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A week ago, Margaret and I were in Turkey and we had an opportunity to see Smyrna, Ephesus, and Pergamon. Three of the seven churches. By the way, there are no churches there, I can assure you. And basically what you see is ruins. But you kind of can put the perspective of the geography and how Paul's writings and travels all related to this. It's kind of exciting, but the world view is a bit different than our view of this. Is it commercialized, all these places? I wouldn't say commercialized, no. I don't think so in any way.
These are on the west coast of Turkey, on the Aegean Sea, and then we drove from there to Antalya, which is on the Mediterranean, through central Turkey. And that's like driving through Wyoming, actually. Although it's more beautiful than Wyoming, there's more trees and hills and kind of a foothills type of perspective, but there's nobody on those roads. You're feeling abandoned, actually. But there's still all kinds of archaeological ruins all around there as you drive, and there are places where obviously people go to, but it's not highly advertised.
We heard that there are 5,000 archaeological sites in Turkey. It's an amazing country, it really is. They're very pro-American and they were very gracious to everyone. Even if they spoke no English, they were very gracious to us. But you know, in Antalya where we ended up for the meeting that I attended and spoke at, couple hundred kilometers from Syria, right around the corner there.
Roger did a nice job of introducing the book of Jude last week, and forgive me for the title and oversight, I can assure you next week that will be a drastic difference. What we are going to do today is look at the first four verses, actually we are going to look at the first three and three-fourths verses actually, and as Roger predicted there is a lot of nice scripture here. The first couple of verses seem more introductory, but I think there's some things there that we'll drill down on that maybe will have some meaning to us today. And the question comes up about Jude. When was it written? To whom was it written? Who is Jude really?
I think Roger did a good job last week of clarifying that, but I'm going to maybe raise an additional question today. So let's go ahead and read, actually, my bad. First slide. All right, so let's actually, before we get the screen going, let's read to 1, 1 through 4. So Al, could you do that for us, please? I don't even know where Jude is. I should have been ready. I told you what I know. Marvin, remember this is being recorded. I have no idea. Jude is not high on my list. This is not Micah, okay? This is Jude. All I do is go to Revelation and turn back one page. You got it now. Want all four verses? Yeah, first four. That's all. Okay.
This is out of an NIV. who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by 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 I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among They are godless men who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ, our only Sovereign and Lord.
I think the first four verses really kind of fit the theme of the verse. We've got kind of the good and the bad, not the ugly. But anyway, the question is balancing these two groups of people out. And that's a theme that will continue throughout the book. And actually, you know, it's interesting as you look at this. And one of the commentators I looked at refers this really very closely to 2 Peter. And there's a lot in 2 Peter and Jude that parallel themselves, and I find that particularly interesting. Okay, let's begin now.
Jude 1.1. Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ. And I'm just acknowledging Roger who did, I think, a thorough job last week in confirming that Jude was a brother of the Lord Jesus Christ and of James. So we have that reasonably well supported by the scripture. And there are six Judes, I think you said, or was there... Actually, eight. According to the Zodiac, his count was eight. Lots of Judes, but this is not Judas Iscariot, I can assure you.
So, brother of Christ, and here I just borrowed what Roger showed last week, and I put this little comma in here, details related to the sisters, we have none, but presumably they are new women. I don't know, at times you look back and say, but you know, it's interesting, if you look at women, we were just in Islam country. And the woman there is basically a second-class citizen. And I think Christianity more than any other faith lifts a woman up.
We just don't have the details, I think, and that relates to the genealogy, just the way scripture has been from the very beginning. But nevertheless, no details there, and there are the five members of the family of Joseph and Mary. So Jude fits in. We don't know if those orders are correct, do we? In terms of birth order?
It doesn't really make any difference. So bond-servant, and I think a good definition here is we keep seeing bond-servant throughout Scripture. It's one who gives himself up to another's will and those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing his cause among men. I think that's pulled out of fair, I think, that definition. It's a good one.
And I think it really relates in context to who Jude was and what his tasks really were. Now, question for the class. Why didn't Jude call himself an apostle? Was Jude an apostle? By the way, the commentators vary on their opinion. Some say he's not, because in Jude... There's a Jude that is an apostle. And that's where some people have said, well, maybe he's a Jude that wrote this epistle. So there's been, in one of my studies, there is a Jude that is an apostle.
But that was before his crucifixion though, right Vine? I mean the lack of belief in who he was before the crucifixion so I think we don't know for sure and I'm raising this just as curiosity I don't have an answer to this. You get in scripture where Paul defended his apostleship because even in the early church they were divided as to what they considered apostles, whether you actually had to see the Lord face to face and have walked and talked with him for those three years, whether that was the limiting group, or whether apostles went to the broader definition of those who are called and those who are sent. And Jude certainly met the criteria for the first definition, correct Al?
I mean he saw and walked with the Lord Jesus Christ, that this is the brother of Jesus Christ. Now some commentators, by the way, claim he was an apostle, it's just he chose not to mention it here. And verses 17 and 18 actually refer to the opposite, that he is talking about the apostles as separate from himself. And I remember Paul and Peter, when they introduced their epistles, basically they called themselves apostles. So, I don't know, I'm just raising this out of just curiosity, what everybody's thoughts are. And Roger, you tend to contend that he was not an apostle, is that correct? I mean I don't think it's really that critically important.
We've got a book written by him which is well documented historically. I think there is some question as to whether this was written mostly to Jewish Christians and a lot of the book seems to relate to that truth. But also it has broad applications. The Gentile can't be ignored here too because it's talking about the body of Christ. One of the things that comes up is just the whole idea of titles.
When Jesus was called good rabbi, he said, no, don't call me that, there's none good but God. Even though he could make that claim, he was trying to point out that We weren't about setting ourselves up as Dr. So-and-so with PhDs and all the rest. It wasn't about the title you held, but it was about your walk with God and faith in Christ. And I think that enters in to this idea of calling oneself an apostle. Whether you're doing it to authenticate your message or whether you're doing it to set yourself up as somehow being more spiritual. That's a good point. I think titles are misleading at times and sometimes titles are informative. He didn't call himself anything but a bond servant here so we have to accept that for what it's worth.
Good morning. What's your name? James. James, I'm Bob. Nice to meet you, James. Welcome to the class. I haven't been here for almost two months, so it hasn't been quite that long. Anyways, I do co-teach this with the other teachers here. OK, who are those that are called here? Well, pretty straightforward, I think. Those invited by God in the proclamation of the gospel to obtain eternal salvation. And by the way, just some thoughts here.
You know, Romans 8.28, we know that all things work together. reverberate this verse time and time again for those who are called according to his purpose. By the way, just a side note, what's the will of God for each and every one of us? To be conformed to his image, right? And this verse among many really points to that truth. So the will of God is not a white Chevy versus a black Ford.
The will of God is conforming us to his image. And the neat thing about that is it transcends circumstances. Circumstances don't relate to that at all. It's entirely independent of everything that's earthly. It's the will of God to transform us. And by the way, those who are called, that's all of us here.
Alright, second point, 1 Corinthians 1.24, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. So those who are called, I mean that's used elsewhere in scripture. And I think we have to always remember and be humbled by the fact that God would have all men to be saved. So we're not going to get into a Calvinistic, Arminian argument here about those who are called versus those who are not.
I mean, you know, when we get to heavenly places, we'll see this perfectly. But we can't believe that God is selectively calling us out from everyone else. He's calling everyone unto himself. And when we get to heaven, we'll know the Book of Life for what it represents. But it's not our job here to judge who's called and who's not. This is not an argument again between Calvinism and Arminianism. It's those who are called that Jude's writing to and he's talking about the body of Christ.
Everybody okay with that? So that implies those that said yes. Alright, let's move on. Sanctified by God the Father and God's will for all of us who are part of the body is to keep us in a position to persevere and stand firm and the text says in that position is in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to stand firm in the flesh. We're going to fail. Did anybody read The Hungry Heart this morning?
About patience? How are you doing working on your patience now? I'm not working out, I'm letting God work it out. That's the only way this guy's going to have patience, I can assure you. Margaret sees it day in and day out. My old man shows up routinely around the house and everywhere else. My human capabilities have no patience, but the Lord, if I have any, it's of the Lord for sure. So anyway, the position we have in Christ is the ability to stand firm and persevere. We're called to be another citizen of another country. Is there any other ground that we can stand firm upon?
And note, by the way, the perfect passive tense of all the verbs in the first verse. What are the verbs in the first verse? Being called, being sanctified, and being persevered, preserved. All perfect passive. So how do we interpret perfect passive tense? And voice? Perfectly passive. Perfectly passive.
That's a good answer, Roger. Should we move on now? Is it an action that's already taken place on us? I mean, someone else did the action to us. Okay, passive. We're the recipients. And it's ongoing into the future. Right. It's an ongoing act of something that's been accomplished. So, perfect passive. We're being made to persevere and to stand firm and that's of another nature. That's not our decision to persevere. It's a fact, who we are in Christ Jesus.
Thanks for telling me, because I teach English to people who don't speak English, and when they ask me about a perfect passive voice, I say, I don't know, I just know it sounds right. Thank you. It's a simple explanation. There was actually an alternate reading to verse one. I don't know whether you picked up on the other. And I.V. has it. And most of the.
There's some question about that one sanctified. It's rendered loved or beloved. and like the American Standard and the NIV, most of the ones, so there's some alternate reading, I'm not into the Greek text, but just for FYI, it has to be loved rather than sanctified. Well, I didn't see that in any of the translations I looked at. I mean, sanctified we typically translate as being set apart, right?
It's the word in the Greek. I took it as they have been called. wrapped up into that. I'm just saying there are alternate readings that are in the newer translations. Well I think in context to persevere and stand firm really is entirely appropriate. No no it's sanctified. Well that's sanctified is really what that related to. Well what I'm trying to point out is that There's a Greek word for sanctified and there's a Greek word for loved or beloved.
And it's actually, the alternate reading is that that would be beloved by God and not sanctified by God. The way mine reads, the called ones, beloved in God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ. Now that as a footnote in mine, this is the strong, but this is a footnote. Even though I have the In the blue letter Bible to be loved is not included in the interpretation of this.
I am not into Greek text, all I am saying is that the number of translations That's interesting because the translations here is to be set apart, to consecrate, to dedicate, to persevere, to purify by expiation. Yes James? I'll just say a possible explanation for that because of course what I show is the word hagyatso which is sanctify but that could be the newer translations are based upon a different Greek text than the older translations.
And so it very well could be that the word used in that case, I don't have access to that. No, that's good. It's a good conversation. That's what we're about. We want to rightly divide the word. The ESV does use beloved with the King James, which is based on the Texas Receptus uses. Okay, good. Good conversation. We okay to move on? Everybody okay with that? All right. So, second verse, mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. So why mercy here, not grace? This is Jude, right?
We're still back to that idea of early in the Christian experience and mercy was the word that they were used to thinking of God's attitude toward them. Relating to grace is still a new concept. Paul hasn't amplified that. Maybe that might be one contention of why this is more directed to the Hebrew body than in fact the Gentile body.
Let's look at this. Mercy is the outward manifestation of pity and assumes need on the part of him who receives it and resources adequate to meet the need in the part of him who shows it. That's Vine's definition of mercy. Mercy is kind of not being given due punishment. It's certainly different.
Just a verse there, Titus 3.5, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. We didn't deserve to be saved, but we got saved. I like that because so often people say mercy is not getting what you deserve. You know, when they contrast mercy and grace, they say mercy is not getting what you deserve. Like when the prison said, I'd like to get what's coming to me. No, no, you don't. And grace is getting something that you didn't deserve. That's right. And here's grace.
This mercy amplifies this beyond The idea of not getting punished for something, it goes beyond to all kinds of needs. Not just the need for forgiveness, but the need for strength, the need for clarity of vision. There's all kinds of places where I need mercy. Not just for forgiveness of sins, but for other things where I depend on God's supply for a need.
I like that definition. The difference is that the common definition which you just mentioned is based upon my perspective and my feeling of that. The biblical definition of mercy is based upon God's character and how he exhibits and displays himself.
And that's to be compared to grace, which also use vines here. By the way, defining grace is probably the most difficult task we have as believers. I think most of the body of Christ, and I'll conclude myself, don't understand grace for all it is. But nevertheless, all that aside, grace stresses the character of the benefit as the effect of the gracious disposition of the benefactor. So in other words, mercy is not giving us just due, but grace is giving us something beyond Beyond that, it's entirely related to the benefit. In other words, the person giving the grace.
It's what James just said, the character of God. So we can't even fathom that because it's so... we can't even get our head around that because of the benefactor. Like Verne likes to say, the Viagra falls of grace upon grace. That's a good analogy. So I picked one verse here, but by grace you've been saved through faith. It's not of yourselves, but it's a gift of God. Grace is an entirely different principle.
They relate to God's character, as James indicated. But here Titus is using mercy. And I think, Al, you reflected appropriately on that. This is maybe more directed to the Jews. Jews are used to mercy in terms of a concept, maybe not as used to grace. All right, any thoughts further about that?
Okay, so just to conclude this conversation, the contrast is what we deserve versus what we don't but receive anyway, right? I mean, grace is something we receive and we don't deserve it. We don't deserve grace, but it's given. But mercy we need because we deserve mercy, right? Only God can really deal with that.
Pat? Well, you know, thinking back to the Old Testament, they had the mercy seat. He didn't have the grace seat. The grease seat? I'm just kidding. If it were greased, you'd fall off of it, right? OK. All right. OK. And this is a reminder for what follows, and it may well be in terms of the text. And then there's peace and love, and that's multiplied. And peace and love here, God's not man's. I mean, how you doing working at having peace in terms of the environment we live in?
And love, of course, is agape here, which is unequivocal love. Of course, remember, agape can be used for love of the world, too, right? So, I mean, believers challenge to that, the love of the world. So agape is not simply God's love for us. We can, in fact, have an unconditional love for the world around us.
But that's in context, not speaking of that, speaking of God's peace, which is perfect and eternal, and God's love, which is unequivocal. A true and comforting position of rest and trust, and the contrast is not easily accepted here in terms of an earthly sense of peace and love.
While I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. So the issue here is the faith and I think that's where we're going to spend perhaps most of the rest of our time. So our common salvation, I think this is probably the simple gospel truth and there's no real discussion here. Our common salvation is 1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4 kind of stuff.
I mean, do you believe that Christ was crucified at the Son of God, buried and risen in the newness of life? I mean, that's kind of the gospel truth. But now the exhortation is best interpreted here as to strengthen and ultimately encourage the believer in these truths. Yes, James?
No word of discussion, but just a parallel note from the book of Acts where it says that the believers had all things in common. And that word, the koine, from the Greek, is the same word here as the common salvation there, depicting that the believers that were there, they believed all the same things, and they had the same feeling about all those things. And so there's so many people that try to, I'm not going to talk too much, but try to take that verse of all things in common and put it in all kinds of communistic type environments.
Whereas if you look at Jude and you say, well, what do they mean by that fellowship back there? Well, here Jude explains it in regard to our gospel that we believe. It's not a communistic lifestyle, it's a faith that we have in common. And I think that Jude helps to comment on that. That's a really good point. The fellowship of faith in Christ is the common ground and other things may be added to it and has it in common with a particular body of believers. The common faith in salvation. Otherwise, you're right, it has no discussion. No, it's good. I'm not meaning to truncate any discussion. I'm just saying that I think here it's specifically related to being saved.
Either you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in terms of all he's worth, in terms of crucifixion, death, and resurrection, or you don't believe it. So that's the simple gospel message here. But now the exhortation again is to strengthen and encourage the body and it's to contend earnestly for the faith. This is not kind of a soft pedal kind of deal.
They're facing trials with people surrounding them and that's really again kind of the whole theme of the book of Jude. And this is one word, this contend earnestly is one Greek word. So earnestly has kind of been added to this. It really kind of means acting as a combatant. I mean, this is a strong term in the Greek. So we're really in a position to be armed.
This is kind of Ephesians 6 kind of truth in terms of the enemy, if you will, although the enemy is not mentioned here particularly. Now, on to the faith. What is the faith? Here and this is taken from Burns notes on on the faith and he Printed out of me. I think you have all have access to that if you want do they have access to that? Actually, I might make a copy. I mentioned that last week. There's a paper He wrote on the faith and maybe I'll make it.
It's about you know, seven or eight pages long It's it's quite quite detailed, but I'm taking from burn here directly although I put the parenthesis with the article here is the set of teachings of the Apostles and prophets and that began before the Apostle Paul became a believer, and you can reference that back in Acts 6-7, where the faith is utilized. Of course, Paul's belief is described in detail in Acts 9, so the faith was really described before that.
And what constituted the faith grew over time based on the added doctrine that related to the body of Christ. And ultimately, in fact, even who we are today is the body of Christ. It goes beyond the simple gospel of just being saved. So the faith is more encompassing in principle. And we're going to look at that in more detail. In some passages the term of the faith is simply belief in the gospel by which one is saved, that is, Christ died for your sins and was buried rose again.
So here is again Acts 6-7. Let's take a look at some of these verses. So, Angry, why don't you do Acts 6-7. James, take 1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4 if you could, please. And we're going to kind of be looking at some scripture here going forward in the rest of the time together this morning. Acts 6-7, so the word of God spread, the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. So, the faith used then, I think, more simplistically. James? 1 Corinthians 15, verses 3 and 4.
For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. be faith. But in other cases the faith is the saving gospel plus all of the other teachings of the apostles and prophets up to that time and that is what I had just mentioned. So now we're going to verse shop here a little bit.
Margaret Ephesians 4.11-16. Some of these texts have more than one verse.
Al 1 Timothy 4.6, Pat Galatians 1.23, and Vani 1 Timothy 4.1 please. So I'm Ephesians 4, 11 through 16. That's you.
And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the statue of the fullness of Christ.
That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supply, according to the effectual working and the measure of every part, making increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." Okay, read the verse that has faith in it again. And I'll have this open myself. Thirteen, right. Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the statue of the fullness of Christ. Okay, so the faith here implies really growth, doesn't it? It's beyond the simple, I've been saved by the cross. I mean, this is the full, the perfect man. The perfect man's identification. I mean, this doctrine now of the faith is expanding beyond the simple gospel message.
First, Timothy 4.6.
Taking liberty a little bit to put it in context, he starts out the chapter, the Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits, etc, etc. And he talks about some things that lead people astray. And then in verse 6, if you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus. and of the good teaching that you have followed. How do you think that relates to the broader principle of the faith and the simple gospel message? And by the way I'm not belittling the simple gospel message, that's how people are saved.
Well because he talks about people coming, talking about consciences being seared, forbidding people to marry, or abstaining from certain foods which God created to be received with Thanksgiving, etc. So, starting to put in traditions and rules, and going with what the old man would find pleasing, with man's wisdom. Okay, is this an atmosphere of legalism then, around the faith? People are trying to introduce legalism that is trumping the expanded message of the faith of the body?
That's what it looks like. But also don't you think you're dealing with the Jewish world to a large extent. Even the pagan world had their rules too. They were just as strapped as the Jewish world to their legality. So I think whether he's talking to Gentiles or to Jews He's saying don't get drawn in to that legalism again.
You have a freedom. Okay, so in a sense we're going beyond simply the simple truth of the cross and I'm saved and I have eternal life. We're talking about the implementation of the expanded faith as a doctrine about the body. Sort of like James showing what the faith looks like when lived out in daily life. Yeah, it's not what we do but who we are, and once you know who you are, then what you do is evidence of who you are.
Galatians 1.23, who had that one?
I'm going to back up one script. Okay, please do that. I'm just picking the verses Bernard picked, so if you feel you need to complement those by other ones, please do that. This is Paul speaking. I went into the region of Syria and Cilicia, and I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea, which were in Christ, but they were hearing only, he who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith, which he once tried to destroy."
How do we interpret that? Do you think the faith is the simple faith, or is this a more expanded set of doctrines that relate to the body of Christ? It's not simple. It sounds simple, he's saying they're trying to destroy the faith. Other thoughts on that? The Jews were looking for a messiah, and at that point the faith involved Jesus being the promised messiah. It would include the fact that he was a messiah, so that's actually made a little more of a simple gospel. It seems that way to me too.
Alright let's look at first Timothy 4.1 and Bonnie has that I think.
But the spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. So are these safe people then Bonnie? I don't think they are. Well there are plenty of believers that get led astray right? I guess we are going to be dealing with that in Jude as to whether these individuals are really safe or not safe. I think up front we have a sense that they are not saved people, but nevertheless. There are plenty of people within the body of Christ that fall away to false doctrines, right?
I mean, unfortunately, but there are. Okay, so Verne has listed these verses, I think we could maybe contend with one or two of these as to whether they are the broader message of the faith. Sometimes the faith is the truth, and sometimes the faith equals the gospel, so I mean 2 Thessalonians 2.13. Margaret, you're up for that one. I am. Between first and second Samuel. I got it, I got it.
We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. The thing about the Lord Jesus Christ is that he didn't talk about the faith, but he talked about the truth.
And I think we talk about the greatest among is love, right? What are the other two? Faith, hope and love. Actually the greater among all of them is truth, is it not? And Christ himself identified himself as the truth. So John 16, 12 and 13 is just exemplary of that.
I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own. He will speak only what He hears. And He will tell you what is yet to come. Okay, good.
So that's an expanded view of the faith now being equated to the truth. And the truth, again, I think is all that we are in Christ Jesus. And that's wrapped up into church doctrine. It's wrapped up into Christian growth. It's wrapped up into eternity. I mean, it's really beyond the simple gospel message. spoke to his disciples there toward the end, and said, I am the way, the truth, and the light.
People don't like the second part of that. By faith in him, we can then be led in a path of truth. So I think they're intertwined. This is one of the parts of Verne's handout I like perhaps as much as any other part. Another manifestation is being of one mind. I think this is really church doctrine personified. We've got a lot of verses here.
Let's go ahead and divide them. James, I'm going to give you Acts 2, 43-47. and Al 15, 22-33 we may not be able to read all that with the time. Vani Romans 12, 16 and I'm going to give you 15, 5 also. Roger 1 Corinthians 1, 10 and Doris can you do Philippians 1, 27 and then the final one is 2, 2 and I'll have you turn your page and read that one too. So, James, Acts 2. Acts 2, 43-47.
And fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together and had all things common, and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men as every man had need, and they continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
I think it was appropriate for you to read that section. That was not entirely intended when I assigned you that section, but it was really good anyway. Here it was. Okay, in 1522-33. Then the apostles and elders with the whole church decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas, called Barsabbas, and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers. With them they sent the following letter. when it goes on. Yeah, let me see. Oh, you want to go all the way?
Well, I'm going to find the point where there's a commonness in mind. The idea that the body as it's ideally functioning has one mind about things. And so this is, I think, building the wider concept of the faith. So we all agreed to choose some man and send them to you with our dear friends. And so So that's where they came up with the common elements that they had the Gentiles have seen from blood. Yeah, and I think it talks about the whole sequence of events that relate to how Gentile believers must not really cause Jews to stumble. I mean, it has a lot to do with the Christian body and how it functions. So, we'll leave that at that and not read it entirely. So, let's see. Romans 12, 16 speaks to the same sort of thing. And Bonnie, you hold that, right?
Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Again, okay. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus. Alright, Roger, 1 Corinthians 1 10. Now I exhort you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all agree and that there be no division among you but you may be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. Okay Doris you have one too right?
Philippians 1.27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. And then 2.2 Fill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. All right, good. Those are good verses to represent this kind of expanded faith that one-mindedness in the body is just not simply about being saved, it relates to the implementation of the Christ life and related doctrine to the body as they gather. We won't necessarily read 2 Peter 3, 14-16.
The interesting thing about this is that it's really built on the fact that Peter kind of knew of Paul and Paul's writings. Of course, they had hung out together at times in the past. It really, I think, defends the faith as being something that they both aspired to and recognized for what it really was. Maybe we do have a few minutes to read that.
Ingrid, could you do 2 Peter 3, 14-16? Those are good verses. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort as they do the other scriptures to their own destruction. Amen.
So again, verse 3 then indicates that we need to earnestly defend or contend for the faith, and the faith is beyond this simple gospel message. Although that's something we all earnestly contend and defend. People come to salvation not through all these additional doctrinal truths, but it's part of the body of Christ and how it effectively operates. So my thought concluding this part of the lesson, we'll come back to this next week some in more detail. Thus the faith here and elsewhere in scripture is more than the simple gospel message, but it's the doctrine. And I think it relates, we don't worship the doctrine, but the doctrine is important in terms of the expanded view I think of what Jude is trying to address here.
There's no way we're taking a measuring stick and providing a metric for this in terms of performance. It's the Christ life. I think as he said in verse 1, this is something that is in Christ in each and every one of us and nothing to be worked on or ultimately accomplished in our own power or spirit. Other thoughts here about the verse?
Well, in so many churches, the faith relates to believing that you're a sinner and need salvation and that Christ's death on the cross provided the answer to my need to be freed from sin, the penalty of sin. Right, that's mercy. But the message so many places in evangelical Christianity stops there. And that's what has been unique for me this past year here. Well, is that we go on to the idea of what does that faith, how does it accomplish what God wants us to accomplish? And we accomplish it not just by believing that we are a sinner in need of saving and Christ did it, but that there is a dead to sin and alive to Christ aspect of living out the so what.
That's great, Al. You know, it makes us return to the kind of the, I was saved, I'm being saved, and will be saved. It has three tenses. I was saved, we can, most of us identify a date where salvation ensued. And we all have confidence in the third part, I will be saved, and one day we'll be with the Lord Jesus Christ.
But this being saved is what we're talking about here. Being saved is really the outworking of the new nature in each and every one of us. And again, the will of God is to be conformed to his image, and I think that's what we're talking about here. The bigger faith principle is all that applied to the individual and to the body. One person gave it with the three Ps. Saved from the penalty of sin, saved from the power of sin, and eventually saved from the presence of sin. I like that, that's nice. I've heard that but I wouldn't have remembered that. Any other thoughts?
So, are you defining the simple faith as just recognizing that your sins are forgiven and that's what you're calling it? That Christ died for my sins and I have eternal life because of that. That's the simple gospel. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have eternal life. That's, I think, the simple gospel message. that needs to be criticized in any sense. Don't misinterpret me. That's how people get saved. That's the foundation. That's what inspires you.
But the cool thing here, Jude's pointing to this body of truth which we all, it's God's desire that we all are on the same page of that body of truth. It's not that one person, oh this person's a super believer and he has it all together. It's that we all come to that understanding of the faith. The complete body of truth about who we are in Christ and what he's done and the whole everything, not just the beginning point.
Another thing about that is that it allows us to encourage one another in the walk and in the path of the Christian life. We know, I graduated out of a Baptist church where every week it was saving sinners who weren't in the congregation. The point is, the sin was always what was emphasized about how far short we're falling based on this, that, and something else.
That's not what what the message is about the faith. The faith is being uplifted. We're positioned at the right hand, that's where God sees us. We're totally sinless, unflawed, and positioned in a new life. And that's really, I think, what Jude is explaining in a truncated form in these verses about the faith. So I think that's his command and earnest, you know, suggestion to the believers he's writing to is that they stand on this bigger blanket, if you will, of truth. All right, good. Shall we end with prayer? Al, close us in prayer, would you please?
Father, as we look into your Word, we're reminded again of how little we know of the totality of the truth that you want us to learn and to grow into. Father, I just thank you for all of these portions of scripture that we've taken a peek at to just be reminded of the beauty and the awesomeness, the power of the faith that you have committed once for all, that you've called us to. Father, I thank you. I just thank you from the bottom of my heart. for what you have provided for each one of us here. And I pray that as we go on to serve as to follow you to empower the speaker to bring your message and may it touch our hearts and minds so that we go forth and live out the faith so that others might come to the light that they might see you're out working in our lives and want to join with us. Help us to encourage and build up one another in the faith. Thanks for this time together. In Jesus name. Amen.