Keep ourselves in the love of God

Keep ourselves in the love of God
Text: Jude 20-25

As Singaporeans, we are city dwellers living in a fast pace society. And if we are from overseas working or studying in this country, it is likewise. We are always on the move, always having something else to accomplish - pertaining to work or leisure. And many of us use a to-do list to keep things in check.

We actually find a to-do list in this morning’s scriptural text as well. One that starts from verse 20 and runs all the way till verse 23. Allow me to draw our attention to 7 of the action items on the list:

1. Building yourselves up
2. Praying
3. Keep
4. Waiting
5. Have mercy
6. Save
7. Show mercy.

Is there a word or a description that we may use to group these 7 items or one that is able to function as a general heading for all of them? How about the term ‘Spiritual Growth’, since in the list there are words such as building up and praying? Or how about “Holiness and Kindness Project‘’, since we also see words such as save and show mercy? What do we think would be Jude’s word choice?

We need not try guessing. Jude’s had supplied the heading way early in the epistle: ‘contend’ (v.3).

Isn’t it a bit unusual and weak to contend by doing the things that Jude has listed? How would we do it when we ourselves contend for something? I believe we will marshal water tight arguments to support our case, put in place both defensive and offensive strategies, and more. But Jude, when mobilizing the church to contend, served up a list that looks rather dull.

By the way, what was the situation faced by the church back then and how bad was it? The earlier verses in the epistle tell us that a group of heretics has infiltrated the church and perverted the doctrine of grace in order to warrant licentiousness. The heretics were somewhat successful judging from the fact that some church members have begun to skip church services and activities, not because of world cup, but to join the heretics in licentious activities. Further, some others have begun to debate within themselves, wondering if they should not also join their friends elsewhere instead of going to church on Sunday mornings. Such was the situation to be handled, a tough and urgent one indeed.

Jude in responding to the situation wrote this very epistle, and in it fires away 5 sets of warnings and words of judgment. He also spells out the reasons as to why the church members should not follow the infiltrators and what will be the end of these heretics (We have run through all these last week, and I will not repeat it here).

Jude, having penned all these, began listing in verse 20 the actions to take while contending for the faith. How did he advise the church? To start an inter-church group holy war? Far from it. Jude exalts the church to build themselves up, to pray, to keep themselves in the love of God, to save whoever possible, and to show mercy. These are the steps that he advised the church to take while contending for the faith.

But hold on. The situation faced by the church was the infiltration of heretics and waywardness of church members; dire and urgent. Yet, Jude game plan, at least for the first four items on the list, sounds like nothing more than ‘life as usual lah’. Building ourselves up: Christians know that we are to build ourselves up in faith, don’t we? The book of Acts contains records of the apostles going about preaching and teaching. And today, Jubilee, I think, can be an example of a church that initiates quite a fair bit of equipping. Praying: Christians pray regularly, and starting from this morning, the Sunday 9am prayer meeting on 2nd floor began to pray specifically for the concerns of the various ministries and our co-workers. Keep: Christians quite predictably keep themselves in God’s love. Through group meetings and various forms of fellowship, Christians seek to keep one another accountable and going. Waiting: Christians have been (and are) waiting for the mercy of our Lord that leads to eternal life. How else? Of course, it is also true that most of us want express service for most things but not when it comes to the Lord’s 2nd coming. Anyway, I don’t know how we find Jude’s advice, but they just don’t seem much of a game plan to me, at least not one especially crafted to meet the dire situation. All that he is saying is just continue to be Christians – devoted Christians, faithful Christians, sincere Christians, diligent Christians, on the ball Christians. What sort of a game plan do we call this (simply by listing the day to day things that Christians do)?

God’s plan. I think what Jude is communicating herein is none other than God’s very plan for humankind, which is to be Christians. Or should we say to live lives in such a way that has been made possible by of the blood of the lamb and the promise of the lion. Be Christians, says Jude, by observing the things on the list. In other words, Jude’s message is: before and when engaging the heretics and while contending for the faith, first things first, be Christian. Before deciding on what to do with those that went wayward, first things first, be Christian. Before designing solutions to counter problems – church problems, family problems, relationship problems, work and study related problems, money no enough problems, hand phone not new enough problem, new but not powerful enough problem, first things first, be Christians.

When we ‘be Christians’, then our plans and solutions will bear the characteristics of God, and I don’t think we need to say more concerning why number 5 to 7 on the list are exactly what they are.

Well, the list actually has one more entry, which I have yet to highlight for us.

8. Hating (see above for item 1 to 7)

The final item is an advice that is altogether unlike the rest. Yet there is no conflict herein as item 1 to 7 concerns people, while item 8 the sins of the heretics and those from the church who followed them. First things first, be Christian, and we will then know who to save and what to hate.

Friends, have we ever come across someone who is a single parent that dumps the daughter to his own mother and contributes nothing toward their needs? Someone who on top of this tries to manufacture stories upon stories to get his aged parents to keep coughing out money? Someone who once stole his mother’s identity card, connected a mobile line, chalked up a four digit phone bill and when the crime was exposed, hissed at the mother by saying, “you are my mother, so you of all people should settle the bill.” Someone who having tried all these tricks, and more, began to make use of the daughter well-being to repeatedly threaten his parents for more money? Friends, do we have to deal with someone like that? I do. And I must confess, that in seeing all these things taking place, and, being well aware that similar things will soon happen again, I was just about to give up on this person. However, as I am preparing this morning’s sharing, I am reminded that there’s one thing that I will never have the ability to perform and another that I have no right to do. Will never have the ability to perform; I am referring to giving life. And have no right to do: that is to condemn someone. ‘First things first’, Jude’s word echoed in my heart as I was preparing this morning’s sharing, and I gathered that although I can’t give life, I should show mercy in hope to point him to the life giver. And as terrible as he can be, it is his wrong doings and not him as a person that I should hate.

Friends, are there people around us that we need to show mercy and save by snatching them from hell fire? As far as the single parent that I am dealing with, all that I need to do is to overcome my personal disappointments and believe once again that there is hope of him being transformed by the power of God, and to continue to reach out to him.

But showing mercy and snatching someone from hell fire can be something a lot trickier. Remember the 2 steps action plan of the heretics mentioned last week? Step 1: to develop a twisted understanding of God’s grace, and step 2: to cash-in unashamedly on the twisted understanding. Allow me now to update us on step 3: get Christians to embrace and adopt the plan for themselves, and then start sell it to others. We also mentioned last week that licentiousness is just but a more extreme example of the application of this action plan, and that it is capable of producing other forms of ungodliness that are attractive, enticing, inviting and fun. Step 3 had taken place in the church that Jude wrote to. So, while Jude emphasizes on the need for Christians to show mercy, he cautions also on the need to show mercy with fear (v.23). Otherwise, the rescue operation may instead end up as a ‘can’t beat them therefore join them’ situation. Friends, how do we ensure that things would not end up as such when we try to help someone return or come to God?

First things first.

I believe we can appreciate Jude’s logic even better, now that the element of potential enticement is added to the equation. Let me put Jude’s bidding in a more complete English sentence: Let our daily lives, first and foremost, be living the life of a faithful, devoted and involving Christian. It’s by doing so that we find firm footing, and also the resources to navigate in our colorful and inviting world.

And what about resources? In case I have not been clear enough up till this point. Jude, in exalting us to live lives according to God’s plan, is not calling us to work individually on our personal spiritual disciplines. He is not even saying here that church leaders have the responsibility to look into the growth of the members. Rather, Jude is calling one and all in the church, the senior adults, the adults, the young adults, the youths, the 12 years old in our service and the children in JCCM, to all be involved in caring for each other’s spiritual well-being, to build each other up in faith, to pray for our brothers and sisters and friends, and to journey together in our spiritual pilgrimage. We, as in our Christian community, is where were find our resources. And we, individually, are at the same time a beneficiary of this resource pool and – ourselves - a resource.

And of all the items on the ‘first things first’ list, Jude puts extra emphasis on the one which says, “keep yourselves in the love of God”. (v.21) Or according to The Message, “staying right at the centre of God’s love.” Jude’s emphasis make good sense, for it is when a church or Christians stays at the centre of God love, that constant and consistent building up, praying and waiting will happen, and gain momentum.

Question: is there any problem should anyone choose to walk away from the centre of God’s love, the very domain where God has called us into? Certainly, says Jude. Remember the angels in verse 6 who forsook their proper dwelling or domain? They ended up trading blessings for judgment. Jude is therefore screaming out loud, saying that to walk away from the centre of God love for something fanciful is one terrible deal that is not at all worth considering. Our call is to stay, and help one another to stay, in the centre of God’s love.

That’s sound like some responsibility to be fulfilled. And yes indeed! We are responsible for keeping ourselves in the love of God.

But didn’t we mention last week that we are kept by God for Jesus Christ, and were told the true story of how God had helped a Vietnamese Christian to keep his faith amidst trials and temptation? And then in verse 24, Jude also says that it is God, who is able to keep us from stumbling and to present us blameless before the presence of his glory? So is it us or God who is responsible for keeping us in God’s love?

Simply put (and I believe I am just giving a quick reminder), the Christian spiritual journey is at the same time about God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. God helps, we try. The two goes hand in hand. It is a fifty-fifty thing between God and us? Or seventy-thirty? Or on some days where God gives major discount, he does ninety-nine and we take care of the final bit? I don’t know. I only know that God is not the AllSpark and we the Transformers when it comes to spiritual maturity, where uninvolved lifeless metals turn instantaneously into state of the art robots when power from ‘the cube’ flows into them. We are called to involve, and may I say, invest in our spirituality.

We are put on a journey, where there may be enticements along the way, but there is certainly also grace. And on this journey, we play our part through building one another up, praying, waiting and we keep ourselves in the love of God. We just be Christian, then, on that day, Jude ensures that we will find ourselves as Christ’s cherished possessions.