Spy Wednesday - Undercover Christian

You are in the Christian life, sort of... ...but for all the wrong reasons. ...just to hedge your bets. ...mainly, to work an angle for some benefit ...primarily, for appearances. ...only for the good feeling. ...because it is the happening thing. Judas was a disciple for some of the same reasons. The miracles were exciting to be around. Feeding 5000 or more with two little dried fish and five small loaves of bread was heady stuff. Not to mention the financial support coming in and he had volunteered to be the treasurer. (He was good with numbers...especially other people’s numbers). Judas had sticky fingers - another of his problems. He was fickle...like a chameleon. So, Judas was in, but when the chips were down, he was an easy mark for the religious leaders, who were looking for inside information. The priests were willing to pay good money for a snitch, for a disciple who would reveal Jesus’ whereabouts...especially, in the dark and in a secluded place, where an easy arrest could be made. Turns out Judas was their man.

So, this disciple went from being a follower to becoming a spy...one gathering insider information.

All because his motives were all wrong.

Playing games with the Christian faith never has a good ending.

At the last supper with His disciples, Jesus extended to Judas several significant gestures of love and grace...washing his feet and extending the bread of intimate friendship; each one an opportunity for Judas to repent.

But his mind was made up. The 30 pieces of silver already rattling around in his moneybag. So, it was no surprise that when Judas left the upper room that night, Luke records that “Satan entered him.”

The sobering moral of Judas’ story for all of us is that playing games with the Christian life is a dangerous position to be in.

But the good news is that, just like Jesus did for Judas all the way up to the last minute, He offers all “Judas’” one more gesture for cleansing and a loving embrace.

Of all Easter seasons, this would be the perfect time to renounce all the duplicitous game-playing, to repent of all sin in your life and to get all...the...way...in, to a saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Alec Rowlands

Pastor of Westgate Chapel