MidWeek Study
May
13, 2026
Maintenance Check
Illustration
I am not much of a mechanic. I tried doing some auto repair when I was in high school, trying
to rebuild a carburetor on my 1968 Opel Kadett, and
had too many parts left over. In college I tried a simple thing like replacing my 1970 Volkswagen
van’s spark plug wires but …
Now I pretty much leave
those kinds of things to the professionals. And over the years we’ve relied on
our mechanics doing the regular “maintenance” on our cars. When you neglect regular maintenance, you
shouldn’t be surprised if you have problems on the road.
Illustration
The Air Force
requires their aircraft have regular maintenance as
well.
Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by US Air Force
pilots and the replies from the maintenance crews:
Problem: “Left inside main tire
almost needs replacement.”
Solution: “Almost replaced left
inside main tire.”
Problem: “Test flight OK, except autoland very rough.”
Solution: “Autoland
not installed on this aircraft.”
Problem: “Something loose in
cockpit.”
Solution: “Something
tightened in cockpit.”
Problem: “Number three engine
missing.”
Solution: “Engine
found on right wing after brief search.”
Problem: “DME volume unbelievably loud.”
Solution: “Volume set to more believable level.”
Problem: Dead bugs on windshield.
Solution: Live bugs on order.
Those are kind of silly, but some kinds of “maintenance” are a little more
serious.
I’ve been in
the habit of getting
an annual physical for quite
some time. I usually come away with a list of things I need to work on or new prescriptions I need
to fill. As someone who’s had a heart attack and three
stents, I try my best to keep this old body working as best as I can so I can
still do a little more ministry before I go to heaven.
Perhaps you
might consider tonight’s study a sort of “checkup” of your spiritual life.
For some of you, this will seem like very familiar territory.
Though I have to admit I’ve been a bit challenged
by some of what we’ll be looking at.
For some of you, you may realize there are some areas you need to think
about in order to stay healthy.
You may have some new prescriptions to fill. Let’s start our “Maintenance Check”
Background
We are going to
look at two verses from the little book of Jude.
Jude was one of
the half-brothers of Jesus, just like the author of the book of James.
We think that Jude
wrote his short little letter around AD 67.
It’s been
over 30 years since Jesus died, rose, and ascended to heaven. Some of the
apostles have been martyred. Doctor Jude has been looking over the tests and
has some concerns about the church.
The gospel has
travelled around much of the world. There are churches in many cities.
And not
everything is going well.
We like to think of the church in the first century as being perfect in
every way, but it wasn’t.
If you pay attention when you read the New Testament, you will realize that
the apostles were constantly trying to correct bad teachings that were infiltrating the church.
Jesus had warned:
(Matthew
7:15 NKJV) “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in
sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
Teachers had sprung up from the very beginning to draw people into strange
teachings.
Luke records that a “sorcerer” named Simon (Acts 8) would start to believe
in Jesus through Philip’s preaching, but church history tells us that he would go
on to become the founder of the cult of Gnosticism.
When Philip the evangelist took the gospel to Samaria (Acts 8), there was a
fellow named Simon who had been a “sorcerer” (also called “Simon Magus”). Simon
believed Philip’s message and was even baptized, but when Peter and John showed
up, laid hands on people, and they were
received the Holy Spirit, Simon’s true colors showed up. He wanted to know how Peter and John had
accomplished this “trick” and offered to pay money if they would teach him
their secret. Luke’s account is a little unclear about what happened to Simon
the sorcerer, but church tradition tells us that he became the founder of the
cult of Gnosticism.
In Acts 15, the church had to deal with teachers that began to tell the
Gentiles they needed to be circumcised in order to be
saved.
Paul had warned the church in Ephesus:
(Acts 20:29–30
NKJV) —29 For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in
among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the
disciples after themselves.
At the end of the first century John will receive his “Revelation” which
includes seven letters from Jesus to seven of the churches in Asia Minor. Five
of those seven churches were rebuked by Jesus for having teachings or practices
that were contrary to what Jesus taught.
It’s kind of strange to me, but even today there are some folks who are
leaving Evangelical, Bible-teaching churches to join the “old” churches like
the Eastern Orthodox or Roman Catholic churches.
One of the attractions these churches have is that they are “old”.
But keep in mind, an “old”
church may also contain a lot of “old” stinky baggage.
Here’s what Jude says was his reason for writing
this short letter:
(Jude 3–4 NKJV) —3 Beloved, 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. 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked
out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into
lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Just a few brief notes here.
Jude contrasts two things:
:3 the faith which
was once for all delivered to the saints
The term “faith” (Greek: pistis) can refer
to our belief in Jesus, or our trust in God as we pray, but here it is used to
refer to the “body of teachings” that we adhere to as Christians.
It’s important later on to remember how Jude uses
the term “faith”.
Jude is talking
about the teachings of Jesus that were given “once for all”.
They haven’t changed over time. They haven’t been revised over time.
Yes, some things might have seemed unclear and then got cleared up (like
the Gentile issues), but the same body of truth has been there all along.
Some of those teachings came from Jesus Himself, like the things we have
recorded in the gospels.
Some of those teachings came through the apostles that Jesus appointed.
Those teachings were recorded in their letters, like those of Paul, Peter, and
John.
Warren Wiersbe writes,
When the church
assembled the New Testament books, it was required that each book be written
either by an apostle or by someone closely associated with an apostle.
Apostolic teaching was, and still is, the test of truth.[1]
:4 certain men have
crept in unnoticed
The main portion of Jude’s letter is to draw attention to these “false teachers”
that were leading the church astray.
I’m not going to spend time looking at all the aspects of these “false” or
“apostate” teachers.
My goal is to look at the “maintenance check” at the end of the letter
where Jude gives us how we can stay “healthy” with Jesus.
Let’s stand and read verses 20-21 together…
(Jude 20–21 NKJV) —20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith,
praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God,
looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Jude 20-21
:20 But
you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the
Holy Spirit,
:20 But you, beloved
Jude has been talking about these apostate teachers and he’s described them
as …
(Jude 16 NKJV) These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words,
flattering people to gain advantage.
And…
(Jude 19 NKJV) These are sensual persons, who cause
divisions, not having the Spirit.
And in verse 20, Jude wants to
encourage his readers to be different than those false teachers. There should
be a difference between those who don’t follow the truth and those who do.
And he calls his readers
“beloved”.
This is the third time he’s
called them that.
(Jude 3 NKJV) Beloved, 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.
(Jude 17 NKJV) But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by
the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ:
:20 building yourselves up on
building – epioikodomeo – (from three words: upon + house +
house top) – “to build upon”
The word is painting the
picture of the construction of a building, but
specifically building a building upon some kind of foundation.
A brief word of grammar here.
This word is what we call
a “participle”. I’ll talk more about
this towards the end.
A form of the word (oikodomeo) is used by Jesus to talk about how you
choose to build your life:
(Matthew 7:24–27
NKJV) —24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I
will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and
beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But
everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a
foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain
descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it
fell. And great was its fall.”
In this
parable, the house is a picture of a person’s life. The foundation that the
house is built upon is not just the teachings of Jesus, but whether
or not a person chooses to obey the teachings.
Paul uses the word (epioikodomeo) to talk about his ministry starting
the church in Corinth,
(1 Corinthians 3:10–11 NKJV)
—10 According to the grace of God which was
given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other
foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold,
silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s
work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be
revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it
endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s
work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as
through fire.
Paul says he’s
laid a “foundation” for each person, and the foundation is Jesus Christ (vs.11)
Our passage
also hints our “foundation” is also our “most holy faith”.
We ought to be
careful what we are building on top of that foundation.
:20 your most
holy faith
faith – pistis – “faith”
This word has a “wide semantic
range”, or, a variety of ways it can be translated
depending on the context. Three of the more common meanings are:
1. Someone or something that is worth trusting. We might call this “faithfulness”.
(Galatians
5:22 NKJV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
2. The state of believing or the action of trusting
something.
(Ephesians
2:8 NKJV) For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
We see this usage the most, over
200x.
We are saved by
“believing” in Jesus and what He’s done for us.
When we pray,
we need exercise our “faith” in God.
3. The thing that is “believed”. The body of trusted teaching.
That’s how Jude is using
the word here.
Definition #2
is used 200+ times, while this definition is used perhaps 5 times.
We call the teachings of Jesus and
the apostles “the faith”.
This is how
Jude used the word back in verse 3 -
(Jude 3 NKJV) …the faith
which was once for all delivered to the saints.
It’s also used
this way in:
(Romans 1:5 NKJV) Through Him we have received grace
and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His
name,
(Galatians 1:23 NKJV) But they were hearing only, “He who
formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to
destroy.”
(2 Timothy 4:7 NKJV) I have fought the good fight, I have
finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Some of us grew up in
churches that would recite things together like the Nicene Creed, or the “Apostles’s
Creed” that starts out with:
“I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord…who was conceived by the
Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.”
The word
“Creed” is based on the Latin word credo, which means “I believe”.
When Jude is talking about
“building yourselves up on your most holy faith”, I don’t think he’s talking
about “strengthening your ability to trust God”.
He’s talking about making
sure that the things you add to your “beliefs” are the correct things.
He’s
talking about making sure your doctrine is correct.
That’s the sense he used back in
verse 3
(Jude
3 NKJV) …exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was
once for all delivered to the saints.
This is the problem with the
false teachers.
They were adding things to
people’s beliefs that weren’t true.
Wrong teaching
leads to wrong living.
Jude warned
that these false teachers lived lives of sexual immorality, greed, and
rebellion.
But in contrast to the false
teachers, our body of “faith” is …
most holy – hagios
– set apart, dedicated to God, sacred, holy.
This word is an adjective.
Adjectives can be either positive (“good”), comparative
(“better”), or superlative
(“best”).
Here the adjective is in
the “superlative” form.
The adjective “holy” could be formed as “holy”,
“holier”, or “holiest”. Or … “most holy”
Another way
would be “holy”, “more holy”, and “most holy”.
This is the
only time in the New Testament that the term “most holy” is found.
This contrasts to the false teachers who were
characterized by “sexual
immorality” (vs.7), “lusts” (vs.16), and as “sensual persons” (vs.19).
The body of teaching that we
hold to is not like these things. It is not just “a holy faith”. It is not a “holier”
faith, but is indeed “the most holy faith”.
If your “faith” (as in the
body of teachings you believe in) does not lead to a more “holy” life, then
Houston, we have a problem.
How do we build upon our
“most holy faith”? How
do we build on what we believe?
It starts with recognizing the
foundation that we are building our lives upon.
Our foundation is Jesus Christ.
Have you made
Him the Lord of your life?
From
there you need to be careful what you use for building materials.
Our building material should
be God’s Word.
(2
Timothy 3:16–17
NKJV) —16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete,
thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Some churches have chosen
to add to the authority of God’s word.
Orthodox (Greek, Eastern,
Russian, etc.) churches as well as the Roman Catholic church have chosen to hold their
own “traditions” as being equally authoritative.
When a
patriarch or pope make certain declarations, they can be seen as being as
authoritative as Scripture.
Do you believe you are “saved by grace”?
So do these
churches, but they teach that one of the ways you receive “grace” is through eating the
eucharist, through taking communion.
That’s why you
must take communion at their churches if you want to be saved.
In their First
Vatican Council (1870), the Roman Catholic Church decided that the Pope has the ability to speak with infallible authority, or “ex
cathedra”.
In other words,
when he speaks in this fashion, his words carry the same weight as your Bible.
It doesn’t mean
that everything the pope says or does is perfect, just when he gives these
certain decrees.
It’s only
happened a few times since 1870.
In 1854, Pope
Pius IX declared that Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her
conception. This wasn’t really a new teaching, but had
actually been hinted at by some of the 2nd
and 3rd century church fathers.
Pope Pius XII
(1950) gave one such decree when he declared that Mary, at the end of
her earthly life, was taken body and soul into heaven. This is called “The Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin Mary”.
He then added …
Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare
willfully to deny or to call into doubt that which We have defined, let him know
that he has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith.[11]
When the Pope
issues a decree “ex cathedra”, he is claiming to speak with the same inerrant
authority as your Bible.
The Orthodox
churches don’t use this type of terminology, but by practice they follow the
same idea. When an early church father
taught something, it may enter into their accepted
doctrine.
Contemporary churches can
have wrong ideas as well.
You create your
own future by “speaking” things – “name it and claim it”.
You deserve to
be “healthy” – God will always heal you.
The Bible is
full of flaws, you can’t trust it.
Jesus
never claimed to be “God”.
God no
longer works through the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
God is
okay with gay marriage.
God
stopped choosing the Jewish people and the “church” gets to inherit all the
promises God originally intended for the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The problem comes when we make
ourselves the authority over what to believe or not
believe.
(2
Timothy 4:3–4 NKJV)
—3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,
but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they
will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be
turned aside to fables.
There are
difficult doctrines in the Bible like the reality of hell for the unbeliever. I’ve
heard way too many people say, “I just don’t believe that” when it comes
to the Scriptures.
What’s their
authority? They make themselves the authority.
It’s like the
nation of Israel in the book of Judges:
(Judges 21:25 NKJV) In those
days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in
his own eyes.
How do we build ourselves up on
our “most holy faith”? Here’s
the first “maintenance check”.
Lesson
1. Build with the Word
Read your Bible
The whole Bible. This is where you will find the
“faith once for all delivered to the saints”.
I think every
believer ought to have a daily practice of reading through the Bible.
I’ve been
reading through the Bible once a year for over forty years.
I don’t do it
because I think I’m earning brownie points with God. I do it because I want to
know His Word. If “all” scripture is
profitable, I want to know all of it.
When I was
hired as an assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel Anaheim in the early 1980’s, I
had to admit that I had never read the entire Bible.
I had been a
Christian for 15 years, been to many Bible studies, had even graduated from
seminary with a degree in Bible Exposition, but had never read the entire
Bible.
So I started
reading. My goal was and has been to read through the Bible every year.
To read the
Bible in a year, it really only takes about 15 minutes
a day. Three chapters a day.
But it’s okay
if you choose to read through the Bible every two years or every three
years. Just keep reading through the
Bible. And then do
it again.
Some might say,
“Don’t try to read through the entire Bible because you won’t understand it”.
I would reply,
“You are not going understand
everything the first time. How could you? But keep at it and you will
understand more and more each time you read through it.”
The first three
or four times though the Bible you are just learning the landmarks and finding
the great stories and passages.
As you keep at
it, you will find yourself making connections between the Old and New
Testaments. When your pastor teaches on Sunday or Wednesday, he will be adding
more info for your next time through.
Illustration
I used to be a bank teller. In the old days the “merchant teller” was the one who took in the
cash deposits from various businesses. They handled the most cash during the
day. I did that job for a while. The deposit for the gas station always smelled a little of oil and
gasoline. But the deposit from the donut shop! Yummy! When another teller
suspects a bill is
a counterfeit, they always took it to the merchant teller.
They were the one quickest to spot a counterfeit. Why? Because they were so used to handling the
real thing.
You will find
that the more you work at reading your whole Bible, the less you will find
yourself interested in those goofy doctrines because you are
someone who is learning the bigger picture.
Sorry for the self-promotion, but I wrote a book a few
years ago called “Seven for Seven”, which will give you a few tools to help you develop
the simple spiritual habit of reading every day, as well as a reading plan and
a short one-page devotional for each day of the year that is based on what you
read for that day.
Study your Bible.
Each week learn to dig deeper
than just reading.
I hope that’s what you are doing
when you come to church.
I know that my own walk suffers
the less time I spend studying each week.
I recently had
to miss two Sundays in a row, and I have to tell you I
was hungry to get back to church and study with Bob.
I think it’s imperative that you are part of a solid
Bible-teaching church like the one you’re in right now. A church that is
committed to teaching the entire Bible, not just a pastor’s favorite stories.
There are all sorts of
resources available to help you study.
Be a part of a small group study, a
men’s study, a women’s study, or an SOD class.
There are books
and commentaries you can learn from.
There’s nothing better than to listen to Pastor Chuck teaching on a passage. His teachings are online at:
https://www.pastorchuck.org/
Pastor
Bob has his new “Ask Pastor Bob” AI app running on the church website where you
can ask it what Bob
teaches on the meaning of a particular verse.
By the way,
“Ask Pastor Bob” is abbreviated “APB” – kind of funny for an ex-cop.
https://www.askpb.com/chat.html
Pastor
Jack Abeelen recently retired from pastoring Morning Star Christian Fellowship.
He is now attending CCEA with us, and he’s one of the old breed
of Calvary Pastors – who has taught through the entire Bible multiple times. You can listen or watch his
teachings on every book of the Bible at https://jackabeelen.com/
I’ve taught through the Bible several times myself. You can find all my study notes, including this
study (in a few days), covering the entire Bible at https://www.richcathers.com/
The second thing Jude
encourages us to do is to be …
:20 praying
in the Holy Spirit
praying – proseuchomai – to petition deity, pray
There is nothing particularly
intriguing about this word. It is the fairly plain
vanilla word for “pray”. Words built upon the same root are found 134 times in
the New Testament.
But don’t mistake “plain
vanilla” for not important.
In the Sermon on the Mount,
Jesus uses this word five times…
(Matthew 5:44 NKJV) But I say to you, love your enemies,
bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for
those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
(Matthew
6:5–9 NKJV) —5 “And when you pray, you shall
not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the
synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.
Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you,
when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray
to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who
sees in secret will reward you openly. 7 And when you
pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they
think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the
things you have need of before you ask Him. 9 In this
manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
Jesus prayed every day,
often early in the morning.
(Mark 1:35 NKJV) Now in the
morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to
a solitary place; and there He prayed.
He would pray after a long day
of ministry.
(Matthew
14:23 NKJV) And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the
mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.
He prayed before going to the
cross.
(Matthew
26:36 NKJV) Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to
the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.”
Jesus expects His
disciples to be men and women of prayer.
(John 15:7–8 NKJV) —7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask
what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My
Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you
will be My disciples.
Another brief word of Greek
grammar here.
This word is also a
“participle”. Again, I will talk about why that’s important in a few minutes.
:20 in the Holy Spirit
Before unpacking this phrase, I
think it’s important to remind ourselves about the “baptism of the Holy Spirit”
Jesus said,
(Acts 1:5 NKJV) for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with
the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
The Greek here is en pneumati baptisthesesthe hagio.
We call this being “baptized in the Holy Spirit”.
John baptized people by dunking them into the water of the
river Jordan.
Jesus promises a different baptism, being baptized into
the Holy Spirit.
I do not believe this is the same as believers receiving the Holy Spirit
when they first believer.
Every believer in Jesus Christ has the Holy Spirit inside
them.
The question is, do they have the special empowering that
Jesus promised?
When Holy Spirit falls on a believer, He not only empowers them to be
witnesses, but to do all the things that Jesus wants them to do.
This is what happened on the day of Pentecost, to the
apostles who were already believers…
(Acts 2:4 NKJV) And they were all filled with the
Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them
utterance.
Note: I believe the Holy Spirit initially came into the
apostles in the upper room after the resurrection…
(John 20:22 NKJV) And when He had said this, He
breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
Paul wrote,
(Ephesians 5:18 NKJV) And do not be drunk with wine, in
which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
Paul here uses en pneumati. Probably the use of en
as “association”, but still en pneumati.
When we pray,
we want to be “filled” with the Spirit.
I think that
sometimes that simply means for us to take a second and stop, yield ourselves
to the Spirit, and then pray.
In the Greek, our phrase here is
en pneumati hagio. It uses the preposition en
with the dative case.
I think this phrase conveys at least two things:
Here’s what Dr. Daniel Wallace
says are the possibilities:
“Ἐν
is the workhorse of prepositions in the NT, occurring more frequently and in
more varied situations than any other. It overlaps with the simple dative uses to a great extent, but not entirely. The following
categories are for the most part painted with broad strokes.
1. Spatial/Sphere: in (and various other translations)
2. Temporal: in, within, when, while, during
3. Association (often close personal
relationship): with
4. Cause: because of
5. Instrumental: by, with
6. Reference/Respect: with respect to/with reference to
7. Manner: with
8. Thing Possessed: with (in the sense of which possesses)
9. Standard (=Dative of Rule): according to the standard of
10. As an equivalent for εἰς
(with verbs of motion)”[2]
I think the best possibilities are #1 and #5.
#1 would carry the idea that we are “in the sphere of the Holy Spirit”
(Wuest)
We are to pray “within the sphere of the Holy Spirit”
#5 would carry the idea that the Holy Spirit is “instrumental”.
We are to pray “with the help of” the Holy Spirit.
1. Spatial. We
are to pray “within the sphere” of the Holy Spirit.
It’s as if the Holy Spirit were like the pool in my backyard. In the picture, you could say
the “duck” is “in” the pool.
It’s not that I can’t pray anywhere in my house, but
Jude’s encouragement is to make sure you get into the pool, to be “in the Holy
Spirit” when you pray.
Play
“in the pool” video
When you pray, are you “in the pool”?
2. Instrumental.
We are to pray “with the help” of the Holy Spirit.
Here’s the
second “maintenance check”…
Lesson
2. Spirit led prayer
So how’s your prayer life?
The apostle John told us that if we ask anything according to God’s will,
God will give us what we’re asking for (1John 5:14-15).
(1 John 5:14–15
NKJV) —14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask
anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we
know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we have asked of Him.
We have the freedom to ask God for anything, at any time, but to be honest,
we don’t often know what we’re supposed to be asking for when we pray.
When a village
in Samaria wasn’t being particularly kind to Jesus and His disciples, James and
John asked Jesus for something (you and I call that “prayer”).
(Luke 9:54–55 NKJV) —54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to
command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” 55 But He
turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.
I find it interesting that Jesus used the word “spirit”
here. We are to be praying in the “Holy Spirit”.
We are really not much different
than James and John.
I’ve been convicted over how I’ve been praying for some
folks close to me who have been a bit rebellious against God. We may think we
know what God wants to do in a situation and pray for it, but what if we are as
“off” as James and John were?
We need the Holy Spirit’s help in our prayers.
(Romans 8:26–27 NLT) —26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our
weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for
us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the
Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit
pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.
What are these “groanings that cannot be expressed in words”?
Paul
may be referring to the gift of tongues.
Paul will refer to prayer in tongues as “praying with the
spirit” (1Cor. 14:14-15)
(1
Corinthians 14:14–15 NKJV) —14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit
prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. 15 What is the
conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the
understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the
understanding.
It may simply be an inner nudge you get while you are praying.
John describes Jesus as “groaning in Himself” at the tomb
of Lazarus.
(John
11:38–39 NKJV) —38 Then Jesus, again groaning in
Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was
dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead
four days.”
The point is that we want to learn how to yield to the leading of
the Spirit as we pray … as best as we can.
I find that as I pray for a particular thing over time, my
request may change a bit. I may realize I’m just a little off in what I’m
praying for. I may be praying for a marriage to be restored, but God wants me
to pray that hearts will change first. So I change what I’m asking for. I try to be open to the Spirit’s
leading.
Here’s the
third “maintenance check”…
Lesson
3. Don’t miss the holiness
Jude was concerned about
the false teachers and their lack of holiness.
(Jude 18 NKJV) … who would
walk according to their own ungodly lusts.
And so
Jude has not been too subtle in reminding us of the importance of “holiness”.
We are to build ourselves
on our “most holy” faith.
We are to pray in the “Holy”
Spirit.
Sometimes we lose sight of the
fact that our name for the Spirit of God is the “Holy Spirit”, not because “Holy” is His first
name. It’s what He is.
The Spirit is “holy” – He is “set
apart”, different from every other “spirit”. He is pure.
I often wonder what Paul was thinking when he first
met a group of “disciples” in Ephesus.
He seemed to know that something was “off” with them.
(Acts 19:2 NKJV) he said to
them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said
to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”
Underline that
word “Holy”.
I used to read
that last part with Goofy’s voice, as if these
fellows were some uneducated backwoods hicks.
But I wonder if
somehow Paul sensed a lack of holiness in their lives.
They didn’t
realize that a relationship with God involved Him making us more “holy”. Paul
then prayed for them, and they were baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Our faith, the body of teachings
that we hold to be true, is “most holy”.
The Spirit, who helps us pray,
is also “Holy”.
Be sure that both your beliefs
and your prayers are directing you more and more into
purity.
Paul wrote,
(Galatians 5:16 NKJV) I say then:
Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
John wrote,
(1
John 1:5–7 NKJV) —5 This is the message which we have
heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness
at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness,
we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we
walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Fellowship is
one of the ways that God helps us grow in holiness.
(Hebrews
3:12–13 NKJV) —12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in
any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,”
lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
:21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking
for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
:21 keep yourselves
in the love of God
This is the phrase that first drew me to teach on
this passage for tonight.
keep – tereo – to cause a state, condition, or activity to
continue, keep, hold, preserve
As far as grammar is concerned, this is NOT a participle, it’s an imperative, a command. I
will link all these grammar issues in a minute.
Jude doesn’t tell us to “get into” the love of God. He simply commands us to stay there.
Here’s the fourth “maintenance check”…
Lesson
4. Find the right love
We can get
ourselves into trouble when we are looking for “love” in all the wrong places.
Some of us are
longing for our spouse to “love” us the way we think we need to be loved.
We might do all sorts of things to try and get them to
“love us”, when the love we need to satisfy that deepest need is God’s love.
Some of us have
a parent that is/was hard to please.
Even as adults we can find ourselves trying to find dad’s
approval. I’ve known people who are
trying to find their dad’s approval even after they have passed.
Some single
folks are willing to cross all sorts of lines and ignore all the warnings from
God, just to get somebody they are attracted to in order to
notice them or spend time with them.
The love we
need is God’s love.
It’s that old, old truth, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells
me so”
I think there are times where we “feel” like we’ve moved outside of God’s
love.
The problem Jude is addressing is that we sometimes seem “forget” where we
are. We forget how vast and deep God’s love for us is.
The church in Ephesus was a good church. They were careful about their
doctrine. They did good works.
(Revelation
2:2–3 NKJV) —2 “I know your works, your labor, your
patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested
those who say they are apostles and are not, and have
found them liars; 3 and you have persevered and have
patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.
But Jesus saw they had a problem.
(Revelation
2:4–5 NKJV) —4 Nevertheless I have this
against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember
therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works…
They had drifted away from the love of God.
Jesus encourages the church to think back to that love
they once knew.
He encouraged them to turn around and “do the first
works”.
There is a
connection between God’s love and our obedience.
Jesus said,
(John 14:21 NKJV) He who has
My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will
be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
Does this mean that God only loves us when we are “good”
or “obey” Him?
No. But
looking at my obedience is a good litmus test to measure if my love for
God is real.
Part of that
obedience is how we treat others.
(1
John 4:20–21 NKJV)
—20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar;
for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom
he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have from
Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
Are we really “in the love of God” if we hate our brother?
Illustration
Garbage Truck
Someone wrote…One
day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the
airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space
right in front of us.
My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by
just inches! The driver of the other car
whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the
guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.
So I asked, “Why did you just do that? That guy almost ruined your car and sent us
to the hospital!”
This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, “The Law of the Garbage
Truck.”
He explained that many
people are like garbage trucks. They run
around full of garbage—frustration, anger, disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place
to dump it and sometimes
they’ll dump it on you.
Don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move
on.
Don’t take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or
on the streets.
The bottom line
is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Love the people who treat you right. Pray for
the ones who don’t.
How can I learn to do that?
Perhaps it’s all about how connected I am to God’s love
for me.
Is it possible
to get outside the love of God?
Theologically,
it is not possible.
(Romans 8:38–39 NKJV) —38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor
principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The problem is not with whether God loves us. He does.
Illustration:
The Amazon
River is the largest river in the world. There is enough water to
exceed the combined flow of the Yangtze, Mississippi and Nile Rivers. The
mouth is 100 miles across. So much water comes from the Amazon (this picture is
from about 450 miles up) that they can detect its currents 200 miles out in the
Atlantic Ocean.’ One
irony of ancient navigation is that sailors in ancient times
died for lack of fresh water... caught in windless waters of the South
Atlantic.’ They were adrift, helpless, dying of thirst. Sometimes other
ships from South America who knew the area would come alongside and call out, ‘What
is your problem?” And they would exclaim, “Can you spare us some
water? Our sailors are dying of thirst!” And from
the other ship would come the cry, “Just lower your buckets. You are in the mouth
of the mighty Amazon River.”
You my friends are already in the love of
God. Just lower your buckets and drink.
Keep yourselves
in the love of God
Illustration
Ernest Hemingway wrote a story about a father and his
teenage son. In the story, the relationship had become somewhat strained, and
the teenage son ran away from home. His father began a journey in
search of that rebellious son.
Finally, in Madrid, Spain, in a last desperate attempt to
find the boy, the father put an ad in the local newspaper. The ad read: ‘Dear Paco, Meet me in front of the newspaper
office at noon. All is forgiven. I love you. Your father.’ The
next day, in front of the newspaper office, eight
hundred Pacos showed up. They were all seeking forgiveness. They were
all seeking the love of their father.
May I make a suggestion?
I’d like to suggest that you indeed have a need to be loved. I believe God
designed you that way. But the love you are looking for is the love of God.
His love is the only thing that can fill that hole in your
heart that you are trying to cram things into.
In his email devotional dated 4/28/26, Greg Laurie wrote,
One of the first things I remember taking place when I
committed my life to Jesus Christ was the erosion of bitterness and anger in my
heart and the growth of a love I had not known before. That surprised me
because that bitterness and anger had been constant companions of mine. I had
nurtured them for longer than I could remember. But such is the power of God
and His love.
Do you remember experiencing God’s love for the first
time?
That was always one of the trademarks of Calvary Chapel in
the early days – the people’s love for God and their love for one another.
We used to sing songs like, “and they’ll know we are
Christians by our love, by our love, yes they’ll know we are Christians by our
love”
Love Song: Love Song
Love Song: Feel the Love
Calvary Chapel Bulletin:
Calvary Chapel is a fellowship of believers in the
Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our supreme desire is to know Christ and be conformed
into His image by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are not a denominational
church. We are not opposed to denominations as such only their over-emphasis of
doctrinal differences that have led to the division of the body of Christ. We
believe that the only true basis of Christian fellowship is His (agape) love
which is greater than any differences we possess and without which we have no
right to claim ourselves as Christians.
Let me stop
before our final phrase and connect the dots of Greek grammar.
Our text contains four phrases built on four verbs.
The first two
were participles (think of words ending in -ing), the
third was an
imperative (command), and the last will be another participle.
We understand “commands”, like our main verb “keep yourselves”, but we
often overlook what the participles are doing.
Greek participles can carry some interesting nuances to them, and here’s
how I see them affect our study.
The first two
participles (building, praying) convey “means”, or “how” the command of the main
verb (keep) can be accomplished.
Do you want to know “how” to keep yourselves in the love of God?
Reading and studying God’s word, as well as growing deeper
in prayer and more dependent upon the Holy Spirit – these are how we “stay” in
the center of that Amazon River of God’s love.
One commentator, Herbert Bateman translates our phrases
like this,
“20But you beloved, by building yourselves in
your most holy faith and by praying in the Holy Spirit, 21keep
yourselves in God’s love…”
The last
participle (“looking for”) is the “result” of keeping ourselves in God’s love.
God’s Word and
prayer are how we “keep ourselves in God’s
love”, and that
results in hope…
:21 looking for the
mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life
When we are secure in God’s love, we have a secure hope. We can be confident
that we will find His mercy on that day we see Him face to face.
looking for
– prosdechomai (“toward” + “receive”) – welcome,
to look forward to, to wait for
The word is used several times to talk about people who were “waiting for
the kingdom of God”.
Like Joseph of Arimathea …
(Mark 15:43 NKJV) Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting
for the kingdom of God…
and Simeon (Luke 2:25)
(Luke 2:25 NKJV) And behold, there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and
devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was
upon him.
and Anna (Luke 2:38)
(Luke 2:38 NKJV) And coming in that instant she gave
thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked
for redemption in Jerusalem.
Paul uses the same word to talk about how we should be …
(Titus 2:13 NKJV) looking for the
blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
We are waiting for, expecting heaven.
Are you looking forward to Jesus coming back, or are you a
little afraid of what might happen?
We are looking forward to God showing us “mercy” unto
eternal life.
We call this “hope”.
We have “hope” that one day we too will be in heaven with Jesus.
We have hope that one day all this mess we live in will be over.
Jude says we should be looking for and expecting something in particular –
“mercy”, the mercy that stretches into eternal life.
mercy – eleos – kindness or concern expressed for someone in
need, compassion
We often talk about “mercy” involving us NOT getting what we deserve (ie judgment).
But it carries just a little more to it than that.
The cry for “mercy” comes from someone who has a need, someone who is looking for God to do
something compassionate for them.
The person showing “mercy” is doing something to meet
another person’s need.
The word “alms” in the Bible is based on the word for “mercy”.
That beggar in the Bible asking for “alms” is literally asking for “mercy”.
The man with the epileptic son cried out to Jesus,
(Matthew
17:15 NKJV) “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an
epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into
the water.
The ten lepers cried out,
(Luke 17:13 NKJV) And they lifted up their voices and
said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
Blind Bartimaeus …
(Luke 18:38 NKJV) And he cried out, saying, “Jesus,
Son of David, have mercy on me!”
He wasn’t asking Jesus to withhold judgment, he was asking
Jesus to heal his eyes.
Here’s the last “maintenance check”…
Lesson
5. Expect mercy
We too have great
needs, starting with our great need for forgiveness and cleansing. Paul wrote,
(Titus 3:5 NKJV) not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved
us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
Have you found God’s forgiveness?
Jesus
died on a cross to pay for your sins so He could offer you God’s cleansing and
forgiveness.
You will not find it by cleaning yourself up, but by
asking for God’s mercy.
Are you like one of those sailors lost at sea, dying of
thirst?
God loves you and you need to open your heart to Him. Ask
for His mercy.
The Bible says,
(John 1:12 NKJV) But as many
as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those
who believe in His name:
When you open your heart to Jesus, you will find yourself “in the love of God” like
that Amazon River.
And God wants you to be so confident in what He’s done for you, that you can
“expect” mercy.
Some of you may have experienced some disappointment in life.
Even after choosing to follow Jesus, things haven’t turned out the way you
expected.
You may have been “hoping for mercy”, but life isn’t too merciful.
Illustration
There’s a
story about an old missionary couple coming home from spending years in
Africa. They were
booked on the same ship as President Teddy Roosevelt who was returning from a
successful big-game safari. As the ship pulled into the harbor, the crowds were lining
the docks to cheer on the President. But nobody was waiting or cheering for the
missionaries.
That night
the man was so depressed that nobody seemed to care about how they had spent
their life. The man’s wife said, “Why don’t you go in the bedroom and tell that
to the Lord?” A short time later he came out from the bedroom, but now his face
was completely different. His wife asked, “Dear, what happened?” “The Lord
settled it with me,” he said. “I told him how bitter I was that the President
should receive this tremendous homecoming, when no one met us as we returned
home. And when I finished, it seemed as though the Lord put his hand on my
shoulder and simply said,
‘But you’re not home yet!’”—
-- Ray Stedman, Talking to My Father
Tonight’s
maintenance check looks like this:
1. Build
with the Word
2. Spirit
led prayer
3. Don’t
miss the holiness
4. Find
the right love
5. Expect
mercy
In the next two verses Jude hints that if we are truly “looking for the
mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ”, then it should affect how we treat others as
well…
(Jude 22–23 NLT) —22 And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. 23 Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show
mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that
contaminate their lives.
The problem is, sometimes the things we think are
“merciful” aren’t really…
Illustration
No Rest For The
Weary
A pastor was walking down a country lane and sees a young
farmer struggling to load hay back onto a wagon after it had fallen off. “You look hot, my son,” said the minister. “why don’t you rest a moment, and I’ll give you a hand.” “No thanks,” said the young man. “My father
wouldn’t like it.” “Don’t be silly,” the
Pastor said. “Everyone is entitled to a break. Come, sit down and have a drink
of water.” Again
the young man protested that his father would be upset. Losing his patience,
the clergyman said, “Your father must be a real slave driver. Tell me where I can find him and I’ll give
him a piece of my mind for working you so hard!” “Well,” replied the young farmer, “he’s under
this load of hay.”
Believers, if we are truly looking forward to God’s mercy,
we need to also allow that mercy to affect how we treat others, including those
under that load of hay, who might be affected by the false teachers.
In Jesus’ day, there were few people hated more than the tax collectors.
These were Jewish men who worked for the evil Roman empire. They were
considered traitors. They were greedy men who cheated their own people. They
were “sinners”.
(Luke 19:1–10 NKJV)
—1 Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 2 Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief
tax collector, and he was rich. 3 And he sought to see who Jesus was,
but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for
He was going to pass that way. 5 And when
Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus,
make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. 7 But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has
gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” 8 Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the
Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken
anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” 9 And Jesus
said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son
of Abraham; 10 for the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save that which was lost.”
I know you don’t see the word “mercy” in this passage, but
it’s there. Zacchaeus has a need to know God. He has a
need to be loved. And Jesus has done both.
So how did Zacchaeus respond to this “mercy”?
He gave half of his wealth to the poor. He promised to repay anything he’d taken
wrongly from others.
Are you lost? Jesus has come to save you.
(Matthew 5:7 NKJV) Blessed are the merciful, For they shall
obtain mercy.
Sometimes we blow it, we stumble, and we get caught in sin.
I don’t know about you, but I am so thankful for God’s mercy.
But then we can turn around and become harsh or critical to others who
stumble.
I like God and others being merciful towards me with my
sin, but I might not be as kind towards you.
“My sin doesn’t look so good on you…”
(Matthew
7:1–5 NKJV) —1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged;
and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not
consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can
you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a
plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank
from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your
brother’s eye.
Herbert Bateman translates our passage as this:
20But you beloved, by building yourselves in your most holy
faith and by praying in the Holy Spirit, 21keep yourselves in God’s
love, while waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that brings eternal
life.[3]
Summarized from Wallace on participles.
These three participles would be classed as “adverbial” participles, giving
definition to the main verb (keep yourselves…). All are in the nominative case,
which point to this. There are eight
possible ways to interpret these, and context is the main deciding factor.
1.
“temporal” (present
participles – “while doing this…”)
All three participles could fall into this category, all being present
tense, all three showing that their understanding occurs at the same time as
the main verb (keep yourselves), so all could be translated “while doing this…”
(Bateman) LGCGNT: As a present temporal participle, προσδεχόμενοι (“looking for”) introduces a contemporaneous participle whose
action occurs simultaneously with τηρήσατε
(“keep”). So, Jude expects believers to make it a habit in preserving
themselves in God’s love while anticipating the return of the Lord Jesus, who
is the Christ (cf. v. 25).[4]
2. “manner” – the manner in which the finite verb
is carried out (by doing this…) (answers the question “how”) – but this is rare
3. “means” (answers the question “how”) “by” or “by means of”, it usually
follows the verb, but not always (this could be the first two)
(Bateman) LGCGNT: As a participle of means, ἐποικοδομοῦντες
indicates how the action of τηρήσατε
(“keep”) in verse 21a is achieved and thereby identifies the first of two ways
Judean believers are to keep themselves pure, namely, by building up each
other. So, unlike the ungodly mockers who divide, believers are to foster a
sense of comradery.[5]
(Bateman) LGCGNT: As a participle of means, προσευχόμενοι
also indicates how the action of τηρήσατε
(“keep”) in verse 21a is achieved and thereby identifies a second way Judean
believers are to keep themselves pure, namely, “by praying.” So, unlike the
ungodly mockers who follow natural instincts, believers are to pray in keeping
with the Spirit of God.[6]
4. “cause”, “because…”. Answers the question “why”, normally precedes the
verb (perhaps the first two participles?)
5. “condition” – “if” – “If you are building yourselves on your most holy
faith, if you are praying in the Holy Spirit, then keep yourselves in the love
of God…”
6. “concession” – doesn’t quite fit
7. “Purpose” – the participles are the purpose or reason we must keep
ourselves in the love of God. This answers the question “why”. This participle
follows the main verb (could be the final participle.). Shows “intention” of
main verb.
8. “Result” – this is the actual result of the main verb. Will be
present tense and follow the main verb (participle #3 might fit this).