Season two of Love in Context podcast welcomes you. Get ready for engaging unscripted conversations
with your hosts, Ben and Spencer. Our mission remains unchanged to explore the Bible through
the powerful lens of love. In this new season, we'll embark on a journey together, unearthing
fresh insights and gaining deeper understanding of how we can love God and live out our faith
in practical ways. So let's dive into this season of Love in Context, where love in the
context of the Bible intersect to transform our lives. Little book, big message. Absolutely.
Last week we did Obadiah. And so this week we're actually going to be in Jude, which
is actually I don't like famously unknown. This this book came out long before the Beatles
song. It's true. Yeah, very true. Actually, interesting thing about the book of Jude is
it actually would more accurately be translated both in the Greek and the Hebrew to the book
of Judah. All right. But we'll stick with Jude because that's what everybody's familiar
with. Yeah. So the book of Jude is is a very Jewish book. Yes. In that. So Jude is is one
of the brothers of Jesus. We initially did not believe him. And when he was like, I'm
the son of God and there he's like, yeah, I grew up with you. But turns out when Jesus
came back from the dead, it kind of made a big difference. I mean, to be fair, if your
oldest brother said, I'm the son of God. Yeah. What would you say? Hey, you know, that Messiah
you've been looking for 500 years. That's me. You'd be like, no. Yeah. Listen, I love
your whole water to wine thing. But I'm going to need a little bit more than that before.
Yeah. Yeah. And so but after Jesus is resurrected and Pentecost and the church is going, Jude
actually becomes like a traveling minister. Yeah. Going throughout the region. But I stress
that it's a very Jewish book because Jude is writing to Jews throughout the region.
And the references that he's making, he assumes that, you know, have a have a deep knowledge
of Jewish literature and not just Jewish literature, but like from like Torah. But he also quotes
from the Book of Enoch and from the Testament of Moses, like literature that would have
been very familiar in their time. And it's actually kind of interesting. I don't know
if you've noticed like how similar like 2nd Peter and Jude are. Yeah, like they're very
similar books. They are no Peter and Jude were hanging out. And they're like, we should
write some letters. And who knows? That's probably it. You can ask them someday. I'll
ask them one day. Yeah. If you get there before me, you guys ask them. Yeah, I'm not sure
how you'll let me know. Yeah, probably. So we talked about what Jude is not. Yes. Let's
talk about what Jude is not. And then we'll dive into it a little bit. Jude often gets
used as a book for us to quote unquote, hunt heresy. It's true. That's actually not fully
what's going on here. Yeah. So oftentimes I've heard people quote Jude being like, well,
this, this, this, blah, blah, blah. Like it says this here. This is why we should, you
know, do with false teaching. If this person says one thing wrong, they're a false teacher.
And it's like, and they use Jude to kind of elevate people to these impossible standard
of teaching. Yeah, there's a phrase in June, we'll get to it in here where he talks about
contending for your faith. Yeah. And then we that has been misapplied to then means
that you go and you fight. We talked, we've talked about in Christianity. Yeah, we have
this militant idea that we go and fight. The problem is in the book of Jude, this letter
that he's written, he actually explains how you contend and how you contend is actually
a way that you live. And so that's what it's not. So we're going to get in here. Let's
just, let's just start at the beginning and just take a look at it. And, and then just
have a conversation about what the book of Jude is actually talking about. Yeah. So once
again, remember very Jewish book. So if you're hearing Torah, if you're hearing a different
quotes, you're supposed to. So starting at the beginning, it says, Jude, a slave of Jesus
Christ and a brother of James to those who are called loved by God, the father and kept
by Jesus Christ, may mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you. Yep. Okay. That's great
opening and should already clue you in that this book is about encouragement. Yes. Right.
All right. Dear friends, although I was eager to write to you about our common salvation,
I found it necessary to write and extort you to contend for the faith that was delivered
to the saints once for all for certain men who were designed designated for this judgment
long ago have come in by stealth. They are ungodly turning the grace of our God into
promiscuity and denying our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. Okay. That by the way is
the verses, the verses that tend to get really miscued. Yeah. And camping on that for a second,
a lot of times we read this and be like, Oh, well people come into church and they provide
false teaching. Yes, it does happen. But the false teaching that he's talking about is
the denial of Christ, denial of Christ and sexual promiscuity. Yeah. And that's going
to be really important because the, all the examples he's going to be giving have to do
with sexual promiscuity. Uh huh. And, uh, and he's using these examples and sometimes
he's even like, I would say tilting the story towards that for the point of bringing out
this, this issue. So what, what she's not talking to is he's not talking to the people who maybe
said a point that was a little off. Right. Right. Because let's be real. I've done that.
You've done that. Anytime you're given a platform for, to proclaim the gospel, whether that's
preaching teaching, whatever that is. Yeah. Um, and that's also part of the reason why
James says, Hey, be careful if you say you want to be a teacher. Yeah. And that's also
why we are also called to be gracious with our teachers. Yeah. Right. Um, and so Jude's
not talking about that. Yeah. He's not, he's talking about people who have blatantly come
in and been like, do what you want. Christ doesn't work. Right. Right. Yeah. Uh, you
know, now that you, now that you're saved, you can do whatever you want, uh, in your
relationships with other people. It's totally fine. Cheat on your wife, do all those different
things and it's fine. Yeah. No, you know, that's not what's going on. And Jude's like,
I was going to write you a, like a longer thing, but I saw this happen and I thought
I should probably address it. Yeah. You're right. Yeah. So like that's the type of stuff
Jude's addressing. So moving on. So it says, now I want to remind you though, you know,
all of these things, the Lord having first of all saved a people out of Egypt later destroyed
those who did not believe. And he has kept with eternal chains and darkness for the judgment
of the great day angels who did not keep their own position, but deserted their proper dwelling.
By the way, he's quoting from the book of Enoch. And if you, if you're like, I don't
understand like where this stuff is coming from, you should actually probably at some
point read the book of Enoch. Right. In the same way Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities
around them committed sexual immorality and practice perversions just as they did and
serve as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. Uh, once again, I want to
point out here because I think this verse gets a little too over applied to the sexual
misconduct of Sodom and Gomorrah. There are multiple occasions throughout the old Testament
that God says that the reason Sodom and Gomorrah had judgment is because of their pride and
because they didn't care about the people around them. Yes. Jude is specifically bringing
up sexual immorality because he's dealing with sexual immorality and religious leaders.
Part of Sodom and Gomorrah is not caring about the people around them. Also led to them doing
things like raping and stuff like that. Exactly. Raving and blundering. Very inappropriate.
You see that in the story of Lot when they're, when the angels go visit Lot and then the
people pound on the door and they're like, send the men out so we can do what we want
with them. Yeah. And Lot's like, uh, listen, I don't know if you actually know these are
angels. That's probably a bad idea. You know, um, that the sexual immorality is actually
a symptom of the cause, which is pride and, um, not being concerned for those around you.
Right. So jumping, so moving on to verse eight is, yeah, absolutely. Says in the same way,
these people who claimed to have authority from their dreams live in moral lives, defy
authority and scoff the supernatural beings. Even Michael, one of the mightiest of angels,
uh, did not dare accuse the devil of blasphemy, but simply said the Lord rebuke you. This
took place when Michael was arguing with the devil about Moses's body. Now, if you're sitting
here and you're like, I don't remember that, that text in the Bible, it's because it's
not in the canon. It's in the Testament of Moses. Yep. Yeah. Yep. Um, by the way, can
we actually just point out, this is why I'm not super uncomfortable with people reading,
uh, like mid rush and things like that. You should be familiar. Yeah. Um, the first thing
you should be familiar with is a cannon like this. You should absolutely be familiar with
this. You have to know this and you should know Torah. You should know the gospel. You
should know the word of God, but you should also be familiar with the literature around
those, those times because, uh, clearly the disciples and the ministers in that time were.
Yep. Absolutely. And so, but you also have more references. You have references to aim.
You have references to, uh, Michael, you have references to the devil. Uh, and, but back
into verse eight, when it talks about this living a moral life, it's talking about people
who are claiming to be a live an authority, but live a life that is counter to what their
authority represent. Right. The, the implication that like, and, and, and this is with Jesus
and Jude is that the, the more passionately you want to follow God, you show God, you
love him by obeying his commands and his commands to, uh, love your neighbor as yourself, to
lay your life down on behalf of others to, uh, live a life devoted to, uh, good relationships,
right. Uh, to sexual morality, right. And, uh, like these are the ways that you actually
put the kingdom of God on display on a regular basis. But if you claim to be a teacher of
God and you're like, Oh, God doesn't really care about these things. You're not actually
doing what he's commanding and therefore you are not actually showing your love for God.
So oftentimes what we do with this verse eight, cause I've heard this one reference a lot
is we, we will, we will take it upon ourselves to be judged and be like, okay, well, what
does it mean for them to live to claim to have authority and live a moral life? Yeah.
Love all this stuff. Right. Um, but then that brings us back. Like let's rewind to Obadiah
last week where who's the judge. God is God's judge. And even here, like Jude says, he quotes
from yes, from the Testament of Moses. He says Michael, the archangel, right. When in
a dispute with the devil over Moses, his body didn't even rebuke him. He said, the Lord
rebuke you. Yeah. Because Michael, the archangel, somebody who is very familiar with the spiritual
realm recognizes he's not the judge either. Right. So oftentimes we take these verses
and we put ourselves in the seat of judgment, which is not our place. That is the place
of the Lord. Our place is view is to be people who follow after Christ and are loving, welcoming,
forgiving to those around us. Right. And so here you have the spot where it's like, where
Jude's like saying, okay, I recognize that they're living on godly life and they're claiming
to be leaders. Here's what Michael did. And then you get to verse 10. Yeah. To verse 10,
I actually want to camp on for a second. Yeah, go for it. But these people blaspheming anything
they don't understand and what they know by instinct, like unreasonable animals, they
destroy themselves with these things. Woe to them for they have traveled in the way
of Cain have abandoned themselves to the error of Balaam for profit and have perished in
Korah's rebellion. So I love the, I love the statement. He says, uh, these people blaspheme
anything they don't understand. Okay. Now we just recently, uh, this season we did the
spiritual gifts episode or episodes where we talked about like God, the Holy Spirit
does some things that we're not, we don't fully understand. 100%. You know, I mean,
I was talking to somebody that they're like, how do you deal with the fact that like there's
so much that you don't understand. I was like, well, God is like the ocean and my consciousness
is like a Coke can as like, so there's only so much ocean I can put in that Coke can,
you know? And so like, um, there's this invitation and mystery to trust God. Yeah. Right. I mean,
that's something we see in like the book of Job. Yeah. When he asked like 70 questions,
um, but there is also a tendency and leadership when like, I think coming back to just pastors
in general, if you don't know the answer, that's okay. Yeah. You're not God. Yeah. Like
it's okay to, I think still think like study and, and out of dedication, but then like,
if you don't understand it, but it's, you see the fruit of the spirit moving in it.
Yeah. You gotta be really careful what you stand against. Absolutely. Right. Um, and
then it says here, it says, so they blasting the things they don't understand and what
they do understand by instinct, like unreasonable animals, they destroy themselves with these
things. So they have these ideas and these things that they're really passionate about
and they actually use it to go and destroy themselves. Yeah. Holy cow. That is some churches
I've been in. Right now. Good people. God is going to move from them. He's got, he got
his redeemed redeemed all of our bad stuff. And that's been me at times. Like I have an
idea and I'm like, I'm going to pound it, pound it, pound it, pound it. And God's like,
you know, you're actually destroying the very thing you're trying to create. Uh huh. Right.
I've had those conversations with you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, he says you're traveling
in the way of Kane. Like, so what happens with Kane? He literally murders his brother.
Yeah. And you're going in the way of Balaam for profit. Now, if you are, remember from
the book of numbers, Balaam is, is basically trying to get paid to curse Israel, but he's
unable to, uh huh. Uh, now the interesting thing, uh, referencing Balaam there is Balaam
eventually does lead Israel into, yeah. Uh, into chaos through sexual immorality, uh huh.
Which then actually connects right back into this whole idea of what he's talking about
with these teachers. Yeah. You know, the reference is one more. Yeah. Which when we say Cora,
like who here listening knows who Cora is. Well, if they listened to our episode, they
would know because we talked about them and, uh, this is where the whole ground actually
like eats some people. Yeah. Right. This is that whole section where we talked about with
the budding, um, staff. Yep. Right. And, uh, Cora is upset because they're like, well,
doesn't God speak to everybody and literally goes against God's chosen hierarchy and it
does not end well. Yeah. And it's not just Cora, but it's actually a bunch of people
associated with Cora. Yeah. Right. Mm hmm. Which, um, kind of has like this whole idea
of like, it's not just about the individual, but it's actually they're leading a stray
big groups of people. Yeah. Right. Yeah. They going on in verse 12. When these people eat
with you and your fellowship meals, uh, commemorating the Lord's love, they are like dangerous reefs
that can shipwreck you. They are like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. They
are like clouds blowing over land giving, uh, without giving any rain reference to Elijah.
Uh huh. Uh, they are like trees and autumn that are, that are doubly dead and for they
bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots. Have we talked on the podcast about
this, uh, the whole thing of like guild feasts and, uh, that happened in Roman culture? Uh,
no, because Jude is definitely hinting at this with this whole idea. Like he actually
in my translation, it says, uh, those are like ones who are dangerous reefs at your
love feasts. Yeah. Right. So, uh, if you are not familiar with the, these guild feasts
in Roman culture, you would have these guilds. Let's just say contractors guild and we're
in guild and planning guild. That's not real guilt. I'm just making them up. Right. Yeah.
And part of these things, they would have these big parties that you would go to and
they, they typically fell into debauchery and sexual immorality and a bunch of different
things that you shouldn't be doing. But if you wanted to have any success in the area
in your chosen profession, you had to actually go and be a part of these, these feasts. Yeah.
Right. Yeah. Do engage in the immorality in order to do that. And in Corinthians and some
of the other Paul's letters, he actually addresses this and he's like, you need to be different.
Mm hmm. You can't do this. Yeah. Right. You actually have to put a different type of character
on display. Yeah. And, uh, Jude is once again echoing this and he's like, he's like, your
pastors are basically like going to these love feasts where like it's becoming like
such a, it's like the love feast, the sexual immorality. Yes. Right. So we're not just
talking about like some people had maybe made a questionable thing. Like these are like
very visual, visual, like things that they're doing. Yeah. Right. Cause Judas, he's like,
he's making some pretty potent examples. Yeah, he is. He is. Um, and in, in just verse 12,
he references a number of old Testament things, right? Uh, he references, uh, so one that
he references is he references a tree burning no fruit. Mm hmm. You see that multiple times
throughout the old Testament. He references cloud blowing over the land without getting
in the rain. Right. That's a reference to it. Not bringing it is real for three years
because of Elijah. Yep. Right. And he specifically bound the heavens because they weren't obeying
the word of God. Yep. They weren't putting on display the kingdom of God. They were not
caring for the poor and the widow. Yep. And so then Jude goes on to make some other references.
He says they are like wild waves in the sea, churning up foam for their shameful deeds.
They are like wandering stars doomed forever in the black, blackest darkness. Yeah. Right.
Anybody want to take a guess on where those are from? It's actually a reference back to
creation. Oh yeah. I guess. Yeah. I could see that. Yeah. I was, I was thinking, trying
to go forward and you were going backwards. Yep. Yeah. Yep. Yep. When the Lord like let
there be light, put the stars in the sky, moon in the sky. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, it's
good because you have this idea like, yeah, yeah. They were literally trying to go backwards.
Yep. Yep. It's this idea that they're literally going backwards from where they should be.
And so you have that reference because you actually, if you actually look at it, it's
almost chronologically backwards. I do is referencing these things. Right. So, and then
he's in the next verse, he's going to quote from Enoch. Now the book of Enoch is supposed
to be of, uh, is, uh, I understand that people have issues with canonization and I'm totally
with you. Like it's totally fine. But the book of Enoch is written from the perspective
of the character Enoch, who was, uh, the seventh generation after Abel. Uh, yeah. Seven generations
down there's Lamek who is the personification of evil. And there's Enoch who is supposed
to be the personification of good seven generations removed. And Enoch says, I'm going to 70 times
seven do what came to other people. Yeah. Enoch is so holy that God just like takes
him and he was there one day and then he was gone the next because he was walking with
God and God took him home. Yeah. So like, it's like this personification. So then Enoch
in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied about them. Look, the Lord comes with thousands
of his holy ones to execute judgment on them and to convict them of all their ungodly deeds
that they have done in an ungodly way. And of all the harsh thing ungodly centers has
said about him. Yeah. These people are discontented grumblers walking according to their desires.
Their mouths utter arrogant words flattering people for their own advantage. Yeah. So he's
not very happy with these people. No, not very happy. And for good reason. Yeah. Right.
The hard thing I think when, when I think about the way that this book is used often
to attack other people is that when you actually use this book to attack people, you actually
become the very thing Jude is railing against. Yeah. Right. That is not to say that we shouldn't
hold each other accountable, that we shouldn't love people, that we shouldn't, but Jude's
actually going to conclude in his letter that the way we contend for our faith is going
to be living a different way. But you, my dear friends must remember what the apostle,
what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ predicted. They told you that in the last
times you would, that there would be scoffers whose purpose in life was to satisfy their
own, their ungodly desires. These people are the ones who are creating division among you.
They are following natural instincts because they do not have God's spirit in them. But
you dear friends must build each other up in your most Holy faith, pray in power, pray
in the power of the Holy spirit and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ who will
bring eternal life. And this way you will keep yourselves safe in God's love. Yeah.
So how do we contend for our faith? I'm going to say it in my translation because I think
it's just helpful to hear it a couple of different ways. Yeah. Building yourselves up in your
most Holy faith, praying in the Holy spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, expecting
the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. And by the way, have mercy on some who
doubt. Yep. Save others by snatching them from the fire on others have mercy in fear,
hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. Right? So what is the overall message of Jude?
You can tend by the faith by drawing near to God, praying in the Holy spirit and redeeming
people around you. Yeah. In love. Yeah. In love. Yeah. It's so it's so frustrating that
this book has been been used to attack people. Yeah. Right. Now what we're not saying is
like the behavior that you did addressing 100% needs to be dealt with. Yeah. But you
can tend for the faith by living differently than everybody else around you. Yep. By putting
God on display in your life and it radically changes the people around you. Yeah. And then
Jude ends with this great little little bit. Yes. Where it says now all glory to God who
is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you and will bring you a great
joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to him. Who alone is God
our savior through Christ Jesus our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, authority are his
before all time and in the presence and beyond all time. Amen. So you have this exaltation
from Jude saying God's the one who keeps you. He's the one who holds you. He's the one who's
done it from from the past. He's the one who's doing it now. He's the one who's going to
do it in the future. Right. Right. I was very similar to Obadiah. Yeah. It's almost like
the Old Testament has got a new testament. Yeah. And one of the really interesting things
about that conclusion is it counteracts 100 percent what the teachers are doing every
day. Yeah. Right. Our teachers are being like do what you want. It's fine. God will forgive
you. And then and then Jude's saying actually no God's the one who holds us all together.
He's the one who draws you in. Yeah. He's done that in the past. He's doing that now.
He's going to do it in the future. Yeah. Yeah. It's this call that says hey when you follow
Jesus connecting with him in a relationship is what's going to shape the world around
you. Yeah. And when you connect with him in a relationship things are going to change.
Yeah. Right. You're not going to be walking like you can't be in relationship with God
and walking and sexual immorality. Those two things don't mix. Yeah. Right. I think there's
a really good you know and so the and he's not dealing with peripheral issues. Right.
Where there is is conversation about like just disagreement. We did it. We did an eight week
series on women in ministry. Right. This isn't over a disagreement about whether or not women
can be pastors. Right. There are teachers who will make this type of verse about something like that.
Yeah. And I hope that we would see that what Jude says is the way you contend for your faith
is to put God on display to love people well to snatch them from the fire and keep yourself
from defilement. Yeah. And these are about serious accusational things. You get about serious
mis- they're very compromising the very person of Jesus Christ. The way that you fight that is you
put on the character of God. Yep. Boy if only there was an applicable thing for living in
America. American Christianity. Right. Right. Right. Or just America in general.
Put Jesus on display and watch him change the world. Amen. Yeah. So there we go. Second little
book. Big message. It's good stuff. Yep. Until next time. And that's a wrap for today's episode
of Love and Context. We hope you enjoyed this engaging conversation and gained valuable insights
into the powerful message of love within the Bible. We'd love to hear from you and continue
the conversation. Connect with us by sending us your questions, thoughts, and suggestions to
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