False Teachers Who Want Self-Gain - Jude

 Jude 1:11 (ESV)

Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion.

Jude is a book written to the early church to warn them about these type of teachers:

Jude 1:4 (ESV)

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.

These teachers, apparently, did not follow the sound doctrine laid out by the Apostles, but rather followed and taught their own visions and dreams:

Jude 1:8 (ESV)

Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.

Jude is very similar to 2 Peter:

2 Peter 2:1-3 (ESV)

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

These false teachers, writes Jude, walk in the way of “Cain” and in the way of “Balaam” and in the way of “Korah.”  In each of these illustrations Jude is telling us that these false teachers were about themselves and not about Christ and others.   Cain slew his brother Abel because his own works were veil but his brother’s works were righteous:

1 John 3:12 (ESV)

We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.

Balaam wanted money to curse Israel for King Balak (2 Peter 2:15).   The Korahites wanted the same authority as Moses (Numbers 16:1-3, 31-35).   

Those who come into churches for their own gain and their own promotion, using their own words of “wisdom” will undoubtedly bring destruction onto the church and themselves.  Jude is warning us against false teachers who have these motives and these plans.   

God Provides - Acts 27-28

 Acts 28:1-2 (ESV)

After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta. The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold.

In the above passage we have the opening phrase, “After we were brought safely through ...”.     The context of that statement stems from chapter 27.   Paul and 277 other people were on a ship that was destroyed by a northeaster storm and driven ashore on this island, Malta.   Malta is an island off southwest of Italy.   Paul was being taken to Rome to stand trial for the accusations made by the Jewish religious leaders of the day.    The drama of the ship breaking apart is quite visual in chapter 27.   In most cases we would not expect that all 278 passengers would have made it.    God came to Paul (and the others) rescue, however.  Note what Paul tells them about the ship wreck:

Acts 27:21-26 (ESV)

Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. But we must run aground on some island.”

God sent Paul encouragement and a revelation that he and them would be safe.  He brought them “through” the boat crash, but not out of it.  

But, they survived the boat being destroyed only to land on the island in the rain and cold.     Yet, even there, God sends them what they need.   The native people showed them “unusual” kindness.   These island people created a party for them and treated them graciously.    This is a God thing.   Remember, this was a prison ship.  Of the 278 passengers, many were prisoners going to Rome to be tried.  Yet, God not only protected them He provided people who did not even know them who had grace in their hearts.  God takes us through ship wrecks and through cold rainy storms by providing someone to love us.  

Judgment is a Biblical Truth - Revelation 18-22

Revelation 18:5-8 (ESV)

for her sins are heaped high as heaven,

and God has remembered her iniquities.

Pay her back as she herself has paid back others,

and repay her double for her deeds;

mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.

As she glorified herself and lived in luxury,

so give her a like measure of torment and mourning,

since in her heart she says,

‘I sit as a queen,

I am no widow,

and mourning I shall never see.’

For this reason her plagues will come in a single day,

death and mourning and famine,

and she will be burned up with fire;

for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”

One of the great principles of Scripture is that God is just and will bring justice to the unjust.  This is a truth taught throughout the Bible.   If you read the prophets you will read something similar to what we read in the above passage.   John, in Revelation, is giving us a look into the future where God, through His Son, will judge the kingdoms of this world and set up His eternal Kingdom for those He purchased by His blood.   In the above passage we read the “why” Jesus is going to judge the great “Babylon.”    The term “Babylon” is used through the Bible to indicate both a place and a life style.   It can have several types of applications and carry several meanings.  Suffice to say here that what we read in the above is at the core of many nations, organizations, institutions and peoples.    This was how Nebuchadnezzar acted at the height of his kingdom:

Daniel 4:29-30 (ESV Strong's)

At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”

John tells that our sins are “heaped high as the heaven.”   God “remembered” all the iniquities.    What great grievous sins did we do to deserve judgement?   We said that we sit as the ruler of our own lives.   Our arrogance and self-promotion are the reason for God’s judgment.  For those who humble themselves and come to Christ and ask for forgiveness, this judgment is still true.  BUT it is paid for by Christ and we have no more condemnation (Romans 8:1).    BUT for those who reject Christ the above passage paints their future.   As Babylon the great (the picture of self promotion) is destroyed with fire because the mighty hand of god will judge her, so, too, all those who reject God’s Son who came to redeem them and pay for their sin.  This is the story of the Bible from front to back.   In the above passage we have one more version of the great story of God’s wrath poured out on mankind who reject Christ.  

Love Making vs Sex - Song of Songs 7-8

 Song of Songs 8:2-3 (ESV)

I would lead you and bring you

into the house of my mother—

she who used to teach me.

I would give you spiced wine to drink,

the juice of my pomegranate.

His left hand is under my head,

and his right hand embraces me!

Song of Songs is a love story.  The passages are filled with rather descriptive language of two people in love and even consummating that love either in their dreams or in actuality.   

In the above passage we have a description of the desire of the woman for the man.   She wants to lead him back to her home (at this point she has no home but her family home and no bed but her mother’s).  We have read something like this before:

Song of Songs 3:4 (ESV)

Scarcely had I passed them

when I found him whom my soul loves.

I held him, and would not let him go

until I had brought him into my mother's house,

and into the chamber of her who conceived me.

This is a young woman with no place to call home.  In her home she would have slept with her siblings, or alone a floor in a space for children.   She desires to bring him someplace for their intimacy to be fulfilled.   This is the end of the book and they are now ready for this stage of their relationship (although the more descriptive part of their physical relationship began in chapter two).    The imagery of her giving him “spice wine to drink and juice from her pomegranate” is a metaphor for their sexual intimacy.   Solomon uses similar language here to describe how the adulterous woman (Woman Folly) entices us:

Proverbs 9:2-5 (ESV)

She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine;

she has also set her table.

She has sent out her young women to call

from the highest places in the town,

“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”

To him who lacks sense she says,

“Come, eat of my bread

and drink of the wine I have mixed.

In this description of their love making the woman tells us that he has put his left hand under her head and his right hand around her waist.  This is the physical embrace she longs for.    The point of the story for us to remember the beauty and wonder of the experience God has created in loving making.   She uses the senses of touch, of smell, of taste and totally submission to one another to describe this act that Hollywood and the porn industry has so fully destroyed.   In Solomon’s description we find the beauty of love making.  In the world we see the unfolding of sex.   These two are giving of themselves to each other and all the senses are arouse.  It is not just sex.  It is the expression of all the senses to pleasure the other person.  That is Solomon’s vision of intimacy in a relationship.  

Vengeance and Warring Through Songs of Worship - Psalms 149-150

 Psalms 149:6 (ESV)

Let the high praises of God be in their throats

and two-edged swords in their hands,

Before we look at the above lines of this song, let’s read again the opening lines:

Psalms 149:1 (ESV)

Praise the LORD!

Sing to the LORD a new song,

his praise in the assembly of the godly!

In verse one the recipients of this song are told to sing and praise God, even with a new song.   In verse six they are told to pick up a sword.   That contrast is the point and theme of this song for Israel.   What the writer is telling them is that the praise they give God is as a sword in their hands against their enemies.  Praise, singing, is a weapon in the mouths of the saints to defeat the enemies of God.    Note one commentary on this:

(Understanding the Bible Commentary Series) While it does refer to the nations as subservient to God’s people (Isa. 60:10, 14; 61:5) and to their punishment (60:12), it does not envisage God’s people themselves participating in that vengeance (Isa. 63:3–5 comments that Yahweh will execute “vengeance” without human agents). Any kind of literal interpretation of such militaristic language is particularly problematic in the postexilic period, in which this psalm was composed, when Judah had no standing army under the Persian Empire. The best key for interpreting this enigmatic sword is to be found in its parallel poetic line and in its neighboring psalm. The meaning of “a double-edged sword in their hands” is qualified by the praise of God in their mouths. In other words, Judah’s power for punishment on the peoples lies in their worship of God.

As Paul is telling us to put “off” the old nature and put “on” the new nature, he ends that instruction with this thought:

Colossians 3:16 (ESV)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Our singing and worshiping is a weapon to use against God’s enemies.  Israel is being told to worship and that will be a two-edged sword that God uses to defeat their enemies.  It is God who exacts vengeance.  But, He asks us to worship Him in these tough times through the praise and worship in song and that becomes the sword He uses to fight for us.   Sing praises to today and the enemy will flea.  

God Works It All Out for His Will and Our Honor - Esther 6-10

 Esther 9:26-28 (ESV)

Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term Pur. Therefore, because of all that was written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them, the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year, that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.

Early March is a day of honor in the Jewish faith.    Not many Jews outside Jerusalem or Israel proper still celebrate what is written about above.   When Haman, the second in command to King Ahasuerus, tried to destroy all the Jews, Mordecai and Queen Esther came to their rescue.   The amazing fact is that both Mordecai and Esther were really no one in the Israelite nation at the time.  Esther was chose for a beauty contest and won.  Her reward was to be the slave-wife of Ahasuerus.    Mordecai was her uncle and simply wanted to protect her.  So he paced back and forth in front of the castle to hear about her condition and situation and overheard a plot to kill Ahasuerus.    God took those situations and used to it protect an entire nation and, in the end, elevate Mordecai and Esther to greater influence and greater honor.    This is what God does.  He can take a moment in time and a simply movement of one action against the other and put His chosen people in a place of safety despite insurmountable odds.    God does this every day in our lives. We see a situation and we think God has abandoned us and, yet, it is the very event God will use to put us in a situation that elevates His purpose and His will.   In return He puts us in a place of honor, although the entire point was not our honor to be elevated, but His.  

God Calls the Least To Do The Greatest - Deuteronomy 29-31

 Deuteronomy 34:10-12 (ESV)

And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

When the name Moses is mentioned in most quarters of Christianity there is an instant reverence and awe.  Moses was a man who did not look for fame, did not think he should have fame and certainly didn’t have the resume for fame.   He was born in a time when boy children were to be killed after the came out of the birth channel.  When he was getting too old to hide at home his mother made a basket and put him in it and put the basket in the Nile River.  We are not sure what she expected to happen at that point.   Maybe she knew that Pharaoh’s daughter went their bath each day. Maybe she was such a great woman of faith she just knew God would protect him.   Maybe she had no plan and just released Moses to God’s care vs having him exposed to the plan Pharaoh had for Israelite boys.   Whatever the reason he was discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter and given a home in the palace.   But, he eventually exposed his heart and killed an Egyptian solider.   That sent him to the wilderness to tend sheep for 40 years.   That is where God called him to greatness.   This run-a-way fugitive from justice.  A murderer in the eyes of the both the Egyptians and his fellow Israelites.   This is who God chose to lead the people out of Egypt 40 years after his deed.   Yes, he was defending another Hebrew, but never-the-less he was on the run when God selected him for greatness.   He was even hesitant that day.  He came up with numerous reason he was not qualified to lead them. This is the man of whom it is said in the above passage, “... none like him ...!”    That is who God uses to accomplish his task.  Why?  Well, Moses told them why earlier, just before his death:

Deuteronomy 32:27 (ESV)

had I not feared provocation by the enemy,

lest their adversaries should misunderstand,

lest they should say, “Our hand is triumphant,

it was not the LORD who did all this.”’

No man gets any credit for the good we do for God.  It is God working in us despite the bad deeds by us.  

Promote What You Want to Permit - 3 John

 3 John 1:12 (ESV)

Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.

Public admiration should not be left to the corporate board room but should be also demonstrated in the body of the church.  In this short little letter we have a very big lesson as to the place of public praise in the church.  Similar to the end of most of Paul's letters, John uses his pen to publically praise two disciples of Christ (Gaius and Demetrius).  The Holy Spirit, the real author of this letter,  is marvelously taking the time to praise them. John therefore writes a short, but powerful little letter, about two men who are doing something great in the church.  We tend to leave the use of public praise to the athletic field, Hollywood and/or corporate America.  However, here we see John using praise as a way to inform the church about how two men in the church are furthering the gospel message.  Let us take the same lesson and apply it to our churches today.  Notice how Solomon states it:

Proverbs 3:27 (ESV)

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,

when it is in your power to do it.

When we have the opportunity to praise the good, we are do so.   We are not, however, to praise the wicked:

Proverbs 28:4 (ESV)

Those who forsake the law praise the wicked,

but those who keep the law strive against them.

We are to find ways to praise those who are doing good.   Paul did it in each of his letters.  John is doing it here.   We promote what we permit in life.  So, when we see someone do what we want to see in the church we should promote it and that gives others the idea and permission to also do it.  

I Have Committed No Offense - Acts 25-26

 Acts 25:6-8 (ESV)

After he stayed among them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. When he had arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him that they could not prove. Paul argued in his defense, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense.”

Imagine being able to say, as Paul does in the above passage, “I have not committed any offense.”   He has not committed an offense agains the Law, against the Temple rules, or against Caesar.    We might think that Paul forgot one of his own truths he wrote (or, would write, depending on the date of the book of Romans):

Romans 3:23

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. 

Paul, in the above case, is not speaking in a spiritual sense.  He is standing before the Roman authorities, falsely accused of breaking one of the man-made laws of the rule of men.   He has NOT committed any offense against them.  Paul certainly is the first to claim he is a sinner:

1 Timothy 1:15 (ESV)

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

But, in the case of man to man offense, Paul is innocent.  That is how we should live our lives.   We should live in such a way we can say that we do not cause offense to man.  Of course, that comes because we cause no offense before God.   As we walk pure with God we can walk in power toward men.  One chapter back, as Paul made his defense before a different Roman leader, he stated:

Acts 24:14-16 (ESV)

But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.

We are to live our lives in such a way that we strive to live at peace with God and man.  In the conclusion of the book of Hebrews the writer sums up the book with this statement:

Hebrews 12:12-14 (ESV)

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

We are to strive to live our lives in such a manner that if the world would bring us to judgment we can say with Paul, “I have not committed any offense.”