Woe to them

 Still continuing to speak about false teachers, Jude leads on from how to spot them, to this;

*11*Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. *12*These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; *13*wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. 

Jude 11–13.

Well, as Jude writes this he seems really sad and distressed. The many connotations he uses as well as the first exclamation - ‘Woe to them!’ all build together to build a sad, derelict picture. Jude is expressing great distress and sorrow for these people that have gone off track. Jude is showing that false teachers, these people leading irreverent lives are to be pitied, not judged. Jude knows that they are not living in the freedom they could have and he knows what awaits them so that prompts him to express deep sadness over them. Jude shows what the outcome will be for the people who are living a false life of faith and lead others to do the same - he explains it in this letter. Jude sees it is an awful thing to see others follow the desires of the human nature rather than God’s way and he is full of sorrow about it. 

Is that your response when you see others going off track? 

It can seem that it is easier to judge others than to express 'woe' over them. When you see others going awry, what is your response? Do you wish to reach out and help them or give them a good telling off?  These people are lost, they are in error, they need help. If you were going wrong, what would help you? Let us treat one another well and do our best to lead others into truth. 

Verses 12-13 are full of oxymorons that demonstrate the contradictory lifestyles of these men and women swayed by incorrect teaching. It shows the unnatural way the false teachers are living; ‘waterless clouds’, ‘swept along’, ‘shepherds feeding themselves’.  These are all contradictory, and describe what does not occur naturally. How can clouds be waterless or shepherds only feed themselves? Surely they cannot be classed as shepherds If they do that? These phrases are showing that the false teachers are living contrary to the natural way. This way of life should not be. It is contrary to the design of God and His natural order. No wonder Jude declares 'woe' over them. They have got something wrong and they cannot see it, they believe they are forgiven and free but instead of living in the freedom of God which separates us from sin, they are continuing in sin whilst saying they believe in God. It seems that the false teachers declare with their mouths that there is a God that has changed their lives, whilst continuing to live a life unchanged in some areas. They are still being ‘swept along’ with the desires of the body, living life as the rest of the world does; unboundaried and untamed. Not living in the full realisation of complete freedom and forgiveness through Jesus which leads to a life of repentance, forgiveness and unbounded love. (Not continuous sin, excuses and immoral behaviour). No wonder Jude is distressed by this; some people are going along thinking they are living a life with God, but they are not aligning their words and actions with God’s expectations, desires and plans for their lives. Therefore they do not fully know the love and freedom that Jesus has won for them. 

You may now be asking yourself, well, what can i do about it? 

Well, firstly, double check your own life. Consider what you are demonstrating about a life of faith. Are you really living as God wants you to? Or are you stuck with things that are holding you back but you are not letting go of? Today, God offers you a new chance to align your life with the life He intends for you - are you going to accept it? The people Jude is speaking about may not have intended to lead people astray, but they have got something wrong and got carried away with their own thoughts and desires and taught others to do the same. So keep a check on yourself. Be mindful of what you express and model to others about a life of faith. Deal with the sin that so easily entangles and get help to get out of it.

Secondly, are you confident in spotting false teaching? Are you mindful of what are you exposing yourself to? Are you good at aligning what you read, hear and watch with the Bible as your plumb line of truth? Do you just listen to what you want to hear or whatever is popular? Do you read your Bible? Unless you know what it says, how do you know if anything else lines up with it?

Thirdly, do you know people that may be going astray? If so, pray about how to speak to them and guide them into knowing God more fully in their lives. It is a deeply sad thing to see people not grasping the reality of the freedom and forgiveness they have in Jesus, there is no need to judge them, but there is reason to feel sad about it - so pray and speak as the Holy Spirit leads. 

Spotting false teachers

 Jude has a loving, accepting and generous heart to these ‘beloved’ ones to whom he writes. They are beloved of God and of himself. They are affectionately known and attached to Jude, and from the first two verses we can see that he wishes them well. He wants the best for them, he wants them to know greater peace, mercy and love. Therefore he is writing to them as he has clearly had some news that has concerned him about their understanding and behaviour. So it is through love that he writes;

*3*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. *4*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 v 3–4.

As Jude anticipated writing this letter, he really was excited about doing so because he knows the faith they have and share and it is exciting to communicate with those on the same page. Yet he clearly has been made aware of some concerns, and like someone who loves dearly, he now recognises that he needs to write in a different way - to instruct and warn, so that these people can get back on track. He loves these people and so does not want them to go astray, but wants them to be aware and prepared for danger. It is the same for us - we want to instruct, guide and warm our loved ones about the way they are going. For example, think of teaching a child to cross the road; you do not leave them to find out the danger themselves, but you see it, teach them how to keep safe and warn them of the dangers. Taking time to clearly explain and show what can happen and how to avoid harm. This is how Jude is writing to these people, from the perspective of a loving parent trying to guide these people in their faith. 

Jude sees that these beloved ones are in danger of tarnishing the faith they have by being swayed by unhelpful teaching. So he is writing to show them how to handle this. In these two verses he is showing that not all teaching is equal, that there are those that will turn others away from Christ, therefore we need to be aware of that and ready to respond - just like a child learning to cross the road - you need to stop, look and listen, and then decide how to react. Jude is showing that we should not accept everything we see, hear or read, but we need to learn to stop - reflect on the message being delivered, look - check to see if it lines up with other scripture and listen - to the Holy Spirit and to what people are teaching to check if they edifying Christ as Master and Lord or something else.

The people that are coming in and instructing this set of people, are what people now commonly term, “false teachers”. These are people claiming to be, and probably believing they are fellow followers of God. Yet they are not elevating Christ but other things. Somewhere along the way they have not fully believed that Christ is Lord, and they are convincing others to live as they do. Therefore we need to be on guard that the messages we are hearing, seeing and reading are glorifying of God not anything else. It may be that the concepts seem thought-provoking, insightful, persuasive, and inviting, but it doesn't necessarily them true. 

So what was happening? These false teachers were coming amongst the people of God and telling them about how they could believe in God, but also enjoy the pleasures of the world/flesh. They were not focussing on the fact that Christ has been crucified for every sin and therefore you do not need to be beholden to it anymore, rather they were modelling a life where sin was acceptable because Jesus died to take it away therefore it does not matter. They were focussing on things that distract from Jesus, not keeping the main thing the main thing. 

The reality is, it is sometimes nice to hear some of the things these people say, and we can want their theories and explanations to be true. The things they can tell us sound easy, inviting, like something we want or hope for. They appeal to our human desires. I think that in this day and age, we are more likely to be led astray. We are more likely to be exposed to and accepting of wayward instruction as we have even more influencers, ideas, teaching and theories accessible to us. The plethora of viewpoints and popular, interesting teaching that we can read, listen to and watch is huge through a wide range of media. So, we too really need to listen and take onboard what Jude is saying lest we become persuaded by those who are leading away from Christ. 

Jude can help you and I consider whether anything that we are accessing really does align with who Jesus is and what the Bible says. We  all need to learn to discern what is good and right to listen to, watch and read before we just take it onboard. Just because the person speaking says they are a christian, or what they say is popular does not always mean that we should follow them. Not all teaching is beneficial or uplifts Jesus. Make sure you know how to tell the difference between the genuine and the fake. This is what Jude is warning about. Be aware of what you are taking onboard. You have permission to (and there is an expectation that you) weigh what you are being taught. Jude was brave enough to counter this false teaching, he did not contend with the teachers themselves in these letters, but he equipped God’s people in how to respond to them and showing them how to spot them. Therefore ensure that you are equipped and that you are equipping others to follow Christ only. So how do you know if someone is genuinely leading to Christ or not?Jude shows us in v3-4 the main indicators for false teachers; 

1) If they are; teaching ‘sensuality’ and perverting the ‘grace of God’. In other words if they are teaching that; dong what your body wants is ok. Or if you ‘feel’ like doing something then go for it. You should be satisfied because God wants you to be happy - He says He will give you the desires of your heart, so go for it. Jesus died so that you don’t need to carry the weight of sin - you are forgiven, so it doesn’t matter if you’re giving into the desire of your heart or flesh, in fact it is permissible - These would all be the kind of things that false teachers may say. They may even back it up with scripture (out of context), but nowhere in the Bible does it teach that this is right. In fact, there is a lot of teaching about getting your desires in line, and there are multiple examples in scripture about people getting it wrong - learn from their mistakes, you don’t need to make your own. Your body, your emotions, your desires should not be your ‘Master and Lord’. Jesus should be.

2) False teachers also ‘deny’ Jesus as ‘Master and Lord’. Like hinted to in the first point, it is about who is in charge. Do those you are influenced by extol Jesus or do they deny the power, significance and salvation of Jesus? It may not be the main message of what they say, but if attention is drawn away from Jesus and onto something else, then be careful. Focus can be put onto many other things such as; people, angels, wealth, the body, Holy Spirit, sin, freedom. As you come across different teaching, ask yourself whether the main focus is Jesus. Are they majoring or minoring on him? If he is not the main focus, then do not allow that teaching to majorly impact your life as you will start to drift away from him and after other things. 

The message from these verses is that we should fight for the integrity of what we believe, and learn to evaluate what we are taught. Watch out for what you are taking onboard and ensure that you yourself are following Jesus as your only Master and Lord. Guard yourself from sensuality and from those who make less of Jesus, instead ‘contend for the faith’ - fight for it - knowing the importance of what you have and who Jesus is. The faith we contend for is the truth that Jesus is the Son of God, and he came and lived as a sin-free man before being condemned to die on the cross so that he could take the full weight of every sin and restore you and I to God the Father. There is nothing more you or I can do or believe than that. All of scripture leads to and through this fact. Do not let anyone else distract you with; superior knowledge, angelic dreams, power, influence, money, persuasive arguments. When you listen and learn from others, always consider who/what are they pointing at? Are they making much of anything or anyone else other than Jesus? If so, then as Jude tells us to contend for the faith we have.