Key Topics – Page 81 – Three Minute Bible

May 17, 2020May 17, 2020

Jude 1: 20b — Choices

A child stands before 12 gum ball machines, each with a different color of candy.

… by building yourselves up in your most holy faith…

As people we have choices in life. As Christians, we have choices to make, too. One of those choices is whether we choose to build ourselves up in holy faith.

This past year I suffered an injury to my shoulder. I chose to wait and see if it would get better by itself. It didn’t. Instead of getting better, I learned to adapt or guard the injury. When I finally saw the doctor a few months later, he confirmed that the injury was severe enough to have limited the motion in my arm. He referred me to a physical therapist. I now had another choice to make: live with the pain or deal with therapy. Eventually, I chose therapy.

May 16, 2020May 16, 2020

Jude 1: 20a — Dear Friends

Friends silhouetted against the setting sun.

But you, dear friends…

Jude is done writing about the “ungodly.” His letter is short, taking less than three minutes to read the whole thing. After a brief greeting, he jumps into his topic and doesn’t let go. Now, only a few words from the end of his letter, he abruptly stops and changes direction. At this point, he is talking to his brothers and sisters in Christ, those who believe. Those who are part of the Body of Christ.

But you, dear friends…

Who are his friends? These are the people who are called by God. They are loved in God the Father. They are kept for Jesus Christ. They have mercy, peace, and love. They share in salvation through the promise and presence of Jesus in their lives. And, they contend for the faith.

May 15, 2020May 16, 2020

Jude 1: 17-19 — The Big Red Flag

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.

May 14, 2020May 15, 2020

Jude 1: 16c — Strange Reflection

A glass ball reflects a strange image of a beach.

…they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

Jude wraps up his description of the ungodly with this final clue. What is it about boasting and flattery that has drawn Jude’s attention?

In his letter to the church at Rome, Paul writes:

Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. (Romans 12:3)

May 13, 2020May 14, 2020

Jude 1: 16b — The Face of Jesus

A photo of a statue of Jesus gazing out over the horizon.

…they follow their own evil desires…

Jude is almost done with his description of those who pollute and dilute the Body of Christ. It is as if Jude is looking into the face of Jesus himself, and in that face he sees the purity that Jesus wants for his church.

Let’s join Jude and imagine what the Body of Christ could be like.

May 12, 2020May 12, 2020

Jude 1: 16a — On Guard

These people are grumblers and faultfinders…

With deft strokes, Jude is painting a picture of what the ungodly look like. I find it interesting that he does not call out specific people he might be thinking of. Yet, I can also see a reason for this. From God’s perspective, Jude is not being asked to write to a specific church or even a specific age of the church. Instead, the Holy Spirit has commissioned him to write a description for all time.

Jude’s letter is a fitting penultimate chapter for God’s love letter to his people. From beginning to end, the entire Bible is about two things; Jesus Christ and the difference between what is godly and what is ungodly. Jude’s letter paints a picture of what to look for.

May 11, 2020May 12, 2020

Jude 1: 14b — Enoch’s Prophecy

several piles of gold coins each larger than the last.

See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

I am a little out of my depth when we get the End Times Prophecy department. Pr. Rich is the expert in that area as far as I am concerned. So outside of taking a contextual look at Enoch’s prophecy, let’s take a specific look at this passage and see what we can learn.

First, Jude is using a source of information on this topic that is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible. This is new information about Enoch.

May 10, 2020May 11, 2020

Happy Mother’s Day!

A mother swan carries two babies on her back.

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. — Exodus 20: 12

As I gaze over the landscape of Scripture in my mind’s eye, mothers are everywhere. From Eve, the mother of us all, to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Everywhere in Scripture are stories about mothers and the influence they have on history. One of my favorite mothers is told about in the book of Ruth.

Naomi is enduring. She travels with her husband and two sons to a foreign land because of a famine. While there both of her sons take wives from the Moabites who live there. Then tragedy strikes. Naomi’s husband dies. He is followed in death by their two sons. Naomi is left alone.

May 9, 2020October 9, 2020

Jude 1: 14a — A Faithful Walk

Silhouette of an old man and dog walking.

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them…

One of the most amazing aspects of the Bible is the amount of detail it contains about the past. Of course, whether or not you believe this information depends on your view of the Bible.

As I have mentioned before, my personal view is that God exists. God created everything there is, and if God wanted to get a book published He could. If he did, it would be exactly the way He wanted to it be.

May 8, 2020May 9, 2020

Jude 1: 12b-13 — Twice Dead

They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

I like Jude. He doesn’t mince words! The joke line that goes with a passage like today’s is, “So, Jude, tell us how you really feel.”

Ha!

The thing is that Jude isn’t just some guy at work or someone you ran into at a coffee shop (pre-COVID coffee, of course). Jude is someone who, we presume, knows the risen Lord. He may have even been his half-brother.

In today’s passage, Jude describes the ungodly people as “twice dead.” Why? Why twice dead?