Kept For Jesus Christ

Kept For Jesus Christ
Text: Jude 1-19

I needed a minor day surgery on my forehead some twenty years back, and 2 good things happened to me that day. One of course, was that the surgeon solved my problem. The other was that I gained a piece of wisdom. After the operation, the doctor said to me, “be careful when you stand up and walk, the anesthesia on your forehead is still having its effect and you can knock your head and bruise it badly, without even knowing anything.” The doctor’s words alerted me to a less noticed aspect about physical pain. That is, physical discomforts aside, pain functions as warning signals that protects us from further injuries and greater pain. When we touch something real hot? What do we do? We quickly back away as the painful sensation felt initially will prompt us to flee danger zone. In short, pain is something that is unpleasant to yet protective of us.

When we turn to this morning’s epistle, we see something that is ‘probably unpleasant to but protective of us’ keep showing up. I am referring to the long list of warnings and words of judgment. I consider warnings to be unpleasant because they either tell us that we are about to bump into something not nice, or that we have already stepped into danger zones and it’s high time to make escape. However, in both cases, words of warning are protective of us because they seek to keep us from danger.

Why did Jude flood a short epistle with a long list warnings and words of judgment? Jude’s letter was probably written to Jewish Christians living in Palestine. And Christians, we know, are people saved and called to live out God’s goodness and purpose on earth. Yet, in the church that Jude wrote to, a group of infiltrators has turned up to obstruct such a course. These people gave a new spin on the doctrine of grace by saying, “since God is such a gracious God and accepting, people need not be so uptight anymore. It’s ok to just let go and enjoy, turning off the lights and party.” Using Jude’s own words, these people “pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”(v.4)

Jude had to response to the dire situation, and his strategy was to write a letter that draws a line as sharply as possible between the believers and the infiltrators (we will call them heretics from this point onwards), Jude’s hope was to minimize the heretics’ influence on the church and maximize the disciples’ adherence to correct teachings. So, he packed in verse 5 to 19 five sets of warnings and words of judgment, and inserted into each set his comments to meet his objective. In our exposition on the text, let’s us put our focuses on one aspect, just one aspect, mentioned in each of the five sets, and I think we need to do this because the stuff that Jude mentioned really demands some explanations, or at least some elaborations. Let’s begin.

The first set (vs.5-8) mentioned the sins of Israel, certain angels, and Sodom and Gomorrah. What’s really interesting is the portion of scripture which says that these angels “did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling,” (v.6) Jude, by saying so, is actually referring to the story about certain angels that came down from heaven in ancient times, took women as wives, produced through them offspring, and were in turn judged by God for doing so.

I believe many of us have heard of such a story, but are we aware that this story is not found anywhere in the bible? Jude actually got it from this Jewish religious literature entitled First Enoch. I request of us put aside our curiosity concerning First Enoch for the moment. What’s more important is to know Jude’s emphasis in alluding to the story. I believe this is what he meant to say: God in creating the world also created order and set boundaries so that life therein may be possible and meaningful, and judgment came upon those who upset the good order and transgressed the set boundaries. The angels, the story tells us, transgressed proper boundaries due to their lust and were judged. Therefore, says Jude, do not toy with proper boundaries set by God.

The second set (vs.9-10) tells a story that is even less familiar sounding; a story about the Archangel Michael and the devil fighting literally over Moses’ dead body. The two had a dispute because the devil was objecting to Moses being given a proper burial (a story found in another Jewish religious literature entitled, The Testament of Moses). Jude’s point herein, is that Michael the archangel, who for all the world could have condemned the devil for his wrongdoing – since he is powerful and vested with authority – did not attempt to say anything condemning toward the devil, but only says that , "The Lord rebuke you." (v.9). To Archangel Michael, judging is God’s prerogative. The heretics, on the other hand, are known to slander angels openly. Why did they do that? Likely because they were lawbreakers, and angels were regarded back then as the ones that guard God’s law. So, by way of comparison, the heretics in condemning angels have overstepped God’s authority and shall face judgment. Jude is therefore saying here, respect God’s authority, don’t follow those people.

The third set (vs.11-13) mentioned the sins of Cain, Balaam and Korah. Let’s talk briefly about Korah; probably the least familiar to us amongst the three. In Numbers 16, Korah led a group of 250 Israelite chiefs to rebel against Moses, and these rebels and their household and people belonging to Korah ended up being swallowed alive by the earth. According to commentators, their sin was in attempting to make changes to or to doctor God’s law. Jude, in using Korah as example, is saying here that the heretics were doctoring or distorting the message of the gospel, in order to warrant licentiousness. Jude warns his readers, never to try such a treacherous thing.

Jude quotes First Enoch 1:9 in the fourth set (vs.14-16), a verse that describes God’s coming with his angels to judge the ungodly. I requested of us earlier on to leave aside our curiosity concerning First Enoch. Well, I am going to request of us the same thing once more for now, until this afternoon when Ps Hock Seng gives us an introduction to the book. [1] Looking once again at our text: Question, who are the ungodly that awaits judgment? Jude says in verse 16 that they the grumblers, malcontents, and those following their own sinful desires. In other words, the heretics are people with ever expanding appetites. Don’t be like them, says Jude.

In the fifth and final set (vs.17-19), Jude mentions “the prediction of the apostles” concerning scoffers who follow their own ungodly passions, which turn up in the last time. Scoffers, by definition, are people who live according to no higher value than their own desires. What’s the ramification in living a life as such? One commentator says, “To ban God from the centre of a person’s life is the beginning of evil and moral corruption.” [2] So Jude is saying here, don’t you ever begin doing something like that.

So much about the 5 sets of warnings and words of judgment, but what has all these to do with us, we might ask. “There ain’t such blatant sinners as described by Jude in our community.” Well, thank God for that.

However, I take it that Jude is saying 2 things when referring to the heretics. First, licentiousness. And second, the tactic to move oneself plus others toward increasing corruptness. And let’s be sure, the tactic employed by the heretics is one that is at the same time age-old, and yet, constantly in fashion. It is a tactic that keeps reapplying itself and produces ungodly acts, example: licentiousness, or something milder, such as lust, lies, cheating, bad-mouthing, and what have you. Again, what is the heretics’ tactic? It’s a 2-step action plan: step 1, develop a twisted understanding of God’s grace; step 2, cash-in unashamedly on the twisted understanding. Such a tactic, when adopted, Jude says, will prompt a person to alter set boundaries, overstep authorities, stretch one’s appetites, and extend at will the limit of permissibility. Jude saw the great dangers when one employs or adopts such a tactic, and he went all the way to give warnings to the beloved and to put down proponents from the other camp. He didn't try to seek out some middle ground, but simply went all the way in ringing the alarm bells.

That’s Jude. How about us; people living in an age where we readily reach the big, colorful and suggestive world just by pressing a few virtue buttons? Much like the original audience of the epistle, we are constantly being invited to adopt this 2-step work plan: to first alter and then enjoy ‘God’s grace’ like anything. What are our responses to such invitations? In our days, we see things, both good and bad, are being made more attractive and palatable. And values and lifestyles, both good and bad, are gaining legitimacy. At the same time, most of us, including myself, are probably under some sort of compulsion to be – so called –more broad minded, and to be appreciative and accepting of new ideas. Friends, Jude may be a bit too naggy and strong headed by hammering 5 sets of warnings. Yet, shouldn’t his concern about snatching people from the road unto condemnation give us pause? “But what’s the big deal after all, Jude?”, we may ask. Answer: toying with God’s grace, making alteration to it, let the twisted understanding erase by and by the godliness in oneself, and the consequence down the road can be very nasty.

If the answer just been given makes sense, then, when things increase in attractiveness, perhaps it’s also time for us to increase in terms of prudence to see beyond packaging. When conflicting values and lifestyles gain legitimacy, perhaps it’s high time to learn to asses matters with yardsticks supplied by the bible and not just criteria such as: it is fashionable, popular or does it make people happy?

Alright, I admit, it’s me and not Jude, who is the real naggy one. But I am sure we are all seeing how the media, the marketplace, and the society in general, are openly or subtly encouraging us to alter set boundaries, overstep authorities, stretch our appetites, and extend at will the limit of permissibility. I therefore appreciate Jude’s message. And I hope that we all, you and I, can be as forward thinking, sorry, I should say as far and eternal sighted as Jude when we enjoy the grace of God.

Jude admonishes us to ‘to contend for the faith’, to fight for the pure gospel; we will talk more about this next week, but let me just register one thing this morning: to stand firm in our faith is our calling. And Jude says right up front that this is the very thing to do, but not without help. In the first verse, Jude says that he is writing to “those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ”. These opening words of the epistle actually have a lot to say about who we are and who we will finally be. I like to draw our attention especially to the portion that says “kept for Jesus Christ”. What do we gather from the phrase? To me, it tells me that although we are living in a world where there’s not only temptations, but also tactic that goes from here [pointing to the eyes] and here [pointing to the ears], into us and work in us to create legitimacy for succumbing to temptations, our end is that we will be Christ’s cherish possessions. Is Jude communicating here solid truth? Or is he just overstating?

Allow me to share with us a story, not about how God turned a licentious person around, for I don’t find that very much needed here. But a true story about how God is able to keep someone whom he has called. The story was told by the Canadian-American Christian apologist, Dr Ravi Zacharias, in one of his sermons, and you can read it in full on his website. Here what had happened:

After Vietnam fell during the Vietnam war, a local Christian in Vietnam, named Hien Pham, was being locked up by the Viet Cong. Reason? Hien was an interpreter for foreign Christian missionaries and speakers, including Dr Ravi Zacharias. Hien could read and speak English, and has faith in Jesus, which were 2 things that the Viet Cong ain't happy about. They therefore tried to undo in him them both. Hien was not allowed to touch any English publications, and was pressured to renounce his belief.

The pressure put upon Hien grew by the day, and it came to a point of time when this Christian brother was at the verge of giving up. One day, he prayed to God, and this was what he said, “Maybe you don’t exist, God. I’m giving up all hope. I don’t believe in you. Tomorrow when I wake up, I’m not going to pray.” [3] That day, he was sent to clean the latrines, as in those old time toilets where there a room with only holes or trenches dug in the ground, and no flushing system. As he was performing the task, he saw a piece of paper stained with human feces, but on it were English prints. Seeing the English words, Hien took it, washed it and kept it in his pocket. That night, by his bedside, with the help of torchlight, he read the words on the piece of paper picked from the latrine. Line by line, he read on, and then came to the line that says, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:38-39) The toilet paper picked up was none other than chapter 8 of the Book of Romans.

To cut the long story short. Hien’s faith remain intact. And it came a time when Hien had an opportunity to escape from Vietnam. Sadly, he was spotted by 4 Viet Cong. But instead of turning him in, the solders said they wanted to go with him. And it was with their skills in navigating the waters that their boat with 52 person plus 4 soldiers landed safely in Thailand. And Hien finally make his way to America.

Nothing, nothing says the apostle Paul, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, we are kept for Jesus Christ.

[1] The outline and PowerPoint slides of the talk are available at http://www.jubilee.org.sg/introduction-to-1-enoch
[2] Green, G. L., “Jude and 2 Peter, Baker Academic, Grand Rapid Michigan, 2008. p.116
[3] http://www.rzim.org/just-thinking/national-day-of-prayer-address/