Influence

Jude 14-16

Jude extends his point to the spiritual realm, bringing up Enoch and his prophecies.  The Book of Enoch isn’t included in our biblical canon because of its focus on apocalyptic prophecy, cosmology, and mysticism.  First century Jews were familiar with the content, as it was written somewhere around the time of Christ (3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD), even though the oral tradition carried his message until that time.  It is an intriguing book to read through, although the majority of it isn’t foundational to the faith.

Jude’s main point in referencing it is to pull credence to the judgment of sinners, which he is warning against.  He highlights what sin looks like, so as to give us a warning against following those paths.  Let’s take a look at what he points out as sinfulness, since it isn’t just “those people” but us as well!

Grumblers
Grumbling can also be noted as complaining.  Specifically, in this context, we are talking about people who complain about leadership and others within the church.  This causes division.  False prophets and teachers tend to create division within the church by using their influence to speak against others within the body, which can sway the congregation to also grumble.  But, this isn’t limited to people with an official position or title.  We are all privy to behave this way!  There are things that bug us and cause us to grumble.  Yet, in this case, we must be watchful of how we handle things that bother us.  Sometimes, it is just a contradiction to our own preferences, but is not really essential to the overall health of the church.  Other times, there is a legitimate issue with something that needs to be addressed.  When this happens, we must follow Jesus’ example in Matthew 18:15-20 of handling conflict.  Spoiler alert: He doesn’t say we should complain and grumble with our friends to receive validation for how we feel!

Discontented
While grumbling is outward-focused, discontent is inward-focused.  This is when we complain about our own lives, lacking gratefulness for God’s goodness in our lives and giving more weight to the difficulties of life.  This goes beyond the “poor me” syndrome, as we can also be complainers to God because we think this life is unfair.  This is what the enemy wants us to do!  He distracts us by drawing our attention to the difficulties in life so we cannot see the blessings.  The more we grumble, whether it is about those around us or the struggles and strife we experience, the less we can hear from God.  When our eyes are focused on the “bad” things in life, we lose our focus on Christ.  This is why the Apostle Paul encourages us to take captive every thought and submit it to the authority of Christ.

Proceeding according to their desires
When our emotions are the main influence of our actions and decisions,  we begin to walk down a path dishonoring to God.  Our emotions and feelings are valid, necessary, and a gift from God.  However, as we read in Jeremiah 17:9, the heart is deceitful.  We must be careful in following our own hearts.  While feelings are indicators of what is happening in our spirit, we also need to practice discernment through the filter of God’s Word for how to live life.  Our feelings are like a cough: a symptom trying to indicate to use that something else is happening that we cannot see.

Speaking pompous words
Some people are gifted manipulators.  This is what happens when we gain influence over others and use them to our own advantage.  Maybe it is to sway others to “join our side,” or it simply could be to win over a few people so we don’t feel alone in our thoughts.  Worse, we try to build up a team of people to specifically create division and fight against others within the body.

Folks who practice these things are destined for destruction!  I can hear it already, “but I am saved!  I’m not privy to this judgment.”  The question I would respond with is, “if you are truly saved, why then are you behaving this way?”  It’s easy to use our salvation as an excuse to sin, thinking that it doesn’t really matter because we still have our ticket to heaven.  Yet, Jesus says in Luke 17:1-4 that causing others to sin and stumble is worse than death itself.  

So then, let us resolve to surrender these things to God, use biblical conflict management, and wield our authority and influence for the good of others.