(1) In the introduction to his book, Blink, Malcolm Gladwell tells the story of the ‘statue that did not look right.’ An art dealer who had a very rare statue, called a kouros, in his possession that came from the sixth century BC, (that’s six hundred years before Jesus’ birth), approached the J Paul Getty Museum in California to see if they would like to buy it. The asking price for the statue was $10 million dollars. ‘Only about two hundred kouroi [were] in existence,’ according Gladwell. (The photo in the slide is not a kouros).
The Getty staff moved cautiously and 14 months after the first contact with the dealer, a scientific examination indicated that it was authentic. However, several different art experts who were shown the kouros believed otherwise. They felt that it did not look right for that kind of statue. Furthermore, the Getty staff could not verify the authenticity of the statue and not all the information related to its history was substantiated leaving much doubt as to the statue’s authenticity. As a result, the Getty catalog entry for that item has a notation next to it, ‘About 530 BC or modern forgery.’
There is a constant stream of stories on TV, in the paper, and on the Internet about deceptive practices in the art world as well as elsewhere. But the art world is not the only world that is affected by deception and betrayal.
We, unfortunately, become victims to deception and betrayal when it comes to helping those, especially children, whose illness has created enormous costs for their families only to later find out that it was a fraud. Such actions damage the hopes for the credibly needy people who truly need such aid.
One of the things that I have had to learn here is knowing whose needs are legitimate and whose needs are not, when I am approached for assistance from people in the community. I am not batting a thousand on this and sometimes have later realized that I have probably been taken advantage of, but simply turn it over to the Lord who knows the whole story.
Then there is the deception that comes when our desire for youth is over taken by the deception of vanity with some interesting consequences. Take for example the case of Melania Neubart.
In 1955, she decided that she wanted to be 10 years younger in hopes of paving an easier road towards marriage. So claiming an error in court records, she obtained a court declaration that she was born ten years later than she actually was.
20 years go by and, still single, she realized that she was officially too young to qualify for the national insurance pension offered in her county of Israel. She then returned to court to get her birth date changed back to the original and correct date. The judge refused to rule in her favor saying that she had made the court ‘an unwitting accomplice in the perpetration of a lie.’
Have you ever been betrayed? Have you ever been lied to? Stabbed in the back?
It hurts. It is very painful. Trust becomes an issue. We do not look at people the same way. We withdraw and wonder who is for us and who is not.
Have you ever betrayed someone? Have you stabbed someone in the back?
Why do we do it? Anger? Jealousy? Fear?
We find ourselves alone don’t we? We wonder if there is anyone who still likes us and that we can call a friend.
It is just a painful as being betrayed. A sudden insight penetrates our mind and heart and we realize the awfulness of what we have done to someone that has been important and close to us.
I think that betrayal comes out of the fear of being misguided about something, primarily, I believe, expectations. Expectations are very, very important in our relationships.
Yesterday, I officiated over Brent and Tiffany’s wedding. The wedding vows they took are statements of expectation.
‘I expect,’ they say, ‘to be there for you through the good and the bad.’ ‘I expect you to be there for me as well.’ ‘We pledge before God and all of you present, that we will stay together until death do us part.’
However, many have experienced the very, very painful betrayal of those vows that has resulted in divorce. We know that those vows can, and have, been easily tossed aside.
I believe that the same holds true for faith and our relationship with the Lord. We expect certain things from the church, the pastor, and God and when they are not forthcoming, we feel betrayed. There have been serious breaches of trust between church members as well as between pastors and churches.
But what happens when we betray God or feel betrayed by God? What happens when someone walks away from the faith that they have clearly demonstrated in their lives and says, ‘I no longer believe in Christianity or God?’ Or even, in a moment of weakness, make a choice to betray their Savior and Lord with a bad choice?
Over the years, I have heard it said by many people that the disciple they can identify with the most is Peter. I can too. Brash, an ‘insert foot in mouth before thinking’ kind of a person. Been there, done that!
But, I can also relate to Judas as well as I have betrayed Jesus in my life with my actions, words, and attitudes. What about you? As we consider this month what it means to have a heart for God, I would suggest this morning that Judas is someone that we need to pay attention to. (2)
(3) Specifically, we need to see Judas has having a misguided heart for God and it was misguided in two ways.
Judas was misguided by, first, misguided expectations.
Patrick Morley has written, ‘There is God who is and there is a God we want and the two are not the same.’
This holds true for Judas and it holds true for us. We may want to deny that this is true, but just like getting married, when we profess faith in Christ and accept His forgiveness of our sins, we bring a whole host of unexamined expectations with us that will, eventually, rise up and challenge us. Judas brought those expectations with him as Jesus called him to follow him.
Now, we don’t know much about Jesus’ call of Judas as we do the other disciples. But Jesus called Judas to ‘follow me.’ Yes, it was foretold that someone would betray Jesus and as we read the Gospel accounts, we read that Jesus made that clear. But we also need to understand that He did not say ‘who’ would betray Him. Only at the Last Supper would Jesus indicate that it would be one of them. This, as we read in Matthew 26:22, shocked them. “Greatly distressed, one by one they began to ask him, “I’m not the one, am I, Lord?”
Peter was a prime candidate for the position as we read in Luke 22:31, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to have all of you, to sift you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen and build up your brothers.” Jesus saw the vulnerability of Peter and He feared that Peter could break very easily under an attack of evil. Peter would deny that he knew Jesus, as Jesus predicted at this point.
But Judas was the one who would betray Jesus. He betrayed Jesus for money. However, he also betrayed Him because he had misguided expectations about Jesus and what He was going to do.
One reason that has been given for Judas’ betrayal is that Judas betrayed Jesus for political reasons so that the Romans could be overthrown and that the Kingdom of Israel would be restored. This line of thought indicates that Judas did what he did to force Jesus to rally the twelve and his other followers, and then use His power to demonstrate who He truly was. But Jesus had already been tempted to do that when Satan did so in the wilderness.
And this line of thinking was probably on Jesus’ mind when he tells Peter who slashes the ear of one of Jesus’ arresting party (as recorded in John 18:11) “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup the Father has given me?”
The deed is done. He is betrayed for money, out of anger and misguided expectations of political greatness and power.
We have our own unmet expectations of God. Think about a disappointment that you have had where you did question God as you felt pain, anger, and disappointment.
What you were hoping for?
What you were hoping that God would do for you?
Was your expectation a reasonable or unreasonable one?
How did God let you down?
I recall a situation at one of the churches that I have served where I thought that a certain pastor would have made a great choice for the new senior pastor at this particular church. Now, I did not know who would be appointed and would not find out until 30 minutes before the Bishop read the appointments.
When I found out who it was, I was both disappointed and dismayed. The fit between us did not go well.
One person in that church was very happy about this pastor’s coming and this person was very upset with me about some decisions that I had made or wanted to make. So I could see difficulty coming and it did!
It was a difficult year and I spent a great deal of time in prayer (and in tears) until I realized that it was time to move on. I questioned God a great deal about the situation. I felt that God had deserted me (He really had not) and that this certainly was not God’s will.
But, as time went on, I realized that I had had certain expectations that were not realistic and that certain decisions were out of my control. I grew from that experience.
(4) Not only, then did Judas have a misguided heart he also had misguided priorities. We get a glimpse of this in John 12.
‘Six days before the Passover ceremonies began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus sat at the table with him. Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with fragrance.
But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples—the one who would betray him—said, “That perfume was worth a small fortune It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief who was in charge of the disciples’ funds, and he often took some for his own use.’
John’s final comment is very interesting, ‘Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief who was in charge of the disciples’ funds, and he often took some for his own use.’
If we are going to have the right kind of a heart for the Lord, we need to have a heart that is guided by the Holy Spirit and embraces as well as expresses the priorities of scripture. Judas’ priorities were not those of Jesus. He had his own.
John’s statement indicates one of the many misguided priorities that we operate on – greed. Power was another priority that Judas operated under when he betrayed Jesus as well.
Jesus was focused on serving and salvation. Judas was focused on money and power. There is a vast difference between the two.
The Kingdom of God, as Jesus would explain to them, was about anything but greed and power. It was about responsibility and service. It was about caring and about making disciples and loving your enemies.
Judas didn’t get it… until it was too late as we read in Matthew 27 beginning with verse 3, ‘When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and other leaders. “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.”
“What do we care?” they retorted. “That’s your problem.” Then Judas threw the money onto the floor of the Temple and went out and hanged himself.’
Now in Acts 1:18 we read, “Judas bought a field with the money he received for his treachery, and falling there, he burst open, spilling out his intestines. The news of his death spread rapidly among all the people of Jerusalem, and they gave the place the Aramaic name Akeldama, which means “Field of Blood.”
These two passages give seemingly contradictory accounts of his death. However, what has traditionally been suggested is that the branch on which Judas hung himself broke and he died in the fall under the weight of his own body.
But, the tragedy of the story is that Judas did not realize until it was too late that his expectations and priorities were all wrong and that he dealt with his shame and pain in a way that God did not want to happen. When he saw that Jesus had been sentenced to death (something that he had not envisioned) his big dream turned into a nightmare.
Redemption and salvation was possible for Judas just like it is for each one of us. Betrayal does not have to lead to tragedy.
Last week we looked at Joseph and saw how his obedient heart for God kept him from giving up during difficult times and helped him do what was right for his family during a life-threatening situation.
(5) What do we learn from Judas? Three things: 1. that we need to examine constantly our expectations and priorities. 2. that we need to listen to God through scripture and prayer as He examines our expectations and priorities. 3. that we need to involve a group of believers in our lives who will help us sort out our expectations and priorities.
I think that Judas was the loner of the group. I think that he did not bond with the other eleven. Why Jesus picked him is a story that has yet to be told. Yet Jesus loved Judas as much as He loved the other eleven. However, Judas’ misguided heart caused him tremendous grief.
Keith Miller tells a gripping personal story about betraying some one in his book, Habitations of Dragons. He writes, ‘It was still very dark, but I was awake having been disturbed by a bad dream. I was weeping because the dream had recalled an experience in my adolescence which was so painful that I thought I would never be free from its haunting presence.’
Miller goes on to say that, the experience and the pain that accompanied it had ‘changed my whole life’ and how he viewed relationships and the issues of love, intergrity, and honesty in them.
Miller was a camp counselor one summer at boys’ summer came and met a camper named Mortey who became one of his favorite campers. Mortey, writes Miller, ‘was a cagey little performer’ who stole the show in the comedy that Miller had written for the camp program. He also noted that ‘he was outgoing and had lots of old-fashion guts and intelligence.’ Mortey was also a boy without a dad and would ‘reach up and take my hand when we were walking alone, as if I were his dad.’
Well the day came when the vote for junior honor camper had to be cast. It was a tie and Miller had to cast the deciding vote.
It was a very difficult decision and came down to Mortey and Bobby, another camper. ‘As I looked at these two boys and their camp records, I tried to be objective. Bobby was a much better athlete and had broken some records, but Mortey definitely had the edge in the human understanding department. They had both helped their tribes by winning contests and being friendly. It was easy to see why the vote had been tied.’
Miller continues, ‘I was miserable. Little Mortey had done a great job… but he was a little cockey, and he did have a few faults I knew about. This definitely gave Bobby a slight edge.’ Miller then acknowledged that everyone knew that he and Mortey had been close and ‘I was afraid that if I voted from Mortey the other counselors would think I was voting for him because of our friendship.’ Miller then decides, under the pressure of the situation to vote for Bobby.
But the decision left him with mixed feelings. ‘I knew that although I had been honest, I had somehow been wrong.’ Well the story does not end there.
Miller goes on to say that on the last day of camp, as the boys were all getting on the bus, Mortey came to Miller with tears in his eyes and face. Miller told the boy how much the friendship had meant to him. Then he went on to tell him the whole story about the vote and that he had voted for Bobby.
Miller said, ‘As I tried to explain why I had done it, the look on his face caught me off guard. I will never forget it. It haunts me still, because I saw the look of a soul betrayed by his dearest friend.’
‘I tried to grab him, to explain my feelings, but he broke loose, and wriggling between the last few campers, disappeared onto the bus.’ He goes on to say that, he tried to see Mortey’s face in the bus windows but could not and he ‘rode out of my life in a cloud of dust.’
We have been betrayed and we have betrayed because our expectations and priorities have been misguided by the selfishness and evil in our hearts and souls. But, there is hope. There is forgiveness and even if we are unable to make direct amends, we can do so in other ways so that the guilt and shame from our betrayals can be wiped away.
How is your heart for the Lord this morning? What are your expectations and motives for serving the Lord? I invite you this morning to come before the Lord and allow Him to examine your heart and help you have a heart that is truly guided by Him. Amen.
Sources: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. Published by Little, Brown, and Company. © 2005
Habitation of Dragons by Keith Miller. Published by Revell. © 1970, 1992
Power Points for this sermon are available by e-mailing me at pastorjim46755@yahoo.com and asking for ‘slides’ Please note that all slides for a particular presentation may not be available.
