What’s Your Goal? (Jude 20-21 Part 4)

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But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

THE STUDY:

          Jude issues his last command: Believers must wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. Mercy is the emotion that arises when one sees another person’s affliction. It is frequently used in Scripture to refer to the eschatological hope of God’s people (e.g., Matt 5:7; 2 Tim 1:18). The mercy of God as revealed through Jesus Christ enables believers to have hope for the future. Not even the faithful Christian escapes condemnation except by the Lord’s mercy. Our hope of salvation is based solely on mercy.

Waiting for (prosdechomenoi) is also used in eschatological contexts to describe the expectation of believers for the last day (e.g., Mark 15:43; Luke 2:25; 12:36; Acts 24:15; Titus 2:13). It connotes eager yet patient expectation and the kind of lifestyle that should accompany such hope for deliverance.

Believers have hope for the future because the Christian life has eternal life as its goal and the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ as its basis. Jude enjoins his readers to focus their attention beyond the disruption of the intruders to the glorious day of Christ. On that day, the Lord will return bringing judgment to the false teachers and eternal life to the faithful believers.^[1]

WHAT WE CAN WALK AWAY WITH ….

• We walk away this morning with the understanding that as believers we have a Goal and a basis for it! The goal is eternity with the Father and the basis is the mercy of Christ. Without Jesus we have no way of spending eternity with the Father, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7)

CONCLUSION:

           Dave, a childhood friend of mine, and I would lay in the back of his dads truck and answer the question that was on most of the kids of that age: “What am I going to be when I grow up?” Dave was going to work on cars and have his own business. I on the other hand was going to be an architect and have 2 kids named Danielle and Zack and live in North Carolina.

          To update you: Dave works as a Financial Loan Officer and I am a Minister with three kids, one is named Danielle, and living in Northeast Ohio.

          We all should have goals in life: goals in our marriage, goals for our kids, and goals for ourselves individually. But our ultimate goal should be eternity with the Father. We nurture this goal through Christ! As a matter of fact all of our life goals should be centered on the one who can, not only help make them come to fruition but exceed our greatest expectations: CHRIST! It is through His mercy, love, and grace that we will see these goals achieved.

          Today, let Christ be your goal and all the other goals will either fall to the way side or fall into place.

Blessings my friends

Pastor Rod

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^[1] Powers, D. G. (2010). 1 & 2 Peter/Jude: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition. New Beacon Bible Commentary (293–294). Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press.

Growing in the Lord! (Jude 5)

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Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

               

THE STUDY:

           Jude reminds his well-informed readers what the Scriptures say about ungodly intruders. This “disclosure formula” functions as a transition to the body of the letter. Jude is not providing new information. Rather, he reminds his readers of all they once fully knew.

          His first reminder is that of the exodus. The exodus was the defining moment of Israel’s birth and existence. For Jews, the exodus was the preeminent example of God’s grace and saving intervention. God delivered (sōsas: saved) Israel from slavery in the land of Egypt. The Lord afterward destroyed those who did not believe. The word “afterward” (to deuteron: the second time) is probably intended to distinguish between God’s first saving intervention at the exodus and his subsequent act judging their disbelief. Those “the Lord had saved were not thereby immune from subsequent judgment.” The same holy God, who had graciously rescued them, later destroyed the disobedient.

Judes message is clear: God’s forgiveness/salvation does not mean he will not punish the forgiven/saved if they fall away through unbelief. His example suggests that the opponents were once orthodox Christians who turned away from their faith. This warning applies most obviously to the Christian intruders, but it has relevance for Judes readers also.”^[1]

WHAT WE CAN WALK AWAY WITH ….

• We walk away this morning understanding that our salvation experience is not a “locked in,” all “exempt,” “no consequence” for future sin, pass that somehow God overlooks because we, at one point in our life, accepted Christ. Salvation is the starting point to a wonderful walk with God that needs to continue. Growing in the Lord is one of the attributes of salvation.

CONCLUSION:

           I know there are many who may be reading or watching this devotional blog who have a different belief when it comes to salvation. Some may believe you have to be Baptized. Others may believe “once saved always saved.” In the Nazarene Church we believe you can walk away from God and his loving grace. But we also believe you can come back to this love, mercy and grace that is extended from the hand of God.

          Whatever your belief is, we need to understand this: there are consequences for our actions. Let today be a day focused on growing and maturing in our walk with Jesus. Let the consequences fall as they may.

Blessings my friends

Pastor Rod

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^[1] Powers, D. G. (2010). 1 & 2 Peter/Jude: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition. New Beacon Bible Commentary (272–273). Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press.

Be the Truth! (2 John 1-3)

The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, 2 because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.

THE STUDY:

          In these three verses the word TRUTH is found 4 times! As I have mentioned before, one of the keys to studying God’s word is looking at repeated words in a certain passage. This morning we want to look at the word truth.

          The concept of “truth” (alētheia) appears more than two dozen times in the Gospel of John, twice as many as in the Synoptic Gospels combined. Truth is the most frequent key word in the letters.

In the Gospel of John truth can refer to content to be believed—“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (8:31–32; see vv 40–46). God’s “word is truth” (17:17).

But truth also assumes living in right relationship with “the only true God” (17:3). Jesus is truth incarnate as God’s revelation, and the Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of truth” (14:17; 15:26; 16:13). The individual who receives God’s truth “lives by” it (3:21), worships “in spirit and truth,” and is sanctified by the truth (17:17).^[1]

WHAT WE CAN WALK AWAY WITH ….

• We walk away this morning with the understanding that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Trinity) is TRUTH. John states that his love, as well as others, is found in truth. This truth abides (remains) in them which is brought about by divine grace, mercy and peace.

CONCLUSION:

          Truth is the means by which Christians love one another (v 1). It also refers to content one knows. The truth is personified—it lives in Christians. Characteristics of God, grace, mercy and peace, are with us in truth (v 3). Also, truth is relational and progressive, something we can “walk” in (v 4).^[2]

          Let today be a day that truth is lived out by us as believers. Let people see that which lives inside us as we walk this pathway called TRUTH!

Blessings my friends

Pastor Rod

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^[1] Williamson, R. (2010). 1, 2, & 3 John: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition. New Beacon Bible Commentary (68). Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press.

^[2] Williamson, R. (2010). 1, 2, & 3 John: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition. New Beacon Bible Commentary (186). Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press.