Holy Mercy - Jude (read the whole letter, it’s only 25 verses!)

“I, Jude, am a slave to Jesus Christ and brother to James, writing to those loved by God the Father, called and kept safe by Jesus Christ. Relax, everything’s going to be all right; rest, everything’s coming together; open your hearts, love is on the way!” (Jude, v1-2, The Message)

Tucked away in the New Testament is Jude, one of the shortest books in the Bible (for pub quiz fans, only John’s second letter, third letter and Philemon are shorter).  In case you’re interested, it’s probably written by Judas the apostle, (Jude, Judah or Judas being interchangeable names back then).  It’s definitely not written by Judas Iscariot who betrayed Christ then killed himself.  Although Jesus had a brother called Judas so that’s a possible author too.

Jude’s letter encourages us about the salvation we have in Christ, and also seems to have been written as an impassioned plea to the early church to resist false teachers. 

“For certain men who have slipped in among you.  They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a licence for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord…these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings…these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand…These men are grumblers and fault-finders; they follow their own desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage” (v4-5). 

Does this sound like anyone you’ve met at a church?  If you’ve ever met one of them and rejected Jesus because of them, you’re not alone…

…It’s heart-breaking to see false teaching in the church and immoral leaders who load down guilt on people and hold others to standards that they are not living themselves.  Few things made Jesus as furious as that kind of hypocrisy.  However, we should be careful in judging others too quickly: the truth is that it might have been any of us before LOVE got to work within us.  Jude’s letter serves as a brutal wake-up call to the church to demand holiness and jesus-likeness from its leadership at all levels.  Jude helps us all to see the kind of people we should not be: “…grumblers and fault-finders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage” (v16).

What will safeguard us from becoming like that?  We’re all capable of it, after all.  Jude is crystal clear in his advice: “But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.  Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life” (v20-21).  “Build yourselves up” means that we must all continually learn, invest in each other, exercise our faith and encourage one another.  “Pray in the Holy Spirit” means what it says – every day asking the Holy Spirit to help, guide, teach and empower us. 

“Keep yourselves in God’s love” means watching our values and attitudes – anything not consistent with God’s love has to go.  “Wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ” means to persevere with determination and hope, even through the tough times we must all face in the Christian life.

Jude’s no-nonsense wisdom goes one step further to make sure no spiritual pride sets in for those who are made holy and righteous by Jesus: we are to extend the same mercy and love to others that we ourselves have received from God.  “Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear – hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh” (v22-23).  It’s clear that vehemently disagreeing with someone’s beliefs or lifestyle choices should actually motivate us to love them and show them mercy all the more!  I love that – this is exactly how Jesus lived.  He hated sin but loved sinners…even sinners like us.  This is LOVE in action.

In prayer today, think of someone you really dislike.  It might be someone at work, or in your family, or a public figure. 

Ask LOVE to show you what it is that you so dislike in them (hint: it’s probably something you really dislike about yourself).  That’s fine – ask LOVE to avoid sin and make you holy in that regard.  Now go one step further just as Jude did: ask LOVE to develop within you an ability to show people like that love and mercy.  If you can, think of someone you don’t find easy to get on with and make up your mind to find some way of showing them something of LOVE’s blessing over the next few days.  If we’ll do that, then we’ll probably grow in our own self-acceptance of our weaknesses and desire to be holy too.

“And now to him who can keep you on your feet, standing tall in his bright presence, fresh and celebrating—to our one God, our only Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Master, be glory, majesty, strength, and rule before all time, and now, and to the end of all time. Yes.” (Jude v24-25, The Message)