What I've skipped is the reason Jude gives for telling us this. He certainly didn't set out to do so. He set out to "write to you about our common salvation" (Jude 1:3). Apparently something else cropped up. What? In verse 4 he gives his reason for diverting from a Gospel message to a "contend for the faith" message.
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 1:4)That word "for" at the beginning says, "This is why I just said that," where "that" is "contend for the faith." The reason, then, is there are people creeping in -- among us -- "who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."
Wow! That sure sounds like much of Christendom today! I am hearing louder and louder voices calling for an end to all this "sexual immorality talk" and "God doesn't care who you love" (where "love" includes "sex" by definition). We are being told right and left that God's love means we should be able to achieve maximum pleasure, including health, wealth, and personal comfort. More and more are overtly determining what is good and right by "how I feel" or "what seems good to me" and calling it "Christian." Christian messages are offered that tell us if we believe in Jesus life should be just hunky-dory. Because God's grace is all about me. It is certainly not about submitting to a Master.
Jude calls this perversion. He calls it denial. Jude calls us to contend for the faith. I would submit that the first place we should do that is in ourselves (Matt 7:3-5). Are you seeing God's grace as license? Do you balk at the concept of submission? Is your Christianity defined by your feelings, opinions, preferences? Contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints ... starting with your own thinking.
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