Jesus Predicts His Betrayal

John 13:18-38

In this passage Jesus speaks of His betrayal by Judas and denial by Peter. You can imagine how you feel when friends disappoint you and realize how much Jesus must have been hurt by these actions.

First He tells His disciples in v. 19 that He is revealing the future to them. His reason for doing that is so that the disciples will understand what transpires. Although they may not grasp the impact of what is happening as they go through the next few days, later they will recall what Jesus has said and realize the importance.

Think for a minute about Judas. Although Jesus knew what Judas would do when He chose him as a disciple the other disciples were completely fooled by him. They thought Judas was a believer in Jesus just as they were. They completely missed the signs in Judas life that revealed his true character.

Consider how easy it is for those we associate with, those we even consider our friends who put up a front of knowing Jesus but really aren’t believers. Our life as believers, our daily walk with our Savior, is as important an example to them as is our testimony before those we know haven’t trusted the Lord Jesus as their personal Savior. We must be careful about judging others (Matt. 7:1) but we are told in that same passage (7:16) that we will know others by the “fruit” they produce with their lives.

Finally, in this passage Jesus gives the disciples a very important command; (v. 34) “love one another, even as I have loved you”. We’ll see this exhortation repeated later in the book but I would encourage you here to meditate on the depth of Jesus’ love as He was willing to give up His life and die a horrible death so that you might have eternal life. He says in the next verse that others will recognize your relationship with Him by the love you show them. How is your love quotient today?

Knowing Versus Doing

“If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”

(John 13:17)

I’m convicted by this verse. Notice that blessing is contingent upon action. Just knowing God’s Word is not adequate. In order to please God we need to put our knowledge into practice.

God’s plan for us is so complete that He gives us special abilities with which to serve Him. We call them spiritual gifts. They are mentioned several places in the Bible; one of them being Romans 12. There Paul speaks of the gifts of prophecy (speaking God’s Word), service, teaching, exhorting, giving, leading and showing mercy. Every Christian has at least one spiritual gift.

Our responsibility is to determine which of those gifts we have and then to use it effectively. John Piper says in his book Let the Nations be Glad “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” I believe we are most satisfied in Him when we are using the gifts He has given us to serve Him and others.

We must be careful how we apply the teaching of spiritual gifts. For instance, it is not proper to think that if we shouldn’t give to the Lord’s work unless we have the gift of giving. To the contrary, Scripture tells us we all have a responsibility to return a portion of our income to the Lord. In fact, that should be the first thing we consider when distributing our income. Proverbs 3:9 says we should “honor the Lord from our wealth and from the first of your produce” and in I Cor. 16:2 explains “on the first day of every week let each of you put aside and save whatever he prospers, that no collections be made when I come”.

We all also have the responsibility of sharing our faith with those who don’t know the Lord. Some, however, seem to have the gift of evangelism. I’ve observed this gift used two different ways; one by a gifted public speaker like Billy Graham, and another by a friend who effectively shares his faith with individuals at every opportunity.

How effectively are you practicing your Christian faith? Do others easily recognize your relationship with the Lord?

Jesus Speaks of His Death

John 12:27-50

As we begin to meditate on this portion of Scripture we learn of a conflict going on between Jesus’ physical nature and His spiritual nature. He mentioned that “My soul has become troubled”. Spiritually, He knew that it was His Father’s will that He die to pay the price for our sins and He desired the Father to be glorified. We also continually face a battle between our physical desires and God’s leading in our lives. We must be careful to allow God’s will to triumph over our will.

In verses 30 and 31 we learn that Satan is a defeated foe. One day he will be removed from this earth and will be forced to spend eternity in Hell. Today he still is active in our lives tempting us to sin but we know we have the power to overcome those temptations.

Then, just as now, many rejected Jesus. God knew that was going to happen and predicted it in Isaiah 53. Isaiah 6:10 also tells us the hearts of those who continually reject the offer of salvation will be hardened and their eyes will be blinded by God. However, many will believe and will trust Christ as their Savior but often they fail to confess Him because they fear man’s opinion and love man’s praise more than God’s praise.

Finally Jesus shares once again that He did not physically come into this world judge the world, but to save. He also reiterates His desire to accomplish the will of His Father. The time for judgment will come later and if we know Him as our Savior that is something we don’t have to fear.