Cloudy Christians

Scripture reading: Jude 4-13

Here in South Florida we often have thunderstorms that pop-up, seemingly from nowhere. A beautiful day can turn violent in the weather in just a few moments. Yet, there are often clouds which form, dark and ominous clouds, that threaten and come near. Sometimes there is even lightning and loud thunder over top of us, while not a rain drop falls. Other times, storms will pop up, rain will pour in blinding sheets for a few minutes, and barely any water will register in the rain gauge.

One of my neighbors commented to me after one such storm that close lightning without rain is a storm to watch carefully because it could easily spark a fire, and with high winds and no rain could easily be very damaging to our neighborhood.

These clouds without rain are the type of clouds to which Jude is referring. Clouds without water.

What is a cloud without water? Every day, clouds pass over my house, and yours too, from which we would expect no rain. Most days have at least some clouds, even on a bright, sunny, blue-sky kind of day. This is not the type of cloud to which Jude is referring.

We get a little better sense of where Jude is headed when he says “trees without fruit.”

Imagine you are a farmer with crops in the field. It has been three weeks since there was rain. If the weather conditions persist, the crops will not produce much of a harvest. For the first time in many days, grey clouds appear on the horizon. The clouds approach closer and closer. The farmer prepares his property and equipment for rain. Nothing happens. Eventually the clouds dissipate and thoroughly disappoint.

These are not just any clouds. They are clouds that give the appearance of bringing needed rain but in reality hold no water.

Jude doesn’t spend time writing only about clouds. He is referring to people and likening a particular type of people to clouds without water. They are people who give the appearance of giving life, appear to be vibrant and appear to be spiritually in tune with God, but in reality have nothing to offer. Not only do they have nothing to offer, they tend to disappoint. Who are they?

• Parents to whom children look for love, support and protection yet allow the children to go without love, needed attention and fall into danger.
• Pastors who preach every Sunday yet offer no spiritual depth.
• Elders of the church who are quick to volunteer and even teach Bible studies yet deal treacherously in business during the week.
• Teachers on the radio and television who draw huge numbers of crowds and emotionally charge the audience, yet on Monday morning you’re left with emptiness.

In many cases, Jude speaks not just of ordinary people following Christ, but lifts up those in leadership, people in authority and role models. People who occupy a position of influence but in themselves have no influence to give. They are people to whom we ordinarily look for guidance and want to give respect, people we would least expect to let us down.

Jude goes further and says “hidden reefs.” The sailors aboard the Titanic held the belief that their ship was unsinkable. They forgot, however, that sometimes there lurk just beneath the surface of the sea hidden dangers. Here in South Florida, reefs stand between the vast expanse of the sea and the seashore. A sailor who may think the safety of the shore has been found points the ship toward it in the middle of a storm. Before the ship beaches, it is broken up, lives and property are lost, and the sailor is bewildered. Then the sailor realizes that this was not a beach that offered safety because there must have been something hidden beneath the surface that he could not see.

Such is the state of our lives when we run into a cloud without rain. It is not enough of a warning that some clouds are empty. Jude goes further to warn that clouds without rain bring destruction. Remember the South Florida storms? Raging brush and forest fires have been sparked by dry lightning strikes. Without any rain to quench the flames, mass destruction ensues in the blowing rain and dry tinder. If only the clouds had burst forth with rain, the fire may have been put out.

Clouds without rain are destructive, and like hidden reefs, the potential for destruction is often unknown. It is not something we can measure. It doesn’t show up on our navigational charts. There is no warning.

Clouds without rain represent probably the worst threat there is today to the American church. Clouds without rain not only destroy those within the church, they also destroy those outside who look to the church for salvation and help in the time of trouble. They fixate on the church as a haven of rest and safety, and as they are about to find comfort, they are torn apart by hidden reefs, left to pick up the pieces and ride flotsam and jetsam for what little safety there remains.

Clouds without rain also represent a significant danger to the American family. There is a parenting style prevalent among the younger generations that children should be allowed to experience and experiment with everything out there and be left to choose on their own what they want. The government is capitalizing on the indulgence and inserting in public school curriculum all sorts of social instruction in lieu of reading, writing and arithmetic. Children are left to be lost and find their own way, to sort out their own lives.

This is not a parenting style endorsed by Jude. No, Jude would have us strap on a filter between the world and our hearts. The filter is the Word of God. To hold beneficial, life-giving rain, everything that comes into our hearts and minds and everything that exits our minds through the work of our lives must pass through the filter, the Word of God.

To be effective, we must pay the price of tuition in the school of prayer. We must put everything to the test of the Word of God.

• Bible study teachers must only present what is found within the four corners of the Bible.
• Parents must look to the Lord for how He would have them guide and train the children He has entrusted to their care.
• Pastors must wear grooves in the floor of their study on their knees praying for God’s strength and power to rest on them and overflow to the congregation.
• Elders must serve to the glory of God and seek His glory by reading the Bible to learn what pleases God.

Only then can we be a cloud that bursts forth with life-giving rain, a tree with fruit and a seashore that offers real safety.