Heavy, Deep & Real ministries

Social media is the craziest place!

I recently posted a quote by a guy named George Woodruff that said,

“The test of Christianity is not loving Jesus, it’s loving Judas.”

Then came the pushback!

I was thinking about quoting the stuff others posted basically saying that statement is wrong but the Holy Spirit just stopped me! Dang – it would have been good. But let’s not go that route. Instead I’ll just say I am concerned about the state of American Christianity when people of faith don’t understand doctrinal teaching on love.

So, let me set the table here with scripture!

Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  Matthew 22:36-40

 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”  Luke 6:32-36.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,^[a] but have not love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

If you know your way around scripture you know that this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the teachings on love. The Bible has been called God’s love letter to His people. Why? Because He loves us so much that He wants none to perish (2 Peter 3:9) and everyone to come to saving grace.

What does that mean for Judas?

Scripture tells us that Jesus knows the thoughts of man (Psalm 139, Matthew 12:25, 2 Timonthy 1:7) yet He allowed Judas to carry the money bag even though Jesus knew Judas we stealing from it (John 12:6). Jesus knew that Judas was going to betray Him (John 13:21) yet He washed Judas’ feet. Honestly, Jesus’ knew Judas’ character before choosing him to be one of the 12 yet Jesus chose him anyway.

The love Jesus showed was absolutely radical! Roman soldiers are torturing Him to death and Jesus asks the Father to forgive them because they know not what they do! (Luke 23:24).

I think it is fair to say that Judas was evil – he was a thief, had his own selfish motives for following Jesus (wanting Him to become king and overthrow the Romans), and scripture even says Satan entered him during the last supper (Luke 22:3). And while he was distraught over selling Jesus out Judas never repented and instead killed himself over his folly.

So, he deserves our hate and his ticket to hell, right?

The Hebrew word for “hate” as in Proverbs 6:16-19 (there are six things the Lord hates…) is:

Hebrew Word: ‏שָׂנֵא‎

Transliteration: śānēʾ

It means to hate or be hateful but as toward an enemy. The seven things that God hates and finds destable according to the Proverb are:

“…haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, ¹⁹ a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.”

Clearly, Judas was an enemy of God because he certainly lied, shed innocent blood, devised wicked schemes, had feet that were quick to rush into evil, was a false witness about Jesus (even sealed it with a kiss), and stirred dissension. The guy was seven for seven!!

Jesus even warned Judas in Matthew 26:24 – “The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

So, if you read all the love passages and then read what God hates and Jesus’ words about Judas there seems to be a biblical contradiction!! Yet we know the Bible cannot contradict itself or it’s not really God’s word!

How are we to understand this?

For me, it starts by truly understanding the Gospel!

I was an enemy of God ( Romans 8:7) in rebellion by being my own god, choosing for myself what was good and evil (Genesis 3) instead of being obedient to God’s commands. I was blinded by Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4) and could not save myself (Ephesians 2:8-9) and was in need of someone to save me from my sins which would lead to eternal death in hell.

Given my sinful position, God should hate me, right? James tells us that if we break one piece of the law (moral law) we have broken the entire law (James 2:10). Of the seven things God hates from our Proverbs verse I commited six of them (I haven’t spilled innocent blood!). Clearly, God should hate me.

Yet, God so loved the world…God so loved ME that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever should believe unto Him…so that when I believed unto Him…should not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus dying on that cross paid the penalty for my sin and rebellion so that I could be reconciled with the Father through the Son and His righteousness by the grace of God through my faith.

Amazing!

When Jesus taught that we should love our enemies He wasn’t saying give them a pass on their sin and evil acts. He was saying that everyone is redeemable and deserves to hear the Gospel and make a decision about following Jesus or not.

Look, we all get what we earn – we will indeed reap what we sow. I have no problem with Judas going to hell but as Christians if we truly understood what hell is we wouldn’t want anyone to go there. We would pity Judas not hate him. We would be like the Father not wanting any to perish and be absolutely on fire to preach the Gospel to all the evil people so that God’s powerful word could penetrate their dark hearts and bring them from death to life!

Why aren’t the bulk of Christians like that? My perspective is a bit harsh but here it is: Christians don’t see themselves as evil sinful people. We don’t accept our natural position. Thus when we look at Judas, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, rapists, murderers, pedophiles, liars, theives, and all sorts of evil men we say to ourselves, “I’m nowhere near as bad as that guy!!”

That’s a lie!

We are all that guy which is why we all need a Savior! We need to be saved from our sinful nature. Every stripe Jesus took from that whip was one of our sins! We Christians should be laying prostrate on the ground thanking God the Father for sending God the Son to save what was lost!!

Instead we gloat over the demise of people who do evil. We have no heart for those going to hell as if we weren’t heading their as well before Jesus saved us!

So, yes we are to love Judas. I’d go farther and say we should pitty Judas who was blinded by both his own desires and motives, as well as Satan. And he paid a horrible price for his insuborniation and trechery. There is nothing to feel good about in the story of Judas.

I know that it is brutally hard to love an enemy as Jesus commands. I’ve experienced the consequences of evil being perpetrated against me and my flesh demands revenge and justice. Yet I am commanded not to act in the flesh but to act in the spirit. And I thank God daily that He has redeemed my spirit so that I can continually strive to be like Christ and forgive my enemies and love them even though their path is bringing them to hell.

There is no contradiction here – you can hate evil, and you should! But at the same time, you can have the love of Christ in your heart that allows you to pray earnestly for the person’s salvation, trusting completely in the perfect justice and righteousness of Jesus!