Episode 205: November 3, 2024 - Jude and Doxology - Part 1

Eternity Church PodCast

A Sunday morning sermon by Pastor Brett Deal. During heightened times of aggressive political rhetoric and social upheaval, it’s hard to be at peace. Name-calling and accusation slinging feel like daily occurrences. All the televised vitriol can leave us unsettled and dis-enchanted. In a sociopolitical environment fostering “us-vs-them” thinking, we unconsciously find ourselves drawing dividing lines between ourselves and others. In the process, we absolve ourselves of any consequence as we burden others with our choices. We would be wise to heed the Swahili proverb: kikulacho kiko nguoni mwako, “That which consumes you is concealed within your clothing.” Andrew Mbuvi tells us “The common understanding of the Swahili saying is that the source of one’s trouble is usually those closest to him or her. It is usually used as a warning to the fact that those most likely to cause you the gravest harm tend to be the ones closest to you, since they know both your strengths and weaknesses.” Jude, the brother of Jesus, wanted to write the church and celebrate about the joy of salvation they shared, but faced with troubled times within the church, he was compelled to write a very different letter, one that speaks to us in our current times as much as it did two thousand years ago. Beloved, reading Jude’s words will challenge us. So, as we set out to receive the Word of the Lord, let us root our reading in his first and final words. Jude begins by reminding his brothers and sisters in Christ who they are: called by the Father, beloved and kept in Christ. He concludes his letter in a doxology, a hymn of praise “to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” Friend, let’s not allow ourselves to be consumed from within by fighting or fear. Hearing Jude, let’s hold nothing back from the Spirit, remembering who we are and who Jesus, our Savior and Lord, is.