Tuesday. This was the day Judas Iscariot made his damning deal. He conspired with the Sanhedrin to betray the Lord Jesus. Betrayal is perhaps the ugliest of sins. It reveals a toxic love of self over and against and in spite of goodness and beauty, truth and righteousness.

Even Dante in his Inferno pictures Judas in the ninth circle of damnation, along with Cassius and Brutus (among others), as men who betrayed royalty.

But Judas didn’t betray just any royalty. Judas betrayed the holy one, the righteous one, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the one who came, and bled, and died, and gave his life as a ransom for many–the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 20:28, ESV).

Here’s the way Matthew describes part of Judas’ treachery on Tuesday of Holy Week:

Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him (Mt 26:14-16, ESV).

I know of no one who names his/her son Judas. The name causes a bilious reaction of the normal person’s conscience. But Judases are still with us. There’s no paucity of those whose god is money, power, or applause from wicked men. There’s no lack of that type at all.

The marvel of it all is that Jesus knew Judas through and through, and still went to the cross.

This is why we should never get over verses like this one: “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, ESV).

Christ died for us, the ungodly ones.

And this year, may we go forward yet again, heralding that same message: “Come, ye sinners, poor and needy.”

Introduction: The world system scoffs, of course, but the tomb of Jesus Christ is still empty. No one has produced his body. And no one will. He will come again, just as he said. Holy Week is upon us. This is the week when Christians remember the passion/suffering of the Christ. On Monday, Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem, Israel, where he would go to the cross on Friday. But everything about the week unfurled in precise detailed fulfillment of prophecies. Even as the world system scoffs, it is nonetheless helpful for believers to know what happened. Why? It bolsters our faith that the events yet to be completed will also unfold just as written.

Matthew’s Record of this Monday in History: “In the morning, as he [Christ] was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once” (Matthew 18:18-19, ESV). This event symbolized God’s judgment upon Israel’s lack of faith and hypocritical religiosity. Where there should have been spiritual fruit, there was corruption. Where there should have been evidence of true conversion to the truth of God in Christ, there was lip service.

Then Jesus entered the temple in Jerusalem. And it wasn’t Jesus “meek and mild” or “gentle and lowly.” Instead, the Jesus of history flipped tables and made of whip of cords. He drove the hypocrites from the temple. He poured out the coins of the moneychangers in the temple (Mt 21:12:22; Mk 11:15-19; Lk 19:45-48; Jn 2:13-17). The world system hated him for it. Why? Because he testified that their deeds were evil. So, they resolved to get rid of him.

That’s just part of Monday in Jesus’s final week, Holy Week, as he entered the city where he’d give himself as a ransom for many on Friday. But much was still to come during that week of suffering. More to follow tomorrow.

Takeaway: Most folks will simply enjoy a day off from work and never connect the dots to the person and work of Christ in history in Jerusalem, Israel on Golgotha’s hill 2,000+ years ago. But the events of that week undergird the history of the world, and one day, each and every knee will recognize it in all its power, grace, judgment, and glory.

Introduction: I was reading the book The Daniel Dilemma: How to Stand Firm & Love Well in a Culture of Compromise recently. It was a gift from friends from Sunday school class. It was an easy read; yet it contained several nuggets of wisdom. One such nugget of wisdom was this: “. . . remembering that our days are numbered can keep us focused on making the most of the time we have.” That is well said. It calls Scripture to mind: “So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12, ESV).

Connections to Daily Life: Being separated from my family 6/7 days a week gives me a lot of time to realize just how much I miss them. I am profoundly grateful for my military opportunities, but at the same time, I do not relish the family separation it has entailed. I realize viscerally that time ticks only one way, that my time is fleeting. I won’t have opportunities to make up for time that’s elapsed. Our children have grown up way too fast, and I have missed way too much of that time. And that’s one of the reasons that little quote from the book sounded a chord in me: “. . . remembering that our days are numbered can keep us focused on making the most of the time we have.”

Encouragement/takeaway: When I was a student in university many moons ago, I remember watching a movie again and again, Robin Williams’ Dead Poets Society. Williams played the character of a classics/English instructor at a preparatory school for boys. I imbibed the film because it referenced scores of writers with whom I’m quite familiar—Shakespeare, Thoreau, Whitman, etc. One scene particularly gripped me. Mr. Keating (Williams’ character) had the boys look at the faces of boys who had passed through the prep school years and years before. Mr. Keating said to the boys, “Lean in and listen.” The boys, a bit confused by their teacher, thought it strange that their teacher would have them focus so much upon former students who were now long dead. Then Mr. Keating uttered into the boys’ listening ears: “Carpe diem, boys. Carpe diem. Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary.”

Taken to an extreme, of course, that counsel would be folly. There’s a difference between seizing the day and burning oneself out: balance is crucial. But this little book from Hodges, coupled with the film from the 1980s, reminded me of God’s wisdom: “So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12, ESV).

Bottom line up front: Where True Greatness Lies

Introduction: In some of my recent studies, I have been concentrated upon the Old Testament judge Samuel and what it means to be a spiritual leader.

Samuel: In 1 Samuel, we see so much of the life of Samuel unfold. In 1 Samuel 7, for example, we see that Samuel calls people to follow the Lord: “If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines” (1 Sam 7:3, ESV). The focus of true man of God is God himself. As the hymn phrases it, “Ture your eyes upon Jesus; look full in his wonderful face . . .”

Secondly, Samuel was placed in the position of knowing that God was going to judge the people’s sin because they demanded a king other than the Lord. That sad reality broke Samuel’s heart. Why? Because he (Samuel) knew the people better than they knew themselves. Samuel understood that God was using the people’s sinful demands as judgment upon their own heads.

Just listen to what the Lord tells Samuel: “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them” (1 Sam 8:7-9, ESV).

See it there? Despite the biblical and Godly leadership of the judge Samuel, the people were fickle. They wanted what they wanted instead of what God wanted for them. And God allowed it. Why? As judgment.

Saul started off seemingly pretty well; he led a few victorious battles. But the forces of evil arrayed against the forces of good were the much more significant and lasting wars. Eventually (it took a while, of course), but eventually the people saw. But by then it was too late. Judgments were falling upon the people. And through it all Samuel had warned the people. If you want a summary of it, just read 1 Samuel 12-13; there it is laid out in plain terms for you.

Encouragement/takeaway: In the sovereign ways of God, the Lord puts Samuels in our lives. They have an impossibly difficult duty: to bear witness to the truth to people who don’t want to hear it, and the true prophetic voices suffer endure persecution for speaking truth. But Samuel was right, you see. Through it all, we’re supposed to learn from the years of Saul. We’re to learn that we should heed God’s man (Samuel) rather than the shortsighted sinful ways of the crowds (Saul’s legacy). Samuel was God’s truthteller, a type of the greater Samuel who would come—not just David, but the ultimate David, Christ the Lord.

The Question: The question is found in Luke 13:

²² He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. ²³ And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, ²⁴ “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. ²⁵ When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ ²⁶ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ ²⁷ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ ²⁸ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. ²⁹ And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. ³⁰ And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” (Luke 13:22-30, ESV)

Teaching: One of many indicators the Bible is indeed trustworthy is because it speaks what is true, not what is popular. It reveals what we are really like, not what we’d like to think we’re like. It reveals our evil, our whole nature, not just our veneers and facades. It contains hard questions and often caustic answers from God.

The question asked of Christ was blunt. No sugarcoating involved. And Christ answers clearly. He teaches the questioner that the true prophets, men like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, e.g., were saved. So are all who truly repent and believe upon the Lord Christ.

But Jesus’ answer also contained a stunning indictment, namely, that there will be many surprises (in men’s eyes) about who was real and who was not. Jesus told the questioner that God will say to many “Depart from me, all you workers of evil” (Luke 13:27, ESV).

That’s arresting language, is it not?

This morning I received a text message from a friend about a pastor in a town where my family and I once lived. The pastor has been arrested. Why? He’s been charged with “multiple counts of Theft by Conversion, Theft by Taking, Computer Theft, and Pandering.”

There are already surprises, see? Sometimes you don’t have to wait, but only discern.

Encouragement: In my many years of Christian ministry to soldiers and civilians, I have said to audiences and to myself more times than I can count: “Keep short accounts with God.” What do I mean? Simply that God sees all, and that we are accountable. Because God is holy, and because we are sinful, wisdom demands we flee to the cross of Christ in repentance and faith. Christ answered the questioner that day, that “some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last” (Luke 13:30, ESV), or as one of my seminary professors and mentors told me again and again, “Jon, there will be surprises.”

Bottom line up front: “Moving Towards the Friction”

Introduction: Recently I listened to a senior Army officer speak of “moving towards the friction” as part of his remarks. That phrase struck me. Why? Because resistance is inevitable if you’re moving forward. You’ll encounter it. Be we dare not ever accept defeat. Do we all suffer setbacks? Yes. Do we all know disappointments? Of course. Do we all have areas to improve? Always. “Moving towards the friction” is equally true in our spiritual lives.

Relevance: In a book I read this week, the author penned these words: “How often do you pray and ask God to test you? More frequently it’s the other way around for many of us—we want God to spare us from trouble and remove all obstacles from our paths. But when we ask for that, we’re essentially praying that we won’t grow . . . Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, reminded us, ‘The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts’ (Proverbs 17:3, ESV). If we want to grow, we can’t back away from places where we see our faith clashing with the culture around us. Instead, we can view that friction as an opportunity for our faith to be tested . . . Embrace that conflict with the courage of the Lord.”

Encouragement/takeaway: There’s a vast difference between bravado and courage. Spiritual warfare is just as real (I would argue that it’s more significant, in fact) as armed conflict. Artillery, infantry, reconnaissance, and engineers are not military means alone, in other words; their invisible but quite real spiritual corollaries undergird the world of ideas that rule the world. Ergo, as we move towards the friction, may we do so grounded in redemptive truth.

Bottom line up front (BLUF): The Refusal to See

Introduction: The passage in Luke 13 where Jesus heals a woman of a disabling spirit on the Sabbath is a physical healing of the woman, of course, but it’s much more than that. It is God’s rebuke of people of who are more caught up in their personal power plays and traditions than in seeing God deliver, redeem, and restore people. Some folks simply refuse to see and embrace the truth.

The Text: Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him. (Luke 13:10-17, ESV).

Teaching: Rather than rejoicing in God’s work, the ruler of the synagogue was indignant (v. 14). That’s a strong term. Why is the religious hypocrite so exercised? Because God did work on the Sabbath. Catch that? In modern parlance, we might say it like this: “That’s not the way we do things around here. Don’t go upsetting our traditions.” Jesus freed this woman from her disability. You’d think that Jewish religious leaders in the 1^st century A.D. might connect the dots to their history of enslavement and what it means to have come out via the exodus wrought by the sovereign hand of God. But, nope; I guess that is asking too much. You’d think that the Sabbath healing, on a day commemorating creation week, would be met by the religious leaders’ cries of thanksgiving, as a picture of liberation. But, nope; I guess that is asking too much. There’s a refusal to see what God was doing in their midst.

Encouragement/takeaway: The tragic reality is that some hearts are just stony. They do not want the truth of God. They are hostile to God’s work. They are instead caught up in their own jockeying for their traditions and their ways and their fiefdoms. Their god is not God, but themselves and their idols. Some folks, as evidenced in this passage, too, simply refuse to see. But this woman was healed; she saw. She was delivered. The gospel of God continued to go forward, despite the refusals to see by the hardhearted religious establishment demonstrated by the indignant witnesses to Christ’s work. This is where we should take encouragement: God’s work will succeed despite the naysayers and detractors. Why? Because it’s his work, and God is undefeated.

I was chatting with saints from class Sunday when in walked two friends who I thought were still out of town. But (surprise!) they were not in fact in Florida. They were in town and were even back in class. P. walked up to me, we exchanged pleasantries and caught up a some on her and her hubs’ most adventures, and she handed me a paper bag stuff with tissue, a book, and, you guessed it, a coffee mug.

I waited until after class to open the bag, sort of as a way to prolong my anticipation.

P. and her husband D. know me. They know I’m a dog-loved, a voracious reader, and coffee aficionado. So, they bat 1,000% in my estimation.

I was already reading the Isker book as of Sunday, and am now well into the Hodges volume. Isker’s book was deeply encouraging and sobering about the seriousness of Trashworld/Negative World, and the atomization of the contemporary post-Christian West. I wish many would read and heed Isker’s book. Isker’s interview by Tucker Carlson was helpful, too It is linked below for you:

I will write a precis of Hodges’ book upon completion. But for now, just know this, P. and D., friends in the Lord and saints who encourage me, I appreciate you and your generous and faithful witness. I thank you, again.

Bottom line up front (BLUF): Wise Fear (Part 2)

Introduction: I was reading the first two chapters of 1 Samuel. They narrate the story of corruption among religious leadership. The text says, “Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the LORD” (1 Samuel 2:12, ESV). Worthless men. That is strong language. Those people are contrasted with Hannah. Listen to part of Hannah’s prayer. In it, you will see her character: “There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed” (1 Samuel 2:2-3, ESV). That is strong language, too. In it, we are to discover the contrasts between Eli’s worthless sons, corrupted priests in the time of the judges, and Hannah and her son. They did not love the people they were to serve; they loved themselves.

But Hannah was different, you see. She did actually love the Lord. She prayed in faith to the Lord. She had accurate theology, too. That is, she knew and lived in such a way that made her theology visible. God finally rewarded Hannah’s prayer for a son. She did indeed bear Samuel, and Samuel would become a true servant of the Lord: “And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and none of his words fell to the ground” (1 Samuel 3:19, ESV).

Encouragement/takeaway: I always wanted another son, and I longed to name him Samuel. Why? Because in so many ways, Samuel was the result of simple obedience by his mom, Hannah, and by Samuel himself as he grew. But that obedience, and this is what is so encouraging, was rewarded by the Lord who sees all, going back to 1 Samuel 2:2-3). God was watching, as it were. God saw; God heard; and God acted—all in his sovereign time. Wise fear is fear that trusts the Lord, even and especially when it seems times are spiritually dark.

Bottom line up front (BLUF): Wise Fear

Text: “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.  Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. ⁷ Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12:4-7, ESV).

Context: The synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), are written in such a way as to lead up to the cross of Christ. The fancy theological phrases that we use to unpack the infinite wisdom of the cross of Christ all flow from the work of God via the person and work of Christ. Terms like justification, vicarious subtitutionary atonement, reconciliation, imputation, ransom, et al all flow from what unfolded by divine design in Jerusalem, Israel 2,000 years ago. There’s no escaping it.

It is Jesus who is the hinge of history. Everything rises and falls upon God’s work, because God is the Author of life (Acts 3:15). But what is so interesting to me is how often God speaks directly to a reality so many of us face: fear. We fear evil; we fear nefariousness; we fear the seemingly endless craftiness of those who love not the Lord but power. It’s an old, old story, of course. Nothing has changed. But Jesus speaks to our weak faith and fear so clearly.

In verses 4-7 of Luke 12, Jesus tells those who are truly his disciples/followers/friends, to not fear the wicked. He doesn’t tell them not to fear anyone, but to fear God. That’s so important. Fear is not necessarily a bad thing, in other words. We are to fear God. Why? Because that’s the beginning of wisdom. It is folly to not fear God. But we’re not to capitulate to the wickedness of evil men or demonic forces.

Encouragement/takeaway:  Maybe this is for me as much as for anyone else, but I do know what fear tastes like. I do know what it’s like to feel that evil is winning, to see that light is being eclipsed, that spiritual blinders are worn by so many. I totally understand that. After all, when the light came into the world, men crucified it, because their hearts were evil; sinners love the darkness (John 3:19, ESV). But Jesus tells his people in Luke 12 that we are of more value than many sparrows, that we are to fear not the schemes of the wicked, but to fear God, knowing that no one escapes his eye.