Keep Yourselves in the Love of God

I read the very last section of Jude today which is subtitled in the ESV "A Call to Persevere." I think it would behoove us to consider the delicate tension between human responsibility and Divine ordinance with respect to the perseverance of the saints. The title of this post comes from the first part of Jude 21. Jude clearly presents this keeping as a part of our responsibility. Notice that he says "keep yourselves", which is active, rather than something like "be kept", which is passive. We need to be active in persevering to the end.

That said, we also need to keep in mind the fact that the Bible is clear we are kept by God. In Jude 1, the greeting is to those who are "kept for Jesus Christ." The ESV has a little note that says the word "for" could also be translated "by" so that it would read "kept by Jesus Christ." Furthermore, in verse 24 Jude praises God "who is able to keep you" (24). So this idea of keeping is a theme in Jude and the responsibility seems to go both ways. Understanding such a thing is quite difficult. More recently I believe I've been able to make some sense out of it at least, but it takes far too long to really explain.

There's a danger of leaning too far one way or the other. For example, you could be fatalistic and use God's grace as a license for sin. After all, if you have God's promise that He will keep you to the end, doesn't that mean you can get away with whatever you want? Not exactly. Jude has been clear already that only ungodly men marked out for destruction are the ones who "pervert the grace of our God into sensuality" (4).

Then you could lean the other direction and declare that it is completely up to you to keep yourself saved. This is not the case either, because then you would be getting credit for your salvation. After all, you were good enough to remain in God's favor, weren't you? But Jude ascribes all the glory to God in verse 25. So what do we do? We must keep them in tension. Paul says it wonderfully: "work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:12-13).

We have the privilege of fighting a valiant fight, but if we're not fighting, we're not in the army. So fight the spiritual fight - against sin, against falling away, against false teaching, against "every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God" (2 Cor. 10:5) - and hold on to the hope that all those who are enlisted by the Lord will see victory. There are no casualties in God's army. He is able to keep you.

Eager to Write to You

Today's installment comes from the short book of Jude, verse 3: "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."

It's important to note that Jude is motivated by good news. In verse 2, he says to his readers, "May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you." This context must be kept in mind when thinking about the book of Jude. And it's not as if Jude is just giving lip service to these things. He wants these aspects "multiplied" to his readers. He is serious about Christians being full of mercy, peace, and love. Furthermore, he is "very eager to write about our common salvation." He deeply desires to rejoice with his readers that their names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life!

But another thing compels him to write about something other than this joyous truth. The faith that makes up the foundation of their salvation is under attack. The mercy, peace, and love that Christians are supposed to have is being compromised. As verse 4 says, certain people "pervert the grace of our God into sensuality." In light of this attack on the grace of God, Jude's prescription is that we "contend for the faith" (3). The NASB actually has "contend earnestly." We need an active counterattack, defending the truth and combating falsehood.

I'm sure many of the so-called "judgmental", "divisive" preachers of our day (here I have in mind men of God like Bobby, Derek, MacArthur, Piper, etc.) and days past (Jonathan Edwards anybody?) have identified with Jude. The preaching of the hard truths of the gospel must be done, although unpopular, because our faith is under attack, and that from within! We're not talking atheists here. We're talking about people who claim to be a part of the Christian church who are tearing it down from the inside out!

I don't think anyone wants to have to be the Discernment Nazi, because they would much rather everyone believe and rejoice together in the truth with one mind! But the fact is that such discernment is necessary because there are some who have "crept in unnoticed" (4). It takes work sometimes to see who these people are, and we always need our antennas up for their false teachings or bad methods. We need to be diligent Bereans in our discernment levels. Only once we have taken the good and thrown out the bad can we truly proclaim with boldness a message of grace from an exceedingly merciful, kind, and good God.