Wednesday Devo
Scripture:
Jude
22 And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. 23 Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives.
22 And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. 23 Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives.
Commentary:
22–23 On Showing Mercy. The church is called to show mercy to everyone, even its opponents.
23 To save (Gk. sōzō) some people (i.e., to lead them to faith in Christ) involves snatching them out of the fire, meaning they were close to the fire of God’s judgment. Others who are caught up in immorality should also be shown mercy, but with fear, lest the faithful Christian be influenced for evil by the person he is trying to restore. Hating even the garment stained by the flesh (cf. Zech. 3:3–5) implies hating the sin and everything connected with it; but the sinner himself should be treated with mercy rather than hatred.
Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2451.
23 To save (Gk. sōzō) some people (i.e., to lead them to faith in Christ) involves snatching them out of the fire, meaning they were close to the fire of God’s judgment. Others who are caught up in immorality should also be shown mercy, but with fear, lest the faithful Christian be influenced for evil by the person he is trying to restore. Hating even the garment stained by the flesh (cf. Zech. 3:3–5) implies hating the sin and everything connected with it; but the sinner himself should be treated with mercy rather than hatred.
Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2451.
Questions:
- The final group that Jude encourages us to go after is the DOOMED. These are lost and unrepentant people that are far from God. We are to show mercy to them, but have CAUTION because of the sin that's in their lives. We are to show compassion with caution. Other translations say to hate the "garment stained by the flesh." Still others use the word "filthy". The word here for contamination and filthy is literally referring to human feces. This is what Jude is saying sin is like. We can tend to tolerate our own sin while overestimating our own goodness. When was the last time you were broken over your sin? What sin in your life are you tolerating or even celebrating?
- We are to do our best to reach these people, but be careful that we don't get their filth on us. Jesus hung out with sinful people and remained sinless... and you aren't Jesus. We must be careful as to not get dragged down into their sin. There are stories of lifeguards trying to save drowning people that have to knock them out to keep from being drowned themselves. Who are the people in your life that are drowning? Have you ever gotten so close that they pulled you under? How can we balance being IN the world but not OF the world?
Prayer Topics:
- That you would never tolerate sin.
- That you would learn to be IN the world and not OF it.
This Week's City 7:
Try to commit to memory!
1. Who is Jesus? I believe Jesus is God because Jesus said He is God and proved it by rising from the dead and appearing to His disciples, His brother James, 500 others at one time, and Paul.
(Mark 3:21; John 8:58, 10:30-33, 14:9-11; Acts 9:1-6; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8; Colossians 1:15-20; Hebrews 1:2-3; James 1:1)
(Mark 3:21; John 8:58, 10:30-33, 14:9-11; Acts 9:1-6; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8; Colossians 1:15-20; Hebrews 1:2-3; James 1:1)
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