Inductive Study: Jude 21

keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

Jude 21

Dear Heavenly Father continue to grow in me and help me to understand and follow your Word.  Please be with my family, protect them from the evil one.  For my extended family who don't believe, please send people to share the Gospel and send the Holy Spirit to convict them that they need a savior.  In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Jude continues to close out the letter by giving instructions to the church.  This verse is a continuation of the previous verse.  In verse 20, Jude encourages believers, who are favored, esteemed by God-Christ-each other, to finish their Christian understanding upon the foundation that has already been built by God based on His Truth (right doctrine).  Jude also asks the believers to pray in the Holy Spirit.  We learned to be able to pray, we need faith.  To bring deeper understanding to today's text, let's examine some key words and their companion or similar verses.

"Keep" in the Greek is tereo which means keep, guard, observe, watch over, maintain, preserve, keep intact, spiritually guard, cause one to preserve or stand firm in a thing.  2 Corinthians 13:14 states "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen."  Acts 13:43 states "Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God."   "Love" in the Greek is agape which means benevolence (well meaning, kindly), esteem, love which centers on moral preference, divine love, what god prefers.  Stand firm in God's love that focuses on morality, what He prefers.

"Looking" in the Greek is prosdechomai which means expect, welcome, accept, welcome with warm repriocity, expectant, ready and willing, wait for fulfillment of promises.  It is made of pros which means toward, interchange and dexomai which means welcome, receive.  Titus 2:13 states "looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ."  2 Peter 3:12 states "looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?"  "Mercy" in the Greek is eleos which means pity, compassion, covenant loyalty, covenant-love, loyalty to God's covenant, the mercy of Christ whereby at His return to judgement He will bless true Christians with eternal life.  Wait expectantly for the fulfillment of Christ's compassion to believers.

"Eternal" in the Greek is aionios which means unending, age long, not brief and fleeting, life operates outside of time - inside of time - yet is also time independent, has been and always will be, without end.  "Life" in the Greek is zoe which means both physical (present) and spiritual (particular future) existence, the Lord intimately shares His gift of love with people creating each in His image which gives all the capacity to know His eternal life.  Christ's mercy to people loyal to God is an unending existence with God.

Do I stand firm in Christ?  When I'm pressured and stressed do I turn to Him or rely on myself reacting like the world does?  We all struggle with the flesh.  Resting in His love and focusing on a life according to God's morality, we can ignore the distractions and be peaceful in the stress.  We can react by letting go of the world's expectations and drivers.  No matter what happens during your day, remember God's compassion.  Remember we are not of this world but the world to come.  Be loyal to Christ.

and keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously and looking forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ [which will bring you] to eternal life.

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Inductive Study: Jude 20

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

Jude 20

Dear Heavenly Father. Thank You.  Thank You for all Your provision, for Your answered prayers, for Your gift of salvation through Your Son.  I am truly amazed by You. Thank You for the opportunity that I can just serve and not worry about hidden agendas.  Please Lord continue to be with me, my family, my church and my work.  In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Jude transitions in this verse to encourage the believer.  He is beginning to close out the letter by giving instructions to the church.  To bring deeper understanding to today's text, let's examine some key words and their companion or similar verses.

"Beloved" in the Greek is agapetos which means dear friends, a title for the Messiah as beyond all others by God who sent Him, Christians loved by God, Christ, and one another, esteemed, dear, favorite.  Root word for "beloved" is a word that we've studied before, agape.  The church is unconditionally loved by God.

"Building" in the Greek is epiokodomeo which means build upon a foundation, following a plan with pre-designed specifications, build up, edify, finish the structure of which the foundation has already been laid, give constant increase to Christian knowledge and life conformed thereto, resting on your most holy faith as a foundation, make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher.  Colossians 2:7 states "rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving."  "Most Holy" in the Greek is hagios which means set apart, sacred, different, likeness of nature with the Lord, different from the world, distinguished, distinct, reverend, worthy of veneration (great respect).  "Faith" in the Greek is pistis which means belief, trust, come to trust, belief of Christians, truth, right doctrine, is subjectively appropriated, mere acknowledgement of divine things and the claims of Christianity, confidence. Our foundation as Christians is our most holy faith, our great respect for truth and right doctrine.  We build on this faith to further our lives in obedience to Christ.

"Praying" in the Greek is proseuchomai which means offer prayer, to interact with the Lord by switching human wishes (ideas) for God's wishes as He imparts faith (divine persuasion).  Praying is closely interconnected with faith.  Proseuchomai is made up of the word pros which is towards, exchange and exomai which is to wish, pray.  Ephesians 6:18 states "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—."  Romans 8:26 states "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."  "Spirit" in the Greek is pneuma which means wind, breath, full of majesty, adorable, utterly opposed to all impurity, Holy (hagios) Spirit.  We are to switch our wishes with God's wishes by the intercession of the Holy Spirit.

Faith and trust in God is the bedrock of the Christian life.  We build upon this foundation to further grow in the Christian life.  Praying is the means to reconcile our needs and plans for our life with what God desires for us.  Sometimes we may not pray as we should but the Holy Spirit intercedes for us.  When we pray, we trust our anxieties, worries, and cares with God.  To pray, you must have faith. 

But you, beloved, build yourselves up on [the foundation of] your most holy faith [continually progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], pray in the Holy Spirit,

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Inductive Study: Jude 19

These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.

Jude 19

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You! Thank You for the many blessings this week. Please continue to encourage my daughter on her chosen path.  Please continue to live in my son and direct him on how to balance life-work-school-church balance.  Please calm our anxieties.  Help us to focus on you.  Please be with me on this study.  In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Jude takes another opportunity to describe these false teachers.  To bring deeper understanding to today's text, let's examine some key words and their companion or similar verses.

"Sensual" in the Greek is psuchikos which means animal, worldly minded, natural instincts, natural, sensuous, apart from God's in working of faith, behavior more of earth than of heaven, corrupt desires and affections, appetite for passions, carnal.  "These" refers to the mockers in the previous verse.  These people are the scoffers, false teachers, and deriders.  They speak, taunt, ridicule in a scornfully way.  They express contempt for God.  They tease or laugh in a contemptuous manner.  They feel that God is beneath consideration and is worthless.  These haughty people are also consumed with an appetite for animal, corrupt, and carnal passions.

"Cause divisions" in the Greek is apodiorizo which means make a distinction, invidious (likely to cause resentment or anger since unjust or unfair) distinctions, divide by limits, separate, disjoin, draw boundaries, making divisions or separations.  This is the only time that this word is used in the Bible.  These false teachers encourage resentment that causes feelings of unfairness or injustice which lead to congregations breaking up or splitting.

"Having" in the Greek is echo which means hold, possess, regard, consider, keep, comprise, involve.  "Not" in the Greek is me which means not, lest, negates the underlying idea, ruling out possibilities.  These people don't have something.   They are devoid of it. 

"Spirit" in the Greek is pneuma which means wind, breath, movement of air (gentle blast), breath of nostrils or mouth, Holy spirit, human soul that has left the body, the power by which a human feels-thinks-wills-decides (soul), divine nature of Christ, God's power and agency.  Romans 8:9 states "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His."  Philippians 3:3 states "For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh."  The false teachers are devoid of God. 

From this passage, I have to ask myself.  Am I driven and directed by my worldly minded passions?  What is my focus?  If I don't live my life and see the world through God's lenses, I can loose my way.  I can be captured by the world which is consumed with sensuous things.  Money and things never fulfill, but serving God does.

Do my actions and speech cause divisions in the Church?  When I speak of the Church, I'm not talking about a congregation of people but God's church.  For when you speak Truth, you will cause divisions.  God's Word is sharper than a two edged sword.  As part of His Church, the world will always be watching and hoping for a fall.  So, don't ever think that no one is watching or listening - they are - especially if you cut them off in traffic.  That bumper sticker was a good idea at the time.

Finally, no one said that life was going to be fair.  If it was, all of us would be condemned - that is the fair justice required for our sin.  Condemnation is the impartial and just treatment without favoritism or discrimination.  But thank God, that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  Resist the resentment that the world pushes on you.  Focus on God's greatest gift, Christ.  Let the Holy Spirit direct and empower you for whatever task God has for you.

These are the ones who are [agitators] causing divisions—worldly-minded [secular, unspiritual, carnal, merely sensual—unsaved], devoid of the Spirit.

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