Good morning, CFC. Go ahead and take your copy of God's Word and open up to the book of Jude.
It's the second to last letter in the book of the Bible.
We're going to be spending this week and the next four weeks walking through Jude together before Nathan gets back.
And I just have to say it does my heart good when our confession of faith, or excuse me, our catechism quotes the Sermon on the Mount.
I heard that there is a running bet as to how many times I will quote that in the next five weeks.
And I'll just tell you, bet high.
But I enjoy Matthew for those of you who are new and are known to go there.
So I'm very excited to be spending the next few weeks preaching through this book.
And like I said, I only have five weeks, so I want to get right to it.
So looking at Jude, verses 1 through 4, there are no chapters.
It's a short book.
So looking at Jude, verses 1 through 4, Jude writes,
Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James,
to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ,
may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation,
I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation.
Ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
So this author is Jude, and you may be surprised to learn that his name in Greek is no different from the name Judas or Judah.
This was an extremely popular name in the first century Israel.
So maybe your next son will be named Judas after all.
Just don't, actually don't do that.
That would be pretty bad.
But to be clear, this is not Judas Iscariot who betrayed Christ,
but this is Jude or Judas the brother of James, which we see in verse 1.
So this Jude is the child of Mary and Joseph and the half-brother of Jesus Christ.
But more on that verse in a moment.
So Jude or Judas is referenced in the Gospel of Matthew.
We're already there.
When the crowds are doubting Jesus' authority and identity.
They ask in Matthew chapter 13, verse 55,
Is this not the carpenter's son?
Is this not his mother called Mary?
And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
So I guess Mary had a thing for J's and didn't like Simon.
But the same comment can be found in Mark chapter 6, verse 3.
So Judas is well established throughout Scripture.
We know that this is the brother of Jesus,
as we know him as the name Jude in the book of Jude.
But it's the same guy.
And we learn in the Gospel of John, chapter 7, verse 5,
that Jesus' own brothers did not believe in him,
meaning Jude was not a believer during Christ's first advent.
But by the time Jesus is resurrected,
we read in Acts chapter 1, verse 14,
that all these believers, with one accord,
were devoting themselves to prayer,
together with the women and Mary,
the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
So Jude is among those who has placed faith in Christ
after his resurrection appearances.
At that point, he believed this is the Messiah,
the one true Son of God.
But who is Jude that he should write such a letter,
that he should have such authority to do this,
to be an author of one of our canonical books of the Bible?
And so looking back at verse 1, we see his authority.
Jude is a doulos, or a slave, or bondservant,
of Jesus Christ and the brother of James.
So on the one hand, this introduction gives you a sense of Jude's humility.
And he doesn't introduce himself as the half-brother of Christ,
but much like his brother James,
he introduces himself merely as a servant or a slave of Christ.
So the only relationship he expresses to Christ is that slave of servant.
And sometimes that word is translated as servant,
but really means slave.
He is saying,
I am no longer my own,
but I am owned by and exist for Jesus Christ.
So this captures Jude's humility in one sense.
Primarily, though, this title captures his authority.
So when we hear the word slave, right,
we often think of people being mistreated,
people being oppressed.
We think of the sinful atrocities that happened in our history,
in British history.
But this is not necessarily the connotation in the ancient world.
It was different.
In fact, a slave's power, his financial standing,
his stature in society often rose or fell with that of their masters.
So, for instance, in the Greco-Roman world,
if you were a slave, a personal slave to the Roman emperor,
you were actually probably more powerful,
more wealthy, and better off than most free men.
Right?
And men would fear you because you have the emperor's ear.
So slaves often had the ability to spend the money of their masters,
to speak on behalf of their masters,
to make and create businesses on behalf of their masters.
And so it is with Christians.
This is why Jude, James, and others would refer to themselves as slaves of Christ.
They're expressing that we serve him,
we're committed to him wholly,
but also we carry with us authority.
We speak on behalf of our master,
of our Lord, of Jesus Christ.
So on the one sense, again, it is his humility,
but primarily he's saying,
I'm writing to you with authority.
I write behalf of Jesus Christ.
And the cherry on top,
who establishes Jude's authority,
is the fact that he's the brother of James,
the leader of the Jerusalem church.
So I just love Jude's opening statement,
because he makes his authority so clear and so plain,
yet does so cloaked in humility,
with only a few words.
I pray that we would all exercise our various authorities with such wisdom and humility.
So we know who Jude is,
but whom is he writing to?
Well, again, verse 1,
Jude is writing to those who, quote,
are called,
those who are beloved in God the Father,
and those who are kept for Jesus Christ.
In other words,
he's writing to true Christians,
and given the nature of the letter
and how much he references Jewish writings,
these are probably Jewish Christians.
Beyond that,
we're merely speculating as exactly to who they are,
but it is important to realize
that they are true Christians, nonetheless,
and his prayer for them,
in verse 2,
is for mercy, peace, and love to multiply.
Now, for various reasons not worth explaining,
we're going to circle back
to the first two verses at the end of our time together,
because I don't think they make full sense
without reading verses 3 through 4
to understand why Jude is setting the letter up as he does.
So looking at verses 3 through 4, then,
we're going to get into the body of Jude's letter.
Verse 3,
Jude transitions to the body,
indicated by his second address.
He says,
Beloved.
And a very peculiar thing happens.
He says he wanted to write about their,
quote,
common salvation.
Now, this is pretty typical in Greco-Roman letters,
to write about a general concern
related to the state of the city or the nation, right?
And they would use this phrase,
common salvation or common well-being.
You could also translate it.
So this is a very typical Greco-Roman letter,
in a sense.
And they would write these kind of letters during times of war,
during times of economic strife.
But Christians developed their own usage of this phrase.
And we see that right here in Jude's writing.
For them, it was about salvation and life.
This was inherently kingdom of God language.
You might think or say,
speak of this in terms of the welfare of the church,
so to speak.
But it is more than this as well.
Common salvation refers to all of redemptive history,
its past and its future.
This includes events like the Exodus,
the wilderness wanderings,
up to Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection,
and to the future day when Christ will return to reign
and gather his elect.
In other words,
Jude was desiring with all haste
to write to them about the gospel in its fullness.
He could not wait to write to them about this gospel.
He seems to be expressing that
he did everything he could
to write about this gospel as quickly as possible.
And yet, at the end of the day,
he does not primarily write about the gospel in his letter.
He does reference it at points, to be clear.
He does reference it.
But it's not the primary subject matter
that he decides to write about at the end of the day.
So I want you to think about this.
What could be more important or more pressing
than writing about the gospel?
I think about that for a moment.
What happened to Bible language like Paul
in 1 Corinthians 9, 16?
He says,
For if I preach the gospel,
that gives me no ground for boasting,
for necessity is laid upon me.
Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.
So what would make Jude decide to hold off
on such an important and central topic?
In the second half of verse 3,
we see his explanation.
He says,
I found it necessary.
You could translate it as,
I was compelled to write,
appealing to you to contend for the faith
that was once for all delivered to the saints.
What a powerful statement.
Clearly, Jude views the faith of the saints
as being under attack,
which becomes more explicit in verse 4.
So the answer to our question then is,
and listen to this carefully,
the only thing more important
than discussing the true gospel
with fellow believers in the church
is defending the true gospel
from false believers in the church.
Okay, and I'm going to repeat that.
The only thing more important
than discussing the true gospel
with fellow believers in the church
is defending the true gospel
from false believers in the church.
We cannot discuss our common salvation
in the church
when there are those in the church
who claim a different salvation.
And we'll see that false teachers
that Jude is addressing
are in fact teaching a different gospel.
And I want to be clear on this too.
This does not minimize the gospel,
what Jude is doing here,
by waiting to share
all these glorious truths.
It actually emphasizes or heightens
the importance and centrality
of the gospel by defending it,
to contend for it,
to protect the flock
from a false gospel.
This is why he finds it necessary.
So this verse contains
his main exhortation to the church
in his letter,
to contend for the faith.
The Greek word for contend
is an athletic term.
And so in the Greco-Roman world,
athletes and athletics
were typically associated
with wrestling or running,
these kind of sports.
You could translate this word as fight,
as this term was often used
in struggles of war.
And this verb is in the infinitive form,
which simply means this fight is ongoing.
Some have translated this phrase
to carry on the fight for the faith.
So it has that indefinite aspect.
We are constantly contending for the faith.
So it's not merely this particular occasion
of these false teachers infiltrating the church
that Jude is writing to contend,
but he's saying to contend indefinitely.
This is our struggle in this life,
to contend for the faith,
because false teachers will come.
And then you see him use this phrase,
the faith, in verse 3.
The faith that Jude refers to
is the faith of true Christian thought and living.
Jude is talking about the faith
that is rooted in pure biblical doctrine,
as opposed to false faith and heretical views.
Jude uses this phrase the way Paul often does
in his letters to Timothy.
2 Timothy 1, verse 13, Paul writes,
Retain the standard of sound words,
which you have heard from me,
in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
1 Timothy 4, verse 6,
this connection is more explicit.
Paul writes,
In pointing out these things to the brethren,
you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus,
constantly nourished on the words of the faith.
And he's talking about facts, doctrines, teachings,
the words of the faith,
and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.
So this faith that is rooted in sound doctrine
is the faith that was once for all
delivered to the saints, in verse 3.
The saints being not necessarily the apostles,
but all the believers who received the word
by faith at the teaching and evangelism of the apostles.
This faith was delivered to them once and for all,
meaning it does not change.
It's final.
There are no additions or redactions,
no edits to be made of any kind.
Rather, the gospel has been and is presented in full.
So they need not go seeking new ideas or new doctrines
or new beliefs or new scriptures.
Simply put, don't go astray, but fight.
So you might be wondering,
well, how do we fight for the faith?
What does that actually look like?
And Jude's not going to answer that question for us
until we get to verses 20 through 23.
So we will not really address that in full today.
I will offer some closing thoughts towards the end on that.
But instead of explaining how to fight,
Jude next moves to explain in more detail
the people who are responsible
for this new purpose in writing.
He wanted to write about our common salvation.
Now he's compelled to write contend for the faith
because of these people that he references.
So let's look at verse four.
And verse four, by the way,
is going to be unpacked in more detail
in the next two weeks
because that's what Jude does
for the main part of his letter.
He unpacks this statement.
So what does he say?
He says in verse four,
for certain people have crept in unnoticed
who long ago were designated for this condemnation.
Ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God
into sensuality,
deny our only master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
So these people, Jude describes them
with the verb periseduson, okay?
And this verb, I will tell you,
is a verb that you would not want to be described with
in the Greco-Roman world.
This verb is always tainted with a negative connotation.
It could be translated as
these people who worm their way in.
It connotes something or someone
that is bad or evil,
that has entered with bad or evil motives.
And these people who wormed their way in
did so, in verse four, unnoticed.
So Jude implies that they had something going on
that these believers should have noticed,
that they should have caught or picked up on.
And notice too that these people
are not pagans outside the church
teaching whatever Greco-Roman religion.
They're claiming to be Christians.
They are in the church, right?
They've infiltrated or wormed their way in.
Not salvifically.
They're not truly saved,
not truly believers,
but they are wolves in sheep's clothing.
Now this is something that's going to be
a little hard to digest, but true.
These people, Jude says,
essentially they are reprobates.
Jude says in verse four,
long ago they were designated
for this condemnation.
Meaning, God has ordained
that they would not repent
and place faith in Christ,
thus leaving them in their own sin.
The Greek word for designated
is a participle that more woodenly translates
as those who were written down
or those who were marked out.
So Jude is referring to the doctrines
of divine election and reprobation,
which he assumes his readers
are very familiar with,
as they should be.
So if you're here today and wondering,
what is that?
Is that that spooky predestination thing?
I would say yes.
And Jude is assuming it is familiar.
So you should strive to understand
these rich gospel truths.
And I'd be happy to plan lunch sometime.
If you'd like that,
explain more fully.
I won't have time to do so today.
If you want to combatively argue about it,
I'd be happy to give you
Clay's phone number
or Nathan's phone number.
I'm sure that'd be restful
for Nathan on his break.
But just to quickly summarize
so that you have a frame of reference
for what Jude is assuming we know,
these doctrines go something like this.
All of mankind is guilty before God
for their sin as a result
of the fall in the garden
because our covenant head, Adam,
sinned with his wife Eve.
That's Genesis chapter 3.
Mankind is incapable of doing
or desiring anything.
Rather, Genesis 5, verse 6,
God speaks and it says,
The Lord saw that the wickedness
of mankind was great in the earth
and that every intention
of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually.
Nothing more, nothing less,
but evil continually.
Paul reiterates this
in Romans chapter 3.
And I'll just read verses 10 through 12,
which says,
None is righteous, no, not one.
No one seeks for God.
All have turned aside.
Together they have become worthless.
No one does good, not even one.
So left to ourselves,
we cannot even seek God,
much less repent and believe in him.
But here's the good news.
The gospel, right?
Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 1,
verses 4 through 5,
that God chose us, right?
God chose the believers.
In Christ, he goes on,
He chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy
and blameless before him.
In love, he predestined us
for adoption to himself
as sons through Jesus Christ,
according to the purpose of his will.
Paul goes on to say
in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8,
For by grace you have been saved
through faith.
And this, this whole act,
salvation, grace, and faith,
it is not your own doing.
It is the gift of God,
not a result of works
so that no one may boast.
So Jesus himself combines this idea
of our inability to save ourselves
and God's ability and desire
to save those he has chosen.
Jesus says in John chapter 6, verse 44,
No one can come to me
unless the Father who sent me
drags him,
and I will raise him up
on the last day.
Jesus goes on to say
in verse 63,
It is the Spirit who gives life.
The flesh is no help at all.
And then he says in verse 65,
This is why,
he's talking to the disciples,
he says,
This is why I told you
that no one can come to me
unless it is granted him
by the Father.
Why?
Because the flesh
is no help at all.
And man is entirely
dependent on God
to save us,
which is very good news
because he is a Savior.
He is compassionate,
gentle, and lowly,
desiring to save
a people for himself.
So what about those
who are not elect?
What about those
who are not chosen?
And as the earlier references
made clear,
it is mankind
who has sinned
and earned eternal punishment
and condemnation.
God is not responsible
for their sin.
Reprobation is simply
understanding that God
has chosen
not to elect everybody
and that those
he has not elected
will be left to do
what they wish to do,
which is exclusively
the works of sin
and lawlessness.
Remember Genesis chapter 6,
verse 5,
they sought evil
continually and only.
So God leaves them
in that state,
them desiring
what they desire.
They are responsible.
And Jesus taught
this idea of reprobation
in John chapter 12,
verses 37 through 40,
which explains
why some of the crowd
did not respond
to Christ
in faith and repentance.
John writes,
though Jesus had done
so many signs
before them,
referring to the crowds,
though Jesus had done
so many signs
before the crowds,
they still did not
believe in him.
And there's a purpose
to it.
He says,
so that the word
spoken by the prophet
Isaiah might be fulfilled.
Lord,
who has believed
what he heard from us?
And to whom
has the arm of the Lord
been revealed?
Therefore,
they could not believe.
For again,
Isaiah said,
God has blinded
their eyes
and hardened
their heart,
lest they see
with their eyes
and understand
with their hearts
and turn
and he would heal them.
God has decreed
that he will not
save these individuals.
And Paul picks up
this same idea
in Romans chapter 9
verses 13
through 14.
He writes,
as it is written,
Jacob have I loved,
but Esau I hated.
What shall we say then?
Is there injustice
on God's part?
By no means.
It's the most emphatic way
you can say no
in Greek.
By no means.
So looking back
at Jude 4,
we now understand
the weightiness
of Jude's comment.
It is a very packed
theological statement.
He's saying,
these people
who have crept in
unnoticed,
who long ago
were marked out
for this condemnation,
these are the people
he's talking about.
These are the people
we are up against
as true believers.
These false teachers
who would lead us astray.
Now,
Jude is pastoral.
He cares about
the flock of God
and he's telling
his true Christian audience
about these people
because he wants them
to consider
their way of life
and where it leads to,
to condemnation.
So verse 4
serves two purposes
for Jude.
Number one,
he's able to publicly
denounce these false teachers.
But number two,
and I think more primarily,
more central,
he works to protect
the flock,
the beloved.
So what are these people
teaching that is false?
Well, Jude hints at it
in the second half
of verse 4.
He says,
these ungodly people
who pervert the grace
of our God
into sensuality
and deny our only
Master and Lord,
Jesus Christ.
Christ.
So clearly,
these people
are what some would call
antinomians
of some kind.
Now,
antinomianism
is a compound word.
It comes from the Greek.
It's,
the Greek word for law
is nomos
and then we have anti,
so anti-law
is essentially
what this word means.
So these people
are anti-law.
And it's very important
that you note,
right,
these people do not
deny the grace of God.
They are clearly people
who would say
they are Christians,
people who claim
to be members
of the church
and they clearly believe
in some form
of the grace of God
but they do not teach
the biblical truths
concerning
the grace of God.
Rather,
what do they do?
Jude says,
they pervert
the grace of God.
So they make use of it,
they talk about it,
they claim it,
but they pervert it.
And how so?
They use the grace of God
as an excuse
to be sexually loose.
They are adulterers
of some kind.
And worse than being
guilty of that alone,
they are guilty
of using the grace of God
to teach
and promote adultery.
Right,
so they are saying
by doctrine,
by belief,
by faith,
we don't have to keep
the law.
They are antinomians.
They are anti-law.
And that sounds a lot
like an idea
floated around today
in some so-called churches.
The idea that I can live
how I want
and do what I want
because grace abounds.
False,
according to Jude.
And James,
if you recall,
our sermon series,
James chapter 2,
verse 17,
makes plain
that faith without works
or obedience
is dead.
So just three examples
of antinomian teaching
that you have probably heard
on the radio
or at some point
in your life.
They might say things like,
it's okay to get a divorce
if you're not feeling
happy anymore.
Grace abounds.
Or,
homosexuality was only forbidden
in the old covenant.
You can do what you want now.
Grace abounds.
You don't have to go to church,
read the Bible,
or pray
to be a Christian.
Grace abounds.
Now,
there are many more
I could have listed,
but these three
should serve as a guide
to the kinds of things
that antinomianism teaches.
So fundamentally,
it is a denial
of Christ's lordship,
and we see it in verse 4.
They deny our only
Master and Lord,
Jesus Christ.
There's no submission
to our Lord,
and not only that,
but they teach
that we shouldn't submit.
That's the great heresy
that they teach
that we shouldn't submit,
but live
how we want.
And contrast that
with Jude,
who introduces himself
as servant
or a slave
of Christ.
These are two different people,
two different groups,
two different faiths.
Now again,
I want to emphasize
that I know
some of the things
just said
are maybe hard
to swallow
or hard to fully
comprehend.
Whether you're new
to these ideas
or not.
But this is why
I said earlier
that I'd want
to circle back
to verses 1-2.
I think Jude,
being pastoral,
anticipated the thoughts
and concerns
his audience
might have had
after hearing
this heavy swinging
against false teachers.
And I suspect
some of you
would share
those anticipated thoughts.
Perhaps you've wondered,
how do I know
I'm not a false teacher?
Or,
how can I possibly
be safe
with all these
false teachings
and false teachers
in the churches?
How do I know
what's right or wrong?
How do I know
I'll remain faithful
and not be swept up
in these kinds of things?
How can I be confident
that I will not be led
astray?
And this is where
Jude's opening
is so assuring,
so comforting,
and so hopeful.
So let's turn back
to that.
He says in the second
half of verse 1,
to those who are called,
those who are beloved
in God the Father
and kept
for Jesus Christ,
may mercy,
peace,
and love
be multiplied
to you.
Now those three verbs,
called,
beloved,
and kept,
are what you would call
divine passives,
meaning
that we are
called by God,
right?
Divine election,
we are loved
by God,
and we are kept
by God.
God is the implied
subject.
Nothing
can sweep you
away from salvation
in Christ.
Philippians chapter 1,
verse 6,
Paul says,
and I am sure
of this,
that God
who began
a good work
in you
will bring it
to completion
at the day
of Jesus Christ.
The psalmist
writes in Psalm 16,
verse 8,
I have set the Lord
always before me
because he is
at my right hand.
I shall not
be shaken.
And Jesus says
in John chapter 10,
verses 28 through 30,
I give them
eternal life
and they will
never perish
and no one
will snatch them
out of my hand.
No false teachers,
no nobody.
No one
will snatch them
out of my hand.
And he goes on,
my Father
who has given
them to me
is greater
than all
and no one
is able to snatch
them out of
the Father's hand.
I and the Father
are one.
So if you have
repented
and placed faith
in Jesus Christ,
then know that
this God
has truly
called you,
has truly
loved you,
and is truly
keeping you
for that final
day.
Nothing can
change this,
nothing will
change this.
God himself
will not
change this.
He is
faithful
and steadfast.
And we see
in verse 2,
he wishes
for mercy,
peace,
and love
to multiply
all of our
days.
Praise
God.
So as advertised,
I'd like to offer
some application
and closing
related to
Jude's charge
to contend
for the faith
in verse 3.
our fight.
Our fight as
Christians is
fought on the
battlefields of
the heart
and the mind.
We are
constantly to
be seeking
to conform
our thoughts
so as to
both understand
true doctrine,
right?
There's the
mind,
to build our
intellect and
the faith,
and to grow
in obedient
living.
There's the
heart,
to love the
things of God
and to obey
God.
So understand
that the
heart and
the mind
are our
battlefields,
which means
our strategies,
our weapons,
our comrades,
and so forth
must be proper
for such
battlefields.
So with that
in mind,
I have three
applications,
and they're
very simple.
Application
number one,
be vigilant.
Recognizing
from Jude
that false
teachers exist
and they come
to true
churches,
right?
We need
to be on
guard.
Now this
does not
mean you
need to
assume the
worst about
anything anyone
says in
church,
right?
It does not
mean your
default about
people should
be skepticism
concerning their
faith or
practice.
On the
contrary,
the Bible
repeatedly
makes it
plain that
we are to
be unified
in Christ,
believing the
best in
one another
until proven
otherwise.
That's 1
Corinthians
chapter 13.
It does
mean,
however,
that there
are things
to look
for that
we should
be guarded
against,
namely false
doctrine and
false living,
right?
There's that
head and
heart again.
Jesus tells
us we will
know our
true brothers
and sisters
of the
faith,
quote,
by their
fruit.
And for
those of you
betting,
that's
Matthew 7
verse 20.
So what
they practice,
we will know
them by their
fruit.
In this
application we've
brought up
every week
in some
form or
another because
it's the
charge throughout
the letter,
it's the thing
Jude is
concerned about.
So I won't
say any more
for now.
But the
second application,
work on
your heart.
So the
antinomians that
Jude addressed
sought to
promote ungodly
living in the
church.
And I hear
that if we
are not
constantly
working on
our hearts
to be
conformed to
the law
of Christ,
then the
inevitable
day when
a false
teacher comes
along and
spiritualizes
sin so as
to make it
acceptable,
we will
cave in.
So a
great defense
and a great
offense against
this is to
be working
on personal
holiness,
personal
godliness,
now,
daily,
denying
yourselves.
So if you
truly love
the things
of God
and obey
him as
you ought,
the temptation
to condone
such sin
will be
abhorrent
to you,
much less
practice it.
We have to
work towards
that through
prayer and
Bible reading
and spiritual
disciplines and
the church,
asking God
to conform you
to his
standards,
not yours,
asking God
to make you
love what he
loves and
hate what
he hates.
And again,
he who loves
you has
called you
and keeps
you,
and he will
answer those
prayers,
no question
about it.
And then
finally,
our third
application,
work on
your mind.
Know well
the common
salvation
that we
share as
believers,
in which
Jude refers
to.
Know well
the faith
for which
we are
contending.
As Paul
says in
Romans 12,
verse 2,
do not be
conformed to
this world,
but be
transformed by
the renewal
of your
mind,
that by
testing you
may discern
what is
the will
of God,
what is
good and
acceptable
and perfect.
There is
and has
been a
growing movement
in the
church,
broadly
speaking,
I don't
necessarily
mean Christ
family,
I just
mean the
church
broadly,
that some
have labeled
the anti-intellectual
movement.
And just to be
clear,
I don't
consider myself
an intellectual
or most
people,
but that's
not necessarily
what they're
talking about.
They're not
necessarily
talking about
the ivory
tower,
you know,
professor
guy.
No,
but within
that movement
you will
hear things
like this.
When they
talk to
pastors and
so forth,
they'll say,
seminary is a
waste of time
for everybody
no matter
what.
Or they
might say,
why would
you study
Greek and
Hebrew when
we have
English
translations?
Or maybe
something that
they will say
to everybody
in the church,
right?
They'll say
things like,
God does
not care
about how
much you
know,
he cares
about your
relationship
with him.
And to
be clear,
I'm not
saying every
Christian needs
a seminary
education.
I'm not even
saying every
pastor needs
a seminary
education.
After all,
Nathan does
not have
one,
and yet I
sit under
him as my
pastor.
Why?
Because I
have so much
to learn from
him and have
learned so much
from him,
and he works
diligently to
study and
to know and
to sharpen his
mind and
heart,
and he is
such a
wonderful,
godly role
model for
me and all
of us,
and for
which I am
so thankful.
Just lost
my spot,
there we
go.
But the
anti-intellectual
movement,
they just
don't want
to study,
simply put.
They want
things to be
simple.
They don't
want to
question any
things,
which means
they will
never have
answers.
They do
not want
to be
challenged
to think
deeply
about the
scriptures
and the
truths
therein.
And this
means they
will never
develop a
biblical
worldview
to address
the issues
of our
day,
beyond
Jesus
loves me,
this I
know.
But make
sure you
don't ask
them how
they know
because they
don't like
asking
questions.
And don't
get me wrong,
there are
simple things
to know.
There is a
simplicity to
the gospel
that is
beautiful.
But understand
one danger
of this
movement,
and you've
probably never
heard the
title,
but I
guarantee
you've met
people in
this movement.
They want
everything to
be simple.
And honestly,
that is just
not good for
biblical doctrine.
That is not
good for
Christian living,
for life
and godliness.
C.S.
Lewis once
said,
God is no
fonder of
intellectual
slackers than
of any other
slackers.
God is no
So I
would implore
you all
to study,
study,
and study
so that your
blade is sharp
and effective
as you contend
for the faith
once for all
delivered to
the saints.
To know that,
to know its
lines,
to know when
those lines
have been
crossed,
and to
articulate why
and how
so you can
be effective
in evangelism
and discipleship.
I pray
that the
prayer
in Psalm 27
verse 4
is the
prayer
of all
of our
hearts.
And I
plead with
you,
let this
verse
saturate
your mind
and your
heart.
The psalmist
writes,
One thing,
one thing
have I asked
of the Lord,
one thing
that I will
seek after,
that I may
dwell in the
house of the
Lord all
the days of
my life.
And notice
this,
to gaze
upon the
beauty of
the Lord,
there's the
heart,
and to
inquire or
to learn
in his
temple,
there's the
mind.
To love
God and
to learn
about him,
our mind
and our
heart,
to love
the Lord
our God
with all
our heart,
mind,
and soul.
This is
Jesus'
commandment
to his
church.
So to
that end,
let's pray.