Sunday, August 21, 2005
Keeping and Being Kept
Jude 1-4, 17-25
8/21/05 D. Marion Clark
Introduction
How does a pastor confront growing sin in his church? How does he arrest the sin’s spread and kill the virus? Jude presents a case study of one pastor’s effort. He has revealed the sin – perverting grace into sensuality and denying Christ’s lordship. He has warned of judgment that such sinners will receive. We will see now how he enables his flock to withstand sin. He will do it through doctrine – reminding them who they are and who God is; and he will do it through exhortation and counsel – instructing them what to do. Be thinking, as we study Jude’s letter, about your own struggles with sin and how his words to believers 2,000 years ago can apply to you today.
Text
1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,
To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
Note how the believers are addressed. First, they are “beloved in God the Father.” (In the Greek text, “called” comes last.) They are in the Father’s love. Think of Jesus’ image in John 10:29 of us being in the hand of his Father. He has us in his grasp – in his loving grasp, which leads to the second reality to understand about themselves: they are “kept for Jesus Christ.”
Jude could mean they are kept to belong to Jesus or kept until the return of Jesus when he comes in judgment. He could mean they are kept by Jesus. Whatever the case, the point is that they are kept, preserved, watched over. In verse 6, keeping their watch is what the angels failed to do; also in verse 6, keeping in chains is what God is doing to those same angels. So also in verse 13, what is translated as “reserved” forever is the same Greek term. God is keeping the reservations made for sinners. The only difference between the keeping of the saints and of the sinners is that the saints are kept in the love of God, while the sinners are kept in his just wrath.
Finally, they are “called.” They are in Christ, they are believers/saints because God called them, as Peter says “out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Now note the common element of these three adjectives of Jude’s readers. He addresses them not as people who have done something for God, but who have had something done to them by God the Father and Jesus Christ. God has placed them in his love; God and Christ keep them; God and Christ have called them.
Do you see what Jude is doing for his flock? Before he alerts them to danger – sin and judgment – he ministers to them, reminding them of their security and responsibility. Because their coming to God is the result of his calling; because their remaining faithful rests on his keeping; because God loves them and does not merely tolerate them – their eternal status is safe. Furthermore, because God first loved them, because he remains faithful to them; because he has called them out of their miserable estate into his kingdom, they have responsibility to keep the faith and glorify him. Because their salvation is not of their doing nor initiated from their will, they do not have to fret over God bringing his work to completion in them; however, for the same reasons they do not have the liberty to go their own way. God has a claim on them.
I don’t know if Jude intended for his following greeting to correspond with the address, but we can see the correlation: Out of mercy God called them; his keeping them is the peace they experience; and, of course the love is the love they have in him. Jude wants this mercy, peace, and love to take hold of them.
3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Consider what Jude is exhorting his hearers to do – they are to contend for the faith. This exhortation is the purpose of the letter and everything else is written to help the hearers carry it out. He is not calling on them to struggle with their faith but to struggle against others on its behalf. He is not exhorting them to hold on to their faith but to protect the faith, i.e. the Gospel, “that was once for all delivered to the saints,” the unchanging Good News. They are to protect the faith, not from unbelievers outside the church, but from apostates and perverters of God’s grace who are inside the church. Whatever hazards there may be outside, the danger which can really undermine the Gospel is inside through those who affiliate themselves with the church. Against these persons, they are to contend for the faith.
How then are they to contend? First of all, have a right understanding of the issue. Thus, Jude discusses the sin and the judgment under which that sin and the sinners lie. They have to know whom and what they are contending against. They need to know the stakes – everlasting judgment.
They also need to be assured that God is in control. Therefore, know that these ungodly men are not true saints who slipped out of God’s loving grasp. They “long ago were designated for this condemnation” (4). The apostles predicted that, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions” (17-18). Jude may be alarmed by the situation, but he is not taken aback by it. He is not worried that God has lost control and that the Gospel will be lost. All the more, then, he urges his people to contend for the faith. They are to act in the name of Christ, under his banner, knowing that the victory belongs to him. They are not defenseless.
Now that he has conveyed understanding of who God and who they are in him through Christ, he exhorts them, whom he loves, to act.
20 But you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
Though there are four actions they are told to do, three of those actions support one, which is “to keep.” This is the fifth and last time the Greek term for keep is used. What are they to keep themselves in? The love of God. What was the very first adjective Jude used to describe them in verse 1? Beloved in God. This is their identity; being in the love of God is what defines them.
How do they keep in that love? He tells them, “build yourselves up in your most holy faith.” They are to build themselves up – make themselves stronger – in the Gospel that is holy. What were they exhorted to do in verse 3? Contend for the faith. To contend for the faith, they must become strong in it. The Gospel must do its work of building them up.
They are to “pray in the Holy Spirit.” They are to acknowledge, as Paul reminded the Ephesians, that their battle is not with flesh and blood but is a spiritual battle. They may contend for the faith with argument, but only the Spirit can actually cause someone to hear and repent. They may build themselves up through teaching and studying God’s Word, but only the Spirit can give them spiritual discernment to profit. Prayer, more than any other activity, is acknowledging that God is indeed sovereign and that we are indeed powerless without him.
And then they are to wait, i.e., they are to wait in hope “for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” How different is their wait than those of the angels in chains who wait for the “judgment of the great day” (6); how different from the wait of the ungodly for whom is reserved “the gloom of utter darkness” (13), the execution of judgment (15). When the Day of Judgment comes and all who have ever lived are resurrected – both the good and the bad; when the day comes in which all our deeds, words, and thoughts – both good and bad – are revealed; when that day comes, the last great display of mercy will take place when those who in Christ hear him say to them, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).
What then are they to do in regard to others? 22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
They are to show mercy, of course. What else can recipients of God’s mercy do? They are to “have mercy on those who doubt.” Some are listening and watching these ungodly church intruders, and they are beginning to doubt the Gospel. All the more, those who have remained strong are to love them, patiently helping them to work through their doubts.
There are others who are near falling away. All the more the strong of faith are to go after them, “snatching them out of the fire.” The strong of faith are not to wait for the falling to come to them; they are not to wait for the “right moment.” They are to pray fervently for the falling; they are to seek them out, seek to waken them to their danger and take hold of them.
And then there are the fallen, to whom also they are to show mercy, but “with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.” The strong of faith are still to love, still to pray for the fallen’s souls, still to confront them with the gospel; but now they must be careful lest they themselves fall. Many a Christian have fallen reaching out to the fallen, because they overestimated their own strength of faith. They fell by not keeping themselves built up in their holy faith, by not committing themselves to prayer, by letting the pleasures of the world veil their eyes from the mercy of Christ to come.
Is not the keeping of ourselves and others hard work? There are many pitfalls, and we ourselves are weak before temptations. How can we ever hope that we will have remained faithful to receive that final act of mercy at Christ’s coming? We can put our hope, our confidence, in God, as does Jude.
24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
Glory to God who is able by his sovereign power and will to keep us from stumbling and so lose our way and ability to continue on. Glory to God who is able to present us blameless – not fairly righteous, not having enough goodness to offset our sin – but blameless; so that when we enter into the presence of the Almighty Judge, that will be a day of great, great joy. Glory to God, which is what it is all about. Amen.
8/21/05 D. Marion Clark
Introduction
How does a pastor confront growing sin in his church? How does he arrest the sin’s spread and kill the virus? Jude presents a case study of one pastor’s effort. He has revealed the sin – perverting grace into sensuality and denying Christ’s lordship. He has warned of judgment that such sinners will receive. We will see now how he enables his flock to withstand sin. He will do it through doctrine – reminding them who they are and who God is; and he will do it through exhortation and counsel – instructing them what to do. Be thinking, as we study Jude’s letter, about your own struggles with sin and how his words to believers 2,000 years ago can apply to you today.
Text
1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,
To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
Note how the believers are addressed. First, they are “beloved in God the Father.” (In the Greek text, “called” comes last.) They are in the Father’s love. Think of Jesus’ image in John 10:29 of us being in the hand of his Father. He has us in his grasp – in his loving grasp, which leads to the second reality to understand about themselves: they are “kept for Jesus Christ.”
Jude could mean they are kept to belong to Jesus or kept until the return of Jesus when he comes in judgment. He could mean they are kept by Jesus. Whatever the case, the point is that they are kept, preserved, watched over. In verse 6, keeping their watch is what the angels failed to do; also in verse 6, keeping in chains is what God is doing to those same angels. So also in verse 13, what is translated as “reserved” forever is the same Greek term. God is keeping the reservations made for sinners. The only difference between the keeping of the saints and of the sinners is that the saints are kept in the love of God, while the sinners are kept in his just wrath.
Finally, they are “called.” They are in Christ, they are believers/saints because God called them, as Peter says “out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Now note the common element of these three adjectives of Jude’s readers. He addresses them not as people who have done something for God, but who have had something done to them by God the Father and Jesus Christ. God has placed them in his love; God and Christ keep them; God and Christ have called them.
Do you see what Jude is doing for his flock? Before he alerts them to danger – sin and judgment – he ministers to them, reminding them of their security and responsibility. Because their coming to God is the result of his calling; because their remaining faithful rests on his keeping; because God loves them and does not merely tolerate them – their eternal status is safe. Furthermore, because God first loved them, because he remains faithful to them; because he has called them out of their miserable estate into his kingdom, they have responsibility to keep the faith and glorify him. Because their salvation is not of their doing nor initiated from their will, they do not have to fret over God bringing his work to completion in them; however, for the same reasons they do not have the liberty to go their own way. God has a claim on them.
I don’t know if Jude intended for his following greeting to correspond with the address, but we can see the correlation: Out of mercy God called them; his keeping them is the peace they experience; and, of course the love is the love they have in him. Jude wants this mercy, peace, and love to take hold of them.
3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Consider what Jude is exhorting his hearers to do – they are to contend for the faith. This exhortation is the purpose of the letter and everything else is written to help the hearers carry it out. He is not calling on them to struggle with their faith but to struggle against others on its behalf. He is not exhorting them to hold on to their faith but to protect the faith, i.e. the Gospel, “that was once for all delivered to the saints,” the unchanging Good News. They are to protect the faith, not from unbelievers outside the church, but from apostates and perverters of God’s grace who are inside the church. Whatever hazards there may be outside, the danger which can really undermine the Gospel is inside through those who affiliate themselves with the church. Against these persons, they are to contend for the faith.
How then are they to contend? First of all, have a right understanding of the issue. Thus, Jude discusses the sin and the judgment under which that sin and the sinners lie. They have to know whom and what they are contending against. They need to know the stakes – everlasting judgment.
They also need to be assured that God is in control. Therefore, know that these ungodly men are not true saints who slipped out of God’s loving grasp. They “long ago were designated for this condemnation” (4). The apostles predicted that, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions” (17-18). Jude may be alarmed by the situation, but he is not taken aback by it. He is not worried that God has lost control and that the Gospel will be lost. All the more, then, he urges his people to contend for the faith. They are to act in the name of Christ, under his banner, knowing that the victory belongs to him. They are not defenseless.
Now that he has conveyed understanding of who God and who they are in him through Christ, he exhorts them, whom he loves, to act.
20 But you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
Though there are four actions they are told to do, three of those actions support one, which is “to keep.” This is the fifth and last time the Greek term for keep is used. What are they to keep themselves in? The love of God. What was the very first adjective Jude used to describe them in verse 1? Beloved in God. This is their identity; being in the love of God is what defines them.
How do they keep in that love? He tells them, “build yourselves up in your most holy faith.” They are to build themselves up – make themselves stronger – in the Gospel that is holy. What were they exhorted to do in verse 3? Contend for the faith. To contend for the faith, they must become strong in it. The Gospel must do its work of building them up.
They are to “pray in the Holy Spirit.” They are to acknowledge, as Paul reminded the Ephesians, that their battle is not with flesh and blood but is a spiritual battle. They may contend for the faith with argument, but only the Spirit can actually cause someone to hear and repent. They may build themselves up through teaching and studying God’s Word, but only the Spirit can give them spiritual discernment to profit. Prayer, more than any other activity, is acknowledging that God is indeed sovereign and that we are indeed powerless without him.
And then they are to wait, i.e., they are to wait in hope “for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” How different is their wait than those of the angels in chains who wait for the “judgment of the great day” (6); how different from the wait of the ungodly for whom is reserved “the gloom of utter darkness” (13), the execution of judgment (15). When the Day of Judgment comes and all who have ever lived are resurrected – both the good and the bad; when the day comes in which all our deeds, words, and thoughts – both good and bad – are revealed; when that day comes, the last great display of mercy will take place when those who in Christ hear him say to them, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).
What then are they to do in regard to others? 22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
They are to show mercy, of course. What else can recipients of God’s mercy do? They are to “have mercy on those who doubt.” Some are listening and watching these ungodly church intruders, and they are beginning to doubt the Gospel. All the more, those who have remained strong are to love them, patiently helping them to work through their doubts.
There are others who are near falling away. All the more the strong of faith are to go after them, “snatching them out of the fire.” The strong of faith are not to wait for the falling to come to them; they are not to wait for the “right moment.” They are to pray fervently for the falling; they are to seek them out, seek to waken them to their danger and take hold of them.
And then there are the fallen, to whom also they are to show mercy, but “with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.” The strong of faith are still to love, still to pray for the fallen’s souls, still to confront them with the gospel; but now they must be careful lest they themselves fall. Many a Christian have fallen reaching out to the fallen, because they overestimated their own strength of faith. They fell by not keeping themselves built up in their holy faith, by not committing themselves to prayer, by letting the pleasures of the world veil their eyes from the mercy of Christ to come.
Is not the keeping of ourselves and others hard work? There are many pitfalls, and we ourselves are weak before temptations. How can we ever hope that we will have remained faithful to receive that final act of mercy at Christ’s coming? We can put our hope, our confidence, in God, as does Jude.
24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
Glory to God who is able by his sovereign power and will to keep us from stumbling and so lose our way and ability to continue on. Glory to God who is able to present us blameless – not fairly righteous, not having enough goodness to offset our sin – but blameless; so that when we enter into the presence of the Almighty Judge, that will be a day of great, great joy. Glory to God, which is what it is all about. Amen.
Monday, August 15, 2005
The Power of the Tongue
Proverbs 15:1-5
8/14/05 D. Marion Clark
Introduction
Did you know that in this sanctuary sit men and women of great power? For example, today they will exercise such power as to make others who are also here very happy or miserable. They will impact the lives of strangers. So powerful are they, that much of their influence will be unnoticed even by them. In the same way that we may walk along a field of grass, unaware that our mere taking a step shakes the world of insects, so these people go through a day unaware of shaking up the world that they touch.
Who are these giants of power? They are you and I. For whoever possesses a tongue possesses great power. Our proverbs here give us insight into this powerful instrument.
Text
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
The gentle word possesses positive power to defuse anger; the harsh word possesses negative power to stir up anger where there was none. Note first of all the power of the tongue. It can be a powerful agent for peace or for trouble. The soft, gentle answer can turn away, not merely anger that is brewing, but the wrath that is unleashed. Though disguised as mild-mannered Clark Kent, it really is more powerful than a locomotive! Conversely, a single word has the power to stir up anger that lay dormant. It can stir up anger in someone, who moments before was completely happy and contented. It can transform a peaceful scene into a storm of angry emotion.
Note, also, where the power lies: it is not only in what the tongue says, but in how it speaks. Consider these scenarios: The telephone bill arrives. Mary opens it and discovers to her horror that it is $500. She runs to her husband shouting, “I can’t believe this! How will we ever be able to pay this bill? Who’s been talking on the phone so much? It must be our son!” Her husband John replies gently, “It’s okay, dear. I’ll take care of it. It must be a mistake.” Mary relaxes, so pleased to have a calm, wise husband. What could have been a storm in the home turns serene.
Second scenario: The telephone bill arrives. Mary opens it and discovers a $500 bill. “That’s curious,” she says to her husband. “What do you make of it?” John snaps back, “It’s okay, dear! I’ll take care of it! It must be a mistake!” Mary tenses up, sensing the impatience of her husband with her. Why is he lashing out at her? And so a storm brews in what had been a pleasant day at home.
This is the power of your tongue. You have the power to stop the locomotion of anger with a soft response that brings it to a halt. Your kind word, your pleasant voice can unarm the angry word and voice, and set a peaceful tone for your home, your workplace, your classroom, even on the bus and in the elevator. Many a stormy face has been transformed to a bright smile by the mere pleasant remark.
2 The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly.
The word “fool” is not a barb intended as an insult. It is the description of a mindset. None of us want to be regarded as fools, but we must be willing to consider how what is said of the fool applies to us. We need to do the hard work of examining ourselves.
The tongue of the wise commends knowledge. The NKJ reads “uses knowledge rightly.” The wise know how to make knowledge beneficial and pleasing. The fool may have the same knowledge, but because of his ego or self-interest he turns people away from the knowledge. We all can think of people whom we regard as interesting to listen to, and those whom we avoid because of the pompous way in which they talk or their boring manner or simply the foolishness of what they say.
A problem with foolish speech is that the speaker is oblivious to being foolish. He thinks he is being wise. He makes his mistake in believing that speech itself is what impresses people. He goes to a party and sees how people gather around a good story teller; he thinks that to get that kind of attention he needs to tell stories. He sees a lawyer giving legal advice, perhaps a doctor discussing the latest news about cloning, or an avid gardener describing her new backyard project; he then throws in his knowledge so people will think highly of him as well, not realizing how foolish he sounds.
We certainly don’t want to be fools who pour out folly. How do we avoid that? Here are some tips about the wise. First, the wise become so because they are foremost lovers and learners of knowledge. The wise lawyer is fascinated with law; the wise car mechanic is intrigued with the functions of an engine. Thus, when they speak, their fascination infects their hearers. Secondly, the wise are attentive to their hearers. They look at the signs that indicate if the hearers are interested or not. Because they are enthused with their subject, they want others to be as well and so they keep tune to their audience.
Here where you’ve got to make sure you get the point. The above two observations are a way of saying that the wise are humble. They are fascinated with what they learn, not with being learned. Do you get the difference? If you study the Bible so that you can be thought knowledgeable by others and yourself, you will not be wise with your knowledge. But if you study the Bible because you are fascinated with God, you will become wise indeed. Humility, which in this case simply means being focused on truth rather than yourself, makes you wise. Arrogance, which keeps your attention on yourself, dumbs you down so much so that you fail to see your foolishness in the eyes of others.
3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
God really does see us when we are sleeping and when we are awake. He actually does know when we’ve been bad or good. Let’s apply this knowledge about God to the subject of the tongue. Jesus said, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37). All those careless words we forgot, God remembers. That’s enough to make us squirm.
“I didn’t mean to sound angry.”
“I didn’t mean for you to take it that way.”
“I didn’t realize what I was saying.”
“I was tired at the time.”
“I was angry about something else.”
All those rationalizations sound hollow, don’t they, when we envision God playing back the recordings? It is hard to depict God as saying, “That’s okay that you crushed your brother’s spirit. You didn’t really mean to.” “That’s all right the time you wrecked the peace of your household because you were in a bad mood.”
But also think about this. That little kind remark you made to a child today – God heard you. When you encouraged a parent with a restless child, instead of rebuking her – God heard that. When you said “thank you” to the harried waiter and to the tired bus driver, God was listening. When you patiently listened to someone’s worries and prayed with him, God took notice.
For the eyes and the ears of the Lord are in every place. The soft answer is not too soft for him to miss. There is no exchange of words that are too trivial, for no one is trivial to God.
4 A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
The King James calls it the “wholesome tongue”; the NIV refers to the “tongue that brings healing.” The gentle tongue is wholesome and brings healing. It is the speech of a mother soothing her child who just skinned her elbow and of a father comforting his child whose team loss the big match. It is the college student helping her roommate laugh after a breakup. It is the good word spoken in a meeting where tempers are starting to flare that calms everyone down or even makes them laugh. It is the word that builds up a deflated spirit. It is a word of great power, because it gives life; it rebuilds, gives a new start, gives hope, makes others want to live again.
But there is also a tongue that does just the opposite – the perverse tongue. The specific word indicates not merely an untruth, but an intent to bring hurt. It is what kids say to one another, like “Your parents aren’t your real parents; they took you because nobody else wanted you.” It is the gossip we pass on, the innuendos we slip out about a person’s character. It the exaggerations we make when we are upset, the comments like, “You can’t get anything right.”
What is really being addressed is intent. The person who desires to encourage others will speak healing words. The person who desires merely to assert himself, to get his frustration “off his chest,” will speak words that crush.
I didn’t care for the ESV’s use of the word “perverseness” for the Greek term because of the connotations that word has today; and yet, it does bring out the force intended here. To twist words so that what ought to be bringing blessing and healing; to take an opportunity that could be a “tree of life” for someone’s spirit, and, instead, turn it into a moment to break his spirit – that truly is perversion.
Now, fathers, I have saved the best for last! 5 A fool despises his father’s instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is prudent.
Let’s bathe in this instruction for a moment. Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction, and be attentive that you may gain insight (4:1). A wise son hears his father’s instruction (13:1). Ah yes! If only our children were so wise to appreciate our great wisdom. Well, back to understanding the text.
Certainly this does speak to children about the importance of learning from their fathers and mothers, but the principle applies to many other situations. “Instruction” could also be translated “discipline,” and they really go hand in hand. There is a sense in which you are being disciplined by me right now as I give instruction from God’s word. The principle is this: those who do well in life are those who learned to benefit from teaching and correction. Indeed, it is a mark of wisdom to appreciate correction.
Correction, however, is difficult to take. Most of us do not like to be corrected; we certainly don’t like to be disciplined. One reason is that oftentimes the one doing the correcting is not doing so with a “wholesome” tongue. Far from a gentle tongue, we are being corrected with a harsh tongue, and it stirs up our anger. It makes us defensive. Even then, however, the wise learn how to benefit. The wise will examine themselves regardless of who is correcting and the manner of the correcting.
Why? Because the wise want to improve themselves. And they recognize that every experience is a learning experience. The fool does not benefit, because his concern is his appearance. He wants to be thought important or cool. The irony, of course, is that he appears foolish to everyone else, while the wise only appear wiser. The more teachable we appear, the wiser we appear; the more willing to accept correction, the more respect we gain.
Conclusion
Now, let’s put these proverbs together and see what we learn. First of all, there is great power in what we say. All of us – whether we have lots of authority or are on the bottom of the totem pole – have power to heal or to wound, to build up or to tear down. By one remark, we can make a total stranger’s day or ruin it. By our tongue, we can be a joy to live and work with, or we can make it a nightmare for them. Today, when this service is over and you are leaving, you will either cheer others or dampen their spirits. You might do both: speak gently to one person and harshly to another. The tongue never speaks without helping or hurting.
The question before you, of course, is how you will use your tongue. When the benediction is given, what will be your first words? To whom will you speak? Will you speak words that will bless others? When the telephone rings tomorrow, will the response you give to the person on the other end be a tree of life? When you are spoken rudely to, when someone speaks to you in anger, will you turn that anger away with soft words?
When we look at speaking this way, it becomes unnerving. Every time we open our mouths, we open ourselves for judgment before the God who sees and hears everything. Go back to Jesus’ remark that we will have to give account for every careless remark. Our problem is that so many of our remarks are just that – careless. We do not give careful thought to what we say. Like the leg that kicks when tapped below the knee, so the tongue kicks in reflex to the taps it receives.
What are we to do? We can learn to better discipline our tongue so as to avoid stirring pots of trouble. There are tips one can learn to exercise control and to speak effectively, and we would be wise to study such things.
But Jesus presented the real issue. His warning we quoted concluded with this remark: "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil” (Matthew 12:33-35). To put it in the context of our proverbs, the good tongue comes from a good heart and a bad tongue from a bad heart. If you want to speak words of healing, then the real work needs to be done in the heart.
The other day I listened to a father tell a story about his son. The son determined that he would swim a distance that the father counseled was too far. Time went by and the son did not return. The father got in a boat to look for him and found him sitting on a dock exhausted and unable to swim back. The father then considered pleasantly with his son that probably the large meal he had had is what prevented him from being able to complete the distance. He upheld his son’s dignity. He spoke gentle words healing to the boy’s spirit.
Most of us fathers know what could have easily been said: How the father could have been angered that his counsel was not taken, that the son had caused worry for him, that he had to take the time to find him. The father could have ridiculed the son for failing. Knowing such things, I responded, “You are a good father.” Here is the enlightening part. He responded with surprise. In his mind, he was not telling a story about how he had done something right, but merely a pleasurable time with his son. He had not weighed in his mind what he should say to his son; he was not controlling his tongue; his tongue simply carried out what a loving father would say.
If you want to avoid sinning with your tongue; if you want to fulfill what God requires of you with your tongue, then, again, heed Jesus’ words: love God and love your neighbor. Love gives you wisdom; love will even do your thinking for you so that the “careless” words become “caring” words.
But loving is so hard to do! Well, here is a tip: the more you grasp the love of God for you; the more you contemplate his love, the more loving you will become and the more often your tongue will become as a tree of life to others. How do you grasp God’s love? You listen to what he has spoken. Here is one example.
For the mountains may depart
and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”
says the LORD, who has compassion on you (Isaiah 54:10)
Listen to the Scripture that God has spoken that you may know his love.
Remember one thing more. I said at the beginning that men and women of great power sit in this sanctuary. Be sure to know that there is One in here of infinitely greater power. His Word – Jesus the Son of God – did turn away the wrath that should have fallen upon us. His Word who came to us gentle and in meekness truly is the Tree of Life. And this Word came to us from a heart of love.
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:9-10).
May we be filled with such love that our tongues, that our whole beings, glorify the God of love and draw others to the Tree of Life. Such love is power indeed.
8/14/05 D. Marion Clark
Introduction
Did you know that in this sanctuary sit men and women of great power? For example, today they will exercise such power as to make others who are also here very happy or miserable. They will impact the lives of strangers. So powerful are they, that much of their influence will be unnoticed even by them. In the same way that we may walk along a field of grass, unaware that our mere taking a step shakes the world of insects, so these people go through a day unaware of shaking up the world that they touch.
Who are these giants of power? They are you and I. For whoever possesses a tongue possesses great power. Our proverbs here give us insight into this powerful instrument.
Text
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
The gentle word possesses positive power to defuse anger; the harsh word possesses negative power to stir up anger where there was none. Note first of all the power of the tongue. It can be a powerful agent for peace or for trouble. The soft, gentle answer can turn away, not merely anger that is brewing, but the wrath that is unleashed. Though disguised as mild-mannered Clark Kent, it really is more powerful than a locomotive! Conversely, a single word has the power to stir up anger that lay dormant. It can stir up anger in someone, who moments before was completely happy and contented. It can transform a peaceful scene into a storm of angry emotion.
Note, also, where the power lies: it is not only in what the tongue says, but in how it speaks. Consider these scenarios: The telephone bill arrives. Mary opens it and discovers to her horror that it is $500. She runs to her husband shouting, “I can’t believe this! How will we ever be able to pay this bill? Who’s been talking on the phone so much? It must be our son!” Her husband John replies gently, “It’s okay, dear. I’ll take care of it. It must be a mistake.” Mary relaxes, so pleased to have a calm, wise husband. What could have been a storm in the home turns serene.
Second scenario: The telephone bill arrives. Mary opens it and discovers a $500 bill. “That’s curious,” she says to her husband. “What do you make of it?” John snaps back, “It’s okay, dear! I’ll take care of it! It must be a mistake!” Mary tenses up, sensing the impatience of her husband with her. Why is he lashing out at her? And so a storm brews in what had been a pleasant day at home.
This is the power of your tongue. You have the power to stop the locomotion of anger with a soft response that brings it to a halt. Your kind word, your pleasant voice can unarm the angry word and voice, and set a peaceful tone for your home, your workplace, your classroom, even on the bus and in the elevator. Many a stormy face has been transformed to a bright smile by the mere pleasant remark.
2 The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly.
The word “fool” is not a barb intended as an insult. It is the description of a mindset. None of us want to be regarded as fools, but we must be willing to consider how what is said of the fool applies to us. We need to do the hard work of examining ourselves.
The tongue of the wise commends knowledge. The NKJ reads “uses knowledge rightly.” The wise know how to make knowledge beneficial and pleasing. The fool may have the same knowledge, but because of his ego or self-interest he turns people away from the knowledge. We all can think of people whom we regard as interesting to listen to, and those whom we avoid because of the pompous way in which they talk or their boring manner or simply the foolishness of what they say.
A problem with foolish speech is that the speaker is oblivious to being foolish. He thinks he is being wise. He makes his mistake in believing that speech itself is what impresses people. He goes to a party and sees how people gather around a good story teller; he thinks that to get that kind of attention he needs to tell stories. He sees a lawyer giving legal advice, perhaps a doctor discussing the latest news about cloning, or an avid gardener describing her new backyard project; he then throws in his knowledge so people will think highly of him as well, not realizing how foolish he sounds.
We certainly don’t want to be fools who pour out folly. How do we avoid that? Here are some tips about the wise. First, the wise become so because they are foremost lovers and learners of knowledge. The wise lawyer is fascinated with law; the wise car mechanic is intrigued with the functions of an engine. Thus, when they speak, their fascination infects their hearers. Secondly, the wise are attentive to their hearers. They look at the signs that indicate if the hearers are interested or not. Because they are enthused with their subject, they want others to be as well and so they keep tune to their audience.
Here where you’ve got to make sure you get the point. The above two observations are a way of saying that the wise are humble. They are fascinated with what they learn, not with being learned. Do you get the difference? If you study the Bible so that you can be thought knowledgeable by others and yourself, you will not be wise with your knowledge. But if you study the Bible because you are fascinated with God, you will become wise indeed. Humility, which in this case simply means being focused on truth rather than yourself, makes you wise. Arrogance, which keeps your attention on yourself, dumbs you down so much so that you fail to see your foolishness in the eyes of others.
3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
God really does see us when we are sleeping and when we are awake. He actually does know when we’ve been bad or good. Let’s apply this knowledge about God to the subject of the tongue. Jesus said, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37). All those careless words we forgot, God remembers. That’s enough to make us squirm.
“I didn’t mean to sound angry.”
“I didn’t mean for you to take it that way.”
“I didn’t realize what I was saying.”
“I was tired at the time.”
“I was angry about something else.”
All those rationalizations sound hollow, don’t they, when we envision God playing back the recordings? It is hard to depict God as saying, “That’s okay that you crushed your brother’s spirit. You didn’t really mean to.” “That’s all right the time you wrecked the peace of your household because you were in a bad mood.”
But also think about this. That little kind remark you made to a child today – God heard you. When you encouraged a parent with a restless child, instead of rebuking her – God heard that. When you said “thank you” to the harried waiter and to the tired bus driver, God was listening. When you patiently listened to someone’s worries and prayed with him, God took notice.
For the eyes and the ears of the Lord are in every place. The soft answer is not too soft for him to miss. There is no exchange of words that are too trivial, for no one is trivial to God.
4 A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
The King James calls it the “wholesome tongue”; the NIV refers to the “tongue that brings healing.” The gentle tongue is wholesome and brings healing. It is the speech of a mother soothing her child who just skinned her elbow and of a father comforting his child whose team loss the big match. It is the college student helping her roommate laugh after a breakup. It is the good word spoken in a meeting where tempers are starting to flare that calms everyone down or even makes them laugh. It is the word that builds up a deflated spirit. It is a word of great power, because it gives life; it rebuilds, gives a new start, gives hope, makes others want to live again.
But there is also a tongue that does just the opposite – the perverse tongue. The specific word indicates not merely an untruth, but an intent to bring hurt. It is what kids say to one another, like “Your parents aren’t your real parents; they took you because nobody else wanted you.” It is the gossip we pass on, the innuendos we slip out about a person’s character. It the exaggerations we make when we are upset, the comments like, “You can’t get anything right.”
What is really being addressed is intent. The person who desires to encourage others will speak healing words. The person who desires merely to assert himself, to get his frustration “off his chest,” will speak words that crush.
I didn’t care for the ESV’s use of the word “perverseness” for the Greek term because of the connotations that word has today; and yet, it does bring out the force intended here. To twist words so that what ought to be bringing blessing and healing; to take an opportunity that could be a “tree of life” for someone’s spirit, and, instead, turn it into a moment to break his spirit – that truly is perversion.
Now, fathers, I have saved the best for last! 5 A fool despises his father’s instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is prudent.
Let’s bathe in this instruction for a moment. Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction, and be attentive that you may gain insight (4:1). A wise son hears his father’s instruction (13:1). Ah yes! If only our children were so wise to appreciate our great wisdom. Well, back to understanding the text.
Certainly this does speak to children about the importance of learning from their fathers and mothers, but the principle applies to many other situations. “Instruction” could also be translated “discipline,” and they really go hand in hand. There is a sense in which you are being disciplined by me right now as I give instruction from God’s word. The principle is this: those who do well in life are those who learned to benefit from teaching and correction. Indeed, it is a mark of wisdom to appreciate correction.
Correction, however, is difficult to take. Most of us do not like to be corrected; we certainly don’t like to be disciplined. One reason is that oftentimes the one doing the correcting is not doing so with a “wholesome” tongue. Far from a gentle tongue, we are being corrected with a harsh tongue, and it stirs up our anger. It makes us defensive. Even then, however, the wise learn how to benefit. The wise will examine themselves regardless of who is correcting and the manner of the correcting.
Why? Because the wise want to improve themselves. And they recognize that every experience is a learning experience. The fool does not benefit, because his concern is his appearance. He wants to be thought important or cool. The irony, of course, is that he appears foolish to everyone else, while the wise only appear wiser. The more teachable we appear, the wiser we appear; the more willing to accept correction, the more respect we gain.
Conclusion
Now, let’s put these proverbs together and see what we learn. First of all, there is great power in what we say. All of us – whether we have lots of authority or are on the bottom of the totem pole – have power to heal or to wound, to build up or to tear down. By one remark, we can make a total stranger’s day or ruin it. By our tongue, we can be a joy to live and work with, or we can make it a nightmare for them. Today, when this service is over and you are leaving, you will either cheer others or dampen their spirits. You might do both: speak gently to one person and harshly to another. The tongue never speaks without helping or hurting.
The question before you, of course, is how you will use your tongue. When the benediction is given, what will be your first words? To whom will you speak? Will you speak words that will bless others? When the telephone rings tomorrow, will the response you give to the person on the other end be a tree of life? When you are spoken rudely to, when someone speaks to you in anger, will you turn that anger away with soft words?
When we look at speaking this way, it becomes unnerving. Every time we open our mouths, we open ourselves for judgment before the God who sees and hears everything. Go back to Jesus’ remark that we will have to give account for every careless remark. Our problem is that so many of our remarks are just that – careless. We do not give careful thought to what we say. Like the leg that kicks when tapped below the knee, so the tongue kicks in reflex to the taps it receives.
What are we to do? We can learn to better discipline our tongue so as to avoid stirring pots of trouble. There are tips one can learn to exercise control and to speak effectively, and we would be wise to study such things.
But Jesus presented the real issue. His warning we quoted concluded with this remark: "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil” (Matthew 12:33-35). To put it in the context of our proverbs, the good tongue comes from a good heart and a bad tongue from a bad heart. If you want to speak words of healing, then the real work needs to be done in the heart.
The other day I listened to a father tell a story about his son. The son determined that he would swim a distance that the father counseled was too far. Time went by and the son did not return. The father got in a boat to look for him and found him sitting on a dock exhausted and unable to swim back. The father then considered pleasantly with his son that probably the large meal he had had is what prevented him from being able to complete the distance. He upheld his son’s dignity. He spoke gentle words healing to the boy’s spirit.
Most of us fathers know what could have easily been said: How the father could have been angered that his counsel was not taken, that the son had caused worry for him, that he had to take the time to find him. The father could have ridiculed the son for failing. Knowing such things, I responded, “You are a good father.” Here is the enlightening part. He responded with surprise. In his mind, he was not telling a story about how he had done something right, but merely a pleasurable time with his son. He had not weighed in his mind what he should say to his son; he was not controlling his tongue; his tongue simply carried out what a loving father would say.
If you want to avoid sinning with your tongue; if you want to fulfill what God requires of you with your tongue, then, again, heed Jesus’ words: love God and love your neighbor. Love gives you wisdom; love will even do your thinking for you so that the “careless” words become “caring” words.
But loving is so hard to do! Well, here is a tip: the more you grasp the love of God for you; the more you contemplate his love, the more loving you will become and the more often your tongue will become as a tree of life to others. How do you grasp God’s love? You listen to what he has spoken. Here is one example.
For the mountains may depart
and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”
says the LORD, who has compassion on you (Isaiah 54:10)
Listen to the Scripture that God has spoken that you may know his love.
Remember one thing more. I said at the beginning that men and women of great power sit in this sanctuary. Be sure to know that there is One in here of infinitely greater power. His Word – Jesus the Son of God – did turn away the wrath that should have fallen upon us. His Word who came to us gentle and in meekness truly is the Tree of Life. And this Word came to us from a heart of love.
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:9-10).
May we be filled with such love that our tongues, that our whole beings, glorify the God of love and draw others to the Tree of Life. Such love is power indeed.
Rendering Judgment
Jude 4-18
8/14/05 D. Marion Clark
Introduction
I remember a telephone call a number of years ago here at Tenth. The caller had seen an evangelism tract with Tenth’s name and phone number stamped on it. The tract was about the subject of hell. The caller, who was pleasant, asked this question: For me to become a Christian, must I then understand that my mother and father who died unbelievers are spending eternity in hell?
Is this not a question that has troubled us? It certainly has troubled the world. From the world’s perspective, the subject of judgment and hell is the “dark side” of the gospel. Jude takes us into this subject.
I began last week’s sermon raising the Camelot-factor which plagues human history. Simply put, whatever good is given birth, it brings with it its own seed of destruction or corruption. Jude is distressed to see it happening at the church’s beginning and is raising the alarm to expose the corruption. But however concerned Jude may be about the spreading corruption, he also makes clear, through his comments on judgment, that God has matters under control. Let’s see what he has to say.
Text
For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation…
From the human perspective, certain people slipped into the church without notice. From God’s perspective, they are following script. Some translators believe the Jude is referring to scriptures (whether Old or New) that speak of the wicked mixing in and corrupting God’s people. Jesus said as much in his parables about the tares being sown among the wheat and the bad getting caught in the fishing net with the good fish. Some believe that he has in mind a list of actual names designating who would commit such sin. However we look at it, one thing Jude is making clear is that God is not caught off guard by the appearance of wickedness. He not only is expecting it, he has plans to deal with the perpetrators.
Jude then gives three examples of other groups of sinners receiving judgment. The first example is that of the Israelites who rebelled in the wilderness: 5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. Jude could have directed us to several instances in the wilderness story, but the clearest is God’s promise that “none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers (Numbers 14:22-23). And thus for forty years they wandered until all the rebels died.
The next example takes us into a realm beyond our present senses: 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day…
We don’t have the time to spend on the various explanations of who these angels might be and where Jude got his information. His message, however, is clear: not even mighty angels can avoid God’s judgment. Even now certain ones are kept chained in darkness from which there is no escape. They are kept for their day in court for which they can have no hope of being declared not guilty or obtaining a mistrial. Their judgment is sure and their prison invincible.
Finally, come Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, who 7 … serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. They serve as a warning to others of the punishment that will be visited upon the wicked.
Jude’s vivid metaphors of the ungodly who are disturbing the church ends with this last description of judgment: 12 These are…wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. Note the comparison with the angels kept in gloomy darkness. The ungodly have reservations already made for their accommodations, and these reservations will not be canceled.
Jude’s concluding remarks about judgment comes in a reference from the nonbiblical book of Enoch:
14 It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly…
What do we learn about the judgment to come? One is that it will occur with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Two, it will come in great power as displayed in the army that accompanies Christ. Three, everyone will be judged and all the ungodly will be convicted. Everyone will receive his due reward.
Doctrine
Jude presents pretty much what we know about judgment. Let’s consider the elements. First, the return of Christ brings the final Day of Judgment. In his message to the Athenians recorded in Acts 17, Paul tells them about God, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” Jesus Christ who rose from the dead and ascended on high will return to render judgment.
Jesus himself spoke of his judging. He is the Son of Man who will return and separate the “sheep from the goats,” sending the goats into “eternal punishment” and the sheep into “eternal life” (Matthew 25:31ff).
Secondly, that judgment gives an eternal sentence – no time limit, no parole. There is an eternal fire, eternal chains, darkness reserved forever. Again, Jesus speaks of eternal punishment. He warns that we should fear God above man because God, “after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell” (Luke 12:5).
Thirdly, though there is the Day of Judgment to come when Christ returns, the punishment begins before then, just as the angels are kept in chains waiting the judgment to come. In the parable Jesus told of the rich man and the poor man Lazarus, both go their rewards upon death – for the rich man to hell, for the poor man to heaven.
Fourthly, our response to Jesus himself will be the determining factor for how we are judged. We all know John 3:16. Listen to what follows in verse 18: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” Lest we might conclude that belief is a mere mental statement, Jesus goes on to link faith with deed and heart:
19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God.
He says elsewhere, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
Consider also the purposes for which the teachings on judgment are given. One is to uphold the power and justice of God. That is the primary purpose for Jude’s teachings. Don’t think that the ungodly are getting away with their ungodliness. Justice will be carried out. Another related purpose is to console the innocent and the righteous who suffer from injustice. Revelation 6:10 presents the complaint of the righteous martyrs, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
But the primary motivation for Jesus’ comments was to move his hearers to repent so that they would avoid such a fate.
“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!” (Luke 12:4-5).
“Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:2-3).
“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from,’…Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out” (Luke 13:22-28).
Indeed, Jesus’ very purpose in coming was to save people from condemnation. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17).
Response
This is not a comprehensive study of judgment and hell, but I have given you the basic, classic Christian doctrine, using a selection from numerous biblical passages. Now then, let’s tackle our personal response. We Christians worry over such doctrine for one particular reason – people whom we respect and love are facing judgment if they do not turn to Christ, and already there are those we mourn for who have already died.
NonChristians find the doctrine of hell and eternal punishment revolting. They are furious over the concept. It is one thing to say that Christianity is the best way to God; it is another to say that one will burn in hell for not believing. It is fine to say that the wicked will get their just reward, but are Holocaust victims to face the same fate as their Nazi persecutors? Are heroes and victims of 911 enduring the same suffering as their killers?
Such thoughts have caused some Christians to leave their faith. I know of one such young man who had been raised in a Christian home, attended Christian schools, and kept only a circle of Christian friends. Then, when he took a job, he discovered in the workplace nice people who either had another faith or no faith. How could they be condemned who were as nice as he was?
Others have not denied the Christian faith, but have altered their views so that the subject is more palatable. Some say that unbelievers literally perish and do not endure eternal suffering. Some hold that some are saved who do not believe, using various explanations. I certainly struggle with this and will confess that this doctrine alone is one that has shaken my faith, but I have never resorted to the above alternative teachings for the following reasons.
First, to reject the doctrine of hell because I don’t like it, because I can’t quite square it with a loving God, strikes me as a statement more about me than about God. In truth, what do I know about sin? The young man who abandoned his faith did so because he stepped out of his Christian world into the reality of the secular world, and he saw that unbelievers aren’t so bad after all. But what if we could step out of our physical world and look into human hearts to see sin fully laid bare; what then would be our reaction?
And what would be our reaction if we truly were confronted with God in his holiness? We talk about being in the presence of God, but I mean really in his presence, so that our full senses take him in. Isaiah’s reaction was to fall down and cry out, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell with a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:6). The apostle John fell down “as though dead” when he found himself in the presence of Christ in his glory (Revelation 1:12ff). I have not had such experiences, either to clearly see sin or God. How then can I question the legitimacy of hell?
Another reason for sticking with the biblical teachings on hell and judgment is that the alternatives strike me as an attempt to merely lower the stakes, so to speak. I don’t like to gamble. Placing bets on games do not make the games more interesting or exciting to me. I don’t want personal loss riding on whether the ball goes into the basket or bounces off the rim. I want games to be merely games. I am suspicious that efforts to interpret scriptures differently or outright reject them are really attempts to keep our relationship with God on a “sporting basis.” We regard, then, the judgment stuff as nothing more than theatrics to add to the suspense. Eternal destiny can’t really be at stake.
Liberal theologians dump the whole truth – sin, atonement, resurrection – it’s all myth. Some evangelicals are writing off the “negatives.” What Richard Niebuhr once wrote about liberal theology strikes me as applying to our efforts to remove the doctrine of hell. Their message boils down to this: "A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross." And so hell becomes merely a way of talking about how bad we feel. Judgment is a way of describing how we are missing out on a good relationship with God.
The cross makes the stakes real. The cross keeps me from playing religion, which is what I feel what liberal ministers do. They talk the language but divest it of all its meaning, so that in the end their work is simply another alternative to helping people live better. The same can be done by lifestyle coaches and activist groups.
It is when I get to the cross that both perspectives are made clearer for me. How terrible, how horrible sin must be that such a price must be made to free us from it. How awe-full must be the holiness of God that he must turn his face from his Son calling out to him on the cross. What do I know of sin and holiness? What do I know of righteousness and love? How pure must God’s righteousness be that he cannot wave off the smallest of sin, but carry justice against it on the cross.
And most mysterious of all – how wondrous must be such love that God the Father would give up his Son, that the Son would willingly give up his life, for…whom? For sinners, for enemies: “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”; “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Romans 5:8, 10). The cross presents a God with wrath who brought men with sin into a kingdom of righteousness through the sufferings of a Christ – his only begotten Son – on a Cross.
Christ took my sin and gave me his righteousness. I was a rebel and God gave up his Son to make me his son. This is what I know.
I don’t have to like the doctrine of hell. I certainly don’t have to feel good about my pleasant neighbor getting his “due.” But what I have learned to do is trust my heavenly Father who is infinitely more just and more merciful than I, as shown through the cross. What I have to do is love my neighbor with the tiny fraction of God’s love shown to me, so that I will faithfully pray for him, befriend him, and share that wondrous love with him. I have to uphold the holiness and righteousness of my God and let him be God, not toned down to make me feel comfortable.
I have to take Christ for who he says he is – Savior, Lord, Judge.
For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22 The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment (John 5:21-29).
Hear the voice of your Lord now who would be your Savior. Choose the resurrection of life. Choose the very Judge who would also be your Rock of refuge from judgment; choose Christ.
8/14/05 D. Marion Clark
Introduction
I remember a telephone call a number of years ago here at Tenth. The caller had seen an evangelism tract with Tenth’s name and phone number stamped on it. The tract was about the subject of hell. The caller, who was pleasant, asked this question: For me to become a Christian, must I then understand that my mother and father who died unbelievers are spending eternity in hell?
Is this not a question that has troubled us? It certainly has troubled the world. From the world’s perspective, the subject of judgment and hell is the “dark side” of the gospel. Jude takes us into this subject.
I began last week’s sermon raising the Camelot-factor which plagues human history. Simply put, whatever good is given birth, it brings with it its own seed of destruction or corruption. Jude is distressed to see it happening at the church’s beginning and is raising the alarm to expose the corruption. But however concerned Jude may be about the spreading corruption, he also makes clear, through his comments on judgment, that God has matters under control. Let’s see what he has to say.
Text
For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation…
From the human perspective, certain people slipped into the church without notice. From God’s perspective, they are following script. Some translators believe the Jude is referring to scriptures (whether Old or New) that speak of the wicked mixing in and corrupting God’s people. Jesus said as much in his parables about the tares being sown among the wheat and the bad getting caught in the fishing net with the good fish. Some believe that he has in mind a list of actual names designating who would commit such sin. However we look at it, one thing Jude is making clear is that God is not caught off guard by the appearance of wickedness. He not only is expecting it, he has plans to deal with the perpetrators.
Jude then gives three examples of other groups of sinners receiving judgment. The first example is that of the Israelites who rebelled in the wilderness: 5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. Jude could have directed us to several instances in the wilderness story, but the clearest is God’s promise that “none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers (Numbers 14:22-23). And thus for forty years they wandered until all the rebels died.
The next example takes us into a realm beyond our present senses: 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day…
We don’t have the time to spend on the various explanations of who these angels might be and where Jude got his information. His message, however, is clear: not even mighty angels can avoid God’s judgment. Even now certain ones are kept chained in darkness from which there is no escape. They are kept for their day in court for which they can have no hope of being declared not guilty or obtaining a mistrial. Their judgment is sure and their prison invincible.
Finally, come Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, who 7 … serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. They serve as a warning to others of the punishment that will be visited upon the wicked.
Jude’s vivid metaphors of the ungodly who are disturbing the church ends with this last description of judgment: 12 These are…wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. Note the comparison with the angels kept in gloomy darkness. The ungodly have reservations already made for their accommodations, and these reservations will not be canceled.
Jude’s concluding remarks about judgment comes in a reference from the nonbiblical book of Enoch:
14 It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly…
What do we learn about the judgment to come? One is that it will occur with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Two, it will come in great power as displayed in the army that accompanies Christ. Three, everyone will be judged and all the ungodly will be convicted. Everyone will receive his due reward.
Doctrine
Jude presents pretty much what we know about judgment. Let’s consider the elements. First, the return of Christ brings the final Day of Judgment. In his message to the Athenians recorded in Acts 17, Paul tells them about God, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” Jesus Christ who rose from the dead and ascended on high will return to render judgment.
Jesus himself spoke of his judging. He is the Son of Man who will return and separate the “sheep from the goats,” sending the goats into “eternal punishment” and the sheep into “eternal life” (Matthew 25:31ff).
Secondly, that judgment gives an eternal sentence – no time limit, no parole. There is an eternal fire, eternal chains, darkness reserved forever. Again, Jesus speaks of eternal punishment. He warns that we should fear God above man because God, “after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell” (Luke 12:5).
Thirdly, though there is the Day of Judgment to come when Christ returns, the punishment begins before then, just as the angels are kept in chains waiting the judgment to come. In the parable Jesus told of the rich man and the poor man Lazarus, both go their rewards upon death – for the rich man to hell, for the poor man to heaven.
Fourthly, our response to Jesus himself will be the determining factor for how we are judged. We all know John 3:16. Listen to what follows in verse 18: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” Lest we might conclude that belief is a mere mental statement, Jesus goes on to link faith with deed and heart:
19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God.
He says elsewhere, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
Consider also the purposes for which the teachings on judgment are given. One is to uphold the power and justice of God. That is the primary purpose for Jude’s teachings. Don’t think that the ungodly are getting away with their ungodliness. Justice will be carried out. Another related purpose is to console the innocent and the righteous who suffer from injustice. Revelation 6:10 presents the complaint of the righteous martyrs, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
But the primary motivation for Jesus’ comments was to move his hearers to repent so that they would avoid such a fate.
“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!” (Luke 12:4-5).
“Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:2-3).
“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from,’…Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out” (Luke 13:22-28).
Indeed, Jesus’ very purpose in coming was to save people from condemnation. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17).
Response
This is not a comprehensive study of judgment and hell, but I have given you the basic, classic Christian doctrine, using a selection from numerous biblical passages. Now then, let’s tackle our personal response. We Christians worry over such doctrine for one particular reason – people whom we respect and love are facing judgment if they do not turn to Christ, and already there are those we mourn for who have already died.
NonChristians find the doctrine of hell and eternal punishment revolting. They are furious over the concept. It is one thing to say that Christianity is the best way to God; it is another to say that one will burn in hell for not believing. It is fine to say that the wicked will get their just reward, but are Holocaust victims to face the same fate as their Nazi persecutors? Are heroes and victims of 911 enduring the same suffering as their killers?
Such thoughts have caused some Christians to leave their faith. I know of one such young man who had been raised in a Christian home, attended Christian schools, and kept only a circle of Christian friends. Then, when he took a job, he discovered in the workplace nice people who either had another faith or no faith. How could they be condemned who were as nice as he was?
Others have not denied the Christian faith, but have altered their views so that the subject is more palatable. Some say that unbelievers literally perish and do not endure eternal suffering. Some hold that some are saved who do not believe, using various explanations. I certainly struggle with this and will confess that this doctrine alone is one that has shaken my faith, but I have never resorted to the above alternative teachings for the following reasons.
First, to reject the doctrine of hell because I don’t like it, because I can’t quite square it with a loving God, strikes me as a statement more about me than about God. In truth, what do I know about sin? The young man who abandoned his faith did so because he stepped out of his Christian world into the reality of the secular world, and he saw that unbelievers aren’t so bad after all. But what if we could step out of our physical world and look into human hearts to see sin fully laid bare; what then would be our reaction?
And what would be our reaction if we truly were confronted with God in his holiness? We talk about being in the presence of God, but I mean really in his presence, so that our full senses take him in. Isaiah’s reaction was to fall down and cry out, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell with a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:6). The apostle John fell down “as though dead” when he found himself in the presence of Christ in his glory (Revelation 1:12ff). I have not had such experiences, either to clearly see sin or God. How then can I question the legitimacy of hell?
Another reason for sticking with the biblical teachings on hell and judgment is that the alternatives strike me as an attempt to merely lower the stakes, so to speak. I don’t like to gamble. Placing bets on games do not make the games more interesting or exciting to me. I don’t want personal loss riding on whether the ball goes into the basket or bounces off the rim. I want games to be merely games. I am suspicious that efforts to interpret scriptures differently or outright reject them are really attempts to keep our relationship with God on a “sporting basis.” We regard, then, the judgment stuff as nothing more than theatrics to add to the suspense. Eternal destiny can’t really be at stake.
Liberal theologians dump the whole truth – sin, atonement, resurrection – it’s all myth. Some evangelicals are writing off the “negatives.” What Richard Niebuhr once wrote about liberal theology strikes me as applying to our efforts to remove the doctrine of hell. Their message boils down to this: "A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross." And so hell becomes merely a way of talking about how bad we feel. Judgment is a way of describing how we are missing out on a good relationship with God.
The cross makes the stakes real. The cross keeps me from playing religion, which is what I feel what liberal ministers do. They talk the language but divest it of all its meaning, so that in the end their work is simply another alternative to helping people live better. The same can be done by lifestyle coaches and activist groups.
It is when I get to the cross that both perspectives are made clearer for me. How terrible, how horrible sin must be that such a price must be made to free us from it. How awe-full must be the holiness of God that he must turn his face from his Son calling out to him on the cross. What do I know of sin and holiness? What do I know of righteousness and love? How pure must God’s righteousness be that he cannot wave off the smallest of sin, but carry justice against it on the cross.
And most mysterious of all – how wondrous must be such love that God the Father would give up his Son, that the Son would willingly give up his life, for…whom? For sinners, for enemies: “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”; “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Romans 5:8, 10). The cross presents a God with wrath who brought men with sin into a kingdom of righteousness through the sufferings of a Christ – his only begotten Son – on a Cross.
Christ took my sin and gave me his righteousness. I was a rebel and God gave up his Son to make me his son. This is what I know.
I don’t have to like the doctrine of hell. I certainly don’t have to feel good about my pleasant neighbor getting his “due.” But what I have learned to do is trust my heavenly Father who is infinitely more just and more merciful than I, as shown through the cross. What I have to do is love my neighbor with the tiny fraction of God’s love shown to me, so that I will faithfully pray for him, befriend him, and share that wondrous love with him. I have to uphold the holiness and righteousness of my God and let him be God, not toned down to make me feel comfortable.
I have to take Christ for who he says he is – Savior, Lord, Judge.
For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22 The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment (John 5:21-29).
Hear the voice of your Lord now who would be your Savior. Choose the resurrection of life. Choose the very Judge who would also be your Rock of refuge from judgment; choose Christ.
Monday, August 08, 2005
Perverting Grace
Jude 1-19
8/7/05 D. Marion Clark
Introduction
There is a problem that has plagued mankind as old as the story of Adam and Eve; indeed, is traced to what took place in the Garden. Why is it that all good movements end up as Camelots – destined to decline and fail? How is it that even the best births come with their own seeds for corruption, so that we marvel not at failure, but that anything – a business, a school, an empire – lasts for as long as it does, or keeps true to its vision? Something always goes wrong in the end; some slipup, some oversight lets in the germ for sickness, so that, sooner or later, it becomes clear that “something is rotten in Denmark.”
Jude did not have Shakespeare to quote, but he had other material to draw from to make the same conclusion in the early churches. Something has gone wrong in the Church. Another apple has been eaten in the Garden; a serpent yet again spotted, and it is time to sound the alarm.
Text
1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,
To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
Jude is distressed. He wanted to write a letter discussing matters that would build up believers in the Christian faith. But he is disturbed by an attack in the church. Now he must write, exhorting believers to contend for the faith, i.e. the gospel, which was “once for all delivered to the saints.”
What has happened? He tells us in verse 4:
4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Just as a serpent crept into the garden, so serpents have crept into the church, using the same tactics of the original Tempter – twisting what God has said to subvert his authority.
Note what they are doing. First, they pervert the grace of our God into sensuality. They have changed, altered the doctrine of grace into a “license for immorality,” as the NIV puts it. This doctrine, intended to relieve believers of the burden of guilt and the yoke of works-righteousness (trying to earn God’s salvation through being good enough) – that doctrine is being twisted to justify living immoral lifestyles.
Secondly, they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. That’s an interesting combination of titles – Master and Lord. The Greek word for Master is “despot,” the term used for owners of slaves and for kings. When used for God, it is often translated “Sovereign.” That’s why the NIV has translated it “Sovereign” in this verse. I think Master is a good translation. 2 Peter 2:1 helps out here. Chapter 2 of that letter runs parallel to Jude and lends insight. Peter speaks of false teachers “denying the Master who bought them.” It appears that these ungodly people deny that the Lord Jesus Christ owns them and has rights over them. You can see the connection between the two charges. By appealing to a twisted view of grace, they deny the claims of Christ to control how they live.
As we continue to read, we can pick up some clues about the nature of their sins. The point of verses 5-7 is to note that God will not be mocked, but, indeed, will bring judgment. Jude gives three examples of this. Our interest tonight is the behavior of these three groups. The first is that of the Israelites delivered from Egypt.
5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
Note what Jude picks out as their defining sin. He could have chosen rebellion, idolatry, grumbling, testing God, among others. But he zeroes in on unbelief. Did they not believe in God? It is not accurate to say that they did not believe in God; rather, they did not believe God, not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Moses. That God had competitors, the gods of the Egyptians and the Canaanites, who seemed to do a better job of serving their peoples’ needs. The irony, of course, is that Yahweh, Israel’s God had delivered the Israelites by the greatest series of miracles ever performed.
The second group of the examples is interesting: 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling…
There are differing views as to what Jude is referring to, but I think the sin of the angels is that they abandoned a trust they were given – to keep watch, to guard whatever it may be – a city, a people. They abandoned their posts. They left where they belonged.
And then there is the third group: Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities. which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire…. It doesn’t take too much imagination to figure out what sexual immorality entails, though I should note even less imagination is needed as far as the Bible is concerned. Any sexual relations outside of marriage would fall into the category. What then is this additional phrase, pursued unnatural desire? Literally, the Greek reads “go after other flesh.” That term for “other” indicates can mean simply “another,” as well as “of another kind.” Its context here and applying it to Sodom and Gomorrah would lead to the conclusion that Jude is speaking of homosexual relations. This was an element of the sin in Sodom, and it seems simplest to see that Jude is adding another sin onto sexual immorality.
In verses 8-10, Jude directly compares the sins of these three groups with the sins of the “ungodly” who are troubling the church.
8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” 10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.
Just as the men of Sodom and Gomorrah defiled the flesh with sexual immorality, so are the present ungodly men doing. Like the angels who rejected God’s authority and abandoned their positions, so these men are rejecting the authority of Christ. The third comparison may not appear to be quite so direct, but the connection is there. The Israelites expressed their lack of faith through complaining: Why did God bring us out into the desert? Where is our water? Where is our food? How can we defeat the giants in Canaan? To put it another way, they slandered God.
These ungodly people are doing the same as they blaspheme/slander “the glorious ones,” the holy angels of God who reflect his glory. How so? It somehow involves judgment. Thus, Jude gives the example of the archangel Michael avoiding blasphemous judgment against Satan. It must have something to do with the choice of words. If anyone has a right to judge, it is the holy angel Michael; and if anyone ought to be judged, it is the wicked devil. Even so, Michael is careful in his words, making clear that God is the rightful judge.
Perhaps that is the key to understanding Jude’s point. Michael doesn’t avoid blaspheming the devil, but rather God. If he had failed to give due acknowledgment to God, then his judgment against the devil would have been blasphemous. Interestingly enough, it was Moses himself who stumbled over a similar sin and could not enter the Promised Land. Angered by the Israelites with their complaining about water, he spoke of himself and Aaron as the ones to bring water out of the rock.
This was God’s response:
Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them (Numbers 20:12).
These ungodly men go even further in their blasphemy, because they speak arrogantly about matters in which they are ignorant. Perhaps they are attributing to angels human attributes, even human sins. Whatever the case, it is God whom they ultimately blaspheme. Do you remember the warning that Jesus gave not to despise little children? He says, “For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 18:10). Don’t mess with angels who stand in the presence of God. These ungodly men take no notice.
Jude next sums up their sins with a three-fold identification to other sinners: 11 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion.
Jude is revving up! His allusions and metaphors drive home the depth of the ungodly men’s sins. They walked in the way of Cain – like Cain they rejected God who refuses to accept what they deem to be acceptable. Revelation 2:14 helps us to understand the reference to “Balaam’s error.” The Lord lays this complaint against the church in Pergamum: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. What led these ungodly persons to the error was the motivation for gain, for self-advancement. In short, they are rebels like Korah who rebelled against Moses. They rebel against the authority of the church leaders and the apostles.
We are then given a list of derogatory, yet on-the-mark descriptions of these persons:
12 These are blemishes on your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, looking after themselves;
They are like foul stains on an otherwise beautiful tapestry. You come together for your meals which are to express Christian love, and they “uglify” the event with their self-centered behavior.
Jude gets to the heart of what they are really like:
waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
They are empty. They are clouds that do not provide nourishing rain, trees that do not bear fruit, wild waves that do not move a boat along, but merely produce foam, stars that do not provide direction through a precise pattern, but wander about. They have no value; and indeed create havoc.
The ungodly are an unpleasant crowd to hang around. They are not quiet about bad attitude: 16 These are grumblers, malcontents,…; they are loud-mouthed boasters. They clearly make themselves their only concern: following their own sinful desires… showing favoritism to gain advantage. The result is that they foment discontent: 19 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. To use the language of verse 15, these are ungodly sinners who commit ungodly deeds in ungodly ways. They are bad! And they are in the church!
How did this happen? Jude says they crept in unnoticed. How could such an obnoxious group of sinners slip in quietly? Most likely they were not so bad, at least flagrantly. It may be some of them feigned conversion in order to later take advantage of the church. Perhaps, they considered themselves sincere believers and then in time the true nature of their hearts came out. Jesus spoke of this in the parable of the four soils, in which he explained how many people make what seem to be real commitments to the gospel, but time and circumstance eventually reveal the bad soil in their hearts.
A very real concern of the apostles was the entrance of false leaders and teachers who would lead believers astray and bring division. Paul warned the Ephesian leaders about this. Peter gives this sobering warning: There will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words (2 Peter 2:1-2). This leading astray is Jude’s worry for his people. It is why he dashed off this urgent letter, urging them to “contend for the faith.”
Lessons
We do not want to fall into the same troubles, so consider what we can learn from the downfall of these ungodly persons. How did they get from Point A of confessing the gospel and the Lordship of Christ to Point Z of arrogant rejection?
One clue is found in a recurring idea, that of giving into their natural dispositions: “indulged in sexual immorality”; “pursued unnatural desire”; “abandoned themselves for the sake of gain”; “looked after themselves”; “following their own sinful desires”; “following their own ungodly passions.” What distinguished these fallen is not that they had sinful desires, but that they gave way to them.
It is the tendency of the sinful heart (even the redeemed heart) to put oneself before one’s neighbors and to desire physical pleasure above attaining virtue. The world, the flesh, and the devil are very much with us. And our subtle, pernicious danger is to indulge, to follow one’s passions and then to justify the behavior. “Did God really say?” “Does the Bible really mean not to?”
What happens over time as we yield to our passions, we grow discontent as we fail to convince others and our consciences that our behavior is justifiable. We may at first distant ourselves from other believers; start finding that our schedules don’t fit in. We then begin to grumble about others, about the church teachings. “Why should doctrine matter so much anyway?” “The church is getting legalistic.” We even get to the point of denying that Christ would make any real claim on us. He’s our Savior, but we will live as we please. “He accepts everyone anyhow. He lets me be who I am.”
When we gave way to our sinful disposition, we will then either choose to repent and turn to God for forgiveness and strength to resist; or we will choose to find a way to continue giving in without feeling the weight of guilt. And the best way of doing the latter is to not only boldly give in to our passions but champion the cause.
But, again, how could a follower of Christ even move in such a direction? Jude gave the answer: by perverting the grace of God. Grace is the signature quality of the Gospel. By grace are we saved; by grace we are justified; by grace God treats us not as our sins deserve, but makes his enemies his children. Isn’t that good news? God accepts me as I am. I don’t have to change for God to love me.
I got to thinking about why the hymn “Amazing Grace” is so popular in our secular culture. Everyone likes “Amazing Grace,” no matter how far apart they may feel from the Christian faith. It is because they can express the idea of being accepted, even rescued by God, without having to change. They can remain “wretches,” knowing that in the end God will lead them home without having to commit to anyone, including Christ.
Now, you might to say to me that I am perverting the hymn. You want to point out that I am taking verses and biblical phrases out of context. You would be right, for I am demonstrating how one perverts grace. Start with a truth, turn it into a half-truth, and it will finally become a blasphemous lie.
The lesson to us is this: if grace does not alter us, we will alter grace. If grace does not break us and drive us to repentance; if grace does not open our blind eyes to the holiness, majesty, and mercy of God; if grace does not fill our empty hearts with the desire to please Christ above all else; then we will transform grace into a tool to justify and sink deeper into sin.
That is our lesson. This is our hope: that grace – the real grace of the Gospel – will lead us home. If we look to grace, not as an excuse to sin, but to deliver from sin; if we look to grace to change us and keep committed to our Lord Jesus Christ…well, let the writer of Hebrews say it better:
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who is every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (4:14-16).
8/7/05 D. Marion Clark
Introduction
There is a problem that has plagued mankind as old as the story of Adam and Eve; indeed, is traced to what took place in the Garden. Why is it that all good movements end up as Camelots – destined to decline and fail? How is it that even the best births come with their own seeds for corruption, so that we marvel not at failure, but that anything – a business, a school, an empire – lasts for as long as it does, or keeps true to its vision? Something always goes wrong in the end; some slipup, some oversight lets in the germ for sickness, so that, sooner or later, it becomes clear that “something is rotten in Denmark.”
Jude did not have Shakespeare to quote, but he had other material to draw from to make the same conclusion in the early churches. Something has gone wrong in the Church. Another apple has been eaten in the Garden; a serpent yet again spotted, and it is time to sound the alarm.
Text
1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,
To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
Jude is distressed. He wanted to write a letter discussing matters that would build up believers in the Christian faith. But he is disturbed by an attack in the church. Now he must write, exhorting believers to contend for the faith, i.e. the gospel, which was “once for all delivered to the saints.”
What has happened? He tells us in verse 4:
4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Just as a serpent crept into the garden, so serpents have crept into the church, using the same tactics of the original Tempter – twisting what God has said to subvert his authority.
Note what they are doing. First, they pervert the grace of our God into sensuality. They have changed, altered the doctrine of grace into a “license for immorality,” as the NIV puts it. This doctrine, intended to relieve believers of the burden of guilt and the yoke of works-righteousness (trying to earn God’s salvation through being good enough) – that doctrine is being twisted to justify living immoral lifestyles.
Secondly, they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. That’s an interesting combination of titles – Master and Lord. The Greek word for Master is “despot,” the term used for owners of slaves and for kings. When used for God, it is often translated “Sovereign.” That’s why the NIV has translated it “Sovereign” in this verse. I think Master is a good translation. 2 Peter 2:1 helps out here. Chapter 2 of that letter runs parallel to Jude and lends insight. Peter speaks of false teachers “denying the Master who bought them.” It appears that these ungodly people deny that the Lord Jesus Christ owns them and has rights over them. You can see the connection between the two charges. By appealing to a twisted view of grace, they deny the claims of Christ to control how they live.
As we continue to read, we can pick up some clues about the nature of their sins. The point of verses 5-7 is to note that God will not be mocked, but, indeed, will bring judgment. Jude gives three examples of this. Our interest tonight is the behavior of these three groups. The first is that of the Israelites delivered from Egypt.
5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
Note what Jude picks out as their defining sin. He could have chosen rebellion, idolatry, grumbling, testing God, among others. But he zeroes in on unbelief. Did they not believe in God? It is not accurate to say that they did not believe in God; rather, they did not believe God, not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Moses. That God had competitors, the gods of the Egyptians and the Canaanites, who seemed to do a better job of serving their peoples’ needs. The irony, of course, is that Yahweh, Israel’s God had delivered the Israelites by the greatest series of miracles ever performed.
The second group of the examples is interesting: 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling…
There are differing views as to what Jude is referring to, but I think the sin of the angels is that they abandoned a trust they were given – to keep watch, to guard whatever it may be – a city, a people. They abandoned their posts. They left where they belonged.
And then there is the third group: Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities. which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire…. It doesn’t take too much imagination to figure out what sexual immorality entails, though I should note even less imagination is needed as far as the Bible is concerned. Any sexual relations outside of marriage would fall into the category. What then is this additional phrase, pursued unnatural desire? Literally, the Greek reads “go after other flesh.” That term for “other” indicates can mean simply “another,” as well as “of another kind.” Its context here and applying it to Sodom and Gomorrah would lead to the conclusion that Jude is speaking of homosexual relations. This was an element of the sin in Sodom, and it seems simplest to see that Jude is adding another sin onto sexual immorality.
In verses 8-10, Jude directly compares the sins of these three groups with the sins of the “ungodly” who are troubling the church.
8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” 10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.
Just as the men of Sodom and Gomorrah defiled the flesh with sexual immorality, so are the present ungodly men doing. Like the angels who rejected God’s authority and abandoned their positions, so these men are rejecting the authority of Christ. The third comparison may not appear to be quite so direct, but the connection is there. The Israelites expressed their lack of faith through complaining: Why did God bring us out into the desert? Where is our water? Where is our food? How can we defeat the giants in Canaan? To put it another way, they slandered God.
These ungodly people are doing the same as they blaspheme/slander “the glorious ones,” the holy angels of God who reflect his glory. How so? It somehow involves judgment. Thus, Jude gives the example of the archangel Michael avoiding blasphemous judgment against Satan. It must have something to do with the choice of words. If anyone has a right to judge, it is the holy angel Michael; and if anyone ought to be judged, it is the wicked devil. Even so, Michael is careful in his words, making clear that God is the rightful judge.
Perhaps that is the key to understanding Jude’s point. Michael doesn’t avoid blaspheming the devil, but rather God. If he had failed to give due acknowledgment to God, then his judgment against the devil would have been blasphemous. Interestingly enough, it was Moses himself who stumbled over a similar sin and could not enter the Promised Land. Angered by the Israelites with their complaining about water, he spoke of himself and Aaron as the ones to bring water out of the rock.
This was God’s response:
Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them (Numbers 20:12).
These ungodly men go even further in their blasphemy, because they speak arrogantly about matters in which they are ignorant. Perhaps they are attributing to angels human attributes, even human sins. Whatever the case, it is God whom they ultimately blaspheme. Do you remember the warning that Jesus gave not to despise little children? He says, “For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 18:10). Don’t mess with angels who stand in the presence of God. These ungodly men take no notice.
Jude next sums up their sins with a three-fold identification to other sinners: 11 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion.
Jude is revving up! His allusions and metaphors drive home the depth of the ungodly men’s sins. They walked in the way of Cain – like Cain they rejected God who refuses to accept what they deem to be acceptable. Revelation 2:14 helps us to understand the reference to “Balaam’s error.” The Lord lays this complaint against the church in Pergamum: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. What led these ungodly persons to the error was the motivation for gain, for self-advancement. In short, they are rebels like Korah who rebelled against Moses. They rebel against the authority of the church leaders and the apostles.
We are then given a list of derogatory, yet on-the-mark descriptions of these persons:
12 These are blemishes on your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, looking after themselves;
They are like foul stains on an otherwise beautiful tapestry. You come together for your meals which are to express Christian love, and they “uglify” the event with their self-centered behavior.
Jude gets to the heart of what they are really like:
waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
They are empty. They are clouds that do not provide nourishing rain, trees that do not bear fruit, wild waves that do not move a boat along, but merely produce foam, stars that do not provide direction through a precise pattern, but wander about. They have no value; and indeed create havoc.
The ungodly are an unpleasant crowd to hang around. They are not quiet about bad attitude: 16 These are grumblers, malcontents,…; they are loud-mouthed boasters. They clearly make themselves their only concern: following their own sinful desires… showing favoritism to gain advantage. The result is that they foment discontent: 19 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. To use the language of verse 15, these are ungodly sinners who commit ungodly deeds in ungodly ways. They are bad! And they are in the church!
How did this happen? Jude says they crept in unnoticed. How could such an obnoxious group of sinners slip in quietly? Most likely they were not so bad, at least flagrantly. It may be some of them feigned conversion in order to later take advantage of the church. Perhaps, they considered themselves sincere believers and then in time the true nature of their hearts came out. Jesus spoke of this in the parable of the four soils, in which he explained how many people make what seem to be real commitments to the gospel, but time and circumstance eventually reveal the bad soil in their hearts.
A very real concern of the apostles was the entrance of false leaders and teachers who would lead believers astray and bring division. Paul warned the Ephesian leaders about this. Peter gives this sobering warning: There will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words (2 Peter 2:1-2). This leading astray is Jude’s worry for his people. It is why he dashed off this urgent letter, urging them to “contend for the faith.”
Lessons
We do not want to fall into the same troubles, so consider what we can learn from the downfall of these ungodly persons. How did they get from Point A of confessing the gospel and the Lordship of Christ to Point Z of arrogant rejection?
One clue is found in a recurring idea, that of giving into their natural dispositions: “indulged in sexual immorality”; “pursued unnatural desire”; “abandoned themselves for the sake of gain”; “looked after themselves”; “following their own sinful desires”; “following their own ungodly passions.” What distinguished these fallen is not that they had sinful desires, but that they gave way to them.
It is the tendency of the sinful heart (even the redeemed heart) to put oneself before one’s neighbors and to desire physical pleasure above attaining virtue. The world, the flesh, and the devil are very much with us. And our subtle, pernicious danger is to indulge, to follow one’s passions and then to justify the behavior. “Did God really say?” “Does the Bible really mean not to?”
What happens over time as we yield to our passions, we grow discontent as we fail to convince others and our consciences that our behavior is justifiable. We may at first distant ourselves from other believers; start finding that our schedules don’t fit in. We then begin to grumble about others, about the church teachings. “Why should doctrine matter so much anyway?” “The church is getting legalistic.” We even get to the point of denying that Christ would make any real claim on us. He’s our Savior, but we will live as we please. “He accepts everyone anyhow. He lets me be who I am.”
When we gave way to our sinful disposition, we will then either choose to repent and turn to God for forgiveness and strength to resist; or we will choose to find a way to continue giving in without feeling the weight of guilt. And the best way of doing the latter is to not only boldly give in to our passions but champion the cause.
But, again, how could a follower of Christ even move in such a direction? Jude gave the answer: by perverting the grace of God. Grace is the signature quality of the Gospel. By grace are we saved; by grace we are justified; by grace God treats us not as our sins deserve, but makes his enemies his children. Isn’t that good news? God accepts me as I am. I don’t have to change for God to love me.
I got to thinking about why the hymn “Amazing Grace” is so popular in our secular culture. Everyone likes “Amazing Grace,” no matter how far apart they may feel from the Christian faith. It is because they can express the idea of being accepted, even rescued by God, without having to change. They can remain “wretches,” knowing that in the end God will lead them home without having to commit to anyone, including Christ.
Now, you might to say to me that I am perverting the hymn. You want to point out that I am taking verses and biblical phrases out of context. You would be right, for I am demonstrating how one perverts grace. Start with a truth, turn it into a half-truth, and it will finally become a blasphemous lie.
The lesson to us is this: if grace does not alter us, we will alter grace. If grace does not break us and drive us to repentance; if grace does not open our blind eyes to the holiness, majesty, and mercy of God; if grace does not fill our empty hearts with the desire to please Christ above all else; then we will transform grace into a tool to justify and sink deeper into sin.
That is our lesson. This is our hope: that grace – the real grace of the Gospel – will lead us home. If we look to grace, not as an excuse to sin, but to deliver from sin; if we look to grace to change us and keep committed to our Lord Jesus Christ…well, let the writer of Hebrews say it better:
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who is every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (4:14-16).
