I’d like to begin today with a quick confession, as we move into Part Six of this ‘Follow’ series. I was raised in a Christian home—the home of a Christian minister and his wife. From the time I was very, very young, I had Christian principles and Christian teachings drilled into me. But I have to confess, when I first came to the point of giving my life to Christ and becoming a Christian, it may have been for the wrong reason. Let me explain…

I know now that God loves me, unconditionally—without condition of who I am or who I’ve been in the past, and that God made the first move in this relationship. In other words, God loved me first! And how this relationship is supposed to work is we are supposed to reciprocate that love and love God back, because God loves us and loved us first. Those truths are biblical and that’s the way it’s supposed to work in an ideal world…

However … when I gave my life to Christ in the 8th grade (Lowell Lundstrom Crusade, Viroqua, Wisconsin), I’m pretty sure I gave my life to Christ—in the first place—because I had not only heard about heaven, but I’d heard about the very real place opposite heaven called … HELL. The notion of HELL didn’t set well with me, so I decided to do something about it—an insurance policy, if you will. So, I—as a Junior High student, gave my life to Christ for the very first time … and became a Jesus Consumer (for what I could get out of it). I was grateful to God and all, but this move was really all about me…

Truth be told, we all probably start out that way. You may be here hoping the Christian faith—or something you experience here—will fill a hole in your soul. And for some here, if we’re honest, we’re not here to honor God so much as we are here to fix ourselves … or get God to fix someone else. And I want to say, as we begin today, that that’s O.K., because many great things begin in life for all the wrong reasons…

…KIDS, for example! Think about that for a moment. People don’t just have kids because they love the kids; having kids actually fulfills something in a person (mom or dad). Then the kids come along … and you learn and grow to love them. Am I right? When Jane and I had kids, we didn’t have a clue what we were doing! But, we love our kids now…

So it is with following Christ. We all begin the journey with mixed agendas. We may even begin as ‘Jesus Consumers’; many—if not all—of Jesus’ first-century followers did… So, WE AREN’T THE FIRST! Now, let me begin here: I believe…

The Apostles Signed on Initially for What They Could Gain. This is very clear throughout the Gospels. Last week, if you remember, we saw Peter pull Jesus aside to rebuke him for talking negatively about the future. And do you remember Jesus’ response (Mark 8:33, NIV)?

33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Then, Jesus did a talk one afternoon about how difficult it is for rich people to get into the Kingdom of God because it’s hard to get us to open up our tightly clenched fists; Peter starts thinking about that day when he walked away from the family business and asks (Matthew 19:27, NIV)…

27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”

Or, do you remember the night Jesus was arrested and it looked like there was nothing to gain and everything to lose? The disciples bailed on him, didn’t they (Matthew 26:56b, NIV)?

56 Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

But Jesus didn’t throw them out; eventually, one by one, they came to the point where they were willing to lay down their agendas and take up his … and they turned the world upside down! All except one—Judas!

For Judas, Jesus Was Always a Means to an End. Like the other disciples, Judas had his own idea of how this Messiah thing was going to play out. Let me explain…

Judas and the others understood the Old Testament (their scriptures) to say that God would send a king, and he would reestablish the kingdom as it was in the days of King David and his son, Solomon. So, they believed the Messiah was going to be a reigning king. Jesus—obviously a man from God—seemed to fit many of the Old Testament descriptions of the coming king … with a few notable exceptions (and these, apparently, really bugged Judas):

• First, Jesus was just a little too passive at times; he moved a little too slow for Judas’ liking. ‘Come on, Jesus, let’s get this kingdom thing going!’ Next…
• Jesus just didn’t hate the Romans like he should! ‘If we’re going to expel the Romans, if we’re going to start a grassroots movement, rise up and take power, you’ve got to hate the Romans!’ Then one day a Roman centurion comes to Jesus and asks for a favor … and the disciples all sneered … and Jesus said, ‘Sure. I’ll help you.’ ‘What? It’s bad enough you let Matthew join us—a traitor in cahoots with the Romans, but now you’re actually doing things for the Romans… Jesus, you’ve got to stop that!’
• There was also the fact that Jesus kept ticking off the Jewish religious leaders. ‘If we’re going to have a movement, if you’re going to be the Messiah, we’ve got to have the Temple leaders with us! We’ve got to have the religious leaders on our side, because—Jesus—they’re the ones that are going to announce to the people when the Messiah shows up. And if you’re the Messiah, then you’ve got to stop publicly humiliating them!’ Also…
• Jesus also wasn’t very interested in building up a war chest. ‘It takes funds to finance a war … and that’s what we should be getting ready for!’ What was wrong with Jesus? He just didn’t seem to be on the same page as Judas…

But, Judas assumed that Jesus was just bidding his time. After all, he’d talked a lot about a coming kingdom. Eventually, as the theory went, Jesus was going to throw off the cloak of the rabbi/teacher and claim the throne as a king; the assumption was that whoever supported the king in his rise to power … would be rewarded when he took power. … But then there was an incident in Bethany. And this one incident, we discover as we read about it in the New Testament, is the last straw—the straw that broke the camel’s back (imagine how relevant that would be in the 1st century). So let me begin with the Bethany story by saying…

Something Happened That Pushed Judas Over the Edge—an Agenda Collision of the First Degree. There is something in all of us … that has an agenda (alongside God’s agenda), but we really want to figure out … how in the world do I get God to work on my plan, or according to my agenda?

In fact, I’d bet that’s why some people are in church today; there might be something going on in your life and you have an idea of how you’d like God to move in your life (or in someone’s life you’re concerned about), so you’re here today to see if something can’t be done about your agenda. Maybe God’ll notice that I’m here—maybe 3 weeks in a row, offering a prayer, giving an offering, promising to call my mom every weekend, promising to take my vitamins… I mean, isn’t there some magic formula that gets God to go, ‘Oh, there you are’ … and then once you’ve got God’s attention, you give him the grocery list? I think we all start there, don’t we—as Consumers?

But then we come to that moment when … we realize that God has an agenda too … and our agendas are in conflict—they’re colliding right before us … which is what Judas discovered; listen (Matt. 26:6, NIV)…

6 While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper,….

Now, we don’t know for sure who Simon was here. Some think it may have been Lazarus, Jesus’ friend—Mary & Martha’s brother. But that’s kind of a tough nickname isn’t it? Simon the Leper… Anyway, Jesus is at the home of Simon the Leper. A woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. And his disciples, apparently, were indignant! They were like ‘What are you doing? This is very expensive perfume. It can’t be retrieved once it’s spilled out. That was just like throwing money away!’ Then they said something about this perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor…

Now, this is a very awkward moment at this dinner party. This is like you going to someone’s house for dinner and the table is set with their finest silver. And you sit down, pick up the fork, look at them indignantly, and say, “Seriously? Seriously? We’re going to eat with this? How much did this cost? Are you telling me we’re going to use this to put food in our mouths? How much did this cost? Can you imagine what we could do with the money it cost to buy this silver?” ‘Awkward, right?

But this makes me think Jesus and the disciples probably knew this family well, because I couldn’t imagine this happening in the home of a stranger. That’s Matthew’s account, but John was there too … and we need to look at his version of the story, because he gives us a detail Matthew leaves out. Here it is (John 12:4-6, NIV)…

4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, [so Judas is the one that kicked this off] 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” [And we find out that Judas kind of has a hidden agenda here. Judas leans over to one of his fellow disciples—like Bartholomew and says, “What do you think that jar of perfume is worth? Yeah, that’s a lot of money. What’s that? About a year’s wages? Can you believe that?” Then, what we find out from John is, Judas didn’t say this because he was concerned for the poor. Listen…] 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

So, folks, here’s the deal: Judas, when the whole posse of disciples were together, says, ‘Hey, what if I act as Treasurer for us?’ And they’re all like, ‘Well, we’re certainly not going to ask Matthew, so Judas … you go ahead.’ So, Judas becomes the Treasurer … and he’s got control of the money … and he’s a thief. (Did I say that?) He wasn’t really concerned about the poor at all. What Judas was concerned about was … his own agenda! He was building a war chest for the battle that would eventually take place when it was time for the Messiah to establish a new kingdom. He had it all figured out, didn’t he? Judas’ personal agenda was so strong that he was able to follow Jesus, but at the same time use Jesus for his own end… But Jesus knew the hearts of men, which we see in v. 10 (Matt. 26:10-12, NIV)…

10 Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. 12 When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial.

And Peter is like, ‘Oh man, here we go again with that death talk. You’ve got to knock that off!’ And Jesus continues (Matt. 26:13, NIV)…

13 I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” [And, folks, we are part of fulfilling this prediction today… How did Jesus know? Here’s what happens next…]

14 Then one of the Twelve–the one called Judas Iscariot–went to the chief priests 15 and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” [Judas had absolutely had it at this point. I mean, if all you’re going to do is throw money away, when we need to be preparing for the new kingdom, then I’ve got to take matters into my own hands! Man, Jesus, you just don’t get this Messiah thing, do you? He was fed up… So he asked what they were willing to pay for him to force Jesus’ hand…] So they counted out for him thirty silver coins. 16 From then on [and here’s one of the most absurd statements in the New Testament] Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

O.K., Judas … have you not been paying attention?

• Do you remember that day when you were in the boat and you thought you were going to drown, and you woke Jesus up and he talked to the weather?
• Do you remember the day you stood outside Lazarus’ tomb and Lazarus had been buried so long that even the family didn’t want to open his tomb … but Jesus called him back to life?
• Do you remember Jesus putting mud on a man’s eyes and then they could see?
• Do you understand this is the man whose touch had the power to heal the lame?

And you think you have the power—all on your own—to hand this man over to the authorities? Are you kidding? Ambition & greed had blinded him… Somehow Judas thought he could force Jesus to come out and proclaim himself King of Israel; he just wasn’t moving fast enough, so Judas was going to help him out. He was going to speed up the process (& get richer in the process too)! But folks, hear me clearly today: God’s hand cannot be forced … and God’s will cannot be thwarted! Listen to the rest of the story, and then we’ll be done (Matt. 27:1-8, NIV)…

1 Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. [What about a trial? What’s going on here?] 2 They bound him, led him away [and this is when things began to fall apart for Judas] and handed him over to Pilate, the governor. [Judas knew the Jewish authorities did not have the right—by law—to put anyone to death. That’s what he was counting on. But give him to the Roman governor? This was not supposed to happen!] 3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. [And here Judas confesses…] 4 “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.” [Judas knew he’d made a mistake at this point, but they didn’t care…] “What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.” […You know there are certain decisions we make in life that cannot be taken back. We can be forgiven, but that doesn’t necessarily change the circumstances. Circumstances are as circumstances are…] 5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. [Now, listen to this ultimate expression of religious hypocrisy…] 6 The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. 8 That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. [Yeah, this is one of their laws that they made up to get around other laws of God. Historically speaking, however, this is significant … because I could show you this very Field of Blood today. This is no fairy tale, folks…]

Judas is gone. Jesus has been arrested, tried, crucified, dead, and buried. But still, God’s hand cannot be forced … and God’s will cannot be thwarted. So, what does this have to do with you and me? Simply this: When we begin to follow Jesus, we all kind of start out like this—for what we can get out of it. But if we keep following Jesus, he will help us to grow in this relationship, to slowly but surely begin to pry our clenched fists open, as we begin to realize that there’s a conflict between our will … and God’s will. And, in this way, Judas story becomes a little bit of our story, because competing agendas just won’t work with God…

Ask your pastor. I’ve talked before about ‘wrestling with God’ and this is the match I was speaking of! In prayer, I continued to ask ‘Do I move or do I stay?’ And I sensed—without question—that God said it was time to move. But, in my humanness, I didn’t want to! And there you have the conflicting wills… I had to come to a place, much like other followers throughout the centuries, that I had to want what God wanted more than what I wanted. And there’s the bottom line; there’s the prayer we need to be praying: “God, I want what you want … more than I want what I want!” Are you ready to prayer that prayer with me today? Remember…

God’s hand cannot be forced. God’s will cannot be thwarted. Judas found that out. Others found that out too–though with a better outcome. Have we learned this lesson yet? As Jesus Followers, we need to…