Introduction

  • Ice-breaker: everyone rated their fear of heights (0 - 10). The leader later tied this to “spiritual heights,” safety harnesses, and the assurance God gives in vv. 24-25.
  • Session goal: finish the Jude series (week 5) by exploring vv. 20-25—how believers contend inwardly (vv. 20-21) and outwardly (vv. 22-23), and how God ultimately keeps them (vv. 24-25).

Scripture Reference(s)

  • Jude 1:20–25
  • Romans 8:39
  • Luke 15:11–32
  • 1 Corinthians 15:33
  • John 14:15

Key Points

  1. Keep Yourselves in God’s Love (vv. 20-21)

    • Three participles define “keep”:
    • Building yourselves up in the most holy faith (spiritual disciplines, fellowship, Scripture).
    • Praying in the Holy Spirit.
    • Waiting / hoping expectantly for Christ’s mercy at His return.
    • “Waiting” is active—ongoing obedience and hope, not idleness.

  2. Can We Leave God’s Love?

    • Tension discussed:
    • Human responsibility (“keep yourselves”).
    • Divine security (Rom 8:39; vv. 24-25).
    • Illustrations: Judas (rejecting), the Prodigal Son (rejecting yet still loved, Luke 15), and parental discipline. Conclusion: we can reject or wander from the enjoyment and benefits of God’s love, but nothing can sever His agapē toward His own.

  3. Outward Focus (vv. 22-23) - Three Groups, Three Responses

    • a. “Those who doubt” → show mercy/compassion.
    • b. “Others” in serious danger → snatch them from the fire (urgent intervention).
    • c. Still others deeply corrupted → show mercy mixed with fear, hating even the garment stained by sin (maintain boundaries while loving).
    • Practical guideline: love everyone, yet exercise discernment and protective distance with persistent false teachers.

  4. Bad Company & Influence

    • 1 Cor 15:33 cited; group agreed it is easier to be pulled down than to lift others up, especially in groups.

  5. Doxology (vv. 24-25)

    • God is “able to keep you from stumbling” and to “present you blameless with great joy.”
    • Four attributes praised: glory, majesty, power, authority—eternal and secured “through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Theological / Exegetical Points

  • “Keep” (tēreō) is a command directed at believers; divine keeping (vv. 24-25) provides assurance without promoting complacency.
  • “Love” in vv. 21 and Rom 8:39 is agapē—unconditional, covenant love.
  • Action + Assurance: without harness (assurance) climbing ends in calamity; with harness but no climbing results in complacency. Both are necessary.

Interaction & Group Responses

  • Fear-of-heights poll sparked laughter and set up the harness illustration.
  • Mark’s original question (“If we must keep ourselves, can we fall out of God’s love?”) guided discussion.
  • Multiple voices offered scriptures, analogies (crabs in a pot, Nehemiah’s sword & trowel, Jimmy Johnson’s Super Bowl speech).
  • Consensus formed: grace is not a license to sin; it calls for disciplined, hope-filled living.

Practical Applications

  1. Daily disciplines (Word, prayer, fellowship) actively “build” faith.
  2. Practice hopeful expectancy—live today as though Christ could return tonight.
  3. Show tailored mercy: gentle with doubters, decisive with those in peril, cautious yet compassionate with the hardened.
  4. Guard close relationships; fellowship shapes character.
  5. Remember the “harness” of God’s keeping: strive confidently, not fearfully.

Notes Powered by Bible Note https://biblenote.ai/