Jude: Fakers In The Church

Jude 12-13

Working at the prison, there was nothing worse than finding out a co-worker was working for the inmates. There was a sense of betrayal because, if you were doing your job, they were working to undo all of your efforts. An officer would confiscate a cell phone, only to learn that the person on the other side of the building had brought in a dozen cell phones. The same is true inside the church when we learn that there was an imposter who did a lot of damage in the body of Christ.

---

These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; 13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

Jude 12-13

---

The first part of this verse sounds strange without some context. The word for love here is "agape". It means "affection" or "benevolence". According to one commentator, these were meals that were enjoyed before the church had communion. It was a time of fellowship. The people Jude is describing are at these meals, but they are not actually in the body of Christ. They are frauds. They do not know Jesus as their Savior. So, they are there with the church, but they are only serving themselves.

Jude goes on to describe their spiritual condition. They are like "clouds without water". They get moved by the wind, but they are useless. They are like trees that, when the season comes for them to drop their fruit, they do not have any fruit. They are "twice dead". This means that they are spiritually dead, and in time, they will die physically as well. They have not been born again. So, as in the parable of the wheat and tares (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-40), the weeds are plucked up by their roots, and cast into the fire. Though they are physically still in the world, Jude is speaking of their position before God.

He continues to say that they are "raging waves of the sea, foaming up their shame". They are loud and brash, spewing their shameful behavior all over. They cause harm in the church, and they do not care. They are "wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever". The idea here is that they are like the stars that are stuck in the black void of space with nothing around them. There is a vast expanse of nothing between the stars. It is lonely. That is how Hell is described. Those who are cast there are cast into outer darkness (Matthew 8:12). J. Vernon McGee said the worst part of Hell is not the "fire" but the darkness and the loneliness that will lead to agonizing despair.

These pretenders in the church are condemned because they refuse to receive the forgiveness found in Jesus. They want to derail the church by causing havoc. Paul said it this way, "This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck (I Timothy 1:18-19). The gospel has been (or will be) presented to them, but they want to destroy the church. They are working for Satan.

Father, I pray that you protect our churches from these people. Give us wisdom and discernment to know the signs to look for. If we do find some like this have entered our churches, may we love them enough to pray for them, but love Your church enough to put them out until they repent. Thank You for giving us a warning of what we can expect.