Yesterday morning Jim Lin (*one of the leaders in our church) did a teaching on Judas. The thing that stood out to me was the fact that Judas was one of the closest friends of Jesus and yet it appears that none of the other disciples saw him as any different than themselves. They ate together, worked together, went on road trips together, experienced both wonderful and terrible things together...and yet, when Jesus told them during the Last Supper that one of them would betray him, they all didn't point their finger at Judas and say, "Behold, the man!" Instead, when Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me", this is what happened: "Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, "Am I the one, Lord?" (Matthew 26:21 & 22)
How is that possible? What Jim said was something like this: Judas led a hidden life. We know from Scripture that he was a thief, stealing money on a regular basis from the common purse that Jesus and his disciples used to cover their expenses and to help the poor. Many theologians also believe that Judas was disappointed with the way Jesus was carrying out his mission and so he sought a way to force his hand and make him overthrow the Romans who occupied Israel. (*This was, after all, what every first century Jew believed the Messiah would do when he came.)
The kicker for me was when Jim asked us, "So, do you have any hidden areas in your life? If you do, and if you don't deal with them, you may end up being a traitor like Judas."
We all have weak areas in our lives. They may actually be quite small and insignificant today. Kind of like little desires that we really like to fulfill that haven't grown into full-blown addictions yet. (*And I am not talking about alcohol or substance abuse, although that would fit quite nicely here. I mean things like devoting almost all our time, energy and money to ourselves and not thinking, helping or giving to others.)
Jim also asked the question, "I wonder what would have happened to Judas if one of the other disciples asked him why he had his hand in the money bag. I bet they saw him spending money on himself." Maybe they didn't want to butt-in, prying into a private area of someone else's life. I mean, how many of us like it when someone asks us what we are doing with our money? Jim encouraged us to find faithful friends to share our weaknesses with. (*He mentioned finances and sex as two areas that we might want to be accountable to someone else for.) I liked this about Jim's teaching, because it was so practical.
One of the great things about being part of a healthy, Christian community is that we can be real with one another, share our weakness, confess our sin, pray and ask God to help us, and then stand with each other as we watch God transform our lives and make us whole.
You might enjoy listening to Jim's teaching. Even if you missed our meeting yesterday, you can hear it online at vcfp.org, click on sermons, then click on download for July 5th, 2009. (*It should be available on the web page sometime today or tomorrow.)
interesting. reminds me of something I once heard that actually terrified me, and still does to this day:
"counterfeit money can do a lot of good until it stands up to the true standard", which always scared me, cuz anyone can "look like a christian", and fool others, even himself, until you are brought before the real judge, then the truth of who you are will really come out.... at the risk of abusing scripture, these are the texts that come to mind, (and terrify me even more!)
rev. 3:16
So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
luke 13:25-27
Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’
“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
“Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’
“But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’
Posted by: ian | July 30, 2009 at 03:22 PM