Beware of the Judas Mentality
Sunday, April 3, 2011
By Pastor James May
I am glad to be a part of a church where we can see the Love of God in the hearts of people. Your love for the Lord is displayed in so many ways. Every time you worship him, you show your love or God. Every time you sing a song, play and instrument, teach a class, come to Bible Study, clean the church or attend the services, you are expressing your love for God. Nothing that you do for the Lord goes unnoticed. Oh I may not see all that you do, because if you are doing it unto the Lord, you don’t try to be noticed or attempt to get the praises of men. It is all a part of your private worship and your own personal expression of how much you love Jesus. Your life is spent in serving God and that service is your own personal offering unto God and it’s a private thing between you and God alone. Make no mistake about it though, everything you do for God, out of a heart of worship, reference and love for him, is forever recorded in Heaven, and God is preparing your reward for that faithfulness. Though man may not see all that you do; and no one may ever recognize your efforts; there will be a day when God will give you the greatest reward that anyone could ever ask for when he says, “Well done good and faithful Servant. You’ve been faithful over the work that was set before you to do so enter into the joys of your eternal home that I have prepared for you.”
If the question were to be asked of us this morning, “How many of us you really loves Jesus”, I know that every hand would go up. So the question is not, Do you love Jesus? The question is, “How much do you love him; and what are you willing to give to him to prove the depths of your love for God?” Is he more valuable to you than anything of this world?
At what point in your life does the price of loving Jesus get to be too high? True love demands a 100% commitment and nothing less.
We see that to be true in earthly relationships where true love demands faithfulness; total commitment to one another with no room for selfishness, and no place for anyone else. Marriages fall apart because true love doesn’t exist. People get married because they love one another, or at least that’s what they believe. But soon the infatuation wears off and then comes the day-by-day realization that all is not as perfect as we thought and wedges are driven between them by financial pressure, selfish attitudes and differences in beliefs and opinions, with neither party willing to give in. Only true love will stand the test of the wedges. Those whose relationship is built upon desires of the flesh instead of love in their hearts will soon find their lives coming apart at the seams and often, the only thing to do to stop the endless cycles of fighting and arguing is to end the marriage in a divorce court. The love that was there has become more of a tolerance than anything else.
What are you willing to do; how far will you go; how much will you give of yourself, to prove your love for your spouse or some close friend? At what point will the line be drawn where you will say that the price is too great, the demands are too much and I will, or cannot give what is required?
That is the question not only in our relationships in this world, but it is also relevant in our relationship with Jesus. What are the limits of your service to the Lord? How much are you willing to give to his work; to his kingdom? At what point will we say, “The price is too high. I just won’t go that far. I’ll give, I’ll go, I’ll do this much; but no more?”
If we are not careful it is easy to begin to develop what I will call The Judas Mentality!
Think about those first disciples that Jesus chose when he began his earth ministry. He walked by the Sea of Galilee and into the towns and villages throughout Judea and began to pick out men to follow him, men whom he would use to establish his church and preach the gospel. He chose the fishermen, Peter, James and John. Then he came to the tax collector, Matthew; then to a doctor by the name of Luke. Jesus chose 12 men to follow him. 12 Men whom he would pour out his life unto; giving them the opportunity and privilege to walk every day of their lives in the very presence of the Son of God; to be the first among men to know Jesus as both God and man. Among those that were chosen was a man named Judas Iscariot.
Judas made the same choice that all of the other 11 disciples made. He chose to leave behind his old life, say goodbye to everything he had known and the family that he loved and to will walk into an unknown life with Jesus. Whenever the disciples would sit at the feet of Jesus, drinking in his teaching an learning of the heart of God, Judas sat there too. He was numbered among the 12 every day of his life for 3 ½ years. He was a disciple; there’s no denying the fact of his initial love for Jesus or of the sacrifice of giving of himself for the cause of Christ. Judas was every bit as much of a disciple of Jesus as was Peter, James or John, at least for a while.
But then something began to change in Judas’ heart. He began to allow the love of the things of this world to enter into the picture. Little by little, day by day, Judas began to allow the love of the world to take the place of the love of God. It was all so subtle in the beginning. Little things began to catch his eye. Perhaps it was just a little bit of envy that arose in him when he saw that other people could love Jesus and still have homes to live in, families to be around them all the time and still be friends with Jesus. What he forgot was that it takes much more commitment to be a true disciple than it does to just be a friend. There’s a higher price to pay to be in that inner circle of people who were to become so very close to the very heart of Jesus.
Slowly but surely the love that Judas had for Jesus began to change over to the love of money, the feeling of being important because he controlled the purse for the whole group, and the feeling of power that it gave him. It didn’t take much money for Judas’ love of it to begin. After all, there wasn’t much in it most of the time; but what little there was became more than enough to be a great temptation. There couldn’t have been much money on hand because there wasn’t enough to feed the 5000, or enough to even pay their taxes. Jesus was teaching them that it wasn’t the amount of money in their treasury that was their provider; it was Jesus himself. He was their Provider. It was the miracle working power of God that they needed to trust in; not what was in their bank account in Judas’ purse. The purse became his obsession and Judas was more concerned about how much he could put in it than how close he was to Jesus.
Judas forgot one thing that the rest of the disciples managed to keep in mind, “Nothing less than your very best; all that you are; poured out in service to the Lord; will be counted as a worthy memorial to you in God’s Kingdom!” Judas still went through the motions, still walked with Jesus for a long time, but each passing day saw him drawing back just a little bit more.
The final days of Jesus’ ministry were upon him and as the Passover Feast was approaching and the time of Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion was at hand, they came nearer to Jerusalem. Just a few miles from Jerusalem they came to the house of one of Jesus’ friends and there they stayed for the night.
Mark 14:3 And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.
Simon the leper was most likely one of the lepers that had been healed by Jesus at some point in time, and because of his great healing, Simon had become a good friend. It is likely that he had given Jesus and his disciples an open invitation to come to his house any time they were in the area.
As they sat around the table having a meal, an un-named woman came into the room. Perhaps she was there all the time, or maybe she learned of the Lord being at Simon’s house and came to see Jesus. We don’t know for sure who she was but most people think it was either Mary Magdalene or perhaps Mary, the sister of Lazarus.
Mary, the sister of Lazarus had already anointed Jesus’ feet once before and wiped them with the hair of her head when Jesus was staying in the home of Lazarus a few days before. Perhaps she came now to finish the work that she had begun; or maybe someone else had heard or what she did and now wanted to anoint Jesus even more.
What this woman did is outstanding, and it surely stirred up the room, especially some of the disciples, including Judas whose focus was on money and the value of the things of the world.
She came in carrying an alabaster container of spikenard; broke the seal on the container and then commenced to pouring the full contents of the container on Jesus’ head. Now if you had been sitting there having dinner and then someone came up and poured a cup of cooking oil on your head; I can believe that a few of us might get upset about it. It did upset some of the disciples; but it didn’t bother Jesus at all. He understood the meaning of it all.
What do you think upset the disciples? What would Judas be thinking right about now? They weren’t upset because Jesus had oil on his head. They weren’t upset because a woman had invaded their private meal. They were only upset at the cost of what she had done. Their minds were more focused on worldly things than of heavenly things.
What is this spikenard and why were they so upset?
Spikenard is a flowering plant that grows in the Himalayan Mountains of China and in the northern region of India and Nepal. Spikenard stems are crushed and distilled into an intensely aromatic amber-colored oil, which is very thick in consistency. It is often called Nard oil and it is used as a perfume, an incense, a sedative, and an herbal medicine. Spikenard was also one of the key ingredients that was used in the preparation of the Ketoret, which was the perfumed incense and anointing oil that was used to anoint all of the objects in the Holy Place and burned before the Altar of Incense in the Tabernacle in the Wilderness and in the First and Second Temple.
This incense represented the prayers, service, praise and offerings of God’s people and as such, had to be made in only the manner prescribed by God himself. God would accept no substitute methods of worship. God lays down the rules and its up to man to obey. We have to come to God his way; for there is no other. We have to worship Him in spirit and in truth; and to come to God in worship when we are not fully sold out to serving him is not acceptable. God will not share his place in your heart with anything or anyone else. He must be first in your life!
God had given Moses very specific instructions on how this incense was to be made. The Book of Exodus describes the following prescription:
Exodus 30:34 And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight:
Exodus 30:35 And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy:
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Exodus 30:36 And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy.
Exodus 30:37 And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the LORD.
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Exodus 30:38 Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people.
Can you see how serious God is about this perfumed oil of incense? It is reserved for God alone. Anyone who tries to usurp the pure worship of God and claim for his own is destined to face judgment for sin. God will cut him off from being among the people of God.
What does that mean to you and me?
Think about those who lead churches in worship, but whose primary goal is to be noticed more than to praise God. There are a lot of “worship teams” in churches this morning who are lifting up their own talents and abilities to gain the praise of the people more than they are lifting up the name of Jesus. Does our worship lift up man? Are we bringing more recognition upon ourselves than what we give to Jesus? When we stand to sing, or play an instrument, are we doing so to lead people to a place of worship; or just to let people see and hear how good we are? Do you have to be seen or heard; or are you willing to just blend into the crowd and offer up pure worship? If we are drawing attention to ourselves, then we are stealing part of that incense that is only meant for God and there will be no blessings from God if that’s what we are doing.
What about in the giving of our tithes and offerings, or the giving of ourselves in service to the Lord? Do we give what we do in order to be noticed by men? Are we holding back part of that which belongs to Jesus because we think that we give enough and that there’s no reason to give all that should be? Do we willingly give tithing off of our weekly earnings but then refuse to give of anything extra that God may bless us with? Do we determine to serve God faithfully on some days, but then reserve some days to do only what we want to do regardless of what God is asking us to do. If so, then we are just as guilty of stealing that incense, because all of those things are a part of worship too. God will not and cannot bless obedience! Are we happy with just a few blessings, or do we want it all? Are we missing God’s best because we are stealing and using his incense for our own desires?
Mark 14:4 And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?
Some of those who stood around as this woman poured out this spikenard upon Jesus’ head became very upset. Some were very vocal in what they thought, but others were thinking the same thing; just keeping their mouth closed about it. But Jesus knows the heart. You don’t have to speak mind for Jesus to know your mind!
In their minds this woman had gone too far; had given too much and was being wasteful by pouring out this oil on Jesus’ head.
Have you ever had someone say, “You go to church to much”; “you give to much to the church”; you don’t need to pay that much in tithes, or give that much in offerings:, “you spend too much time working down there. Let somebody else do it for a while. Other people can take up the slack. You don’t have to do it all.”
Those same people won’t care how much time you spend on your job, or how much you spend on their Christmas gift each year, or how much work you do on a project that they need help with. But because you are giving it to the work of the Lord, somehow they believe that you need to be more frugal. That’s because their priorities are set upon the things of this world, just like it was for Judas and some of the other disciples that were in Simon’s house that day.
Judas may have been the one who eventually went all the way and betrayed Jesus, but on this day, there was more than Judas who had developed The Judas Mentality that was all about money and earthly value of things and not focused on spiritual values at all.
What were they so upset about? It was just anointing oil. It didn’t upset Jesus at all. It cost none of them anything. It was the personal offering of this one woman. But they were upset. Why? What was the issue here? Why were they filled with such anger and indignation over one little woman pouring oil on Jesus’ head to anoint him?
The spikenard in that alabaster container was extremely valuable on the open market, and especially in the temple worship. Its value at that time was 300 pence, which translates to 300 denarii. The normal wages for a working man at that time was 1 Denarii for 12 hours of labor. In other words, the amount of spikenard that she poured on Jesus’ head was worth a year’s wages at that time.
If you figure $10 per hour as a normal wage for our day in the working class, then the value of that little container of spikenard would be $24,000 in today’s market. Can you now see why they would be upset? Supposed you saw someone take out $24,000 worth of gold dust; knowing that they were not rich; knowing what that could do to feed the poor; knowing what it could do to better their own lives; and then watch them just offer it unto the Lord by casting it into wind or the waters of the river to disappear forever. What would you think? I can guarantee that some of us would become indignant! Why they could have given it to the church. Imagine what we could do with an extra $24,000. They could have given it to charity and clothed a lot of kids or fed those who are hungry. They could have donated it to the mission fields and churches could have been built where many would come to Christ. What a waste!
I can remember a time when someone in a church where I attended was teaching the youth class and offered $10 to any youth who would do a certain thing like memorize a verse or something like that. None of the youth did what he asked so he took out the $10 bill and burned it in front of them. I remember thinking what a waste! That’s not right! And on top of that its illegal! What a terrible thing to do and what a terrible example to our kids! But let me tell you this; that man was offering that $10 bill to the Lord as an offering to be an object lesson to kids of the value of learning God’s Word. Who was I to murmur against him, or complain of his methods just because I could have really used $10.
It doesn’t take $24,000 offerings to get some people upset. A lot of people refuse to even give their 10% tithes, but give offerings that they decide instead. Giving of whatever offering you want is fine, and God will accept it and bless you for it. But I believe that we will negate that blessing of the offering if we determine first of all to rob God of what we owe him in the first place and use our own offering as a substitute. In effect, we are stealing of the incense that is meant for God and offering him our own incense instead.
Mark 14:6 And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me.
God looks upon the heart more than upon the outward work and appearance. If the work that you do, the offerings you give, and the worship of God is coming from a heart that is pure and holy before God with all the right motives; then God honors that. But if there is greed, envy, jealousy, selfishness or any such thing in our heart, then how can God honor our worship!
Those whose hearts are not where they should be will always find something to murmur about; and they will often focus that murmuring on those who are being truthful with the Lord! That’s because the pure righteous worship of a someone else will make their false worship stand out like a sore thumb and convict them of their own sin.
This woman had done something for Jesus that was necessary. It was only a few days before he would die on the cross, but there would be no time for preparing his body for burial after the crucifixion. He was taken immediately to the tomb for burial. What this woman had done was to prepare his body for burial before he died. Her pure love for Jesus was shown by anointing him for burial; and it showed her faith in him as her Messiah.
Mark 14:7 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.
The point here is that no matter what we give to meet the needs of people; it will always be a drop in the bucket. The needs of the poor; the hunger of children will be with us always, until the end of the world. The power of sin and darkness in this world dictates that such things will never be overcome in this present world.
While it is important to help those in need; we should never take those things that belong to God and give them to man; unless we give them to God first.
The poor folks in Haiti are still in such great need. Now the people of Japan are in distress. And who knows what next great tragedy might cause in suffering. But though those needs are great and its good to give to them; do not take away that which belongs to God and give it to man instead. Give to God what belongs to him. Then give what you want.
Mark 14:8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.
Mark 14:9 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.
What will remembered about you? Will God remember how faithful you were? How much you loved him and served him? Will the record of your life show that you were free to give all that you could for the work of the Lord, whether it was in time, finances or talent? Great will be your reward in Heaven for your faithfulness in this life.
On the other hand, will God remember that you developed The Judas Mentality? Did you limit your giving to God? Did you murmur and complain about those that gave more than you thought they should? Will you live in regret that you didn’t give to the Lord what you know you should have?
We must remember to keep our eyes focused on the spiritual value of what we do. Let our worship, our giving, our sacrifice, our labor be for one purpose – to be our best offering of worship to God. Let’s not focus on what we are losing on this earth by what we are giving to the Lord, but let’s focus on what we are gaining in Heaven through what we are giving to Jesus.
God loves a cheerful giver. Like this little woman in Bethany who gladly poured out all that she had upon the Lord in worship; let us have that same mind of freely giving to the Lord.
Jesus said in Luke 6:38, Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
That’s what the woman did; she gave her offering of spikenard to anoint the Lord for burial. Look what she received in return – praise from Jesus’ himself; his own personal stamp of approval on her offering; plus thousands of years of recognition as a true woman of God who had a love for the Lord, that we still read about today! She received much more than she gave!
The same goes for us! If we give all that we can, counting it is nothing more than an offering of love and praise to God; and forget the earthly value; then God will accept that offering out of a true heart of worship and give us blessings from Heaven that we don’t even know about.
Whatever measure we give to God; is the same measure that He will give back. Hold back on your worship and God will limit your blessings. Give it all; and God will give it all too.
The Judas Mentality has caused many of God’s people to miss out on many of God’s greatest blessings in their lives. Are you one of them?
