative in addition to the social fabric of ancient society would have understood this seeming self-deprecating identification within the frame of divine service. Both in Greek and Jewish thought the slave of God was a person who rendered service to the deity. In Israel these persons are leadership figures who proclaim God's message, such as Moses, and he gives the scripture passages for this which I won't take time to do, Joshua, the prophets like Jeremiah, Amos, in the New Testament Paul, James, Peter, Titus. He gives you the idea it's not just saying I am nobody, I'm just a slave, I acknowledge I have no rights, no authority that belongs to me in and of myself. But as a slave of the living God I derive a certain importance and relevance. You wouldn't say Moses was just nobody, and when Korah in Numbers 16 led a rebellion against Moses, he suffered the final punishment, immediate death. Moses would have been but a slave of the living God, but that's what gave Moses importance also. It was the one who was his master.

So he goes on to say, the higher the social status of the master, the more weighty the power of the slave. Since Jude is the slave agent of Jesus Christ, the One who holds the highest position for us as believers, we should understand his self-designation as a claim to authority, divine commission. That would lead to the inspiration of his letter. Standing behind him is Christ Himself. This is not just a mere statement of humility, it is a humility in a sense Jude recognizes his rightful place in relationship to Jesus Christ. But he also recognizes, I come to you with the authority of my Master, so that what he is writing in this letter is just not the words of an unimportant, nobody slave. This comes from the One that this slave represents, and He can only be disobeyed with serious consequences.

Another commentator writes along the same state. They all have to acknowledge and want us to be clear the Greek term for servant used here in Jude is ‘dulos,’ meaning slave, which was not a high status position in society. But then he gives examples of men who are free but use this term of themselves in the New Testament, like Paul. This combination of terms, like Paul calling himself an apostle and a slave, we say apostle that was a position of importance but a slave was the position not so important. So you put the two together because he is a slave of Jesus Christ. This combination of terms indicates that in the minds of the users of servant or slave, it is not a term of humility per se, I'm just a nobody, but an indication that in their eyes their status comes not from themselves, but from the One to whom they belong whose delegate they are. Thus servant or slave is clearly an honorific term if it is connected with Jesus, like ‘of Jesus’ or ‘of the Lord.’ Not because of the personal honor status of the slave but because of the honor status of the owner. It is not that Jude himself has any authority or that Jude himself has personal social status, but he participates in a larger story in which there is a sovereign whose authority Jude represents. This is humility, but it is humility that also recognizes his delegated authority.

I think that's why he puts it up front here, Jude, of Jesus Christ a slave. Now he doesn't exalt himself as though he had his own personal importance, my life is not my own, I've been bought with a price. But it is of Jesus Christ I'm a slave. That makes all the difference.

Come back to the Old Testament for an example he is one. 2 Samuel 10, just an example here of a slave or slaves and their delegated authority. In 2 Samuel 10:1, “Now it happened afterwards that the king of the Ammonites died, and Hanun his son became king in his place. Then David said, ‘I will show kindness to Hanun,’ ” David is king here, as you are aware, “the son of Nahash, just as his father.” So David had a good relationship with the father of Hanun the new king, and that father had shown kindness to David and David wants to return the favor. “So David sent some of his servants,” or slaves, “to console him concerning his father. But when David's servants came to the land,” and keep in mind that word servants is slaves, “the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun their lord, ‘Do you think that David is honoring your father because he has sent counselors,’ his slaves, ‘to you?’ ” He really sent his slaves to spy out the land and overthrow it. So this new king listens to these advisors and verse 4, they shaved half their beards off, they cut their garments at the hips and then they sent them away; they humiliated his slaves. What's the difference? They are just slaves, the king doesn't have to honor slaves. He does when they are David's slaves because David is king in Israel. So verse 5, “When they told it to David, he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly humiliated.” Do you know what this is going to end up in? War. Do you know what is going to happen to the Ammonites? Over 40,000 are going to be killed in war. Why? You humiliated the servants of King David. You see it is whose slave you are that matters. If the slave of a nobody in Israel was disrespected by the king of the Ammonites, well, the king can disrespect slaves, but he cannot disrespect David's slaves because David is the king. And the authority and importance of these slaves is derived from the one who is their master.

That is what is happening in the New Testament. So what happens when you disrespect Paul who is a slave of Christ you really are disrespecting Christ. If you don't take seriously Jude's message, you are disrespecting the One that Jude serves. That is what gives his letter weight and authority, if you will.

Come to Luke 1, and this is when Gabriel is sent to Zacharias, the one who will be the father of John the Baptist. And he tells him that he and his wife are going to have a son and that son will be John the Baptist and he will be the one who will have a great position to introduce the Messiah. Verse 14, “You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord… he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God,” he will be the forerunner in the spirit of Elijah. That was prophesied in the Old Testament. This is something. Zachariah and his wife don't have any kids and they are not able to, now this angel Gabriel comes and tells him. And verse 18, “Zacharias said to the angel, ‘How will I know this for certain?’ ” How can I be sure this is going to happen? “For I am an old man, my wife,” he doesn't call her an old lady, he says she “is advanced in age,” that was nice. “The angel answered and said to him, ‘I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you.’ ” You know what he is saying is I'm a slave of God, I've come from the presence of God to tell you this, to bring you this good news. What do you mean, how do you know it is going to happen? It's not because Gabriel is so important, all he does is stand in the presence of God like any servant would, waiting for instructions, waiting to be told to carry out the will of the master. But when you disrespect Gabriel, will the word of God come true? What kind of proof do you need besides ‘thus says the Lord’? I come from the presence of God with a message from God. It's like David's messengers, not to put David on that level, but you see the comparison. The slave, his message has weight because it is a message from the master. Hebrews 1:14 tells us angels are just ministering servants sent to serve the heirs of salvation. We say they are very important. We're going to talk about angels being disrespected in the book of Jude.

So come back to Jude. All of that to say Jude presents himself with humility. I don't want to say, and he is going to identify himself further in a moment, but it's not personal importance, I am but a slave, but I am a slave of Jesus Christ. So this whole letter takes on great importance, not because primarily who Jude was personally but the person he represents. So of Jesus Christ a slave.

“And brother of James.” Now we can begin to identify which Jude in the New Testament are we talking about here. We haven't looked at the other ones, you can get commentaries, I didn't want to take the time and identify Jude, identified in different ways. Here this Jude is the brother of James and I take it this James is the one who is identified as the brother of the Lord. Go to Galatians for that identification before we go back a little bit earlier. But in Galatians 1 Paul is talking about a visit he made to Jerusalem and the important people there, important in the early history of the church, that he visited with. Verse 18, “Three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas,” that's Peter, “…I didn't see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord's brother.” And in this context he was the leader of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, James there identified as the leader and that's who Paul is talking about here, he is the brother of the Lord.

Come back to Matthew 13. We are not told much about Christ's physical family during His earthly ministry. Jesus was the firstborn child of Mary, then Mary was joined in marriage to Joseph and they had multiple children together, at least six and maybe more. Look in Matthew 13:55, this is when, verse 54, Jesus comes to His hometown. So this is where He grew up, where His family lived, so they knew Him. I went back East early in my time here and some people, one of my mother-in-law's friends said, you just remember Gil, I knew you when… Yes. So that's what they are doing here. He came and began to teach and they are saying where did He get so much knowledge? He is the son of the carpenter Joseph and Mary His mother. Well, He is not really the physical child of Joseph, but this is how He was recognized in that family. Now note what is said in verse 55, “Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?” That's Jude, that's the same exact form of the word as we have it in the letter we are talking about that starts out Judas. That has been adjusted into Jude and when they translated it into English, again maybe because of the negative connections in Judas, I don't really know. But here are four brothers, and then you have Christ, and then “His sisters, are they not all with us?” That's why I said there are at least six siblings because sisters is plural, that would imply at least two. We don't know. There were four brothers, maybe there were four sisters, maybe there were five sisters, we know there were at least two. And you see here, his brothers, first one named is James and he does become very prominent because this is the James that wrote the letter that bears his name, James.

So where are they? They weren't believers, Mark 6:3 gives the same identification. Let me just say something about that word brothers, ‘adofos.’ Roman Catholicism has translated that cousins because they teach the perpetual virginity of Mary. Roman Catholics can do that because the Bible is not their ultimate authority, their ultimate authority is the church. That's why only the church can authoritatively… the Roman Catholic church and its hierarchy with the Pope and his cardinals and so on, they are the only ones who can accurately and correctly tell you what the Bible means. But they also have an authority beyond the Bible to create doctrines and that's just as authoritative as supporting it in scripture so they don't have to have scripture's authority. So when the Pope speaks with the authority of his position ex cathedra, that is authoritative, it's not just scripture so they can declare things to be so. But in the translation here of the Greek word for brothers, they say it really means cousins, but you can't find any Greek authority who says that there is any evidence for that. I didn’t pursue it extensively again but the limited amount I did, those who deal with the Greek text say there is no authority from Greek for translating this as cousins. So at any rate, just an aside because you wonder what do the Roman Catholics do with this with the perpetual virginity of Mary. Well, they say this means cousins. And they don't have to have biblical authority for all these things because if the church has declared it to be so, it is so, and you have that with decrees given down through the history of the church. That's an aside, but that becomes an issue in that.

Come over to John 7, and this is during Jesus' earthly ministry, and verse 1 says “After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee.” Now Galilee, as you are aware where the Sea of Galilee is, is north of Jerusalem, Jerusalem is the capital and that's the center of Judaism. Of course, that's where the temple is and the high priest and so on are located. So Jesus is in Galilee, “He was unwilling to walk in Judea” where Jerusalem is, in the southern part, “because the Jews were seeking to kill Him.” So He has moved out of that center of opposition to Him, which is the center of Judaism. There is a feast coming up, the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths. “Therefore His brothers,” and we just read their four names, “said to Him, ‘Leave here and go into Judea so that Your disciples also may see the Your works which You are doing,” for no one does them in secret. And the reason they talk like this, it's a mocking. Verse 5, “For not even His brothers were believing in Him.” Now it is amazing, and we don't have any details, we only had that one little window open when Jesus was twelve and went up with His parents. And you wonder, what is going on in the family? Here you have the sinless Son of God being raised as a normal human boy and this family with four brothers and some sisters, you would think they would have been somewhat impressed and in awe. Again, Roman Catholicism and some of the books not considered canonical but accepted, Jesus when He was a kid would make clay birds and then touch them and they would fly off. There is nothing here that makes these… because Jesus does not begin His public ministry until the baptism of John when He is thirty years of age. The indication we have is that during His life His own brothers didn't believe that He was really… and that's even when they come to adulthood. Here Jesus is an adult, has been teaching His brothers, I take it, having a large family like this, we assume His father must have died along the way because he is not mentioned.

Later, like when we get to the book of Acts, come over to Acts 1:14, where they are joining together. Christ has been crucified, He has been raised from the dead, He has appeared, He has ascended to heaven, that's down through verse 11. And the believers now are meeting near Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives. Some of you have been there, some of you are anticipating the opportunity to go there. They returned to the city, they go to an upper room and they are joined together in prayer. And you have named here Peter, John, James, and you have notes there often with the name James, as you have here and in the margin of your Bible ‘or Jacob’ because it is really the name Jacob, but when it was brought into English they brought it over as James. ‘Yakob,’ you can hear Jacob, ‘Yakob.’ But they carried it over as James. So that's why you have the marginal note ‘or Jacob’ because the Greek would be for the name Jacob. But I don’t have a big thing about it , it doesn't matter, but just an explanation why you have that little #1 for example in verse 13 with James. Well, is that Jacob? How does that connect to James? All those Jameses are really Jacobs. So you just keep that, it's not that you have a different person here. So that James would have been, I take it, the brother because we are told, verse 14, “These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.” Wait, last time we talked about those brothers they didn't believe in Him, in Matthew 13. But now they are believers and we are told in 1 Corinthians 15:7 that Jesus after His resurrection did appear to James and we assume that in that kind of context, because there were multiple appearances as you are aware. But as Jesus lays them out… because of James' importance, he is not saved evidently until after the resurrection of Christ who was His half-brother, then he becomes very important. And remember the Jews had a headstart like Paul did. When a Jew, a committed Jew, came to trust Jesus as the Messiah they had already been saturated with the Old Testament. That's why Paul had a running start because he knew the Old Testament so well. He didn't understand it until he got saved, but he didn't have to go back and read those stories and for the first time he read about something in the Old Testament. He was a Pharisee, he was an expert in the Old Testament. So it would have been with James. So by the time we move along in the book of Acts James becomes the key figure in the church, superseding Peter. Peter is recognized as important, but when the church meets, centered in Jerusalem, it is James who is in charge of the meeting, Peter will play a role but everybody looks to James. So these brothers come into importance, James particularly, that's why Jude identifies himself.

Now we can come back to the book of Jude. But he is the brother of James, why does he do that? That identifies him more specifically. Who are we talking about here? We are talking about this brother of the Lord, this one who was raised with Christ but he doesn't use that. As far as my connection to Jesus Christ, I am His slave. What a change from the mockery going on in Matthew 13, if you are who you say you are, why don't you go up and expose yourself and let everybody know that there is a change that has taken place. But he doesn't play on that; you can trust me because I was raised with this One who is the Messiah, I grew up in the same family, let me tell you some of the stories. That's all irrelevant. It's important that Jesus was sinless so He could be the sinless Lamb of God, but knowing all the details that were involved when He was growing up, the Lord didn't see fit to put them in the scripture. But here his connection to Christ physically is ‘I am His slave,’ that's a spiritual connection as well. But I'm the brother of James so that narrows down and that gives him his weight. As a slave he represents Jesus Christ and something of his importance here that gives you a connection like Timothy gets authority from Paul by the physical connection. You can trust him: I am the brother of James. So James wrote and James identifies himself at the beginning of his letter also, a slave of Jesus Christ. I guess I mention Jude because if Jude doesn't have the prominence of James this gives more of a connection.

He's the brother of James, he's writing “to those who are the called.” Some of these we are going to go a little bit quickly because we just spent quite a bit of time in our time in Romans, and you can access that on the website. We talked about what it means to be called, we are the called of God. That's not just in the epistles a general call, that everyone is called. It's always in the epistles, like Jude, referring to those who have been effectively called and come to salvation in Jesus Christ. So I'm writing to the called; he could have said I'm writing to believers, I'm writing to those who are called, those who have experienced and responded to the message of Jesus Christ. So it's not just that the invitation was given, but the invitation was effective in resulting in a response of faith. That's who the called are. It is used synonymously, and again we won't go through that because we did that recently in Romans and many of you were part of that and you can access that, Romans 1:1, 6, 7, just to start you off. You can see there when he talks of ‘the called’ he's obviously talking about those who are believers in Jesus Christ.

These are ones “beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ,” this is their identity, they are ones loved by God, the objects of His love, it gets no better than that. “The called” is the basic statement, you have the called, the ones who are the objects of God's love, that's their identity. Who are you? I am one who has been called by the living God. Another way to say that, I am a believer in Jesus Christ, I am one who is the object of God's love. He changes here to two participles that are called perfect passive participles. It is God who is acting here. We are in His love, it's the love He has bestowed upon us. That perfect tense denotes something that happened in the past, when I responded by His grace to the call, and it continues into the present. Denotes something of permanence often. I'm the one being loved by God, has been loved and continues to be loved by God. He'll mention that again, the love that God has for us, in a moment.

Another perfect participle here, beloved by God the Father, kept for Jesus Christ. That's another participle. I put the ‘ing’ on because usually our participles we have ‘ing’ on, having been, being kept. It happened in the past, it continues on. I am one permanently being kept for Jesus Christ. This becomes key because our identity as the one that God took the initiative and called us and placed His love upon us and is keeping us.

Because where Jude is going is you have to get involved in the battle. We have Christians who think they are observers. We are in a sports world, most of the people are involved by being spectators. I've shared with you, many years ago I had someone leave this church, I don't want to be part of the battles anymore. Do you want to follow Christ anymore? Well, I don't want to always be fighting. This is what Jude is dealing with. That's why he starts out here, here is your security, here is your safety. When you go into a war are you going to come out? Anybody who has gone to war, when my dad went to war, World War II, was he coming back? Some didn't. Well, are we safe? How can I be sure? You are called of God, you are the object of His love, that's the realm in which you live. He's keeping you for Jesus Christ, that's the outcome. I don't know how all the in-between battles will go, but I know at the end I win because God is keeping me for Jesus Christ. That was His plan at the beginning. That's why I say it's a perfect passive participle, it's God, passive, I'm being acted upon, a perfect, it happened in the past and it continues. It's often used to denote something of permanence here. I mean, kept for Jesus Christ, so I have to keep that goal in mind because the battle is going to heat up here. Some of these are clueless, like some Christians today, they don't even know they are in a battle. They just assume the world will love us, let's do some nice things for the world and show them we are thoughtful and they'll love us, I mean, clueless. That's what Jude is going to have to deal with and he's going to challenge them. He's going to say what are you thinking? You are treating these like friends, they are invited to share in your church.

So these become key concepts. Put on the armor, but remember God has called you, you belong to Him, you are living in the realm of His love, and He is keeping you. Now this is the same thing with different language, Philippians 1:6, “He who has begun a good work in you will continue to bring it to perfection at the day of Christ Jesus.” When Christ descends from heaven and we are called into His presence, I'll be glorified. When He rules and reigns, we will rule and reign with Him. It's part of the package of my salvation.

So his greeting and desire for them, “May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.” Be multiplied, they already have it but you're going to need more of it and have it in abundance. Mercy, we talked in the Psalms, the last Psalm we looked at in Psalm 40. Mercy, mercy, David never lost sight of that, I need more mercy, Lord, I need more mercy. That's what he wants. Mercy be multiplied to you. Why? When we're going to get in here the heat is going to come up, the battle is going to get intense. You are going to become aware of your own weaknesses, there may be a time when you fail, remember mercy. I am calling for God to give you more mercy. Mercy, similar to grace, it is undeserved. But mercy has the idea of someone who is in a pitiful condition. Grace is undeserved but mercy carries that idea of having a certain pity and compassion on the condition. Battles by nature, wars by nature, are unpleasant, there are casualties, there are the wounded. Jude has a real view here, been a believer. This book is being written about the mid-60s, somewhere around 65, give or take a few years, it's hard to identify it. Part of it gets connected whether you believe Jude is drawing from Peter or Peter is drawing from Jude because we know Peter will get executed by Nero and that has to be before or around 68 A.D. because Nero is going to go off the scene. So whatever, but we're probably somewhere in the mid-60s here, so Christ has been ascended into heaven for 30-some years, 35 years, roughly. So Jude has been a believer and he's in the fight.

I want mercy to be multiplied. Peace, peace. Look at the world in turmoil around us. We're going to wade into this world with the truth of the gospel and try to turn up the light which turns up the opposition. We had an elders' meeting and we're given a copy of the statement of faith of one of these prominent organizations, the Black Lives movement. I could write it without seeing it, just list the things that the Bible says must be true and you must do and they write everything opposed to that, that's their statement. This is the world in which we live. We try to be popular, not going to happen. Any peace… well, we need peace with God. Jude is assuming that's who he is writing to, you, the called. “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 5:1. Now Philippians 4 (verse 7), we have the peace of God that stands guard in our hearts and minds. All the fears and frustrations and things of the world, and sometimes believers get that. I'm afraid. Now wait a minute, let me introduce you to my heavenly Father, He can be your heavenly Father. He'll envelop you in His love, He'll guarantee He keeps you, He'll bestow mercy upon you to lift you up when you are down, He'll take pity on you, He'll give you peace of heart and mind. That's why in Jude the theology and the practice… They get corrupted, it's hard, once you've corrupted one you corrupt the other. Peace, what more do we need? I'm calling you to get in the battle, to divide among you, some that are joined with you have to go, be exposed as the enemy. I don't know if I have the heart for that. Well, you can't be My disciple if you love your family more than Me, Jesus said, count the cost before you make a commitment because when you make a commitment your life will be Mine. I watch sometimes these reenactments and all of battles and that. That General, that Commander said go, they went. The Lord says you're going to battle. Not me, Lord. That's not an option.

“And love be multiplied.” Interesting, we are the objects of God's love but He wants that love to be multiplied to us. We experience it. You know, God sends trials and difficulties and conflicts of one kind or another, we grow to appreciate God's love for us more. That's part of our growth, that's what we're told, Romans 5, James 1, we grow through trials. So count it a blessing when you fall into all kinds of trials, James, Jude's brother wrote in his letter, because that will produce endurance, that will build you up in your relationship to God. We want these things to be multiplied to you. The goal of this battle that you are going to wade in is not to make you doubt God's love for you, I want your experience of that love to be multiplied. Where does it all come from? It's all about God.

And then he'll address them. And this word ‘love’ becomes key here because what's the next word? I'm writing to the loved ones, love, love, you are the objects of God's love, agape love, agapao love, that self-sacrificing, self-giving love that we talk about as believers but think it's produced by the Spirit. So I don't expect the world to have this kind of love. It's characteristic of a believer, this is how all men will know you are My disciples, when you have love for one another, Jesus said. And God first loved us, so we love God and we love one another, and if you say you love God and hate your brother, you are a liar, you don't love God at all, that's 1 John. So he's going to start out calling them the loved ones, and get in the battle, wake up, we are at war. That's where the next verses are.

Let's have a word of prayer. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of Your word. Lord, we are blessed that Jude, the man seemingly firm in his unbelief, he could live in the same home with the Messiah of Israel, the sinless Son of God, and grow into adulthood and be a mocking unbeliever. And yet by Your grace You brought him to salvation. Lord, you are a God of mercy, love, kindness, patience and we are encouraged by that. We will be encouraged by his letter, he has the humility of recognizing that he is but a slave of the One who was his half-brother. But he has a role of importance to represent that One that he now honors. Lord, may we keep in mind and before us the grace that we have experienced so that we might honor You with the lives that are not our own, but we have been honored with You purchasing us so that we might be instruments that bring honor to You. Thank you for this time, bless the day before us. I pray that we will be faithful wherever we are. In Christ's name, amen.