Good morning and welcome to the Panhandle. I pray you are all doing well this morning. If you are familiar with my blog you know I always start with the same greeting. Why is that? Because I want you to feel welcome and at ease as you visit my page. I start the way I do so that you have a since of where I come from - the Panhandle of Oklahoma. And by praying that you all are doing well, I am praying God's blessings on any who read my blog.
You see a greeting may seem very simple and yet it is a jam packed part of a letter like that of Jude or a blog like mine. The sad thing is many times we tend to just skim over the greeting, we are in a hurry to get to the meat of the letter. I know that I have been guilty of that many times, but I am getting better at slowing down and reading every part of the letters in the New Testaments (the epistles).
And so before
we go any further into Jude's letter I would like to spend some
time in looking at his greeting. So let's read
through the greetings of Jude's Epistles, and find out what nuggets he has for us. Let's dig in.
Perhaps
you are familiar with the greeting or call to worship whereby the
pastor or liturgist declares, “God Is Good,” and the people,
respond, “All the Time.” The pastor affirms, “All the time,”
and the congregation declares, “God is Good.” Many United
Methodists use it frequently as a liturgical response of praise.
Maxie Dunnam has served as world editor of THE UPPER ROOM, a founding
father of the Walk to Emmaus, senior pastor of Christ United
Methodist Church in Memphis, President and currently Chancellor of
Asbury Theological Seminary. Many people give him credit for this
powerful liturgical act of praise, but it actually originated in
Nigeria. His wife had a jail ministry in the 1980s in Memphis, and
Maxie preached for her on a regular basis. The inmates there
introduced them to this African praise greeting from Nigeria
Perhaps
the place God has used it most powerfully is in another African
Nation, Liberia. To the Liberian Christian Community this greeting
comes out of times of real distress and turmoil. For over fifteen
years Liberia was ravaged with Civil War. They are a people who have
experienced violence, hatred, and disconnection first hand. Yet it
was through these devastating times that the greeting, “God is
good; all the time; all the time; God is God” became real in the
life of every Liberian. The United Methodist Church in Liberia is
thriving, vibrant, and basking in the glory of Holy Spirit led
Revival. To these triumphant disciples of Jesus, this is not some
trite platitude. It explodes from the heart of a people who know what
it is like to have their family members tortured and killed and their
homes and property destroyed; from men, women, and children who many
times could not find food to eat; from Christians who slept in the
bush and stayed in displaced centers and refugee camps for months and
years without knowing where their relatives, friends, and loved ones
were or even if they were still alive; from a people who often became
deathly sick without the availability of any medication; yet from a
people who by the grace of God got well. “To the Liberian Church
this greeting is their way of telling the story of what God has done
and continues to do for the people of Liberia”
[--e-mail testimony to The Rev. R. David Reynolds from Awah Cole,
Administrative Assistant to Bishop John G. Innis of Liberia, Friday,
September 02, 2005 3:32 AM].
Jude 1
Jude,
a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,
To
those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for
Jesus Christ:
1.
A Servant of Jesus Christ (vs. 1)
The
author of this letter identified himself simply as Jude (a shortened
form of Judas). Jude identified himself first as a servant of Jesus
Christ and then as the brother of James. Jude was a common name at
the time this letter was written. However it is commonly held that
this Jude was the half brother of Jesus Christ.
Now
don't miss this, earlier in Jude's life he along with his
brothers did not believe in him (John
7:5). Now to call himself a bond-servant of Jesus Christ was very
big. Before the resurrection nothing, just a half brother to a crazy
man: When
his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for
they said, "He is out of his mind."
(Mark 3:21). After the resurrection not only did Jude believe, he
defended the faith.
This
greeting reflects Jude's change of heart, his humble spirit and the
authentic priority of his life. His highest calling and privilege now
was to be a servant of Jesus Christ. He was not embarrassed to be
called a bondservant of Jesus Christ or to be called the brother of
James.
If
Jude’s brother is the same James, who was more widely known as
bishop of Jerusalem and “brother of the Lord.” The same James who
wrote the epistle that bears his name then this means Jude was not
only the brother of James but as I said earlier the half brother of
Jesus Christ. Jude's attitude was like that of Andrew who is
consistently referred to in Scripture as the brother of Peter (John
1:40). And so Jude, the brother of James became a willing
bond-servant of their older brother Jesus Christ.
To
be a Christian is to be a servant of Jesus Christ. No one can belong
truly to Him without acknowledging Jesus Christ as Lord:
that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in
your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for
with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and
with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. (Romans
10:9-10).
Are
you a servant of Jesus Christ? Have you asked Him to be your Lord and
Saviour? If not you can today.
Jude
1
Jude,
a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,
To
those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for
Jesus Christ:
After
identifying himself, Jude tells us who the letter is written to.
2.
To The Beloved (vs. 1)
But
who are the beloved? “Those
who are called,” Jude
addressed those who were already Christ followers.
Klētós
(klay-tos'),
“to be called,” Paul uses the same word in writing to the church
in Rome ~ Romans 1:6-7 ~ “among
whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved
of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Are
you among the called today?
The King James uses the
word sanctified here in verse 1, but a better translation would be
beloved. The Christ followers that Jude was writing to are “loved
by God.” The word Jude used here is agapao (ag-ap-ah'-o) “to
love much.” Then notice the word after beloved, it is the word
“in.” The word “in” is used to show the early Christ
followers relationship to God the Father. Having placed their faith
in Jesus Christ their hope can now be found “in” God the Father.
So Jude is writing to those who answered the call of the Holy Spirit
and were saved by their faith “in” Jesus Christ, and now their
eternal hope lies “in” God the Father.
They
are also preserved in Jesus Christ. The Greek word translated as
“preserved”
is
tēréō
(tay-reh'-o)
which is often rendered as “kept” or “reserved.” The beloved
are kept continually
(this is what the Greek perfect participle means) by God the Father
for Jesus Christ, until His second coming. What
a marvelous promise! Our Lord has called us, loves us, and has
promised to keep us in His love and power for all eternity. As
believers, because of God's mercy we are preserved from the gates of
hell, and to the glory of heaven.
Do
you have that reassurance? Are you much loved by God? Have you asked
Christ Jesus into your life yet? Why not?
Jude
2
2
May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.
3.
Mercy, Peace, and Love Multiplied (vs. 2)
After
those wonderful words of affirmation that we see in verse 1, Jude
extends the greeting, “Mercy,
peace, and love be multiplied to you.” This
is a uniquely Christian greeting which was used in similar forms by
many Christian writers including Paul as he wrote to the church at
Corinth, “Grace
to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1
Corinthians 1:3).
Jude
uses a double triad here in verse 2. The first triad is mercy,
peace, and love.
The second triad is pointed out by Matthew Henry in his commentary on
Jude. Here is what he notes, Mercy
is offered to us in
our time of wretchedness. Therefore mercy
stands first, and stands for the mercy
of Jesus Christ
as seen later in verse 21 and throughout the entire New Testament.
Next
to mercy
is peace,
which we have from the sense of having obtained mercy. We can't have
true and lasting peace except that which flows from our
reconciliation with God by blood of Jesus Christ. We can't continue
in that peace except through the guidance of the
Holy
Spirit. "But
I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if
I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I
will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world
concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin,...But
when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the
truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He
hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”
(John
16:7-9, 13)
As
peace springs from mercy, so mercy springs from love,
This love is God's love in us and for us, our love in Him, and our
brotherly love for one another. Mercy,
peace, and love show the personal involvement in our lives by the
divine Trinity – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit. Jude pray that mercy, peace, and love would be multiplied to
his readers and fellow followers of Jesus Christ.
The
prayer for all who follow Jesus Christ, should be that we will not be
content with scraps so to speak; but that we will be filled to
overflowing with mercy, peace, and love. The great thing is, God is
ready to supply us with these in abundance, if we will just ask. Why
not start experiencing the mercy, peace, and love that only God can
give you right now?
May the Lord bless and keep you until we meet again.
Bro. Orden
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