A Living Sacrifice To God Part 8

A Living Sacrifice To God

Part 8

Scriptures: Romans 12:14, 17-21; Luke 6:12-16; Galatians 6:1-2

This is part eight of my series “A Living Sacrifice to God.” This morning we will be examining verses fourteen and seventeen through twenty-one as these verses all have a common theme. Next week I will conclude the series with verses fifteen and sixteen.

Romans 12:14, 17-21 says, “Bless them who persecute you: bless, and curse not……Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord. Therefore if your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink: for in so doing you shall heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Before we look at these verses more closely, I want to first give you a reference point as an example of how these verses should be lived out in our lives. The reference point that I want you to think about is the relationship between Jesus and Judas. How many of you remember the stories about the apostle who betrayed Jesus? Let’s read a few Scriptures pertaining to Judas so we can refresh our memories on just who he was prior to his betraying Jesus.

Luke 6:12-16 records the following, “And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, He called unto him His disciples: and of them He chose twelve, whom also He named apostles; Simon, (whom He also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, who also was the traitor.”

John 12:1-6 records, “Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then said one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray him, ‘Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?’ This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bore what was put therein.”

Matthew 26:14-16 records, “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, ‘What will you give me, and I will deliver Him unto you?’ And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.”

Luke 22:47-48 records, “And while He yet spoke, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betray you the Son of man with a kiss?”

We are not told why Judas wanted to be a disciple of Jesus, but here is what we do know. When it came time for Jesus to select the twelve men who would make up His inner circle, He prayed all night the night before. We can assume that at some point He prayed about who He was to select as His twelve apostles. The next morning He chose the twelve with Judas being one of them. Jesus selected the men according to the will of God so we know that He did not make a mistake in choosing a man who would later betray Him. While we have always assumed that Jesus knew it would be Judas, could it be that He only knew that one of the twelve would? For the purposes of this message, let’s assume that Jesus did know when He chose Judas that Judas would one day choose to betray Him. I am intentionally using the word choose because prior to Judas actually doing it, he could have always changed his mind.

Jesus chooses Judas to be one of the chosen twelve and after being selected, Judas walked with Christ for three and a half years performing the same miracles that all of the other disciples performed when Jesus sent them out. He was fully operating in the ministry even though part of his heart was not fully aligned with Jesus. We saw this when we read the account in John of Mary taking costly ointment and anointing Jesus’ feet with it. Judas complained about her doing it saying that it was a waste as the ointment could have been sold for a lot of money and given to the poor. The book of John says he raised this complaint not because he cared about the poor but because he was the one managing the money for the ministry; in fact he was stealing money from the ministry. The book of Matthew records that when Judas negotiated with the high priests to betray Jesus he settled on 30 pieces of silver and his last interaction with Jesus he betrayed Him with a kiss. When we read through the prophecies in the Old Testament we find that the prophecies relating to what Judas did never mentioned him by name. Even when Jesus speaks of His future betrayal, up until the night Judas betrayed Him, Jesus never specifically states that it would be Judas. This is important because although the betrayal would definitely take place, it did not mean that it had to be Judas who did it. I mention this because Jesus kept the door open for Judas to be restored until Judas in his final act closed it permanently. Have you ever thought about the possible reasons why Jesus never addressed Judas directly or told the other disciples what Judas would eventually do?