Jude

21Jan12

Jude 1:1 “Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:”

Yesterday we looked at the life of James, the half-brother of Jesus. Today, we’ll fix our focus on yet another half-brother of Jesus…Jude.

Jude’s identity as a half-sibling is well established because the crowds refer to Jesus having a brother named Juda, which is a common transliteration of Jude, in Mark 6:3. “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.”

Here’s what’s especially interesting about Jude and his letter: He tells his readers that he originally intended to write to them about one thing but decided to switch gears and write about something else: “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” (Jude 1:3)

So we can picture Jude, poised and ready to encourage a group of Christians about their salvation in Jesus. He’s setting out to comfort and console, but then something grabs hold of his heart – he recognizes that there’s a more important matter at hand. More and more fake followers are infiltrating the Body of Christ and infecting it with unrighteousness. What’s needed is a word of warning, which is what Jude proceeds to pen for his original audience and for us.

We can’t help but appreciate Jude’s sensitivity to the situation and for stepping up and doing what had to be done. It would have been easy to elaborate on the good news of salvation. But he was willing to warn, which can often be an unpopular and difficult thing to do.

Oftentimes, God will call us to do something that’s more difficult than we originally intended. When He does, we need to remember Jude’s willingness to warn, and we need to be just as willing to obey the Lord’s leading on our lives instead of rigidly clinging to our original plans. Be sensitive, be flexible, and be willing to do what’s difficult.

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