.jpg)
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Over-Promise, Under-Deliver with Pastor Ryan Braley
What happens when we misdirect our worship? Join us in this thought-provoking episode as we celebrate the heartwarming generosity of Central's community, who have handcrafted and donated 52 quilts to Lutheran World Relief. We extend a special shout-out to our online viewers, including North Central students and friends from Texas, showcasing the far-reaching impact of our combined efforts. Transitioning from community highlights, we delve into Roberta Tockley's intriguing question about the significance of the books of Jude and Philemon. We start with the book of Jude, unraveling its relevance and the timeless lessons it offers.
Have you ever considered how the desire for adoration shapes your life? In our chapter "Worship Me Alone," we explore the intrinsic human tendency to worship and its profound impact on our decisions and spiritual journey. Reflecting on the wisdom from Ecclesiastes, we emphasize the importance of directing our worship towards God, the true source of life and meaning. With fascinating parallels between ancient and modern struggles, we uncover how technological advancements have not altered our fundamental issues, from everyday choices to deeper spiritual dilemmas.
How do we identify false promises in a world full of distractions? Journey with us through "Contend for the Faith" and "Beware of False Promises," where we revisit the dramatic scene of Moses, the golden calf, and the cultural influences that led the Israelites astray. We then shift focus to the book of Jude, discussing its authorship and the challenges within the early Christian community. Concluding with the "Closing Blessing in Jude," we reflect on its uplifting message, embracing it as a collective benediction that underscores our unity and faith. This episode is brimming with community highlights, biblical reflections, and timeless spiritual insights that you won't want to miss.
Join us! Facebook | Instagram | www.clcelkriver.org
I got a couple of announcements. These quilts that you see, these are made by a bunch of people from here at Central. If you are one of the quilt makers, could you please stand up? I don't know if there's any in this gathering. Okay, I didn't think so I'm not gonna call their names. There's a bunch of women who gathered together and made these quilts. A bunch of other folks donated the supplies for these quilts and we're to donate these quilts to lutheran world relief.
Speaker 1:If you didn't know it, when you give money to central in the offering globe on our app uh, if you, you know text to give, if you give with the what's it called? When you give out of your account every month, recurring giving, all these kind of things, janet knows, ask janet. Uh, 10 of whatever we get gift gets given us. We give it away to all kinds of amazing organizations around Elk River and around the globe doing great work. So you need to know that you support. If you give to Central financially, you support the work of this ministry and the things that are happening here. Also a ton of other cool places like Lutheran World Relief or Tanzania, our friends in Tanzania. We support them. Care Food Shelf, you know Great River Family, promise, young Life, these things in the area as well as globally, and so Lutheran World Relief is doing incredible relief work around the globe in places where they desperately need it, and we're going to send these quilts to them. I think it's 52 quilts, I think it's what we made, what we made, what they made, and we're going to bless them later on and send them out there. But you just need to know that's what these quilts are for, so for, so they're going to go to good use, and people that are in some dire straits and difficult places in the world will get these quilts all the way from Elk River, minnesota. So you should be proud that the things you're doing are supporting global missions and local missions as well. So, yeah, give them some love, will you, the quilt makers?
Speaker 1:Also, a quick shout out to all of the North Central students watching us online. What's up everybody? I know some of the lacrosse team is watching us and some other people from Young Life and so on. So hello, roll cards. And also we have lots of folks that watch us online or listen to the podcast from all over. I heard from a friend in Texas, san Antonio Isaac. What's up, buddy. So Isaac catches these on occasion and texted me and said some great things, and so, anyway, if you are watching us online and want a shout out, let me know. We'll give you a shout out, because we have folks that watch us all over, apparently, and that's great. This morning we are at the end. So roll cards, we're at the end of our you Pick series.
Speaker 1:Took the whole while part of the summer to kind of answer all the questions that people had and we didn't get to all of them and I apologize, we just didn't have enough weeks to do it. I'm going to try to turn these into some podcasts. We've done a couple back that already. So if you have more, let me know. I'd love to kind of try to riff on them as a podcast. It's actually a great idea. If you have questions that you want me to respond to. I don't know if I'll be answer, but I can respond. Shoot me an email, I'll turn them into a podcast and my podcast, the ones that I like, the reflections that Mike and I do. They're really short, like five to eight minutes long, so you can listen to them while you're brushing your teeth, I don't know.
Speaker 1:So this morning's question was this Roberta Tockley, who didn't even come this morning. I'm in good grief. She asked the question, didn't even show up, was she asked? I knew she wasn't coming, but she asked why is Titus, why is Philemon and why is Jude in the Bible? So I picked Jude and Philemon. That'd be fun to do a little mini-storm like why is that in the Bible?
Speaker 1:So turn in your Bibles to Jude. Here's where it is. So open the Bible in the front of you, in the pew in front of you. It's on page 993. It's a short one so you might miss it if you blink. So it's page 993. It's in the back of the Bible, right before Revelation and just after everything else. So that's Jude and we'll talk about why in the world is Jude in the Bible? What might Jude have to say to us today? Page 993. If you're there, say, shupowpow Good. Most everyone's there.
Speaker 1:Gotcha, in the book of exodus you probably know this already moses goes up on a mountain. This is about 3 500 or so years ago. Moses goes up on this mountain to meet with god. In the ancient world this is often what people did. They go to the mountaintops to meet with the divine, and moses is no different, goes up there to meet with the divine, and Moses is no different. He goes up there to meet with God. In doing so, god gives him a whole bunch of laws or commandments. We know a lot of these. More famous of them are the ten we call the ten commandments, or the ten words of God. The very first one, anybody know what it is? Yeah, those of you that memorized the catechism as a kid you shall have no other gods. Before me here's picture just to prove it. I've got it up there right, so there we go.
Speaker 1:Raises the question, though why is this the first commandment given to all these people like was god so insecure that he had to say just so you know, just date me, only don't be dating a bunch of other people I can't handle. It's not good for my ego. Like was was god so egomaniacal he had to, like, make everybody worship him? Or was it that God knew that we, as a human species, are people who worship, and if we don't worship God, if we don't worship the divine, that which is immutable, the transcendent, that which is greater than all other things, if we don't worship that, what we call God, we will tend to and be prone to worship all kinds of other things the profane, the mundial, the ordinary, the material. I have this great picture I found a while ago that I like it's coming there it is. Thank you, sarah.
Speaker 1:I love this photo because I'm like what would it be like to be a person on a stage and have a bunch of us shouting your name and cheering for you night in and night out? What would that do for someone's soul? We're a people who love to worship, and if we don't worship God it's a God knew. If you don't worship me, the divine, the transcendent, that which is greater, you'll tend to worship other things, like maybe your own identity or your own material goods, maybe your own reputation, maybe money or wealth or popularity, maybe the media or maybe the culture which tends to numb us out or distract us from those things which are really most important. If we don't worship God, we will tend to go our own separate ways and worship all kinds of other things, and the problem is those things cannot give us life. Guys, I know what the answer is here Worship me alone. I'm the only one, the only thing that can give you life. So worship me and worship me alone.
Speaker 1:Here's the thing. This was a problem 3,000 plus years ago that God, I think, sort of foresees coming. Hey, these people love to worship things. They better worship that which is like greater than all the things. If not, they'll worship all these other profane things which don't really do anything, and many times they eat their own lunch. So that was a long time ago.
Speaker 1:The thing is, that problem that was way back then is also a problem that you and I have today. I could tell if I asked you hey, tell me about how you spend your week. Show me your bank account. What do you spend your money on? Tell me your deep, dark secrets. I'm not going to ask this, but if I did, I would see what's at the center of your life, what's the thing that your whole life kind of revolves around? Maybe it's one or two things. That's worship. Whenever you build your life around, yeah, you kind of worship that it sort of dictates and drives your life and your very being. This is not a new problem. It's an old problem, an ancient problem, in fact. Many of the problems that we encounter today, despite our progress, despite our technological advances, we have the same problems they had many, many years ago.
Speaker 1:For example, what should I wear on Friday night to the party. Today it's like should I wear business casual or smart, comfortable, and what's the difference? I don't even know what these terms mean. Back then it was what should I wear to the toga party? Should I wear a toga? Of course you should wear a toga or a tunic. The answer, of course, is toga.
Speaker 1:Back in the day, it was like your neighbor is 7 am in the morning, he's mowing his yard. What is this idiot doing? I can't, it's not even done. Back in the day it was like yeah, sweetheart, the mammoth hunters have moved into the cave next door and those guys are loud and they're idiot. Back in the day, they had a problem, like we do, trying to decipher the grocery list that our wife gave us. Are you with me? Back then it was because the thing was written in hieroglyphics. I can't read hieroglyphics. I don't know what this even means. Today it's like I don't know what this says, this scribble, even though my wife's handwriting is beautiful and really immaculate. I mean everybody else's wives, though. Is this a tomatoes or tornadoes? I don't know. I know she doesn't want tornadoes, but what if she wants tornadoes? Yeah, she might want them. These problems that we have today. These are not new problems. They're ancient, old problems. The things that were old are new again, which really means they're not new.
Speaker 1:The writer of Ecclesiastes, colette, says this what has been done will be done again. What has been will be again. There's nothing new under the sun. God in his infinite wisdom sees like hey, I know these people what they're like and they will tend to worship anything, so they better worship me alone.
Speaker 1:Interestingly enough, moses comes back down the mountain. You know what he finds? The people down there are worshiping a golden calf. He's like guys, I was gone for five minutes, what is wrong with you? And they tell Aaron like Aaron, moses goes up there to meet with God. They know he's up there meeting with God, the transcendent, the divine, the immutable, the ineffable. And they're like they can't wait, aaron, give us a God that we can worship, that we can see and hold and touch. And Aaron is like all right, fine, aaron, bro, what are you doing? No problem. Like what a pushover that guy is. So he give me your earrings. He melts down their earrings into this golden pool of gold and then he makes a calf, a cow, out of this. Why a cow? I don't know it could be that in the Egyptian culture they just came out of Egypt not too long ago and so they knew the Egyptian ways.
Speaker 1:In the Egyptian world they worshiped a god called Apis. Everybody say Apis. Thank you for the 12 of you that heard that. So Apis was this god that they worshipped. That was a bull, and this god sort of represented strength and fertility and virility. It's like the pharaohs loved to worship the god Apis, because if they worshipped Apis it would bring them strength and fertility. So they would raise bulls in the pharaoh courtyard and they'd pick out one like that's the one that one has embodied the spirit of Apis, and they'd raise this one bull. When this bull was a year old, they would slaughter the bull the Pharaoh would and eat the bull, ingesting the spirit of Apis, bringing them fertility and strength and virility.
Speaker 1:So Moses comes down. They've made this god. It was probably a wooden figure with some gold plated on the outside, because they thought the gods were clothed with gold. And Moses is furious. What are you doing? I was gone 10 minutes. You couldn't have waited 10 minutes? It was probably longer than 10 minutes, but you get the idea. So they grind up this golden statue, they ingest. It sounds familiar, doesn't it? The egyptian pharaohs would eat their god in order to ingest the strength of the god. Moses then said hey, if you're with me, if you're with the lord, come over here. If you're not, go over there, because worshiping other gods is nothing new. It's an ancient, old problem. And the problem is, when we ingest other gods, it always leads to destruction, the story might suggest. So God says hey, let's avoid this problem and just worship me alone.
Speaker 1:So Jude writes this letter. It's a short one. Hang on one second for me, sarah, not yet. It's a short letter. It's like 446 words long and it's one of the shortest books in the Bible. Remember, last week we talked about Philemon. It was also a short book, so I thought it'd be fun.
Speaker 1:Do you know the five shortest books in the entire Bible? One is Jude. I think we have the list right, sarah. There it is. Jude is the fifth shortest book in the Bible, anybody know? Number two it begins with the letter O, obadiah. Somebody said it, not really, but it's fine Obadiah. Number three is this book, philemon. Number four Philemon 2, john. And number five is, of course, 3, john. It's like the writer of John was given a three-book deal by the publishers and he blew all the material in the first book. I don't know what else to say. We need a book. Dude Okay, throws out 2 John and 3 John. These are the five shortest books in the Bible. But Jude is short. It's like 400-and-something words long. It's not very long at all. End of the New Testament, right before Revelation.
Speaker 1:Judah is a very common name in the ancient world. We don't really know who Jude was. We think we do, but Judah is a very common name. A lot of dudes were named Jude or Judah in the Hebrew or Judas in the Greek. There's a lot of Judes and Judas and Judas's walking around. In fact, jesus had two disciples named Judas.
Speaker 1:One, of course, was Judas Iscariot, the other one, of course, judas, not Iscariot, right? Like I think that guy went around introducing himself I'm Judas, not Iscariot, right? I think all those Jews or Judas's, you know, after the cross, of course Iscariot was the one who betrays Jesus. I think a lot of those guys, like when they were at a party they would introduce themselves hey, I'm Judas, not Iscariot, you know. So we don't really know who he is, but probably we think, because the opening if you look at the opening of the letter he says I'm Jude, the brother of James.
Speaker 1:So probably we think it was Jesus' own brother, to which my daughters, last night or the night before, were like Jesus had brothers. Yes, they did, he did. He had four of them. Jesus had four brothers James, judah and those two others.
Speaker 1:Now here's the deal about these four brothers. None of them followed Jesus until after he was resurrected. Like what does a guy got to do to get followed around here? You got to die and come back to life, but I don't blame them, it's his brother, you follow your own brother. But Jesus had four brothers and none of them followed him, which means they were his bros, but they weren't his bros. You know what I'm saying, thank you, and I get it. I mean growing up Jesus, I mean the other three or four must have heard all the time like why can't you be more like Jesus? I'm sure Mary said all the time. And if I was his brother growing up, I mean Jesus could have proved everything, undoubtedly to me that he was Messiah and I still wouldn't have followed him Because I'm like bro, you're not the boss of me, but he dies, comes back to life and they follow him. They're all in after he dies and comes back to life. In fact, jude writes he calls himself the slave of Jesus. After the resurrection, jude is all in on Jesus and he follows another three as well, but not until then. And so Jude becomes his follower.
Speaker 1:Now here's the thing. He opens the letter saying hey, I'm Jude, the brother of James. He doesn't say he's the brother of Jesus, why he doesn't want to use his relationship with Jesus as like some kind of a card to get special privilege, which is silly. I would have totally been like yo. I'm Jude, the brother of Jesus, the Messiah. Maybe you've heard of him, but Jude doesn't do that. And so he opens up I'm the brother of James. Later on, he calls himself a slave to Jesus.
Speaker 1:Now he opens the letter. Here's how he opens it. Go ahead for me, sarah. The letter opens this way.
Speaker 1:You can read in verse 3. It says hey, dear friends he's writing, by the way, to a group of Christians who are kind of new to the faith. They're young, vulnerable, fresh out of the wrapper, lots of influences you know around them. And he's writing this letter on page 993, and he says this hey, dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share. He's like hey, I was going to write you a letter talking about the salvation of the Messiah that we share together, but something else has come up that trumps that idea. I've got something more important than that, he says. I felt compelled, though, to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was, once for all, entrusted to God's holy people. I wanted to write to you and talk to you about salvation, about the work of the Messiah, but something else has come up that's more important I need you to contend for the faith that was entrusted to you as the people of God, as Christ, as Jesus' followers. And it goes on. Here's the problem, he says in Jude 4. Go ahead for me, sarah.
Speaker 1:Certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago. Now, I don't think he's saying, hey, certain people who we've written about long ago. I don't think he was saying, like you know, I don't know if he's a Calvinist saying, oh, long ago, these people were destined to all. Rather, he's saying hey, things that these people are teaching you have been around for a long, long time. Their condemnation, like the things that happened because of their instructions, was written about long ago. This is nothing new, everybody. The things these folks are teaching you, it's old, it's these nothing new. So these people have, they've secretly slipped in among you and they're ungodly people. By the way, when he says ungodly, he means ungodly, and they pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ as our only sovereign and Lord. Here's the problem. There's this brand new fledgling little church and they're probably a Jewish Christian group like because then Jude quotes a whole bunch of Old Testament scriptures to help them see, like this problem of like worshiping other gods, it's not really a new problem, it's an ancient problem.
Speaker 1:So he tells all kinds of stories from the Hebrew Bible. By the way, quick side note. So he tells all kinds of stories from the Hebrew Bible. By the way, quick side note, he quotes from the Hebrew Bible. He also quotes from other books that are not in the Bible. He quotes from the book of Enoch, not in the Bible. He quotes from a book called the book of Moses, not in the Bible. So he's using all these what we call extra biblical or non-canonical books to use them as quotes in the Bible.
Speaker 1:But don't sweat this, it's totally normal, like in the ancient world, and these were Jewish people. Probably they were immersed in religious writings. They would use all kinds of wisdom, literature, poets and different writings all the time in their teachings and instruction. And in this case he uses these ancient writings. He's not claiming that these books are canonical or are divinely inspired, but he's using them because they're also good. Books Like Enoch is a good book. The book of Moses is a good book. There's lots of ancient writings that are good.
Speaker 1:Paul does the very same thing on Mars Hill. He quotes from ancient prophets and pagan philosophers, because they have wisdom. There are things that are wise and good teachings that exist outside of the bible. Okay, thank you. Uh, don't be afraid to read other books, is what I'm trying to say. There's all kinds if, and if it's true and wise and good, it belongs to god. But there are lots of things that exist or not in the scriptures.
Speaker 1:Because John says if we did, if we wrote all of it down, it wouldn't. We wouldn't have enough paper to write it down. Okay, I'll move on anyway. So he quotes all and he's saying hey, here's all these ways in which people like you and I have gone off the path because folks have slipped in amongst us and led us astray and he tells all these stories. Put that slide back up again for me, would you Sarah? Here's the problem, jude 4.
Speaker 1:Yeah, two problems. One, people have slipped in amongst you and they're trying to tell you hey, don't worry about following Jesus, you can do whatever you want. And they give them license to kind of live their own lifestyle, do whatever the heck they want. That's the first problem. There are folks that have come in amongst you and they're telling you these are ungodly folks and they're perverting the grace of God. You might call this a cheap grace. Okay, don't worry about behaving like an idiot, god will forgive you. So go ahead and behave like an idiot, even though you know you're behaving like an idiot. It's fine, because God will forgive you. They're perverting the grace of God. The second problem is they're denying Jesus as Lord. Now again, we don't use that word, lord, a whole lot in our culture today.
Speaker 1:But what's the thing at the center of your life, that your whole life hovers around, that your calendar is dictated by it. Your money floats around this thing. Your thoughts and your attention and your time is dedicated to this thing. Whatever that thing is, that's probably what we would call the Lord of your life, and what is it? And Paul says, or not?
Speaker 1:Paul Jude says these people are denying Jesus as our sovereign Lord. There's just two problems. And he says this about these people. Go ahead for me, sarah. He says in Jude 12, he's like hey, these people, they're blemishes at your love feasts Love feasts like the Eucharist or other meals. They would gather in the early part of the church and they would have feasts and share food and drink and have celebration. These folks are blemishes in your love feasts. They eat without the slightest qualm. They're shepherds who only feed themselves. They're selfish and they only think of themselves. Then he says this Go ahead for me, sarah. He's like.
Speaker 1:These people are like clouds with no rain. They're like trees that in the autumn they don't bear any fruit and they're kind of tipped over, they're uprooted and they're twice dead. They're like waves out at sea that foam and they're chaotic and they're untamable waves. And, lastly, they're like stars that are wandering in the sky. Well, clouds are supposed to have water. That's what clouds do? They have water, they bring rain and they bring life and nourishment. And trees are supposed to have fruit. That's what trees do? They bear fruit and it's used for nourishment. It's for goodness, to eat and to sustain yourself. And waves in the ancient world were supposed to at least the ocean was supposed to provide a way for you to get from one place to the next. So you would use the water, the oceans, these waterways to get from one place to the next.
Speaker 1:And stars, going all the way back to the Minoans or these ancient peoples. People would use the stars to navigate by Out at sea or on land. They would use the stars because the stars they would certainly rotate in the sky, but they were like steady and steadfast. They would use them to find their own way. But, judas, these people are not like that. They've slipped in amongst you and they begin to offer you things. You can keep that one up there for me, sarah. They begin to offer you things and they just don't deliver on those things. By the way, I skipped it, but my sermon is entitled Over-Promise, under-deliver. So these folks are like clouds that don't give rain At first. Oh, they're going to give rain. No, they don't give rain. They're like trees that promise fruit, but they don't give you fruit because they're dead. They're like waves that should provide safe passage, but they don't. It leads to chaos and turmoil and shipwreck. They're like stars at the skies that should be able to guide you through the night, but they're wandering, they're lost, they don't know what they're doing. In other words, these people are promising you things, they're offering you hope and they can't deliver on it.
Speaker 1:Many times there are people in our midst because nothing is ancient or nothing. No new problems are new problems, in fact, and these same things happen to us. Sometimes. Folks offer us things, ideologies, ideas, ways to be saved and they give us these promises a lifestyle, for example and in the end, they don't lead to anything but darkness and shame and chaos. There's all kinds of exciting promises made by the culture, for example in our culture today, like, hey, do this or live this way. You know, live your own way, do your own thing. And yet, at the end of the day, these things offer us nothing but darkness and shame and destruction. They over-promise and they under-deliver. These things offer the illusion of help, but they don't. They over-promise and they under-deliver. These things offer the illusion of help, but they don't. They can't. They can't deliver on that, and Jesus says stop following them.
Speaker 1:I was in Walmart a couple years ago looking for some Spanish music and we were doing this Guatemalan fundraiser and I'm like, certainly they would have some Spanish music at Walmart. So I go in there and I ask the young man who's back there hey, do you have any Spanish music? He's like oh, I don't think I do. I don't think so. I'm like what do you mean? You don't think so. He's like I don't think so. I'm like, okay. So he leaves and I walk one aisle over and there's a whole bunch of Spanish music. I'm like, bro, there's like a thousand CDs back in the day. There's like a thousand Spanish CDs over here. He's like oh yeah, dude, how did you not know that?
Speaker 1:If I can gripe for a second, this is a pet peeve of mine. When you walk into a store like customer service today, it's like yeah, yeah, right. Hey, do you have any? Like X, y or Z? I don't think we do. By the way, if the guru you're talking to doesn't have the answers you're looking for, you need to go higher up the mountain. You know what I'm saying. Can I talk to your manager? Can you ask somebody who does know for sure what do you don't know? Hey, do you guys have this in red Mental Rolodex? I don't think so Well, can you find someone who does know? Here's my point.
Speaker 1:Some people's advice and ways of living it leads you nowhere and they're like stars that promise direction and navigation, but they lead to chaos and darkness. Some people's tweets on the internet they promise life and fruit and they lead to nothing. Some politicians not all of them, some make promises they just cannot keep. Some of us in this room have offered these alluring things, or we've heard them, and they just cannot sustain us. And Jesus says, hey, just watch out, don't follow them. They don't know where they're going. See, things were going so well and then somehow, darkness and chaos descends on this group of Christians, and these are not new problems. They're not new problems. Many of us are on the path and we hear all kinds of advice like it's okay to do these things over here and over here and over here.
Speaker 1:Maybe you even think for yourself oh, god will forgive me, it's fine, no big deal, I'll just do it now, I'll ask for forgiveness later. Or maybe you're like, hey, I'm all about going to church on Sunday mornings, but I mean, I don't need to have Jesus as my Lord. It's not. You know, I was talking with a guy one time about the teachings of Jesus. We were kind of like talking about it and got a little bit you know, this is a Christian man and I was like the teachings of Jesus are very difficult To do. What he says is very hard. And I said, like, like this one example. And the guy goes oh well, I mean, I guess if you want to follow that literally I don't know if Jesus really meant for you to follow that oh well, that's kind of what I think Jesus is getting at. Though, is like we have to follow these things, but there's a temptation, like I don't have to follow all the things that Jesus says I can sort of. And Jude says, hey, these people are selling you lies. They're not really fruitful.
Speaker 1:Do you know, the biggest industry in the world of literature is the self-help industry. So in 2022, I believe it was I think I have a slide for this, sarah In 2022, it was worth $13.4 billion, the self-help industry. By 2032, they're projecting that it'll be worth $81.6 billion. That's a huge increase. In 2020, there were 43,000 new self-help books written and published and released 43,000. 45,000. 45,000. Now here's the thing I actually like self-help books a lot. I love them, they're great, they do help. But here's the problem Self-help books won't fix all my problems. I've got problems that sort of transcend a self-help book. You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 1:And more compelling, I think, is why do folks gravitate towards self-help books of late? Well, that np, or the uh npd group, says this people today are yearning for meaning and peace and calm. And today's somewhat chaotic culture because we live in a culture that offers things like clouds, but with no rain and trees, with no fruit and water that's actually chaos and stars that don't know where they're going. And people are trying to glom onto anything because we are people who worship and we'll worship anything that sounds good. And Jude says be careful, these people are not for you and they're distracting you from what we're really trying to do here. So here's what he offers in response.
Speaker 1:Look at verse 20. He basically says hey guys, stay the course. You know the way and you know the truth. Stay the course, maintain the faith. In verse 20, here's what he says, he says, but you here's what he says, he says but you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith. In other words, keep going. You know what you need to do, keep doing it. Then he says this hey, pray together in the Holy Spirit. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, pray together, keep yourselves in the love of God. You know the love of God. You've heard about it, you've read about it. Stay with it, keep the faith, keep the love of God and look forward to the mercy of Lord Jesus Christ. That leads to eternal life. See, here's the deal.
Speaker 1:Jude gives them warning, and there are some of you here today that need to hear this. So look at me, church. Some of you here today have had people, influences, creep into your life. Because here's the question who has your ear? Who's influencing you? Who do you worship? Whose advice are you taking? Whose advice are you taking?
Speaker 1:And if it leads to anxiety or stress or duress or broken relationships, turn that off. If you're on twitter and it just stresses you out to see all the chaos, or on instagram or whatever your thing is, turn it off. If you watch fox news too late at night and it causes you nightmares, turn it off. Or maybe it's cnn right, that's the other one I forget turn it off. Whose advice are you taking? And if it's not good, turn it off. And if you know the way and keep wandering off of the path. Stop it, stop. Stop. If you're being a knucklehead and you know it, stop. I'm telling you as your pastor stop If you're being an idiot, stop. If you're being unloving, unkind, if you're promoting justice or brokenness, stop. You know better.
Speaker 1:This was the message to the Pharisees. Jesus was like you guys are being so mean, stop. So some of you here today need to hear this, stop. So some of you here today need to hear this Stop. Stop promoting a way of life that's just destructive, or stop listening to those who promote a way of life that's destructive Stop. Others need to hear this. I love this.
Speaker 1:In verse 22, he says this. He says hey, have mercy on those who are wavering. So if you're here today and you're wavering and your faith is hanging on by a thread and you have doubts, like deep doubts in yourself or in God, or you're not sure which way is up, and you're like are new to the faith, like I don't know what's going on, for you, I would say grace and peace be with you, and the grace and goodness and love of God be with you and upon you. May you know that I am with you, I am for you, we're all with you. We're all for you. We want to help carry your burdens along the way. I think of, like the woman caught in adultery, or the woman at the well, or the children who don't know any better and they're hanging on by a very thin thread and the rent's due and they can't afford the rent, or they don't know where they'll stay tonight, or their marriage is like fractured or broken and they have nothing left. Yeah, to you I take grace and mercy be yours from God, the Father of our Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ, you're going to be okay and you're welcome here and we'll carry those burdens with you and for you. Amen. So I don't know which one of those you are, but when you hear them, stop it. If this is something an idiot would do, don't do that. If these are things an ungodly person would do, stop doing those things. They promise all kinds of things but they cannot deliver on it. And those of you who are weak and are tired and have heavy burdens and are just worn out, you're gonna be okay. We're with you. We're together on this one. We'll be all right. But here's what both camps need to hear. It's Jesus who keeps us safe.
Speaker 1:Jude opens in verse 1. It says here I'll read it to you. He says this Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James, to those who are called and are beloved in God, the Father, and kept safe by Jesus Christ. So those of you who are here, stop it. Stop being an idiot. Great, but know that that won't save you. Do right things. Take care of the poor. Call your mother-in-law, say hello, happy birthday, you know. Take care of children. Give money to good things. Don't be a jerk. Those are great and do them, but also, that won't save you. It won't make God love you any more than he already does, or any less. Do them, but they won't save you. Over here also, you hang on by a very thin thread. You cannot save yourself and I can't save you either. I'll be with you, I'll help hold your burdens out, but we can't save you either. The good news is, it's Jesus who keeps us safe. Would you please stand? We're going to close.
Speaker 1:I love the ending of this book, jude. We're going to read it together Now. If Revelation didn't exist, this is how the Bible would end, and I'm just going to tell you this is not a bad way to end the Bible, if you ask me, this is our commendation, our blessing over you. We're going to do it together because we are in this together, amen. So let's read the final paragraph of Jude as our benediction together this morning. Let's read it Amen.
