Worldview Matters
CCCAG August 12th, 2018
Scripture- John 13:21-38
Intro:
I am a little bit of a history buff.
Let me define history-
History is the exploration of decisions and I'm fascinated by digging in to how decisions were made in the past.
One of the historical areas that fascinates me the most is watching how 80 million people in the 1930’s followed a madman into the bloodiest war that is ever been recorded. Many of you here may have some distant memories of that war or its aftermath.
Of course, I'm talking about World War 2 and the country I’m referring to is Germany.
80,000,000 people subscribe to the madness, racism, fear mongering of one little man named Adolf Hitler. Not only did they let themselves get talked into going to war with the entire world, but many of them participated in acts of war and human atrocities never before seen in the modern world.
After the war was over, many of the senior Nazi leadership were put on trial for war crimes. Most of them used a criminal defense called superior orders. This criminal defense essentially says I was simply following the orders of those people above me. It became almost a running joke that everyone of the Nazis on trial simply kept repeating the phrase “Bistfer es Bitsfer” which translated into English means orders are orders.
Whenever I read something about people in the past, particularly when they make really bad decisions, I try to put myself in their shoes and think the way they think and see if I come up with the same solution they did. If we were to do that with pre-war Germany, this is what they faced- 1930s Germany were still reeling from its defeat in World War one, poverty and economic depression or everywhere, the pride of the German people was that an all-time low until one man rose up from the crowd and says let's make Germany great again. One of the ways he did it was by dividing the German people and putting all the blame for the condition that they were in on one group of people- Jewish immigrants.
And we all know what happened from there.
You may ask yourself what does this have to do with the Bible in general and the gospel of John chapter 13 in particular?
There is the bit of wisdom that says that Those who ignore the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them in the future.
These German officers had subordinated their conscience is to a wrong belief. Even though many if not most of them claim to be Christians, they would put aside the very basic teachings of Biblical and Christian morality and even human decency further greater glory of the third Reich.
I use this extreme example to highlight the importance of having a correct world view that is based solely on God’s word.
Having a wrong belief is deadly to you spiritually.
In particular, having a wrong belief about who God is or who Jesus is and what their expectations of you are have eternal consequences.
Here in chapter 13 we see 2 different reactions to Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. The two reactions we see are because these two men’s worldview affected their ability to see what should have been a very basic teaching by Jesus on loving each other.
This part of chapter 13 has three basic divisions-
First we see Judas and his reactions.
Second we see Jesus teaching and explaining why he did what he did in washing his disciples feet as an object lesson to the entire gospel message he is been teaching them for the last 3 years.
Lastly we see Peter and his misplaced zeal.
We're going to look today at the wrong ideas that Judas and Peter had about Jesus, his message, and his coming Kingdom. It's my hope that the Holy Spirit will use these examples to search us and know us and point out any wrong idea we have about God and His will for our lives.
Prayer
I want us to start with this thought-
Judas and Peter, even after three years of intense training with Jesus, still had wrong ideas about what the Gospel and the Kingdom of God meant to the world.
Can any of us argue that Jesus is the best teacher about Jesus? Yet both men allowed an errant worldview to taint what Jesus had been telling them for three years and change it in their minds into something that would benefit only them.
Let’s look first to Judas and explore some of his life and what his motivations where for betraying Jesus-
I. Judas
When we see a horrific event in the news, like a mass shooting- what is the 1st questions asked?
Why? What was the motivation of the killer?
I think we can all agree that most healthy people don’t want to kill other people, so when someone falls that far off of society’s basic morality we have an intense desire to know the reason behind it.
Judas brings up a similar desire within us. We ask, why? Why did he do it? There is no indication that Jesus treated him unfairly- in fact at the last supper Jesus places Judas in the position of honor at his right hand. When Jesus said someone was going to betray Him, the disciples were puzzled as to who could do that- it wasn’t like every head turned to Judas.
Let’s dig into Judas’ background a little and see some of the reason why his world view lead him to the most famous betrayal in history.
The first thing I want to look at with Judas is his name. Judas is also known by a surname Iscariot. Historians and theologians believe that this name Iscariot refer to an area within Israel that he may have been native to. Others believe that it might refer to him having red hair.
However, there is another theory out there that makes more sense to me and it is this. A possible translation of the surname Iscariot could literally mean “of the scari”. In Israel at the time that Jesus was alive the scari were a very militant group and a semi secret society whose primary mission was to overthrow the Roman government at any cost including what we in the 21st century would think as terroristic actions.
To use a modern example we all are familiar with- they saw themselves as freedom fighters like many in Iraq and Afghanistan saw themselves when America invaded their country. These men and woman were happy to strap a bomb on their bodies to kill our military personal in the cause of defending their belief system and county.
Because they did not only target military personnel but also targeted civilians, we would rightly called them terrorists.
Had they had explosives in the 1st century, the scari would have had no problem blowing up a market to make their point. They worked through assassination, through misinformation, and through intimidation.
The scari maintained a worldview that Israel was to be the world's lone superpower because they were God's chosen people. Their view of the Messiah was that he was supposed to be a great military leader who would put the death everyone who had ever oppressed Israel.
Judas was most likely a member of this group prior to becoming a disciple. He probably maintained contact with many of them during his time of being a disciple of Jesus. Because of his contact with this group Judas’ worldview, his view of God , and his view of Jesus’ teaching were all filtered first through this scari worldview.
And we all know how that turned out in the end.
John give some editorial about why Judas did what he did in that John said he was a thief and simply wanted the silver coins. That may have been a small motivating factor, but I think Judas was simply saying true to how he viewed the world because of his scari background.
There are some indications that Judas came from wealth, so 30 pieces of silver would have been about the equivalent of about 2 to 4 months of salary. That's a nice chunk of change but is it really worth doing what he did in earning the absolute hatred of everyone who loved and follow Jesus?
If someone offered you $15k to betray the most popular person here in town, would you do it?
Heck no- you have to live here.
I think the 30 pieces of silver was a tertiary issue. We see what he thought about 30 pieces of silver after Jesus died and the weight of what he had done hit him hard.
Judas’ actions we're motivated because he had the wrong idea of who Jesus was. The frustration he had probably been building for some time. Perhaps his friends in the scari movement were asking him or putting pressure on him to get Jesus to finally move and get on with throwing the Romans out of the country.
Then the final straw.
When he saw Jesus washing feet, I believe that's what pushed him over the edge. No Messiah of Judas’ expectation would ever do the lowest thing a slave could do. An observant Jew would rather hug a Samaritan and go eat ham in his house then wash feet.
Or to put it this way- if you are a Packer Fan, Jesus washing feet was like seeing a Bear or Vikings fan mocking Aaron Rogers.
There are just some things you can't abide.
The reasons Judas did what he did were Boil down to this- Judas may have been trying to push Jesus into his version of a Messiah, or he had finally given up on Jesus and decided to take him out and make the Romans look responsible for it as a political move.
Whatever the reason, they all came because of a wrong idea about God, Jesus, the gospel, and the Kingdom.
Let us look at another example of wrong thinking in Peter’s reaction to Jesus’ speaking of going to the cross.
II. Peter
Peter had many of the same views as Judas did but not to the degree of actually going out and killing people over it. Every 1st Century Jewish person of Israel long for the Messiah to come and re store Israel back to power, so Peter also viewed Jesus through this lens.
This is why when Jesus spoke of going to the cross In Matthew chapter 16, Peter immediately pulls Jesus to the side and rebukes him for having such a thought. After all everyone knows that that it would be very difficult for the Messiah to conquer Rome while hanging from one of their crosses.
We all remember Jesus’s reaction to Peter rebuking him, “get thee behind me Satan”
Jesus recognized how Satan was using Peter because it was the same temptation that satan used against him in the wilderness, Just a different wrapping. “All you have to do to avoid the cross is worship me and I'll give you the kingdoms of the world.”
Why was Peter open to letting the enemy twist his thinking in this way?
Peter saw himself as the future second in command under this Messiah. He was following Jesus for a personal benefit, and not out of a love for Him.
The difference between Judas and Peter was this-
Judas did it out of national pride and an over inflated sense of patriotism and hatred of Rome
Peter is doing it out of personal pride for what Jesus is going to do for him.
That's why when Jesus said where I'm going you cannot come Peter flies into a panic.
Peter has sacrificed his livelihood, in a large part his family, and over 3 years of his life to follow Jesus around in the hope that he would get in on the ground floor of a new Kingdom on earth.
Now Jesus is talking about leaving this earth, and most importantly leaving Peter behind.
That explains Peter's reaction and his words- Jesus I’ll die for you.
Yet A few hours later Peter is denying Jesus to his face
What do Peters motivations and his actions here teach us?
They teach us that if you are not following Christ for the right reasons you will not stand in the time of trouble. (Let me say that again)
This is why your world view need to be based from the bible, and not from your personal comfort, preferences, or even political leanings.
There is coming a time of persecution on the earth. IN our nation and throughout the Western World we are already witnessing the great falling away predicted by the scriptures. For 242 years, Christianity has been the de facto religion practiced in America. We are witnessing the fall of American Christianity. If you are a Bible believing Christian who is living out faith the way that Jesus prescribed it, you are now the minority in this nation.
And that is not a bad thing.
How can I say that?
Because Jesus is coming back. God wants to give his son a bride who is made herself ready. Our spiritual health is not perfected in times of plenty and peace. Our spiritual foundations are forged in the fires of persecution and even pain.
Let me illustrate this a little
When a Potter makes a work of clay, one of their first jobs is to ensure the purity of the clay. You just can't go out in your yard dig down a few feet until you hit the clay and toss it on the wheel for forming. The clay is going to have all kinds of impurities at it.
Small pieces of rock and especially limestone
Roots from various types of plants
earthworms
twigs
All kinds of different things that are not clay but are inside the clay.
Now if the Potter starts forming his bowl out of this kind of clay with all these impurities, what is going to happen?
He is going to have a heck of a time forming that clay because of all the junk that is in it. Think about putting it on a potters wheel and having a piece of stick hitting your hand at 400 RPM.
Furthermore, if he finally manages to make what he wants out of the clay what happens when he puts it in the furnace the hardness and make it useful.
When he opens the door to that kiln or oven, the potter will not see a finished bowl- just pieces of what was supposed to hold together but was unable to because of all the impurities within it.
Because of all the imperfections that were inside that clay before it went into the oven it could not stand the fire.
Bring it home to you and me
If you don't allow God to place within you a correct view of who he is, who you are, and what His plan is for your life
When the fire of persecution, hardship or pain hits you
You will shatter from your impurity, and the source of our greatest impurity is seeing God in our image.
That is largely why we have lost an entire generation of kids to the world- we gave them a God of blessing, and the first-time persecution or trouble him them as young adults- their spiritual lives fell apart.
John 13 is all about Jesus showing us the right way and showing us the real nature of God. Even though we saw it on the video, let’s read it-
III. Love one another
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
I have met a number of very colorful people in my life. One of them was at our last church. He started attending Prayer House about the same time we did and for some reason he connected to me better than most people probably because I had a past as much as he did.
This guy was an on fire soulwinner for those people that most of us wouldn't want our church. This man came out of rampant drug abuse and had a heart for those still in it. He would go into places the police wouldn't go into without a SWAT team and try to minister Christ to people. I remember one time I get in a phone call after he had gotten rounded up when the police raided an abandoned building downtown that people were squatting in using drugs and this guy was there ministering Jesus to them and because of his past they wouldn't believe that he wasn't there to take drugs so they arrested him too.
When I went to the Police Department and ask to see him, the desk sergeant asked me a question
“Pastor why would you want a guy like this at your church. He is a piece of “blank”
My reply was that “This guy’s been clean for almost 2 years, he is a valued member of our church, and that the church is not a social club for those who are successful, but it’s a hospital for the sick.
I said “Even if he was there using drugs, I would still be here for him to give him a hand back up out of the ditch he fell in and make sure he gets back on the path.”
Life isn't always about the road you take it's about where you end up. Every single one of us will hit a detour once in awhile. Every single one of us well ignore God's GPS and try to take a shortcut.
It is up to the rest of us to gently restore each other to the right path.
A New Command I give you- Love one another.
We are to love each other as Christ has loved us
I'm going to repeat a scripture that I use last week to really hammer this home
Philippians 2
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; (repeat)
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Now close your eyes for a moment as I reread Jesus’ words
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
You can't love another person if in the back of your mind you're elevating yourself above them.
You can't truly show love to another person why are you or only viewing God is a being that gives only blessings. That’s Judas’ mindset
You can't embody the love that is central to the gospel message if you are only using that message to enrich yourself. That’s Peter’s Mindset.
We need the mindset of Jesus-
A New Command I give you- Love one another
All rise
Conclusion
Let me bring this home for us
In a Pentecostal church, we often look for experience over substance. What I mean by that is we often judge the quality of worship, sermon, and church services from how it makes us feel.
Quite honestly I would also like to see the Holy Spirit have freedom within our services.
But we also have to consider the times that we live in now. Teaching matters because it’s through teaching that we develop a worldview.
How we view God matters, because it’s that view that will determine if we are able to stand in this time, and show the Love of God to a generation that will desperately need to see the realness of our faith.
Let’s pray.
Altar Call
