Be Strong Courageous as Disciples: Get to Know Judas

Be Strong and Courageous as Disciples: Get to Know Judas

Luke 6:12-16; John 12:1-6; John 13:21-30; Matthew 27:3-5
Pastor Tammy Long & Minister DaNean

For Your Heart Today

We usually meet Judas at the end of his story-the betrayal, the thirty pieces of silver, the name that has become synonymous with treachery. But Judas did not begin there.

Judas was one of the Twelve.

Jesus prayed before choosing His apostles, and Judas was among those He called close. He walked with Jesus, heard His teaching, witnessed His works, and participated in His ministry. Before Judas betrayed Jesus, he was a disciple.

That makes his story uncomfortable because Judas is not simply someone at whom we can point from a safe distance. His story invites us to examine what may remain unsurrendered in us. Even while walking with Jesus, a stronghold can create distance between what He is saying and what we are willing to receive. If left unattended, the gap can widen.

Judas' story calls us to remain open before God: "Search me." Show me where I am drifting. Help me surrender what You reveal and draw near again.

Takeaways

• Judas was chosen before he became known as the betrayer.
• Unexamined strongholds can create distance from Jesus.
• Unsurrendered places can become places of vulnerability that allow the Enemy to exploit.
• Courageous disciples practice self-awareness and keep turning toward God.

Breath Prayer

Inhale: Search me, O God.
Exhale: Draw me close to You.

Be Strong and Courageous as Disciples: Get to Know Judas

Luke 6:12-16; John 12:1-6; John 13:21-30; Matthew 27:3-5
Pastor Tammy Long & Minister DaNean

Sermon Summary

Before Judas was infamous, Judas was one of the Twelve.

He was not an accidental addition to Jesus' circle. Jesus prayed before choosing His apostles, and Judas was among those He called close. He walked with Jesus, listened to His teaching, witnessed His ministry, and was sent out alongside the other disciples. Judas was chosen, loved, and given the same opportunity to follow Jesus as the others.

Beginning there allows us to see Judas as more than the man who betrayed Jesus. He was a human being who followed Jesus, and his story becomes more difficult to dismiss when we recognize something of ourselves in him. We, too, can love Jesus while still carrying places within ourselves that are not fully surrendered.

Scripture gives us at least one glimpse of such a place in Judas. When Mary poured expensive perfume on Jesus, Judas objected that it could have been sold and the money given to the poor. John tells us that his concern was not actually for the poor and that Judas had been stealing from the money entrusted to him. Something connected to money, power, or material desire appears to have been an area of weakness.

Yet Judas had also heard Jesus teach about money and divided loyalties. He could sit in the presence of Jesus and hear the Word while an area of his life remained resistant to it.

The gap can widen.

All of us have areas of vulnerability. It might be pride, jealousy, fear, resentment, money, ambition, gossip, anger, the need for control, or something else we have learned to rationalize. The danger comes when we fail to recognize and surrender those places to God. What remains unattended can grow, creating distance between what God is saying and what we are willing to receive-creating distance between us and Jesus.

Those unattended places can also become opportunities for temptation. Scripture tells us that the enemy prompted Judas, and Judas made choices. An area of vulnerability within him eventually bore the fruit of betrayal.

That makes Judas' story painfully recognizable. Most believers do not wake up intending to betray Jesus. Yet we can find ourselves choosing our own way over God's and later wonder, How did I get here? What seemed small can become something larger when it is allowed to remain.

Courageous discipleship therefore requires self-awareness. David's prayer in Psalm 139 gives us words: "Search me, O God." Rather than assuming we can always identify our own blind spots, we invite God to show us what He sees. When we recognize something within us that is pulling us away from God, we can stop and bring that very place before Him rather than moving past it.

We need God to "help us with us."

Judas' ending also calls for humility. We know Judas regretted what he had done, returned the thirty pieces of silver, and confessed, "I have sinned, for I have betrayed innocent blood." We simply do not know what transpired between Judas and God before his final breath.

But as we consider the choices we face every day, it is important to remember that nothing can separate us from the love of God. When we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive us.

Judas' story invites us to pay attention, to notice when the gap is widening, and to bring what is unsurrendered into the light. Even when we fail-even when we look back and wonder, How did I get here?-God's invitation is still to turn toward Him.

There is no failure we need to hide from God. No choice that puts confession beyond our reach. No place from which we cannot turn again toward the God who loves us more than we can imagine.