December 6
Amos 3-4
Psalm 138:1-3
Proverbs 29:4-6
Jude 1
Know Your Audience
“Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.” Jude 1:22-23
In this passage, Jude is giving us instructions on how to deal with believers who have fallen away. He is explaining that there are different approaches we need to use with different people depending on the situation and the person. There is not a one-size-fits-all approach in dealing with these situations. In verses 20-21, he says that before we try to deal with anyone who has gone astray, we need to make sure that we are building ourselves up in our holy faith and that we are in prayer. We need to be grounded in our faith so we can stand firm. When we are confronted or made aware of a situation where a fellow believer has either fallen into sin or has been led away by false teaching, we need to spend serious time in prayer for them asking God to give us wisdom about how He wants us to proceed. Sometimes we just need to pray for them. But sometimes God will use us to confront the issue. If we believe He wants us to approach the person, we need to evaluate the situation and ask God to show us what they will be most receptive to. Some people need to be dealt with gently and lovingly. For those who have doubts about their faith, we need to come alongside them and gently reprove them showing them the error of their ways and helping them to turn back to God. They may have been led astray by false teaching that made them doubt things that they had learned. It is important to be patient and to stick with them while they figure it out.
Others, however, may need to be dealt with more harshly. Those who are engaging in unrepentant, willful sin, need to be rebuked. They need to understand the seriousness of their sin and the consequences of their actions. Those who are spreading the false teaching to others also need to be dealt with more aggressively. It may even be necessary to remove them from the fellowship of the church if they refuse to repent. Obviously, church leadership would need to be involved if that step is necessary. Those led astray by weakness and ignorance need to be dealt with differently than those who fall away because of pride and arrogance. A humble spirit is important in dealing with anyone. Love and respect are always received better than piety. It is also important, as Jude explains, to have a healthy fear when confronting anyone about sin. This fear comes from a recognition that we are not immune from temptation ourselves and that, but by the grace of God, we might be in their position of needing someone to confront us. This attitude ensures that we deal with them in the way that we would want to be dealt with ourselves. Confrontation is uncomfortable for most of us, and we would rather not get involved, but sometimes it is necessary. If we truly love people, we cannot allow them to continue in sin or be led astray by dangerous false teaching. We are called to encourage others in their faith. To do that, the bad stuff must be weeded out so that solid faith can grow.
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