Jude
ICE BREAKER
Think of a time you wanted something but part of you battled against it. Part of you knew it was not good but you let your desire rule the day. It may be a simple illustration like having that extra sweet or it may be the desire to sleep in versus getting that work out in or carving out some time with Jesus.
Share your story with the group.
Jude focuses on one main thing: our desires, or, our sensuality and keeping it in check. He is warning the church to get their desires “under” the word of God.
Sensuality gone bad is the idea of taking our desires and giving them free reign. It is broader than sexual immorality.
Sensuality affects us in ways we are not aware of. It can, if unchecked, affect who we think Jesus is.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Do my desires shape my beliefs about God or does God through His word and through His Spirit shape my desires and my beliefs about God?
- How do we live as the salt of the earth in the midst of a culture where senuality is one of our cultures’ primary gods?
Our culture says we are only authentic in our identity when we allow our deepest desires to rule the day. So, be yourself or “do you”.
- We all have the pull to put our desires above God’s will. Can you identify where your pull is currently? Share your thoughts with the group.
- Jude encourages us in verse 20-21 “But you, beloved, …keep yourselves in the love of God.”
God’s love is constant and certain for those of us in Christ Jesus. The burden is on us to walk a path awash with God’s love. God’s love has already embraced me. My role in response is to receive it. This is vulnerable. We need to block our pull toward sensuality to keep ourselves in the love of God.
So, we do two things:
We build ourselves in our faith and we pray in the Spirit.
To pray in the Spirit is to pray following the will of the Holy Spirit. We pray as the Spirit directs us. His primary way to direct us is through the Word of God. These two activities keep us in the love of God.
Share with the group one way Christ has kept you from your selfish desires through observing these two disciplines.
NOTES AND QUOTES
Jude focuses on one main thing: our desires– our sensuality.
He is warning the church to get their desires in check under the word of God.
We need to examine our desires under the authority of the word of God to be shaped by His word.
Without great focus we can give in to our desires and put the word of God underneath our desires.
“Redemptive movement theology” is an example of how errant theology does this. The idea of this theology is that the church needs to continue to make changes to what the word of God says. This theology is an example of elevating our desires above the word of God.
Jude names the problem in verse 4:
”…ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”
The message of salvation through grace alone is being twisted by sensuality. To do this is to deny Christ.
Sensuality means to give free reign to our desires.
Sensuality affects us in ways we are not aware of. It can, if unchecked, affect who we think Jesus is. Our desires are that powerful.
Jude is saying you either accept Jesus for who He is or you end up rejecting Him altogether.
In verse 7 Jude writes about the sensuality of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Whenever our desires begin to say to the scripture: “I don’t think that’s right.” Whenever we insist on having our own way above the scriptures we are rejecting Christ.
Next Jude uses illustrations from Israels’ history to drive his point home: Cain, Balaam and Korah. Each of these people turned away from God.
Cain had a desire which led him to kill his brother.
Korah is jealous of Moses’ leadership so he challenges Moses publicly. In response God has Korah killed.
Love, kindness, tolerance and acceptance are the words our culture uses to push their agenda.
We see churches change their doctrines in order to fit into the cultures’ mold. Jude is speaking directly into this battle with our flesh. He says you are doing this to be accepted or to embrace the easier path.
To stay faithful takes work. The battle is both inside us and outside of us in our culture and at times in our church.
