Jude: Contend For Your Faith

Starting on April 16th, we are working through a 4-week series in Jude. This will not be a typical series where we run from the start of the book to the end; instead, we are looking at four threads that run through the book. I will peach specific aspects in the letter, but the entire letter will be in view each week. Therefore, reading the 25 verses of Jude before Sunday would be wise. Get a feel for the letter. 

You may see the title of our series and say, "Wait, I thought it was 'contend for the faith,'" and you'd be correct. But as you'll see as we go through the series, that faith, delivered to the saints once and for all, should be your faith. So I've titled the series "Contend for Your Faith." I hope it is your faith, and I hope you will fight for it in the various aspects we'll see in the series.  

Also, I will not spend time with an introductory sermon on Jude. There are some interesting things about Jude you can find in most introductions. Grab your study Bible and take a look. Here are some essential items I won't spend much time on but will help you as we go.   

Jude was the brother of James and, therefore, the half-brother of Jesus. (See Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3.) While he leveraged his connection to James, one of the top leaders of the Church at the time, he still identified himself as a slave (or servant) to Christ. While he once thought Jesus was out of his mind, the resurrection changed everything for Jude. (John 7:5, Acts 1:14).  

Jude is short for Judas. Judas was a popular name as the Aramaic or more modern version of Judah. The name Judah fell from popularity thanks to the one who betrayed Jesus. It's understandable why Jude would want to shorten his name.  

Jude likely wrote this letter around AD 65, but maybe as late as AD 85. The themes are similar to Peter's letters, and that causes some to think they were written around the same time. It would seem that Jude borrowed from Peter or Peter quoted from Jude. Most think Peter used Jude's material. This would be Jude's letter before those of Peter's, but some scholars believe Jude was the last of the letters written to the churches, except for 3rd John and Revelation.   

The letter's audience is believers, "those called, loved by the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ." Apart from that, we don't know much. We know Jude is not with them, or there would be no reason for the letter. We also know that Jude is concerned for the churches, so the focus was on churches or maybe a single local church, but the general nature of it leaves us believing it's a general letter.   

There are a couple of statements that draw a lot of attention. One is in verse 9 about Satan and Moses' body, and the other is Jude's use of 1 Enoch in verse 14. Jude says that the angel Michael said, "The Lord rebuke you!" to Satan regarding Satan's desire to have Moses' body. We don't have an Old Testament account of Satan making any claim on Moses' body. Still, we find those same words in Zechariah 3:1 when Jesus said, "The Lord rebuke you, Satan!" when Satan wanted to accuse Joshua. We also read the words "snatched from the fire" in Zachariah 3:2, which sounds much like Jude 23. Clement of Alexandria claimed that Jude was describing something written in the Assumption of Moses, which we don't have today. When it comes to 1st Enoch, there is much debate. It is not Scripture, nor did anyone identify it as such at the time. It's also important to remember that Jude's quoting does not endorse it as Scripture or suggest that he agreed with the entire writing.  

See you Sunday!
Pastor Bryan