This will be a very brief explanation of why I am writing this blog. I hope to give more details eventually. After years of service within churches, theological study, and listening or reading the vast quantities of "Christian" teaching that exists, I have become frustrated. We Christians seem to do two horrible things with the Bible. We put way too much emphasis on the parts that make other people look bad, and we ignore the parts that we don't like. To make matters worse, when we seek a middle ground it is usually in the form of compromise, which makes us look uncomitted and hypocritical. Instead of compromise I have always tried to achieve balance in my teaching and, when shown to be wrong, tried to admit so and grow from the situation. I am hoping that this blog will contain balanced and informative information on the Bible. I will be putting notes from my Sunday messages on here each week (I hope) so that anyone who stumbles on this page will be able to share in what God has been showing me. Because they are only notes there may be some holes in what is written. I don't write out complete sermons to read aloud. I tried once and it was very dry. If something doesn't make sense, please feel free to let me know. If you disagree with my interpretation, please let me know. I am willing to learn. God bless you.
Brett Davis

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Luke 6:12-16

Jesus, after spending all night in prayer, chose His apostles. Among them were manual laborers, a Roman sympathizer, one who believed in the military overthrow of the Romans, and a man who would go down in history as “the doubter”. Then, in verse 16, we see, “and Judas Iscariot who would become a traitor”.

A more rag-tag group of adventurers had never been assembled. Certainly not a very auspicious group to take on the established world order. And after a full night of communion with God! Couldn't Jesus do better than this?

No.

According to worldly wisdom, which we might follow, Jesus' selection makes no sense at all; but according to God's wisdom, which Jesus sought out, these were the men who would bring about His will. Regardless of their differences, inadequacies and failures, these men were chosen by God. Even the one “who would become a traitor”.

In my mind I want to focus on our wisdom versus God's wisdom. The problem is that God keeps bringing me back to “Judas Iscariot who would become a traitor”. God Himself, in the person of Jesus, hand picked Judas Iscariot. God, who knows everything, actually chose who would betray the cause and bring about the crucifixion of our Lord.

This brings at least three thoughts to mind:

I.We cannot follow ministers simply because their ministry seems great or ordained by God (remember Jim Jones?). We are called to follow Jesus and no one else. Ministers are given to the church for the building up of it's members (Ephesians 4:11-12), not to be followed as if they have all the answers. Even those who are chosen by God to minister are liable to fail. They are only human.
II.I can not judge God's will or what He is doing in someone else's life. From my human perspective the betrayal of Christ seems a horrible thing. If I were one of the other disciples, I would have probably said very bad things about Judas. Gossip would have abounded! But, in the end, God's will was done. That is something to spend more time on...some other time.
III.On those days that I feel that I too have betrayed Jesus in some way I must remember that I am not dead yet. I have to turn back to Him and say, “what next?”. Judas chose to die rather than move on. Peter, who also betrayed Jesus through inaction and denial, put one foot in front of the other until the time was right to begin a new ministry. In our times of failure we have to choose to follow the example of Peter as opposed to Judas.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)