Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 22 April 2012 and Warehouse Mission 614 Toronto, 17 June 2018 by Captain Michael Ramsay
Name the movie (or series of movies) with these famous quotes [answers below]:[1]
.
.
- “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a d…[darn].”
- “May the force be with you.”
- “Life is like a box of chocolates.”
4. “Here’s looking at you, kid.”
- “E.T. phone home”
- “Elementary my dear Watson”
- Person 1: “Can you fly this plane, and land it?” Person 2: “Surely you can't be serious.” Person 1: “I am serious...and don’t call me Shirley.”
- “A martini. Shaken, not stirred.”
- “Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.”
- “Go ahead, make my day.”
Today’s sermon title is based on another Clint Eastwood film, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” Jude in this very short letter that we are looking at today is telling us how to be good in the face of the bad and the ugly.
The Book of Jude has been called the most neglected book in the New Testament.[2] Thus there are a couple of things we should probably know about Jude: Do we know who in all probability wrote the letter Jude? (Jude) Jude is a nickname. Do we know what Jude is short for? (Jude is short for ‘Judah’ in Hebrew and ‘Judas’ in Greek; they are the same name). The author of this letter is probably either the disciple named Judas (not Judas Iscariot because, among other reasons, he was dead when this letter was written: Matthew 27:3-8, Acts 1:18-19) or more likely this Jude is Jesus’ biological brother, Judas (cf. Jude 1:1; cf. also Matthew 13:55, John 7:3-10, Acts 1:14, 1 Corinthians 9:5, Galatians 1:19). In Verse 1 the author identifies himself as James’ brother. James was another one of Jesus’ brothers and a very prominent figure in the early Christian Church in Jerusalem.
This letter was written pretty early on in the history of the Church: probably not more than forty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Church is still really quite small at this point. It is not worldwide like today. It is still really new when this letter is written. Judas, Jude is writing this letter to faithful and earnest Christians who are in the early Church.
What is going on in the background here? Why was this letter written? Judas, Jude tells us that there are a few things that need addressing – even when the Church is brand new. Jude tells us that he has to write this letter to encourage them (and us) “to contend for the faith that was once entrusted to the saints (Christians)” because godless, bad, ugly people –without the good people noticing- have appeared among them in the Church (vv. 3,4; cf. also Matthew 7:15-20, 24:11; Mark 13:22; Acts 20:29-30; 1 Timothy 4:3-4; 2 Timothy 3:1, 4:3-4; 2 Peter 3:3). These godless men:
q Are immoral: they figure that since they are ‘once saved, they are always saved’ (but cf. TSA docs. 8&9); they figure that since they are saved, they can commit whatever sins they want and they do just that (Vs. 4);
q They pollute their bodies (this phrase is probably a further reference to homosexuality, vv. 4,7; cf. Genesis 19, 1 Corinthians 6:9);[3]
q They reject authority and slander celestial beings (v. 8);
q They speak abusively about what they do not understand (v. 10; Have you ever heard anyone get really worked up about something they don’t really know anything about? It is sort of that idea.)
q These people are selfish, ambitious (looking out for # 1), and greedy (vv. 11, 16) – and they are even leaders in the local churches: How many leaders in both the world and the churches today does this describe? …Selfish, ambitious, and greedy? Too many, I fear.
q These people are faultfinders, scoffers, and grumblers about others and at the same time they are boastful about their own perceived accomplishments (vv. 16, 17). They might say “I would never do things that way; what’s wrong with that guy? I’m way better than that.” Has anyone ever met anyone like this?
These people, as bad and ugly as they are, have snuck in and are a part of the early churches; they eat at their feasts (v. 12); they come out to all their events; they are one of them. In today’s world they would be at Bible study, they would be at church service, they would be at food drives, they would be at Home League (they would be at women’s group), they would be at coffee time and they would be at lunch today right after the service. These selfish people are a rotten part of even the very earliest churches (vv. 3,4,12). And not only that, they even assume some leadership roles in these churches (v. 12 – they may be missionaries as well). These are not just sheep. They are shepherds. They are not good shepherds; they are the bad and the ugly shepherds.
Do you know who these bad and ugly, greedy, corrupt, puffed up leaders in the early churches remind me of? …Bad and ugly, greedy, corrupt, puffed up leaders in today’s church. Edwin A. Blum reminds us that, “the church today is plagued by false teachers claiming superior knowledge and experience; yet their lives are often worse than those of the average pagan.”[4] The press in recent years has been concentrating on the evil acts of people who had snuck into Christian residential schools in this country in the 20th Century. I read an article this week about the growth of the prosperity heresy in the United States: what is that if not extolling the contemporary western virtues of greed, corruption, and puffed up leaders? I remember the 1980’s and the televangelists who seemed to get into as sorts of trouble. Jimmy Bakker went to prison. (He later repented and even renounced the prosperity heresy he had previously promoted, praise the Lord). There was also Oral Roberts. Do we remember Oral Roberts and how he entered a tower, then told people that God said to give him money or he would die – he got his money but it seems as if God later struck Oral Roberts’ precious tower with a lighting bolt regardless. Do you remember that? There are all kinds of people in the world today using God’s name to ask for money or to make themselves famous. Some U.S. Presidents have even invoked God’s name in an attempt to justify their own self-serving wars. There is even more than this here though.
These bad and ugly leaders, these complaining, these whining, these boastful, these proud, puffed up people that Jude is talking about; they aren’t the political or necessarily the mega-church leaders. These are people who have snuck into the local little churches, which were probably not any bigger than the 40 or 50 people we have gathered here today. It says that these leaders, Verses 12 & 13:
These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm – shepherds [leaders] who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain blown along by the wind: [I love this analogy: picture drought ravaged land and the farmer eagerly looking at the clouds coming towards his land but they never drop a single drop of rain. These leaders, Jude says are] autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted – twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
Sadly, I think that most of us good Christians who have grown up in the Church have probably come across many bad and ugly leaders in our churches like this. Hopefully not, but maybe some of us can even identify with this. Have you ever run across local leaders: pastors, Officers, or lay people in past times or previous places who are always whining and complaining about others or who are always seemingly boasting about how good or smart they are? Have any of us ever fallen into the trap of thinking that we are something more than we are? Have any of us ever fallen into the trap of thinking that we are holier than our neighbour? Have any of us ever fallen into the trap of thinking that we are smarter than our neighbour? Have any of us ever fallen into the trap of thinking that we are more skilled than our neighbour? Have any of us ever fallen into the trap of thinking that we work harder than our neighbour? Do we ever get puffed up like these people who Jude is warning the early church about? Do we ever get to complaining and grumbling about other people in the Church? The bad and the ugly teachers in Jude, Scholar Simon J. Kistemaker says, do even worse than this: they not only grumble about people in authority but they also complain about God.[5] Do we ever act like this? I hope not but if we do, I would encourage any and all of us who may be guilty of false teaching or of grumbling about our Christian brothers and sisters or even of grumbling about our Lord and Saviour Himself, to repent, just like Jimmy Bakker, to whom we referred earlier, of the prosperity heresy.
But this isn’t Jude’s main point: to warn us off acting like this. Jude’s main point is to tell us how to act when people - who may even be our bosses or our pastors or our Officers or our Sunday school teachers or the person sitting right next to us right now – Jude’s main point is to tell us how to act when people are acting bad and ugly like this. Jude says that when we run across stubborn and/or greedy people sitting in church with us, which we will in our lives, we should do the following.[6] The good should, when dealing with those under the spell of the bad and ugly (cf. 1 John 2:18-26, 5:13-20, 2 John 1:7-11; cf. Matthew 10:14, 12:31-32; Mark 3:29-30, 6:11; Luke 9:5, 12:10; Acts 13:50-52; 2 Peter 2:17-22),[7] we should, for a number of reasons:[8]
q Build ourselves up in our faith (v. 20);
q Pray in, with and to the Holy Spirit of God (v. 20; cf. Romans 8:26-27, Galatians 4:6, Colossians 2:7, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Ephesians 6:18);
q Keep ourselves in God’s love (v. 21; don’t in your hatred or fear be tempted to stray from His love)
q And eagerly await God’s mercy for ourselves;
q Be merciful to those in our midst who doubt because they do not know what is good or bad or ugly (v. 22);
q Be snatching people from the fire (v. 23, cf. Zechariah 3:2-4);
q And showing people mercy, even mercy mixed with fear so we don’t become accepting of their sin and become tempted into that or another sin ourselves (v. 23).
This is important. Easter is about new beginnings. Two weeks ago we spoke about the new beginnings with the resurrection; last week spoke about fulfilling the great commission and inviting everyone we know to join us in eternal Salvation. Today we are encouraging the faithful, as we are standing on the eternal parade float with our Lord and with our friends,[9] to be wary not so much of the world but of the worldly (Greek: Phychic: without Spirit, Pneuma, v. 19) who are even in our churches.[10]
When faced with the bad and the ugly; we, the good, especially those who are new to the faith, I encourage you to always persevere and never give up, no matter what others say and do. God, Jesus, will never leave you nor forsake you no matter what happens (Deuteronomy 31:6,8; Joshua 1:5; 1 Kings 8:57; Hebrews 13:5). But people, even people in the churches, and even people in authority in the churches will let you down. Some because of horrible sin like Jude mentions in his letter here, some because they are under their spell, and some just because they are people. When this happens, Jude in the first century and I today want to encourage you to persevere, to not give up on the Lord or on the Church but instead to: pray earnestly in and to the Holy Spirit, Verse 20; building yourself up in the faith and keeping yourself in God’s love, Verse 21; by being merciful towards others as you encourage them out of their sin and towards holiness, Verse 23; and at the same time I would encourage all of us to be careful not to use their sin as an excuse to fall into like or other sins ourselves, Verse 23.
When people let you down, and they will, please keep holding them up in prayer. Who knows maybe as we do continue to pray for, love and show mercy to others, we may even be used by God to snatch some from the very fires of hell itself and in the process we may even experience Salvation alongside them for eternity in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let us pray…
Lord, please help us to serve You and to not be distracted by false teaching, adiaphorons, our own pride, people trying to lead others astray or people who are presently being led astray. Lord, we know that others – even others in the churches - will do bad and ugly things either by accident or even by design. Please help us to reflect Your good in response. Please help us to continue to be loving and merciful in our dealings with others; so that You may use even us to draw people away from selfishness, away from sin, away from error and towards eternal life in Your Kingdom instead. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.
Let us finish our time here today the same way that Jude completes his letter, with a doxology (from the AV):
Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His Glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
---
[1] Gone with the Wind (Rhett Butler), 2. Star Wars, 3. Forrest Gump, 4. Casablanca (Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine), 5. ET, 6. Sherlock Holmes, 7. Airplane (Leslie Neilsen as Dr. Rumnack), 8. James Bond, 9. Wizard of Oz (Dorothy), 10. Dirty Harry (Clint Eastwood)
[2] Douglas J. Rowston, “The Most Neglected Book in the New Testament,” NTS, 21 (July 1975), pp. 554-63; quoted by Edwin A. Blum in The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Jude/Introduction to Jude/Purpose of Jude, Book Version: 4.0.2.
[3] Donald W. Burdick and John H. Skilton, ‘Pollute their own bodies', Note on Jude 1:8 in NIV Study Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), 1960.
[4] Edwin A. Blum, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Jude/Exposition of Jude/IV. The Exhortations to the Believers (17-23), Book Version: 4.0.2:
[5] Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Epistle of Jude (NTC: Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2007), 399.
[6] Michael Green, 2 Peter and Jude: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1987 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 18), S. 214: “Salvation is not merely to be defined in the terms already given: faith, prayer, love, and hope. It involves service, and to this Jude now turns (as does 2 Pet. 3:11–15). Men are indeed saved to serve, and one of the best ways of discovering the true value of any new theology is to test it in active Christian evangelism and pastoral care.”
[7] Pheme Perkins, First and Second Peter, James, and Jude, (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky, USA: John Knox Press, 1995), 156: “Jude’s sharp condemnations do not suggest that the opponents can be turned away from their behaviour. Those with whom they have been associating may be uncertain about whose account of faith to believe. Such persons can be treated with mercy, not the sharp rejection reserved for false teachers.” Simon Kistemaker, 404, “They have no part in the church for they lack the Spirit of God”; Cf. also Duane F. Watson, The Letter of Jude (NIB XII: Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1962), 497.
[8] Duane F. Watson, The Letter of Jude (NIB XII: Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1962), 497 breaks these 7 items into two groups: the first 4 are to keep the faithful strong, the last 3 are “to aid those who have fallen prey to the false teachers (vv. 22-23).”
[9] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Join Us Aboard The Salvation Float! (Matthew 28:16-20)' Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 15 April 2012. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/04/matthew-2816-20-join-us-aboard.html
[10] Cf. Pheme Perkins, First and Second Peter, James, and Jude, (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky, USA: John Knox Press, 1995),143.
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