Today we begin a new sermon series in the book of Jude. Jude may have uttered some of the most famous words in Christianity, “contend for the faith.” But that’s not nearly all he offers: reading his scathing description of false teachers is like watching a flogging. He references fantastic OT events and lots of imagery of nature (6-19). We are gonna have to wrestle with him making strange references to two non-biblical books where he says some argument happened between Michael and the Devil and then Enoch’s prophecy of the end times. And then in very, concise but powerful verses he lays down instructions for us Christians that if we followed would lead to a rich reward when entering heaven (20-232; Pet 1:11). Perhaps what Jude should be known most for, above all of that, is what I believe is simply the best doxology in the entire New Testament (v24-25)
What becomes clear, however, from the first verse to the last, is that Jude didn’t just contend for the faith. He was contending for the faith of his “dear friends.” As he says in verse 24, he wanted to ensure each of them would be “presented before Christ’s glorious presence without fault and with great joy.”
In this series we will study Jude’s words that we too may be “presented” to Christ in the same way. So the title of this series is “Presented.” This may seem a little unique or confusing. Just about everyone who teaches Jude has something like “Fighting For The Faith” or “Contending For The Faith” as the title. Understandably the focus is always on Jude’s urging to battle with false teachers. But I think that is missing the point of the letter and therefore puts the focus on the the wrong point. Ask yourself the question: “Why?” “Why are we supposed to contend for the faith?” “To what end does fighting false teachings serve?” When you ask that question you find that fighting false teachers is not an end in itself. When you ask that question and carefully read Jude you find that he tells us what his purpose is. Every word he writes from verse 1 to 23 are given their purpose in verse 24: “To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy.” It wasn’t battling false teachers for the sake of battling false teachers. It was going to war to protect the continued sanctification of the saints. False teachers were only significant because they were an ongoing threat that could cause believers to stumble and end up standing before Jesus with a lot of fault – and not a lot of joy.
I want to begin our series with two questions to guide our opening sermon: Why Jude? and Who is Jude?
WHY JUDE?
Why Jude? The first answer is not stated in Jude, but 2 Timothy 3:16. Turn there with me: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful…” This is the first reason we study any book in the Bible, be it Genesis, Mark, Revelation, Titus, John, Ephesians, Philippians, Philemon, Jonah, and now Jude. Jude is Scripture, therefore it is God-breathed and it is profitable to us in our faith.
Let us not think of the letter of Jude as originating in the mind of Jude. Like all of the other 65 books in the bible it is “God-breathed.” What Jude wrote originated in the mind of God, and what God saw fit to tell the Church was perfectly expressed through His human instrument, Jude. “For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:21).
So let us examine the human author “Jude, the brother of James” to know him as best we can, but let us keep first and foremost in our minds that the Holy Spirit is the author of this letter. These are the words of God and they are our bread.
Second, we must become more serious of our responsibility to steward the truths God has entrusted to us. Jude says in verse 3, “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” This is another theme in Jude that is found throughout the NT: God has spoken truth and it is in the custody of the Church and the Church is responsible for that truth. Being good steward of divine truth involves two things: continually proclaiming truth and continually defending it. You are not in a faithful NT church if those two things are not happening. The truth must be faithfully, vigorously taught. We spent 3 sermons in Nehemiah 8 which I believe were more than sufficient to drive home that the word must be taught. But defending the faith is also a requirement of each local church. There are dozens of verses to point this out, but let me give you three that emphasize how serious guarding the doctrines of our faith are. First Paul was in tears over the anticipated threat of false teachers according to Acts 20:31. Second, when some false teachers were demanding new Gentile Christians get circumcised to follow the law of Moses Paul said he wished those false teachers would “go the whole way and emasculate themselves.” (Galatians 5). Then, third, when the Corinthian churches were listening to false apostles teach false doctrines Paul became very jealous and said “I will keep doing what I am doing to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us…” (2 Cor 11:12). All three of these verses show the seriousness with which Paul postured himself towards false teachers who threatened the believers with false teachings. Jude is doing the same thing.
Third, we must not forget the last part of the letter: the section that exhorts us towards those constructive Christian activities we should be devoted to. Some people who live for contention and love to fight act as though the only thing Jude wrote is verse 3, “contend for the faith.” But Jude says in verse 20-23, “….” This part of the letter we must not lose sight of. May it be that verses 20-23 describe Emmanuel Free Church on the day we are “presented to Christ.”
Fourth, we turn to Jude because he will prepare us. He prepares us for the day that we are going to be presented to Christ. Verse 24, “…” This isn’t just the purpose of Jude either. First Corinthians 1:8 says, “He will keep you firm to the end so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Notice how Paul has in mind the day of Jesus and he wants the Corinthians to arrive on that day in great spiritual condition. Just like Jude. Speaking in the same way, Colossians 1:28 says, “Christ is the one we proclaim, and we admonish and teach everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.” Present them when and to whom? To Christ when he comes back of course. What did Paul have in mind in Philippians 1:11, “So that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.
Let me tell you I am not coming to preach Jude because I think it will be a good exercise in preaching. I’m not trying to have these cool “no-one-else-knows” insights. I’m not trying to impress anyone with illustrations, or trying to explain Greek words to make me look studied, or pithy perspectives or all-kinds of alliterations. I’m preaching Jude for the same reason he wrote it: that we all would be presented “before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy.”
Do not merely come to this sermon series excited because you like the book of Jude, or because some of your favorite verses are in here, or because you like telling other people how wrong they are and Jude seems to give you that license (“contend for the faith”), or because you simply like verse-by-verse preaching.
Let me tell you how you should listen to this series: listen to live. Listen so as to live each day with one day in mind. Listen because you are going to be devoted to doing everything God says because you know that Jesus will personally look you in the face one day and He will know how you spent your time, what you did, how your life was conducted. On that day your career will be over; your money and wealth and everything you earned, accumulated and achieved will be gone, your friends and your family won’t be there; all the praises people gave you will be silent; all the sales you made, the deals you closed, the victories you won, the homeruns you hit, the touchdowns you made, the trophies you collected will all be gone; if you hid behind things and were good at putting on an image it won’t be there in front of the Lord of Glory; everything – absolutely everything will be gone and it will be just you and your Maker, your Savior, the Risen Jesus Christ. That is what it is ALL on a path to. My point is this: listen to this series so that on that day you will be presented “before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy. Listen to Jude to be prepared to stand before Jesus.
#2: WHO IS JUDE?
Who is Jude? Jude opens his letter the customary way, identifying himself. He says in the very first verse, “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and a brother of James.” Three people: Jude, Jesus and James. (You’ll see how much Jude loves triplets).
Something interesting I didn’t know was that the name “Jude” is actually “Judas” in Greek and “Judah” in Hebrew. The name means “he shall be praised.”
There are eight “Judes”in the Bible mentioned but there are only two Judes that can be real contenders as the author of this letter. The first is Jude the half-brother of Jesus (Mt. 13:55). The second is Jude the prophet in the early church (Acts 15).
Someone might be tempted to think it was the Apostle Jude. But it can’t be the Apostle Jude for two reasons. For one thing, Jude the Apostle would’ve identified himself as an apostle just like Paul and Peter did in their letters. But secondly, the author of this letter refers to the Apostles as a group that he himself was not a part of. In verse 17 look at what he says and how he says it, “But dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.” If Jude the Apostle were writing this letter he would’ve said, “…remember what we the Apostles spoke to you…” Jude is like the author of Hebrews who was also not a first generation Christian – meaning they were not Christians who heard directly from Jesus, but they heard about Jesus from those who did directly know Jesus. In Hebrews 2:3 he said, “this salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.” Notice how the author of Hebrews did not hear about salvation directly from Jesus. He heard it from those who heard it directly from Jesus – the Apostles. Jude is talking the same way: “remember what the Apostles said.” Therefore it is not likely that this was Jude the Apostle.
So if its not the Apostle Jude, then who does that leave? It leaves two other Judes: the half-brother of Jesus and a prophet named Jude in the early church. There is the possibility that they are one and the same Jude – but it is just a slight possibility. It is more likely that they are different Judes and that the prophet in the early church was not the author. Why would we think that? Because when details of his identity are given his surname and his spiritual career as a prophet are mentioned, but no mention is made of him being either the brother of James or the half-brother of Jesus. Turn to Acts 15 with me and let’s read several verses….22…27…32. Luke gave details on this prophet namedJude but he does not say that he was the half-brother of Jesus or the brother of James. That would have been very important biographical information because if Jesus and James were the brothers of this Jude it would’ve clearly established his identity and given great weight to his role in Acts 15. But, Jude the prophet is not said to be the brother of James or the brother of our Lord. Therefore, that omission strongly indicates that the prophet Jude is not the Jude who is the brother of James and of Jesus. This means that the only remaining known Jude is the half-brother of Jesus.
Why is this important? Do we really need to know this? Yes and No. For one thing it shows the historical-ness of the NT letters – that they weren’t just impersonal, anonymous writings. These were real people. Knowing who Jude is helps understand better the letter’s content and gives perspective. For instance: do you realize that Jude, as Jesus’ half-brother, did not believe in Jesus until after the resurrection? In Mark 3:21, 31 Jude and all the other brothers and Mary went to do a citizen’s arrest on Jesus. Did you know that? He was teaching in some house that was packed out, they couldn’t get in, so they sent word into Jesus to come out because they were going to escort him back home to keep him out of the public’s eye. This is when Jesus said those famous words, “Who is my mother and my brothers? Those who do the will of my Father in heaven are my mother and my brothers.”
In John 7, Jude, along with the rest of Jesus’ brothers, urged him to go up to Jerusalem to show himself to his disciples because “even his own brothers did not believe in him” it says. Truly Jesus was right: “A prophet is without honor in his own hometown.” And in his own family too. Can you imagine the embarrassment and stress the family felt everyday, “Hey Jude, has your big brother gone crazy?” Or, “Hey Mary, when you gonna reign that son in?” Some may have had longer memories and been even more malicious – they may have pointed out that this son of hers who was embarrassing her now was the same son whom she was scandalized with when she was pregnant with him. “A prophet has no honor at home.” And neither does his family.
But then you fast forward and get to Act 1:14. Jesus has been crucified, three days later resurrected, and 40 days later he ascended back to heaven. For the next seven days after he has gone from them, the 120 remaining disciples are meeting in a room every day praying together. Look at what it says: “They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.”
Somehow his family went from trying to arrest Him to praying to Him. They didn’t believe in him before, but they believed in Him now. How did that happen? I think that leads us to the James Connection.
Look at verse 1, “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.” Jude says he is “a brother of James.” Which James? Well doesn’t it stand out to you that he doesn’t feel the need to elaborate? Apparently just name dropping “James” was enough and everyone knew who this James was. And it would help identify and probably credential Jude therefore as well.
But there are only two James we know of in the NT that could be Jude’s brother: the Apostle James and James the half-brother of Jesus. It’s not the Apostle. Acts 12:2 says Herod killed James early on in the Church’s beginnings. The only other James then would be the half-brother of Jesus. And he was a powerful figure. Galatians 2:9 says James was “esteemed as a pillar” in the Jerusalem church. When a major doctrinal issue arose in the early church the apostles and elders gathered to discuss and decide on it. Turn to Acts 15:13 “…” It was the words of James that decided the outcome of the meeting. Then turn to Galatians 1:19 with me, “….” James was not only a powerful pillar in the early church, but he was the half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the brother of Jude.
Here’s the thing: James didn’t believe until his resurrected brother appeared to him. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15:7 with me….
I don’t know this for sure, and its nothing to get dogmatic about, but it is my belief that James went to Judas and the other brothers and told them Jesus appeared to him. And his faith led to their faith. After all, we’ve seen brothers lead brothers to Christ before: Andrew led his brother Peter to Christ in John 1.
We might ask why any of this matters. And maybe it doesn’t matter to you. But I find rich layers in this. For instance: think about how Judas, as a brother to Jesus, had to overcome his perspective of Jesus that he had his whole life. What I mean is this: Jude, along with James and the other brothers, had an earthly perspective of their older brother their entire lives. They left that view of their brother behind when they came to faith – they began seeing him with a spiritual perspective. He was no longer their brother, but their Lord. Hence James opened his letter with “James a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.” And here Jude opens his letter, “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ…” There is only one way to relate to the Lord – and that is as his servant. Jude went from trying to stop Jesus’ ministry to advancing it.
APPLICATION: Make sure you know Jesus. Jude knew Jesus but didn’t know him. He knew him as his brother, but not as his Lord. Lots of people know Jesus because they’ve been “around” him all their life but like Jude they don’t actually know him because they don’t know him as their own Lord. You must know Him as your Savior and your Lord.
APPLICATION to the APPLICATION: This can be especially true if you grew up in a Christian home. In a sense you “grew up with Jesus” too. Sometimes that causes too much familiarity, but that familiarity blinds you and keeps you from surrendering to Jesus as Lord. Just like Jude did.