My first sermon - Jude

This was my first sermon - dated... a long time ago - around 2003ish. 'tis from the book of Jude

Jude had a problem. And it wasn't that The Beatles were writing catchy songs about him either....

A church that he cared about had been infiltrated. "Certain men" had snuck into the congregation had had started to pervert God's work that was going on there. They had been leading the Christians there away from the Lord and his desire for us to be Holy and leading them to immorality, licentiousness and sinful desires and worse they had been denying that Jesus Christ is our only Sovereign and Lord.

And there is the crux of Judes problem. People he loved, people he may have brought to the Lord himself were being told - and some were believing - that Jesus Christ was not God. Perhaps they were saying he was a just a good teacher, - someone whose teaching we can aspire to follow, perhaps they said Jesus is not the only way to God, perhaps they were saying he was not the sacrifice for our sins once and for all and perhaps they were saying he did not rise from the dead.

Look around the Church today - in all it's denominations - and you will see that Judes problem is our problem as well. There are priests, pastors, bishops and people who just leap on the band wagon to sell a book or two who say "Jesus was not resurrected!"

Jude stood up to these people and condemned them for their heresy... are we doing that today? Or do we just say - to each his own - what's true for me may not be true to you - we weren't there how can we be sure what did happen? Why are the people who do stand up to the heritcs scorned and laughed at and called narrow minded?

When you see a person drowning, or even being held under the water by another - do you ask that person do you want to be saved? Do you think that the aggressor is just expressing himself and it's not our place to judge his murderous lifestyle - just because it is different to our choices. Well just as the victims physical life is being destroyed so is the spiritual life of those who fall to the lie that Jesus Christ is not our only Sovereign and Lord.

Jude had a problem... Jude had an answer...

Firstly he stood up and condemned the godless men and then he told those who are still faithful to be strong, to rescue those who stray and to focus on Jesus - our God our Saviour.

I will now like to home in on Judes advice to the Christians who were in this situation.

Jude told them that they are to build themselves up in their holy faith and to pray in the Holy Spirit. They were to keep themselves in God's Love and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring us to eternal life.

They had to strengthen themselves in their holy faith. They had to know what they believed. When we know what we believe and a heretic comes to us and says something different then we know not only that they are wrong but why. We can confidently say,if we wanted to, "The Lord rebuke you" and leave it at that. It is not enough however just to know a lot of theology. After all a lot of the heretics today are very well versed in doctrine and the bible yet they choose to divert from it.

We need to have the Holy Spirit in out lives. The Holy Spirit - that mysterious third part of the trinity - enters believers on conversation and connects their spirit with God's. The Holy Spirit guides and leads us, he is our counselor - not just as the emotional healer but as legal - telling us where we have gone wrong and need work on. The Holy Spirit also leads us in our prayer. Prayer... that personal and at times intimate conversation with God. In that conversation we are communing with the one who is the centre of our faith and He will not let us fall He will strengthen us in Him to be the people He wants us to be. Within that loving (yet broken) relationship we can wait for the time when due to God's mercy on our sins we are with Him face to Face.

Those who have the strong faith - Jude tells us- are to go and rescue those who have not. So do we go up to those who waver and scream in their face like some sort of Boot Camp drill sargent. Ahhh. no... Jude tells us to be merciful. We all have doubt we all are human. But when we are together - and housegroups are wonderful for this - we can strengthen the weaker brother (or sister as the case may be). We are a family after all and that's what families do (well working ones anyway).

I became a Christian in 1989 after being brought up as an atheist. In the late mid to late 90's I was so unsure and so full of doubts that I was ready to pack it all in and become a real apostate. No Christian came to snatch me from the flames - mind you I had had such a bad experience with the Pentecostal church I had been attending I don't think I would have listened anyway. My life and marriage broke down and at the hearth of the fire I called out to God and he rescued me. Remind ourselves - there but the grace of God go I. Be on the lookout for those who are beyond just doubting. I have no cover all guidelines for those people as each person is an individual and we have to love them as such.

And to the heretics? Jude tells us we should still be merciful to them - but fear them. If there is a chance of bringing them back to the kingdom -do so but don't trust their teaching and - just us you wouldn't allow your children to meet alone with a convicted pedophile don't let the weaker Christians access to heretics.

Jude concludes his letter with a burst of praise. But it is praise with a meaning.

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy-- to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Amen all right. It is Jesus who we focus our faith on, it is Jesus who strengthens us through His spirit, It is Jesus who was the sacrifice for our sins, it is Jesus who rose from the dead as proof He is God and our sins are cleansed. It is Jesus who will bring us before the Throne to the our heavenly Father, our creator our God. It is Jesus these people deny.

Jude shows that by focusing on Jesus and giving Him the praise He is due, by keeping our weaker brothers and sisters focussed on Jesus those who seek to be like sheepherders feeding on their own flocks will just be autumn tress uprooted and falled - twice dead. Those who have the relationship with Jesus however - though they die once yet shall they live.

Jude had a problem - Jesus is the answer.