Smelling Like Smoke
Jude: The One-Hit Wonder With a Hot Hook
Our One Chapter Wonders series closes with Jude, the single-chapter letter tucked right before Revelation. Though short—just 25 verses—Jude has often been overlooked. Many assume it’s “too difficult” because it references Second Temple Jewish literature, or “too severe” because it confronts false teaching and judgment. Yet this very letter ends with what many consider Scripture’s most beautiful doxology (Jude 24–25)—a “word of glory,” the curtain call when the spotlight falls on God’s magnificence. Neglected and cherished, terse and tender—Jude lives in holy tension.
Like a classic one-hit wonder, Jude is strikingly unique. It’s the only biblical writing from Jude, who identifies himself as “a servant (doulos) of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.” That self-description is stunning: a former skeptic sibling now calls Jesus “Master.” Jude originally wanted to celebrate “the salvation we share,” but he felt compelled to pivot—“to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s people.” The term evokes strenuous effort (think epagonizomai): fight for the faith with everything you’ve got.
What are we contending against? Jude spotlights a familiar triad of enemies—devil, flesh, and world—and concentrates on the third: “the world.” Its values press in and, at times, slip into the church. Jude names the temptation of antinomianism—the presumption that grace erases the call to obedience. He sketches vivid warnings: blemishes at love feasts, clouds without rain, uprooted trees, wandering stars. But the everyday face of this problem is subtler: shrugging at sin because “we’re under grace,” treating holiness as optional, confusing God’s patience with God’s permission. Jude holds up a mirror and invites self-examination: Where have worldly loves normalized what God calls us to resist?
Jude’s answer is not withdrawal. Christ sends us into the world. Mercy moves toward people, not away. “Be merciful to those who doubt.” “Save others by snatching them from the fire.” “Show mercy mixed with fear”—compassion without compromise, gentleness with vigilance. Think spiritual first responders: close enough to help, anchored enough to stay safe. Or in Jude’s memorable image: Christians who “smell like smoke”—near the flames of real need, yet guarded by grace.
So we live the tension Jesus prayed in John 17: in the world, not of it. Some of us need courage to leave the safe bubble and draw near to strugglers with patient mercy. Others need caution to step back from the edge, set boundaries, and resist the world’s pull. Either way, the gospel both protects and propels: Jesus keeps us, and he sends us.
Jude’s hook is simple enough to hum all week: Contend for the faith—with humility, clarity, love, and courage. Guard what’s been entrusted to you, and offer it freely to those who haven’t yet tasted its joy. And remember the promise beneath the call: the One who entrusted the faith to you is the One “able to keep you from stumbling” and present you “with great joy.”
SERMON DETAILS
Speaker: Steve Pink
Series: One Chapter Wonders
Sermon Title: Smelling Like Smoke
Date: Sep 14, 2025
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
Jude 1-25
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