Jude 10
But You Dear Friends
In our journey of discovery through the letter of Jude we have reached verses 20 and 21. In our study last time we considered those who are scoffers and ungodly and who do not have the Holy Spirit. Now in the following verses Jude addresses the true believers, those whom he describes as "dear friends". He tells them that they have a fourfold task to fulfil: It is "Building", "Praying", "Keeping" and "Looking". This time we will look at "Building" and "Praying".
He begins by saying: "Build yourselves up in your most holy faith". Now we can only be built-up in our faith by reading and studying and obeying the Word of God. Notice that he says, "build yourselves up". We will only grow in grace and progress as believers as we ourselves work at it. We are also responsible for the building-up of our fellow Christians by our encouragement and by care for them. It is by being with God’s people for worship and service that we will be strengthened and go forward in our most holy faith.
In the Old Testament, Nehemiah used a sword to defend himself and a trowel with which to build. We know that our powerful sword is the Word of God. It is also our spiritual food and with it we build and strengthen the walls of our faith.
Every believer is part of a wonderful spiritual building. We read about many buildings in the Old Testament - the first city in Genesis chapter 4 - David’s beautiful palace and Solomon’s beautiful temple, but in the New Testament we find a different sort of building. Not a building of stone or bricks but a spiritual building. The Lord Jesus said, referring to this building, "I will build my church".
In Ephesians chapter 2 we read that believers are "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone". Peter tells us in his first letter that believers are like living stones being built into a spiritual house.
In terms of our responsibility to be built-up, faith is foundational. Faith is God’s gift to believers and the Lord Jesus Christ is the author and perfecter of our faith. We are responsible for building ourselves up in the faith. This is a life-long task. How do we do it? Paul said, "I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up". We need to hear and to heed the Word of God regularly as it is taught and preached in a church that is faithful to that Word. Certainly, we should ourselves be reading the Scriptures daily and systematically. We should read them enquiringly and be willing to ask questions of more mature believers. We should read the Word lovingly because the Bible always points us to our Saviour, the Lord Jesus. The only way we can grow as Christian believers is through our careful study of the Bible and by our daily obedience to what it says to us.
Jesus said, "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundations on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash".
It is perfectly clear from this parable of the Lord Jesus that He is talking about his people building their lives on his words. Are you building yourself up on the sure foundation of God’s Word? Any other foundation will fail you and you will not grow as a Christian.
Next he tells them to "pray in the Holy Spirit". Here is a great contrast between the godly and the ungodly - believers and unbelievers. The unbelievers are, we read in verse 16: "grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage". Believers are not to be like that. They are to be content in whatever situation the Lord has put them. They are to treat their old sinful self as dead, and they are to live humbly before their God. In all things they are to make their requests known to their Lord and they are to do this by "praying in the Spirit".
There are different kinds of prayer, but all prayer should be under the direction of the Holy Spirit. If our prayers are not in the Spirit then they are merely prayers of the flesh. The desire to pray comes from the Lord Himself and our prayers should begin with Him. Jude says nothing about posture in prayer or when we should pray, he gives us this one exhortation that our prayers must be Spirit directed. All true prayer is in the Holy Spirit. In other words, God is in it. He is listening, He is observing. He understands our weaknesses as we approach Him. He knows our frame and remembers we are but dust. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to their cry. By his Spirit the Lord teaches us how to pray. Paul reminds us in Romans 8 verse 26: "The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know how or what we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express". Praying in the Holy Spirit cannot be without result.
Our Saviour’s earthly life was one of constant communion with his Father. As children of our Heavenly Father we cannot afford to be half-hearted or lukewarm in our praying. We are in a great battle, but God has given us this mighty weapon of praying in the Spirit.
So Jude turns our thoughts from the destructiveness, and the ultimate destruction of those who scoff at the things of God, to things that build up, such as faith, and love and mercy. Now God dominates the scene as we read in verses 20 and 21: "Pray in the Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life".
To whom is Jude addressing the exhortations found in these verses? To every true believer in the Lord Jesus. Each one is loved of the Lord, and Jude declares his affection for these believers as he called them "dear" or "beloved friends", but how much more are we God’s beloved people. If you are a Christian there is a building work for you to do in your own life. You have a great responsibility to ensure your own spiritual growth as we have seen in this study from Jude.
So as we build our lives on the Word of God and as our prayers are moved by the Holy Spirit, so we will be kept from the false teaching around us. We will truly grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.