Jump Start # 1163

Jude 4 “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

    The book of Jude is one of five books in our Bible that has only one chapter. Most of this book characterizes trouble makers who are sent on causing damage among God’s people. Later we are told that these people are “grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering the people for the sake of gaining an advantage” (v. 16). These are not good people. They have an agenda and it’s not God.

Our verse begins this long section by stating that certain ones have “crept in unnoticed.” What an interesting expression. They were subtle. They achieved an entrance and an acceptance. Jude knew and now he was warning the church about them.

You won’t find these verses in most devotionals. There isn’t much happy, happy, happy to be found here. Yet, these verses should not be overlooked because of the serious tone that they carry.

Consider a few thoughts:

1. “Crept in among you,” does not mean that they slipped in the back door or they climbed in through the window of the church building. Remember, back then, there were no church buildings. The creeping in, was not in a building but in a fellowship. They pretended to be Christians. They faked being believers, when they were not. Our verse states that they “deny  our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” You can’t be a Christian and deny Christ. Christian and Christ go together. It means belongs to Christ. How did they accomplish this? Some know the right words to say. Some are good at putting on a show. They were slick. They fooled the church. These “crept in unnoticed.” It didn’t mean that the church didn’t know that they were there, it means the church didn’t recognize their true colors. The church was fooled. They had an agenda that was ungodly. Their purpose was to disrupt and destroy the good that was going on.

– You’d think if they didn’t believe, why not just leave the church alone. Do your own thing. Some can’t stand that the church exists, so they set to undermine, destroy and deny all the good that it does. The same happens today. There are some militant and aggressively liberal thinking people that want the church to be outlawed and shut down. Some on the extreme homosexual movement are this way. Some foreign religions are this way. Some extreme evolutionists are this way. They can’t sit still as long as they know the church is in the community. Some things never change.

– Some people connect with a congregation but their motives are not genuine. Some have been told that unless you are a member, you cannot marry into the family. So, off they go and find a church to become a member of, however, they don’t believe. They are not interested. They have one intention, get married. They’ve faked their way into the hearts of a family and a church. Much too often, these folks don’t last long, in either the church or the marriage. They soon are off somewhere else. Sad, but they never truly believed.

2. How can a congregation know if someone is genuine or if they are playing a game? Generally, their attitude, actions, interests will reveal where their heart is. Jesus said where your treasure is that is where your heart will be. Playing church—it’s pretty easy to see after a while. Folks who play aren’t serious about learning, growing, sharing and becoming. They just want to fill a spot. They don’t volunteer. They don’t show up unless they have to. They don’t participate. They just come and sit. Sometimes they have even fooled themselves. They have convinced themselves that sitting in a church service is better than sitting at the lake fishing. Even though they are zoned out, half asleep, and clueless to anything that is going on, they are satisfied that they are doing good.

All of this reminds us that we leave impressions upon others. The way we worship and what we do together, leaves images for others. They see if we are serious or not. They see if we are excited or bored. They notice if we are going through the motions or if God is truly dwelling in our hearts. So this tells us that worship is much more than just between me and God. It’s more than just my praising God and my being thankful and edified. I’m leaving a mark for others to see and follow. Children will notice how their parents worship. My oldest, when he was just a little guy, would come home from services, stand on my brief case, take an old pitch pipe and mimic the song leaders from church. He was watching. Today, he is a fine song leader. People notice.

This is how the church somehow missed it in Jude’s day. They didn’t notice that some were ungodly and not believers in Christ. Among them were pretenders. Their hearts were dark and false. The words of Jude are serious and stern. God doesn’t tolerate anyone damaging His people. God’s wrath spills out upon those who do not believe, especially those who deny Christ.

Does this call for a “security squad” at church to roam the isle and “notice” others? Jude said they crept in “unnoticed.” No, that’s not the answer. The noticing comes from our interaction and connections with each other. You can quickly tell when one doesn’t want to be a part of the rest. You can see when someone has no interest. The actions of these false people were wicked and ungodly. That isn’t easily hidden. Their sin would find them out and it did.

I think about that poor bent over woman in the Gospels who Jesus healed. She was in the synagogue. She had her crippling disease for 18 long years. Yet, she was still worshipping God. I’m sure she had prayed and prayed about her problem. No answer. Not any better. Jesus saw her that day and called her forward. Before the audience, Jesus healed her. I wonder how many in that audience never really saw her. She had been there often. There are people just like her in every church. Some are bent with health problems. Some are bent with family troubles. For others, they are crippled financially. Others are weighed down with stress and worry. Week after week, we worship with this folks, but do we NOTICE?

The false people crept in unnoticed. We may have people among us who need us, but they are unnoticed. We are so busy with ourselves that we do not see others. We are busy with friends that we do not have time. Could it be a visitor who took a chance and showed up one Sunday? Did anyone notice? Could it be a person who has been away for a long time and one Sunday they show up? Did anyone notice? Could it be a person who is struggling with addiction? Do we notice?

It’s easy to blame Jude’s people for not noticing, but I tend to think we all have that problem. It’s hard to have eyes like Jesus. He saw. He cared. He did things. Too often we walk right past opportunity.

After Jude’s words, there would be no more creeping in. The folks would be ready now. They understood. Calling yourself a Christian doesn’t make you one. It’s what’s in your heart and what you do.

One final thought, there won’t be any creeping into Heaven either. We’ll be ushered in by Christ because of His grace and our faith. There’s no back door. There’s no slipping Peter a few bills to get you in. Those vain and dumb ideas do not deserve serious thought. They are not Biblical nor fit in with the concept of being a Christian.

Someday we will be there. Won’t that be great!

Roger