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. 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.
Don’t get in a stranger’s car, no matter what. Those are frightening words but are said in love for the child. As we can see by the introduction to this short letter, Jude was indeed eager to write to his beloved brothers and sisters and mercy, peace, and love are extended to them. Sometimes though, it is necessary to send a warning to those we love. Don’t listen to anyone who does not preach Jesus Christ or would get our focus off of him. That could be a paraphrase of Jude’s word here to Christians.
It could be a paraphrase of a warning that needs to be sounded throughout the church. The certain people Jude referred to and their modern day counterparts all have one thing in common. They draw people away from Jesus Christ and toward them when it should be the other way around. A good leader takes the spotlight off of himself and shines it on Jesus Christ, the cross, and the empty tomb. Those are the hallmarks of the grace and mercy God showed us. Anything else is smoke and mirrors. Everything we do as a church should celebrate grace and magnify, not deny, our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. If someone preaches another gospel, let him be accursed, Paul wrote. If you are invited into such a church…
Don’t get in, no matter what.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church