This is the 22nd lesson in a series of lessons on the book of Jude. In this lesson I will look at verses 20 and 21 and talk about the Love of God.
The main thought expressed in these two verses is a command: Keep yourselves in the love of God.
In this lesson I’m going to look at how this phrase Love of God is used throughout the Bible so we can understand what the Bible says about the love of God and define the love of God. Then I’m going to look at the overall message of Jude so we see where these verses fit in the overall message that Jude was communicating throughout the book. I’ll talk specifically about verses 20 and 21. At the end I’ll talk about what all this means for you and me today.
Watch the video or scroll down to read a transcript.
Transcript:
Hi, thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. This is the 22nd lesson in a series of lessons on the book of Jude. In this lesson I’m going to look at verses 20 and 21 and talk about the love of God.
Let’s start by reading verses 20 and 21.
Jude 20-21
But you, beloveds,
building yourselves up in your holy faith,
praying in the Holy Spirit,
keep yourselves in the love of God,
waiting for the mercy of our master Jesus
Christ into eternal life.
The first word is the word but. The word but indicates this verse is a contrast to what came before it. I’ll talk more about the contrast later.
The main thought expressed in these two verses is a command: Keep yourselves in the love of God.
There are three -ing verbs that describe what should be done while staying in the love of God.
In this lesson I’m going to look at how this phrase Love of God is used throughout the Bible so we can understand what the Bible says about the love of God and define the love of God.
Then I’m going to look at the overall message of Jude so we see where these verses fit in the overall message that Jude was communicating throughout the book.
I’ll talk specifically about verses 20 and 21.
At the end I’ll talk about what all this means for you and me today.
Let’s start by examining the love of God.
A concordance is a reference work that lists every word that is used in a particular text. In this case we’re looking at a concordance of the New American Standard Bible.
I searched for the phrase Love of God. This returned every verse in the New American Standard Bible that includes the phrase Love of God.
There are 11 verses that contain that phrase. Interestingly enough, all of the occurrences of this phrase are in the New Testament.
Let’s look at these verses and see what the Bible has to say about the love of God.
Luke 11:42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.
The Pharisees were fanatical about tithing. They tithed all their herbs and spices. However, they disregarded justice and the love of God. Jesus was critical of that. This teaches us the importance of loving God. It teaches us the meaninglessness of acts that are merely for show. In this verse the love of God refers to the love people should have for God.
Let’s go down to John 5.
John 5:41 “I do not receive glory from men; 42 but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.
The context of this is Jesus was having one of His debates with the Jews. The Jews thought they were righteous, but Jesus pointed out to them that they did not have the love of God in themselves. In other words, they did not love God. Here again, the love of God refers to the love people should have for God.
Rom. 5:3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Paul wrote that while we don’t like tribulation, there are benefits to tribulation. Tribulation brings perseverance, which brings character, which brings hope. Notice he said hope does not disappoint. When we have hope, we have a belief that we’re going to receive something we don’t yet have. If we don’t receive what we hope for, then we are disappointed. If we do receive what we hope for, then we are not disappointed. In this case, hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts. The love of God in this verse refers to the love that God has for us. Since God’s love cannot cease, our hope will not disappoint.
Rom. 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul wrote that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God. Since it is possible for humans to stop loving God, in which case we would be separated from the love of God, that means in this case the love of God must refer to the love God has for people. Paul stated that Christ Himself is the love God has for people.
2Cor. 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
This doesn’t tell us much about the love of God. Paul simply expressed to the Corinthians a desire that the love of God would be with them.
2Th. 3:4 We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command. 5 May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.
Paul was confident the Thessalonians were doing and would continue to do what Paul commanded. The commands Paul had issued were commands from Jesus. Essentially, Paul was confident the Thessalonians were obeying Jesus and would continue to do so. When Paul expressed a desire that the Lord would direct their hearts into the love of God, he was expressing a desire that the Lord would direct their hearts to continue to obey God. In this verse the love of God refers to the love people should have for God.
1John 2:4 The one who says, “ I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
In verse 5 we see that the love of God is keeping His word. In other words, love of God is obeying God.
1John 3:16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
If someone has possessions and does not help a needy brother, then he doesn’t have the love of God in him. In this case the love of God refers to the love people should have for God. We also see the concept that it’s not enough simply to say that we love God. Love of God is not an emotion. Love of God is action. The way we love God is by obeying Him and doing the right thing.
1John 4:8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
We have seen that sometimes the love of God refers to the love people should have for God, and sometimes it refers to the love God has for people. In verse nine, the love of God refers to the love God has for people, because the love of God was manifested by the fact that God sent his only begotten Son. That is something God did to demonstrate His love for us.
1John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
Here we see stated very clearly that the love of God is obeying His commandments. Anyone who does not obey God does not love God. Love is not an emotion. Love is action.
The last occurrence of the phrase love of God is in Jude 21, which is the verse we’re focusing on in this lesson.
We saw that sometimes love of God refers to love for God, the love people should have for God. Sometimes the love of God refers to love from God, the love God has for people.
Now let’s do an overview of Jude so we have a context for the verses we’re looking at in this lesson.
Let’s go to the beginning of Jude.
In verses three and four Jude wrote why he wrote this letter. He wrote because certain people had crept into the church secretly. They were turning the grace of God into sensuality and denying Jesus.
Starting in verse eight, Jude described these men who had crept into the church secretly. He wrote many negative things about these men.
Then in verse 17 he wrote, “but you beloveds.” After describing these men who had crept into the church, in verse 17 he started saying what his readers should do in light of the fact that these men had crept into the church secretly.
In verse 19 he wrote more descriptions about the men who had crept into the church.
Then we come to verse 20. In verse 20 he again wrote, “But you, beloveds.” The word but indicates a contrast. Unlike all the verses in which Jude described the men who had crept into the church secretly, in verses 20 and 21 Jude continued teaching what his readers should do in light of the fact that people had crept into the church who were distorting grace and denying Jesus.
Now that we have some context, let’s take a look specifically at verses 20 and 21.
As I just pointed out, Jude wrote, “But you, beloveds.”
The main thought in these verses is a command: keep yourselves in the love of God. When we looked at the verses throughout the New Testament that contain the phrase love of God, we saw that the love of God refers to either the love people should have for God or the love God has for people. We also saw that loving God means obeying God. When Jude told his readers to keep themselves in the love of God, it was in the context that there were people secretly creeping into the church distorting grace and using grace to justify and overlook sin. When Jude told his readers to keep themselves in the love of God, it meant they were supposed to continue to obey God and not use grace to justify and overlook sin. He may also have meant they were supposed to continue to have confidence and hope in the love that God has for people.
Jude also used three -ing verbs to teach his readers what they should do as they were keeping themselves in the love of God. He wrote, “building yourselves up in your holy faith.” The way people build themselves up is by reading the Bible, studying the Bible, and knowing the Bible so that they know for sure what is right and what is wrong.
Jude told his readers to be praying in the Holy Spirit. They needed to pray about what was happening in the churches. They needed to pray that they themselves would not be led astray.
At the end Jude told his readers to be “waiting for the mercy of our Master Jesus Christ into eternal life.” Jesus is merciful and eventually believers will receive eternal life and be relieved of the pain of living amidst the sin and suffering of life here on earth. The mercy of Jesus gives the hope and encouragement needed to persevere through all the negative things that happen in the world.
What does this mean for us today? Jude wrote because people had crept into the church secretly who were distorting grace and denying Jesus. That is certainly happening in our world today. There are people in our churches who are denying Jesus, denying the resurrection, and denying the reality that Jesus is Lord. There are also people in our churches who are distorting grace. They are turning grace into licentiousness. They’re basically saying that since God is grace, then there are no consequences for sin. That is not true. Even for believers, there are consequences for sin. Jude told his readers to keep themselves in the love of God. That meant they were supposed to obey God. We need to do the same. We need to keep ourselves in the love of God, which means we need to obey God. Obeying God is how we love God.
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