Christianity has altered Western culture in many ways. You could say that Western culture depends on certain Christian ideas. However, I would never say that Western culture is Christian. Christianity is recognizing that Jesus is the king—forever. The kingdom of God is not a democracy. No one can send a delegation to Jesus to advocate for a change in the laws, nor can we vote for a new king. God is God, and we are not. Saying Jesus is king is a statement of fact, not wishful thinking.
God is God, and Jesus is King, but we have all followed our lower physical desires instead. Desires that often run contrary to God’s law and our own well-being. We are all slaves to sin by nature. Our situation is truly hopeless without God’s love and grace. Thankfully, God has given us grace in Jesus. Our situation is no longer hopeless. God has opened the door to eternal life for anyone who will put their trust in Jesus and walk away from those desires that ultimately destroy us.
This is the gospel. This is the grace of God, and it is glorious. Grace is the source of our hope and our joy. But like all good things, grace can be perverted into something it was never intended to be. Today, we are looking at the Letter of Jude, where we find the following troubling passage.
Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Jude 3-4 [ESV]
The faith we enjoy through the grace of God has been delivered once and for all. It doesn’t change because it doesn’t need to change. God’s grace is enough. But in Jude’s time, some wanted to alter the grace of God into something else. It seems they felt that grace gave them a license to sin. They imagined they were free to follow their lower physical desires since grace covers all. If grace covers all, then nothing we do matters. They desired the blessings of God’s grace but refused to change the direction of their lives. They had no intention of turning away from their lower sinful desires. Instead, They wanted to have the pleasures of sensuality and the joy of forgiveness at the same time. Jude describes this as a perverted grace, one without repentance or remorse. They saw grace as a license to sin. Or as Paul said to the Roman church:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Romans 6:1-2 [NASB]
Christianity is Directional
Repentance is an old word and often misunderstood. Repentance is a change of direction. We are either walking toward God or away from Him. Repentance is recognizing we are going in the wrong direction and redirecting our lives toward God. This will often take us in the opposite direction of our immediate self-interest and base physical desires. The grace of God leads to eternal blessing for anyone who turns and follows Jesus in faith. Then and now the call of Jesus is simple, “Follow me.”
The people Jude was describing, on the other hand, seemed to think the grace of God allowed one to indulge in sinful pleasures with God’s blessing. However, as Jude points out, refusing to follow Jesus is denying that Jesus is Lord and Master.
Where have these people gone?
Unfortunately, these people are still creeping around in the Church, sometimes unnoticed as in Jude’s day, and sometimes shouting their opinions from the housetops. There are many who desire to redefine the grace of God today. They would conflate love and invitation with acceptance and even affirmation of sinful behavior. They use words like inclusion and affirmation to negate the need for change in the lives of those who would follow Jesus. They are not offering freedom in Christ, but instead, they ask the Church to celebrate their slavery to sin by assuming that natural = good.
Natural does not equal good. We are all natural rebels and sinners. As a result, we were all slaves. The grace of God sets us free and gives us strength through faith in the power of God. Enabling us to live our lives free from our previous hopeless slavery to the desires of our lower nature. Paul tells us repeatedly that through the cross of Christ, our old lives have been crucified1. We are now new creations - we are no longer defined and enslaved to our sinful desires. Our identity is not defined by our physical desires and habits. Our identity is defined by God in Christ.
Jesus turned no one away, that’s true, but it’s also true that no one encountered Jesus and remained unchanged. Either they repented and followed him or refused and went home with harder hearts than when they came. I don’t mean to be offensive. However, this is the gospel, and if it does not work for all, it does not work at all.
If some are exempted from the need to change, then why must I? If no one needs to change, then what exactly is the gospel? Is it a get-out-of-jail-free card? Does this get-out-of-jail-free card work the same way for murderers, rapists, drug dealers, genocidal maniacs and politicians? What about justice? These are serious questions and won’t just go away because they make us uncomfortable in our current culture.
So now what?
So what should a believer do in a world like ours? Paint a sign and run out on the street in counter-protest? I doubt it. We are called to be fishermen, not fighters. When we fight, those we push against instinctively push back—the odds of anyone truly winning drop to virtually zero.
Winning is not fighting to prove I am right and they are wrong.
Winning is convincing them that Jesus is right and we are all wrong.
And we all need to change.
The only answer is to turn and follow him. I can’t change the minds of government officials or denominational leaders, but I can follow Jesus, and I can tell the truth. I can pray that those above my station and sphere of influence can come to the realization that there is still one higher and that one day they will answer to Him—no matter who they are or think they are. Jesus is and always will be king.
I can also encourage others as the madness of this world threatens to overwhelm them. We can encourage each other to continue on the path of Jesus—despite all the pressure to turn and follow the culture to destruction.
When I say encourage I literally mean to fill each other with courage. Fear is the Devil’s main weapon. We are afraid to speak the truth, we are afraid to be identified as different. We are afraid of being called names. I was afraid to write this article, thinking maybe some of my supporters would stop supporting me.
It’s ironic that concern for the eternal well-being of others can be labeled as hate. But we live in a crazy world where boys are girls, up is down, and being popular is perceived as being right. A world that denies the existence of absolute truth but thinks those that disagree are absolutely wrong.
Jesus is the only legitimate authority all the rest are usurpers, posers, and wannabes. The day is coming when this will all become clear, but while we wait we demonstrate that the kingdom of God has come. There is hope for all who will recognize their hopeless state and turn to follow Jesus. Jude ends this difficult little letter with the following doxology of hope and blessing.
Now 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. Jude 24-25 [ESV]
Have a great week!
“14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;”
2nd Corinthians 5:14-18 [ESV]
Share this post