Having seen how we are to keep ourselves in the love of God Jude then encourages us to consider what we can do for others. How do we engage those who are tempted to go the way of the false teachers? Should we adopt a fighting posture where we call them out in public? Should we leave them alone and not say anything?
In Jude’s instructions he encourages us to act in a way that is consistent with who God is and what we have received from God (Jude 1:22–23). Notice how he repeats one word in these verses: mercy. We are to show mercy. God has been merciful to us, forgiving our sins, and adopting us into his family. He has not treated us as we deserve and now he expects us to be merciful to others.
Reflecting on the individuals mentioned in Jude 1:22–23 it can be hard to know exactly who Jude is talking about, most probably there is some kind of sliding scale. Firstly, there are those who doubt. Individuals who are sort of on the fence—they respect the false teachers but they are not fully persuaded yet by what they say. Then there are others who are almost in the fire—they have departed from the ways of the Lord and are a long way down the road that leads to destruction.
Jude does not give us practical steps for church discipline like we find in Matthew 18:1–35, 1 Corinthians 5:1–13, Timothy, and Titus. He is not telling us how to speak, when to excommunicate, or when to keep people from the Lord’s Supper. Instead he is giving us a principle that ought to govern our actions toward those who deny Christ as Master and Lord. And that principle is mercy. We must have mercy and show mercy. Our experience of God’s mercy is to shape the way we treat others.
This does not mean that we stop caring about what people think and do, as if differences amongst Christians are always non-essential, unworthy of discussion and debate. In our postmodern world we like to think that everyone is right all the time and it is taboo to suggest that someone might be wrong. Judge not lest ye be judged
is often quoted when we do not like what someone says. But Jude is not encouraging us to show mercy in that sense. Love does not mean that we dismiss errors and affirm people in all their choices; love means we care for errors and call people to turn away from them.
Mercy also does not mean that we flirt with the lifestyle of these false teachers. Jude realises that we can easily be seduced by their arguments and practices. We want society to think well of us as Christians. We want to go along with their assumptions, and so as we engage these false teachers there is a very real possibility that we will be dragged onto the rocks of judgment. Exactly what this will look like in practice I am not sure, but Jude warns us to be careful as we engage in discussion. We must hate ungodly practices, the garments stained by flesh, even as we seek to serve the individuals caught up in them.
The above two paragraphs discuss two examples of what mercy does not look like, but what does it mean then to show mercy? I think it primarily relates to our ambition. For every person we must desire their salvation and that should show itself in our manner and our message. Whenever the council is busy with discipline or when we speak to a brother that has sinned, our heart must not be filled with hatred or pride, not a desire for vengeance but a desire to lead someone back to Jesus Christ, back to the one who is full of mercy. We should never hope to see people leave God’s church nor want them to depart.
If you know of someone who is toying with sin or a member in a church where false teaching is prominent, could you, in love, seek to get alongside them? Could you show them from Scripture where they are leaving the ways of the Lord or call them to join a true church? What about someone further down the road who is caught up in sinful practices—could you snatch them from the fire?
We are not being encouraged to go on some sort of witch-hunt looking for false teachers in our midst or the areas where we live, pointing the finger at them in anger, or sending emails and writing Facebook posts that condemn them to hell. No, we are to show mercy, we must long for everyone to come to know God’s mercy in Christ. At times certainly there might be a need for distance and strong words but even then our desire must be for mercy. Distance and words being necessary only so that people will realise their peril and come back to Jesus.
22 And have mercy on those who doubt;