Read Jude 1–4
Questions from the Scripture text: Who wrote this letter (Jude 1)? In what two ways does he describe himself? What three things have happened to his readers? By Whom? In Whom? By/with what three things does he bless them (Jude 2)? With what numerical embellishment? What does he call his readers in Jude 3? How did he feel about writing to them? About what? Why is he writing about something else? What is he exhorting them to do? In what manner? For what faith? Who have done what (Jude 4)? How was this not stopped? What had been determined about them long ago? What sort of men are they? What do they do to the grace of God? What/Whom does this deny? But Who is He and what is His title?
What could be more important than enriching one another in our common salvation? Jude 1–4 looks forward to the second serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these four verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we must contend earnestly for faith in a Jesus Who is our Master, both as our God and as our King.
Slaves of Christ. It is urgent that we know Jesus as both our Lord God and our Lord Christ (end of Jude 4). He is our Master according to both of His natures. His Master not only by His divine nature as a divine Person, but also by His office as the Christ. Jude was His half-brother, but as he writes this letter, he emphasizes that he is writing as a bondslave (Jude 1a). Whatever else Jesus is to us, He is Master, and we must obey Him. The grace of God doesn’t remove this relationship, but establish it. So, watch out for anyone who (and your own heart which) would “turn the grace of our God into lewdness.”
How we came to be so. How did Jude’s audience come to be slaves together with him, so that he says, “our” Lord Jesus Christ? There is much that could be said about the divine work here, but in Jude 1b, this New Testament prophet highlights three: called, sanctified, kept.
God the Holy Spirit has done the work of effectual calling in the heart. They became His slaves by an exchange of the character of their mind that occurred when the Spirit called them.
God the Father has consecrated (“sanctified”) them. He chose them in the Son before the foundation of the world that they should be holy (cf. Ephesians 1:4). And, when He carried that plan out in time, He executed what is called “positional” sanctification, counting them holy and set-apart in Christ, and constituting them holy by the new character that the Spirit has given them from Christ.
God the Son has kept (“preserved”) them. The Lord Jesus not only purchased them by His blood, but it is He by Whom the Father has poured His Spirit upon them. Even more than this, it is through union with Jesus Christ that they now live this new life, and through union with Him that they can never be lost.
How very important it is, then, that we live as those who have Jesus as our Master! It is by the glorious work of the triune God that we have come to be His slaves!
How we continue to function so. As the prophet begins this letter, he greets his readers with three great gifts that come by the Spirit, from the Father, in the Lord Jesus Christ: mercy, peace, and love (Jude 1c). If we are God’s slaves, then we are the blessed recipients of His mercy. Whatever they need, in whatever low condition, those who are bondslaves in Christ’s household shall surely have.
And this is because they have peace with God. Their enmity has been put away. They have been reconciled, not only as slaves but as children. Indeed, with the Almighty as their ally, believers can know that the whole of Who and what God is will be exerted at every moment for everything that they need Him to be and to do. This is peace! Nothing can disrupt this condition of God’s giving us all thinks for Christ’s sake (cf. Romans 8:32) and God’s working all things together for good according to the same will in which He has known, predestined, and called us into the state of loving Him (cf. Romans 8:28–30).
Finally, God gives us the experiential component of this peace by His love. It is especially the work of His Spirit to pour out His own love in our hearts (cf. Romans 5:5) and to produce from us the fruit of reciprocal love unto Him (cf. Galatians 5:22, 1 John 4:19).
This is not a letter telling believers to hurry up and resist false teachers in the church by their own zeal and action. Their zeal and action are dependent upon the gifts of God to us in Himself. And the prophet greets his readers with these three of them. You, too, dear reader: may the Lord multiply unto you mercy, peace, and love for your service to Him.
What threatens our relationship to the Lord. Jude’s eagerness to write to them concerning our common salvation (Jude 3a) was a good and proper eagerness. So, instead of writing an enriching letter like that, why is he writing a warning letter like this one? Because there are real dangers that threaten professing Christians. And these real dangers demand a vigorous response. The word translated “contend earnestly” (verse 3b) is a very strong one.
There is no Jesus except the One Who is Master and demands holiness from us. Some have derisively called this teaching, “Lordship salvation,” as if we are saved by our following Him as Lord. But Jude calls this teaching, “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” For there is only one true Jesus Christ, and He is the Lord. If we are believing in some other Christ, then we are not believing in Him Who is and Him Who saves. If a professing believer just lets the Lordship of Christ, and holy obedience to Him, become a trivial or secondary issue, he is unwittingly giving up Christ Himself! This is why the Spirit here carries the prophet along to write such a strong word as the one translated “contend earnestly.” We are called to vigorous defense of faith in a Jesus Christ Who is the Lord God, and Who demands holiness from us as (among other things) His bondslaves.
Of course, this is something against which our flesh will always strive. The flesh strives against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh (cf. Galatians 5:17). And, to make matters worse, there are men who have continued to creep into the churches for two thousand years, turning the grace of our God into lewdness (Jude 4). The word “lewdness” here is a strong one, indicating just what sorts of filthy sins could even end up being papered over by such a false view of who Christ is, and what Christ does. Alas! We are living in days when there are examples of such folly even in “reformed” churches.
But God is not surprised. These were “long ago marked out for this condemnation” (cf. Romans 9:22, 1 Peter 2:8). So, when they arise in our own day, we are to take it as an assignment from the Lord to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” He ordained for them to creep in. They are stealthy. They would otherwise go “unnoticed”—perhaps even to themselves. But God has assigned to us to be watchful so that we might raise the alarm.
So, dear reader, do not give in to the reluctance to stand for the Lordship of Christ, and the holiness and obedience that is required in the Christian life. The Scripture here has exhorted us. We are Jesus’s slaves. There has been a Triune work of calling, consecrating, and keeping to get us here. There is an abundant supply of divine mercy, peace, and love to sustain us here. Yes, we might prefer enriching one another concerning our common salvation. But when holiness-denying, and slavery-to-Christ-denying, appears, let us prioritize our assignment. Contend earnestly for this faith in this Christ, Who is our Master and our God!
What sin in your own life have you been tempted to treat as not a big deal? From where have you heard the sort of talk that says that Christians shouldn’t be too concerned with obedience and holiness? In what ways have you heard grace spoken of in a way that says sinning is ok? What does it look like to contend within your heart for the Lordship of Christ? What does it look like to contend within your life? In what other relationships and interactions might you need to be contending for this faith?
Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us, for we have not been delighted to think of ourselves as Your slaves. And forgive us; for, one of the reasons that we have not so heartily contended for You is that we have forgotten just how great a work of grace has gone into making us Your slaves. Forgive us for neglecting the continual and abundant supply of Your mercy, peace, and love. Forgive us for how we have not contended earnestly against our flesh when it has resisted Christ’s Lordship. And forgive us for how we have not contended earnestly against others when they have resisted Christ’s Lordship. We have been too quick to take Your grace as an excuse for sinning. And thus, we have made ourselves sometimes the allies of those who are marked out for condemnation. Lord have mercy upon us! Forgive us that we might not be condemned, and cleanse us so that we will walk happily as those who are not only Your creatures, Your subjects, and Your children, but even also Your bondslaves. Grant all of this in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, which we ask in His Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP24 “The Earth and the Riches” or TPH502 “All for Jesus!”