Modern Day Judas II: Ruler of Our Heart
This is a follow up to my first original post titled, “Modern Day Judas”. A whole year later, I have more to say on the life and times of Judas Iscariot. Although he did betray Jesus and may be some least favorite disciple, a lot of us can sure learn from the life of Judas.
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Inside Job
Judas Iscariot is known for betraying Jesus. Welp. But rarely do we examine how and why, until now.
Several times throughout the New Testaments, it is noted that Judas Iscariot, one of the original twelve disciples, was the one to betray Jesus Christ. It was actually pre-destined and Prophet Zechariah prophesied that he would. Jesus himself even told His disciples that Judas would betray Him [John 13:26]. Jesus was aware that Judas didn’t believe in nor claim Him as his Lord.
Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. John 6:64 [NIV]
Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” 71 (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.) John 6:70-71 [NIV]
The Pharisees were scheming and plotting for a way to capture Jesus [Matthew 22:2], but they needed help to arrest him: their conspirator was Judas. He agreed to conspire with them, by handing over Jesus. He agreed to do it, as long as he would be compensated for his deed. His choice of compensation: money.
They were delighted and agreed to give him money. Luke 22:5 [NIV]
Who do you love?
Seeing as how, we learned in the last post that he didn’t accept Jesus Christ as His Savior, it is safe to say, that he valued something more than Jesus: I believed he loved money more than he loved Christ. By him asking for money, he was actually stating and declaring that money was of more value to him, than the life of Christ. That after three years together, he would rather just have money and not the presence of God. The 30 shekels (pieces of silver) was where his heart lied. It was easy for him to choose the money over Christ because he valued money over Christ.
Ruler of his heart
“Any thing you can't give up for God, becomes your god.”
-Unknown
“God made man. And man made god.”
-Unknown
You can’t serve two Masters. Either you love one and hate another. Matthew 15:8 [NIV]
Judas had a void in his heart. He chose to fill that void with money. He used money as way to bring himself comfort, fulfillment and security. It brought him temporary satisfaction. Despite being one of the twelve disciples, money still had a strong hold on him: He was stealing money that they collected for the poor [John 12:4-6].
2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. John 13:2 [NIV]
Judas wasn’t a child of God because he didn’t accept Jesus as his Lord. I mean, he believed in Jesus, but so do demons [James 2:19]. So by default, he was a child of the enemy as were the Pharisees. Being a child of the enemy allows you and positions you to be used by the devil. Not considering Jesus as your Lord, places you outside the covering of God that those who abide in Him are apart of. You are an easy and available use for the enemy. Because he had an open door in his heart, Judas became an open vessel to the devil, used as satan willed.
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You can’t serve Christ and still desire things of this world. It can’t work. Some people think they have mastered it. I believe they call it “religion.” Sounds familiar? It’s the latest trend in our generation.
“The Lord says:
These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart are far from me. That worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Isaiah 29:13 [NIV]
Anyways, many of us are “Modern Day Judas” because our hearts reveal our true desires. Our hearts, not our lips, show that we do not serve Christ. We have things that we place before God (whether unconsciously or consciously) that are able to control us and impair our judgment and to rule and reign over our hearts. Serving the things of this world, over God, will only lead to destruction and harm.
Things we are chasing and pursuing, if we aren’t careful of the love and attention we desire them with, can low key become an idol. There is a hole in your heart, that only God can fill and satisfy. Nothing else can fill that hole. Not your relationship, not your career, not your academics, or the irrelevant things we stress over. When they become our idols, they become our little gods, master of our hearts.
Judas was with Jesus for three years. In those three years, He was aware of the power of Jesus. Yet, he didn’t make Jesus, his Lord. Jesus came to be our Lord and Savior. The Savior title was given to Him for what He demonstrated on the cross. However, the Lord title is up to us. We have the ultimate choice in deciding whether or not to make Him our Lord.
This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you’re not on my side, you’re the enemy; if you’re not helping, you’re making things worse. Matthew 12:30 [MSG]
Because Jesus wasn’t His Lord, guess who was the ruler of his heart? That’s right! You guessed right! Satan.
Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. Luke 22:3 [NIV]
When Christ rules your heart, its all rainbows and butterflies; but when the devil rules your heart, he’s really up to no good—honestly. His plan is to “kill, steal and destroy.” So what can we expect to happen to young Judas? By the time the devil was done with him, Judas was dead, lying in the very field he purchased with the betrayal money. Oh the irony.
Judas’s life was not in vain, despite it ending early and so tragic. He played an important role in the death of Jesus. His life itself has so many lessons that we today can learn from. His life was recorded to serve as a reminder: to watch what or never who we set our hearts on, lest it rules our hearts.
