Concerning the opening paragraph of Jesus’ prayer in John 17, Marcus Rainsford writes,

Now it may well assure our hearts before God to know that the glory of the Father, the glory of the Son, and the glory of the Holy Ghost, are mutually secured and displayed in the salvation of those who come with their cares, their needs, their sorrows, and their sins, for life, pardon, and salvation, to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Christ accepted for us, is the pledge of our glory; Christ dwelling in us, the hope of our glory; Christ walking with us, the light of glory; Christ on us, the garments of glory; Christ’s fullness, the measure of our glory; and Christ Himself, our crown of glory.  Christ crucified and raised from the dead for us, is Christ glorified; and Christ glorified, is God the Father glorified, the Holy Spirit glorified, and the believer glorified. “Father, glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee (Our Lord Prays for His Own:  Thoughts on John 17, p. 45).

Living in the Joy of the Lord — Psalm 118:24
 
Have you ever considered that you choose the kind of a day you will have?  While you may not be able to choose or control the circumstances of your day, you can choose how you will deal with those circumstances.  In Psalm 118:24 we read, “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”  This verse tells us that God has given each of us every day of our lives.  If a person knows Christ as his Savior, he can trust Him with the events of each day.  However, if one does not know Christ as Savior, he must deal with the events of life in his own strength.  Think about the day you are having.  How are you dealing with things?  Is it a struggle, or do you have the inner joy which only comes through Christ?  Only through faith in Christ will you know true joy.

Coming to the God of the Bible — Second Peter 3:9
 
I have had many people tell me that they have seen the sign by the video store advertising the Victor Bible Study, and that they have read these weekly messages from the Word of God.  You might be wondering why this has continued for almost three years now?  God has established the Victor Bible Study to teach people principles of His love, mercy, forgiveness, and holiness which are found in His Word, the Bible.  God’s reason for this is found in Second Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”  God loves you and has given you a place where you can learn more of Him.  Visit the Victor Bible Study and learn of God and His Word.

Victory through Forgiveness — Psalm 37:23-24
 
Many Christians today are very discouraged in their walk with the Lord.  They feel that no matter what they do, they cannot seem to have Victory over sin in their lives.  God does convict a Christian of sin, and He also punishes sin.  However, God never turns His back on a Christian because of sin.  Psalm 37:23-24 gives this promise, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.  Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.”  When a Christian sins, he can come to God in repentance and ask forgiveness of that sin.  God does not want any Christian defeated by sin.  Victory over sin comes as we seek God’s forgiveness for the sin in our lives.  Do you need to come to God for forgiveness today?

Taking Time to Listen to God’s Voice — Psalm 46:10
 
It is obvious to most Christians that simply accepting Jesus Christ as Savior does not suddenly mean that all problems as struggles come to an end.  However, the comfort is that we have a God Who cares for us enough that He will hear and answer our prayers.  He promises throughout the Word of God that He is stronger than any problem we might face.  So why do Christians find themselves so often discouraged even to the point of doubting the love of God?  I believe that a primary reason is that they forget to just listen to the Lord.  Psalm 46:10 gives us this admonition, “Be still, and know that I am God:  I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”  Peace comes through learning to just be still, and allow the Lord to speak to us.  Take time to listen to God.

God the Creator — Genesis 1:1
 
No matter if a person lives or visits the Teton Valley, he has to be amazed by the beauty and majesty of the nature in this area.  When I look around this area, I automatically think of the Creator of this Universe, the God of the Bible.  Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”  This is the first verse that one reads in the Word of God, and it show the power, glory, and majesty of God.  No man could ever create something out of nothing.  However, God spoke the world into existence by the word of His mouth.  This is the work of an awesome God, and if you look around and trust the Bible, you cannot deny the power of God.  The next time you are out enjoying the creation, remember this did not just happen.  God, the Creator, spoke it into existence.

You Have a Choice to Make – Second Peter 3:9
 
I was recently told by a person that he was certain that he was going to die and go to Hell because of all the horrible things he had done.  The person is not alone in this idea, for many in our area feel the same way.  However, this is not the case.  The Bible makes it clear that any person can come to God and ask for forgiveness of their sin.  Second Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us–ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”  Any person can trust Jesus Christ as their personal Savior because He died for the sins of all men.  This is a promise that is made by God to the sinner.  Each person makes a choice where they will spend eternity.  Do you choose Heaven or Hell?

Do You Really Trust the Bible? — Hebrews 4:12
 
Can you trust the Bible?  This is a perplexing question for many people, especially when you consider all of the religious books in circulation today.  The thing that sets the Bible apart from all other religious books is that it is the Word of God, not the word of man.  Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”  God uses His Word to convict of sin, encourage, admonish, correct, and build His children’s faith.  If you apply the principles of the Bible to your life, and allow God to direct you, your life will never be the same.  Do you trust the Bible as your guide for your personal life?

Understanding Truth — First Corinthians 2:14
 
Many people struggle with understanding the Word of God and they do not understand why.  Often it is either they do not know Christ as their Savior, or they are not in a right relationship with God due to unconfessed sin.  The Bible says in First Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”  This means that a person has to allow God to teach him the truths of the Word of God.  He has to allow God to prepare his heart for the message, and then be willing to accept it as being for him personally.  The Victor Bible Study can help you understand God’s Word more completely and then see how to apply it to your life.  Please visit with us this Sunday.

Practical Faith for Daily Life — Philippians 4:7
 
In our lives we all face things which make us feel helpless and alone.  It can be with health, family, finances, or any number of things.  If we know Jesus Christ as our Savior, we can claim the promise of Philippians 4:7, “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”  Faith in Jesus Christ can give us the peace to know that God loves us and is working all things together for our best.  If we do not know Jesus Christ as Savior however, we must deal with life on our own and in our own strength.  This will cause nothing but increased despair and sorrow.  God never promises to get us out of difficulties, but He does promise to give us His strength to endure and learn from them.  Whose strength are you relying on today?

Faith in God through the Bible — Romans 10:17
 
There are many churches around the country that teach a variety of different things concerning faith in God.  With all the inconsistencies in teaching it gets very confusing I know.  This is why it is so important to have one dependable source for what we believe about God.  If you desire to grow in your faith and understanding of God, you must seek your information from His Word, the Bible.  Romans 10:17 says it this way, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  Do not depend on what a church or other person says about God.  Study His Word for yourself.  The Victor Bible Study meets each Sunday for just that purpose.  We do not focus on religion, but we focus on the Bible and understanding it in a practical way.  Please visit us this Sunday.

All you who have zealous personalities may have given a hearty AMEN to yesterday’s post about zeal being ignited with truth, and I think that is good, but I want to sharpen your zeal just a little bit more. The life of John teaches us that…

…to have balance our truth-filled zeal must be sharpened with love.

The apostle John is known as the apostle of love because his zeal was sharpened with love. Now I was tempted to use the word tempered instead of sharpened, but I don’t think that that communicates properly what happens when we really learn how to love. Your truth-ignited zeal can only be made more effective as it is sharpened by biblical love. Our passion for the truth is not dulled but love, but it is made to be more effective by love. Love does not hold back our zeal, but it directs our zeal. It makes it more effective. The apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. What makes the truth effective? When we speak it in love. John himself writes in 1 Jn 3:18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. What makes love real? Love combined with the truth. A love that is sharpened with the truth. There is nothing that makes our love for others more ineffective than a love that is purely sentimental, or feeling oriented. A love that does not act is a love that is worth very little.

What would you think about a husband that simply says “I love you” from the couch? He does nothing to demonstrate his love for his wife. He never helps her with anything, never goes all out for her birthday or their anniversary. Never takes care of anything around the house. Would you believe him? Of course not!

Love that does not act is not love at all! If you would desire that your love for God and your love for others would be effective, then demonstrate that love. Act upon that love. When the truth of the gospel is sharpened with the love of the gospel it is made the most effective.

Conclusion

The Apostle John was the only one of the twelve that did not experience death by martyrdom. This does not mean that he had an easy life though. John learned to love God even through suffering. He experience the suffering of loss. He was the only disciple that watched the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. He had to watch as his brother along with the others gave their lives for the gospel. He himself suffered persecution. While serving as the pastor of the church in Ephesus that Paul started, he was banished to Patmos, a small island off the coast of Greece. While there he was forced to live in a cave and sleep on a slab of rock with a rock pillow. He was old when he was banished to Patmos, and he suffered, but he learned to balance his zeal for the truth with love. It is said about John that at the end of his life when he was no longer able to preach, “…would be carried into the assemblies of the Christians to speak the simple words, ‘Little children, love one another.’ To his brethren and disciples, who asked him why he thus repeated himself, he replied, ‘It is the Lord’s commandment, and when it is fulfilled nothing is wanting.’” (The Early Years of Christianity, E. De Pressense, Online: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/pressense/early.i.html) Do you love each other? Do you love the truth? Are you willing to act in love and humility for the sake of the truth?

Those that have a similar personality to John and James will cringe when I use the word balance. They will see it as giving in and not holding to the truth. Maybe the post today will help you understand what I am saying when I say balance. John teaches us much about the truth and his life teaches us that…

…to have balance our zeal must be ignited with truth.

John’s zeal was used in great ways in aggressively holding to the truth. John loved the truth and he desired for those whom he ministered to to love the truth because zeal is destructive without the truth. John used the greek word for truth 25 times in his gospel, and another 20 times in his epistles.(Twelve Ordinary Men, Macarthur, John, p. 101) He said that his greatest joy came from those that walked in truth (3 Jn 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.), and his greatest condemnation was for those that said they walked in light, and did not. In 1 Jn 1:6   he writes, If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.

We have LDS friends here in our community whose zeal for what they believe often puts us to shame. Their willingness to sacrifice for what they believe is incredible. Their faithfulness to worship, and their desire to evangelize is often an embarrassment to us. Now I recognize that some of this zeal is influenced by family, community, or church pressure, and that is unfortunate, but what makes this zeal dangerous and destructive is that it is absent of biblical truth. Now the solution to this is not to remove the zeal, which is what we often do, but to ignite our zeal with the truth. If there are those that can be passionate about error, how much more should we be passionate about the truth? If there are those that can be enthusiastic about things that are relatively insignificant, how much more should we be enthusiastic about something that is eternally significant? Friends, I like sports, I like the outdoors, I like hobbies, and fun, and relaxation, and there are times for that, but the truth of God and the gospel is eternally significant, and we should not be sacrificing the truth for our recreation or relaxation. Our passion for God should take second place to nothing. Unfortunately, our lack of zeal for the truth communicates that we do not know the truth or maybe even don’t really believe the truth. We fail in our passion for the gospel because we either do not know the gospel, or we do not allow the truths of the gospel to be daily relevant to us. Will you allow the truth of the gospel to ignite a zeal within you that makes you passionate about worship, enthusiastic about truth, and humble about service?

As we studied the life of James in the last several posts we found a zealous person for Christ. We know that his brother John was also a zealous person for Christ and fit well with the nickname that Jesus gave them, “sons of thunder.” I believe that John struggled with his zeal right along with James and we see accounts in which his zeal for Christ was tainted with his sinful self.

There are two extremes that believers can come to that will damage the cause of Christ significantly. The first is a failure to hold to, defend or live out any truth. When we live like what we believe is not really that important it invalidates the claims of Christ to those that would observe our lives.

The second thing that we can do to damage the cause of Christ is to hold to the truth without any love. When we demonstrate an angry, condemning spirit towards unbelievers, then we teach them that there is no mercy or love in Christ. There really must be a balance in our zeal for holding to the truth.

John struggled with this balance and often his flesh-driven zeal damaged the cause of Christ. In Mark 9:38-41 we have the account of John telling Jesus that he stopped someone from casting out a demon because he was not one of the disciples. He was expecting Jesus to give him a favorable response, and Jesus instead rebuked him for failing to see this one as for Christ not against him. All of this is really interesting because we know John to be the apostle of love. So there must have been some transformations somewhere, and this is where we continually find encouragement from these character studies in the lives of the disciples. Christ takes the sin-filled, rough character qualities that we have and refines them into usable elements for His glory.

Instead of detailing the background of John I will just refer you to the first post on James. Their backgrounds are nearly the same because they were brothers. Both came from a family of wealth and influence, had the privilege of being in the inner circle of the disciples, and wrestled with zealous personalities. There is much that we can we learn from the transformation of John.

To have balance our zeal must be purged from pride. (Mark 9:38-41)

All of us by nature are proud people. I believe that this is one of the greatest struggles that we face, and it is not just zealous people that have pride. The text tells us that John rebuked someone for not being one of the twelve and seeking to minister by casting out demons. There seemed to be an arrogant selfishness that had crept into the thinking of John. If you were not part of the twelve then you really could not do the big things for Christ. You need to leave the casting demons up to us. Jesus gives the truth that purges proud zeal: humble service is not forgotten by God.  God can and desires to use any person to do any thing. Often in our pride we think that the act of service that we do for Christ is best done by me, and if anyone else does it, it will not be the same.

This leads us to often proudly criticizing someone’s service for God because we thought that we could do it better. There is really an assumption in this account and that is that both the man that John rebuked and John himself were serving Christ. The truth of the matter is that our service for Christ must be done with eyes on Christ and not on self. It is not what I do, it is what Christ does through me. It is not my service it is how Christ uses me. In true God-pleasing zeal there is an abandonment of self. We do not come to God bartering with Him for our service. God I will do this for you if you do this for me, because God you need me. Friends, there are two clear applications to this point. First, godly humility enthusiastically offers self for any aspect of service to Christ because of what Christ has done. Second, godly humility sees every act of service for Christ as equal. Whether you are giving out glasses of water or casting out demons. Both of these acts of service are empowered by Christ anyway. It is not you that is doing it, it is Christ working in you and through you. Your service is not about you it is about Him. In your service for Christ are you keeping your eyes fixed on Him and humbly serving for His glory rather than your own? Allow the Holy Spirit to purge you from proud service and transform you for God’s glory.

American Christianity is generally not characterized as being zealous for Christ. There are the rare exceptions. Mostly though, we call those who actively pursue holiness, legalists; we cheapen grace through our flesh filled living, and often make a mockery out of the gospel through our hypocrisy. Most of our problems are really with the opposite struggle; we are far to zealous about things that don’t really matter and far to cold toward thing that do. The last lesson that I would like us to see from the life of James the disciple is a positive one.

Be zealous!

In speaking of the faults of James’ zeal we can overlook the truth of the benefits of zeal. James left a lucrative business and prominent family to follow Christ. The account in Matthew tells us that they left the boat and their father to follow Jesus. In James’ zeal he had a passion for the holiness of God and the prominence of Christ. He was passionate and excited about Jesus and desired to live and tell others about Him. I am afraid that the greatest lesson that we need to see from the life of James is being zealous. We are tempted greatly to be passionate about so many more things than Jesus Christ. We fill our lives with passions other than Christ. We live giving Christ just a part of our lives and the part that we give is the least sacrificial part. If living for Christ requires humble sacrifice we are not sure if we want to do that. It may be too extreme. We live in time where being a Christian is made to be so easy, that we have little zeal for Him, and those that would live passionately for Christ are either mocked or are said to be imbalanced. Are you passionate about Christ? Is He your life? Does the world’s mockery and dismissal of Christ enflame a humble compassion for the state of their souls? Are you zealous?

Conclusion

We know that the zeal of James was shaped and used by Christ. James is the only disciple of Christ who’s martyrdom is recorded for us. He was the first to be martyred and I think that speaks volumes to the radical transformation that took place in his life because of the death and resurrection of Christ. Acts 12:1-3 tells us that James was beheaded by Herod. He was so zealous for the cause of Christ and the gospel and got people so stirred up for Christ that when Herod wanted to persecute the Church he grabbed James first. James boldly proclaimed the gospel and was willing to give his life for Christ. Church history fleshes out the account for us and records that the one who accused James to Herod and got him convicted to death was so moved by James’ testimony and tenacity to hold to the truth even when his life was in danger, that as he was following James to the executioners block he believed Christ and asked James to forgive him. The testimony of this man was so firm that he was beheaded along with James. The one who wanted to call down fire, forgave. He learned compassion in his zeal. The one who wanted to be prominent gave his life humbly for the sake of the gospel. The zealous one zealously died for Christ. Will you live your life with this kind of passion?

James was not only zealous, but he was ambitious as well. Often these two character qualities go together and when tempered with Christlikeness they can be extremely useful for the kingdom of God. However, when used for self-fulfilling purposes then they can cause incredible destruction. Remember the other James writes in James 4:1-10

What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

It is interesting that the word envious at the beginning of the passage is the word for zeal. This leads us to the next lesson that we can learn from James the disciple.

Don’t let your ambition cause you to forget humility. (Mt 20:20-28)

In the disciples understanding Jesus was the Messiah that was going to free them from the political bondage that they were experiencing to the Romans. Before the death and resurrection of Christ you see the disciples really struggling to grasp the truth that Christ had come to die, not to politically conquer. Therefore, you have these arguments between the disciples as to who is going to be the greatest in the kingdom. When Jesus conquers the Romans who is going to be the vice-president? This argument reaches a new low with the account of James and John sending their mother to ask Jesus if they could be on the right hand and the left in the kingdom of God. James’ zealous ambition blinded him to the truth that if you want to be great in the kingdom of God then you need to be a servant.

We have a tendency to be pretty hard on the disciples when they make mistakes like this. Let me remind you that they did not have the completed New Testament, and they did do a lot of things right. But we do have the completed New Testament. We know the end of the story and yet we still struggle with ambitious pride. We want to be noticed for our service to Jesus and we struggle greatly to do acts of service that no one sees. We want the glory of being in charge and our pride-filled ambition turns our eyes from the Christ who served and gave himself as a ransom for many to our inward ambition and self-fulfillment. We can often become personal kingdom builders where we are the rulers and receive the glory. Friend, what has God called you to do that seems really insignificant? Are you able to humbly serve whether you are recognized or not, or does your ambition get in the way of being like Christ? It is incredibly difficult to serve without being recognized, but when we think like that we fail to remember the God that sees. Will you see the humble sacrifice of Christ and imitate his selfless service, or will you continue to build your own kingdom? Don’t let your flesh-filled ambition cause you to forget God-blessed humility.

We ought to have zeal in our walk with Christ. We need and excitement and enthusiasm for Christ and the work of the kingdom of God. There are those whose zeal for Christ can be misdirected though. I read of one believer whose zeal for Christ was a little misdirected. He was a barber a while back when barbers used to do the shaving with the straight razors. He had just lathered up one of his customers and grabbed his razor when he asked, “Are you prepared to meet your God?” The customer ran from the shop with the lather still on his face.

I would like to take the next couple of posts to look at a disciple of Christ that had zeal for Christ, but his zeal was often mixed up with his own personal ambition, and this caused trouble and hindered him from being effective in his ministry with Christ. Background of James

Wealth and Influence

James is the third of the four leading disciples that we want to look at. He was the brother of John, and like Andrew, there is relatively little about the life of James that is recorded for us. The fact that there is little recorded about many of these men causes me to ask this question: If there were just highlights recorded about your life, what would those be? Would they be colossal spiritual failures like calling fire down from heaven, or denying Christ? Or would they be successes, like glorifying God by bringing people to Jesus? What we do know about James was, like Peter and Andrew, he was a fisherman that lived on the coast of the Sea of Galilee. He and John were the sons of Zebedee, who most likely had some influence in the community. Some of the early church records indicate that Zebedee was a Levite and he was closely related to the hight priest’s family. It was because of these prominent connections that Peter, and possibly even John were able to get into the courtyard at the home of the high priest during the trial of Jesus. So, James came from a family of wealth and influence.

Personality

James and John were also privileged to have been given a nickname by Jesus that had to do with their personal character. Mark records for us that Jesus nicknamed them the sons of thunder (Mk 3:17).

This, like Peter’s nickname, speaks significantly to their personality, but unlike Peter’s nickname which was what Christ wanted him to become, James’ nickname was what Christ needed to refine. James was a zealous man and no doubt what he saw Jesus do stoked the fires of his zeal. When Jesus purged the temple with a whip, or chastened the Pharisees, or cursed the fig tree, or when Jesus cursed the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida for their unbelief in the face of miraculous evidence, James was right there with Him. It seems as if James had a clear grasp on right and wrong. He understood the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man. But this understanding also got him in trouble.

Privilege

James had the opportunity to be in on some of the most significant events in the ministry of Jesus Christ. We know him most because he was part of the group of three that were present for events in the life of Christ that the other disciples were not. James was there when Jesus raised Jarius’ daughter from the dead (Mk 5:37). He was in the group of three that witnessed the transfiguration (Mt 17:1). He was one of the four that questioned Christ privately about the destruction of the Temple (Mk 13:3), and he spent his last moments with Christ on the Mount of Olives. He was supposed to be praying, but ended up sleeping (Mk 14:33). He saw much of the ministry of Jesus Christ from the inner circle of Christ’s disciples.

Lessons from James

Don’t let your zeal for Christ cause you to forget His love for people. (Lk 9:51-56)

The account in Luke 9 marked a transition in the ministry of Christ. From this point on Jesus would be focused more on Jerusalem and the surrounding areas and His ministry there would culminate with His death. So Jesus and His disciples are traveling from the area of Galilee in the north to Jerusalem in the south. Most Jews during this time would completely skip the area of Samaria by crossing the Jordan River traveling south, then when they were close to Jerusalem cross the Jordan again and enter into the southern part of Israel. They did this because of the great hatred of the Jewish people for the Samaratins and vice-versa.

This animosity was the result of past sins. Samaratins were Jews that had been sent back during the captivity and had intermarried with the pagans of the land. This intermarrying not only produced conflict between them and the Jews, but it brought on the judgement of God. The Jews were commanded not to intermarry with the pagans that were in the land. They were to keep themselves pure. Because of their disobedience there were many pagan religious rituals that tainted the worship of the Samaratins. They took elements of how God had told them to worship and mixed them with elements of the religion of the world around them. The result was that the Samaratins had their own priesthood, temple, and sacrificial system. They made up their own religion. This put them in direct conflict with not only the Jewish people, but also God and his commands.

James, being the son of a Levite, would understand and see the blending of worship by the Samaratins as a sin against God, and when they refused hospitality to Christ, the zeal of James would have burned hot. Not only were these people disobedient in their personal relationships, but they were disobedient in worship and now they were rejecting Christ. So James and John asked Christ if He wanted them to call down fire on these inhospitable rebels. James was getting his request from Israel’s history. He had just seen the prophet Elijah in the Transfiguration of Christ, and would remember that Elijah called fire down from heaven on the soldiers of the wicked king Ahaziah for seeking wisdom from the false god Baal-Zebub (2 Kings 1:1-17). This example inspired him to do the same.

Christ’s response was one of compassion that tempers zeal and shapes it into a zeal that reaches people. He rebuked James and John for their desire to destroy instead of save.

We live in an area in which some truth is mixed with a lot of error to form a religion that goes against true biblical worship of God. How many times have you like James wanted to call down fire on those that worship falsely? How many times have you dismissed opportunities to share the compassion of the Christ that came to save with those who were trapped in their false beliefs? Friends, may our zeal be shaped by compassion. May we instead of desiring to call down fire, be desiring to share Christ. The answer to a zeal that lacks compassion is seeing and imitating the Christ who loved and gave.

The great part about the account of Judas is that not only teaches us about ourselves it encourages us with who our God is.

God is not ignorant of the schemes of man or Satan.

This betrayal did not come as a surprise to God. As a matter of fact it was foretold in Scripture and even Jesus said that His betrayal was a fulfillment of Scripture.

John 13:18 “I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘HE WHO EATS MY BREAD HAS LIFTED UP HIS HEEL AGAINST ME.’ .

Ps 41:9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.

Ps 55:12 For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him:  13 But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance.  14 We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.

Zech 11:12-13 12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.  13 And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.

God is not ignorant of the schemes of man or Satan. There is nothing that escapes His attention. In this account I am not sure that this truth has the impact that it would on the disciples. When Jesus was betrayed by Judas and murdered on the cross, it would have been easy for the disciples to think that God was ignorant of what was going on. It would have been very easy for the disciples to question God on why He did not act. Several weeks later with eyes full of the resurrected Christ all of those questions would vanish. God is not ignorant of the schemes of man or Satan.

God is not crippled by the schemes of man or Satan.

God’s plans are not thwarted by the sinful actions of man or Satan. He does not have a plan B. It seems as if Satan began to understand this at this point. At the beginning of Christ ministry Satan did everything he could do to get Jesus not to go to the cross. Turn these stones into bread, jump from the temple and let your angels catch you, worship me and I will give you the world. Even through the disciple Peter we find Satanic thinking. Remember after Peter gave the great declaration of who Jesus is Jesus then began to tell them that He must go an suffer and Peter said, not so Lord. Jesus replied get behind me Satan. Now, it seems as if Satan has resigned to the fact that Jesus is going to die and so if He is then Satan is going to make it as painful as possible. Satan used the betrayal of a friend, being sold to be tortured, the shame of the cross, all of the disciples being scattered to inflict pain and suffering on Jesus Christ. But all of it not out of the plan of God.

Zech. 13:7   Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.

Psa. 34:20 He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.

Psa. 22:16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.  17 I may tell all my bones: they look AND stare upon me.  18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

Is 53:3-5 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

This leads us to our third truth about God.

God can employ the schemes of man or Satan for His own glory.

In what seemed to be the darkest, most depraved, pain-filled time of the life of Christ was accomplished the greatest, life-giving, God-glorifying act of all of history. The redemption of mankind! God uses even the wickedness of man to accomplish His plans and bring Him glory. When to everyone else all was lost, Christ was crushed, Satan had won, and the bitter sting of death had struck its final blow, to God, the victory was being accomplished. What Satan and Judas had insanely pursued to fulfill their own desires resulted in their own destruction. What appeared to all to be the darkest hour was really the brightest. What seemed to be the most crushing defeat was really an overwhelming victory. All of the schemes of man and all of the manipulations of hell itself did not thwart the mighty hand of God in accomplishing victory through the murder of Jesus Christ.

Friend, what dark cloud is hanging over your life now? What crushing blow has been dealt to you this week? All of the schemes of sinful man and of hell itself can not stand against the work of God in your life for His own glory. So in the darkness will you take heart and trust your great God that can shine the brilliance of His glory into the darkest situation?

There is a name that to us is synonymous with betrayal and that is the name Judas Iscariot. The act of betrayal by Judas Iscariot reaches the depths of the depravity of man. It reveals the insane destructiveness of the sinful practices of man combined with the influences of Satan himself. The sinless Son of God sold for the price of a slave by one of his own disciples. The darkness of this act will never be matched in all of mans history, but there are lessons to be learned even from this treachery.

I believe that this dark account gives to us some lessons not only about ourselves, but about God. In this first installment on the life of Judas we will learn some lessons from Judas about the nature of man.

Hypocrisy is a mask that is difficult to remove. (Jn 12:1-8; Jn 13:21-30)

When we examine the life of Judas Iscariot we find that he was a chosen disciple just like the rest of them. We also discover that it was not obvious to the others that Judas was the one that was going to betray Jesus Christ. This tells us that Judas became an expert at hypocrisy and died in his hypocrisy. Judas saw all of the miracles that the others saw, he heard all of the teaching that the others heard, he traveled with Jesus for basically the entirety of his earthly ministry. He was with Jesus and yet he did not believe in Jesus. He had so convinced the others of his dedication to Jesus that they entrusted him with the money for the group and only later did the disciples find out that he was stealing from them. This dark, evil wickedness was hidden behind the mask of a disciple. Judas was given power to do miracles and minister for Jesus. He most likely spoke for Christ and testified that this was the Messiah. Every external appearance of Judas fit in with the ones that loved and served Jesus, and yet Judas did not love or really serve Jesus.

Friends, the terror of the example of this disciple should grip us. You can look like you love Jesus. You can come to church and look like you worship Jesus. You can have the appearances of serving Jesus and it may seem like you listen to teaching about Jesus. And yet, behind the mask sin and Satan control your heart, mind and life. When you really get down to who you are at your core, then there is nothing but deceit and darkness. You may be good at deceiving others, but you don’t really love Jesus, you just love for people to think that you love Jesus. You don’t really desire to sit and learn from Jesus, you just want other to think you do. Your hypocrisy masks what you hope no one will ever find out, you want to do only what brings you pleasure and satisfies what you want. I want to assure you of something, when you allow your sinful desires to have continual control of your life, you open yourself up to Satanic control. Satan controls people who continually live according to their own self-fulfilling desires.

Eph. 2:1   And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;  2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:  3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. (emphasis mine)

You can not say that you are a disciple of Christ and keep stealing. You can not say that you are a disciple of Christ and keep lying. You can not say that you are a disciple of Christ and love yourself and your own way more than Christ and His way. Judas wore the mask all the way to the end when his own desires destroyed him. Are you living in hypocrisy? What sin are you not only hiding, but continually practicing? What do you hope no one will ever find out? Do you just appear to love God or are there real demonstrations of loving God? The mask of hypocrisy is difficult to remove, but the grace of God can forgive the deepest and darkest of all sinners, if there will be a recognition of sin and turning from it. Judas was a disciple and he was not saved. How many of us are Christian church members, faithful servants, deacons, Sunday school teachers, Christian blog readers, or God-fearing people, that do not have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ alone. If it was simply what you did that earned you salvation, then Judas would have been saved, but it is not what you do that saves you, it is what Christ has done that will save you.

The love of money is the root of all evil

What sin specifically drove Judas to do what he did? I believe it was the sin of the love of money. Paul tells us in

1 Tim 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil.

Judas loved something more than Jesus. Here was one that saw the literal Jesus. He witnessed His miracles, and heard His teaching and yet he loved money more than Jesus and he used his position as the treasurer of the disciples to fulfill his lust for money. His mask of hypocrisy was glued to his face with money. Greed drove him to betray the one who could have saved him and embrace the one who would destroy him. Luke 22 tells us that Satan entered into Judas, and it was not the entry of the wicked one into an innocent soul. This was the invitation of a greedy one whose soul was black with self-fulfillment and whose life rife with sin. This was the one in whom sinful passions were alive and active. People do not just snap and then do bad things, there is preparation that takes place before to bring the heart to that level. It may be hidden from the eyes of everyone else, but there is something happening in the heart and mind of those that commit horrible sins before they commit them. Greed had gripped Judas. He was disillusioned with Jesus and did not like the talk of giving up everything here to lay up treasures in heaven. He despised taking up his own cross to follow Christ. There was no comforts for a disciple of Jesus, and therefore he stole to gain those comforts.

How easy is it for us to have the heart of Judas. We will make any sacrifice to be able to make more money or have nicer things or be more comfortable, when the call of discipleship is a call to forsake those things for eternal pleasures. How easy is it for us to love money more than Jesus? When we love our money more than Jesus we are doing what Judas did? Does that make you sick? Does that shock you and horrify you? If it does not then you should be afraid because I believe that as much as we would all say that we despise Judas for betraying Jesus for 30 pieces of silver some of us do it for much less.