JudeНамуна

When the Going Gets Tough - #1

So what do you do in trying times where the church is beset by false teachers?

• Go on a crusade against the false teachers??
• Do everything you can to "cleanse" the church of them??
• Pull away and start a new "pure" church??

Surprisingly, Jude recommends none of the above. After providing a clear warning and making a clear statement about the error of the ways of the false teachers, Jude pushes the church in the direction of faithfulness, service and outreach.

This is in line with Jesus' parable about the wheat and the tares, where an enemy sows tares in a wheat field. Tares look just like wheat, but produce nothing of value, stifle the wheat and use up nutrients. But the farmer in the parables tells the workers that they should not try to pull up the tares because they may pull the wrong thing or they might damage the roots of the healthy wheat. It is at harvest time that this will be sorted out.

Inquisitions and witch-hunts are a blight in the church's history. Jude does not advocate this course of action. He points the faithful in a different direction:

• "Build yourself up in faith."
• "Stay dependent on the Spirit."
• "Keep yourself in God's Love."
• "(Patiently) wait for God's (judgement and) mercy."
• "Be merciful to those who are struggling."
• "Rescue those in the fire."
• "Be merciful but don't get sucked in."

We'll spend the next few days exploring some of these in detail. For today it is important that we grasp Jude's point: once we are aware of the dangers of false teaching, we should not be distracted by it, but maintain our own faith and then reach out in love and service.