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A Two-Week Series in Jude
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Connected by scripture or shared themes.
A Two-Week Series in Jude
Continue exploring
Connected by scripture or shared themes.
Today we begin a two-week series through the book of Jude, one of the shortest books in the Bible at just 25 verses. If you're new to the Bible, let me orient you to where we are. The New Testament begins with Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—the four eyewitness accounts of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection. Then comes Acts, the single history book that tells how the church was born and spread across the known world. After that are letters: 13 written by Paul and eight written by various authors. Jude is the last letter before Revelation, which focuses on the end times.
The book of Jude is often called the fire alarm of the New Testament. When I was in elementary school, we had fire drills every year. The teacher would warn us at 10 a.m. that we'd hear a loud noise, and we should stand up, walk calmly, and file out single file. Even though we knew it was coming, when that deafening alarm sounded, my heart would race. It's hard to ignore an alarm—it calls us to respond.
In the same way, Jude is a fire alarm for when false doctrine begins to infiltrate the church. When scripture gets twisted and changed, when wolves in sheep's clothing slip in to carry the church away from its true teachings, what we believe matters. That's why this book has such a heavy doctrinal emphasis.
Let me read the first three verses:
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. To those who are the called, loved by God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ, may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Dear friends, although I was eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all.
Jude identifies himself as a servant of Jesus Christ. The term he uses is "bondservant"—in the Greco-Roman world, this meant being bound by a master or under another's control. Jude says he has voluntarily become a bondservant to Jesus Christ. Jesus is his master, and whatever Jesus says, that's what he's called to do.
As a Christian, Jude no longer woke up asking, "Does my life have meaning? What purpose do I have?" Those questions had clear answers. He was here for one reason only: to fulfill his assignment on earth. His job was to do whatever Jesus told him to do. That is the essence of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
You are not called to live someone else's life or to covet what the Lord has assigned to another. You are to look inside, see the gifts God has given you, and leverage those gifts for his glory. In Luke 2:49, the 12-year-old Jesus said to his worried parents, "Did you not know that I would be about my father's business?" That's the attitude we should all live with. We are to put our eyes on the work God called us to do and be about the Father's business, refusing to get distracted by what others are doing.
One of my favorite stories in the New Testament illustrates this perfectly. In the book of John, Jesus—now a grown man—is walking with Peter, his top leader. Jesus tells Peter that he will die a martyr's death, bound and led away to a place he does not want to go. This is disturbing news, but Jesus doesn't want him to be surprised. He says, "Peter, follow me."
Peter takes this in stride, but then he notices John, another disciple, walking behind them. Peter essentially says, "Okay, if that's how I have to go, so be it. But what about him? What horrible way will he die?" And Jesus responds emphatically, "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me."
Don't worry about what other people are doing. Be about the Father's business. Peter was still learning what it means to be a bondservant. Aren't we all? Even after walking with Christ for 10, 20, or 30 years, we still have to wake up every day and remind ourselves: we are not in control. We are bondservants of Jesus Christ.
Here's something fascinating: Jude is the brother of James, and James was the half-brother of Jesus. This means Jude was also the half-brother of Jesus. I'd probably play that up to enhance my credibility right from the start! But Jude avoids any appearance of bragging about his high position. There's no name-dropping here.
Why half-brother? Because Jude's biological father was Joseph and his mother was Mary—the same Mary who was Jesus's mother. But Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. So we say he was the half-brother.
What's important to know is that Jesus's siblings did not start out as bondservants of Jesus. They were skeptics. In Mark 3:20, when Jesus was teaching with such authority that crowds gathered and he couldn't even eat, his family came out to restrain him. They said, "He's out of his mind." Jude was one of those people saying exactly that. Jesus had lost his mind. He was skeptical for a season before finally putting his faith in Jesus Christ.
That's who's writing this letter: a former skeptic, now a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now let's look at who Jude is writing to. Notice verse 1: they are the called, the loved by God, and the kept for Jesus Christ. Each of these has theological significance.
The Called. What does it mean to be called? It means God initiated the relationship. Christianity does not begin when you find God. It begins when God finds you and comes after you. Jesus said, "No one comes to the father unless the spirit draws him." God is the initiator of salvation.
Salvation is not something we should pat ourselves on the back for. It's not an achievement we've earned. Salvation is a gift from God, and it should be deeply humbling. God revealed himself to you in an undeserved way.
Think about a typical family tree from a spiritual perspective. Jesus said, "Narrow is the gate that leads to life and few find it." Most human beings are not interested in becoming bondservants of Jesus Christ. Most branches of most family trees bear little to no spiritual fruit. But every now and then, a green branch appears. As the apostle Paul said, "By the grace of God, I am what I am." There's no good reason why one branch is growing and the one next to it is barren. It just is. Jesus said salvation moves where it pleases.
Why did you receive the gospel and your brother didn't? Why are you in a place where your heart was tender to God right when the message reached you? Why did you grow up in a free country where the gospel could freely be shared while others live in territories where you cannot even speak the name of Jesus?
The Apostle Paul looked at his own family tree—all the Jewish people in his bloodline—and lamented that most were not green and growing but were lost. He said in Romans 9:
I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart for I could wish that I myself were cursed that I were cut off from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood.
Paul would have changed places with all his people so they would come to know Jesus Christ. Why? Because he knew his salvation was the result of a collision with Christ that he did not initiate. The prophet Ezekiel described it as a heart transplant: the heart of stone ripped out, a heart of flesh put in. And Paul said, "Oh, that all my family and friends could experience the heart transplant that only God can do."
Loved by God. This phrase is easy to skip over, but it's crucial: "loved by God the Father." What is the reason we have hope as Christians? Because God has a relentless, never-stopping love and tenderness for sinners, for strugglers, for people having a hard time. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
There's a scene in scripture that bears witness to this powerfully: when Jesus intervened on behalf of the adulterous woman. There she was, surrounded by her judges—men who acted like they had a perfect report card in heaven. Jesus stepped in and said, "Let he who has no sin cast the first stone." From oldest to youngest, they dropped their stones and walked away. He reached down, pulled the woman up, and rescued her from all these self-righteous accusers.
But then he called her to a higher standard of living. He said, "Go and sin no more. God has shown his love to you. Now show your love to him by the way you live your life."
Kept for Jesus Christ. This is especially important for those of us who believe in eternal security. In John 10:27, Jesus said:
My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.
Here we have the clear teaching that once you're in the hand of Christ, nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. Neither height nor depth. Nothing can take you away once you're fully his.
Can a person lose their salvation? Not if they had it to start with. Once a person is born again, a spiritual operation has taken place. You have been born. You can't become unborn. Romans 8 says that nothing can separate us from the grip of God. No man, no demon, no devil can ever take you out of his hand. Why? Because God supplies the power for the Christian life to be sustained. He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.
You may stray. You may drift. He will bring you back. How do you know if someone is truly saved? They get to the end and they still believe. That's the only way to know. They get to the end and never stopped following Jesus, because discipleship is not just something you decided way back then. It's something you decide every single day.
Jude reminds his readers that all three of these things are theologically weighty and important. They are called, they are loved, they are kept. And that brings us assurance today.
Now what about the purpose and occasion of the letter? Notice what Jude says: "Dear friends, although I was eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I found it necessary to write about something else. He said appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once delivered to all the saints."
Jude sat down intending to write one kind of letter but ended up going in a different direction. He was intending to write something nice—about the salvation we share. That would have been a happy letter, putting a smile on their faces. But then he decided he better write something else.
I think this is like the good-hearted dad who swings by the bakery on the way home from work. He's purchased a batch of his children's favorite cookies. But he walks in the door and his wife is wearing a scowl. The children have all been sent to their rooms. He knows those cookies are going to be shared with his co-workers tomorrow. This is not going to go the way he had planned.
Jude sat down to write something really encouraging to these struggling people. He wanted to write about salvation, something they shared together. But instead, the Holy Spirit called him to write a different kind of letter. He needed to tell them: "You need to stand up for what you believe in. You need to contend for the faith that was once delivered to all the saints."
The word contend is an athletic term—like a boxer. It means put your gloves up. Stop taking punches. Give it back to them. Show some strength.
But how does that square up with what Jesus said about turning the other cheek? Fight for your faith. Turn the other cheek. Which one is it? You've got to study context to understand how to apply those two verses.
When Jesus told us to turn the other cheek, he was talking about how to take personal offenses. When you're offended by somebody, he was saying, "Don't seek revenge. Don't return insult for insult. Don't make it your mission to settle the score. Leave vengeance to God." But when the truth of God is under attack in your church, somebody better stand up. Once the church drifts away from its central and core beliefs, all is lost.
It is the role of pastors to guard the doctrine of the church. But there's also a role the people play. In Acts, the Bereans were noble people because they heard what Paul said and matched it with scripture to be sure it was saying the same thing. Healthy churches have pastors concerned about teaching sound doctrine and people concerned about hearing sound doctrine. Churches grow as the truth is embraced.
The early church faced this challenge constantly. Everywhere the gospel went, false teachers followed. One of the most dangerous false teachings in Jude's day was the idea that God's grace gave people permission to live however they pleased. The logic went something like this: If Jesus has already forgiven my sins, then why worry about holiness? If grace is free, then obedience doesn't really matter. If God loves me no matter what, then I can indulge in whatever desires I desire. In other words, grace turns into a license for sin.
Without resistance, that message could have ruined the growth of the church. Whenever grace becomes excuse for disobedience, the gospel gets distorted. And here we find the reason why this letter still matters today. The names of the false teachers may have changed, but the temptation hasn't. Our culture still wants to twist scripture regularly to fit what it wants it to say.
One of the reasons why strong Bible teaching churches are alive and well and growing today is because there is a great number of God's children who hunger for truth. The word of God is the truth. Jesus said, "Your word is truth" and God has given it to us.
Notice how Jude ends the sentence: "Stand up. Contend for this faith that was delivered to the saints once for all." He's reminding them that this faith has already been delivered. It's already been handed down. It's complete. It does not need to be reinvented or revised or updated.
The Bible doesn't need a 2.0 version. The faith we follow today is the same faith that was preached by the apostles, embraced by the early church, defended by the martyrs, proclaimed during the Reformation, and passed down from generation to generation until it reached us today.
The methods of ministry are always changing. The message never changes.
Consider how Bellevue today is different than it was 50 years ago, back in 1976. Church newsletters and bulletins were pecked out with a typewriter. The church had a thriving cassette tape ministry. Fancy people had zip-up cases with all their tapes. We put giant bows on boys who sang in the kids choir. The methods have changed completely. But the message has not changed one bit.
Jesus Christ is still the son of God. He still died for sinners. He still rose from the dead. The church does not have the authority to rewrite the faith. It has been delivered once to the saints. No need for updating. Always the truth always remains the same.
Our assignment is to continue to change the methodology with the culture as it changes, but never change the message. This is the faith once delivered to the saints. That's good news.
How can we contend for the faith without becoming argumentative or harsh? That's an important question. If you read the fruits of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5, grumpiness is not in there. It is not a virtue to be known as a defensive, combative, constantly-looking-for-a-fight kind of person. In fact, one of the marks of being a Christian is peace. Some Christians seem to believe they are only living in the spirit when they are regularly offending people. It's never been easier to offend people than today.
How do we continue to contend and stand up for the faith without being contentious, grumpy, or harsh?
I think the apostle Paul gives us a wonderful example in Acts 17. Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus, a very cultural and academic place, and he said:
People of Athens, I see that you were extremely religious in every respect. For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed to an unknown god. Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.
There are several things Paul models for us here about contending for the faith.
First, he was a student of the culture. When he said, "For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship," he was paying attention to what they believed. There's an old saying: seek to understand before you seek to be understood. Paul modeled this humility. He later quoted one of their favorite poets. He read their books. He knew their authors. He could speak their cultural language. When you want to reach people, you got to understand who they are.
Second, he searched for common ground or a bridge. He said, "People of Athens, I see that you are extremely religious." In other words, "We have something in common. We're all theists here. We all believe in a higher power. We all believe in God." He didn't start by saying, "You pagan idol worshippers! How dare you!" Instead he said, "I see that you, like me, are extremely religious." Great evangelists are great listeners. They look for ways to bond with people.
Third, he was bold. He did become confrontational at some point. "What you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you." He didn't hesitate to proclaim the good news once he had built that relationship. Later, in verse 31, Paul says, "God has provided proof of his power by raising Jesus from the dead." Paul doesn't spend the entire conversation talking about philosophy. He eventually gets to Jesus Christ. He eventually speaks about sin. He eventually talks about judgment. He eventually talks about the resurrection. He lovingly and clearly tells them the truth, but he has humility along with his boldness.
This is something we need to pray about. It's more of an art than a science. As the Lord lays people on our heart that we would love to win to Jesus Christ, we would not be afraid to be bold when the Holy Spirit provides the opportunity. But we would also be willing to wait while the Holy Spirit is doing its preparatory work. We would be people of wisdom, understanding when is the right time to speak and the right time to listen, as James says.
The real challenge of evangelism today is knowing where that balance lies and letting the Holy Spirit lead us. We don't want to be harsh, argumentative, or combative, but we do want to be bold and strong about what we believe.
Here's another great question someone might ask: Why should I trust Christianity's claims over other religions that also say they possess the truth? That's a thoughtful question. It's one that every honest person eventually wrestles with.
If you look at a map of world religions today, you'll notice a pattern. Most people tend to adopt the dominant religion of the place they were born into. If you're born near the birthplace of the prophet Muhammad, you probably subscribe to Islam. If you were born in India, you probably follow Hinduism. If you were born in another portion of South Asia, you might be a Buddhist. The pressure to conform to culture and to please one's family is always there.
This means Christians, if we are objective, have to ask the reasonable question: Am I only a Christian because I was born in Tennessee or Alabama or Mississippi or Florida or some portion of the world that already subscribes to Christianity? Is that the only reason I'm a Christian? Do I believe Christianity because I grew up in a place where there were lots of Christians? Thinking, reasonable people eventually have this question put before them.
But the answer seems obvious. You should not believe Christianity merely because your parents believed it or your grandparents. You should not believe Christianity because you were born into a culture that espouses it. You should not believe Christianity because you were raised in a church. You should believe in Christianity because you believe it is the truth. You should believe because you have examined its truth claims. You should believe because you've compared its explanation of reality to other worldviews. You should believe because you've studied it and it rings the bell of truth. As you get older, it rings the bell of truth more and more and more.
As the great preacher Charles Spurgeon famously said, "The truth is like a lion. You don't have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself." When something is true, the burden of proof is on its side. That's an encouraging truth for Christians.
Something that separates Christianity from all the other religions I mentioned is this: Notice how Christianity has changed over time. All the major world religions have spread somewhat beyond their places of origin. But their greatest concentration remains where they were born. Hinduism is still overwhelmingly centered around India. Buddhism remains predominantly Asian. Islam is truly global, but its greatest concentrations still stretch across North Africa and the Middle East and large portions of Asia.
But here is what Tim Keller points out brilliantly: Christianity has no center of gravity. It keeps going where it's wanted. It keeps changing regions depending on the spiritual receptivity of people. When Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God," that's what you see the gospel doing. It starts in the Middle East. It spreads to Europe. Centuries later, it jumps the ocean and goes to North America. Today, Christianity's center of gravity is moving again. It's going beyond America to Africa, Latin America, and parts of Asia.
Why? The Holy Spirit goes where he's wanted. One of the easiest ways to kill Christianity in a culture is to mix it with power, self-righteousness, and wealth. But where it goes, it keeps moving where it finds broken people that are not too proud to take a hand out from God.
As one author puts it: "Christianity is for the wobbly and the weak who know they don't have it all together. Christianity is for the inconsistent and unsteady whose cheese is falling off their cracker. Christianity is for the poor, weak, sinful men and women with hereditary faults and limited talents. It is for the bent and the bruised who feel that their lives are a grave disappointment to God."
If Christianity were a kind of bait you could throw into the water, we know what kind of fish bite on it. The broken kind. People who have hope that there is a healer, a creator, a redeemer, and a savior who is who he says he is.
Christianity thrives where people are hungry for grace.
Today we begin a two-week series through the book of Jude, one of the shortest books in the Bible at just 25 verses. If you're new to the Bible, let me orient you to where we are. The New Testament begins with Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—the four eyewitness accounts of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection. Then comes Acts, the single history book that tells how the church was born and spread across the known world. After that are letters: 13 written by Paul and eight written by various authors. Jude is the last letter before Revelation, which focuses on the end times.
The book of Jude is often called the fire alarm of the New Testament. When I was in elementary school, we had fire drills every year. The teacher would warn us at 10 a.m. that we'd hear a loud noise, and we should stand up, walk calmly, and file out single file. Even though we knew it was coming, when that deafening alarm sounded, my heart would race. It's hard to ignore an alarm—it calls us to respond.
In the same way, Jude is a fire alarm for when false doctrine begins to infiltrate the church. When scripture gets twisted and changed, when wolves in sheep's clothing slip in to carry the church away from its true teachings, what we believe matters. That's why this book has such a heavy doctrinal emphasis.
Let me read the first three verses:
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. To those who are the called, loved by God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ, may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Dear friends, although I was eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all.
Jude identifies himself as a servant of Jesus Christ. The term he uses is "bondservant"—in the Greco-Roman world, this meant being bound by a master or under another's control. Jude says he has voluntarily become a bondservant to Jesus Christ. Jesus is his master, and whatever Jesus says, that's what he's called to do.
As a Christian, Jude no longer woke up asking, "Does my life have meaning? What purpose do I have?" Those questions had clear answers. He was here for one reason only: to fulfill his assignment on earth. His job was to do whatever Jesus told him to do. That is the essence of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
You are not called to live someone else's life or to covet what the Lord has assigned to another. You are to look inside, see the gifts God has given you, and leverage those gifts for his glory. In Luke 2:49, the 12-year-old Jesus said to his worried parents, "Did you not know that I would be about my father's business?" That's the attitude we should all live with. We are to put our eyes on the work God called us to do and be about the Father's business, refusing to get distracted by what others are doing.
One of my favorite stories in the New Testament illustrates this perfectly. In the book of John, Jesus—now a grown man—is walking with Peter, his top leader. Jesus tells Peter that he will die a martyr's death, bound and led away to a place he does not want to go. This is disturbing news, but Jesus doesn't want him to be surprised. He says, "Peter, follow me."
Peter takes this in stride, but then he notices John, another disciple, walking behind them. Peter essentially says, "Okay, if that's how I have to go, so be it. But what about him? What horrible way will he die?" And Jesus responds emphatically, "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me."
Don't worry about what other people are doing. Be about the Father's business. Peter was still learning what it means to be a bondservant. Aren't we all? Even after walking with Christ for 10, 20, or 30 years, we still have to wake up every day and remind ourselves: we are not in control. We are bondservants of Jesus Christ.
Here's something fascinating: Jude is the brother of James, and James was the half-brother of Jesus. This means Jude was also the half-brother of Jesus. I'd probably play that up to enhance my credibility right from the start! But Jude avoids any appearance of bragging about his high position. There's no name-dropping here.
Why half-brother? Because Jude's biological father was Joseph and his mother was Mary—the same Mary who was Jesus's mother. But Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. So we say he was the half-brother.
What's important to know is that Jesus's siblings did not start out as bondservants of Jesus. They were skeptics. In Mark 3:20, when Jesus was teaching with such authority that crowds gathered and he couldn't even eat, his family came out to restrain him. They said, "He's out of his mind." Jude was one of those people saying exactly that. Jesus had lost his mind. He was skeptical for a season before finally putting his faith in Jesus Christ.
That's who's writing this letter: a former skeptic, now a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now let's look at who Jude is writing to. Notice verse 1: they are the called, the loved by God, and the kept for Jesus Christ. Each of these has theological significance.
The Called. What does it mean to be called? It means God initiated the relationship. Christianity does not begin when you find God. It begins when God finds you and comes after you. Jesus said, "No one comes to the father unless the spirit draws him." God is the initiator of salvation.
Salvation is not something we should pat ourselves on the back for. It's not an achievement we've earned. Salvation is a gift from God, and it should be deeply humbling. God revealed himself to you in an undeserved way.
Think about a typical family tree from a spiritual perspective. Jesus said, "Narrow is the gate that leads to life and few find it." Most human beings are not interested in becoming bondservants of Jesus Christ. Most branches of most family trees bear little to no spiritual fruit. But every now and then, a green branch appears. As the apostle Paul said, "By the grace of God, I am what I am." There's no good reason why one branch is growing and the one next to it is barren. It just is. Jesus said salvation moves where it pleases.
Why did you receive the gospel and your brother didn't? Why are you in a place where your heart was tender to God right when the message reached you? Why did you grow up in a free country where the gospel could freely be shared while others live in territories where you cannot even speak the name of Jesus?
The Apostle Paul looked at his own family tree—all the Jewish people in his bloodline—and lamented that most were not green and growing but were lost. He said in Romans 9:
I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart for I could wish that I myself were cursed that I were cut off from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood.
Paul would have changed places with all his people so they would come to know Jesus Christ. Why? Because he knew his salvation was the result of a collision with Christ that he did not initiate. The prophet Ezekiel described it as a heart transplant: the heart of stone ripped out, a heart of flesh put in. And Paul said, "Oh, that all my family and friends could experience the heart transplant that only God can do."
Loved by God. This phrase is easy to skip over, but it's crucial: "loved by God the Father." What is the reason we have hope as Christians? Because God has a relentless, never-stopping love and tenderness for sinners, for strugglers, for people having a hard time. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
There's a scene in scripture that bears witness to this powerfully: when Jesus intervened on behalf of the adulterous woman. There she was, surrounded by her judges—men who acted like they had a perfect report card in heaven. Jesus stepped in and said, "Let he who has no sin cast the first stone." From oldest to youngest, they dropped their stones and walked away. He reached down, pulled the woman up, and rescued her from all these self-righteous accusers.
But then he called her to a higher standard of living. He said, "Go and sin no more. God has shown his love to you. Now show your love to him by the way you live your life."
Kept for Jesus Christ. This is especially important for those of us who believe in eternal security. In John 10:27, Jesus said:
My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.
Here we have the clear teaching that once you're in the hand of Christ, nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. Neither height nor depth. Nothing can take you away once you're fully his.
Can a person lose their salvation? Not if they had it to start with. Once a person is born again, a spiritual operation has taken place. You have been born. You can't become unborn. Romans 8 says that nothing can separate us from the grip of God. No man, no demon, no devil can ever take you out of his hand. Why? Because God supplies the power for the Christian life to be sustained. He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.
You may stray. You may drift. He will bring you back. How do you know if someone is truly saved? They get to the end and they still believe. That's the only way to know. They get to the end and never stopped following Jesus, because discipleship is not just something you decided way back then. It's something you decide every single day.
Jude reminds his readers that all three of these things are theologically weighty and important. They are called, they are loved, they are kept. And that brings us assurance today.
Now what about the purpose and occasion of the letter? Notice what Jude says: "Dear friends, although I was eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I found it necessary to write about something else. He said appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once delivered to all the saints."
Jude sat down intending to write one kind of letter but ended up going in a different direction. He was intending to write something nice—about the salvation we share. That would have been a happy letter, putting a smile on their faces. But then he decided he better write something else.
I think this is like the good-hearted dad who swings by the bakery on the way home from work. He's purchased a batch of his children's favorite cookies. But he walks in the door and his wife is wearing a scowl. The children have all been sent to their rooms. He knows those cookies are going to be shared with his co-workers tomorrow. This is not going to go the way he had planned.
Jude sat down to write something really encouraging to these struggling people. He wanted to write about salvation, something they shared together. But instead, the Holy Spirit called him to write a different kind of letter. He needed to tell them: "You need to stand up for what you believe in. You need to contend for the faith that was once delivered to all the saints."
The word contend is an athletic term—like a boxer. It means put your gloves up. Stop taking punches. Give it back to them. Show some strength.
But how does that square up with what Jesus said about turning the other cheek? Fight for your faith. Turn the other cheek. Which one is it? You've got to study context to understand how to apply those two verses.
When Jesus told us to turn the other cheek, he was talking about how to take personal offenses. When you're offended by somebody, he was saying, "Don't seek revenge. Don't return insult for insult. Don't make it your mission to settle the score. Leave vengeance to God." But when the truth of God is under attack in your church, somebody better stand up. Once the church drifts away from its central and core beliefs, all is lost.
It is the role of pastors to guard the doctrine of the church. But there's also a role the people play. In Acts, the Bereans were noble people because they heard what Paul said and matched it with scripture to be sure it was saying the same thing. Healthy churches have pastors concerned about teaching sound doctrine and people concerned about hearing sound doctrine. Churches grow as the truth is embraced.
The early church faced this challenge constantly. Everywhere the gospel went, false teachers followed. One of the most dangerous false teachings in Jude's day was the idea that God's grace gave people permission to live however they pleased. The logic went something like this: If Jesus has already forgiven my sins, then why worry about holiness? If grace is free, then obedience doesn't really matter. If God loves me no matter what, then I can indulge in whatever desires I desire. In other words, grace turns into a license for sin.
Without resistance, that message could have ruined the growth of the church. Whenever grace becomes excuse for disobedience, the gospel gets distorted. And here we find the reason why this letter still matters today. The names of the false teachers may have changed, but the temptation hasn't. Our culture still wants to twist scripture regularly to fit what it wants it to say.
One of the reasons why strong Bible teaching churches are alive and well and growing today is because there is a great number of God's children who hunger for truth. The word of God is the truth. Jesus said, "Your word is truth" and God has given it to us.
Notice how Jude ends the sentence: "Stand up. Contend for this faith that was delivered to the saints once for all." He's reminding them that this faith has already been delivered. It's already been handed down. It's complete. It does not need to be reinvented or revised or updated.
The Bible doesn't need a 2.0 version. The faith we follow today is the same faith that was preached by the apostles, embraced by the early church, defended by the martyrs, proclaimed during the Reformation, and passed down from generation to generation until it reached us today.
The methods of ministry are always changing. The message never changes.
Consider how Bellevue today is different than it was 50 years ago, back in 1976. Church newsletters and bulletins were pecked out with a typewriter. The church had a thriving cassette tape ministry. Fancy people had zip-up cases with all their tapes. We put giant bows on boys who sang in the kids choir. The methods have changed completely. But the message has not changed one bit.
Jesus Christ is still the son of God. He still died for sinners. He still rose from the dead. The church does not have the authority to rewrite the faith. It has been delivered once to the saints. No need for updating. Always the truth always remains the same.
Our assignment is to continue to change the methodology with the culture as it changes, but never change the message. This is the faith once delivered to the saints. That's good news.
How can we contend for the faith without becoming argumentative or harsh? That's an important question. If you read the fruits of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5, grumpiness is not in there. It is not a virtue to be known as a defensive, combative, constantly-looking-for-a-fight kind of person. In fact, one of the marks of being a Christian is peace. Some Christians seem to believe they are only living in the spirit when they are regularly offending people. It's never been easier to offend people than today.
How do we continue to contend and stand up for the faith without being contentious, grumpy, or harsh?
I think the apostle Paul gives us a wonderful example in Acts 17. Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus, a very cultural and academic place, and he said:
People of Athens, I see that you were extremely religious in every respect. For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed to an unknown god. Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.
There are several things Paul models for us here about contending for the faith.
First, he was a student of the culture. When he said, "For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship," he was paying attention to what they believed. There's an old saying: seek to understand before you seek to be understood. Paul modeled this humility. He later quoted one of their favorite poets. He read their books. He knew their authors. He could speak their cultural language. When you want to reach people, you got to understand who they are.
Second, he searched for common ground or a bridge. He said, "People of Athens, I see that you are extremely religious." In other words, "We have something in common. We're all theists here. We all believe in a higher power. We all believe in God." He didn't start by saying, "You pagan idol worshippers! How dare you!" Instead he said, "I see that you, like me, are extremely religious." Great evangelists are great listeners. They look for ways to bond with people.
Third, he was bold. He did become confrontational at some point. "What you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you." He didn't hesitate to proclaim the good news once he had built that relationship. Later, in verse 31, Paul says, "God has provided proof of his power by raising Jesus from the dead." Paul doesn't spend the entire conversation talking about philosophy. He eventually gets to Jesus Christ. He eventually speaks about sin. He eventually talks about judgment. He eventually talks about the resurrection. He lovingly and clearly tells them the truth, but he has humility along with his boldness.
This is something we need to pray about. It's more of an art than a science. As the Lord lays people on our heart that we would love to win to Jesus Christ, we would not be afraid to be bold when the Holy Spirit provides the opportunity. But we would also be willing to wait while the Holy Spirit is doing its preparatory work. We would be people of wisdom, understanding when is the right time to speak and the right time to listen, as James says.
The real challenge of evangelism today is knowing where that balance lies and letting the Holy Spirit lead us. We don't want to be harsh, argumentative, or combative, but we do want to be bold and strong about what we believe.
Here's another great question someone might ask: Why should I trust Christianity's claims over other religions that also say they possess the truth? That's a thoughtful question. It's one that every honest person eventually wrestles with.
If you look at a map of world religions today, you'll notice a pattern. Most people tend to adopt the dominant religion of the place they were born into. If you're born near the birthplace of the prophet Muhammad, you probably subscribe to Islam. If you were born in India, you probably follow Hinduism. If you were born in another portion of South Asia, you might be a Buddhist. The pressure to conform to culture and to please one's family is always there.
This means Christians, if we are objective, have to ask the reasonable question: Am I only a Christian because I was born in Tennessee or Alabama or Mississippi or Florida or some portion of the world that already subscribes to Christianity? Is that the only reason I'm a Christian? Do I believe Christianity because I grew up in a place where there were lots of Christians? Thinking, reasonable people eventually have this question put before them.
But the answer seems obvious. You should not believe Christianity merely because your parents believed it or your grandparents. You should not believe Christianity because you were born into a culture that espouses it. You should not believe Christianity because you were raised in a church. You should believe in Christianity because you believe it is the truth. You should believe because you have examined its truth claims. You should believe because you've compared its explanation of reality to other worldviews. You should believe because you've studied it and it rings the bell of truth. As you get older, it rings the bell of truth more and more and more.
As the great preacher Charles Spurgeon famously said, "The truth is like a lion. You don't have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself." When something is true, the burden of proof is on its side. That's an encouraging truth for Christians.
Something that separates Christianity from all the other religions I mentioned is this: Notice how Christianity has changed over time. All the major world religions have spread somewhat beyond their places of origin. But their greatest concentration remains where they were born. Hinduism is still overwhelmingly centered around India. Buddhism remains predominantly Asian. Islam is truly global, but its greatest concentrations still stretch across North Africa and the Middle East and large portions of Asia.
But here is what Tim Keller points out brilliantly: Christianity has no center of gravity. It keeps going where it's wanted. It keeps changing regions depending on the spiritual receptivity of people. When Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God," that's what you see the gospel doing. It starts in the Middle East. It spreads to Europe. Centuries later, it jumps the ocean and goes to North America. Today, Christianity's center of gravity is moving again. It's going beyond America to Africa, Latin America, and parts of Asia.
Why? The Holy Spirit goes where he's wanted. One of the easiest ways to kill Christianity in a culture is to mix it with power, self-righteousness, and wealth. But where it goes, it keeps moving where it finds broken people that are not too proud to take a hand out from God.
As one author puts it: "Christianity is for the wobbly and the weak who know they don't have it all together. Christianity is for the inconsistent and unsteady whose cheese is falling off their cracker. Christianity is for the poor, weak, sinful men and women with hereditary faults and limited talents. It is for the bent and the bruised who feel that their lives are a grave disappointment to God."
If Christianity were a kind of bait you could throw into the water, we know what kind of fish bite on it. The broken kind. People who have hope that there is a healer, a creator, a redeemer, and a savior who is who he says he is.
Christianity thrives where people are hungry for grace.
