Jude
“The Real THing”
Jude 1-4

Something impure ruins what is supposed to be good.

Jude is about the real thing: “the faith once for all delivered to the saints.”
 
Who is Jude? (Jude 1a)
Brother of James, therefore brother of Jesus.

When and why?
About 30 years after the resurrection, as the Church expands across the world.

What’s happening?
The gospel is spreading everywhere
Philip → Africa (Ethiopian eunuch)
Paul → Asia Minor, Greece, Rome

Political tension:
Jews preparing for revolt
Temple’s destruction imminent

Persecution and martyrdom:
James executed by Ananus (Josephus)
Peter & Paul soon executed in Rome.

In the tension of this moment, Jude’s voice cries out with a warning for the Church for the purity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ”  –Jude 1

Who we are 
Called by God
Loved by the Father
Kept in Christ

“May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.” –Jude 2

What we have
Mercy – like the Good Samaritan, showing compassion that costs something
Peace – not delighting in enmity or division
Love – God’s nature, reflected to the world
 
“Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” –Jude 3

The call to contend
Contend = ἐπαγωνίζομαι, only usage in the New Testament
From “epagónizomai” → agonize
To struggle, wrestle, strive with intensity

Grace-driven, truth-led
Truth sets our direction, grace is the fuel that moves us toward the truth

“For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” –Jude 4

False teachers
They pervert grace into sensuality.
They deny Jesus as Master and Lord.
“You can have Jesus and everything else you want.”

Grace givers vs. Truth tellers

Jude doesn’t point his contention at those who are far from Jesus.
His contention is with those who wear the name of Jesus like a disguise while leading people away from Him.

The gospel is not ours to edit; it’s ours to guard and live.

This moment in history demands a Church with a pure heart, stewarding the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

The challenge for us today
Are you settling for a faith that isn’t the faith?
What impurities have you allowed into the Gospel?
Whose voices do you allow to speak into your view of Jesus?

The world doesn’t need a diluted faith; it needs the real Jesus.

Our resolution
In a world filled with noise and voices pulling us away, we will be a church devoted to Jesus alone, and we will contend for the “faith once for all delivered to the saints.”