Belmont University Advent GuideMfano

The Scripture assigned for today from Jude’s epistle is a doozy. It highlights things we seldom think about—especially during Advent. First, Jude is very concerned that the gospel of Jesus is being lost: “Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people” (v. 3). It is striking that one generation after Jesus’ resurrection; people were already falsifying his message. This was not being done by accident, but as an effort by some to turn the good news of Jesus into something that sounds better, but is in fact worse: “For certain individuals . . . have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ, our only Sovereign and Lord” (v. 4). Jude is calling for us to be wary, since the gospel is a call to holiness, not a license to sin. The challenge is to embrace both the good news of Advent grace and forgiveness, and the good news that we have a Lord to love and obey fully. Jude then brings up both sex and hell—topics far from our minds while setting up a manger scene: “Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire” (v. 7). We are shocked by this dramatic talk of judgment, because we forget that Advent celebrates not only the first coming of Jesus, but also his return: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him” (vs. 14–15). Christ came at the First Advent to transform us from the inside out, and now we live in light of his Second Coming, singing in Charles Wesley’s words: “Born thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a King, born to reign in us forever, now thy gracious kingdom bring. By thine own eternal spirit rule in all our hearts alone; by thine all sufficient merit, raise us to thy glorious throne.” Todd Lake Vice President for Spiritual Development