A Great Little Prayer

Good Morning!

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Great prayer – right?!!! Well, these verses are the ending of the Book of Jude. Like Paul and James, Jude describes himself as a bondservant of Jesus – a choice he made to name Jesus as his Lord for all of eternity. Each of us has the privilege of entering into this relationship with Jesus – but it is our choice – and I think a good choice.

Jude is an interesting little book, questioned by some as being “canonical” (meaning, does it really belong in the Bible) because of its reference to the book of Enoch and to the conflict between the archangel Michael and the devil. Let’s take a quick look at the entire book:

Jude 1 (English Standard Version)
Greeting

1Jude, a servant[a] of Jesus Christ and brother of James,

To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for[b] Jesus Christ:
2May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
Judgment on False Teachers
3Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4For 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.
5Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved[c] a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— 7just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire,[d] serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
8Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 9But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you." 10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. 11Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. 12These are hidden reefs[e] at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
14It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him." 16These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.

A Call to Persevere
17But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18They[f] said to you, "In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions." 19It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. 20But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22And have mercy on those who doubt; 23save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment[g] stained by the flesh.

Doxology
24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Footnotes:
a. Jude 1:1 Or slave; Greek bondservant
b. Jude 1:1 Or by
c. Jude 1:5 Some manuscripts although you fully knew it, that the Lord who once saved
d. Jude 1:7 Greek other flesh
e. Jude 1:12 Or are blemishes
f. Jude 1:18 Or Christ, because they
g. Jude 1:23 Greek chiton, a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin

For me, verses 18-23 contain the teaching that Jude wants us to hear:
(1) There are going to be scoffers: how true today as more and more people turn away from God and follow their own passions.
(2) There are going to be divisions. Again, just listen to the rhetoric that surrounds us today.
(3) Build yourself up in your faith and in prayer.
(4) Keep yourselves in the love of God.
(5) Have mercy on those who doubt – reaching out to save them even from the stench of sin

As we journey through this earthly existence, we have been blessed with the message of salvation in Christ Jesus. Let us not hide that message but go boldly, trusting in Jesus to keep us.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Agape’

Mr. Jim