Watch Out For Those Who Pervert the Grace of God!

A Call to Persevere

17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. 20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. 22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

Jude is the shortest letter of the bible at 25 verses.  We don't know exactly who Jude is, but the letter is written to James, his dear brother in the faith.  Most scholars believe this is "James the Just", the half brother on Jesus and leader in the church at Jerusalem.  This letter is concerned with those in the church that were perverting the grace of God into an excuse to do whatever they wanted to do.  As the letter explicitly states, 

"They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord." 

These people were unbelievers who disguised themselves as Christians. They had slipped into the church and created quite a bit of division and taught strange doctrines about dreams and angels.  

In the verses above Jude gives the prescription to dealing with this threat to the body of Christ. First the prophets foretold of these kinds of people and their judgment has also been foretold.  This behavior by those who tried to disguise themselves as Christians is one of signs the prophets foretold of Jesus' second coming.  Second, the believers needed to build each up other in the faith, and pray together in the power of the Holy Spirit.  By practicing these disciples they would stay firmly planted in God's love and power.  As they drew near to God, God would draw near and protect them until the day of Jesus' return  Finally, Jude exhorts them to cling to God's mercy, which is their assurance of salvation.  Since mercy is their only means of salvation, they also needed to extend that same mercy to others in the community who were struggling for various reasons.  

This meant when they strayed morally or had doubts about their salvation, they needed to be reminded of God's grace and mercy in Christ.  The best strategy to defeat the our enemy, who works mostly through discouragement and doubt, is to remind ourselves of the grace and love of God which he have in Christ Jesus through the power of the Spirit.  

While we are not saved by good works or good behavior, we need to be careful that we don't get so comfortable with God's grace that we take it for granted.  Or, you might say we need to be careful to not get so comfortable with sinning we forget the grace of God was meant to free us from the power of sin not stay in chains to it. Dallas Willard calls this "sin management".  God is a holy God and we should fear and respect God and strive to live a life worthy of our calling. 

May 2019 be a year where you live planted firmly in the mercy and grace of God, and spend time encouraging others in your life and in the church God has called you to do "life" with!