You're listening to Mountain View Church Audio, Christ-centered teaching from the Wilderness City, Whitehorse, Yukon. Here's this week's message. The letter of Jude, or more accurately, Judah, according to the pronunciation of his name, both in Greek and in Hebrew. Judah was one of Jesus' four brothers, who are named in the gospel accounts. None of the brothers followed Jesus as the Messiah before his death, but afterwards they saw him alive from the dead and then became his disciples. All these brothers of Jesus became leaders eventually in the first Jewish Christian communities, and Judah was known as a traveling teacher and missionary. And this gives us the background to understand the purpose of his letter. We don't know what specific church community he wrote to, but it was likely made up of mostly Messianic Jews. His writing style assumes a deep knowledge of the Hebrew Old Testament scriptures, as well as other popular Jewish literature.
Judah had become aware of a crisis facing this church, and so this helps us understand the letter's design. It begins with an opening charge, followed by a long warning and accusation against corrupt teachers who had influenced this church. And then Judah closes by completing the charge about what this church is supposed to do. Judah begins by charging this church to contend for the true Christian faith. He says his plan was to write a longer work that explored our shared salvation through the Messiah. But that project, he says, got delayed when he heard the urgent news about this church, and so he fired off this very thoughtful but very short letter.
Judah doesn't begin with how they're supposed to contend for the faith. Rather, he first goes into why. It's because of the corrupt teachers who have infiltrated this church. And it's not their teaching that he targets, but their way of life. Their moral compromise is what tells you they have bad theology. First of all, they've distorted God's grace as a license to sin. They think that they're forgiven and they have God's spirit, so now they can do whatever they want, especially when it comes to money and sex. And so Judah says they betray Jesus by rejecting his authority and his teachings. And Judah wants this church to know that the appearance of these teachers is no surprise. He transitions into a longer warning to stay away from them. He first offers two sets.
of three Old Testament examples. The first trio is about rebellious people who in the past received divine justice. So the Israelites who rebelled against God in the wilderness, they got what they wanted and they died out in the middle of nowhere. Then he brings up a story about angels who are imprisoned for rebellion until they face God's justice. He's referring to the interpretation of the story in Genesis 6 offered in the popular Jewish work called First Enoch, where the sons of God are interpreted to refer to angels who rebelled against God, then had sex with women and were judged accordingly. Judah links this story to his third example about the ruin of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis, where violent men tried to have sex with angels. Both these stories
are about rebellion against God's order that led to sexual immorality, and that's precisely what the corrupt teachers are guilty of. After this, Judah brings up a bonus example from a popular Jewish text called The Testament of Moses. Like Enoch, it was not part of the Old Testament scriptures, and it was a creative retelling of Moses' final days and words based on Deuteronomy. In the section that Judah quotes from, Moses has died, and there's a good angel, Michael, who is refuting the devil's accusations against Moses, but he decides to leave final judgment for God alone. Now, these stories might seem kind of odd to you, but for Jewish people who were raised on this literature, Judah's warnings make good sense. The behavior of these corrupt teachers has ancient roots. Have you ever been excited to receive a product that you ordered online, but when you open it up, it's not quite what you expected? At the time of purchase, it was a great deal, and you couldn't pass it up. But now, as you take it out of the packaging, it's an imitation of what you expected. It suddenly dawns on you that you ordered a knockoff product.
It's actually a counterfeit of what you thought you were getting. This situation is happening constantly to unexpected consumers. We live in an age where counterfeiting has become a pervasive issue. It's big business that's far-reaching. According to the Forbes Business Council, counterfeiting is a serious problem. While estimates vary, the total amount of counterfeit goods sold each year comes in at around $1.7 trillion to $4.5 trillion, which would make counterfeiting at least the 10th largest economy, just above Canada's total GDP and possibly the fourth largest above Germany.
A quick Google search for counterfeit products revealed a treasure trove of results. Most of them were hilariously blatant knockoffs. I was left wondering how anyone could be fooled. I couldn't resist. So here's a few of my favorites.
First up, why wear Adidas when you could get yourself a pair of Abedus? You'll only be slightly less athletic. Next, for the kids, did you know that the Avengers have some new recruits? It turns out that Batman and even Buzz Lightyear have joined the Avengers team. For those looking for a change in toothpaste, to keep those teeth pearly white, you should grab a tube of crust. As you can see, it's a quote, good quality toothpaste, and it even comes with a free toothbrush. Coming back to the toy department.
Lego Star Wars has been an extremely popular franchise among kids and their parents, but now Lepin Building Blocks has joined the craze with their Star Winners. That's right, Star Winners series. Lepin is making a statement where, why be at war when you could be a winner? Jumping back to the personal hygiene department, Dove Soap has been a popular household choice for decades, but next time, give Dave Soap a try. According to the packaging, Dave knows how to make a great beauty cream bar of soap. Last, but certainly not least, the Nintendo Wii was a unique gaming system that got people moving while indoors. But have you tried the Wii Wii? It's potentially twice the fun of Nintendo's single Wii, and the side benefit is an ongoing reminder to take breaks from your gaming. But you're likely wondering, why are we talking about knockoff products in church? What does the counterfeit industry have anything to do with Christianity? Well, it's because churches have a similar problem. There are many counterfeit churches out there, either founded on or taken over by counterfeit Christians. Many people outside of the faith believe they're authentic.
but they're actually a false replica of what Jesus called Christians to be. How does this happen, you may wonder? Well, since the church is not the literal building, but the people who assemble in it, a counterfeit church has to be influenced by counterfeit Christians. This starts when people who claim to be followers of Christ gain influence within a local body. Little by little, they pull the congregation away from gospel centrality toward instructions and behaviors that no longer align with Christ's teachings and biblical principles. Now, from the outside, looking in, the church feels and sounds a lot like a group of Christians who love and serve faithfully. But once the layers of doctrine and faith are peeled back, the deception is revealed.
Kind of like pulling that packaging off the counterfeit product. The truth becomes evident that this local church is not adhering to nor living out the gospel call of Christ within their community. Instead, they've chosen to cling to cultural narratives and standards that conflict with sound doctrine and conflict with the core beliefs of the Christian faith. Believe it or not, the counterfeit Christianity problem has existed since the very beginning, as far back as the first century, not long after Christ's resurrection and ascension. Thankfully, we have an excellent piece of evidence of this problem and solutions to fight against it, found in a single-page letter written in the mid-60s AD, first century, by a church leader named Jude.
Today we begin a new sermon series studying the letter of Jude and his call to reclaim truth. Over the next four weeks, we'll discover that the battle for truth is not a new one. In the midst of a great struggle for doctrinal purity, Jude emerges with a short yet powerful letter. But some of you might be wondering, I've heard of Paul and John and Peter, but who's Jude? Well, he's no ordinary figure. Once, he was the skeptical brother of Jesus, who denied the claim that Jesus was the Messiah. However, after personally witnessing the crucifixion, then reuniting with the resurrected Jesus, Jude was transformed into a man on fire for Christ, becoming a leader within the early church. This is an important characteristic for us to understand. Jude moved from doubt to conviction, from skepticism to leadership, from a mere bystander to an influential voice within the faith community.
Eventually, writing this letter where he boldly confronts a church that has gone astray, calling them to realign with gospel truth and recenter themselves on Christ. Throughout this series, the hope is that we'll feel Jude's call, a call to transformation and realignment, that we will move from being bystanders to real contenders, that we wouldn't just be seekers of truth, but we'd be defenders of it. Let's get started. Turn to Jude chapter 1, and we're going to start at verse 1 and go to verse 10. Now, if you're wondering where Jude is, it's the second to last book of the Bible, and it's only a single chapter, the last being Revelation. So if you're at the very back of the Bible and you're at Revelation, just go to Jude. It's quite easy to get there. Now, if you don't have a print Bible, you can visit Bible.com or download a Bible app on your mobile device. If you'd like a print Bible, we can mail you one. Just text Bible, B-I-B-L-E, to the number on the screen, and we'll mail it to you. But if you're in-house right now, you can just find a Bible under the seat in front of you and grab it.
Here's today's scripture reading. My name is Nicole. I'll be reading Jude 1 through 10. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe, and the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.
Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Yet in like manner, these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority and blasphemy the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, The Lord rebeak you. But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.
Today, Jude presents us with a choice. If we claim to be Christians, if we claim to be followers of Jesus, we either contend for the true Christian faith or we'll be influenced into becoming a counterfeit of the real thing. To state it more clearly, we either contend for the faith or become a counterfeit. We contend for the faith or we become a counterfeit. I'd like to begin by centering on verse three. Let's read it again. Beloved, although I was 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.
As you might have noticed, initially Jude was going to write an uplifting letter about theological unity, but then his purpose for the letter shifted, which he explains further in verse 4. For certain people have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were designated for this condemnation. Ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. When Jude found out that this church had been infiltrated by counterfeit Christians, the purpose of his letter quickly turned from grace and encouragement into a rebuke and exhortation. Imagine the scene. This local church, originally founded on the gospel, not long after Christ's resurrection and ascension, was now facing rampant false teaching, while at the same time being influenced to embrace sexual deviance. Does that sound familiar? It might, because this is the exact problem that we're in in our current age. Over the past decade, Western Christianity has witnessed hundreds of churches and even whole denominations face this exact problem, where false doctrine and sexuality have somehow become intertwined. Sometimes it's a shift from within the community, where culture has corrupted from the inside out into the congregation.
Other times, a new leader enters the church and challenges the validity or revelance of core doctrines or moral practices. Maybe you've wrestled with some of these issues yourself. Maybe you have friends or family who struggle with similar thoughts and opinions. Maybe you look at what's happening in culture and you look at that the culture accepts the truth and you're confused as to why some churches celebrate it and others deny it. What's the deal with that? If you've encountered any of this, Jude is the right letter for you to be studying.
Let's continue unpacking verse four. First, he states that these people who have crept into the church are designated for this condemnation, which might be hard for the modern mind to process. Basically, Jude is saying that certain people have crept into the church and they're destined for hell. That's harsh, I understand, but this is the spiritual matter that's going on. Next, he states that these church members are ungodly people, which is also quite harsh. Considering basic theological understanding, if someone is ungodly, they are not being used or for God, so they're against him. And if they're against God, they're only for one person.
They're being used by Satan. Jude then calls them out for perverting the grace of our God into sensuality. These counterfeits have been using God's grace and forgiveness to justify chasing sexual desires and embracing deviant behaviors. This is what's happening, but it's happening all within the church, and it's hard for us to understand, but this is the reality, and Jude has to call it out. A last rebuke, Jude calls them out for denying the mastery and lordship of Jesus Christ. This is a crucial component of counterfeit Christians. They might talk a lot about God, but when you try to nail them down on the deity of Christ, they start to get shifty.
Asking questions like, is Jesus the son of God? Did God raise him from the dead? Has our heavenly father given him authority and kingship? These are crucial questions. You've likely already noticed that Jude doesn't write long, drawn out letters. Immediately following his rebuke, Jude moves into validating Christ's deity and authority, which as a side note, brings about some core point of defense for Trinitarian theology, that God exists eternally as father, son, and spirit. Now, for the sake of time, I might move quickly through these points, but please drop me a message if you would like a copy of my sermon notes.
Let's get into it. First, Jude states that it was Jesus who saved the people out of the land of Egypt. This is likely a bold statement. Although many evangelical Christians would proclaim this to be true, they might be hesitant to state it as plainly as Jude did for this church. Nevertheless, Jesus existed as God before his earthly appearance. Therefore, it was him who saved the Hebrews from Egypt. Jude believed it and proclaimed it. Next, he states that it is Jesus who has kept the demons, or fallen angels in this text, bound up in eternal chains until the day of judgment.
In case you're unfamiliar with this account, Satan's first name was Lucifer. He was an angel with high-ranking authority in heaven. According to scripture, he attempted a hostile takeover with a third of the angels. Thankfully and obviously, it didn't go well, and they were all sent to hell. Jude states here that it's the power and authority of Jesus that keeps them there. That's amazing.
Jumping down now to verse 9, there's an interesting piece of evidence of spiritual conflict between the archangel Michael contending with the devil. According to Jude, Michael was speaking about Jesus when he said to Satan, the Lord rebuke you. This is an important note that when we say, quote, the Lord, as Christians, our intent is the Lord Jesus Christ, because we understand that there is power in the name of Jesus. All of Jude's examples are leading us in a single direction, that Jesus is our ultimate authority. Only Jesus holds the truth that will matter past this life. Only Jesus holds the truth about earthly and eternal existence. Jude is calling out to this church and telling them, if the proclaimed truth doesn't align with Jesus, it's a lie. It's a counterfeit of the real thing. It looks similar, but it is not the true Christian faith. Now, let's bring Jude's letter into our modern time. Every Christian has a choice to reclaim the truth by contending for the faith or retell lies by conforming to the flesh. Allow me to repeat that.
We have a choice to reclaim the truth by contending for the faith or retell the lies by conforming to the flesh. Notice how the external outcomes communicate what's happening internally. Every day that we contend for the faith centered around Jesus, we are reclaiming the truth of the gospel within the local church and our communities. However, every day that we wake up and we conform to the flesh of this world, we're retelling Satan's lies with our actions and behaviors in our churches, and we're aligning ourselves with cultural ideologies. And how is this playing out in Western churches? Well, it's a difficult journey. We have all sorts of denominations and doctrinal offshoots. It's hard. A local church can appear as a beacon of Christian faith. The exterior might boast a traditional building adorned with symbols of Christianity. The melodies of old hymns often fill the air on Sunday morning. And the teachings that echo from the pulpit all seem to point to God and sometimes even to Jesus. And yet, looking, feeling, and sounding like the real thing doesn't mean it's genuine.
Just because a congregation bears the name church or occupies a church building doesn't inherently make it a faithful representation of gospel truth. We can be fooled into accepting a counterfeit as authentic. Most churches and denominations in the West were founded on core Christian beliefs. That's true. But the lies of culture started to seep in to thoughts and opinions, which became actions and behaviors. And it could happen to any one of us. You see, counterfeit Christianity is always an individual battle before it becomes a congregational battle.
The temptation is to reject truth and conform to worldly desires, and it impacts our individual lives or the lives of our friends and family before it ever hits a congregation. In a sense, Jude is calling every Christian to reclaim the truth found in Jesus and to contend or wrestle or battle for our faith in the gospel inside our hearts and minds. That's the primary battle. You see, when I think back on 15 years of pastoral ministry, I've witnessed the same forms of backsliding that Jude witnessed 2,000 years ago. If a Christian has given up contending for their faith, they've likely already started to conform to the flesh, at least in some area of their lives. Speaking directly to the sexuality issue in our culture,
It shocked me at how quickly and easily seasoned Christians and even church leaders have turned from core doctrines. Just obtain cultural acceptance. It might be pitched as love and acceptance, but just as Jude noted, they've used God's grace and forgiveness to justify their beliefs and behaviors. And it might not always be sexual. Some Christians have leaned into money, success, popularity, comfort, politics, retirement, family, you name it. All of these things aren't bad in and of themselves, but they can become issues of faith and truth in our hearts. They can lead us away from gospel centrality. Eventually, Jesus is no longer...
their singular authority. They become a counterfeit. In the worst case scenarios, I've heard seasoned Christians back away from the exclusivity of Christ as God's son and the only way to heaven. Instead, they've taken a universalist road, a road where everyone gets to heaven. And they've taken this approach not just in their life, but in their core theological understanding. And I'm baffled. And yet, this is the same problem that Jude wrestled with. We're still wrestling with it today. Let's end where we began, with a choice. Take a moment right now and ask yourself.
Do I want to be a contender or a counterfeit? Will I contend for my faith in Jesus or will I become a counterfeit Christian? What's your story? You see, if we're not aware, we'll begin retelling the enemy's lies in our actions and behaviors, or sometimes in our lack of action. As we've discussed, it can be a slow process where if we're not aware, the enemy's deception will lean us toward conforming to the world little by little by little by little. But in the end...
We'll become a fake, an inauthentic replica of what Jesus has called us to be. Over the next few weeks, Jude will be challenging us to continue peeling back the layers on what we believe. We'll be evaluating our theological foundations. It won't be easy. It'll be hard work, especially when friends and family members have been taken in by false ideologies and they've started justifying a desired sexual preference or identity. That can be really hard. Contending for the faith is always hard. It's a difficult journey.
Counterfeit Christianity is always the easier road to travel, but as Jude has pointed out for us today and throughout this letter, it leads to condemnation. It doesn't lead to Christ. As we continue on this journey and we listen to Jude's call to reclaim truth, let's do so with open hearts and discerning minds, with a deep hunger for authenticity. Let's not be content with surface-level religiosity, but rather, let us grasp the call to stand for unshakable truth in a world that often obscures it. Let's pray.
Dear Father, I thank you for this small yet powerful letter written by Jude. I thank you for the work that you did through him and in him in the first century and that it has continued for 2,000 years now, even up till this point where you're still using him to call out false doctrine and deviant behavior. I thank you for his writing. I thank you for what you're preparing to do here at Mountain View over the next four weeks. Father, may this be a starting point for us. Let us take it seriously. Let us really think about where we want to align ourselves and ask ourselves whether or not the king that you've provided for us in your son, Jesus, is he truly king of our lives? Is he truly our master, Lord? Is he our authority? Is he truth? Or are we seeking it elsewhere? Convict us of this, Father. In Jesus' name, amen.
Now, before I go, we're gonna get to some closing updates, but I wanna take a moment to talk about next week. Next week is Back to School Sunday. Now, if you live in Whitehorse or around Whitehorse, I wanna invite you to our in-house gathering that's not actually gonna be in-house. We're gonna be at the Yukon Arts Center at 10.30 on September 10th. And it's gonna be a really special moment where we celebrate some important things, get ready for the school year. We're gonna have baptisms. We're gonna be talking about our pastoral apprenticeship, our mentorships, our church leader apprenticeship, different stuff that's gonna be happening this year. It's gonna be amazing. We'll have childcare for kids up to six and activity boxes for the older kids. You're not gonna wanna miss it.
with special music and media, and we'll make sure to have a message that's centered on starting the school year right with Jesus. And specifically, the passage from Jude that we're going to talk about is referring to shepherds that feed themselves. It's not right, is it? A shepherd needs to lead the sheep to good food. But imagine a shepherd that just feeds himself. It's a selfish shepherd, a selfish leader. So we're going to talk about that. He's also going to talk about fruitless trees. Isn't that interesting? A fruitless tree. What's the use of a fruitless tree? Well...
What does that mean for us spiritually? What does it mean in the church? Jude's going to hit us hard again, but it's going to be great for those entering into school, entering into culture, and trying to figure out where truth is. It's going to be awesome. Also, I would ask you to invite someone. Whether someone who's been away from the church for a long time, this is a great chance to bring them back. Or someone who's never been to church, but maybe they're interested in spirituality, Christianity, Jesus. This will be a great message for them. It'll still be hard truth, but it'll be given in such a way that they'll understand it, no matter their background. You're going to love it. You're going to want them there. Hope to see you.
If you prayed to receive Jesus today or would like to connect with our church community, visit mountainview.church and click the connect link. If this podcast and radio ministry has been a blessing to you, please consider partnering with us or making a tax-deductible donation at mountainview.church. Thanks for listening to Mountain View Church Audio. Join us next week for more Christ-centered teaching from the Wilderness City of Whitehorse UConn.