We are one church. We love God, love people, love
His mission, and love His church.
Welcome to the One Church podcast.
Today I get a free topic and an opportunity to speak to you
about something that I sense God wants to speak to us all about
today. And whilst Easter has been and
gone, the story is for always right.
So we're going to go back a little bit in the Easter story
and look at the life of Judas, which I know might seem a
strange topic given the choice of anything in the whole Bible I
could have chosen from, but go with me if you don't know.
Judas was one of Jesus disciples, one of his followers,
one of his friends, but he was most famously known as the
disciple that betrayed Jesus. And often people know him as the
one that stole from the offering bag as well.
But he was the one that handed him over to the chief priests,
to the Roman authorities to be killed.
So you might be thinking, what on earth can you draw from
Judas's life to inspire me in mind today?
Or maybe you're thinking surely there are better role models
that you could have gone for today.
Yes, there definitely are better role models I could have chosen
today, but I think we can also learn from his life and from his
mistakes and begin to understand the heart of God that is 1 of
unconditional love and forgiveness.
Matthew 26 and 27 is where a lot of this story kind of plays out
and you can go away and read that a bit more for yourself.
And I'll kind of go through it briefly to save us a bit of time
today, But Matthew 26 is a big chapter.
A lot happens. So it begins with Jesus telling
his disciples that he was going to be handed over to be
crucified. It goes on with the story of
Jesus being anointed by the woman with the expensive
perfume. And then we read about Judas
agreeing to betray Jesus with the chief priests for 30 pieces
of silver. And then we get to the Last
Supper, which also includes Jesus predicting Peter's denial,
which we'll get to in a little bit as well.
We then see the Garden of Gethsemane, which I watched on
the Chosen this week. And so powerful, so moving to
watch that visually as well. We then see Jesus is arrested.
He's questioned by the high priest, and then he's disowned
by Peter. That is 1 chapter of Scripture
of 66 books, many, many chapters. 1 chapter holds all of
that for us. We won't go through all of it,
but firstly I'm going to read from Matthew 26.
This is the Last Supper after Judas has agreed to betray him,
but before he's actually done it.
So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared
the Passover. When evening came, Jesus was
reclining at the table with the 12, and while they were eating
he said, Truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.
They were very sad and began to say to him, one after the other,
Surely you don't mean me, Lord Jesus replied, The one who has
dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me.
The Son of Man will go, just as it is written about him.
But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man.
It would be better for him if he had not been born.
Then Judas the one who would betray him said surely you don't
mean me Rabbi? Which if we just pause for a
second that is a crazy level of personal denial when 9 verses
prior he has agreed to betray Jesus.
Crazy to think that he would still say surely you don't mean
me. Jesus answered, You have said So
while they were eating, Jesus took bread and when he'd given
thanks he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, take
and eat, this is my body. Then he took a cup and when he
had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, drink from it all
of you. This is my blood of the covenant
which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
I tell you I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now
on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's
Kingdom. Now the first thing I want to
ask is today our first point is what's under the surface.
You know, the disciples didn't suspect Judas.
He was just one of them at this point.
And in John's gospel, it's literally recorded as you read
this that they stared at each other at a loss to know which of
them he meant. They're all looking to their own
motives, you know, their own hearts, their own lives.
Do I have it in me to betray the one that I love?
Surely it's not me, Lord. They didn't sit there and have
this elephant in the room moment where they all knew it was
Judas, but nobody wanted to say his name.
They didn't suspect him any more than they suspected themselves.
But if you think for a moment about Judas's actions versus
what must have been going on internally, that inner narrative
of his, he was with everybody else.
They were travelling together, they were teaching, they were
seeing Jesus perform miracles. They were doing all the good
disciple things. And yet, below the surface for
Judas was something in him that was just one step away from
betrayal. We don't know what his motive
was. Maybe it could have been
disappointment. Perhaps Jesus wasn't the kind of
Messiah that he expected for him to be.
Maybe it was greed, although I feel that 30 pieces of silver
was surely not enough to have done it for the money.
That was just as much as they would have deemed a slave was
worth. Was he offended by being rebuked
for scoffing at the woman who poured the perfume on Jesus's
feet? Whatever it was, the inner
narrative had been steering his heart, and eventually his
actions followed. Whatever is steering your heart
will eventually lead to action. Whether that's a positive thing
or a negative thing. If something is in your heart,
it will lead to action. So what's under your surface?
Last weekend, while I was out at our Easter production
rehearsals, Josh and the kids were at home and I came home to
freshly baked mini egg blondes. On the surface.
These blondes, they looked good. Many mini eggs broken.
They're bubbling over, you know, all gooey and lovely.
If you've ever put mini eggs in the microwave, you'll know.
Exceptional, anyway. But under the surface was far
from the gooey, delicious, sweet treat that we had all hoped for.
As much as they tried their best, they had not quite been
successful. The substance didn't live up to
what the surface layer promised. But in your faith, have you got
a really believable, realistic mask on?
Are you such a believable Christian that you go through
the motions of faith that people wouldn't even notice any red
flags if you were one step away from betraying Jesus?
If your relationship with Jesus is primarily A performative
thing where you come to church to tick a box, maybe you're
somebody that comes late and you leave early so that you can say
that you've been and it ticks a box, but it doesn't cost you
anything and it probably doesn't even enter your week outside of
a Sunday. You know, if your relationship
with Jesus is not an honest and open kind of relationship, what
is the point? What is the point?
If you've got doubts or disappointments or offences with
God that you are wrestling with, it's time to take them to Him.
Let the inner narrative become heard, either by Him or by
somebody you trust that's going to pray with you.
Because when these thoughts stay internalised, they gain control
over our actions. But as soon as we verbalise
things, the grip can loosen. So what is under the surface for
you? It's time to take those honest
thoughts and feelings to the One that gave you your mind and your
emotions in the 1st place. He can bring everything into
alignment. So what's under the surface?
Secondly, forgiveness is for all.
Jesus and Judas have just had this interaction where Jesus
basically says, I know it's going to be you, Judas.
And then in the next breath he speaks of his body broken for
him and his blood poured out for the forgiveness of sins.
It says while they were eating, Jesus took bread and when he had
given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples,
saying, take and eat, this is my body.
Then he took a cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to
them, saying, drink from it all of you, this is my blood of the
covenant which is poured out for the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus knew it was Judas that would betray him, and yet he
said drink from it. All of you, for this is my blood
poured out. The cup was for all.
The blood of Jesus covers all. Even before he had acted, Judas
was offered forgiveness. And if there's any part of your
life, any part of you that wonders whether Jesus could
possibly consider forgiving you for your mistakes and for your
mess, the truth is, His forgiveness extends to all of
us, and all we have to do is accept His forgiveness.
Maybe it's a day by day, maybe even hour by hour, or minute by
minute. 1 John says that when we confess our sins, He's faithful
and just to forgive us from all unrighteousness.
He offered forgiveness to the very person that set him up to
be killed, even though he'd never done anything to deserve
it. We have all wronged God.
We've all fallen short of his perfect standards, and yet He
forgives us all. So we've asked what's under the
surface. We've considered that
forgiveness is for all. And thirdly, we're going to
shake off shame. The third thing that we can
learn from Judas's life is the power that guilt and shame can
have over us. So we're going to move into
Matthew 27. It's Jesus has just been
arrested and questioned before the Sanhedrin.
And then it says from verse 3, when Judas, who had betrayed
him, realised that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was
filled with remorse. So he took the 30 pieces of
silver back to the leading priests and the elders.
I have sinned, he declared, For I have betrayed an innocent man.
What do we care? They retorted.
That's your problem. Then Judas threw the silver
coins down in the temple and went out and hanged himself.
And I just want to say, in this moment, we're not going to be
talking in detail about him taking his own life today.
But if that's a topic that's difficult even for you to hear
just through reading the scripture for whatever reason,
then you can reach out to somebody today.
But the word remorse means deep regret or guilt for wrongdoing.
Maybe it went further than he expected, or maybe Judas just
hadn't thought through the full consequences of what would
happen should he betray, but he was so ashamed that he couldn't
see another way out. Shame is a painful emotion
caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcomings, or
impropriety. Something painful, something
that our actions have then caused.
An internal sense of guilt. All of us have fallen short, but
what we choose to do with our shortcomings decides how we move
forward. Judas had walked with Jesus.
He knew Jesus's character was one of complete love and
forgiveness, and yet somehow, having seen that reality, he
couldn't see that for himself. That could possibly been an
option for him. He'd seen the way that Jesus had
interacted with the people that society spat on, and yet he
allowed shame, that feeling that came as a result of his
shortcomings, to dictate the path ahead of him.
Shame tries to trap us. I don't know what it is in your
life that you feel ashamed of, but I know that it isn't in the
will of God for you to be stuck in that place.
Maybe you carry shame about something that you've done or
continue to do that you know doesn't honour God.
Maybe it's choices that you've made that you know are not God's
best, or a way that you've lived that doesn't represent Jesus
well to those around you. Many years ago, Pastor Susan was
sitting with a lady from a different city who was wanting
to be free. And all of a sudden she began to
weep as she shared the shame that she'd carried of a
relationship that she'd been in that had led to a pregnancy and
then to an abortion. No one ever knew, and the guilt
and the shame that she carried had completely crippled her.
And Pastor Susan was able to lead her to the cross where she
confessed her sin and she found grace and peace.
And that Lady was transformed in that moment.
She went on to marry somebody and have children and continues
to have a blessed and full life where shame can hold you back,
forgiveness and grace can set you free.
And that's something that can be experienced by all of us in the
room today. Conviction, though, is a gift
from the Lord. You know, when you do something
and you just get that like nudge from the Holy Spirit, perhaps I
wasn't right to do that. You know, that's healthy.
That's a positive thing. We can act on that conviction,
but shame condemns us to feel that there's no way out.
Guilt and shame are not feelings that we're called to carry.
We're to acknowledge the conviction, those nudges from
the Holy Spirit, and we're to ask for forgiveness and then
make changes to align with his ways.
And just as an aside, Judas goes to the leading priests and to
the elders, and their response was less than compassionate, not
the kind of response that you would hope to receive from
leaders. And so if you've ever felt in
church, whether this one or another, like your problems are
your own, go and deal with them alone, then I'm truly sorry.
And I can speak for our church when I say that if you have that
moment of conviction from the Holy Spirit when you know that
there's something in your life that isn't quite right, we want
to walk with you through those moments of remorse.
And we want to help you back to a place of communion with God
and communion with his people. You have to receive the
conviction. You have to take the steps and
do the work, but you don't have to do it alone.
If you've ever felt that you've done something that you see as
so bad that you couldn't possibly share it with somebody
in the church, and please know that our response would be so
different than the response we read here, we would not be
saying what do we care? That's your problem.
Don't be cut off from community for fear of the church's
response. If Seamus gripped you and
trapped you into feeling like you can't come back, it's time
to shake it off. That is not your burden to
carry. You might need help with that,
maybe some accountability, a friend or somebody to walk back
with you. But you can start the journey
away from shame and into forgiveness and freedom.
Today, conviction can call us back where shame would cut us
off again. We've asked what's under the
surface. We've acknowledged that
forgiveness is for all. We're challenged to shake off
shame and fourthly, you make our choice.
Matthew 26 shows us 2 disciples at their lowest point.
Firstly, Judas betraying Jesus by handing him over to be tried
and eventually killed. Let me read this for you from
verse 47. While he was still speaking,
Judas, one of the 12 arrived. With him was a large crowd armed
with swords and clubs sent from the chief priests and the elders
of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a
signal with them. The one I kiss is the man.
Arrest him. Going at once to Jesus, Judas
says. Greetings, Rabbi.
I'll just to pause for a second here and say that Judas was the
only disciple who didn't confess Jesus as Lord.
He only ever referred to him as rabbi, and I wonder whether
that's perhaps because money was the Lord of his life.
And maybe there's something in the fact that unless Jesus is
our Lord, our response to failing is to look to ourselves
or to lesser things that we've made our Lord in order to
restore us. And those things can never bring
restoration. Money was never going to restore
Judas. Is he your Lord?
Greetings, Rabbi. And he kissed him.
Jesus replied, do what you came for friend.
Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him.
And then we read about Peter. He denies 3 times that he even
knows Jesus. Earlier that very same day he
said that he'd sooner die than to deny Jesus or disown that he
knows him. And there he is 3 times denying
that he knows him. Now Peter was sitting out in the
courtyard and a servant girl came to him.
You also were with Jesus of Galilee, she said.
But he denied it before them all.
I don't know what you're talking about, He said.
Then he went out to the gateway where another servant girl
sought him and said to the people there, This fellow was
with Jesus of Nazareth. He denied it again with an oath.
I don't know the man. After a little while, those
standing there went to Peter and said, surely you are one of
them. Your accent gives you away.
Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them.
I don't know the man. Immediately the rooster crowed.
Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken before.
The rooster crows. You will disown me three times.
And he went outside and wept bitterly. 2 of Jesus's followers
and his friends make monumental mistakes.
They completely abandoned all sense of loyalty and friendship
to the one that they've begin to understand is not just a good
rabbi, but maybe, actually possibly, he could be the
Messiah they've completely turned their backs on, the one
that they'd walked with, that they'd seen heal people and
restore people and love people that society hated.
And yet each one of them is offered forgiveness, and each
one of them is offered the chance to walk the road of
restoration. And each one makes a choice.
Judas chooses to count himself out of ever being used by Jesus
again. He draws a line in the sand when
he takes his own life. And he says, I'm too broken, I'm
too dirty, I'm too messy. Jesus couldn't possibly use me.
I'm beyond repair. He chooses that path before
Jesus has even been crucified. Let alone raised back to life.
But Peter, he has to sit with his mistake for days, so long
before that moment of restoration comes.
And in fact, the disciples, they were actually so slow to catch
on to the fact that he was going to be raised alive that maybe he
didn't even consider that redemption and restoration with
Jesus was a possibility for him. But when he was presented with
the opportunity, he chooses to seek restoration.
He chooses to find freedom to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to
be sent out with purpose and authority.
And he is used by Jesus for the rest of his days.
He is the one who took the gospel message to the non Jewish
people. He is what started what
eventually would allow you and I to come to know Jesus.
Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love
me? Yes, Lord, There you go.
Lord, He knew he was his Lord. Yes, Lord, He said, you know
that I love you. Jesus said, feed my lambs again.
Jesus said, Simon, son of John, do you love me?
He answered, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.
Jesus said, take care of my sheep.
The third time he said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love
me? Peter was hurt because Jesus
asked him the third time, do you love me?
He said, Lord you know all things, you know that I love
you. Jesus said, feed my sheep.
And then it goes on to say, and then he said to him, follow me.
Peter was broken, but he didn't allow his mistake to count him
out from being used by Jesus. He did the work, He took the
steps. He forgave himself enough to see
that he was more than his mistake.
You are more than your mistake. Your mistake does not have to
define or limit your future and your calling from God.
If you're willing to do the deep work of restoration, the call of
God is irrevocable. But we all sin.
We all fall short. We all mess up in ways that we
never imagined or intended on. And yet we all get to choose
between a road of redemption or a path of pain.
But you're not beyond redemption.
You're not unusable. No one is.
But we have to accept the hard Rd home.
We acknowledge that we've messed up and maybe that we need help
being healed up and forgiving ourselves, and there will
undoubtedly be pain in that process, but it's worth it.
Jesus is worth it. He thinks you're worth it.
He gave everything as he hung on the cross that you would know
redemption and restoration. And I implore you today, take
the road of restoration. Allow God to make you new, to
give you beauty for ashes, to give you joy Instead of
mourning. Take the road of redemption.
And so as we respond, we look back over Judas's life, we ask
what's under the surface? What is it that you need to get
real before God with what is under the surface for you?
How can you stop that in a hidden narrative, steering your
heart and eventually leading to action?
What's under the surface? Can you accept today that
forgiveness is for all? Complete forgiveness can be
found at the cross of Jesus. For all that you have done, for
all that you will do, is covered by the blood.
Can you shake off shame today? Is it cutting you off where
conviction wants to call you home?
Shake off shame and then make your choice.
In our mistakes, in our sin, in our denial or our betrayal of
Jesus, there is always a road back.
You don't need to count yourself out as being too broken to be
used again the Lord. Bless you.
And keep you. The Lord make His face shine
upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face towards
you and give you peace.