If you have lived very long, you probably have experienced the horrible pain of betrayal. Even as a child I remember feeling the pain of betrayal when a friend sold me out. I had shared something with her, and she told everyone. Now, it sounds silly, but then, it felt awful. Many couples feel the pain of betrayal in marriages that leads to divorce. Not only does that betrayal affect the couple, it affects everyone involved in their lives. Employees feel betrayed when they work hard on a project and someone else steals their idea. All betrayals hurt, but the closer the person is to you, the more it will hurt. What causes betrayal? What is the seed that grows to the point of betraying someone? It is the seed of greed. Greed for power, attention, money, things, and the list could go on. It is a selfish desire to have more than God sees as best for you.
In John 13:21, Jesus was in the Upper room sharing the Passover meal with His disciples. These were the men that had been closest to Him for the past three years. He had taught them, loved them, shared meals with them, and for the most part, they had loved Him also. Yet, the all-knowing Savior was very troubled in His spirit as He told His disciples one of them was going to betray Him.
John 13:21 “When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.”
Jesus knew who was going to betray Him. He knew He was about to die for the sins of all mankind. He knew this plan of redemption from before time began, but it did not lessen the pain of someone He loved selling Him out for 30 pieces of silver. Judas was a professed friend someone Jesus had poured His life into. He had been taught the same as the other disciples, yet this friend would allow the seed of greed to overtake him and carry him to the point of betrayal.
Obviously, this seed of betrayal had been kept hidden for some time and masked itself as love for Jesus. Following Jesus’ proclamation of betrayal, the disciples begin to ask who was the guilty party. They were sorrowful and begin to look at one another to figure out who would do such a thing. Finally, they begin to ask: “is it I?” They begin to question their own hearts, to check their motives, to delve into their own hearts to make sure they were not deceiving themselves.
Matthew 26:22 “And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?”
It is a wise person who often checks their heart and asks God to reveal anything in their life that is not pleasing to Him. Betrayal of a friend comes as we slowly shift from full devotion to the lure of personal pleasure or gain. This is seen often in the Christian world where the lure of the things of this world pulls us away from the things God has commanded us to do. The seed of greed shows itself in our desire for things, power, or pleasure.
When we choose to work on Sunday instead of going to church to worship, we have started a seed of rebellion that is rooted in greed. Christ commands us in Hebrews 10:25 to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. He tells us that we need to assemble more, not less, as we get closer to the coming of Christ. We do this to worship, but the specific reason He mentions in these verses is to provoke one another to good works and exhort one another. Doing this helps us check our own motives for service. Others always see us differently than we see ourselves, so it is helpful to our walk to interact and know what others see in us.
Hebrews 10:24-25 “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Satan will use the desire for more material gain to encourage us to miss “just this once.” What is happening? We are allowing this seed of greed to sprout. We realize it and tell ourselves it’s no big deal, but any violation of scripture is a big deal to God. When this seed sprouts, we use the excuse “nobody’s perfect, everyone sins.” While that is true, premeditated sin leads us closer to full blown betrayal. We are entering the slippery slope that ends with Christ at the bottom of our priorities. We can lie to ourselves all we want, but God sees through our own deception.
Any betrayal is in the face of the love of a Savior that gave His all for us. We need to keep our minds and hearts tuned into the amazing grace and mercy He has shown us. We need to remind ourselves of the feelings we had when we were first saved. The gratitude of knowing that a Holy God has loved me enough to change my destiny from Hell to Heaven. This Easter take time to look at the nail-scared hands that bore the shame of your sin.
Where do you stand today? Are you truly committed to being in the group of 11 who would continue to follow Christ and change the world, or are you a Judas, playing the game to get what you want or make yourself look good in the eyes of others? Have you fooled yourself so long that you think you are ok, even though you are not faithful in church attendance, prayer, Bible study, or witnessing? If so, take a lesson from Peter. He denied Christ, but when he fully realized what He had done, he wept bitterly, repented, and become one of the greatest followers Christ ever had.
We must do everything we can to stay close to Christ to avoid falling into the category of betrayal. None of us want to think that we could ever betray Christ, but we can. We are all capable of more than we ever want to admit to ourselves. We must cultivate a heart that responds to the amazing love of Christ. We must never take this love for granted if we are to stay true in every aspect of our Christian walk.
