But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
In 2 Peter 3: 3 Peter writes, “Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.” (NIV) The way Jude tells it this must have been common knowledge with the apostles. The “last times” are here and so are the scoffers.
As we have seen in our study of Jude, the “scoffers” he refers to do not make themselves obvious. They slip in among the godly “secretly” and pretend to be one of them. Once inside they pervert the grace of God, promote immorality, deny Jesus as our only Sovereign and Lord, take the way of Cain (anger), and are generally grumblers and faultfinders.
Jude continues with, “These are the people who divide you…”
In John’s gospel account (John 17: 20-23) he records Jesus praying that those who believe may be one like He and the Father are one. He prays that his believers “may be brought into complete unity.”
Why?
”Then the world will know that you sent me…”
Division in the church is a big red flag. It is a sign that something has gone horribly wrong. If we close our eyes to the warning clues that Jude has provided us, it is easy to get caught up in the game of trying to “patch things up.” We are tempted to think that if only we do this for one person and do that for the other, maybe we can convince them to get along. Instead of focusing on Jesus, the church falls into the trap of trying to plaster over one division after another.
People who have the Spirit and submit to God’s will do not cause division. Instead, they work to resolve division.
Application: Focus on Jesus, submit to God, read the Word, and listen to the Spirit. If you are in Jesus, there is complete unity in the Body of Christ.
Food for Thought: How do we tell if someone is following their natural instincts or if they have the Spirit?
By their fruit. Division would be a sign of bad fruit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are fruit of the Spirit. Your word today is interesting – thank you. It is also challenging as I doubt any church is completely free of conflict or division at any time. That is one reason why Scripture says so much about it. Paul dealt with the issue in Corinth, Galatia, Philippi, Ephesus, etc. He even dealt with it in his own life. It is certainly to be taken seriously as it is clearly not Christ’s desired will for His body. He prayed for unity, not division.
Rich,
As always, thank you for commenting! You are right. I do not think that any church is ever “free” of divisive elements. That brings me back to verse 3 of Jude’s letter where he writes, “…contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.” The word “contend” has haunted me throughout this study. It suggests an ongoing, never-ending struggle in this life.
In terms of church life, I think we are challenged to continually monitor each other’s spiritual temperature. When we see signs that someone is straying from the path that leads to serving Jesus, we have to “contend” with helping them refocus on the Spirit and the Word. If the path they have chosen does not allow them to submit to Scriptural principles, then that needs to be addressed in a way that honors God and guards the unity of the church body.
Thank you brother. I agree. Sometimes it is not a simple answer. In my world too often people are very clear in judging what is wrong in someone else’s faith, but rarely do we see what may be wrong in our own. A lot of people are monitoring other people’s spiritual temperature and telling me or others what is wrong with someone else. That is a regular occurrence. If I do what I see to be the biblical thing and have them go directly to the other person, that is often resisted or reasoned away. We are very good at monitoring others, not so good at monitoring ourselves. It is the plank in our own eye problem (Jeremiah 17: 9). But clearly when we see someone in error we are to approach them in love for the purpose of restoration (Galatians 6: 1; James 5: 19 – 20; Matthew 15: 15). Too often the purpose is not restoration but punishment. It is something that regularly grieves me. I have almost left the ministry over this on more than one occasion. It is depressing. And yet I know I am all too capable of doing the same thing (Romans 7: 24 – 25a).
You make a great point. That ‘plank in the eye’ thing is very important. I think what I wrote was poorly said. I absolutely agree that our first and primary task is tending to our own relationship with God. This is deep water, and I should probably go more slowly. Your references are excellent. Especially Galatians 6: 1 —
“Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.”
It is not a simple thing we are tasked with. Yet, Jude seems emphatic that we should be on guard. It is not our social alliances that God values, but our adherence to His will and His Word. Thus, division is sometimes the process of people growing at different paces. Yet it is my belief that those who grow towards a closer relationship with Jesus will abide with those who lag behind as long as they are on the same path. It is the one who divides the brothers that Jude is on guard against.
So when I wrote ‘monitor others’ I think I meant the word in the sense of ‘keeping an eye on each other’ as hikers do when they are walking a treacherous trail. If someone in their group gets in trouble and starts to slip, the others are there to catch them. Division is something different. One of the group takes a different trail and says, “This way!” It is at this point we must contend with division.
Jude is fairly clear on his list of things to look out for. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians is much less specific about the issues he takes them to task for. Both are concerned about divisions in the church body.
Regardless of anything else, I do agree with you. I would much rather err on the side of caution than stick my nose into somebody else’s faith. Jesus is perfectly capable of managing His own flock without my help. As we explore the last few verses in Jude’s letter, he addresses this topic in a very gentle way.
Amen. Well said brother. And for the record, I didn’t think you said anything poorly at all. You said it well. I knew that you meant monitoring in the sense of helping each other and looking after each other. The term made me think about how sometimes others have taken that very thought an unhealthy direction. I was just thinking upon some painful personal experiences. And I was attempting to honestly relay it to the problem of my own heart which can get me into trouble.
Thank you, Rich.
I totally understand the unhealthy direction that is sometimes taken in the name of Faith. I’m sorry to have brought up painful memories!