Hey Jude ♦ Judging Doctrine

Jude is a short book, but it packs a wallop. It was written to those who are the called, loved by God the Father, and kept by Jesus Christ. The letter is an appeal to "contend earnestly for the faith" because some people in the church, (by then established for 30-some years,) were perverting the grace of God to do whatever they wanted. Furthermore, they were denying the Lordship of Jesus. The first half of the letter gives warnings and examples—God has judged in the past, and He will judge again. The second half of the letter tells how to contend for the faith, and in doing so, it also shows how to identify bad doctrine.

I am not attempting to do a comprehensive exposition here. I am picking the parts that are relevant to the runaway bride. I will be using the ESV (English Standard Version®) translation. 

Verse 8 - Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 'Dreams' may well hold a dual meaning here. At this point in church history, there were some who looked to their literal nighttime dreams for guidance. The Greek root word suggests a "middle voice," and in a broader sense this would be not your voice and not God's voice, but a middle voice that speaks fantasies, illusions, and what we often call daydreams. One of the results of looking to dreams or listening to the imaginings suggested by the 'middle voice' is a rejection of authority. KatieLyn, the runaway bride, did not speak much about the time that she was entertaining these thoughts, but we all know that in the end she rejected the authority of the witness that Jesus had given her on New Year's Day, that Joe was to be her husband. Bad doctrine moves people away from what God says and into what the world is saying.

Verse 10 - But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. I never heard KatieLyn slandering what she did not understand, but her mother Gwen spoke against those things she didn't know. She used her mouth to paint imaginations of the newlyweds fighting about money in front of their friends and that Joe's friends were going to team up against KatieLyn. All of that is utterly ridiculous. Gwen did not know that; she was instinctively projecting her own past onto her daughter's future, and it was disrespectful. If KatieLyn were 3 years old, anyone could easily see that it is abusive parenting to scare your child into doing what you want them to do. However, with KatieLyn going on 30, people expect her to not fall for it. And a well-adjusted adult child would not, but when bound with the apron strings of codependency, she did. A lack of respect is a sure sign of wrong doctrine.

Verse 12 - These are hidden reefs 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.  Neither KatieLyn nor her mother fit the persons described in this verse, but there were clear indications that they'd taken a step or two in this direction. Most telling was the way that wedding finances were handled between KatieLyn and her parents. Gwen would vacillate; she would want to look generous but end up being the shepherd who, didn't really feed herself first, but who parsimoniously rationed out the pantry. And when KatieLyn broke faith, Gwen demanded that Joe get the refunds and returns done. Gwen also spouted off the occasional "swept along by winds" arrogance, such as when she mocked the idea that we heard the Lord, "maybe He did (say that), just not for the reasons you may have originally thought."  She is not a fruitless tree in late autumn, but her doctrine and attitudes are off-kilter enough to affect the harvest.

Verse 16 - These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage. Again we have a verse which, fortunately, is not a perfect match but in which were steps in that direction. Gwen wasn't a boaster and she didn't use flattery to manipulate, but the grumbling and fault-finding when she wasn't getting things her way was a major factor. When you see discontented grumblers walking according to their desires, it is a sign of wrong doctrine.

Moving further into the worldly way of thinking, a lack of reverence for God and showing disrespect to others, being self-centered, and murmuring when you don't get your own way—these are all signs of wrong doctrine. They are all things that lead to destruction and stop the will of God from being performed on earth.

I was brushed off and pushed out; and so was God. Apparently, that is okay with the brushers and pushers because "God has something better for us." (cough) I would be hard-pressed to think up a sillier deception. Gwen and KatieLyn did not have enough faith to act on the first answer to KatieLyn's prayer. Surely they can't expect me to believe that they suddenly have enough faith to believe that God has something better!  No, that attitude is brimming with impertinence and disrespect for the Lord.  KatieLyn ran away from what the Lord revealed to her, and Gwen never trusted in Him the first place, and without faith it is impossible to please God, (Hebrews 11:6).

It is rather presumptuous to think the Lord is so pleased that he is going to give them something better, not without repentance. The way that the kingdom of God typically works is from faith to faith, (Romans1:17). That is, the first step is faith, and then the next step is faith—from beginning to end, it works by faith. Rewards of something better are not doled out for running away or entertaining doubt. Just because I have forgiven them for being faithless does not mean that I have lost my ability to identify their self-serving platitudes. That attitude, that we'll get something better, is exactly what the Book of Jude was written to address: the evil of perverting the grace of God so that you can do what you want.

 17 But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” 19 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. 20 But 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. 22 And have mercy on those who doubt;
~ Jude

It is a matter of degrees. I once told myself that I don't know anyone as wicked as the people named in Jude: Cain, who killed his brother; Balaam, who betrayed his nation for money; or Korah, upon whom God sent heavenly fire, wiping out the rebellion of 250 co-conspirators. And yet, these same evils, just in lesser amounts, stopped a God-ordained marriage.

I was told, "Just move on." But it was not the Spirit of God who said that. It was Gwen. So I didn't. If I had just moved on then, God would not have gotten any glory out of it. If I just let it go and moved on, I would not be contending for the faith. The only person my just moving on would have benefited was Gwen. I needed to explore what happened. I found depravity just below the surface. I found disrespect for the Lord. I found self-centeredness. I found that the same kind of murmuring that kept the Israelites from entering their promised land kept KatieLyn from entering her Beulah land.

The Lesson
It is important to judge doctrine because that can keep you from misplacing faith in the wrong thing. The night that KatieLyn ran off, she switched the placement of her faith to a deceptive doctrine.