WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
Luke 22:1-6, Mark 14: 17-21
He was a big man on campus, a quarterback with the speed of a gazelle, his moves left would-be tacklers holding a handful of air, an arm like a rocket launcher, and the looks of a model. He had it all… but then he went to the dogs. He found he could not outrun the consequences of his actions.
He hit the boxing world like a haymaker. He K.O.ed the competition. Hardly any of his fights got past the first round. He left the competition face down at his feet. He was hailed, “King Mike… Iron Mike.” Then one day it all started to fly apart. He was arrested for rape, drugs, carrying a gun, brawling. His life inside the ring fell apart and soon he was biting off peoples ears.
He burst on the college football scene like a Mack truck. He was an imposing physical specimen… a legitimate two-sport star. As a professional baseball player he was a homerun crusher and his speed made him a defensive stopper. As a professional football player, he ran over, around, and through the competition. He was a shoe-in for the Heisman. Then one day, a freak injury ended his ahtletic career.. just as his star was rising.
At age nine he debuted with his brothers to form one of the most famous and successful singing groups of the 70’s. As a solo performer he became a music icon and a dance legend. He had many #1 records and the biggest selling album of all time. And then… he snapped. He started a string of bizarre operations and became a surgical freak and a pedophile.
She was one of the brightest stars of professional skating. World champion two times. But there was one competitor that she just could not defeat. Even if she beat Linda on the ice, the public adored Linda and treated Tanya like chopped liver. She decided, if you can’t beat her, hire someone to beat her with a baseball bat.
And there were others…
Buddy Holley
The big Bopper
Ritchie Valens
Hank Williams
And James Dean
What do all of these have in common?
They all make us think… What Might Have Been!!!
I am reminded of the words of John Greenleaf Whittier, “Of all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.”’
But those words are the commentary on so many lives today... Christian and unchristian.
People start out with such promise, are blessed with such opportunities... but make poor choices, miss the opportunities, and never reach their potential
Their lives are a sad commentary of WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN!!!
Judas was such a man.
We need to see how Judas went down the road of tragedy... one step at a time.
Let’s look at the three step fall...
1. THE STEP OF MISPLACED VALUES.
Values are very important. In fact, they are most important.
Values are important BECAUSE…
They determine
>>>> Priorities
>>>> Vision
>>>> Mission
>>>> Character
Everyone has priorities…
Job, family, stuff, activities, people, etc.
What determines the order of the priorities..
#1, #2, #3, etc????
VALUE!!!!
If you value one thing more than another, it will have the higher priority.
Character is the sum total of your values..
If you value hard work, honesty, taking responsibility and seeing a job through to the end
Then you will have a character different from some one who values self-aggrandizement, getting his own way and getting to the top of the pile.
Judas had priorities too.
Now before you take the well-worn path of skepticism and blow Judas off as having poor values…
Judas left everything, and we don’t know how much that was, to follow an itinerate street-preacher and a rag-tag bunch of broke, homeless, unemployed blue collar workers… with no promise of ever having anything.
HE VALUED JESUS!!!
And near the end of Jesus’ ministry, when Jesus decided to return to Jerusalem, a where place he had been “run out of town on a rail” and where he was a fugitive. Every one of the disciples knew that to return to Jerusalem with Jesus was tantamount to suicide. It was Thomas who uttered the immortal words, “Let us go to Jerusalem, and DIE.”
Did Judas go? YES!!!
WHY??? Because he valued Jesus.
Most Christians believe Judas valued the money. Let’s look at that. Judas was the treasure of what? How much money do you think was in the “treasury.”
I’ll give you a hint. One time Jesus had to pay his taxes. Did he go to Judas and get the money? NO! Why? Not because Judas wouldn’t part with it. THEY DID NOT HAVE THE MONEY!
Two small coins, and they did not have that much in the bag.
Judas’ title, “treasurer, keeper of the bag” was honorary.
Judas was not a disciple for the money. He did not leave home for money. Did he value money? Yes!!!
So do you… So do I.
Did he value it too much? Probably.
We got our first sneak peek into the heart of Judas in Bethany when Mary anointed Jesus head with expensive oil.
Judas protested... saying that the money should have gone to the poor.
John made it clear in 12:8 that Judas cared nothing for the poor and only wanted the oil to sell so that there would be more money in the purse for him to pilfer and use on himself.
Yes he has a bent toward materialism.
But he still valued Jesus.
I believe that he valued Jesus more than he valued money… most of the time.
UNDERSTAND THIS…Values and priorities change.
When the value of something goes up or down… the priority changes.
Judas had valued Jesus. Jesus was a priority… a higher priority than his job, his family, or his life… or money!
But one day, Judas’s priorities changed because Jesus’ value changed.
The scribes and pharacees had already decided that Jesus should die. They were just waiting for the Passover feast to “pass over.”
I believe they sought out Judas and told him of their plans and assured Judas that Jesus was a “dead man walking.”
Judas knew they were very powerful, very influential men and he had no doubt that Jesus was living on borrowed time.
What value was there… in a dead leader, a dead messiah?
With Jesus dead, in his mind, the value went down.
Remember 8 Belles, the horse that came in second in the Kentucky Derby. When she crossed the line her value shot up. 100 yards later she broke down and had to be put to death. What happened to her value?
I see Judas alone in the darkness, pacing back and forth, trying to figure out what all of this meant. If Jesus was dead, what would happen to “the way” the movement, TO HIM???
Judas was like a man in a flood. The water is rising and the first floor is going under. He grabs what he can and runs upstairs. The most valuable stuff was on the first floor… WAS! But now that stuff is flooded, soaked, covered with mud and ruined. This stuff up here, in the attic, is not nearly as valuable. It is stuff that was stored away because they did not use it.
But now… with the other stuff ruined and gone… this stuff takes on a new value.
The first floor for Judas was Jesus. But that was gone!
As he walked in the dark he stuck his hands in his pockets and felt the bag… the treasury, the moneybag of the group. It was nearly, if not totally, EMPTY.
This is not the thing Judas valued the most… at least not before. It was the junk in the attic… but now it was all he had left.
And Judas placed… MISplaced his value… and his priority here.
I proclaim to you today that I… and YOU have done the same thing… we have MISPLACED our values.
Why?
Because we ceased to value Jesus.
Maybe it happened because you, like Judas, listened to the world who convinced you that Jesus was dead or dying.
Oh, religion is alright for children, but adults know we have to take care of #1.
If you don’t do it…. Nobody will.
Or you looked at death and suffering in the world and decided that religion, God and church offered no help or answers.
You decided that God was dead.
Or maybe, like Judas, you wound up in a situation that looked hopeless and Jesus seemed unable or unwilling to help.
The only hope or help you saw was in money.
And you misplaced your value from Jesus to money…stuff.
You misplaced your value… and the thing of value became the thing to be loved, and served.
Have you been guilty of the Judas sin
MISPLACED VALUES????????
2. The Step of WASTED OPPORTUNITIES
How many times have you said it yourself... or heard someone else say it... "IF ONLY I HAD …..”
To use a sport phrase… there are many times we would say, I’d like to have that one back.”
Many people would say of Judas, “If only I had the opportunities Judas had… to see and touch Jesus..."
Judas was truly blessed with opportunities.
Chosen by Jesus personally to be his follower...
Shared the hostility and blessings of the 12
Talked face to face, intimately with Jesus
Saw the miracles first hand
listened to Jesus teach things not recorded in scripture
heard Jesus tell stories of his childhood
knew the touch of those physical hands
picked by Jesus or the group to be the treasurer... even though there were tax collectors
He enjoyed the trust of Jesus and the disciples
Was the envy of hundreds
He had just as many opportunities as any of the other 11…
BUT... for all of his privileges and opportunities... Judas came to a tragic end shipwrecked on the rocks of WASTED OPPORTUNITIES.
HOW????
He REFUSED TO USE THE OPPORTUNITIES.
He saw them.... knew he should BUT CHOSE NOT TO!!!
Dozens have told me, "Yeah, Preacher... I know I ought to... BUT…”
God knows and I know it means, "I know I ought to but I CHOOSE NOT TO.... BUT I VALUE SOMETHING ELSE MORE."
He had the opportunity to learn from the Words of Jesus
SO DO YOU
He had the opportunities to dig deeper....
SO DO YOU.
He had the opportunity to know Jesus intimately...
SO DO YOU.
But he chose not to… WHAT ABOUT YOU????
You have had great opportunities
raised in church Sunday School, preaching, revivals, books, classes, TV,
Some have seen answered prayers
others have been healed or seen someone healed.
others have seen miraculous interventions by God
years of walking side by side with Jesus
been touched by his hand of peace in times of fear
And today you stand where Judas stood...
at the table of fellowship.... just like you here
listening to the warnings of Jesus., just like you here
holding the thing he valued.... just like you here
He wasted the opportunity to get it right
WHAT ABOUT YOU???
Let me tell you that Judas went one step farther down the road of disaster and ruin....
3. The Step of LOST HOPE
What happened to Judas was NOT PREORDAINED
HE HAD A CHOICE.
The future was not carved in stone.
We make our own futures... by our foolish or wise choices.
I believe Judas sat at the table with the others… feeling miles away from them… all alone.
I believe he rubbed the bag of money… with the 30 pieces of silver … and was still torn… not wanting to do this thing.
He could have called it all off… told Jesus the truth and let Jesus slip out the back door or the window.
I believe he imagined himself returning the blood money and calling off the deal.
I believe the intimacy and the spirit in the room was so powerful til Judas wanted to change his mind.
But I believe he thought it was too late now.
Judas had a verbal contract with the equivalent of the Mob.
I know they were not gangsters and criminals… but they were powerful and no above knocking off their enemies.
I think he felt it was too late now.
He had already been paid the money and the thing was set in motion now and could no more be stopped than a boulder rolling down the side of a mountain.
The soldiers were already assembled and awaiting his word so they could arrest Jesus. They already had the arrest warrant.
It was bigger than Judas now… it was even bigger than the Jewish leaders. Rome had already been involved in the thing and to try to back out now was really going to be dangerous.
Judas believed that the die was cast, the thing was in motion, it was out of his hands and he was powerless to stop it.
As they partook of the meal Jesus again offered Judas a chance to repent as he said, ’One of you who is eating with me will betray me."
Jesus was offering Judas one last chance to repent, to change, to do the right thing.
Judas winced, he anguished in guilt.... but he stuck his hand in his pocket and felt the purse., fat with gold... and he chose the gold.
As he snuck off into the darkness
the darkness of night,
of sin,
of hopelessness
Judas felt hopeless and powerless to change things.
What about you....
Perhaps you are here and the Lord has turned his eye on you as he has said, "One of you here has betrayed me... sold me out for stuff, for power, for worldliness.
AND YOU KNOW HE MEANS YOU!!!
Perhaps you have heard the words, felt the cold icy finger of conviction....
BUT YOU HAVE SLIPPED YOUR HAND INTO YOUR POCKET AND FELT THE BLOOD MONEY.
You have thought about what you have bargained for, what you have gained.... the price of treachery...
WHAT IS YOUR PRICE????
And you will choose to stay with the gold.
OR.... you have felt that long, hard pointer finger of conviction poking you in the chest...
BUT YOU FEEL THAT IT IS TOO LATE, IT IS HOPELESS, THERE IS NO TURNING BACK.
HAVE YOU GIVEN INTO THE LIE OF HOPELESSNESS
Has Satan darkened you mind with hopelessness must you continue in the darkness?
Judas was not the only one to fail Jesus that night...
remember Peter??????
Judas BETRAYED Jesus with a kiss
BUT
Peter DENIED Jesus with a curse… three times
But while Judas chose to believe the lie of hopelessness…
Peter chose to road of sorrow and forgiveness.
He chose FORGIVENESS
Judas went to judgment…
Peter went on to become a fiery preacher
Jesus threw out the life buoy to Judas and Peter
ONLY PETER TOOK IT
Today the life buoy is thrown out to you
What will you do with it?
Reject it like Judas?
Or
Grab on like Peter?
