The Failure to Communicate
Theme Scripture
“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. 4 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 3-4
Let’s unpack verse 3
Verse 3: “Beloved, while I was very diligent to
write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to
you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all
delivered to the saints.”
You may consider ‘to contend earnestly’ a rather
odd statement relating to faith. Perhaps before we go there, we need to make
sure we both are on the same page understanding what ‘faith’ is in this
particular verse. Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words gives this
definition for ‘faith’ as it is intended in verse 3: “by metonymy, what is believed, the contents of belief, the
"faith,"” NOTICE, it is not what religion you claim, it is not
some nebulous feeling you have -- it is what you believe—all of what you
believe on a given topic, in this case, Jude is reminding them of the faith
that was delivered to the saints as it relates to the gospel. His first desire
was to write the letter about ‘our common salvation’. Common salvation being
Jesus. HIS blood shed at death and His resurrection is the only means by which
we find salvation.
Having established what ‘faith’ means in this
verse, what are you to do for your faith? You are ‘to contend earnestly for’
it! This is the meaning of contend as it
works with this verse: “signifies "to contend about a thing, as a
combatant" (epi, "upon or about," intensive, agon, "a
contest"), "to contend earnestly," Jud 1:3. The word
"earnestly" is added to convey the intensive force of the
preposition.” – Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
Now Verse 4
“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.”
The whole idea of this verse is very unsettling
when you stop to think about it. Jude is saying that within the Church there were
people who had crept in unnoticed: “Creep, Creeping, Crept: "to
enter in by the side" (para, "beside," eis,
"in"), to insinuate oneself into, by stealth, to creep in stealthily,
is used in Jude 1:4. -- Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament
Words.
Did you see? They crept in – insinuates themselves
by stealth – could be sitting next to you in Church. You know, if they had
already crept in during Jude’s life, they must be very present now in these
latter times. What is their purpose? To pervert the grace of our GOD and
ultimately deny our LORD, Jesus Christ.
What we’ve learned in verses 3 & 4
1.
We must be combatant minded with intensity for
our faith. Not just let someone mow over our faith or belittle our faith but be
ready to contend for our faith with intensity. Why?
2.
Because there are those who have crept into our
midst who appear to be like us but with great stealth, they insinuate
themselves into our lives and slowly pervert the grace of GOD and deny our
LORD, Jesus Christ. Paul mentioned this very thinking. [Romans 6:1-2]
What is the failure to communicate?
Jude, and next article will show you John and
Peter, sent out very solid ‘Alert Messages’ with clear instructions and with no
expiration time/date. To this day, we have exactly the same concerns as the
early Church was warned would happen. Within our midst in self-described
Christian Churches –'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.’ Try doing a search online for reformation churches, or churches that may
be listed under ‘apostacy’ or churches with messages that do not mirror the
Gospel. Of course, just because a church may have reformation or alleged
apostate church as a label or defined as such by someone on the internet does
not mean it is necessarily true. Each Christian must practice what the Apostle
Paul told the Church in Thessalonica when he said this: “but test
everything; hold fast what is good.” Or, “Make sure of all things; hold
fast to what is fine.” – 1 Thess 5:21 A companion verse to this was written by
John “Beloved ones, do not believe every inspired statement, but test the
inspired statements to see whether they originate with God, for many
false prophets have gone out into the world.” – 1 John 4:1
Because those churches that have splintered off
the Gospel message, yet retain a Christian Church identity, and have exploded
in memberships--it is sadly apparent there is a failure to communicate. Why? The
Apostle Paul provides a reason that in today’s culture resonates accurately and
most definitely obvious: “For the time is coming when people will not
endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate
for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will
turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” – 2 Tim
4:3-4
It is the individual Christian’s responsibility to
imitate the example of the cautious Bereans: “The brothers immediately
sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived
they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now these Jews were more
noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all
eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 12 Many
of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as
well as men.” – Acts 17:10-12
If you know your Bible you likely will not fall
for the one who crept into your Church life insinuating themselves into your
life trying to engage you in lewdness and who later to deny GOD and Jesus. If
you drill down into the word ‘lewdness’ in the instance of Jude you find this:
“Lascivious, Lasciviousness: denotes "excess, licentiousness, absence of
restraint, indecency, wantonness;" "lasciviousness" and particularly
verse 4 how that was rationalized: “of that into which the grace of God had
been turned by ungodly men.” -- Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament
Words.
This topic continues in a later post as Peter and
John sent out their ‘Alert Messages’ which today have fallen on deaf ears thus another
Failure to Communicate.
“Repent therefore and be converted,
that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from
the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may
send [c]Jesus Christ, who was [d]preached to
you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the
times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth
of all His holy prophets since [e]the world began.” – Acts
3:19-20
“Jesus answered and said to him, “Most
assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born [a]again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when
he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is
born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That
which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit
is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born
again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of
it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who
is born of the Spirit.” – John 3:3-8
If you need help, please feel free to leave a
comment and I will respond. †
DISCLAIMER: The thoughts published on this
blog, in total, are the opinions, thoughts and considerations of the writer/author
of every post published. It is assumed that research by the reader will lead
the reader to their own conclusions. It is not the writer’s intent to make a
judgment of anyone but to allow GOD’s Word to do what it does. “For the word of
GOD is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged
sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow;
it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all
creation is hidden from GOD’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare
before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” – Hebrews 4:12 [NIV]
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