✎ Have you ever found yourself afraid of the dark? Perhaps it was when you were a child and you had to sleep with the hall light on; every child knows that the boogeyman can get you if you’re in the dark. Every sound takes on a new mysterious meaning in the dark; uncertainty and darkness feeds our fears. Turn on the light; get out of the dark!
If we find ourselves in an unfamiliar place at night we move a little more slowly. But even in the familiar surroundings the dark holds unseen dangers. More than once my toes have found mysterious objects hidden in the dark; things that in the light of day my toes would have been spared from injury. Those are times I want to get out of the dark.
Perhaps one of my most scary times in the dark occurred as an adult. I was driving a semi truck at about 2:00AM across I-80 somewhere in Pennsylvania. Another truck made its way around me, and I nicely flashed my headlights to let the driver know he was clear to reenter the right hand lane. That’s when it happened; my headlights shorted out; I was in the dark. The only light I could see was the red tail lights of the truck in front of me fading into the distance. Do you have any idea how dark it is out in the middle of nowhere when you are driving down the highway at 60 mph? The 10 seconds or so that I was without lights seemed like an eternity as I frantically turned the switch on and off trying to get the lights to come back on. Once the lights were on again I didn’t touch that switch again; I wasn’t going to try driving in the dark again!
The passage that we are looking at today in John 13 ends saying, “And it was night.” Why did the Holy Spirt inspired John to include this one seemingly insignificant detail? The darkness of night shows us the contrast between Jesus, the light of the world and Satan and the powers of darkness.
Through out that night and through the next three days it appears that darkness has triumphed over the light. Judas leads a group of soldiers and betrays Jesus with a kiss. Jesus is arrested, brought to trial, and finally brutally beaten and nailed to a cross to die. When Jesus’ dead body is laid in the tomb and the grave is sealed, darkness has conquered the light.
All hope would be gone if not for the reminder from the opening verses of John’s gospel, “THE LIGHT SINES IN THE DARKNESS, BUT THE DARKNESS HAS NOT UNDERSOOD IT.” The powers of darkness could not comprehend nor overpower the light. And how many of us know the rest of the story? Although the light may be hidden for a time, the Son–S, O, N–rose early the third day! Darkness could not hold back the light; the grave could not hold the life. Jesus rose from the dead!
This morning let me ask you, are you walking in the light or in the dark? That is are you living your life in obedience to Jesus and His word walking in the light? Or are you in the dark; have you compromised or ignored God’s word; are you living by your own rules. There are no subtle shades of grey. It’s time to get out of the dark.
Open your Bible to John 13:18-30; here Jesus identifies the one who would betray him. Last time we looked at verses 1-17 where Jesus showed his disciples the full extent of his love as he washed their feet. We are to follow Jesus’ example and have the heart of a servant; humbling ourselves we are to put others ahead of ourselves. Immediately after washing his disciple’s feet, Jesus makes it know to them that one of them would betray Him. Imagine, Jesus had just knowingly washed the feet of Judas who would only hours later betray Jesus with a kiss!
If you had been at the table that night with Jesus and He had washed your feet, would He then identify you as the one who would go out and betray Him? Whose heartbeat do you identify with? Would you have the heart of a servant like Jesus, or like Judas a heart of betrayal?
Let’s read John 13:18-30 (NIV) piece by piece to better understand what’s happening with Jesus and his disciples when He lets them know that one of them will soon betray him.
>> 18"I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture: ’He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.’
Jesus knew the hearts of His disciples; God knows our secret thoughts and motives–NOTHING can be hidden from God. That’s why Jesus said “I’m not referring to all of you.” He knew that Judas would not receive the blessing promised to those who possessed a servant’s heart (note verse 17). Judas had a heart of betrayal; Judas’ heart could not put others ahead of himself. He still desired money and things for himself more than seeking to know the heart of God.
The Bible tells us that Judas was the disciple trusted to serve as the treasure for the group, and yet he would sometimes use the money for himself. It was Judas who complained about the expensive oil that had been poured out on Jesus’ feet, and after Jesus had rebuked the disciples for not understanding Mary’s outpouring of love, Judas then went to the priest and agreed to hand Jesus over to them for thirty pieces of silver. Judas must have struggled within his heart when Jesus said, “you cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24).
Jesus said that he knew those he had chosen. Before Jesus selected those who would be his apostles, He had spent the night in prayer. Each one had been selected according to the knowledge and will of the Father, and yet Jesus knew that one of the twelve he had chosen had “lifted up his heal against [Jesus]” to betray him. The condition of Judas’ heart– putting himself first and holding onto the things of the world put him into the role of the betrayer.
>> 19"I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He.
Jesus didn’t keep his betrayal a secret from the other disciples. He didn’t want them to be caught by surprise; rather Jesus wanted them to believe that He was indeed the Christ because He had told them what would happen in advance.
>> 20I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me."
This verse is key; it is at the center of what God wants to say to us today. Hold onto it in the back of your mind, and we’ll come back to it after we finish unpacking what’s happening.
>> 21After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, "I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me."
Jesus tells the disciples plainly that one of them will turn against him to betray Him. Understandably the disciples were all shocked.
>> 22His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. 24Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, "Ask him which one he means."
None of the disciples could believe what Jesus had just told them; surly Jesus must be mistaken for each one loved Him. They had walked with Jesus for three years; how could any of them betray him? Matthew, one of Jesus’ disciples tells what happened like this:
Matthew 26:20-25 After sunset, he [Jesus] and the Twelve were sitting around the table. During the meal he said, “ I have something hard but important to say to you: One of you is going to had me over to the conspirators.” The were stunned, and then began to ask, one after another, “It isn’t me, is it, Master?” Jesus answered, Theone who hands me over is someone I eat with daily, one who passes me food at the table. In one sense the son of Man is entering ito a way of treachery well-marked by the scriptures–no surprises here. In another sense that man who turns him in, turns traitor to the Son of Man–[he’s] better never to have been born than do this. Then Judas, already turned traitor, said, “It isn’t me, is it Rabbi?” Jesus said, “Don’t play games with me, Judas. (The Message)
Even the traitor joined in the chorus of “Is it me? Is it me?” Notice then how John finishes telling what happened.
>> 25Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?" 26Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. 27As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. "What you are about to do, do quickly," Jesus told him, 28but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the Feast, or to give something to the poor. 30As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.
That Judas was planning to betray Jesus was not a secret. Jesus made the conspiracy against him clearly know to His disciples, and yet the Bible shows us that they still did not fully understand it all until after it had happened. Christ’s betrayal, His crucifixion and resurrection were all made known to the disciples before it happened, yet they remained mysteries until after it had been experienced.
Before we get too hard on Judas, lets remember that like Judas each of us has a heart of flesh that is infected with sin. If any of us had been in Judas’ shoes we too could have yielded to temptation and likewise betrayed Jesus. Actions speak louder than words. The way that we live our lives each day will either acknowledge Jesus as our Savior, or betray His love for us.
Do you remember the story of Cain and Able? Their short biography is recorded in the first book of the Bible, Genesis 4. Cain and Able were brothers caught up in the ultimate sibling rivalry. As an older brother, I can identify with Cain; when you are the oldest it just seems that more is expected from you, and sometimes no matter what you do it doesn’t seem to be good enough. Each time Cain was told he should know better, or whenever Able seemed to get off the hook because he was the younger brother Cain grew to resent his brother more.
The story picks up in Genesis 4 as Cain is again being corrected, but not by his parents; Cain is being rebuked by God. The perfect Father was instructing one of His children not only about his behavior, but also the condition of his heart. God tells Cain, “Why are you so upset? What right do you have to blame your brother? You know that if you do as you have been told, you will also be accepted. But if you refuse to obey my instruction and harden your heart to what is right, then sin will overpower you. Cain, the choice is yours; sin wants to destroy you, but you must overcome it.”
I’m sure most of us know how the story ends. Cain’s heart is hardened by the deceitfulness of sin and murders his brother. Sin overpowered Cain through a pattern of wrong choices. Likewise sin was crouching at the heart of Judas blinding his eyes to the truth. Judas was undone because sin had hardened his heart.
Friends we can’t sugar coat the truth. SIN STILL SEEKS TO DESTROY THE HUMAN SOUL. You and I are all in danger of sin’s deceitful working of destruction in our own lives.
✞ 1 Peter 5:8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (NIV)
Satan is still cunning, and he wants to destroy you and me. The bad news is that he is very successful as we can see through the lives of Cain and Judas, plus countless others whose live have been shipwrecked on the rocks of sin. The good new is we have help to overcome the enemy of our souls–but the choice is still ours.
✞ 1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. (NIV)
We must chose to take the exit God provides with each temptation. But don’t be deceived, if you try to make it on your own without God’s help you will fall into sin’s trap just like Judas.
Look again with me at verse 20 of our text; remember I told you this was the central key to what God is saying to us today.
✞ (The Message) Make sure you get this right: Receiving someone I send is the same as receiving me, just as receiving me is the same as receiving the One who sent me.”
Remember, I told you that actions speak louder than words? Jesus is telling us here that how we respond to the people in our lives will determine whether we accept or betray Jesus. Let’s unpack what Jesus is telling us so that we can better understand it.
First the easy part: anyone who accepts Jesus as the Son of God and their Savior will also accept the Father who sent Jesus. Likewise then if you reject Jesus for who He claims to be, you also reject God who sent Him. Jesus makes it simple; you can’t claim to follow God unless you have accepted Him as the One God has sent.
Now for the hard part; you see Jesus makes either accepting or betraying Him a part of how we receive people in our day to day lives. This gets right down to where the “rubber meets the road.”
Jesus said that if we accept those he sends into our lives, then we have accepted Him. That means if we reject those He sends, or if we accept those He has not sent, then we have rejected Jesus and are guilty of betraying Christ.
Now to understand that we need to answer two questions:
1. Who is it that Jesus sends into our lives, and
2. How do we betray Jesus?
Who does Jesus send into our lives? This isn’t a trick question. Look around you; these are some of the people He has sent into your life. Other Christians whom you know, those who have accepted Christ as their personal Savior have been sent by Jesus into your life in order that you might acknowledge Jesus in them.
So then how do we betray Jesus? Whether we betray or acknowledge Jesus can be know by how we respond to the people He sends into our life; it’s how we relate to each other everyday that determines whether we acknowledge or betray Jesus.
We could betray Jesus in basically one of two ways.
> Anytime you reject a brother or sister in Christ, you betray Jesus who is in them. Putting that simply, if you hold bitterness or unforgiveness in your heart toward someone, then you have betrayed Jesus. Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver; what is it that you have betrayed him for? Was it simply a misunderstanding, or jealousy? Was it for money that you were cheated out of, or perhaps their success?
✞ Colossians 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (NIV)
> We can also betray Jesus whenever we accept someone as being from Him who is an imposter. If we receive someone as a brother or sister who is not living a pure and holy life, then Jesus is betrayed. This does not mean that we don’t associate with people in the world who do not know Christ–how will they ever come to know Him if we don’t enter into their lives to introduce Him to them? Rather we should not associate with the individual who claims to belong to Jesus, but is not. The Bible puts it like this:
✞ 1 Corinthians 5:9-11 9I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people–10not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. (NIV)
The Message ends 1 Corinthians 5 like this: “You can’t just go along with this, treating it as acceptable behavior. I’m not responsible for what the outsiders do, but don’t we have some responsibility for those within our community of believers? God decides on the outsiders, but we need to decide when our brothers and sisters are out of line and, if necessary, clean house.”
So you see, Judas is not alone. Many have betrayed Jesus. Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss on the cheek. We can betray Jesus through with a kiss of worship and then slandering our brother or sister. Actions do speak louder than words. Does the way you live acknowledge Jesus, or do your actions betray Him?
Prayer: Lord, you know our hearts. If we have betrayed you may we not be hardened by sins deceitfulness and be destroyed like Judas. Rather may we again today acknowledge our sin and seek your forgiveness. Reconcile us Lord to you and to one another; help us to truly forgive as you have forgiven us–may we be free from all bitterness or resentment. Purify our lives Lord and make us holy. Empower us Lord to hold one another accountable for the way we live our lives so that you are not betrayed by our actions. Thank you Lord that you receive us again today; help us to walk each day with you by our side. In Jesus’ name, amen.
