Build Ourselves Up...Extend Mercy

This morning I have been reading a couple of the shorter letters in the New Testament, and a few verses caught my eye in Jude's letter.

Jude 1:20-25 NIV:

[20] "But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, [21] keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. [22] Be merciful to those who doubt; [23] save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear---hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

[24] To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy--- [25] to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Three things stood out to me as I read these verses.

1) We have a personal responsibility to build ourselves up in our faith. We cannot and would not rely on someone else to build us up, feed us and teach us. The scriptures are available to us, there are tins of good books, CDs and videos of awesome men and some of God expounding the realities of our faith. By growing and building ourselves up, in our faith and through the Holy Spirit, we will learn to recognise truth, and hold to it. The church has been under attack and the truth has been perverted by those that would lead the church astray since the earliest days, and that same thing happens today. We need to learn the truth, learn how to spot those who out of line with truth and reject their teaching. We need to stay anchored in God's love, in the truth He revealed to us, and it is by this building ourselves up that we do this.

As I was just rereading these last w sentences I wrote I thought of this as an analogy to weight lifting. As a person grows in strength and has the ability to lift more, they cannot stop lifting and maintain their abilities. If they can lift 400 lbs., they must continue to work out to maintain that ability. This is not a once achieved then always able situation. In the same way our faith just be constantly being built up and strengthened, and that is why Jude encourages us to be continuously building ourselves up.


2) We are called to deal with unbelievers and those who are full of doubt with mercy! It is through love and compassion, kindness that we will draw those who are unaware of the truth into the Body of Christ. While we must learn to defend our faith and grow in our understanding, that does not mean we use this to speak judgement over people. Rather we are called to express mercy, to extend mercy, to love, encourage, understand and help those who have not embraced the Lord.

3) There is a reality in the Lord, where He keeps us from stumbling, and is able to bring us to the throne of God without fault! The Greek word translated without fault, means - 1. without blemish a. as a sacrifice without spot or blemish 2. morally: without blemish, faultless, unblameable. That is an amazing truth, but does not negate our responsibility to build ourselves up in our faith. It is through Jesus blood, His sacrifice, that we can come to the throne without blemish, without spot, blameless. Our responsibility is to be the examples of God's love and mercy extended to those who are not yet in the Body, and to not fall into deception. Jesus is able, literally meaning He has the power and authority, to present us all before the throne without blemish, with great joy.

As I was just writing that last sentence, I started thinking about the joy that the Lord must feel. It is like the last few minutes of a football game, where His team knows they are going to win, and everyone on the sidelines is starting to celebrate already. The game isn't over, but the outcome is assured. That is a small picture of the joy that He has knowing that He will bring us all before His throne without fault or blemish, because He has already paid the price. He has already won!!!!