Jude 12-16 05/31/2026

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord, join us here this morning
We are grateful for all we are in you
For all you give
Restore
Heal
And still
We want more.

We want to be whole people
Loved and loving
Unafraid
Willing
Ready

We want to be those people
Who ease the suffering
Of this world
Not in the abstract
But in the actual
Day to day
Moment to moment
Lives of our family
Our friends
Our neighbors.

So Lord,
Where we hurt
Where we need to grow
Set us on that path now
And we will walk it
To know you
To know your love
To know the transformation
The healing
You bring
Yes, we will walk that path
Willingly
Eagerly
Gratefully.
Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

Intro: A couple weeks ago I got a phone call

The number looked familiar, so I answered – “Hello”
– a man’s voice asked, “Is this Charles?”
• at that point it was obvious he didn’t know me
• so I said, “Maybe”
– there are too many scams running in our world for me to take chances
• if you respond to a text or call, a fake offer, a warning,
◦ or a simple “click” and next thing you discover is that your bank account is emptied,
◦ or your credit card is hacked, or your identity is stolen
• I appreciate the warnings I receive regarding the con artist who are constantly fishing for personal information

That is how we are to read Jude’s letter

What he wrote was a “fraud alert” – as he has said,
“For certain people have crept in unnoticed”
– he meant that they crept into the Christian community
• they were a dangerous threat to the followers of Jesus
• and his warning 2,000 years ago is still relevant today
– we’ll look first at what Jude has to say, and then current trends

Jude exposes the danger with six terse metaphors
“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; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering starts for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever” Jude 12-13

We’ve seen that Jude’s usual pattern is to work with sets of three
– now he provides six metaphors–maybe he intended two sets of three
• both sets contain
◦ an ocean metaphor (hidden reefs and wild waves)
◦ a sky metaphor (clouds and stars)
◦ and a livelihood metaphor (shepherding and agriculture)

1. “hidden reefs at your love feasts”–the Agape Feast a weekly potluck
   William Barclay, “No doubt for many of the slaves it was the only decent meal in all the week.”
   • the problem here is that the danger is not seen on the surface (“hidden reefs”)
     • these people joined in the celebration of God’s love within the Christian community
     • but they turned it into opportunity for self-indulgence and spreading their false teaching
   • something is missing that ought to have been present; namely, “fear”–they were without it
     • they arrive, feast, and socialize as if they’re Christians like the others
2. “shepherds feeding themselves”– they assumed a leadership status, “shepherds”
   • two problems here: first, their message was a distortion of the truth
   • second, though they acted like they’re helping others,
     • the truth is, they were serving themselves
     • usually two motives for this kind of behavior: ego and money
3. “waterless clouds, swept along by winds”– unlike reefs, this was visible to those whose eyes were open
   • clouds are the sign of a possibility–that is, that there could be rain
     • the possibility in this instance, was that they could be bringing a new revelation
     ◦ but Jude quickly eliminates that illusion
     • they were not directed by God, they drifted from place to place like windblown clouds
     ◦ their message mimicked popular trends
4. “fruitless trees in late autumn”– harvest was past and winter was coming
   • the had no stock of food for the lean months ahead
     • this is a serious problem, when supposed “Christian” teaching is all fluff and cleverness
   • “twice dead, uprooted”– fruitless and now uprooted
     • there was no chance of them providing anything edifying
     • these posers were “uprooted”; that is to say, not well-grounded in the truth
5. “wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame”
   • when a speakers talk rapidly, spouting nonsense, it’s hard to keep up with them
     • swimming in a rough ocean, it’s difficult to keep your head above water
     • and even though foam doesn’t have much substance, you can still easily choke on it
     Jude is posting a warning sign:
     “Dangerous Riptide
     Do not swim here”
6. “wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever”
   • this is not about astronomy – it’s an image of being lost
     • an object floating through the vast expanse of empty space
     ◦ I think this is similar to the darkness Isaiah described of mediums, necromancers, etc.
     “To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. . . . And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness” (Isa. 8:20 and 22)

I am not going to comment on the quote from Enoch
“It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him'” Jude 14-15

Jude took this message seriously, and he could see how it applied to “these [people]”
– he is showing his readers a vision of the future
• the destiny of the very people he is warning them to avoid
(and any foolish enough to follow them)

Jude puts labels on their disruptive behavior
“These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouth boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage” Jude 16

First, “grumblers” – In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul used this word for complainers in wilderness
– by this time, there was a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, and was also used in Exodus of those who murmured against Moses
• constant complaining can ruin a work environment, a home environment, any shared environment
◦ it’s a typical tactic of people who intentionally cause “church splits”
• the complainers in the wilderness eventually wreaked the journey for everyone
◦ an entire generation was prevented from entering the land of promise because of their grumbling
Second, “malcontents, following their own sinful desires”
– my mom made an observation years ago that I’ll never forget
• “I believe the sin in the Garden of Eden was discontent”
• she felt that was a malady that afflicted many women
◦ but it chews at all of us, if we let it (Why can’t I have more?)
Third, “loud-mouth boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage”
– two types of really annoying people are combined in these words
• those who are loud-mouth – and those who are boasters
• Jude discerned the subtle way they manipulated people
◦ they used flattery in a pretense of admiration in order to get people to drop their guard
◦ to me, this is one of the cruel forms of manipulation

All of this is a lot to take in (we could spend months learning it well)

There it has another side that is important for us to see
– Jude is not saying that every troublemaker has all these traits
• what he is describing is a “collective personality”
◦ this is sometimes referred to as a “hive mind”
• it’s a distinctive “group identity” that exhibits specific patterns of behavior
– when representing the group, any member will display its traits
• we encounter this in conversations with political extremists
◦ they can be found on both the left and right
• they all cop the same attitude–belligerent and insulting
◦ and they all will repeat the same conspiracy theories
◦ this is basic to the personality of the group

Four decades ago, we witnessed the rise of parachurch organizations
– religious entrepreneurs imagined that most churches were missing important pieces
• so they developed systems to work alongside churches, providing training and curriculum in:
evangelism, healthy families, apologetics, Charismatic renewal, worship resources, and so on
◦ some of them sold products, most asked for donations
• several of these organizations discovered the power of fear as motivation
◦ they embellished reports of threats to “Christian America”
– there were several layers to this:
• the idealistic doctrine that U.S. was a Christian nation (and it belongs to “us”!)
• the country had been taken over by hidden conspirators
• churches in America were under attack
• that the crucial battleground was abortion and homosexuality
• that if we didn’t take immediate action, we’d forfeit our Christian nation
• taking action would take lots of money–donations and merchandise

I won’t argue the two hot-potato issues, but I want to put them in perspective
– there was only one thing Jesus said would make it difficult to enter the kingdom of God:
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Mk. 10:25)
• the religious leaders who insisted we fight abortion and homosexuality
◦ got us looking in the wrong direction
◦ the supposed dangers they warned us about were their own inventions
• they got us engaged in culture wars, when we needed to build relationships with people in the world whom Jesus came to win to himself
– it was never the sins outside the church that threatened the church!
• its’ always been our own sins that threatened our integrity and witness
• what they’ve created is a mess of religious subcultures,
◦ and a collective personality of religious hostility that is contrary to the will of God in Jesus

Conclusion: How do we find our way back to the center?

I suggest we first consider blocking annoying people on social media
Arguing against a wall of prejudiced thinking is a waste of time
“Let them alone,” Jesus told his disciples regarding the Pharisees, “they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit” (Mt. 15:14)
I also suggest that we be on the alert for the behaviors Jude exposes, which are abusive and deceitful
Follow Jesus, the “good shepherd” – he is our his example in everything
Build bridges rather than barriers – as far as possible, lose the “we/they” dichotomy

Jude will to share more suggestions also, as we approach the end of his letter
In the meantime, keep coming back to the Gospels
Everything we need to learn is already there