We Stand With Giants
This Sunday (10/13) we are starting a brand new series called: "Fight for the Faith." So it's important to know who stands with us as we go to this fight.
As we step into this ring to fight for the faith, Jude wants us to remember and know that we stand with giants in our corner. He wants us to remember and we know that we stand with giants by our side. And Jude himself is one of them.
So, who was Jude? Who was this guy who writes this short letter about fighting for the faith? This Jude is probably one of the half-brothers of Jesus. In this little letter, he calls himself the brother of James. Not James, the son of thunder and the brother of John. This is a different James, the James who wrote the letter of James. Both James and Jude were half-brothers of Jesus.
But that’s not even the most interesting part of his identity. That part of his identity just helps us narrow down who this guy “Jude” is. The other part of his greeting helps us see Jude’s role and even helps us understand why we should even be listening to Jude. He calls himself a “servant of Jesus Christ.” You and I are servants of Jesus. We’re his disciples. We’re his followers. We’re serving him as we go out into this world. But Jude isn’t calling himself a servant in that sense of the term. He’s using this title “servant of Jesus” in a much more technical and much more specific way. He’s lumping himself together with other “servants of the Lord”. Moses is called a “Servant of the LORD.” So is Joshua. Paul begins several of his letters by saying, “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ.” Jude’s brother, James, greets his readers by saying, “James, a Servant of Jesus Christ.” When Isaiah writes down his prophecy he refers to THE “Servant of the LORD” who is none other than Jesus himself. I think you’re getting the sense that this title “servant of the Lord” puts Jude in pretty elite company and even into a position of authority. His words carry weight. This letter carries authority. It puts Jude on the same level as an apostle even though Jude isn’t technically an apostle.
And we’re sitting here at Jude’s feet to be taught and to be encouraged. We’re sitting here at the feet of God’s Word to be trained and equipped for war. We step into this ring with the authority of God’s apostles, God’s prophets, and all of God’s inspired servants as our authority. We stand among giants. We stand with giants. We stand on the giants. Paul says something very similar when he writes to the Ephesians:
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone – Ephesians 2:19-20.
We’re not standing here based on our own teaching, on our ideas about how things should go, on our own thinking about how to be saved or about how we should live. We’re standing on giants. We’re standing with giants. We’re building our faith and our confidence on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, on these servants of God. Their message handed down to us in the Scriptures gives us confidence. We stand up and say, “This is what the Lord says.” We stand up and proclaim, “This is what Paul says.” We stand up and teach, “This is what Jude says.” “This is what the Lord says.” It’s not ours. It’s not from us. It’s theirs. It’s from these servants of God to us! Bring on the fight! Bring it on because we stand with giants!