Judas, Wrong Focus Series

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• The heart, it is a funny thing it is at times a complicated thing.

• The heart is what drives us, it pumps the blood through our body that gives us life.

• From a symbolic standpoint, the heart is the seat of our emotions.

• When we speak of someone who perseveres through adversity, we say they have heart.

• When we are hurt badly by someone or a situation, we say that we are heartbroken.

• We use the heart as a symbol of love.

• When we have compassion for some, we are said to have a heart for them.

• When we weaken under the pressure of a situation, we are said to lack the heart we need to make it.

• When we stand firm, we are said to have a strong heart, when we wilt, we have a weak heart.

• If we are a callous person who does not care, we are told we have a hard heart.

• Many things happen to the heart, anywhere from having the determination represented by a strong heart, to melting like a snowflake when the pressure is on represented by a weak or faint heart.

• There is something else that can happen to the heart, it can drift.

• In this series entitled A Drifting Heart, we are examining some the reasons that would open up your heart to drift away from Jesus.

• Today we will focus our thoughts on Judas.

• Judas offers us a look at how a wrong focus can cause one's heart to drift away from Jesus.

• Additionally, when we have a wrong focus, it can cause one to drift from their marriage, and family as well.

• Let’s turn to Luke 22:1-6. This passage is the one where Judas finally sells out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

• Let's examine what happens when our focus is placed in the wrong place!

• SLIDE #2

• Luke 22:1–2 (CSB) — 1 The Festival of Unleavened Bread, which is called Passover, was approaching. 2 The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to put him to death because they were afraid of the people.

• SLIDE #3

SERMON

I. The wrong focus opens the heart to bad ideas.

• The religious leaders had been upset with Jesus for some time now, they were continually seeking ways to trap Him so that they could erode His popularity.

• The religious leaders were jealous, they were humiliated time after time as they continued to try to make Jesus look bad.

• Now we are in the final days of Jesus’ ministry, the Jewish leaders were at a breaking point, they needed to find a way to dispose of Jesus once and for all.

• The problem for them was it was Passover time or the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

• The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a week-long celebration during the month of Nisan (usually in March), during which the Passover meal was celebrated.

• All males I believe from age 12 up were required to come, so the crowds were massive in Jerusalem.

• The religious leaders as verse two tell us, were afraid to stir up a riot since Jesus was popular with the masses.

• The leaders were watching for an opportunity to put Him to death without causing their own death.

• Now we go to Judas.

• Judas was one of the original twelve that Jesus picked to be his disciples and later were to be His apostles.

• We do not know a ton about Judas. He MAY have been a Zealot. A Zealot was in basic terms a nationalist who wanted to get Israel out from under Roman rule and were prepared to fight to do it.

• Nonetheless, Jesus picked Judas to be one of the original twelve.

• One has to think that Judas began his time as a disciple with some excitement.

• He got to spend a great deal of time with Jesus, he got to eat with Jesus, walk with Jesus, he was able to get first-hand teaching from Jesus.

• Somewhere along the line, something changed with Judas.

• How do you go from being picked by Jesus to be one of His closest followers to what he was about to do?

• At some point, Judas had a different agenda than Jesus. IF he was a zealot, maybe he hoped that Jesus was going to kick the Romans out of Israel and reestablish the prominence of Israel once again, to restore the nation to its formal glory?

• Whatever his issue was, it is safe to say he was not focused on the true teaching and vision of Jesus.