Jude Part One Dive
THE OTHER BROTHER SPEAKS – DON’T FORGET WHO YOUR BEST FRIEND ACTUALLY IS!
We know all about Jesus, Mary, Joseph and James his brother but what about the other members of Jesus family? Who were they and what did they think of Jesus?
Well, in the Book of Jude you get to hear again from one of the members of Jesus’ family, His brother Jude. Now as you read this book, you have to remember that Jesus last name was not Christ – ‘Christ’ means anointed one, or Messiah. So, when Jude calls his brother ‘Jesus Christ’ he is not just stating His name, no! He is declaring that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. His brother is the fulfilment of the promises found in the Old Testament. Everything that Jude has spent his life studying, waiting for the Redeemer to come and save them and he was living with Him the whole time! Your salvation is not from far off but is right beside you! That is big, imagine the revelation moment for Jude. To realise he’s been living with, eating with, doing life with the risen Christ, the Messiah, Son of God! What a declaration in those incredible words – Jesus Christ!
It’s a challenge for me. Have I become so comfortable with Jesus? So used to having Him around that he has begun to be like a brother to me and not the all-powerful King of Kings, Saviour and Messiah that He is! Having a relationship with Jesus is such a balance of having a best Friend, closer than a brother but also not losing respect that your best Friend is, in fact, the Son of God. He can walk on water, heal the sick, raise the dead. Don’t be too familiar with Jesus that you bring Him down to your human level. Never forget He is above all powers and principalities, seated in heavenly places, the risen Christ!
Now Jude is passionate about this topic and coming from him, it’s time to listen! He begins the topic in verse 4, ‘For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord’.
Wow, Jude is passionate about these people who are leading the Church astray! They have taken the grace that Jesus has given to us as our best friend and used it to live a life of immorality, not realising that the very person who walks alongside them is the Sovereign and God Himself.
He aligns them with three baddies of the Old Testament: v11 Cain (found in Genesis 4) Balaam (found in Numbers 22) and Korah (found in Numbers 16). All three were disobedient to God, pursuing their own plan not God’s plan. Then Jude goes on to show Jesus both Saviour and Judge and it begins in verse 5.
J 1:5 he delivered his people out of Egypt but later destroyed those who did not believe
He shows examples that Jesus is God. He is not a toy to be played with, but a God to be respected. He will never leave us nor forsake us, He will take care of us, He is slow to anger and abounding in love but don’t mistake His grace and slowness to anger for someone who is not just, full of power and authority and to be taken advantage of. Don’t forget who your best Friend actually is!
So, what are the charges against these people? Jude explains in verses 8 and 16,
J 1:8, 16 In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings… These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
Wow, these things are easy to slip into; grumbling, boasting, flattering for our own advantage. These people no longer cared about their behaviour. Things just become what you want to do, what you desire, what you dream. Check it out in the below verses,
J 1:8 on the strength of their own dreams
J 1:16 following their own desires
J 1:19 follow mere natural instincts
Wow! Jude is saying that the root cause of their issues is that they rely on themselves for their wisdom, they follow their own dreams, they follow their own desires, their natural instincts. Jesus is just a companion that they hang out with every now and then, but He is not involved in their lives any more than that. He is not in charge, making decisions, it’s their own will, not God’s, that they follow. That is incredibly scary. Jude is rebuking them for being too self-sufficient. We need to remember where our help comes from. So, what is the right way? It’s okay, Jude tells us...
Check out the ‘But you’ in verse 20, meaning ‘I have told you the way not to go, now you go a different way! Be different, don’t follow the crowd, don’t do what everyone else is doing!’ Check it out: ‘But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life’.
Don’t trust in your own dreams, your own desires or your own instincts, but get in your prayer closet and pray in the Holy Spirit. Get God’s dreams over your life, get God’s desires for you, God’s thoughts and ways are much higher and better than ours! And remain in God’s love as you wait on Him. I love this! Don’t run ahead in your own plans, in your own way to make things happen, no! Wait for God, in prayer and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
From this time of relying on God and waiting, He will bring you to eternal life. But Jude keeps going in verse 22, ‘Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear’.
Don’t just use this time of prayer for yourself, use it for God’s glory in loving and saving others. This life isn’t just about being equipped for your own plans and dreams but to encourage and help others to live out their best life in God.
There is no better way to finish this post with the very words of Jude himself,
J 1:24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen!
recommended
An Introduction to the Old Testament
Joel part One
Jude part One