How to Watch Out For the Flock
Notes
Transcript
Good morning and welcome to Dishman Baptist Church. Thank you for taking time out of your holiday weekend to join us here as we worship our great and glorious God together. If you’re joining us online we greatly appreciate you taking the time to join us in that way as well. Please take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Jude. We’ll be studying this book this week and next and then we will be completed with our study through this small but powerful epistle.
You cannot log in to a news media outlet, turn on your radio or television or scroll social media lately without hearing about another person that the cancel culture is seeking to discredit or to cancel. Cancel culture is a term that was first used in 2016 for the phenomena that has come about, as Webster defines it, as “the practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting social pressure. Wikipedia has an even clearer definition “cancel culture or call-out culture is a modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social media, in the real world, or both. Those who are subject to this ostracism are said to be canceled.” In recent months we’ve been witness to the canceling of Dr. Seuss, The Muppet Show and any person who has the nerve to speak up with an opinion different from the group think espoused by modern society.
The tragedy of all of this is that in many ways the church, instead of standing as the agent of change for the world, has followed the world’s lead and has inaugurated its very own spin on the ideals of cancel culture. The difference is that instead of doing so on a macro-level, meaning on a large scale level against organizations, movie characters or ideologies, we have personalized it on a micro-level. In the church today we aren’t canceling worldly ideologies or doctrinal issues, in fact in many cases we have become comfortable with their intrusion into our circles. In the church today we are canceling each other.
In an article entitled “What is cancel culture and how should Christians respond” I found this piercing and enlightening statement that will clarify what I’m getting at here. How many of you have seen these words in a social media post “If you disagree, just unfriend me now”? How many of you may have written or typed those words into a social media post? We have become a church that, rather than seeking unity, has become more about alienating and, yes, canceling one another.
Yet this is not a state of affairs that should exist within the church. Today we’re going to see a different way. Jude has spent nearly this entire book describing the characteristics and actions of the false teachers who were ravaging the church and leading believers astray. Yet even now, as he addressed us last week with how we should react when false teaching creeps into the church by looking first to ourselves and our own growth in the faith, as he turns his eyes and our attention to those around us he does not seek to cancel out the false teachers. In fact his response is so counter-intuitive that I wonder if we actually lived this out, if we actually put into practice what Jude is writing here what a different view the world would have of the church.
Look with me at Jude 22-23.
Have mercy on those who waver;
save others by snatching them from the fire; have mercy on others but with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.
It seems like a bit of a strange strategy doesn’t it? It strikes the ear in an almost discordant manner. It’s a bit like the spiritual equivalent of telling men to attack tanks on horseback. His readers must have thought - Jude have you read all of what you’ve written already? Mercy? These people are threatening the church - even Paul calls them wolves. In fact someone get one of Paul’s scrolls out.
But this is not what Jude gives us as a guide for our actions. Because this is what Christ gives us. God’s first action after the Fall is often called the Curse and for good reason. He curses the serpent, makes childbirth painful and curses the ground making the labor that was prescribed for man at Creation that was meant to be a joy a frustrating toil. And yet to only see the dark side of the curse is to miss the kindness demonstrated by God. Instead of wiping man off the earth and starting over, God demonstrates His kindness, His mercy, as He not only allows mankind to continue life but also promises that one day the results of the curse would be reversed. In His mercy God shields sinful man from what he does deserve and gives them gifts that they do not deserve.
As Jude looks out at the landscape of the church in his day, and in many cases it is the same landscape that we look over in our day, he now describes three groups of people. Those who are wavering, those who are believing and those who are teaching. In each case his answer for how to treat them is the same - with mercy.
Those Who Waver
Those Who Waver
The struggle that many face when confronted with false teaching is that in many cases it not only sounds good, it looks good. It is very appealing. And so it can confuse believers when what is being said seems so believable. It appeals to our vanity and to our desire for good things and it misleads us - especially when we see them be so successful in their teaching and lifestyle.
The believers in Jude’s day looked at these false teachers and were confused because their licentious lifestyle, that was so contrary to the Gospel, seemed enjoyable. They were being invited to all of the good July 4th bar-b-q’s. They were the ones being followed in the marketplace, being courted by the leadership of the city. They seemed to have it all together and everything was going their way. Even if their teaching seemed a bit off - it wasn’t off by that much. It sounds so enticing.
That God needs your permission to act in your life. That Satan is afraid of you. That you are powerful. That you hold all the keys to your future success and the power to unlock that is within you. That you actions now are covered so you are free to presume upon His grace and act however you desire. Whatever you want can be yours. These are false truths that are misleading believers in the church today. But this is not new.
But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
The church in Corinth was being deceived by teaching that sounded so good and yet was misleading them. The churches that Jude writes to are being misled the same way. But here Jude responds with one course of action for those who are wavering in the truth - mercy. We are to react to them in love and patience, exhorting them with the truths of the Gospel and praying that they will return to the faith. Commenting on this verse Dr. John MacArthur gives this perspective “Showing mercy does not mean ignoring the seriousness of false teaching or commending the weak for their vacillation.”
Showing mercy to a brother or sister caught in the deceptive web of false teaching is to fulfill what James writes in James 5:19-20
My brothers and sisters, if any among you strays from the truth, and someone turns him back,
let that person know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
Charles Spurgeon told this story “If you meet a sinner, do not turn your back on him, as a Pharisee might, but help him all you can, for Christ helped you all he could. If it should cost you a great deal of trouble to win that soul for Christ, gladly put yourself to that trouble, because Christ took so much trouble to save you.
A good brother said to me, the other day, concerning a certain boy, that he was afraid we should never do much with him because he was of very corrupt origin. I said, “So were you.”
He replied, “I do not quite mean it that way.”
“No,” I said, “but I do mean it that way.”
He or she who is a son or daughter of Adam had a corrupt origin. As we all came from that source, we are all corrupt. Do not ever say of anybody, “That person is too bad for me to do anything with him.” It is the genius of Christianity to select the worst first, and we should never regard any man as utterly hopeless until he is dead. As long as the breath is in his body, even if all the devils from hell were also in him, there is enough power in the Lord Jesus Christ to make the whole troop of them fly, and it is for us to attack those devils in his name. Jesus Christ having saved us, the salvation of other sinners must be possible.”
The sad thing is that we are often more tolerant of the sinners than we are of the saints. We are often more apt to give mercy to the rankest of sinners than we are to those we call brothers and sisters. Friendly fire is one of the greatest dangers both in war and in the church. It is unfortunate that, rather than reaching out to a brother or sister we see wavering in their faith we let them walk down the road to apostasy unchallenged. Why? Many of us right this moment know of people who are being seduced by the false gospel offered by the health, wealth and prosperity movement and yet we remain silent. We know people who are being seduced by the world as it infiltrates the church and promotes licentious lifestyles and we say nothing. Instead of offering mercy to these brothers and sisters we offer apathy that they are wavering.
Or some are at the other end of the spectrum. Instead of offering mercy we offer boldness. Taking every opportunity to cajole and argue and fight against what seems off to us. We appoint ourselves as some sort of church preservation society that seeks to preserve the church according to our own interpretations. And so we are bold toward those we should be meek to and, more often than not, meek toward those we should be bold towards.
Friends - none of that is what Jude is exhorting us to here. We are to bear with one another in patience. Paul writes in Ephesians 4
Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Part of our calling as Christians is to watch over one another and to call back those who seem to be wandering off the path, or those attempting to get onto the pathway to Heaven by any other way other than Christ, and to call them to repentance with humility and mercy. There are those to be bold with - but this group is not it.
Those Who Are Believing
Those Who Are Believing
Jude turns his attention from those who are merely wavering, who are confused by the false teaching but are still trying to figure things out and maybe need some help, to those who have become convinced that the false teachers are correct and are whole heartedly embracing and following what they are teaching. Jude writes that the believers were to save others by snatching them from the fire. This is a graphic and physical image being presented here. It is a violent image. The verb here means to carry off, to seize or to snatch away. This image is used in Old Testament prophecy regarding Israel
I sent plagues like those of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I caused the stench of your camp to fill your nostrils, yet you did not return to me. This is the Lord’s declaration.
I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick snatched from a fire, yet you did not return to me— This is the Lord’s declaration.
Therefore, Israel, that is what I will do to you, and since I will do that to you, Israel, prepare to meet your God!
Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord, with Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.
The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! May the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”
Now Joshua was dressed with filthy clothes as he stood before the angel.
This July 4th weekend there are many families that are out camping. Depending on where you are and the weather conditions camping generally means a campfire. Fires are particularly dangerous with little children around. The picture that we are given here is that of a child who is about to fall into the flames - what would a parent do to prevent that? You would snatch that child away using whatever means are necessary.
Now we are not advocating physical violence against those who have been enticed by false teaching - but the level of speaking to those who are convinced that they are correct and that the false doctrine they are espousing is true is a bit different from those who are merely wavering. We must still operate out of humility but we must also present the gravity of their situation in no uncertain terms. This is not a time for nuance or mixed words. This is not a time to placate nor is it a time to cajole. It is a great opportunity to bring the Word of God to bear as only the truths contained within can change the heart and mind of the individual captured under the spell of a false teacher.
For although we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh,
since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments
and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.
We must be bold but not offensive. We must be blunt but not rude. We must be persistent but not argumentative. We must realize that, while we are privileged to be a partner in God’s work, we do not do the work ourselves. We must be prayerful as we seek to rescue those we love from the flames. But we must also be willing to act because those who are committed disciples, those who are true believers very quickly become, if not teachers of the heresy, advocates of the heresy.
Those Who Are Teaching
Those Who Are Teaching
Jude turns his attention to the false teachers themselves telling us to have mercy on others but with fear. Have mercy? On the false teachers? Jude are you kidding? Have you forgotten all that you’ve just written about them and you’re going to counsel us to have mercy on them? Well in a word - yes.
We should, of course, recognize the grave danger that these teachers present to the church. We should, of course, call out the teaching that they are propagating that is leading people astray. But we should also do so with the fervent, prayerful hope that they can be redeemed. My heart breaks for those who have fallen under the deception of false teaching - but it also breaks for those who are the teachers themselves. Sometimes I wonder whether they are conscious of what they are doing or if they are so deceived themselves that they can’t see how dangerous and wrong what they are teaching is. I listen to people like Steven Furtick say things like God broke the law for love - meaning that He broke the moral law or set the law aside in order to save you. When I listen to people like Bill Johnson from Bethel say that Jesus set aside His divine power and came to earth to live life as a mere man. When I listen to so many other false teachers it breaks my heart to think of their final destination.
Yes we certainly should expose and call out their false teaching. But we should do so with fear - knowing as the puritan did “but for the grace of God, ere go I.” There is nothing special in each of us that results in our not being just like them. If given the opportunity - we may not get this on the larger stage of heretics but we may get the opportunity on a local level if false teaching invades our church - we should react with humility and, yes, mercy toward the individual. That is the tension of our lives - we are firm with those in error but also tender knowing that we are not their ultimate judge. We should weep over those who are caught up in their own deceptions knowing that their ultimate fate is horrifying.
We must also approach them in humility and fear recognizing that getting too close can result in our own lives being tainted. We must hate the garment stained or defiled by the flesh. This word for garment refers to the under garments that people would wear under their outer tunics. To be polluted by the flesh means to be stained by bodily function. Having been a part of many laundry details in the Navy - when I first joined the Navy all of our laundry would go into a community hamper and would all be washed together. When it came back we would have to work together to pass out laundry - the one thing no one ever wanted to handle was another man’s under garments. And they were clean. The picture Jude gives here is getting close to the defiled undergarments, the dirty clothes of the false teachers. When speaking to the church in Sardis in Revelation Jesus says this against them
“Write to the angel of the church in Sardis: Thus says the one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works; you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.
Christ uses this same example of soiled clothes for those who have given in to false teaching
But you have a few people in Sardis who have not defiled their clothes, and they will walk with me in white, because they are worthy.
In the end - through all of this we must remember that the mercy that we are to give to those caught up in the throes of false teaching, whether they are wavering, believing or teaching it, is only possible because of the great and glorious mercy that we have been given through Christ. And this reservoir of mercy is inexhaustible. Charles Spurgeon said this
300 Quotations for Preachers from the Modern Church The Great Mercy of God
God’s mercy is so great that you may sooner drain the sea of its water, or deprive the sun of his light, or make space too narrow, than diminish the great mercy of God.
We must patiently seek to reach those who are being deceived as we seek to win them to Christ. This is independence day - a day on which we here in America celebrate our independence from the tyranny and oppression of a human government system. There are millions right now who are languishing under the tyranny and oppression of their own sin and the deceptive teachings that keep them enslaved. As we serve Christ may we patiently point them to the only true independence that can be found in Christ. That only through His blood shed on the cross to pay for their sins can they find freedom. That only through submission to Christ, through confession and repentance can this freedom be received.
As you go forth on this independence day have the courage, the humility and the mercy to reach out to those in your life who are at risk of being caught in the trap of false teaching.