Scoffers and builders
This week's study is on Jude 18-21:
This week is an excerpt from the letter of Jude the Apostle. He's comparing immoral people with godly people. In the process, he gives advice for Christians living in that kind of world.
The ungodly people are self-focused, self-absorbed, and self-righteous. Their direction comes from selfishness, and they're described as being divisive. Because they don't have the Holy Spirit, they have to kind of make things up as they go along. Sometimes their instincts get it right, and sometimes they get it wrong. Without Christ present in their lives in a real way, their philosophy becomes "Eat, drink and be merry, because You Only Live Once." They scoff at people who try to live godly lives, and who don't join them in their filth. To the ungodly, the godly seem insane.
It probably makes sense to stop here and talk a bit about divisiveness so we don't get confused. Division isn't a bad thing on its own. Jesus divided the Jewish people against themselves when he was on earth. Christianity divided Christians from their pagan families and friends at times. But the term is often used in power plays by manipulative people looking to hold onto power. By portraying someone as divisive, it draws attention away from the issue at hand and makes them out to be the villain. "By bringing up this scandal you are being divisive. You need to abandon your principles and go along with what we want, or else you are not a team player. We've already moved on."
The Pharisees probably scolded Jesus for being divisive. The early Christians were probably condemned in Roman society for sowing division. But if they were living the way God wanted them to, and the people hurling accusations of division against them weren't, then who is really divided from whom? If a handful of sheep stay with the shepherd while the rest of the flock wanders off into the woods, who is lost? The divisiveness Jude is talking about is the divisiveness of the ungodly, pulling people away from God and church, not the righteous standing their ground while the flock wanders into sin.
So what does that righteousness look like? What should we Christians be doing in a world full of scoffers and takers? Jude recommends keeping ourselves in God's love and waiting for the mercy of death and resurrection. Are we fully aware of God's love for us? Have we received enough to spare? We should steep ourselves in it and share it with others, not hassle them for how they're living.
Jude also recommends building ourselves up in our faith and in praying what the Holy Spirit guides us to pray for. Not just what we want, but what we are inexplicably reminded of. It might be for someone you hate! It might be for someone you never met. It might be for something you don't even want. But if it is from God, it is for the best.
I like that he describes it as being built up. It seems selfish on the surface of it, but aren't we supposed to grow? Imagine we're in a kind of shop class for the soul, where God gives us tools and his plans, and he guides us through. Would you do as well if you just played on your phone, knowing you were going to probably get a passing grade anyway? No! Jude gets it. We're here to learn something, maybe even to make something. It's good to pay attention to the Holy Spirit!
Reading about the two different groups, we can guess at our spiritual health. Are we in God's love? Are we praying in the Holy Spirit? Are our interactions with others a blessing to them? Then we're doing alright. It doesn't matter which way the crowd is moving, or what they say about us. But if we're just deciding things without praying, telling others not to waste their time on doing the right thing, trying to control others in the name of love, and just pretty much being pigs, then we've still got things to learn.
They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
This week is an excerpt from the letter of Jude the Apostle. He's comparing immoral people with godly people. In the process, he gives advice for Christians living in that kind of world.
The ungodly people are self-focused, self-absorbed, and self-righteous. Their direction comes from selfishness, and they're described as being divisive. Because they don't have the Holy Spirit, they have to kind of make things up as they go along. Sometimes their instincts get it right, and sometimes they get it wrong. Without Christ present in their lives in a real way, their philosophy becomes "Eat, drink and be merry, because You Only Live Once." They scoff at people who try to live godly lives, and who don't join them in their filth. To the ungodly, the godly seem insane.
It probably makes sense to stop here and talk a bit about divisiveness so we don't get confused. Division isn't a bad thing on its own. Jesus divided the Jewish people against themselves when he was on earth. Christianity divided Christians from their pagan families and friends at times. But the term is often used in power plays by manipulative people looking to hold onto power. By portraying someone as divisive, it draws attention away from the issue at hand and makes them out to be the villain. "By bringing up this scandal you are being divisive. You need to abandon your principles and go along with what we want, or else you are not a team player. We've already moved on."
The Pharisees probably scolded Jesus for being divisive. The early Christians were probably condemned in Roman society for sowing division. But if they were living the way God wanted them to, and the people hurling accusations of division against them weren't, then who is really divided from whom? If a handful of sheep stay with the shepherd while the rest of the flock wanders off into the woods, who is lost? The divisiveness Jude is talking about is the divisiveness of the ungodly, pulling people away from God and church, not the righteous standing their ground while the flock wanders into sin.
So what does that righteousness look like? What should we Christians be doing in a world full of scoffers and takers? Jude recommends keeping ourselves in God's love and waiting for the mercy of death and resurrection. Are we fully aware of God's love for us? Have we received enough to spare? We should steep ourselves in it and share it with others, not hassle them for how they're living.
Jude also recommends building ourselves up in our faith and in praying what the Holy Spirit guides us to pray for. Not just what we want, but what we are inexplicably reminded of. It might be for someone you hate! It might be for someone you never met. It might be for something you don't even want. But if it is from God, it is for the best.
I like that he describes it as being built up. It seems selfish on the surface of it, but aren't we supposed to grow? Imagine we're in a kind of shop class for the soul, where God gives us tools and his plans, and he guides us through. Would you do as well if you just played on your phone, knowing you were going to probably get a passing grade anyway? No! Jude gets it. We're here to learn something, maybe even to make something. It's good to pay attention to the Holy Spirit!
Reading about the two different groups, we can guess at our spiritual health. Are we in God's love? Are we praying in the Holy Spirit? Are our interactions with others a blessing to them? Then we're doing alright. It doesn't matter which way the crowd is moving, or what they say about us. But if we're just deciding things without praying, telling others not to waste their time on doing the right thing, trying to control others in the name of love, and just pretty much being pigs, then we've still got things to learn.
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