I stated in my last sermon I would start putting my notes online. Here you go! This is my most recent Wednesday night sermon. The disclaimer is that while these are my notes, what my notes are and what comes out of my mouth is not 100% the same. Maybe 90% or so. Enjoy!
Jude 1:1-2
Hey from Jude.
Earlier in the year we finished our study of the books of Samuel. Last time we finished our study of the 7 last sayings of Christ from the cross. I’ve had an increasing number of you start to request my notes over the last few months. I have ambitions plans to start putting those online in addition to the videos you can replay on our youtube channel. If/When that happens I will let you know. Tonight we start our new book! We started Genesis in 2008 and finished that in 2012. Then we started 1 & 2 Samuel in 2013 and finished in 2019. Tonight we start our next new book! How long will it take? Weeks? Months? Years! Let’s find out! Turn to Revelation Chapter 1. That’s exciting right? The book of Revelation! That’s an indepth study that could easily take years and years. Let me know when you have found it with a hearty amen! Great. We aren’t actually studying Revelation though. So, go back about 1-2 pages to the book of Jude. As we get into our next book and tonights message entitled “Hey, from Jude”.
Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ,
and brother of James,
2 Mercy, peace,
and love be multiplied to you
So, any pastor will tell you one of the greatest battles they have when preaching & teaching is what next? Even when you are in a book or series that you know will be years the “What next God?” is usually there in the back of your head. Realistically, it’s not like you can go wrong with God’s Word. It’s all good and more importantly it’s all God. After much prayer I started learning towards Jude as a Segway between the rest of the year and January when we start our next book which will be, one of the books in the Bible.
You generally don't hear many messages from Jude. Most of us might not have known it was a book in the Bible. It’s so short. It’s just kind of sandwiched in-between 1,2,3 John and Revelation. Almost like a speed bump if you will, or that in flight safety demonstration that flight attendants do right before the plane takes off.
After all, Revelation is the grand finale! The special effects extravaganza! It’s the end game! Revelation is the apokalupsis, the apokalupsis being the appearing of Jesus Christ, the second coming. In fact, the book of Revelation is called the revelation of Jesus Christ.
There’s nothing to add to Revelation. When Revelation is done, all that God wanted to say has been said because that takes you write out into eternity. Right? It ends with the return of Jesus Christ, His millennial kingdom, at the end of which He defeats the final rebellion – Satan and the sinners on the earth, and healthiest earth and its environs, the created universe as we know it is uncreated, goes out of existence. The new heaven and the new earth, which is the eternal stage, are created, and we go on to eternal heaven, and the ungodly, along with Satan and all those who were associated with him in demonic or human realms, go into the lake of fire forever, and that’s the end.
So, what do we know about Jude? Why place it here of all places? God doesn’t do things without a purpose. Let’s see what Jude has to say about himself.
Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ and brother to James. This is, most likely, this is not James the Disciple but James who wrote the book of James. James, of the book of James, was half brother to Jesus. That makes Jude the half brother to Jesus.
Let’s switch gears for a minute and talk about clothes. Anyone here currently own or have owned a piece of clothing from Polo Ralph Lauren? That’s a decent number of you. Fun Fact! If you do own something with that polo pony logo on it. Unless you bought it overseas, that came from Greensboro, NC! Polo Ralph Lauren’s Distribution Warehouse for all of North America is in Greensboro, NC! IT employees about 3000 people. For two months in late 2005 I was one of those employees! I worked in their IT department as one of the guys on the phone that reset your password and asked if you had tried turning it off and on again.
The thing that struck me about that place though, was the pecking order. You immediately knew where you ranked amongst everyone else in the entire organization worldwide, not just the people in NC. Everyone threw there weight around no matter how little they had. I literally had two documents pinned to my cubicle wall with flow charts of the top 1% of the company.
Obviously the most important person was Ralph. Just slightly below that tier was Ralph’s Son David and Ralph’s first employee a lady named Buffy. I never got to talk to Ralph. I doubt more than a handful of people in that entire building every got to talk to Ralph. However, not to brag but, on my last day there, your illustrious associate pastor, got to talk to David Lauren’s Administrative Assistant’s, Administrative Assistant! While I am 5 people from Kevin Bacon, I am only 3 people from Ralph Lauren! As of August this year I am now only 1 person from the Pope, which I believe makes me the most Catholic person in the entire county! You can tell who the yankees are by who laughed at that joke.
Jude is the half brother of Jesus! The King of Kings, The Lord of Lords! The Author and perfecter of our faith! Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Jude could claim close blood relation to Jesus! Many societies may have viewed him as a demigod. He could wield power and influence over a significant number of people just on that name! Yet, how does he refer to himself?
A bondservant of Jesus Christ. What does it mean to be a bond servant? We don’t understand. We don’t have servants. In fact, to even remotely hint at something even resembling being a servant is enough to get people outside your place of work protesting you and calling for you to be fired and made anathema to the human race for the rest of your existence.
The Greek here is Dolas, a slave, a bond man, a person of servile condition, devoted to one’s master to the disregard of one's own interest.
Sunday, David asked, who is Jesus to you? Tonight, I asked the other side of that question. Who are you to Jesus? Are the one giving orders or are you the one taking orders? Are you the one working to please your master or are you the one who wishes to be pleased? Who is on the cross? Who is on the throne?
Without a doubt, Jude valued the fact that Jesus was his half-brother and that he grew up in the same household as Jesus. But even more valuable to him was his new relationship with Jesus. To Jude, the blood of the cross that saved him was more important than the family blood in his veins that related him.
Now that we know who wrote it. Who is he writing it to? Believers.
We so frequently forget who we are. We spend so much time trying to be someone or something else. Maybe we are trying to be who people say we are or say we should be. Maybe we are trying to be the opposite of those things just out of spite. Somehow we simulteanously thing we are the worst thing in the world and the best thing in the world and we wish to be treated as both!
Yet, it doesn’t matter what we think we are, or other people. What matters is who God says that we are.
Jude identified his readers as Christians. And gives us three signs, three reminders of who we are. We are the called. We are Christian because God has called us, and we answered when that call came in. Many of you have told me your stories of how you ignored and avoided that call but God pursued you until you finally answered!
We are the sanctified of God. We are set apart, apart from the world, saved by and for the Lord that we might do good works, not for our salvation, or our own glory, but His.
We are the preserved in Jesus. When I say preserved, I imagine most of you thought of food. Maybe you literally thought of preserves. Maybe you grew up on a farm canning food for the winter. That’s not what is being talked about here. This is actually a military term. It’s talking about a fortress, or a large military force prepared for battle. We are preserved in Jesus. Jesus Christ is our guardian, our protector, our fortress. He will be with us every step of the way. His will will be done.
Finally, Jude says “Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you” If I told you, you could get 3 wishes from God, what would you ask for? You could ask him anything and he would do it. I think for the majority of us the first two would be some form of health and wealth. The third one we would likely be held on to until we really needed or some type of personal wish fulfillment. Athletic ability, superpowers, really good luck, etc.
Yet, if we talked about why you want those things and drilled down to it. It’s so we would worry less. It’s so we wouldn’t be afraid. If we had enough money, we wouildn’t worry about money things. If we and all our loved ones were 100% healthy then that carries a measure of relaxation as well. When we are honest, at the root of all our fantasies, wishes and worries is a desire for peace.
Yet, the only place we find true lasting mercy and peace is as bondservants of Jesus Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment