An amazing thing about studying the disciples, most of them we have very little information. Due to language variations and backgrounds of the gospel writers, some of the names are different in various gospels. Thaddaeus is one of those individuals. Matthew 10:3 says this disciple is “Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus.” The name Lebbaeus is omitted in many Greek manuscripts and in most translations. However, according to Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13 Judas (not Iscariot) but Judas the son of James is listed. It could be quite possible this Judas or Jude could have been the author of the book of Jude. For the sake of this discussion it really does not matter.
We will find a question presented by this Jude (Thaddaeus) in John 14:22. His question follows questions presented by Peter, Thomas and Phillip. Like the other disciples in John 14, Jude focused on the physical rather than the spiritual. The question he asks is a relevant question we ask today, “Lord, how is it you show yourself to us, and not to the world?”
Before we address that question we need to examine what prompted the question in the preceeding verses. Philip asked Jesus in John 14:8 “Lord, show us the father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus replied, “If you have seen me you have seen the father.” As Jesus answered Philip’s question, in verse 19 Jesus said
“A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.
I believe this is the point where Jude’s mind became scrambled and his mental focus became totally wrapped up in his question in John 14:22, regarding Jesus showing Himself to the disciples and not to the world.
In regards to seeing Christ, a person will first see Christ when God opens their eyes to their sin nature. A person will see how they are dirty rags compared to God and they develop the desire to wash those dirty rags. There is only one detergent that can get those dirty rags cleaned and that is Christ’s blood. You will pray to God to forgive you of your sins and an overwhelming sense of peace and forgiveness will come upon you, you have now seen Christ with the eyes of your heart. You are now a babe in Christ.
A newborn baby’s eyes can not focus completely until they are about eight months old As Christians we are very similar. When we first come to Christ, our spiritual vision has only developed enough that we can only see dirty rags. What about the storms of life that wage war against our soul? To see Jesus through the storms we must develop our spiritual vision. When you first come to Christ, you know nothing more about Jesus except that He was God’s son and died for your sins and He was raised on the third day by God. How are you going to learn about Jesus, about His commands and about His miracles? Simple, you read God’s love letter to man called the Bible. The gospels will tell you the things Jesus taught and the other books of the New Testament will teach you how to live out this Christian life coupled with how to relate to fellow believer in God’s church.
When Jude asked Jesus his question, the disciple’s spiritual eyes were still developing, they would receive 20/20 vision at the resurrection and at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit arrived. The development of a child is very similar to the development of a disciple, as we saw in the previous chapter. John 14:19 the key word is live, in verse 20 the key word is know and in verse 21 the key word is love. Put the words together; we live because we know God loves us.
Jesus said in verse nineteen “Because I live, you will live also.” There are two Greek words for life in the New Testament. One is Zao and the other is Bios. Zao has to do with the fullness of living, Bios has to do with days on earth, like a biography. We all have Bios but few have Zao. Jesus said He came to give us abundant life. Abundant means excess, our life becomes in excess of what we expected. We have purpose, passion and total peace in all circumstances. Because Jesus lives we can live life to the fullest for Him which is true happiness.
British theologian C. S. Lewis described happiness 50 years ago in terms that make even more sense today in our commuter-driven society:
A car is made to run on petrol [gasoline], and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.
Remember in school when the teacher introduced a new concept and a question popped in your head, you couldn’t focus on anything further the teacher spoke on until your question was answered. When I attended Jake Barnes roping school, Jake made a comment during his teaching session concerning how to hold the reins and rope in your left hand. Jake continued teaching, but my focus became centered on that one little statement he made about the left hand. Jake went on to teach other concepts, but I did not listen because I wanted to ask my question about the left hand. I think Jude’s mind, probably focused on the simple statement like mine did with Jake. Jesus already answered Jude’s question in verse 20-21:
20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
“At that day” refers to possibly one of two things; Easter which is the resurrection or the second coming of Christ, perhaps both. Jesus dying on the cross became the last time the world saw Him openly. The second coming will be the next time the world will see Him openly. Concerning the resurrection appearance we find in Acts 10:40 the people who witnessed Jesus after the resurrection were chosen by God. Paul gives us additional insight to who saw Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15:6 says over five hundred of the brethren saw Jesus after the resurrection.
At ten years of age my dad had dog whom he loved. One time his dog ran away from home and was gone for about three weeks. One afternoon my dad saw his dog walking up the dirt road that led to the farm where he lived. My dad was excited to see his dog, but he noticed the dog walked strangely and had foaming saliva coming out of his mouth. My recognized the dog had rabbies and ran inside and got his shotgun. As dad approached the dog, the dog ran toward him with his teeth showing and growling. Dad closed his eyes and squeezed the trigger. Dad knew there was no other solution. Dad recognized immediately the dog that left home became a different dog when he came back. How do we recognize true Christians? The ones who are constantly trying to please God, their lives are seasoned with a sweet spirit and they are constantly in His word. Jesus said in verse 21 the ones who know and keep His commandments are the true Christ followers.
The word for keep means to guard. Dad guarded his house with a shotgun, we guard our hearts with the Word of God. Here is an easy way to remember to keep God’s word, use the word GUARD.
• God’s
• Ultimate
• Authority
• Read
• Daily
When does Jesus reveal Himself to today’s disciples who have not physically seen the resurrected Lord? Jesus said in John 20:29 to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and believe.” Jesus makes a promise to us in verse 21, if we love Him we will keep His commandments (not suggestions), then the Father will love us as well, then Jesus will show Himself to us. Does that mean physically show? The word for manifest means to make visible or to demonstrate. We get the word emphasize from the original Greek word.
When we write a memo how do we emphasize something we don’t want people to miss? We often highlight or underline. Why do we need to emphasize, it is already written on the memo? We emphasize to make sure people do not miss what we are trying to say. Romans chapter one says the world does not have an excuse to not believe in God, He has revealed Himself through creation (Romans 1:20). Jesus is the underline or highlight of God’s love toward creation. Romans 5:8 says, God demonstrated His love toward us that while we were still sinners Christ died for our sins. The death of Jesus is the highlight of God’s love toward us. To have Jesus emphasized in our life, we must emphasize two things, have God’s word and Do God’s word.
To be a successful roper, you must have two things highlighted, riding a horse and throwing a rope. Roping is all about horsemanship and hand eye coordination. A person must be proficient in both to compete. The two things Jesus is highlighting for us to see Him is 1. to love him and 2. to obey His word. But the questions still comes back to, what do we obey and how do we see Him?
What are Christ’s commands and where can they be found? The answer is in the Bible. I will list some of Jesus’ commands:
Matthew
5:22-24 Reconcile with your brother
27: Do not lust, get rid of those things that cause temptation
34: Do not make oaths
37: Let your yes be yes and no be no
39: Turn the other cheek
40: If someone sues you, give them more than what they sue you for
44: Love your enemies
6:4 Do your charitable deeds in private
6:5-7 Pray
6:19 Do not lay up treasures on earth but in heaven
6:25 Do not worry
7:1-5 Examine yourself first before you cast judgment on someone else
7:7 Ask God, Seek God, Knock on God’s door
7:12 Treat others the way you want to be treated
7:14 Christ’s way is difficult, but take His way
7:15 Beware of false prophets
18:10 Take care of the children
18:15-17 If your brother sins against you, go to him alone and confront him
If he will not hear, take two witnesses
If he will not hear take it to the church
20:26 Be a servant
22:37 Love God with all your heart, soul and mind
22:21 Pay your taxes and your tithes
28:19 Go and make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
That is a pretty good list to get started with.
Why does the world not see Jesus?
What about the rest of the world, how come they don’t seek to see Christ and experience His peace and love? If Jesus can give us all this peace and joy why doesn’t everyone accept Jesus as their savior? Great question! Why did Satan fall from heaven? Because of pride, he wanted to be like God, he wanted to sit his throne above God’s (Isaiah 14:13-14). Many people have this same kind of pride. I believe people don’t come to Christ because of three things, submission, permission and omission.
Submission
Psalms 81:15 says the haters of the Lord would pretend submission to Him, but their fate would endure forever. The word submission can be found nine times in the New Testament. The Greek word is made up of two words meaning to be under appointment. Submission is torn between two extremes, to have power on one side and lack of freedom on the other. Most people desire one of two things, total power or total freedom. Total power comes from pride, which caused Satan to fall and total freedom is what caused Adam and Eve to fall. Adam and Eve wanted total freedom to eat whatever they desired, there being no one else to rule over. Adam and Eve desired total freedom to eat whatever they desired, disregarding the consequences.
People like to be in control (especially in the United States). Many people want their opinion to be right and will go to the extreme to prove their opinion valid. The power of pride is hypnotic. We have an inner desire to have power. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, otherwise known as the mormons, have the desire for total power. They believe that God at one time was a man as us, and one day they too will become God’s. Sound familiar? People want to be God’s of their own life, and like Satan and Adam and Eve we are too focused on instant gratification to realize the long term effects. People don’t like the idea of being held accountable for their actions. Therefore many reject the idea, based on their own opinion, they will not be held accountable for their every deeds and acceptance or rejection of Jesus.
This can be seen in the number one reason people object to Jesus, there can’t be only one way to heaven. I don’t think people mind Jesus being the only way to heaven, but many would have to leave their tradition and family heritage behind, as well as submitting their will and control of their lives to Jesus. Religion is man’s way to reach God, Christianity is God’s way to reach man. Since having a relationship with God through Christ is beyond their works based mentality of control and pride, many people reject Christ because of this. Furthermore, Jesus’ teachings are hard for a selfish person to accept. We must treat others the way we want to be treated, give away our precious money to His works, study His word to get to know Him and be held accountable for our wrong doings. Submissiveness just isn’t in our nature, and because of our desire for power and our desire for total freedom many just don’t come to Christ.
In this information age we are indulged with all kinds of information. We receive so much information we are afraid to move forward with an idea until we have all the information in our hands. In World magazine, interviewer Larry King said:
I can’t make that leap that a lot of people around me have made into belief that there’s some judge somewhere. I have a lot of respect for true people of faith… I’ve done so many interviews on it. I’ve always searched. But as someone said, "Did you ever sit down and read the Bible cover to cover?" The answer’s no, because I don’t know who wrote it. I’m too in my head to be into faith. Faith is a wonderful thing. I envy people who have it. I just can’t make the leap.
I remember as a kid, my father died when I was young, and that was unexplainable to me. The God of the Old Testament, I didn’t like things he did. "Abraham, sacrifice your son." That always bothered me as a kid. I remember thinking, Why would he do that to Abraham? As a test? So I said to myself, I don’t know. I just don’t know. That’s still true to this day.
There are going to be many things about God we just don’t understand, that is why He is God and we aren’t. Mr. King can not understand why he would have Abraham sacrifice his son, yet God allowed His own Son to be sacrificed on our behalf. Go and try to figure that one out, the only plassible reason would be John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not die but inherit eternal life. Abraham’s story was a shadow of the Christ who is to come, and the bottom line is Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son was a test.
God wanted to test his heart to see who Abraham loved more. Mr. King has also been tested, to see who he loves more, his own intellect or the God who sent His Son to die for Mr. King. Bottom line, many people don’t want to submit to something they don’t have all the information about. Perhaps this is why Proverbs 3:5-7 rings so true,
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the LORD and depart from evil
I know if Mr. King, as well as anybody else, truly sought after God he would be driven to the Bible to learn about Jesus. Perhaps Mr. King’s six marriages are symbolic of his quest to find fulfillment through any other means but through God. No matter how hard we try to find fulfillment, a meaningful life and true peace will be found only through Christ. By reading God’s word he would truly find the faith he so desperately claims he wants. The Bible says one day every knee will bow to God (Romans 14:11, Philippians 2:10), today we have the choice to bow or not, but one day every person will bow and receive their judgment or reward. Those who have accepted Christ will inherit eternal life with Him, those who haven’t will be eternally separated in Hell. Bottom line, submit now or pay later, your choice.
Permission
The second reason many don’t come to Christ is we don’t give ourselves permission to allow God to help us. There is an account in the Old Testament about king Ahaz. Ahaz was the king over Judea, the southern part of the kingdom of Israel after the north and south separated. His story can be found in Isaiah chapter seven. Ahaz was under pressure to be taken over by the Syrians, but He did not trust God and took the gold out of the temple and gave it to the Assyrians and made a pact with them for protection. Isaiah came to Ahaz and tried to encourage him by telling Ahaz to ask God for a sign that God would protect them. Ahaz felt guilty for striking a deal with the Assyrians and would not give himself permission to ask God for a sign. Isaiah relayed the words of the Lord in Isaiah 7:11 “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.”
Ahaz would not give himself permission to ask of God for encouragement. Isaiah instead went to the people of Judea and told them about the sign God would give:
Isaiah 7:13-14 13 Then he said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
Sound familiar, we hear about this sign every year at Christmas. Ahaz felt too guilty to give himself permission to ask of God. We need to get over our guilt and realize God knows all about us, both good and bad read Psalms 139. God wants to help us, he is calling each one of us to him. Give yourself up, turn yourself in and go to the Creator of the universe, He is waiting to speak and help you. There is nothing too bad you have done that God can’t forgive, but the rub comes by not asking for forgiveness and turning from your sins and agreeing to walk according to God’s standards and seek after Him.
Omission
The final reason people don’t give their lives to God is because of omission. Omission means a mistake resulting from neglect. My team roping abilities come and go in regards to how consistent I am catching the steer. As with every other kind of sport, the more you practice, the more you listen to your coach, the more you seek council the better your abilities become. If omit my practice times in the arena I will make many mistakes resulting from neglect. Larry King, as mentioned earlier, is making a grand mistake based upon his omission of not reading the Bible and discovering for himself who Jesus truly is.
No one will be able to give an excuse to almighty God when they stand before Him at their final days. Romans 1:20 says everyone stands without excuse of seeking after God, all they have to do is look at creation with one brain cell. Can a truly rational person actually believe this book came from two meteors crashing together billions of years ago, yet man shows up on the scene out of no where? Can a truly rational person, after investigating the lives of the disciples, reading the bible and history books come to the conclusion that Jesus did not exist or rose from the dead? The only way a person could come to any other conclusion but God is because of their refusal to submit to Him, their refusal to give themselves permission to open their hearts, and their flat out omission of investigating the truth for themselves.
You are reading this chapter, this shows that you know how to read. How come we don’t spend more time in God’s word? Many of us today make the mistake of not knowing God better by neglecting His word. Years ago in this country their was a group called the pony express. Their charge was to deliver important letters across country.
The pony express is a thrilling part of early American history. It ran from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, a distance of 1,900 miles. The trip took ten days. Forty men, each riding 50 miles a day, dashed along the trail on 500 of the best horses the West could provide.
To conserve weight the men wore very light, saddles were extremely small and thin, and no weapons were carried. The horses themselves wore small shoes or none at all. The mail pouches were flat and very conservative in size. Letters had to be written on thin paper, and postage cost $5.00 an ounce (a tremendous sum those days).
Yet, each rider carried a full-sized Bible! It was presented to him when he joined the pony express, and he took it with him despite all the scrupulous weight precautions. These men rode as though their lives were on the line, many times they were. They forsook heavy clothing and comfortable saddles but carried a full sized Bible. What does that say concerning the importance these men placed upon the word of God.
The sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams said “I have for many years made it a practice to read through the Bible once a year. My custom is to read four or five chapters every morning immediately after rising from my bed. It employs about an hour of my time, and seems to me the most suitable manner of beginning the day. In what light soever we regard the Bible, whether with reference to revelation, to history, or to morality, it is an invaluable and inexhaustible mine of knowledge and virtue. That would be pretty good advice for us all, to begin our day with the Bible.
If you only receive one thing from these writings, I hope it has impressed upon you to read your Bible. Reading God’s word will enable you to submit to Him, give yourself permission to seek after Him, and may it never be said you omitted His word from your life.
Jesus’ Response to Jude
We have examined what prompted Jude’s question. We have also looked in detail why everyone doesn’t give their lives to Jesus. Now Lets go back to John 14 and look at Jesus’ response to Jude’s question and dig out some nuggets of truth that can encourage the ones who Christ has shown Himself.
John 14:22-24
22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”
23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.
Notice in verse 23 Jesus says the person who loves Him keeps His word (has and does) He and the father will make their home with us. What a wonderful promise. We are all fond of that place we call home. A house is where we live, but a home is who lives in the house. We see movies and hear many stories of people who die wish to die at home. Their desire is not because of the house, but because that is where the people who love them live. You have heard the saying, visiting relatives are like fish, they both stink after three days. Same house, different people. Who is living in your house, yourself or Jesus?
When you add verse 23 and verse 26
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you
You have a complete picture of the three fold God head, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 1 John 5:7 says
7 For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.
The theologians have given the three fold God head a term called “The Trinity.” Trinity means the three are one. Not three separate functions, but one. It is hard to get your mind around that but the scripture is clear. Many people have tried to separate the trinity by stating the Holy Spirit operates independently of the Father and Son. Look at verse 23, They will make Their home with us. When we accept Christ we get all three, even though they are one. Some have tried to state after we get Jesus we get the Holy Spirit with supernatural manifestations. Once you accept Christ, you will receive all the Holy Spirit you are going to receive. The question is how much of you is the Holy Spirit going to get? Paul says in Ephesians 4:5 there is “One Lord, one faith and one baptism. Christ doesn’t make His home inside of us then has a party later and invites the Holy Spirit, we get it all at the point of conversion.
In verse 24 Jesus states He is the One sent by the Father. There are two Greek words for sent. One word is where we get the word for apostle, ones who are sent. The other word means to thrust into another. The first word for apostle usually means you are sent with accompaniment, meaning someone or something goes with you. The word Jesus used being sent by the father, is the second word meaning thrust into.
Team roping is an illustration of the two terms for sent. The first term, as an apostle, the roper is sent out with his horse in pursuit of the steer. The second term for sent, thrust, comes into play when the roper thrusts (throws) his roper around the steers horns. The rope is sent by itself to accomplish a task.
Jesus was thrust onto the earth out of the eternal shores of heaven. What was His purpose? Jesus tells us, in Matthew 10:34
34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; 36 and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ 37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.
Jesus came to divide, those who will follow Him and those who will not. Those who will accept His sacrifice for their sins and those who will not. The instrument He uses to divide is the Word of God. Hebrews 4:12 says;
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Conclusion
So what about this disciple called Thaddaeus? What a question he poses, why do you show yourself to us and not the entire world. Jesus’ bottom line answer is those who love Him are those who have and keeps His words and commands. Do you have Jesus’ word in your heart, mind and soul? If you are going to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul you must feed those three items with the Word.
So where do you start? Start with page Genesis 1:1 and go all the way to Revelation 22:21. Here are some interesting statistics regarding the Bible:
• No word more than six syllables in Bible
• It takes 70 hours and 40 minutes to read the Bible at pulpit rate.
• It takes 52 hours and 20 minutes to read the Old Testament.
• It takes the 18 hours and 20 minutes to read the New Testament.
• In the Old Testament the Psalms take the longest to read: 4 hours and 28 minutes.
• In the New Testament the Gospel of Luke takes 2 hours and 43 minutes to read.
• A church in Scotland reported it read the Bible nonstop in 62 hours and 55 minutes.
Some folks do not read the Bible because, they say, there are so many things in the Book that they cannot understand. It is said that these things which cannot be understood trouble them. Of course these are excuses.
What does one do when he sits down to a Southern-fried chicken dinner, and finds there are bones in the chicken which he is unable to chew? Does he excuse himself, and say, "I can’t chew the bony parts of the chicken; therefore I won’t try to eat any of it?" Hardly. He merely puts the bones to one side and enjoys the edible part of the chicken. Why not put at least this much effort into Bible reading?
One rescued sinner said, "The fact that I am alive and on my way somewhere really caused me anxious moments, until I found the answer in the Bible. When I found it, it prompted me to let the shed blood of Christ cleanse me from my sins. God saved me and gave me the assurance of it, and I began to study the Bible, digesting the parts God’s Holy Spirit led me to understand, and setting the rest aside, until He opened my eyes to the Truth therein. As God showed me the answers, my worship of Him increased naturally. Oh, indispensable is the Book of books!" Take and keep the Bible and allow it to soak into your soul. Love is the root and obedience is the fruit.
