Living in a Broken World

Fake news.

There is nothing new in the world. Even the early church struggled to know what to believe and what was true. Jude, the brother of Jesus, had a dramatic transformation from unbelief to becoming a pillar of the early church. Jude’s short letter calls Christians to pay attention, but not just to what is being said. We also need discernment for those who try to tell us the news.

How do we live in this broken world as faithful followers of Jesus? God is able to keep us from falling away.

Join us as we work on our discernment.

Transcript

Good morning. Like I said, my name is Sandi and I’m one of the pastors here. And you know, sometimes I start the message by saying true confession. And I don’t know if this is a confession as much as it’s just a little fun fact about Brian and me. We love the TV series Survivor.

Any Survivor fans? I know y’all in the front seat are Survivor. Okay, a little bit. Survivor is a reality show where they put people on an island and they basically it’s a it’s a experiment in social dynamics but it’s also a game show. It’s a challenge. Uh back in the day it was survival for 39 days and they were for I mean they had to forge for food. They were trying to fish. It was it was really survival. the newer shows there. I don’t know. I just Anyway, it’s not quite as much of a challenge, but every few days there would be a challenge that the team would have to go through. They would build giant puzzles.

They’d have to dig in the sand and unearth things. They’d have to stand on one foot on a platform floating on something in the middle of the water. You know, very normal everyday tasks. Oftentimes for these challenges, they tie them together. And so a team maybe of eight to 10 people are going through whatever the maze or the challenge is. Just recently Brian and I were watching an episode and this big like ripped dude literally picked up a woman from the back of her shirt and lifted her and took her along because she just couldn’t keep up.

Sometimes we can feel tethered to people who are let us say maybe at various stages of strength or abilities. Just like survivors, some of us are the strong ones pulling others along. Sometimes we’re the ones that feel like, man, I am just not keeping up. I am dragging. Do you ever feel like maybe one or two of those types of people? Or maybe you’re like Brian and me and we’re just watching the whole thing unfold. Maybe for entertainment value. Well, in a way, those of us who follow Jesus, we are tethered together and we are faced with this challenge of life. And sometimes survival really feels like the goal at the end of the day.

Some of us are strong, powerful, forging ahead. We have vision. We know what we’re doing. And others of us just feel like, man, if I can just get through the next 10 minutes, I’m going to consider that a victory. Some of us are untethered to that group. You have not yet said yes to Jesus. And if that is you today, or if you’re online watching in that place, I’m so glad you’re here. I’m so glad you’re here. You do not have to be tethered to the family of God. You do not have to be a follower of Jesus to be a part of our community. I hope that as you are here today that you can learn and listen.

And of course, I do hope that you connect with Jesus. Our series this month, as the video talked about, we’ve been in the book of Jude. It perhaps is a book you’ve never heard of, even if you have followed Jesus for a while. It’s very short. There are no chapters in the book of Jude. It’s literally Jude 1- 26. There is no part two. There is just one chapter. It’s written to a group of Christians who are tethered together. They have chosen to follow Jesus. And some of them have taken the lead. They are the lead rope holder and they are dragging people through the mud. They are going off course.

They are doing things that Jesus never intended followers of Jesus to do. They’ve wormed their way in among the believers. And Jude is writing a letter to say, “You need to be careful. You need to watch out.” Now, Jude was Jesus’s brother. Jude himself along with his family thought Jesus was out of his mind when Jesus was walking on earth.

But Jesus revealed himself to one of Jude’s brothers, Jesus’s brother, James. And as we see in church history, James, Jude, and others came to faith. They became people who defended Jesus instead of calling him out of his mind. And we’ve been talking about how in this world full of fake news, fake reporters, people who are living other than even how Jesus intended them to be, people in the church need to be called out. We need to defend our faith. We also need to live differently and know that Jude is a trustworthy source because he lived knew Jesus in ways that we never will. Here at the end of the letter, this is the last week.

We’ve spent four weeks. Jude gives some very clear instructions. And in these last few verses, it’s seven verses. It’s interesting how a lot of the themes that I’ve picked up and preached on throughout this month are revisited. So, we’re going to start in verse 17. If you have a Bible, you can follow along. Jude has just finished yet another list of examples of how not to be. Jude liked to do this earlier in the verses. He’s talked about double dead fruitless trees being plucked up by the roots or wandering stars. And then he says, “But you, my dear friends, you must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus predicted.

The apostles meaning the leaders of the church. They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires. These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God’s spirit in them. You can back up to verses 17 or 18. Yep. Perfect. They’re satisfying their ungodly desires. And then the last one says they do not have God’s spirit in them. So Jude says this phrase twice, but you, dear friends, this is the first of the two. Jude wants to separate them from the ones who have wormed their way in.

The ones who are living outside of God’s will. In fact, in Survivor, Jeff might say, “You need to uncip.” Anybody who’s watched the show, he’s always talking about that uncip. You might need to uncip from that tether. Jude is saying these people, these who have wormed among you and are trying to lead you astray, they are scoffing, deriding, denying God’s authority by satisfying their wicked desires. Not all of our desires are wicked, okay?

But some of them are. And that is what they’re following. Their natural animal instincts. Earlier in Jude, it talked about that by following your animal instincts, you’re giving yourself over to judgment. They’re doing whatever they want. And Jude says that’s a problem. But what really stands out to me is that he says they do not have God’s spirit. That is the dividing factor. They’re doing all of these things, but do you know what that means? It means they don’t have God’s spirit. Because if you have God’s spirit, there’s a different way to live. Jesus talks to Nicodemus in John 3 about this.

Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the middle of the night and is trying to figure out what is Jesus telling him. And Jesus says, ‘You have to be born again. And Nicodemus is like, I can’t fit back in to my mother’s womb and get born again. What are you talking about? And Jesus says, “Oh, you’re talking about the physical born.” No, no, I’m talking about a spiritual rebirth. When you are born of the spirit means that you are living by the spirit. You are empowered by the spirit. God’s spirit comes to live within us.

Once you are living with the spirit of God, scripture tells us that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness, these that have wormed their way in, the fruit that they’re producing doesn’t look anything like the fruit of the Holy Spirit. So verse 20, Jesus I’m sorry, Judas says a second time, “But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith. Pray in the power of the Holy Spirit and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love. Also, you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering.

Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy still to others, but do so with great caution, hating the sin that contaminates their lives. Other interpretations might even say hating even the clothes that they’re wearing that’s being stained by sin. So Jude again separates them. There are these wormy perverters of God’s grace. They’re doing all this stuff.

But you, dear friends, Judah is saying you are going to live differently. You aren’t to live that way. You instead are to live the following ways. He says, “Build each other up.” Can I just say the antithesis to what the commercials are doing right now for the political opponents? Wouldn’t it be fascinating if enemies who are on the same ballot instead of saying, “You know what? They’ve done wrong and they have the litany.” What if they had commercials saying what the opponent actually did right? You know, I’m running against Amy Clolobashar, but these are all the ways that she’s actually done this and this and is a great mom.

Peggy Flanigan, do you know what she’s done for our state? Do you know how would that be? I mean, all of you I I think everyone has just gone into shock imagining this. >> C can you imagine? >> That’d be great. >> That is what it means. Build each other up. Ephesians 4:29 says, ‘Do not let any unh wholesome talk come out of your mind out of your mouth or your mind, but only what is helpful helpful for building others up. If every word that came out of our mouth was to build someone up, that is what Jude is talking about.

Secondly, Jude says pray. Scriptur is very clear. Pray, pray at all times. the scriptures that we just handed out to the children. When you read your Bible, you might not know how to pray. The Bible’s full of prayers. And Jude says, “Pray in the power of the spirit.” I don’t have to know how to pray on my own, but the spirit of God is going to help me.

Jude says, “Three, await.” What are we waiting for? Well, we’re waiting for Jesus to come back. Last week, I tried to preach on the end times. Woo! Super fun. Go back and listen to it online if you want. Jesus hasn’t come back yet. Now, this is what’s funny. When you’re prepping a message, I wrote this like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, last week, and I’m writing, “Well, Jesus hasn’t come back yet.” And in the back of my mind, I’m like, “What if Jesus does come back before I get a chance to write, you know, say this out?” Or, “What if while I’m saying it, Jesus comes back?” Would that be crazy? So fun.

But until then, we have to wait. We’re waiting while Jesus uh we’re waiting before Jesus comes back. It says, “Await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We will receive ultimate mercy when Christ come back. And we hope that all of our friends will also receive that. Until Jesus comes back, we get to show people the mercy that we’re going to get when Jesus comes back. Not just once, not just twice, but three times in this section, Jude says to show mercy, and we will receive mercy. Mercy means kindness, compassion.

Sometimes when things are just going crazy, you might hear me say like, “Lord, have mercy.” Or I’ll just say, “Mercy because I need it.” Mercy can also mean a desire to relieve. I think God desires to relieve you from whatever it is you might be facing today. That’s mercy. He wants to relieve it. He wants to lift it. He wants to shoulder the burden with you. He wants to relieve you of whatever it is. And that is what we can do for each other. We can show each other mercy.

Who are we showing mercy to? Well, Jude talks about those whose faith is wavering, those who are dancing around the flames of judgment, those who are sinning. Anybody fall into any of those categories? Anybody sinning in the in the room? Yep. Okay, I got a couple. Anybody dancing around the fires of judgment? That’s an image for you. Anybody whose faith is wavering, Brian, put your hand up. Your pastor’s struggle, you guys. It’s hard. It’s hard sometimes to believe that God is going to do what God has said.

But we as a church community, whether it’s this church or the big C church, we get to extend mercy to one another when we are found in those situations. And I would argue that all of us fit into one or three or all three of those categories. Sometimes the church is no more for what we’re against than what we are for or who we are for. When we are wounded, those of us who follow Jesus and we’re struggling.

Sometimes your Christian brothers and sisters are the worst. Well, just believe. Well, just pray more. Well, have you read your Bible? Well, have you been to church? Sometimes that can be merciful. Sometimes it can just feel like more judgment. Instead, Jude calls us to show mercy, a desire to relieve each other, a kindness, a compassion. That is what Jude says.

Now, he also says, “We’re going to snatch each other away from the judgment.” Okay? We’re going to hate even the clothes that you’re wearing if they’re tainted with sin. There is mercy. And sometimes mercy means calling out sin for sin. Jude does that in this book. He calls sin, this is just a limited list, okay? This is not all sin.

But what Jude talks about is not believing in God’s word. He uses all of these examples in the Old Testament who people just literally heard what God said and it went out the other ear and they did nothing about it. They didn’t trust what God was saying or what God was doing. People who reject the authority of Jesus. I’m in charge of my own self. I can do whatever I want. I’m following my animal instincts and I don’t care what God says. Jude mentions sexual immorality. He mentions grumblers, those who complain, who are never happy and always finding the bad.

Anybody get like this though as the weather’s getting a little darker and a little colder? I find myself a little bit more of a grumbler these days. Then Jude mentions the faultfinders. Anybody have a relative like this? Ah, little picky, like the tiniest thing, they’re going to mention it. Oh, I’m just saying boastful or prideful people. I’m just saying Jude is basically nailing all of us, okay? Let’s not like put some people in a category and say, well, you know, those are the real sinners. People did that in Jesus’s day. They were real hard on tax collectors. Prostitutes got like a real bad rap.

There were probably a couple other categories. We have them today. I’m not going to name them because that would just blow up my email probably, but you know what I’m talking about. Jude includes grumblers, faultfinders in the same book that he’s talking about sexual immorality. We may not believe all of the same things are sin in this church. Even though my denomination has a great website, you can read it. Even though Brian and I might subscribe to it and submit to it, when you get down to the nitty-gritty, we don’t agree on everything about what sin is and what sin isn’t.

But can we all agree that we are sinners and that we need Jesus? Now, if you don’t agree with that, that’s okay. This is still your place. When we’re talking about those of us who are following Jesus, however, I think that we all do agree on those two things and that we need Jesus’s help. We need God’s help.

And that brings us to the end of Jude. Jude says, “Now all glory to God who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.” Can you repeat that with me? Without a single fault. without a single fault. All glory to him who alone is God, our savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time and in the present and beyond all time. Amen. Somebody write me a worship song with that verse. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, in the present and beyond all time. That is the God we worship.

That is the God who is worth rejecting all of the ways that other even sometimes people who say that they’re followers of Jesus reject anything that you do not see Jesus doing or teaching. It also says that God is able to keep us from falling and stumbling. All of those sins that we listed, I mean, what is it? A list of 10. I could add 99 more to them. I can’t keep myself from all of those sins. Can you? I can’t. I can’t. I can’t. And if we’re talking about doubt, oh my gosh, line me up. I’m first in line lately, you guys, with can God really? I mean, really. It says God is able to keep us from stumbling.

Now, Jude here is probably talking specifically about people who have said yes to Jesus and then they reject their faith. But I think in general when I think about what scripture is saying is that God is able to protect all of us, any of us, no matter where we’re at with Jesus, God is able. God is able. Not me, not this church, not my sermon, not the Bible study that you’re part of, not your patterns, not your Sabbath, not your disciplines, not your version of politics, not your God God is able. Being a follower of Jesus can be a lifealtering, fully captivating way of being and living.

But you’re not doing it alone. You are tethered once you say yes to Jesus. You’re tethered to people like me. Sorry. Or you’re welcome. But the one who’s leading us is Jesus. Jesus might pick us up by our t-shirts and drag us along sometimes, but I believe Jesus would do it with mercy.

I also know that sometimes Jesus uses us human beings. And if you need me to, or if you need Andrew too, or if you need Emma too, they will pick you up by your t-shirt and bring you along. Okay. And when you are the one that needs to be yanked, snatched from the fire, we are going to be there for you if you let us. God is the one who’s able to keep us together. Survivor is a reality show. It’s super fun. Oh my gosh. You just can’t make up some of the things that happen. Unfortunately, some guy actually like cut off part of his finger in this season, so maybe be careful. watching some of those things. It’s real life.

Bad things happen to us, too. We go through crazy things. Some of you have maybe just gone through crazy things in the last seven days since I saw you. It’s hard to follow Jesus in this world. But if we do stay tethered together, knowing that Jesus is the one that is leading us, if we can show one another mercy, God is able to keep us from following falling away.

Are you in a small group? If you’re not, would you find one? Um, if there wasn’t one isn’t one that exists for you, come to me and we’ll start one for you. We like to start things around here. Do you need help praying? Uh, if you know me, my alarm goes off a lot during the day. Uh, my alarm goes off at 10:02. We pray for more laborers. And on Thursdays, I lead a Zoom prayer at 10:00 a.m. And we pray for more people who want to follow Jesus, who are inviting others to follow Jesus. We pray on Sunday mornings before church. We our volunteers get together and we pray come join us on a Sunday.

Once a month we pray for our church and we meet at someone’s house and we just pray through the needs of the church. Maybe those two things feel like that is too much for me. I am not really ready for that. Try getting more plugged in around here. Uh I just taught a bunch of elementary kids and a high schooler how to fill communion cups and I think they actually enjoyed it. So you’re welcome. Those of you who take communion today, some noviceses were prepping communion today. There are some tons of ways you can get plugged in around here.

Now, I have something that I wrote that I’m not going to share with you, but I’m going to share it on social media later. Jude had a lot of hard things to say, and so I rewrote what I imagine Jude would have said, and it’s comparing people in this church to the heroes of the faith. pointing out how real followers of Jesus are trustworthy, the kind of people that you can leave your babies with. That is the kind of church we want to be.

Sometimes we might yank you up, okay, for your own good. Sometimes if you’re struggling, we’re going to help you along. We want to be a trustworthy church. And God is the one who’s able to keep us faithful. Amen.