Got any brothers you worship?
“1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: 2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.” (Jude 1-2–ESV)
Christ is foremost
Who is this fellow:
- Most likely the brother of James the prominent leader of the Jewish church at Jerusalem
- That James was the brother of Christ (probably the eldest)
- This makes Jude a brother of Christ placing him in the household of Mary & Joseph
- Remember that household had for a period of time during Christ’s life sought to commit Jesus on the presumption of insanity
- Since he identifies himself as the servant rather than the brother of Jesus a great change of perception had happened in his life
- It also means that he considers himself in a different category than Jesus
When one stirs up these viewpoints on the Christian so much is being said. Chief of these is that Jesus is to be foremost in everything. That Jude self-identifies as a brother of James rather than a brother of Jesus implies many, many things. Jude would have been an eyewitness of the rise of Jesus from carpenter’s son to Messiah. During that rise Jude’s family had at least once sought to commit Jesus on the basis of insanity. In this first verse, however, Jude is clearly committed TO Jesus as Christ, the anointed one sent from God. Committed he is to the point where he self-identifies as a servant of Jesus the Christ. So Jude while a brother is not name dropping to boost his own credentials. He makes it clear that Jesus Christ is in an entirely different category than he.
What does that imply for the Christian today? If a brother-witness to the man Jesus is making these statements what does it say to me? Here was a Jewish man who would have been steeped in that ancient culture. He would have possessed the same stereotype of Messiah as king that Peter and the other disciples did. He was at least a witness if not a participant in the families efforts to commit Jesus as crazy. He rejected the Jewish stereotypes of his time and became committed to Christ. He looks to Jesus for his salvation, his sanctification, and his security. The observations this man made made this man change. This is an evidence that gives reason to faith.
Givens of the Christian
There are three descriptors he uses of his recipients:
- Called (saved)
- In the gospels the calling and the accepting are often kept as separate features
- God gave the call
- Man accepted or rejected
- In the letters that distinction disappears to the point that called is equivalent to those who are saved, who are in the kingdom of God, they are believers.
- Jude is not writing this letter to those who have heard the beckoning of God but have yet to submit unto it.
- Jude is writing the letter to believers
- In the gospels the calling and the accepting are often kept as separate features
- Loved (sanctified)
- Knowing the benevolence of God they have been made holy. They are sanctified, “holyized” so to speak if one looks into the Greek 1
- Kept or preserved (secured)
- for Jesus Christ
- by Jesus Christ
- in Jesus Christ
- Prepositions are needful in the English language
Needs are not neutralized
Have you ever tried to straighten a wire hanger your hands or even a pliers? Does it ever again attain that straightness it had right off of the roll? No matter how much you use pliers and work at the bends they remain. They may diminish and there may be some master craftsmen who can get them almost all out, but the lack of perfection will always remain.
People are like bent hangers, and the bent characters we have will have kinks till we kick the bucket. Every kink is an imperfection and for those mercy is needed. Jude in this introduction pronounces to them a multiplication of this mercy.
What about peace? Is the believer at rest in their souls at all moments? Certainly not. Time and again the features of life inject features of edginess and ill-ease. Even in the life committed to Christ the barbs come that poke and hurt and injure and unsettle. Jude is thus well aligned with us when he pronounces a proliferation of peace.
What about the agape, the love, the benevolence of God? As there are always kinks before the final maturity is attained there will always be the need of God’s interventions of love. We always need God. He knows this and in his character provides what we need for life and godliness.
Man does not come to a point where he no longer needs God’s mercy. Man does not come to a point where he needs no more peace. Man does not come to a point where he needs no more benevolence. Our needs are not neutralized but provided for.
Key points from this introduction:
- Jude and James were from a family that for a time thought Jesus was crazy. That was not their final answer.
- Jude and James consider their brother Jesus as Christ (the Messiah)
- Even the saved need mercy
- Even the Christian needs peace
- We always need God’s benevolence
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