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Invitation To Friendship

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In the book, The Insanity of Obedience, its author, Nick Ripken writes: Betrayal within the faith community is a special concern, and it is important enough to demand specific attention. Consider this scenario: Expectations were high. After years of struggle and prayer, a house church was emerging among a resistant Muslim people group. Lives had been spent with this precious moment in view. Seeds had been sown and those seeds were now bearing fruit. Fervent prayers were being answered. Bold witness was being blessed. It was an exciting time. A church was being born. Almost immediately, it seemed, a Judas arose from within the group, exposing the inner circle of leaders. The small core of believers fled in disarray and fear. In an instant, the infant church seemed to disappear. Now, years later, these believers still wait in hiding for the birth of the first house church among their people. Nik Ripkin goes on to state, In light of the Biblical record and in light of Jesus’ response to His own Judas, let us consider some truths about Judas and let us consider what our response might mean for the growth and health of the Gospel. (1) We can expect to find Judas within our inner circle. (2) We can expect Judas to grow up within the movement and not to be imported from the outside. (3) With God’s help, we can choose to deal with Judas ourselves and choose not to export him to others. (4) We can learn to recognize Judas quickly. (5) We can be aware that Judas often has money issues. Regarding this last point Nik offers the testimony of a Muslim believer: When a seeker after Jesus comes to me, I ask them, What is it that you want: a car, a house, a wife, or to go to America? I tell them that I cannot even give them an aspirin. All I have is a cross. Do you want to pick up your cross and follow Jesus? That is all I can offer you. He then continued, “Everyone who followed Jesus in the New Testament gave up something. Everyone who comes to Jesus through a Westerner is trying to get something.“

There’s an interesting detail that Western readers often overlook when reading about the night of Jesus’ betrayal by Judas. John 13:26-27 Jesus answered, It is the one to whom I am going to give this morsel (bit) of food after I have dipped it. So when He had dipped the morsel of bread [into the dish], He gave it to Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son. 27 Then after [he had taken] the bit of food, Satan entered into and took possession of [Judas]. Jesus said to him, What you are going to do, do more swiftly than you seem to intend and make quick work of it. We know from Scripture that John, the Beloved disciple, sat to Jesus’ right at the table and that Judas sat to His left. In Jewish culture the seat of honor was on the left side of the one who headed up the meal. Jesus had given the seat of honor to Judas – who was going to betray him; to the one who stole money from Jesus and the other disciples. Jesus honored him. But it get’s much worse, or should I say, more convicting. When Jesus handed the morsel of matzah to Judas that also had symbolic, and cultural ramifications. What was its message? Through that one action Jesus was offering to Judas a lifetime of friendship and love. He was saying to Judas, Will you be my true and close friend?

As we celebrate Passover, and draw closer to the events of Christ’s crucifixion, we need to take the time to ask, Have we betrayed Jesus for protection, provision, spouses, family, cars, houses, or material gain? I am often haunted by a realization I had years ago, that Jesus has many acquaintances but very few friends. We all want Him for something. But in the words of Henry Blackaby, If you knew all you had was a relationship with God, would you be totally and completely satisfied? In other words, If you didn’t have any of the material wealth, or family and friends – would your relationship with Jesus keep you totally and completely satisfied? What are you living for?

Are You Becoming A Little Christ?

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2 Chronicles 15:12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to yearn for Him with all their heart’s desire and with all their soul;

Where did they go to look for God? Many scholars suggest that the covenant that was birthed from this passage actually aided in the birthing of Pharisaism. How can something that began as a pure thing; an honest desire to seek after and pursue God, evolve into a movement that many of its adherents Jesus called “sons of hell?”

Several things the Lord has been surfacing for me during the last few weeks: being a little Christ, raising up the fallen Tent of David, and the Great Commission. As I was praying today I realized that there’s a thread that connects one with the other.

Little Christ – Acts 11:26 “…and in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. To be designated and characterized a “Christian” in New Testament times required that you be a disciple of Jesus. To be a disciple of Jesus implied that you were f-o-l-l-o-w-i-n-g…Jesus. When I first became a believer, surrendering my faith for salvation from hell and forgiveness of sins, I did not have an understanding that I was signing up to follow Jesus. Later I learned that this was “Christian-eze,” or code for being a Christian. In other words the question would go like this: “Are you a Christian, or Follower of Jesus?” One supposedly equated one with the other. If I had not been inoculated by religion and the tradition of my fathers, common sense would have begged the question, “How do you follow Jesus? Where’s He going? I can’t even hear or see Him? How am I to follow Him?” That would have been common sense – too much so. And there’s the problem: religion. Religion, man’s desire to cover his shame, fear, and nakedness with fig leaves of his own making – is what keeps us following these code words without really examining their meanings. Truth be known I wasn’t following Jesus. I was following what my traditions teachers and adherents said I should believe. Jesus called these kind of teachers “blind guides.” I’ve had a lot of “blind guides” in my life. Guides who were afraid to question the answers. Guides who encouraged the maddening march into the darkest of ditches. Guides who were threatened by the questions, and encouraged us to avoid them at all costs. Religions, traditions, and its teachers are designed to keep us in the dark, walking in circles, never discovering the way out into the Light of Reality. There’s the rub. Are you searching for reality or the comfort of the status quo? The assurances from blind teachers? The living, resurrected Jesus – is THE LIGHT! He is REALITY! Why do we settle in our search for more darkness and blindness? In your time of prayer and fasting ask these questions. Make sure you haven’t settled for reassuring blind guides, and more deafening, dulling, blinding darkness. One way to know for sure whether you have settled for the ditches of man’s religion, and traditions is by asking this simple question, “Are you becoming a little Christ?”