Am I My Brother’s Keeper

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Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

Jude 1:11

Jude writes a letter of warning and exhortation to the church. He was born a Jew and was specifically from the line of David. Mary the mother of Jesus was his mother and Joseph, the man who raised Jesus as his own, was his father by birth. Yet, in this letter, Jude does not boast in the fact that he grew up with Jesus. I believe because he was beyond humbled by the fact that he had been so deceived by the enemy of our souls. Jude lived in the same house with God in the flesh and STILL did not recognize Him.

Who better to write of the deceptive power of the devil in the house of God than one who had been blinded by it in his own house.  Jude was writing from personal experience. Thus the reason he could write with authority and strong language of warning. Yet, could also write with the same authority and instruction concerning the extension of mercy instead of judgment because he had received mercy as well.

The recipients of this letter are not named by their place of residence, but by the referrals used in this letter to illustrate his point, I would guess that this was written to Jewish believers, possibly even in Jerusalem. So for our purposes today we would say that he was writing to those who had been going to church nine months before they were even born.

Those of us who know the Old Testament understand the power of this letter. We know the background story of the ones Jude uses in this letter. If you are reading this and you don’t, I encourage you to take the time to cross-reference those Jude mentions in the context of Genesis through Malachi.  For the purpose of this post we will only do a small cross-reference on Cain, Korah, and Balaam. These three are who Jude uses to warn us concerning those who creep into our church, but are not children of God.

But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves…

Jude 1:10-12

Cain, Korah, and Balaam. These three are used to describe the different types of ungodly that we find in our church. All three of these men knew the Word of God. They were not ignorant of the Creator. They knew the right thing to do, yet chose not to do it.

Cain: Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9)

Korah:Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took action, and they rose up before Moses, together with some of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, chosen in the assembly, men of renown. They assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” (Numbers 16:1-3)

BalaamBalaam replied to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, contrary to the command of the Lord my God. Now please, you also stay here tonight, and I will find out what else the Lord will speak to me.” (Numbers 22:18-19)

So what would these three look like in our church today? If I wanted to be specific I could google “christian” tv personalities and show you, but for the sake of showing mercy I’m going to refrain. Instead we shall generalize, for the only examples we need have already been given us in Scripture.

Cain: This is the “christian” person who sees no need to share the gospel or help anyone. They see no need to visit the sick, help the hungry, care for the orphan and widows, or minister to those in prison. They after all are NOT their brother’s keeper. If someone is in a situation- downcast and downtrodden in their eyes it was of their own making and God’s choosing and they are not obligated to help. The hurting person that walks in the door of their church wanting to come to God with their “first fruits” will be met with apathy, dismissal, and judgment. They refuse to put any concern or care into the nursery, children, or community of the church because it does not benefit them personally. They give of their tithes only if the money will be directed to meet their desired needs and purpose for it and will make sure everyone knows it… and the greatest and utmost illustration of the power of their deception is that the church, in order to not lose their wallet, will let them do it.

Korah: This is the “christian” person who rebels against all authority in the church. They do not care what the leadership team decides or the vision of the Pastor of the church. No, they will begin to whisper among those within the church that they can gather to their side, of course not giving all the information, just their side of it and their bent interpretation of it. Then with their small band of misinformed followers they will rebel against what ever leadership decisions they do not like and will claim that God is with them.  They will use what Scripture they can to prove their point and back their rebellion and make it appear as if it is this Joan of Arc moment when in fact it is not… and the greatest and utmost illustration of the power of their deception is that the church, in order to keep a false peace and not cause a church split, will cower to the manipulation and reverse or amend whatever leadership decision was made.

Balaam: This is the “christian” person that knows the Word of God and publicly proclaims it. They possibly thought they were sincere, but as their popularity grows and as their name becomes known, they begin to get attention as well as financial gain from the Word of God. They  crave the attention and financial gain more than godliness. They begin to twist the Word of God and use it to deepen their pockets and build their numbers. This the one who can draw a crowd and has a way with words and is very tricky in their unrighteousness. They focus on feelings and emotions and know how to make you love them by building you up and making you think they really care about you. Yet they are not building you up on your most holy faith, but they are building you up on shifting sand. They speak mostly truth, but it’s the thread of the lie that leads many to destruction… the greatest and utmost illustration of the power of their deception is that the church is so ignorant of the truth that they get caught in the web of lies. Then when this person is exposed for who they really are, a watching world is given a very real and public reason to doubt the validity of the Word of God.

These are just a small generalization of course, just a few things that I have gathered from being in the church, and studying the Word, and watching people these last few years. I’ve only been walking faithfully with the Lord for around fifteen years, so don’t take my descriptions to the bank. Get in the Word and look for truth yourself, and know that Jude writes us this word of warning not for us to judge and condemn those that have been deceived and gone the way of Cain, Korah, and Balaam, but so that we would recognize them and not be deceived ourselves and become like them. He knows how easily we can be sucked in to their ways. He knows how easily we can be deceived. This is why we must keep ourselves in the love of God so that we can snatch them from the fire… because here’s the thing beloved… we ARE our brother’s keeper. 

 

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