JUDGMENT REMINDERS (PART 1)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered His people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.

Jude 1:5

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

God brings judgment on those who choose to blatantly sin against Him and others, those who the scriptures would call the ungodly. This is a truth that is very prevalent in the scriptures, showing us that God doesn’t hide His disdain for transgressors and will take action in His own perfect time and in His own perfect way.

As Jude writes to his Christian audience, believers who we can assume were converted from Judaism, we find him embark on a series of judgment reminders, drawing from the history of the Israelite people. We will look at these in a series beginning with today’s message. Let’s take a look at verse 5 of Jude, chapter 1:

Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered His people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.

Note here how Jude immediately uses words to let his readers know that he’s not telling them anything new, making it clear that they already are aware of the examples that he will be using, examples that included the exodus of the Israelites people from their Egyptian captivity to the land God had promised them, the land of Canaan.

This rescue of the Israelite people was completely an act of God’s love and goodness. With intent, he appointed Moses to lead them out and then put His unmatched power to work, unleashing ten plagues on the obstinate Pharaoh and his nation, each more severe than the one preceding. Eventually, after the angel of death swept through Egypt and killed all the firstborn, Pharaoh conceded, at least for a moment, and allowed the Israelite people to leave. Then, after the Egyptian leader reconsidered, he and his forces met their demise, eradicated when God brought the walls of the Red Sea crashing down on them. Indeed, He had saved and delivered His people out of Egypt.

Now, you would have thought that after this had happened, the Israelites would have been faithful, humble, obedient servants of their God. But that didn’t happen. For we read in the scriptures about how they grumbled and complained across their forty day trek to Canaan, seemingly never satisfied with what God provided whether it was manna or quail or water. In fact, they even went as far as turning their loyalty and worship towards a golden calf as God was giving His ten commandments to Moses at Mount Sinai. As a result, 3,000 people had their lives taken that day, a part of God’s judgment on them but then we read at the end of Exodus, chapter 32 that the Lord was far from done bringing punishment on the ungodly.

The Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of My book. Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and My angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for Me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”

And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made. Vv. 33-35

Fast forward then to when the Israelites finally reached the Promised Land. All they had to do was take custody of it, trusting that God would give them the victory. But they heard reports from the scouts who were sent into the land to assess things and made the choice to not enter out of fear over what would happen if they did, like God would lead them there just to kill them.

What happened as a result of their lack of faith?

God sent them back into the wilderness, this time for forty years, one year for each day of their original journey. The end result was an elimination of an entire generation “who did not believe”, a generation who wouldn’t get a second chance to enter Canaan.

Friends, God reveals His nature throughout His Holy Word and today, we are reminded of how He brings judgment on those who choose to be ungodly. Tomorrow, we’ll find Jude drawing from another Old Testament example in the second message of this series.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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CONTEND FOR THE GOSPEL TRUTH

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,

To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:

Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

Jude 1:1-4

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

After our study of the three letters of John, who also penned one of the four Gospels, we come to a letter from Jude, who the scriptures tell us was “a brother of James” which means that he wasn’t just a “servant of Jesus” but his half-brother as well like James was. It’s likely that Jude didn’t identify with Jesus from a sibling perspective out of humility.

As we’re going to see throughout the 25 verses of this short letter, Jude intends to warn his readers about the abandonment of the faith and disaffection with Jesus and the Gospel in the end times. As we will see in today’s passage from the opening verses, this apostasy will begin through false teachers and prophets who will infiltrate the Christian church.

Let’s look again at the opening four verses which form the foundation for our message today. There, Jude writes:

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,

To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:

Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

Here, we find that Jude is writing to “those who have been called” and are “loved in God the Father and kept for Christ Jesus”. This tells us his target audience was fellow Christian believers and given the multitude of Old Testament references we find through the rest of the letter, we can have some confidence that the believers were converted Jews.

Note that Jude really wished he could spend his time writing “about the salvation” he shared with his readers but felt there was a greater urgency to exhort his brothers and sisters in Christ to “contend for the faith that was once entrusted to God’s holy people”.

Now, when someone is in contention for something, especially from a sports perspective, they are competing against someone or some team with the intent of winning. No one truly contends for something with an intent to lose and Jude writes with this fully in mind.

So who or what was the opposition to the Gospel and the sanctity of the Christian church and its believers?

Jude tells us in verse 4.

For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

Jesus would often discuss attempts to corrupt His teachings by using an analogy entered on yeast and dough, common food items that His listeners could relate to. In the first verse of Luke, chapter 12, we find our Savior issue this warning:

Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to His disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

In their hearts, the Pharisees, who along with the Sadducees were the Jewish religious authorities of the day, were absolutely opposed to the Gospel and advent of Christianity, a movement they often referred to as The Way. Jesus, know their hearts, warned His listeners about being corrupted by the “yeast of the Pharisees” much like a lump of dough would be infected by yeast which would then alter its character and original intent.

Here, we find Jude warning against “certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago” who had “secretly slipped in among” them. This insidious “yeast” was comprised of “ungodly people” intended to “pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality”, all the while denying “Jesus”.

What did this mean?

It simply meant that these ungodly people were trying to convince legitimate Christian believers that living in sin was okay because they had a sure salvation through Christ and so could live as they wished before their time on earth was done. Clearly, this was a distortion of what grace truly meant, an affront to the life Jesus lived, a life meant to be a model for every one of His followers, and nothing short of the work of Satan. It was an all out frontal attack on the church and this is why Jude implored his brothers and sisters in Christ to contend for the Gospel truth against the efforts of the enemy and his minions.

Today, Satan hasn’t given up on coming after the Christian church and don’t let yourself be deceived to think otherwise. The warnings of Jude are just as applicable today as they were more than 2,000 years ago and will remain relevant until that day when Jesus comes back to judge all creation. Given this, the Word of God is calling us today to be on alert for false teachers, those who would seek to distort the truth, and contend for the Gospel, fighting for the cause of our Savior Jesus, whenever needed. For when we do, the mercy, peace, and     love of the Lord that Jude wished would fall abundantly on his readers will truly be upon those who have believed and trusted in the one and only Savior of the world.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

THE POWER OF A GOOD GODLY REPUTATION

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Everyone speaks well of Demetrius, and so does the true message that he teaches. I also speak well of him, and you know what I say is true.

3 John 1:12 CEV

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

When we become a Christian, we become a new creation through our committed belief in Jesus and new means new. It means we are dedicated to not be the person we once were, a pagan person who had no regard for living in ways that were pleasing to God.

Indeed, identifying as a Jesus disciple carries with it a certain expectation and inherent reputation. For believers are to behave as Jesus did and any sinful actions outside of this not only tarnish them but the church as a whole.

We see this working in both ways within the church where John’s good friend and ministry partner Gaius was a part of.

Gauis himself was a commended by John for living in faithfulness to the Gospel truth by remaining steadfast in his association with Christ. This association produced fruits in the work he did within the church, having established a track record of showing hospitality to missionaries who passed through in carrying out the Great Commission of Jesus.

And then, we come to our scripture verse for today, verse 12 of 3 John, chapter 1. There, we find John giving kudos to another church member named Demetrius. Look again at his words here:

Everyone speaks well of Demetrius, and so does the true message that he teaches. I also speak well of him, and you know what I say is true.

Note here how it wasn’t just John who had a high opinion of Demetrius. For the scriptures tell us that everyone else spoke well of him too and a large part of that positive standing within the church came from the fact that he taught truth, never negatively impacting the legitimacy of the message Jesus commanded him to deliver to others.

Indeed, through Gaius and Demetrius in this letter, we see the power that comes with having a good godly reputation.

And then there was the other side of this. For while we find John acclaiming Gaius and Demetrius, we also find him admonishing another church member and self seeking leader, a man named Diotrephes.

In an earlier message titled, “Don’t Be Like That Guy!”, we saw how Diotrephes had chosen to behave sinfully, selfish and abusive in his leadership while drunk on authority in the church. In hospitable and not hesitating to spread “malicious nonsense” while slandering John and his fellow Gospel ministry companions, John made an example of him to warn others to refrain from following his lead.

Today’s message challenges us to self examine the way we conduct ourselves as Christians. For when others observe the way we behave, do our actions enhance or subtract from what others expect Jesus followers to be? Do we continue to grow our good godly reputation by living as Jesus did or are we giving others the impression that we are only a Christian by title with no proof of having a real relationship with Him?

These are questions that can not only be answered by us but by those who have witnessed us through our actions. As Jesus believers, let’s all commit every day to make sure that we, and they, can know we’re representing the Gospel truth and our Savior, the One who is that Truth, properly in all we do.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

THE EVIDENCE OF A GOD FOCUSED LIFE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Dear friend, don’t let this bad example influence you. Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do good prove that they are God’s children, and those who do evil prove that they do not know God.

3 John 1:11 NLT

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

How can you tell someone is really a man or woman is a child of the God Most High?

It’s a question that many people might have, whether they are a believer or not.

Thankfully, as in all other matters, we can always turn to the Word of God to find the answer and in the case of today’s question at hand, let’s look at the eleventh verse of John’s third letter. There he writes:

Dear friend, don’t let this bad example influence you. Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do good prove that they are God’s children, and those who do evil prove that they do not know God. 3 John 1:11

Here we learn a simple test to identify godly people, those who know God either through His Word, the power of the Holy Spirit within, or the many ways He reveals Himself in creation. This test centers on the matter of good and evil.

If a believer in the Christian church does good, then they reveal themselves as a true child of God, one who is a co-heir to the very Kingdom of Heaven with Jesus, God’s one and only Son who is the Savior of the world (Romans 8:14-17).

God is good, all the time. We hear people say this all the time and there couldn’t be a truer assessment of His nature. There is no evil in God and therefore He is the epitome of perfect goodness. Thankfully, He doesn’t keep His goodness to Himself but rather is the great Giver of every good and perfect gift from above (James 1:17) and this includes giving goodness to His believers who in turn can extend that goodness to others.

Within the church where Gaius was a member, he served as an example of what John was talking about, following “only what” was “good” and, in doing so, he proved himself to John and his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that he was one of God’s children.

Conversely, Diotrephes, mentioned in verses 9 and 10, was the “bad influence” that John implored his readers to avoid. This is because his behavior was evil and showed that he did “not know God”, which in turn exposed him as not being a real child of God.

What is the evidence of a God focused life?

Ultimately, it’s the way a Christian believer lives, a life that reflects the very goodness of a Father God who has imparted goodness on His beloved children.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

DON'T BE LIKE THAT GUY!

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.

3 John 1:9-10

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we have studied John’s third letter over the past two messages, everything has been positive and upbeat as he (the Elder) writes to his good friend and partner in the Gospel, Gaius.

First, we saw how John was rejoicing in the faith of Gaius and other Christian believers with him who were walking faithfully with one another in the truth, the only legitimate truth found through partnering with Jesus who proclaimed Himself to be the Truth.

Second, we found John commending Gaius for how his church had cared for missionaries who had passed through his area while being obedient to Jesus’ call to go and make disciples. The associated hospitality shown to the traveling evangelists was highlighted by John and served as a primer for how we should show support for our modern day disciple makers who are willing to leave everything behind to go and help others find their salvation.

So all was good with how things were going within Gaius’ church until we get to verses 9 and 20. There, we are introduced to a man who was essentially the anti-Gaius and a poster child for how a Christian believer should never behave within the church. Let’s look again at those verses here:

I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.

As John details the shortcomings of Diotrephes, the Word of God is sending us a message as well.

“Don’t be like that guy!”

Let’s cover the negative attributes found in Diotrephes.

1. He was self centered.

...Diotrephes, who loves to be first...

Looking at how other translations render this, we find the following:

...Diotrephes, who loves to be the leader... NLT

...Diotrephes likes to be the number-one leader... CEV

...Diotrephes, who loves to have first place among them... HCSB

Now, aspiring to lead within the church isn’t a bad thing in and of itself. But when someone decides that they are going to take charge and behave in un-Christ like fashion, it’s a major problem. Maybe you have seen a few modern day church leaders carry themselves in ways not worthy of representing Jesus.

In the case of Diotrephes, John found him guilty of abuse of power which included:

2. He was inhospitable and failed to show proper welcome and loving care for brother and sister believers.

I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us.

Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.

When someone is conducting themselves improperly in the church, drunk on their power, the last thing they want is to be visited by genuine Christian teachers and evangelists who can expose their sinful behavior. John’s reputation preceded him and Diotrephes, with his love of being “the number one leader”, wouldn’t want to share authority with anyone and John certainly carried that authority in the first century Christian church.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, John tells Gaius that he knew Diotrephes was doubling down on his unfriendly, uncongenial behavior. For we read where he didn’t just target John and his fellow believers with his lack of hospitality but refused “to welcome other believers” as well. Further, he punished anyone who undermined his uninviting, unwelcoming standard, going as far to put such people out of the church. This bullying, over stepping of authority was nothing short of sinful and an atrocity before the Lord.

3. He was badmouthing bonified Gospel followers and servants of Jesus.

So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us.

While the Jesus, the head of the church, made it clear that unity of His believers was of the upmost importance, here we read about how Diotrephes failed to get the proverbial memo and John promised to call him out whenever he came. The scriptures don’t tell us what was said exactly but all we need to know is that it was malicious and false, intended to tear down John and his ministry companions.

In this message and within a mere two verses, we see qualities highlighted in Diotrephes that no Christian in the church, whether in leadership or not, should ever put on display. We shouldn’t ever be like that guy, opting instead to lead selflessly while surrendering our authority and leading to the Lord, showing hospitality to other fellow believers, and watching our mouth so to never speak maliciously or falsely about anyone within our church body.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

CARING FOR MISSIONARIES

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.

3 John 1:5-8

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I have always had the greatest admiration and respect for missionaries, those amazing servant disciples who carry out the Great Commission of Jesus in the purest sense. I say this because Jesus commanded His followers to go and make disciples, the emphasis on the “go” part. He doesn’t specifically tell us where to go because He expects that we will be ready to head to wherever He leads us.

We find the earliest example of this selfless, sacrificial surrender to leave your comfort zone to go to an unknown place dictated by Jesus when we look at the calling of His first disciples. Let’s revisit that now as a lead in to today’s passage from John’s third letter:

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”

At once they left their nets and followed Him.

Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Matthew 4:18-22

Two sets of brothers, both with comfortable lives and vocations, one pair in partnership with their father who no doubt brought them up in the trade.

In both instances, the brothers answered Jesus’ call and abandoned everything they had to simply follow Him.

I think we often read this in a vacuum, having heard the story so many times that we simply move on in the Gospel to see what happens next. But if we pause for a moment and reflect, a question can quickly arise, one that makes us ponder our own willingness to submit to the call of Jesus and go as He calls us to. The question might go like this:

If Jesus comes and simply calls me to go with Him, promising that He would use me to “fish” for people, would I leave everything behind and just go?

If we’re honest, that’s a real challenge to a person because it’s easier said than done. That’s why I said I have the deepest respect for missionaries who do respond in deeply sacrificial ways and we have several families in my home church who do just that.

As we consider the blessed work of selfless missionaries, we come to our passage today where we are reminded that people have been going where Jesus sends them for well over 2,000 years now. Let’s look again at those verses here:

Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth. 3 John 1:5-8

Here John is commending his good friend and fellow Gospel worker Gaius for the hospitality he was extending to missionaries who passed through his church while carrying out the call of Jesus. These “brothers and sisters” were Christians who Gaius and his church helped even though they were “strangers”, and the report of the love shown them had made its way back to John. In response to this, we find him exhorting Gaius to “send them on their way in a manner that honors God” for they were going out “for the sake of the Name” (Jesus) and surely would receive nothing from the pagans, the ones who be rejecting them and the salvation offer they extended.

In the end, note where the church is to “show hospitality” to missionaries so to “work together” with them for the truth by sharing a mutual association and fellowship with Jesus, who is the Truth (John 14:6). My prayer is that we would answer this call from the scriptures and do what we can to support and nurture all who truly to go with reckless abandon to radically answer the Great Commission of Christ.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

REJOICING IN THE FAITH OF OTHERS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The elder,

To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.

Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

3 John 1:1-4

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

After our study of the second letter written by John, we come to an equally brief letter in his third. Both are more personalized, the second written to a chosen woman of God and her children who were fellow Christian believers while as we see in the opening verses of the third letter, John is writing to a good friend and leader of an unknown church. Through his words, we find John expressing his joy found in the faith of his companion in Gospel work.

The elder,

To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.

Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 3 John 1:1-4

As in the second letter, John identifies himself as “the elder”, a reference to his seniority and authority within the churches he helped establish. But note that he doesn’t come off to Gaius as if he is supremely superior. Rather, he takes time to praise his “dear friend” for how he was faithful “to the truth” and helping others in the church do likewise. In fact, John goes as far to say that he had “no greater joy” than “to hear” that his brothers and sister Christians, those he had helped become disciples were “walking in the truth”. He had learned of this from “some believers” who had come and “testified about” their faithfulness to this truth. Ultimately, it was their connection to Jesus, who had proclaimed Himself as the Truth (capital T) that put them in the place that brought happiness to John, their elder.

I don’t know about you but I can relate to John so very much because I have association with so many fellow Christian believers and never tire of hearing about how they are walking in faithfulness and obedience to the Word of God. This truth about the Truth (Jesus) leads any Jesus follower to the place where they reap a harvest of fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), fruits which further produce good works born out of the very will of our Lord. It’s the testimonies of those fruitful accomplishments in the name of our God that bring me to a place of rejoicing over the faith of others.

In response to today’s message, I encourage you to leave a comment and share how walking in the truth through your partnership with Jesus, the Truth, has produced amazing, inspiring results. Your testimony can help all your brothers and sisters in Christ be filled with the same joy John felt more than 2,000 years ago.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.