Bearing the Cross

REFLECTIONS ON THE HOLY WEEK: LESSONS IN CHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP

By Ezekiel Kimosop

As we ponder about the sacrificial death that awaited Jesus as He entered the holy city of Jerusalem on His final journey to the cross, let us remember that it took the hand of a betrayer to get Jesus arrested, tried, tortured and finally crucified on the cross.

Judas was a close confidant of Jesus. He was entrusted with precious ministry resources - money - which he often abused. He stole from the till even as he pretended to care for the poor! (John 12:6).

He had an unresolved conflict of interest that stood between his loyalty to his Master and his self gratification.

Judas is perhaps remembered more for his betrayal of Jesus than for his poor ministry stewardship.

We shall for a moment deflect our focus from the betrayal.... for a strategic reason.

Both are significant for our prudence but each of these two aspects of the character of Judas is distinct and worthy of independent examination.

Judas betrayed his Master for 30 pieces of silver. It was not a small sum of money as some may imagine.... Bible scholars say that this sum represented more than a years wages for a servant. It was also reckoned as the price for a slave (see Ex. 21:32).'

This was a pretty sum indeed....it bought a field, Akeldama the field of blood (Matthew 27:6-8).

Was this sum perhaps greater than the highest that Judas ever kept in the money bag? We may never know for sure.

Think about that...

Now Akeldama is the name of the same land on which Judas finally took his own life, bringing a tragic end to a life of betrayal and disgrace (Matthew 27:5).

Here is our our centre of reflection....

Judas' love for money and, by extension, the pleasures of this passing evil world was possibly greater than his devotion to his Master!

Had Judas had cut himself out as a shameless thief who abused his position of trust for personal benefit? Judas must however have earned the trust of his Master and that of his fellow disciples for him to have been entrusted with money.

Did he wilfully betray this trust or did he covertly conceal his true nature?

Does this story sometimes describe our sinfulness in some way?.....

Of course we may not perhaps imagine ever betraying our Master in the manner that Judas did! However we should appreciate that Christian stewardship is a high calling.

Think about the many ways in which we fail God in ministry.

What about our stewardship over the things of God that Christ has placed in our charge? The Bible teachers in 1 Corinthians 4:1 that we are stewards of God's grace.

How diligent are we in executing our various stewardship mandates as children of God?

How faithful and accountable are we in our devotion and service to God?

It appears that Apostle Matthew [a money expert in his own right, having been a tax collector] knew that Judas could not reconcile his books if he were called to account for the ministry monies!

Could it be that at one time Judas' dishonesty was the subject of discussion among the disciples? Again we do not know about this since scripture is silent on that. .

Did the Holy Spirit reveal to Matthew that Judas was dishonest? The Holy Spirit illuminated all the scripture writings and spoke the mind of God (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:10-16; 2 Timothy 3:16-17).

CONCLUSION

Let me conclude by saying that none of us can truly claim to have fully satisfied God's divine standards in our Christian stewardship. Yes serve and walk with God by His grace. The Bible says that "We are all as an unclean thing, our righteousnesses are like filthy rags...." (Isaiah 64:6). This is what we are before a holy God.

If it were not for God's loving grace in Christ we would perish in our disobedience.

Of course we may not have knowingly abused ministry resources in the money that Judas had done.....

However, it is undeniable that there are those moments of lapses, ungodly discretions, lethargic inactions and procrastinations that we may have  occasioned from time to time....as we served God.

We can learn important lessons on Judas' mischief that should cause us to take a deep self reflection on our personal stewardship and our devotion to Christ during this holy week....

Here is the parting shot...

When Jesus appeared to Peter by the Sea of Tiberius, Peter and his colleagues had apparently forsaken the Lord and gone back to their first love.... fishing! (John 21:1-14).

They possibly thought that Jesus would never rise from the dead or had dreaded the gospel ministry because of their fear of persecutions after witnessing the cruel fate of their Master.

Despite their collective experiences as seasoned fishermen, the disciples failed to catch a single fish through the whole night.... until Jesus showed up....

Their reliance on their horned skills certainly failed them! They were definitely not serving God's purposes for their lives at this point!

There are moments in life when we discover that lifelong skills, knowledge or much learning fails us because we have lost our focus on God.

Think about that, again...

Blessed holy week...

© Ezekiel Kimosop Teaching Series 2019