Thoughts About Judas

[this was supposed to post yesterday.  sorry.]

Good Friday.  Today's the day.  The day the ultimate sacrifice was made for all mankind.

Several people died that day with Jesus.  The two thieves, on either side of him.  And Judas.  (And yes, I'm sure lots of people died on that day, too.)

We know that two people went to paradise that day - we know that for sure!  Jesus told the penitent thief, "Today you will be with me in Paradise."  The unrepentant thief, based on his actions on the cross, is evidently not there.

Where is Judas?

And why does it matter?

I put the question out on Facebook, and on this blog, wanting to know your thoughts about Judas.  Before I get into my thoughts, let me tell you why I think considering Judas is even important.  A couple of months ago, I preached a sermon where I shared my testimony.  I became a Christian as a teenager, but in my 20's, I walked away.  I went to church every week, looked God in the face, and turned to sin anyway. 

Do you see why I think Judas is important?  Because he was with God, everyday, looking him right in the face, and he turned to sin anyway. 

We consider Judas, and we think, how could he do something so horrific?  How could he betray Jesus?  How could he?  We forget that we do the same thing every time we sin.  We betray him, his love for us, and his sacrifice for us.

I asked you all the question, do you think Judas was born - created - with the purpose of betraying Christ?  In other words, did God create a human in order for him to sin, and ultimately be condemned for eternity?

I don't know a God like that.  We were all fearfully and wonderfully made, knit together in our mothers' wombs.  I don't see anything biblically that says there are any exceptions to that.  But because of Adam's sin, we are each born with a sinful nature.  We can choose right or wrong.  And we all know, that left to our own devices, we'll often choose wrong.

Was Judas born to die?  Yes and no.  Yes, in that we all are.  No, in that he chose his path.  Just like we all do.

Now, here's where I may blow your mind.  This is simply my opinion.  I think it's entirely possible that Judas is in heaven.  Here is why:   he obviously was remorseful.  In Matthew 27, the Bible says that Judas was "seized" with remorse.  He tried to undo what he had done, but it was too late.  And while I know he committed suicide, there's no way to know what happened between him and God in those last moments of his life.

So why is it important?  Maybe it's not.  But sometimes we view this side of Easter as if we had nothing to do with it, and if it weren't for Judas, Jesus wouldn't have been sacrificed.  We forget that Peter denied him, the disciples abandoned him, and every single time we choose sin over him, we are doing the same thing.

Maybe you don't understand what I'm saying.  Maybe you've never been . . . bad.  Because of my choices in my past, I can identify with Judas.  I really hope he's in heaven, because what a story of redemption he will tell!  And when I'm done listening to his story, I want to tell him mine. 

The Suffering Servant

Just had to discuss this question in my homework for my Old Testament class:
 
What would be the implications for the contemporary Church, of a Messiah modeled after the "Son of Man" and "Suffering Servant." In our efforts to be "Christlike", why should these models impact our daily living?

And I couldn't help remembering times that my church suffered:  because someone sat in their pew.  Because someone decided to lay blue carpet instead of red.  Because we had the wrong items for breakfast.  Because we didn't have VBS.  Because we watched the Super Bowl.

Ahhhh . . . our suffering.  Our servanthood.  Our Christlikeness. 

But that's me talking about other people.  Let me think about how I have suffered. 

Thinking.
Thinking.
Thinking. 

My friends . . . I have no idea what suffering is.  I might not even really know servanthood.  What scares me?  Is if that I don't know those two things, I might not understand Christlikeness.  At all. 

And that scares me to death. 

Whether or not I suffer is up to God.  But whether or not I serve?  That's up to me.  And I can do more.  I must do more.

Judas

What do you think about Judas? Was he born to bear this terrible burden, the shame of betraying his only Savior? Did he really have a choice? Is he a 'bad guy,' even thouhh his actions brought about the single most relevant and important event of sacrifice and forgiveness know to man? I'm really interested to hear your thoughts. You can either comment here or email me at jecoffman@aol.com. I'll share my thoughts later in the week.

Hate the Sin

You know what I hate?  I hate that saying.  "Hate the sin, love the sinner."  Number 1, it's not biblical.  It's a nice saying, but it's not from scripture.  Number 2, it's not practical.  How do you even do that?  How do you love your neighbor as yourself but hate their gossiping?  Their stealing, their murdering?

See what I mean?  How do you separate the sin from the sinner?  A gossip gossips.  A liar lies.  A murderer murders.

I'm not saying that we should get that backwards.  We are certainly not called to hate sinners.  That would mean hating even ourselves!  And Jesus definitely modeled this behavior when he spoke to the Samaritan woman.  When he ate at the home of the tax collector.  When he forgave the thief, right at the very end.

But scripture is not "useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training" if it's not applicable.  And we should know the bible well enough to know what is real, what is in there, and what is just a Christian cliché. 

My frustration is that to hate the sin is at the same time, too easy and impossible.  How can I truly hate someone's sin?  And yet love them?  This saying, unfortunately, has given us license to just hate, without separating the person from the behavior.  And do you see the paradox?  I don't know how to do that, how to separate, because where sin truly is . . . is the heart.  And how can I hate someone's heart?

Here's what Christian comedian, singer, author and speaker Mark Lowry said:

 “Love the sinner, hate the sin? How about: Love the sinner, hate your own sin! I don’t have time to hate your sin. There are too many of you! Hating my sin is a full-time job….How about you hate your sin, I’ll hate my sin and let’s just love each other!”

You know what?  I agree.  Let me be more consumed with eliminating the sin in my own heart than focusing on yours.  I'd much rather be stronger for taking on the challenge of my own sin, and dealing with it, and putting it behind me, through the power of Christ.  That sounds like a full time job to me.

Results of Bitterness

Yikes.  Another conversation with a bitter person about how bad things are around them.  I am sick of it!  Sick. To. Death.

I keep praying that God will save me from bitterness, especially as I get older.  I keep seeing the men and women of an older generation gripe about everything, and I don't want that to happen to me. 

Life changes.  Everything changes.  And you can either trust God or not.  You can believe or you can gripe.  It's pretty simple.  But putting your happiness in the hands of your circumstances is ridiculous.  First of all, your happiness is not God's primary concern - it's your holiness he's after.  Second, your reaction to your circumstances reflect your holiness, and for some people, that should scare you!  Third, a complaining spirit is clearly not a godly attitude, and if you are not developing godly attributes, you are developing evil ones.  It's that simple. 

If you want a more abundant life, than pursue it.  Go - no, run to God!  Run to him and seek his ways, his counsel.  If you want to rise above your circumstances, God will help you do it.  But please don't call on his name with one side of your mouth and complain about life with the other. 

It's a dangerous game you're playing, my friend.  Very dangerous. 

Here are some verses to consider about bitterness:

Woe to those who call evil good
    and good evil,
who put darkness for light
    and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
    and sweet for bitter.

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
    and clever in their own sight.  Isaiah 5:20-21

 

Your wickedness will punish you;
    your backsliding will rebuke you.
Consider then and realize
    how evil and bitter it is for you
when you forsake the Lord your God
    and have no awe of me,”
declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.  Jeremiah 2:19

 

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.  Ephesians 4:30-32

Let's pray together that God will keep our hearts from bitterness, that we will recognize bitterness when we see it, and that we can encourage those who are bitter without letting it affect us. 

Quietly Christmas

I want to say something brilliant today.  Something that will make us stop and think about the true meaning of Christmas.  I want to build up my family and friends, turn their hearts towards God, and help them to sense His very dear, very intimate presence today – especially today.

But there are so many words this time of year.  Christmas cards, songs, special programs and sermons – it’s so … wordy.  

So believe it or not, I don’t have much to say.  And the scripture on my heart today is not a traditionally “Christmas” scripture. 

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.  1 Kings 19:11 – 13

Sometimes I think the magic of this season is in the gentle whisper.  It the sudden, powerful, quiet realization that Christ is here.  The Faithful and True.  The Mover of the Mountains.  The Messiah.  Our Salvation.

I hope and pray over the next two days that I find that quiet, and I hope you do, too.  Merry Christmas. 

What's it all about?

Hey there.  I don't blog much anymore, but I've been thinking about something this week, and wanted to write about it. 

We're heading into Christmas, and I'm determined to have no let downs.  Realistic expectations.  I'm determined to enjoy my husband and my child.  I'm determined to have fun with my family.  I'm determined to remember what it's all about.

Once upon a time, someone said to me, "Christmas is about family!"  And I about came unglued.  I thought, Christmas is about Jesus, not family.

But I was wrong.

Christmas IS about family.  It's about God extending his family lineage to man, by sending his son to be our redemption.  Through that redemption, we become joint heirs with Christ.  We are his brothers, his sisters.  We are the sons and daughters of God.

Of course it's about family.

But I could argue, it's about the family of God, not my earthly family. 

I'd be wrong, again.

I serve God when I serve my family.  I love God when I love my family.  I'm faithful to God when I'm faithful to my family.  I don't do these things because I can, or because they are easy, or because I want to.  It's not always fun to love people!  But I can't love God and not love others.

And I can't love the family of God, and the world beyond, if I can't love my family.

I think I'm a hostess by nature.  I love to have people in my home, I love for them to come in, kick off their shoes, and relax.  And I love to have a big crowd for Christmas.

But I have loved this for the wrong reasons.  I think, deep inside, I feel guilty for only - "only!" - having one child.  I have friends with lots of kids, and their holidays are busy, busy, busy.  And I want to be like that.  So I invite and invite. 

But not this year.  This year, Christmas Day could be just the three of us.  We've always told the grandparents and other family members to come over any time of the day if they want.  But this year, it might not happen.  And a lot of years, I invite friends over in the evening.  I've always wanted a big crowd.

I think - and I'm really confessing here - that having people here on Christmas validates me.  Which makes Christmas about me.  Not others.  Not family.  Not God.  I'm using Christmas to make me feel popular and accepted.

Not this year.  I want my son to know, first of all, about the Christ child.  And he does, I have no doubt.  And he has a healthy perspective on gifts and the "reason for the season" and all that.  He's not greedy and when I asked him for a list, he really had to think about it.  There wasn't much on his list!  So I'm not worried that he's getting a world view of Christmas.

But I want him to know that God created our family to be three.  Just the three of us.  And the three of us are complete, just as we are.  We don't need acceptance from man.  We've been accepted into the family of God, and that's all we need. 

If I wanted people here on Christmas because I wanted to serve and love them, then that would be great.  But at the barest part of my soul I have to admit that I want people here because I feel "less than" without them.  I don't want my son to see that. 

If infertility taught me anything, it should be that God gives what he gives when he gives and it's always perfect.  He has blessed us - literally - a million times over with Samuel, and while we wanted more children, and tried for more children, God had a different plan.  For me to need to use this day as a way to validate my "only" child and myself is inexcusable.

So what's it all about?  Everything, every day, every moment is only and always about God.  But he allows it to be about other things, too.  It is about family.  It's about MY family.  And we are enough.