Category: Devotions

Who is causing the division within the Church today regarding belief and behaviour? Is it those who have held to the position of their forefathers and who passed the baton to them? Or is it those who want to change the construct of the Church in order to demonstrate love?

This letter from Jude pulls no punches as we have seen. Centred around the Christian faith are those who by their choices to be whoever they want to be and do whatever they want to do are harming what was passed down to us generationally. These people divide the Church but Jude instructs us to keep ourselves within the love of God. Jude has told his readers to remember what was spoken to them by all the apostles and not just him.

“They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.” (Jude v18-23)

Jude leaves no doubt. These are ‘people who divide you’ but we don’t have to be like them. Instead….

• Align yourself with God who is good and out of this goodness love flows. That’s the right order.
• Do not condemn those who disagree with you and do not crush anyone who is doubting what you believe.
• Do not turn your back on those who turn their back on you. Keep working to reach them. If you see someone about to fall into a fire what will you do? Act like that.
• Do not remove the fear of God when showing mercy to those who are false leaders and teachers dividing the Church.

This letter from Jude pulls no punches as we have seen. We need this letter today as much as when it was first written. For centred around the Christian faith are those who by their choices to be whoever they want to be and do whatever they want to do are harming what was passed down to us generationally. We must continue to stand up for the truth given to us. Jude has told his readers to remember what was spoken to them by all the apostles and not just him.

“They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.” (Jude v18-23)

Yesterday morning a lady messaged me to say thank you for the encouragement I gave her to pack her things and move out of the house with her children and with the support of her Pastors to leave her serial adulteress husband who believed God had given him licence to abuse his vows to her. In the afternoon I sat with a friend listening to how he is trying to carve out a new path after seeing his wife walk away from their marriage simply because this is what she wanted to do. Yesterday was a day seeing the impact of ungodly desires.

In 2023 all around us and within the Church, from pulpit to pew, the ‘ungodly’ are following ‘their own ungodly desires’. Jude encourages us not to be like them but instead ‘build yourselves up in your most holy faith’ v20.

These are not just the last days but they are days of evil. Not only do the scoffers mock the Coming King they scoff by their behaviour the Lordship of the King. Look around you and see what is happening to the Church. The scoffers with their behaviour scoff at the Lordship of Jesus and they do it from within the Church. These ungodly desires are simply themselves taking the place of Jesus by becoming the central figure of their life.

But this is not you! Jude tells us to take responsibility for our journey as a Christian. I encourage the Pastors that I care for to have a ‘mentor/friend’ a ‘spiritual director’ or whatever the title but someone they regularly turn to in order to help them on this journey. However this does not negate the fact that each and every one of us are responsible for our own spiritual growth. We cannot hand this to anyone else. We have to grow upon the foundations of our faith passed down to us. This means we are not the most important person but Jesus is.

Today you can decide to be whoever you want to be. There is nothing quite powerful than a person’s own will. And that’s the problem as well as a blessing. We see distortions all around us from the truth handed down to us.

The worship leader, Sean Feucht recently confronted publicly Matthew Blake (a former worship leader who now performs as a drag queen) over his sexualisation of young children. Blake accused Feucht of being a ‘hater’ and not one who spoke with love. The distortion from Blake outweighed the love for the children from Feucht, in Blake’s mind at least.

This letter from Jude pulls no punches as we have seen. We need this letter today as much as when it was first written. For centred around the Christian faith are those who by their choices to be whoever they want to be and do whatever they want to do are harming what was passed down to us generationally. We must continue to stand up for the truth given to us. Jude has told his readers to remember what was spoken to them by all the apostles and not just him.

“They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.” (Jude v18-23)

There are scoffers. “But you, dear friends …” v20

The last days will contain scoffers. Since the ascension of Jesus Christ the world moved into the last days. During this last 2,000 we the ‘dear friends’ or ‘the beloved’ exist alongside those who ridicule the faith, the ‘scoffers’. It was always going to be. Just because they exist and ridicule this belief doesn’t change the fact that Jesus is returning soon.

We must remind ourselves who we are. We are in direct contrast to the scoffers. The word ‘dear friends’ sounds weaker than ‘beloved’ for it is the word for when the Father calls Jesus ‘You are my beloved’ in the river Jordan. You are not of the sceptics, the cynics, the scoffers. You are the beloved of God. Jude is appealing emotionally for us to not only know we are different but to be different.

But you …. The beloved, dear friends … But YOU! You don’t have to be like them.

Jude was going to write about salvation but something bothered him so much he felt compelled by the Spirit to stand against the falseness of certain leaders that had crept into the church. They were defying spiritual leadership, giving licence to all kinds of behaviours which abused grace and denied the Lordship of Jesus. They carry their own grievances; they chase after personal gain; they are uncontrollable. 

“But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.” (Jude 17)

BUT you, remember!

You are different to whatever you are seeing or hearing. You don’t have to follow the same way. You can live differently.

The answer to the stealth which impacts the Church from within today is still the Bible. Hold on to it. Teach it. Live by it. The words of Jesus and the apostles who wrote of what Jesus said is vitally important for 2023 as it was for Jude’s day. You are different!

Jude is bringing some final advice about ‘these people’. He spots a common link amongst them all. Basically it can be summed up with this: listen carefully to these people and you will see their falseness because they are always speaking!

“These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.” (Jude v16)

Grumblers – listen to what comes out of their mouths. They are people who undermine other leaders.

Faultfinders – listen to what they are actually finding fault in. It can be the teaching from other preachers.

Follow evil desires – listen to what they are going to gain from what they are seeking.

Boast about themselves – listen to what they say about themselves and what they have done.

Flatter others for their advantage – listen to what they say of other people and if they stand to gain from the ones they praise.

We can spot a lot by just listening!

“Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones ¹⁵ to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”(Jude 14-15)

Jude targets these ungodly false leaders who are pretending to be something they definitely were not and who lead others astray through their many deceitful words and ways. But why did he quote from 1 Enoch 1:9, “And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of ⌈His⌉ holy ones To execute judgement upon all, And to destroy ⌈all⌉ the ungodly: And to convict all flesh of all the works ⌈of their ungodliness⌉ which they have ungodly committed, And of all the hard things which ungodly sinners ⌈have spoken⌉ against Him.”?

I am sure there are many theologians who may know the answer to this question!

Why did he quote from 1 Enoch when the quote itself can be found in different places across the Old Testament?

1. The book of Enoch is Pseudepigraphic. Meaning though it is titled Enoch and attributed to him it definitely was not written by Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah, but probably a collection of authors. It never made it into the canon of Scripture because it wasn’t the real thing. These leaders Jude speaks against look like the real article but they are not. They are pseudo leaders.

= What might have an appearance doesn’t mean it is the truth.

• The book of Enoch was popular and maybe the false teachers were using it to peddle their agendas. To quote from their source would have been a really clever move to show them even their own resource speaks against them.

= Listen to what is being claimed and stated because within it you may find something you can use to counter the lies.

• The book of Enoch was not seen as inspired by God to make it into the Scriptures but that didn’t mean something could not be taken from it and used under the inspiration of the Spirit in a similar way to how the Apostle Paul did with the poets. This book was popular at the time and this section confirmed what Jude was saying in that the Lord will come and when He does He will judge the ungodly.

= Know the faith, history and the culture of people you are trying to reach with the gospel, be relevant and speak their language.

To think Jude may have written a different letter makes me all the more grateful for him having the courage to write like he does. This is relevant for 2023 and the Church needs to read this much ignored letter.

Jude is not letting up, he doesn’t back down, he continues to give illustrations to show how these leaders are ungodly and spottable.

“These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. ¹³ They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.” (Jude 12-13)

• They attend the love feasts. The early Church practiced Agape feasts where people brought food to share.

These ungodly leaders are attending the events but they are consumers of the church, they have a spirit of entitlement, they are there not to share and give but to take and grab for themselves. The only people they look after is themselves.

• They are clouds without rain.

They give long speeches of their intent, they proclaim new ideas and promise that the best is yet to come because they are carrying something. People get excited. They look for what is promised. But these ungodly leaders have the appearance but do not deliver. They are all talk.

• They are blown along by the wind.

They change their mind constantly. They take whatever is being said by others and make it sound like they have thought of it but it lasts only until they hear a new thing. They don’t have a purpose for their life just a performance.

• They are autumn trees without fruit.

They have not produced anything. When the Bible is denied as the Word of God and the Lordship of Jesus is ignored then all that is left is death. In fact there is death twice because they are dead from not believing and teaching what they should and therefore God will remove their anointing and ministry, the second death.

• They are wild waves of the sea.

For the people at the time the sea was chaotic, confusing and something to be feared. These people are busy but they are unmanageable, unaccountable and uncontrollable.

• They are wandering stars.

Shooting across the sky they try and dazzle but it is a fleeting moment, they soon pass away, here today gone tomorrow.

The result? A forever blackest darkness. An eternal loss. Gone forever.

If only the ‘ungodly people’ were more obvious. Sometimes they are difficult to spot straight away. They worship God, are strong in their beliefs, loving towards people and have elements in their lives to show they are godly people. So how do we know who to trust? Jude helps us:-

“Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.” (Jude 11)

Jude uses 3 characters to show us how people can be deceived even though they think they are right and what he says helps us in making sure we are following and being with people who will not lead us astray.

Cain’s way:- a) his gift was not accepted by God but his brother, Abel’s was; b) he refused to change his mind; c) he murdered Abel.

• Watch out for those who have lost their passion for a relationship with Jesus, their personal faith has withered or perhaps their anointing is not what it was.
• Watch out for those who carry disappointment and feel in some way rejected

Balaam’s error:-a) he used his authority as a prophet for personal gain; b) encouraged God’s people to worship idols.

• Watch out for those who chase after material wealth for themselves or their work.
• Watch out for those who hear from God for others but are not being held accountable themselves..

Korah’s rebellion:-a) despised the authority over him (Moses and Aaron); b) he politically gathered 250 other leaders to join with him to topple Moses; c) the ground swallowed him and his supporters up as judgment from God.

• Watch out for those who carry resentment for their leaders.
• Watch out for those who politically try and persuade others to think the same.

Watch out and do not follow such people. They are unrepentant and ungodly people and will come under God’s judgment.

A Pastor asked me for help yesterday over a serial adulterer (he used to be a church leader and a missionary) who was now trying to convince his wife that this was God’s will for their lives. That God was giving permission for this because He understands his needs.

This is not unusual now. All kinds of behaviours are happening under the name of God and His apparent loving kindness towards us so that we can be whoever we want to be and do whatever we want to do. This is not outside the Church but within. On the back of so called ‘dreams’ or other messages from God, people are indulging in selfish behaviours, they defy spiritual authority so that Pastors are given no respect and (helped by the Message) they drag the glory of God into the mud of the earth.

We are in the time of Jude:-

“In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. ⁹ But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰ Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.” (Jude 8-10)

Jude uses a story not familiar to us because it isn’t in the Bible. We don’t know where the story comes from but Jude’s readers knew it obviously. He uses it to counter these false prophets who have slipped into the church and are defying the spiritual leadership. Archangel Michael would never have even thought to have rebuked the devil in his own name but only in the name of God. So these ‘ungodly people’ who think they can carry on living self-centred lives with no restraint and give abuse to any spiritual leadership who suggests they are wrong, stand in their own authority which Jude says is no authority at all, it is no higher than an animal.

If you have ever sat in such a meeting when the ‘ungodly’ are not only rejecting the Pastor or leadership of the Church but are pouring scorn on them, mocking them, hurting them simply because they no longer like the message being preached and the practices of the church, then you know something of what Jude is saying. He says Michael would not even speak to the devil like this but would say, ‘God will take care of you’. Jude says they do not understand. However, their lack of understanding is going to destroy them.

Last week I sat in a meeting where one man launched at his Pastor with such anger that I had not seen for quite some time. I actually had to raise my voice so that I could be heard in order to quieten him. It shocked me. There was the Pastor humiliated before me and badly hurt. I didn’t know whether to cry or hit the angry man. I figured the second option would make things worse so I sat on my hands. What was his complaint? He wasn’t being used within the Church the way he wanted to be used. However what was the real issue? I didn’t find that out until the next day when I discovered the angry man was involved in immorality within the church and incredulously so was his wife. Jude calls them ‘irrational animals’ and sadly their behaviour is destroying them and their destinies in God.

Not everything done in the name of God or heard in some spiritual dream is from God. Not every complaint is really about the complaint. Sometimes animal reactions come because of hidden animal behaviours.

“Our baptism service was amazing this morning” was the text I received last night from one of my Pastors. I know I will be blessed this morning by getting similar reports from other churches. God is good. The church as I see it is growing and is blessing the community around with the love of God. But we do face challenges and these are similar to the ones of 2,000 years ago as Jude writes his letter to the church. There are church leaders bowing to the pressure of the world and leading the people astray with an understanding of the gospel that was certainly not passed down to them. Beliefs have changed and as a result behaviour has changed all under the banner that God loves all. Jude speaks into this with a direct challenge to those who pervert the grace of God and deny the Lordship of Jesus by saying you will be punished. God delivers but He destroys (as the Wilderness years/Exodus shows us); God creates and He holds in chains for eternal damnation (as the fallen angels reveal); and now:-

“In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.” (Jude 7)

It’s not easy reading is it? Some don’t read it and some don’t believe it. That’s the easy option.

Jude tells it as it is about the God we worship.

If blessed as we are with what God has given us in this world abuse that blessing by demanding to be able to live our life as we please then we desecrate the goodness of God.

Sodom and Gomorrah were 2 cities that were great places to live because of the blessing of God but they took that blessing and used it for their own sinful purposes. They abandoned their Creator and turned their lives into self-service becoming masters of their own destiny. However their destiny ended with fire and punishment.

The Church need to heed these words. Especially those who stand behind the pulpits and peddle a gospel that wasn’t handed down to them. If these people do not stop twisting the truth to suit the demands of the created then they will face punishment, whether they believe in the punishment of eternal fire or not. That’s not only some creed but it is what Jude writes. It is the Bible.