Rebuke of the Unprincipled

Salem Bible Study
Teachings on Community
Jude 1:8-16 (The Message)

 ⁸This is exactly the same program of these latest infiltrators: dirty sex, rule and rulers thrown out, glory dragged in the mud.
 ^9-11The Archangel Michael, who went to the mat with the Devil as they fought over the body of Moses, wouldn't have dared level him with a blasphemous curse, but said simply, "No you don't. God will take care of you!" But these people sneer at anything they can't understand, and by doing whatever they feel like doing—living by animal instinct only—they participate in their own destruction. I'm fed up with them! They've gone down Cain's road; they've been sucked into Balaam's error by greed; they're canceled out in Korah's rebellion.
 ^12-13These people are warts on your love feasts as you worship and eat together. They're giving you a black eye—carousing shamelessly, grabbing anything that isn't nailed down. They're—

   Puffs of smoke pushed by gusts of wind;
      late autumn trees stripped clean of leaf and fruit,
   Doubly dead, pulled up by the roots;
      wild ocean waves leaving nothing on the beach
      but the foam of their shame;
   Lost stars in outer space
      on their way to the black hole.
 ^14-16Enoch, the seventh after Adam, prophesied of them: "Look! The Master comes with thousands of holy angels to bring judgment against them all, convicting each person of every defiling act of shameless sacrilege, of every dirty word they have spewed of their pious filth." These are the "grumpers," the bellyachers, grabbing for the biggest piece of the pie, talking big, saying anything they think will get them ahead.

For Reflection

Whose role is it to rebuke the ungodly?  If it is God's role, what is your role?

Pray that you are not caught up in the movements to eradicate the infidels.  Pray for the courage to forgive. Pray to have the confidence in your faith that overrides a tendency to elevate yourself over others.  Each of us sin in his or her own way.