But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
Jude 1:20-21 (NIV)

I spent a short period of time at a fundamentalist school. It was one of the strangest, yet most profitable, experiences of my life. The school was rabid about doctrinal purity—so rabid that purity itself became an idol.

Doctrinal purity, the schools doctrine, was of utmost importance.
Honest inquiries were squelched and treated as suspicious behavior.
Professors were questioned at the risk of being labeled a troublemaker.
Professors graded papers like it was a witch-hunt for heresy.

Behavioral control became the fruit, rooted in thought control.

Today’s brief trek through the letter of Jude is an apt follow-up to our trek through Peter’s letters. They all address a growing problem within the exploding Jesus Movement of the first century. There was no New Testament yet—it was still being written. There were no formal institutions of Christian education, people were learning from listening to eye-witnesses of Jesus and reading their letters. It was organic and fluid, and that made it susceptible to individuals who leveraged the moment for their own personal gain.

The early Jesus movement was all about selflessness and generosity. They took care of the physical needs of others. And, whenever you start giving stuff away for free, you’ll attract those who see an opportunity to get something for nothing.

Even Jesus saw that the crowds weren’t following Him for spiritual food—but for free filet-o-fish sandwiches. He called them out for their skewed motivations. Then He told them the next course would be His flesh to eat and His blood to drink. The crowds walked away. Even Jesus’ inner circle of followers began to question.

Now, it’s the followers of Jesus handing out the fish sandwiches, but the result is the same.

Human nature doesn’t change.

Once more attracting a crowd that includes individuals with selfish motives. Paul dealt with it. Peter dealt with it. Jude is dealing with it.

Some of these con-men were in it for the money. They pretended to be preachers and apostles so that the local gathering of Jesus’ followers would invite them in, give them shelter, feed them, and even pay them.

Others were taking the teaching of Jesus to justify other appetites.

They distort grace into license.

Grace becomes permission.
Mercy becomes indulgence.
Freedom becomes appetite.

The sensual temptation is subtle:
“God forgives. So indulge.”
“God understands. So indulge.”
“God is love. So indulge.”

Jude calls this out. Then he taps zakhor memory and provides a historical list of examples. Israel in the wilderness, rebellious angels, and Sodom and Gomorrah.

Jude reminds his readers, reminds me, that Jesus calls us to a radical grace and a radical holiness that hold a tension for disciples of Jesus. When either is severed from the other, disaster follows.

Grace without holiness becomes indulgence.
Holiness without grace becomes cruelty.

Jude fights to keep them married. And, that is the heart of Jude’s letter as he contends against the self-justified indulgence of greed and sensual appetites that are rampant among the early Jesus Movement.

But, here is where I find our enemy gets even more cunning in the chess match with those who would follow the Truth. For intellectual pride and control of others is as destructive an appetite as pleasures of the flesh. Even well-intentioned believers can indulge those subtler appetites.

The heresies Jude writes about become a license for thought control and theological witch hunts.

Purity of thought gets layered like frosting over purity of behavior.

Freedom in Christ becomes shackled in the prison of fundamentalist rule-keeping and thought policing.

One type of heresy gives birth to another on the opposite side of the spectrum. I have flirted with both extremes at different points along my journey.

Human nature doesn’t change.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself back at the point of tension between these two heretical extremes. That’s where I find Jude landing as he finishes his letter to all who would sincerely follow Jesus as disciples.

• Build yourselves up in your most holy faith.
• Pray in the Holy Spirit.
• Keep yourselves in God’s love.
• Wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice the verbs.

Build.
Pray.
Keep.
Wait.

Active. Relational. Expectant.

This isn’t passive drift. It’s muscular devotion.

Not everyone wandering is a wolf.
Some are just confused.
Some are seduced.
Some are singed but salvageable.

Discernment without mercy is brutality.
Mercy without discernment is naïveté.

Jude calls me to both as I walk among those across both sides of the spectrum. And, having walked this spiritual journey for over 40 years, I can tell you that those on both sides of the heretical spectrum are always around.

Human nature doesn’t change.

I found, however, that there is redemption of that human nature available to me by grace through faith in Jesus, who then calls me to:

Radical grace and radical holiness.
One more day on the journey, I choose to hold the tension.

Taking tomorrow off. Our chapter-a-day journey continues to Esther on Wednesday!

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.