12 These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you
without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by
winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up
the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter
darkness has been reserved forever.
THE STUDY:
Over the next
few days we are going to break down and look at verses 12-13. We read how Jude
moves from example to application in these two verses. Jude ascribes the same
kind of wickedness and destruction to the false teachers as was illustrated by
his three infamous examples (Cain,
Balaam, and Korah). Six vivid portrayals of the false teachers are given.
Today, we are
going to look at the first one: They are hidden
reefs at your love feast. Agapē (love) was the early church’s favorite
term for Christian love. Believers began to apply the word agapē to their joyful fellowship meals. At these love feasts (agapais), believers would share a meal and celebrate the Eucharist
(Holy Communion) together as a body of believers.
The vulnerability of love feasts to greed, disorder, and
drunkenness is well-documented by Paul (1 Cor 11:17–34). Peter insinuates that
immorality had occurred at some of these feasts (2 Pet 2:13–14).
The intruders must have been
responsible for promoting similar abuses because Jude calls them hidden rocks (spilades) at these love feasts. The usual meaning of spilas was “a rocky hazard hidden by waves,
a (hidden) reef.” The false teachers were a dangerous hidden reef at the fellowship meals. “Close contact with them will
result in shipwreck.” The metaphorical image of danger conveyed by (hidden reef) is powerful.
The intruders participate in the
feasts without fear (aphobōs:
without reverence). Aphobōs
discloses the arrogance of the intruders. But the real danger of their
shameless behavior is the misleading impression that a person can remain a
Christian while practicing in an immoral lifestyle.[1]
WHAT WE CAN WALK AWAY
WITH ….
- We walk away this morning with the understanding of two things: 1) Even at events or situations that Christians would consider “for the Glory of God” Satan will try to infiltrate and destroy. 2) A person cannot remain a Christian while involved in an immoral lifestyle.
CONCLUSION:
I conclude with these two thoughts:
First, I am not sure where people have come up with the idea that Church is
only for the believers. I have heard the church referred to as a “Spiritual
hospital.” Every Sunday morning Satan and his demons are either in a church
service or trying to get in. We need to continually be in prayer and in God’s
word. This is how we can recognize the infiltrators. Secondly, in reference to
immoral lifestyles, those who are participating in this are trying to get God
to come to their terms instead of them coming to terms with God.
Blessings my friends
Pastor Rod
[1]
Powers, D. G. (2010). 1 & 2
Peter/Jude: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition. New Beacon Bible
Commentary (280–281). Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press.
