
Jude
Rev. David Ryan
God’s word is so rich.
We can come to it day after day
And always find a treasure.
Maybe something we have heard before –
Maybe something we discover for the first time.
But I give testimony to this – the word of God never disappoints!
If you don’t see something that grabs at your heart
On first reading –
Read it again!
Dig a little deeper into it.
There is always reward to be found!
Today, we come to the Book of Jude –
Just a one-chapter letter –
Tucked in right after 1-2-3 John
And the book of Revelation.
It was written by Jude –
Who identifies himself first as a servant of Jesus Christ.
He also adds that he is a brother of James.
Now, the James he is referring to here
Was major leader of the church.
He also happened to be a half-brother of Jesus.
Which means that Jude was also one of the half-brothers of Jesus.
He grew up with Jesus!
Can you imagine that?
They got to live so close to him –
And yet, when it came to understanding him – believing in him –
They somehow missed the boat
Until after Jesus had died and been resurrected.
There is a couple of times in the story of the Gospel
That Jesus family almost seems to be opposed to him
They try to rescue Jesus from himself.
They just didn’t get it.
But before we judge them too quickly
Think of all the things we don’t get right away
Sometimes it is things that are just before us –
Should be clear as day –
But somehow we don’t see it.
Lord have mercy!
Right?
We talked about that prayer last week –
Lord have mercy!
Kyrie Ellison.
But Jude finally got – Praise be to God!
And Jude could have come out and said –
Hey – I shared Blood with Jesus!
He was my half-brother.
But he does not do that.
The blood counted was not the blood he shared in his veins –
But in the blood that was shed from the cross.
More important than being known as a half-brother of Jesus –
Was to be known as a servant of Jesus.
Oh friends – isn’t that what you want to be thought of?
What’s the most important thing for people to know about you?
Let me clue you in – in case you don’t know.
It's not where you grew up.
It's not what you do or did for a living.
It's not where you live
It's not what position you might hold in the community.
It's not even about what church you are a member of.
The most important thing for people to know about you
Is the same thing that was important for people to know about Jude.
That you are a servant of Jesus Christ.
That you know yourself to be a beloved child of God,
Redeemed and made whole by Jesus Christ –
Who calls you into his service.
And the primary way we serve Christ
Is by serving others .
I sing a little chorus to remind myself of this.
If you want to be great in God’s kingdom
Learn to be the servant of all
If you want to be great in God’s kingdom –
Learn to be the servant of all
Learn to be the servant of all
Learn to be the servant of all
If you want to be great in God’s kingdom
Learn to be the servant of all.
We are called to serve in all kinds of way –
It does not look the same for everyone
But every one of us is called to a servant of Jesus Christ.
In fact, right at the start of his letter,
Jude gives us some important identifiers –
How we are to think of ourselves.
And there are three things:
1. Called
2. Loved
3. Kept
We‘ve already been talking about the first one–
We are called.
When we think of the Gospel story –
One of the first things I think about
Was Jesus calling his disciples.
It’s a beautiful part of the story.
Jesus began his ministry in Galilee –
A small fishing village on the shores of sea of Galilee.
We call it a sea- but really it was a lake –
Although a pretty big lake.
The story is told in different ways –
But among the first to be called were Andrew and Peter,
They were fisherman.
One day they were casting their net into the lake –
And Jesus said, Come, follow me – and I will make you fishers of men.
In another account, we are told that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist
When John saw Jesus passing by, he said to Andrew –
There goes the lamb of God.
In both accounts, Andrew just follows Jesus.
And isn’t that the core of what being called means?
To simply follow Jesus.
It might mean leaving what we are doing at the moment.
At other times, it means keeping on doing what we are doing –
But with a deeper purpose.
Sometimes we are called to do some scary things –
Things that are way outside of our comfort zone.
Sometimes we are called in dramatic ways
Sometimes in simple quiet ways.
The important thing is that we just follow Jesus
Just follow where he leads.
I love that phrase from the old hymn –
Where he leads me I will follow.
That hymn was written by a guy named Ernest William Blandy.
We don’t know a lot about him –
Except that he was an officer in the Salvation Army in the late 1800s.
He immigrated to the United States from England –
And he was offered a comfortable, well-established church to minister in –
But he was also offered a choice.
There was also an opening in what was known as “Hell’s Kitchen”
Now, do you know how Hell’s Kitchen got its name?
The story is that there were two police officers
Watching a riot going on in a section of New York City
That had some of the worst tenements ever.
It was a place of desperate people, crime, and violence.
The one officer commented – I think this is hell itself.
And the other officer said – this is hell’s kitchen!
Because as many a folk who have worked in a kitchen know –
It's always hotter in the kitchen!
Offered the choice, Ernest Blandy did not choose the comfortable place –
Because that was not where God was leading him.
He choose the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood.
And he wrote this hymn.
Where he leads me I will follow.
He went where he was called.
I can tell you friends – there is nothing like following the call of God.
There is nothing I’d rather be doing
That following him.
He leads us to the best of places – even when it might not look that way.
We have been called by Christ to follow him.
I like what Jude writes in the latter part of the Letter.
Verse 20 – But you dear friends.
Build yourselves up in your most holy faith –
Pray in the Holy Spirit.
That’s also a part of our calling.
It’s how we are enabled to be the servants of God –
By being built up in our faith.
How do we build up our faith?
It's not that complicated.
For me – its keeping ourselves grounded in the Word of God.
I say it often: Hear it, read it, study it, meditate on it, memorize it, and, most importantly, obey it.
We build our faith as we engage in worship
Both corporate worship – what we do together – and individual worship
The daily time spent with the Lord.
We pray. We seek our fellowship with God to be deep. To be holy.
We join in fellowship with other brothers and sisters in the faith –
We build each other up as we encourage one another, as we teach each other,
We build our faith as we serve –as we said in the beginning – however it is that God
Calls us.
Jude then writes – in verse. 21 – Keep yourselves in God’s love.
That’s the second identifier Jude uses.
He writes –
Thoe those who have been called –
Who are loved by God.
Oh my friend –
What precious words –
You who are loved by God.
I so hope and pray that you are living in the knowledge of God’s love.
To me that is the most important thing.
To know that you are loved by God.
You know the human heart desperately wants to be loved.
Sometimes we get ourselves all messed up
Seeking love, approval, fulfillment in all the wrong places.
You are loved by God, friend.
And the more you know that
The more you realize that that is what must be our first love.
Oh yes
We are gifted with human love.
Parents, Spouses, Children, Friends.
All those are good
Or can be good – because let’s face it
Human love is vulnerable.
Its not perfect
Sometimes it lets us down.
But the love of God never lets us down
It is always complete
It’s a love you can count on.
It’s a love you can depend on.
It’s a love always carry you.
It’s the love you truly need – and truly have.
You are called.
You are loved.
And finally –
You are kept.
What does that mean – we are kept?
To me it means we are kept in God’s hand.
God’s grace and mercy surround us.
God keeps us safe.
Yes, it is true – sometimes we go through some rough stuff.
Being God’s children does not keep us from hardship.
We can suffer –
Suffer from illness
From broken relationships
From all the cruelties that can be found in this broken world of ours.
But even so, we are kept by God.
He sees us through.
He brings us out to the other side.
God is good! All the time!
All the time, God is good.
I find myself saying that a lot lately.
Maybe we need the reminder.
We are kept by God.
We are in his hand.
All things are in his control – even the hard stuff.
We place our trust and confidence not in ourselves,
But in him.
Jude ends his letter
By saying –
“To him who is able to keep you from falling
And to present you before his glorious presence without fault
And with great joy –
To the only god our savior
Be glory, majesty, power and authority
Through Jesus Christ our Lord –
Before all ages
Now and forever more!
Oh! Aren’t you glad friends.
What a mighty God serve!
Angels bow before him – heaven and earth adore him!
What a mighty God we serve!
Know this about yourself
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ.
If you have trusted in him as your Lord –
You have been called.
You are loved.
You are kept by Him.
Thanks be to God!
Amen!