NOV 19 2017 | John 12

Sea Change Church · "John 12" · Dr. James Smith III · November 19, 2017
John 12
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

So good to be here as a house of worship this morning. In your folder it says Elliott Stearns is reading the scripture. Elliott and Johanna are not here. I'm not Elliott, but they're on. We're missing a few other people here on a couple's retreat this morning. I'm Pastor Jim, and it's an honor to be able to share the word from John chapter 12.

The gospel says six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. And here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. And then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume, and she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair.

And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected. Why wasn't this perfume sold? And the money given to the poor, it was worth a year's wages. He did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

Lord, help us to take this word to heart and to understand it is more blessed to give than to receive. Praise be to you and guide Pastor Adam in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Are you with you? Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You. You. You. It's a lot. And you. on the great and you. in the real time. The media team and I are just having such a good time during the week. We're like, what are we going to do today?

We are upping our game on the media team. Way to go, team. Thank you for putting that together. Makes it fun. Jeff came to me recently with the idea and he said, hey, let's work on our pew experience. We just need a better pew experience when people, you know, not PU, but a pew experience. So we want to do that. We want you to have fun when you're here.

We want you to enjoy. Why does everyone get to have a good time except at church? And so we're working on that. This mic's a little hot. I have something. I'm not going to say that. Nonetheless, money was in the news a lot this week, right? Tons of money that was floating around. We got a tax plan for whatever you think about that happening. One of the worst pictures of Jesus ever sold for $450 million.

Like, I even like Jesus the captain with the wheel better than that one, you know? Found out that there's 3.5% that there's 11 million millionaires in the United States out of 350 something million people, which I thought there was more. And then the Museum of the Bible. Super cool story. The people that own Hobby Lobby opened that Museum of the Bible to engage people in a conversation and a narrative about the Bible.

They took $500 million of their own money and poured it into that and put it in the middle of Washington, D.C. I don't think that was by an accident, but just the way they decided to use it. And so we've been talking about money for the last probably three weeks here and talking about this incredible woman who came and broke the vial of her life in every way on the feet of Jesus.

And she did so by taking a year's worth of, you know, pure spikenard or some fragrant ointment and anointing Jesus, probably not knowing what she was doing at the time, anointing him for his death, and poured it out upon Jesus. Now, we know that this scripture is, this story, Jesus said, would be remembered throughout eternity until the end of time and beyond the end of time.

And we know that it is one of 11 stories in the New Testament that are in every single gospel. It is in all the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and then it is in John as well. Although the John story is a little bit different, and we, through some textual criticism, you can go and look at that online and see how we can put those together.

Last week, it says that this party for Jesus was held at the house of Simon the leper, and who we believe was perhaps a Pharisee. In this story, it doesn't say that the party was at Lazarus' house. It said it was in the town of Lazarus, that Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead, was there, that Martha, as was one of the sisters of Lazarus, was serving.

And Mary, a woman who was a sister, was the one who was always sitting at Jesus' feet, who came and broke this bottle of anointing oil upon Jesus. Now, can we assume perhaps that this is the same story? I think we can. And perhaps Mary was the prodigal daughter. Now, I'm reading out of the silence, but trying to use all four Gospels to take this story and turn them into one, because Jesus says the exact same answer at the end, so we have to assume that it's the same story, even though some of the details are a little different contextually, but it still fits.

It doesn't contradict. And it is possible that Mary, this woman who loved Jesus so much, and she was always at his feet, was perhaps also the sinful woman. And people have said that it is Mary Magdalene. That would be a contradiction, and there is nowhere that it says it's Mary Magdalene. But it possibly could have been Mary, the sister of Lazarus.

And we usually paint her as a person who is pretty spotless, sitting at the feet of Jesus, but very possible that she lived a very salacious life. And perhaps, you know, this vial that she had was earned some nefarious way. We don't know. But that's a little context into the story. What we have here, though, for sure, is a woman who adored Jesus, absolutely adored Jesus, and was willing to break the vial of her life.

And we're going to show a context today between someone who breaks a vial and someone who fills a bag. She was willing to break this vial. And then you have Judas, who ends up becoming vial. We'll talk about his journey in a minute. I think we don't see the journey of Judas. We see the end piece, but not the journey. And he was more interested, by the end of his journey, in filling a bag with 30 pieces of silver and betraying Jesus for money.

As you'll see in your notes, I believe, this is me, I believe that money, finance, in the Bible, the entire narrative is based around your understanding of freedom. And one of the questions I asked in this is, does money, having money, give freedom, or does it... I don't have my glasses, so I can't actually read it. I was trying to read it without my glasses, so I couldn't do it.

Hashtag bifocals. I just didn't want to admit it. I don't want to give in. I got... Amen, right? So I just sit like this the whole time, like you're doing? You didn't give in either. You're not going bifocals, are you? So I'm just going to do this and preach like this, like my grandma. So annoying. I used to have such great eyes. I was like Superman.

No mas. The entire biblical conversation, according to Pastor Adam, you can give as much, you know, reputation to that as you want, is about money, revolves around the central question of freedom. The central question is, which gives freedom, having more or having less? Really interesting. What gives more freedom? Ecclesiastes is a... Man, if you don't...

If you need wisdom for a decision and you're struggling, read the book of Ecclesiastes, read the book of James. Unbelievable books, and Proverbs as well. But those three books, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and James, will set you straight. Ecclesiastes says this, The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundant permits them no sleep.

That's so antithetical. That is so upside down. But the gospel tends to be upside down, according to the world's narrative. I talked about Jeff Bezos. I love the before and after pictures of Jeff Bezos, right? Somebody else has seen those, right? It's like tech nerd, okay? Like 25 years ago. And that, you know, and he's like starting Amazon. And, you know, he just looks like...

It looks like a stereotypical, like it'd be in a movie. You know what I mean? And now he's all yoked with guns, and he's got, like, you know, this vest he wears in these, like, aviator shades. Just go look before and after pictures. I have nothing disparaging to say about the man. I like his new look. I do. He looks really good. He looks sharp. He's kind of like a tech Tom Cruise or whatever.

Brad Pitt, whichever one you like. George Clooney, whichever one you prefer. Joe Brandy. It's our missions pastor if you're listening online. And he has... He's the richest man in the world. I wonder if he worries about becoming... Every year so often, about every six months, he's the second richest man in the world. And then him and Bill Gates go back and forth.

But he's got this spaceship project he's trying to fund, right? And he's got to sell a billion bucks worth of Amazon every year to fund the project. And I just wonder, you know, with $90 billion, I bet you're sitting there in bed, and you're trying to fall asleep. It's like, how am I going to get to Mars? How am I going to get to Mars? And some dude that is working out in a yard somewhere is just snoring.

You know what I mean? Just no worries, you know? Does it give more freedom? You know, money in the scriptures did not exist before the fall. And money won't exist after we go to be with Jesus. Money is a product of the fall. I'm not saying it's evil. It is the root of many kinds of evils, we'll see. And people pierce themselves with many transactions.

It would be a self-flatulation. They pierce themselves with many tribulations in order to pursue that. So we look at this and we see two economies here that are happening. The economy of heaven is an economy of freedom. There is no debt. Money symbolizes debt. There is a debt. You need something. You have to give me something to get something. In Eden, the ground needed to be tended but not worked.

You tended it. It produced on its own. You did not need to work the ground in Eden. But after the fall, you needed to work the ground. It would no longer produce freedom. It was no longer a free economy. And it symbolized a sinful debt. And if you look at Jesus, Jesus' death on the cross, as seen in Romans, is a financial transaction. It puts what happened with Jesus as paying the debt of sin.

And there's all this financial language around freedom and what Jesus did on the cross. That is intentional, I believe. And I don't believe it is unintentional that Jesus was actually sold for physical money that represents the spiritual cost that he was paying, a perfect cost that none of us can pay on the cross. And so money is this huge thing.

And it makes sense why Jesus had a very indiscriminate, I guess, or arbitrary view of money. He was in no way tied to money, but he understood how it worked. But it didn't affect his emotions. And so Jesus had this way where it didn't affect him. And the question I've asked the last couple weeks is, how much does money affect your emotions? And how willing are you to break the vial of your life?

I was in line at Vons this week, and there was a woman there that had a big thing of groceries. And she had a government card. It's Ralph's, I think, UTC. And she had a government card. And they got to the end, and it was $128. And it didn't work. She's all, ma'am, your card's not working. Your card's not working. And, oh, this is so embarrassing.

And it's supposed to be on there. And the kids are like 12 and 9. And there's all this food. And she's got it filled. And there's a long line. And she says, well, ma'am, you're going to have to say, well, it should work. I know that there was money on there. And, well, there's only $88 on there. And so she goes, this is so embarrassing. And she goes to the side.

And, you know, I'm watching as this is happening. And she starts taking the food out. And there's some donuts. And I know the kids' faces. And it's embarrassing. And everyone's looking. And the person behind her in line, when she wasn't looking, gave the credit card and said, here, just pay for it and don't tell her. And I watched them slide the card.

And, you know, the cash register said, that's $44. You know, like it was a billion dollar for the space project. You know what I mean? $44. And, you know, some people sneeze in the Hoya and $44 comes out. You know what I mean? Oh, I wonder where that went. And they rushed out of the store. And the lady went over and told her and said, hey, someone's paid for it.

And they were able to go out. And the kids could have their donuts. And it was just such an awesome picture of the vial being broken. It was so beautiful. This week, my wife and I decided to give big Sean a ride. Perhaps you know Sean. He's African-American. Goes by Sean or Shauna. Depends on what day you talk to him. Really funny. Went to Christian Heritage College.

We pulled over and he just gave him a ride. And it was such a great time. And I thought, you know, I'm going home. He doesn't live that far. But I just thought, you know, there's just little things. What can we do to break the vial of our life? And so I guess the question, it feels so good when you do it. But are you concerned more with breaking the vial or filling the bag?

And I know that I'm a bag filler. I love filling the bag. And I'm into my fantasy life is about real estate. Okay. So I don't know if I've mentioned it. It's like I've got, you know, I've got an island I want and a house in Montana and this whole deal. And I'm always figuring out how it's going to work out. Maybe we all have these things we want.

Maybe for you it's a Maytank dryer, I don't know, or a car or whatever your thing is. And I just said to my wife, you know what I want to do from now on? When all of our money comes in, I want to start at the beginning. After we figure out what needs to go out, what we want to give to God. And then say, what can we give away? Who needs help? Before we start with the whole, like, can I get a ranch in Montana by the time I'm 72?

You know? Like, what would it look like if I just flipped the script? I love buying stuff for myself. You know, actually I'm not a big thing guy. But I like adventure. I like trips. I like doing things. Bono from U2 said that, and this is a paraphrase, the biggest tension he has in his life is his desire to feed the poor and give wells and clean drinking water to every person in Africa against his enjoyment of going down Fifth Avenue in New York City in a limousine and drinking champagne.

I think we all have that struggle, right? I think we all have that struggle. And so we see that. And so we see a completely different economy here with two people in the scripture. And this woman who has painted such a beautiful picture. You saw the picture. I love the Caravaggio of Judas, that first picture we've seen. I love Caravaggio. I think he does some of the most beautiful work of the life of Jesus.

The Thomas, the incredulity of St. Thomas is another one that he does that I would encourage you to see. It's at the National Gallery if you're in England to go see that. This is the entire biblical narrative. Two economies at work. Mary broke the jar. Verse 3. Let's look at verse 3. Then Mary took out a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume. I will give the context.

A year's worth of your salary. A year. A year's salary is a year's salary. No matter who you are, a year's salary is a year's salary. So just put it in your context. And she broke it on Jesus' feet. She wasn't helping the poor. She was beautifying Jesus. The gospel without the primary starting point of giving your time, treasure, talent away has to start with your desire to beautify Jesus.

Not to do some pressure valve release so you can say, okay, I accomplished. I did enough. I feel good about that. It is never about making yourself feel better by giving something away. It is about, I want to beautify Jesus. And secondarily, there's a lot of poor people to help. And there's a lot of people that aren't poor. There's a lot of rich people.

You know, one of the things that, one of the greatest, somebody asked me, what are the greatest needs in La Jolla? One of the greatest needs is loneliness. It is one of the most lonely cities I've ever been in. Mother Teresa said that the most lonely, the most poverty she's ever seen is in New York City. It was the poverty of loneliness that is much harder to solve than giving someone a meal.

There was a mental illness issue in America, if you haven't seen that in the headlines. There was a mental illness issue in La Jolla. And what would it look like as a church if one of our goals is to begin to fight the battle of mental illness in our society around us, to help people get free from depression, anxiety, loneliness, and to build a bulwark of God's consolation, love, and hope.

And so she's living out, as you'll see in your notes, Mary is breaking the jar of her life, living according to a kingdom economy, where her inner life is increasing. The inner life of beautifying Jesus is increasing the space. Think of the TARDIS, if you would, in Doctor Who. I think that's it. It's a wife's show, not my show, but I happen to see it on the side when she watches it.

There's this little phone booth that he goes into, and when he goes in, it's this massive building. Think about that as your heart. As you live and give towards Jesus and beautify Jesus, the TARDIS of your heart will begin to enlarge on the inside. She's living an expanding life. Judas is living a life of contraction. A life of contraction. More for me, less grace, less generosity, less hope.

One of the things I read in James this week, and I love it in regard, it says, if you need wisdom, and some of you need wisdom, go to James, I think it's verse 5, it's in chapter 1, and it says, if you need wisdom, ask God who gives graciously. And does anybody know what it says after that? What it says? It says he will give it to you, but it says without finding fault.

I'd never seen that before. Never seen it. So interesting. What do you mean without finding fault? That God is a person, when he gives you something, he doesn't look and say, you know, you should have done it a little bit better. Let me just give you a little talking to, before I give you some generosity. Before I give you some grace. No, God doesn't do that.

He is graciously, he doesn't take into account all the things you've done wrong. He doesn't find fault with you. He just says, I want to give you wisdom. I want to give of myself. I want to give you everything without any context that has to make you a little better, or to dig you with a little bit of guilt. And that is why I hate guilt when it comes from the pulpit.

And I don't use the word hate much. But when it comes from the pulpit, to try to shepherd people into doing something that can build a pastoral agenda. And hopefully you feel that as I speak about money in this church. Your job is to beautify Jesus. And like I said a few weeks ago, and I felt a little scared after I said it, but I'm going to say it again.

The church has been here 90 years on this corner, and 2,000 years before that, without your wallet. But God is going to get through. And if you are going to give to anything, do it for the sake of beautifying Jesus. I've got to say, this is such a new revelation for me. It's an old revelation, but one I hadn't been living. It's so easy to set up the automatic giving, or whatever it is, and just send it out to the world orphans, and this whole thing, and just forget about it.

And lose the blessing of making sure that every time we give in any way, that I get to go beautify and kiss His feet. It is so good. Start living your life. This week, just break the vial. If you're the person in the line at Vaughn's, just do it. Fill up someone's gas tank for them. Buy, pay for the person behind you in line. Just give a $20 bill.

Just take an extra $20 bill with you. And say, hey, I'm going to pay for these people's dinner behind me, and then just bail. Like, just do stuff like that. Random acts of God's mercy and kindness. We know that she beautified Jesus. And in verse 5 and 6, we see that Judas is living a different way. Verse 5 and 6, let's go to it. But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray Him, who was later to betray Him, objected.

Why wasn't this perfume sold in the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages. He did not say this because He cared about the poor, but because He was a thief. As the keeper of the money bag, He used to help Himself to what was put in it. He is a person that is wanting to betray Jesus. He is a person who has betrayed Himself more than He betrayed Jesus.

And this is something we often miss. We see Judas as one of the great betrayers. If you think about the great betrayers, I named some there in history. You have Gaius. Gaius. Gaius. However you want to pronounce it. The betrayed Caesar with Brutus. We have Gaius. Gaius. From the British people of history there. We have Gaius. Gaius. One of the great British betrayers.

Benedict Arnold. And perhaps, according to your politics, Julian Assange. Perhaps. Some would say that it was for a great motive. Others would say he was a betrayer. But there is a discussion of betrayal. One thing I can tell you about Judas is his betrayal had nothing to do with virtue. Not only did he betray Jesus. But ultimately, he betrayed himself.

And he went and he took the 30 coins. When he realized, and oftentimes there is no realization, until after there was a landslide of results. And we see that all the time in social media. That someone does something and all of a sudden, they're incredibly sorry. All of a sudden, they say something, they do something, and all of a sudden, they're incredibly sorry.

And I hear this all the time. That's not who I am. That's not who I am. That's not the person I am. Let me tell you something. That's exactly who you are, or you would not have done it. I have a friend who is going to jail for a very long time. And I went to a pastor's meeting, and we spoke about this person. They were well known. And it was almost like an apologist meeting where this person had been put on such a high pedestal.

And then all of a sudden, there were three or four pastors, and they're saying things like, this is not who he was. This is not who he is. And they were grieving and the whole thing, and I understood that. So I kept my mouth shut, because sometimes you need to know when you keep your mouth shut. Lesson to me again. Hashtag Adam. And I thought to myself, wrong.

That's exactly who he is. It might not be who he continues to be, but if you do it, it's who you are. And we need to get away from this not accepting responsibility and owning the fact, like it says in James, to be able to look into the mirror. And it says, man, but know the man that you are. Don't walk away after looking into the mirror, and then go away.

And it says, forget the man who you are. But then it says, instead, look and meditate upon the truth of God's word. That's interesting. It doesn't say go back into the mirror and look at yourself. Look at the truth of God's word. Which can purify you. Judas was living a contracted life. The TARDIS of his life on the inside was getting smaller and smaller.

And you know what? We live in a world that makes our hearts smaller and smaller. In the end times, people's love will grow cold. You know, you see that in war. You see that in society today. One of the greatest signs of the end times. I don't know about the third moon or the red cow or whatever it is. I don't know about that. Red calf, whatever it is.

I know it's important stuff. It's just beyond me. Okay? But I do know something I can read in the times. The love of people is growing cold. And there's a lot of talk about love. But in the end, there is a hatred underneath that is brewing. And I believe we are in one of the greatest seasons ever of a harvest time to tell people. The conversation is beyond the headlines.

Are you able to have a conversation with people about Jesus beyond the headlines? And people are desperate. And it says that once everyone in the scriptures and revelations, or excuse me, in the gospels, goes out and calls and they don't come. He sends the servants back out to call those who might not have come. And all of a sudden, the banquet hall was filled.

Do we understand that we are living in a season where if we have generosity to reach across the aisle, to reach across the pew, away from our beliefs, and tell people about the love of Jesus, that we can live in the greatest time of evangelism? I believe that the next 10 years might possibly be. I'm not a prophet. Occasion God tells me some things that I think are going to happen.

But I think it might possibly be the greatest harvest of all time. And I know a lot of Christians that are standing around looking and going, oh my goodness, oh my goodness, what's happening? We're losing. What's happening? What's happening? And they're missing the whole fact because they're focused on headlines. Can we stop focusing on the headlines and focus on the truth of God's word and the love of God?

God, is your heart in regard to generosity, not just giving, are you generous to those that you hate? And have you been honest with yourself to say, you know what, I hate those people. I actually hate them. And to say to God, I actually hate, I have hate in my heart. Hate leads to murder. Hate leads to death. And to say, God, you know what, just be honest with him.

He knows anyways. You know what's really cool? Learning how to be honest with God. I got a thing in my life. You don't need to go off in your mind. It's not, any sin's a big deal, but we're not talking major stuff. But I keep telling God, no, I don't want to give you that. And my conversation with him now is, God, I don't want to give you that. I'm not asking you to make me want to give it to you.

But can we please start to have a conversation about it? I just need some help. Just being honest, as opposed to like in prayer time kind of hiding it, but it's in the back of your mind. Can we just be honest with God? He knows. And let our heart expand. Judas is a self-betrayer. Judas' treachery cannot be linked to any noble cause. And I want to read this in 1 Timothy 6.10.

For the love of money is not evil. That's been misquoted all the time. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. Money has the ability to allow the temptation of self-betrayal. In the end, Judas betrayed himself, and he went back to the place to give them their money back.

And they basically said, what can we do? We don't care that you want to come and ask forgiveness. You've come to the wrong place. Now, you know who else betrayed Jesus? Peter. Peter didn't go back to the Pharisees. You know where he went? He jumped out of his boat and swam back to Jesus. If you feel like you've betrayed Jesus, just know where to go.

Judas didn't know how to get home. That's the thing with Judas. Judas. He had gone so far away, he didn't know how to come home. Peter knew how to get home. That's the difference of his faith. I love that story as I look into that. Here's the journey of Judas quickly, and we're going to circle the tower now, coming in for a landing pretty soon. Although I might do a fly by once.

Journey of Judas, Luke. Judas has a journey. Look at this. I saw this. I had known this, and I thought it, but actually, I love... Jim, do you love when you have an idea, and then you can't prove it, but then all of a sudden you find it in Scripture, and then you can prove what you thought? I love that, and that happened to me this week. So, it's this idea that Judas had a journey like all of us.

Now, there are Scriptures that say he's the son of perdition. He was predestined, and there's no journey. He is what he is. But there's other Scriptures that add context to that. And maybe it doesn't prove it, but at least shows the journey. Luke 6, 16. Look in your notes. Judas, the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who what? Well, became. It doesn't say he was a traitor.

It says he became a traitor. Once again, the Bible asks me questions. Am I becoming a traitor, or am I becoming a follower of Jesus? I have to say there's many actions every single week that will lead me on the path of betrayal. And I know that there is no sin in this earth that I could not commit. I believe that every single person has the ability, under a certain circumstance, and I don't know what that circumstance is, to commit every sin known to humankind.

When you start thinking that you are above any type of sin, we are in treacherous grounds. And to keep a soft, humble heart saying, God, it's less for your breath and less for your grace. I can't make it another step. He became a traitor. Judas Iscariot was a slow betrayal that led to a final moment of consequence. And doesn't it always do that?

You know, I don't think anybody does the major crime in one moment. No one attacks somebody, you know. It goes back to allowing bitterness and hatred to grow up in your heart. It is these slow decisions. And eventually there's a moment when there becomes a landslide and there's no going back. That's the thing I just, with all the things that are going on in our headlines, and I want to protect you from the headlines here.

This is a place where I try to protect you. But with all of it, all of the answers of why and how and this, you know, they didn't mean this. And it's just, let's just be honest with our own betrayal. And Judas was walking away. It says in the Psalms that he was a friend of Jesus. A friend. Jesus, actually in the Psalms, in the prophetic Psalms, speaking about Jesus, speaking about the traitor, says this.

Even my friend, whom I trusted, who I ate bread, has raised his heel against me. Now perhaps that's speaking about Peter. But most commentaries believe that that is speaking about Judas and speaking about the betrayal of Jesus. It says that he was a friend. And Jesus welcomed him as a friend. Because he gives graciously without finding fault. And if Judas came to him honestly at first, Jesus is going to offer friendship without finding fault.

Without looking him up and down and saying, you know, you're not from the right social economic. Your skin color is not the right. You're not a Jew from this type of land. You're not a Pharisee. You're not this. You can come follow me. But, but, but, but, but. No. He gives graciously, as it says in James, without finding fault. And so my question is, when you offer hospitality, when you offer anything to people, do you find a little fault?

Do you give to the homeless guy at the corner and say, here's $20, make yourself feel a little good. But in the back of your mind, you're thinking, can't you get a job? Come on. Can't you get a job, buddy? Look, you're able-bodied. Get a job. But you felt good because you gave me $20. But did you give graciously like God? It's a great question. I got to say, I, me and these questions are wrestling all week.

Like, and I'm mostly, I'm on the mat and they, and I'm tapping out and it's punching me in the face. Okay? I'm not just here to beat you with the scripture. This is serious questions that I'm having to wrestle with and ask myself. Here's a friend of Jesus. He was a disciple. Judas clearly played an active part in the apostolic ministry alongside the other 11.

You can see those verses in Mark 10. You'll see the scriptures there where he was sent out and cast out demons and, and did all types of things. He might even have raised the dead. Who knows what they did? All types of miraculous miracles. He had the power to do them. He was an active participant in ministry. But then he became a betrayer. John 6, 7 through 70, 70 through 71.

Jesus answered, did I not choose you, the 12? And yet one of you is a devil. So he spoke of Judas, Simon of Scariot, for he was one of the 12 was going to betray him. And in the end, in John 13, 7, we have Judas the possessed. Satan himself. Now, Satan can only be in one place at once. So you thinking that the devil, you know, hey, the devil made me do this.

The devil probably doesn't even know who you are. Okay? He has limited understanding, limited knowledge, limited time, limited power. The devil's much more contracted than we tend to think. He can only be in one place at one time. Right? So he's not God. He's not omnipotent, omnipresent, and all those things. But Judas is, this is a big enough deal that he, that Satan himself possesses Judas.

As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, what you were about to do, do quickly. And he would come later and betray him with a kiss. And in that moment, you actually have Satan kissing Jesus, if you've never thought about that before. How does someone go from a friend of Jesus, a power-filled disciple, to someone who sells him for money, possessed by the devil?

One small decision at a time. Just like you. Just like me. All sin leads to death. I tell you what, I want to turn my life around and be a friend of Jesus. I want to be welcoming. I want to accept when he puts his hand out. I want to love Jesus more and more. We're finishing right now. Understanding the focus of Jesus. Here's some things about Jesus.

He was enmeshed in humanity's politics. We know this by the interaction with the Pharisees. He was, his name was Judas. There was a lot of rebels of the time named Judas, which is just coincidence. But he really wanted to overthrow the government. And he was disenfranchised, we believe. He was upset that Jesus wasn't the political king that he wanted him to be.

Surprisingly, Jesus talks very, very, very, very, very, let me say it three more times, very, very, very little about politics. I'm not saying it's not important. I'm not saying that God doesn't use politics to do things. William Wilberforce set slaves free in England. Very important. Very powerful. But it's not the tip of the iceberg, people. Prayer is the tip of the iceberg.

You know, consecrated, crucified lives. The most powerful organization in the world is the local church, in my opinion. It is the most powerful organization in the world. And we can, you know, we give all this credit to world leaders. You look at Paul. Paul spoke very, very, very little. If there was going to be a political activist, it should have been Paul.

They seem to, him and Jesus, pretty important characters in the New Testament, seem to not be enmeshed in the world's politics. Sometimes I find myself off kilter and off base because I'm too enmeshed in the world's politics. And I feel that the world's politics has the ability to control history. The scripture is very clear. The God of the universe controls history.

And he puts people in power and he takes them out. And I want to get my focus back on to beautifying Jesus. And if everyone in this church went out this week and beautified Jesus, how different would this city be? He was too enmeshed in politics. Next, he longed for power and he loved money. We'll just end it there. And so here's my questions as the worship team comes up.

So, are you filling the bag or are you breaking the jar? Every one of these questions I have to ask myself. Are you filling the bag or are you breaking the jar? Are you betraying yourself for the love of money? And which economy are you living by? Which economy? These are questions. And if you want to know how to do it right, take a look at this woman who led one of the most beautifying lives that Christ ever saw.

And said that she would be spoken about in eternity. And we will meet her one day. And she can clear us up on who she actually was. Amen? Let's stand.