Colossians 1:5-7 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf.
 
HAVE you “heard about the word of truth”? In other words, have you heard and do you believe that in his grace, God sent Jesus to the cross to redeem your sins? You demonstrate to the world you have heard this good news “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)
    If this is true for you, then the Word of God bears the fruit of your salvation, doesn’t it? Many people in the world today confess and believe. We rejoice God’s Word has become very fruitful throughout mankind since the first century. From the planting work of the apostles whom Jesus commissioned, to Paul, who Jesus transformed, gospel seeds have been planted around the world to grow in the believers’ fertile soil.
    From those “firstfruits” – the first Christians – came more fruit of Christ’s grace in the early churches. Faithful, Spirit-empowered disciples from generation to generation lovingly planted the gospel seed. The good news sprang up to grow in you and all others now born again in Christ. It is said that every day in the world an estimated 82,000 people confess their sins and believe in the resurrected Lord! Christ’s church is alive. Fruit is harvested. New seeds are planted. The kingdom vineyard is preparing billions for eternity.
    How wonderful you know in your heart “the hope that is stored up for you in heaven”. Are you a gospel seed planter? Are you nurturing soil? Are you watering the seed with love, joy, peace and forgiveness? How can you help the gospel grow in your family and neighborhood, in your state and nation and perhaps even the world?  Will you be as “Epaphras, a dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf”?
 
Life Thought: Pray the gospel will bear fruit in your neighbors, friends and family who need the good news.

 

Colossians 1:1-4 I Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father. 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints.
 
AS I was growing up, my parents attended a United Methodist church, and eventually I became a member as a teenager. One of the benefits of membership was receiving a magazine from the denomination called Together. The essence of the magazine, as its name implies, was bringing people of the church together into life conversations. I particularly remember reading letters from teens sharing information about their lives and how they received “life advice” from the magazine’s editors on the truths of Christ forming their lives. It helped connect me to other Methodist youth as we heard of God’s Word applied to our lives in this way.
    There are many other such publications today that connect like-minded people to each other. Social media, of course, is a huge link-point of “friends” connecting with one another. Certainly social media would be much better and effective if it were a place to meet God and his community on earth.
    As Paul began his letter to the church in Colosse, he is writing to like-minded people. His desire is to be together with them, to be in touch with their lives, so he can begin to teach them God’s Gospel. See how personally Paul connects with them. With such words as “our brother” “to the faithful brothers in Christ” “the love you have for all the saints” Paul reminds them, “We’re together in God our Father.”
    Are you together with those in Christ? Do you desire to alike in heart and mind to teach and learn the gospel and its power for your life? The more God’s people know him, the more together they will be in him. Pray and seek to be close to God and his church.   
   
Life Thought: Jesus loves it when you’re together with Him.

Jude 24-25 To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy – 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
 
JUDE concludes his letter that has warned against a powerful enemy known as apostasy - false teaching - with a Moses-like focus on God’s almighty power. As Moses prepared Israel to enter the Promise Land, he assured them with these remarkable words of Promise form God: Deuteronomy 9:3 But be assured today that the Lord your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the Lord has promised you. God had promised his people a land. Moses affirmed God’s devouring fire would overcome all enemies, even the very powerful Amalekites. History shows God kept his promise as Israel obeyed and trusted their Lord God Almighty. You can be assured Jesus is a devouring fire who destroys sin and saves the righteous. Luke 12:49 “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!”
    Scripture tells you the Son of God, the Savior, prayed for all believers to protect your faith and to keep you with him: John 17:15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”
    Jesus sanctified himself – set himself apart from the world  - when he died for you. The Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, truly takes away sins from those who believe and confess, “Jesus Christ is my Lord.” He has set himself apart from humanity’s sin to open heaven’s gates for you. Through Jesus all things are possible because he is the King of Kings, who wields the Sword of the Spirit to free you from sin’s bondage. Jesus is Lord of Heaven and earth because he has fulfilled the Father’s purpose to make a way for the righteous to dwell in the eternal Promised Land.
    He is “the Alpha and the Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. (Revelation 1:8) Praise him for his power to save. Rejoice in his power to keep you with him forever. Celebrate your life now and forever. What a wondrous gift from God.
     
Life Thought: May your faith shine brightly against all enemies of God.
 

Jude 22-23 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear-hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
 
JUDE encourages the church to extend mercy to church members who are influenced by the false teachers. With his reference to those who doubt, he is concerned for the believers who might ask of the teachings, “Did God really say?”(See Genesis 3:3.) They have heard God’s gospel and are striving to obey, but a lie has caused some doubt. Jude urges the church members to show mercy to those with questions. One reason we join Bible studies is to keep the truth firmly on our minds. When people have questions and even doubt what the Bible says, we are to be knowledgeable, patient and merciful with the truth. This was Jesus’ way to teach his closest disciples who often did not immediately understand him. Matthew 13:36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
    There were others the church needed to snatch from the fire. Those in the spiritual fire were church members coming under the false teachers’ influence nearly to the point of denying their faith. Jude urged merciful hearts to have empathy and pray for them. Jude’s brother James said it this way: James 5:19 My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
    Jude warns, also, of the danger in this work. Do not allow yourself to be caught in the same trap. With persuasive words, they can entice you into the lie. Be very careful. With a measure of mercy, mixed with fear be aware of your danger. You must be alert. Reject their clothing stained by corrupted flesh. Do not “put on” their hearts stained with doubt and indecision regarding Jesus. James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  
 
Life Thought: Keep running to the Savior.
 

 

Jude 20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
 
I stopped at Jude’s words, “build yourselves up in your most holy faith”. After all, isn’t it God’s Spirit who builds us up into a greater faith? How can we do it ourselves?
    Of course, God must open our minds to faith. But it is still true we do have a choice on how we respond to our faith. The Bible has many encouragements to know, obey and live into God’s Word. Jude, then, is encouraging us with four ways to build up, to deepen our faith, so we can resist false teaching and have only a minimal faith.
    1) Build yourselves up in your most holy faith. This holy faith is Jesus’ teachings received in the church from the apostles. To build yourself up in these teachings requires both learning and doing as Jesus taught, and the apostle Paul instructed: 2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
    2) Pray in the Holy Spirit. Do you have trouble with prayer? It’s difficult some days to take appropriate time to pray and to know what to pray, isn’t it? We are taught, though, to rely on the Holy Spirit to open our minds and mouths to prayer. Seek the Spirit’s lead to know what to pray. Discern what he brings to your mind. Use Scripture to open your thoughts to praise and petition God. Pray in the Spirit’s power to fight the forces that oppose God. Pray for God’s kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth.
    3) Keep yourselves in God's love. In other words, be faithful to obey God’s commands. You keep God’s love in you when you keep his commands. 4) Wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. You build yourself up when you remember and believe Jesus’ amazing promise recorded in John 14:2 In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. Can anything harm you when you know the Lord Jesus has a place for you? Do you want anything the world offers above what Jesus offers?
 
Life Thought: Build, pray, keep and wait with a mind on Jesus’ teachings.

Jude 17-19 But dear friends remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.  
 
RECALL that Jude is Jesus’ half-brother. He, as his brother James, came to faith in Jesus after the Lord rose from the dead and ascended to heaven. He could have claimed great authority in the church because of his earthly relationship with Jesus. But Jude knows his kingdom role. He writes here of the apostles as those Jesus appointed to begin teaching in Jesus’ name.  His reference to the apostles of our Lord Jesus indicates he does not consider himself one of those so chosen. Jude heard the apostles teach, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” He is a teacher of their teaching.
    How did the apostles know about false teachings? They, of course, heard it from Jesus. Mark 13:21-23 “At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect – if that were possible. 23 So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.” Consequently, Jude is a disciple of Christ through the apostles. And he faithfully taught to make new disciples. Because he has learned the truth, he can warn of the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. Jude knows the truth and warns of the lies.
    This is our model. Jude has heard. Now he is teaching. True, we all are not called to be teachers, but each of us has a commitment to God to be true to his Word. We disciple in Jesus’ name when we help others to pray, to forgive and to love. Discipling is pointing people to the Bible when they have questions about issues they face. Discipling is being unified with God’s people to strengthen his church against the lies.
 
Life Thought: Disciples learn and teach.

Jude 9-10 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”   10 Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals – these are the very things that destroy them.
 
HAVE you heard this? A very good summary of this surprising encounter between the archangel Michael and Satan comes from the Life Application Bible Commentary:
“This incident mentioned by Jude is not recorded in Scripture, but it can be found in an ancient book titled, The Assumption of Moses. The story, known to the early believers, explains that the archangel Michael had been sent to bury Moses’ body. Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. (Deuteronomy 34:5-6)
    According to The Assumption of Moses, when Michael prepared to do his task, he began disputing with the devil over Moses’ body. Satan said Moses’ body rightfully belonged to him because Moses had committed murder (Exodus 2:12). He said that he had rights over all the earth and that Moses’ body fell under that category as well. Michael, instead of using his own authority, left the matter in his Master’s hands, saying simply, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’ He did not rely on his own power and authority.”
    Jude’s point to the church is to allow the Lord’s authority to rebuke and judge false teachings. Some false teachers were accusing the church by instinct, like unreasoning animals. Their teachings were from their own sinful nature. They rejected God’s truth to judge the church based on their own false doctrines.
    This plague continues today. Popular speakers parade their false opinions, based on their natural sin nature, before the church and the world. You Holy God’s spoken, written Word is your truth. A true disciple is commanded to speak God’s Word to correct sin; yet, it is only God’s authority to judge.
 
Life Thought: Teaching God’s commands is pointing the way to heaven.
     

Jude 7-8 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. 8 In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings.
 
THIS is Jude’s third example of God’s judgment. Jude reminds the church of Sodom and Gomorrah. God’s judgment rained down on a people plagued with sexual sins.
    There is a very loud noise in our culture in the U.S. and many parts of the world today that homosexuality is a normal, chosen lifestyle. No one who chooses this should be labeled a sinner. They charge that the Bible is old-fashioned and irrelevant to any modern day thinking.
    This mindset is aa old as humanity. Saying, “God’s laws are not for us.” always leads to destruction. God’s Word teaches in this passage, Leviticus 18:22, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and 1 Timothy 1:9-11 the sin of homosexual sex. God's plan for monogamous sexual relations between a husband and wife is his will for his creation.
    Yes, our culture and many cultures throughout history, including first-century Rome, have been adamant to redefine what is normal sexually. But we know God alone sets the standard for God's law. With a desire to say, “I’m right. My way is a good way.” many homosexuals believe they have a right to live into their desires. But that in itself is not biblical. God never says to anyone, “Do as you desire.” Instead, he says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29)
    As God condemns any sin, he also offers forgiveness to the repentant heart. God’s mercy and grace, his sacrifice and humility, show the way out of sin into his love. God’s power transforms souls. The church should be a messenger of truth to the world. We must be a sanctuary of forgiveness and healing for all who need God’s true love.
 
Life Thought: Remain faithful to offer the true way to all who sin.  
 
 

Jude 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home – these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.
 
JUDE is urging a church to stay faithful. He has reminded them of men who rebelled and are now eternally condemned. Sadly, this rebellion was also in heaven. Angels, once in God’s presence, now suffer judgment.
    There is a remarkable passage describing Satan’s and some angels’ fall from heaven in Ezekiel 28:15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. 16 Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
    Why would angels living in heaven rebel? Their home was perfect, full of light and beauty. Heaven is lush with flowing water and bountiful fruit. Brilliant stones of many colors mark its walls. The throne room is as a sea of crystal. Yet, they chose to leave. Pride sent them from a secure home with God to roam the earth. Some are bound in chains into deep darkness, even now, awaiting final judgment into eternal darkness.
Why would they have chosen to leave God’s glory to face God’s judgment? Perhaps we can ask this of ourselves.
    God’s glory – his holiness, power and salvation – is available through Jesus Christ. He has granted to the world the pleasure to know his Word. Today, Bible teachings cover the globe through multiple forms of media. There is a powerful movement around the world to point people to holy perfection and eternal life.
    What keeps humanity’s mind from grasping tightly to this gift, even moving deliberately into darkness? It is self-worship, isn’t it? From Satan, to Adam, to Cain and on through the ages, God’s creation has thought, “I can be as God.” All philosophies and worldly religions begin with, “I will form God in my image.”  
    The world tempts the church away from the truth. Let’s be firm to draw the world into salvation’s light.
 
Life Thought: Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  
   

Jude 4 For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
 
JUDE’S obvious concern is to protect a church from certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago. He is referring to disobedient men from Israel’s history, and he names some in verses 11-16:
    Jude 11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain (Genesis 4); they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s (Numbers 22) error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion (Numbers 16). 12 These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm — shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted –  twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. 14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.   
    One of many reasons we read the Old Testament is to understand rebellion’s horrible consequences. Rebels such as Cain, Balaam, Korah and the unbelievers in Jude’s letter were restless wanderers (Genesis 4:12). Discontent led to their eternal death.
    Your safeguard for your faith to stand against pride is to embrace God’s Word. Receive his grace. Believe his commands. Secure him in your heart. Celebrate God’s grace with loving obedience to your Savior.
 
Life Thought: Receive God’s Word. Dwell in God’s grace.
     
Note: In verses 14-15, Jude quotes from the Book of Enoch, a common source of wisdom for that day. Enoch is described in Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. Many Jews understood Enoch to be a prophet God had sent before the Great Flood to call the world to repent.