“The chief priests and the scribes were looking for some way to kill Jesus. However, they were afraid of the people. Then Satan entered Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve apostles.” Luke 22:2-3 (GWT)
Have you ever wondered why high profile Christians get involved in stuff that hurts the reputation of the Church – the Body of Christ?
Or maybe it’s not a high profile Christian. Maybe it’s just someone you look to for your faith.
Let’s think about that. There are plenty of unbelievers (those who don’t believe Jesus is the Messiah, the only way to a relationship with God) doing wretched stuff, right? And, many of those unbelievers would like to destroy the influence of the Church so that they can live the way they want without being challenged. They are afraid of the Body of Christ. If they weren’t afraid, they wouldn’t care about things like Christian prayer in public schools.
Now, there have been attempts to destroy the Church since Jesus was born. Remember Herod’s attempt to kill him. (Matthew 2:13-16) That didn’t work. But Judas was an insider. That made a difference. And you can look at any church today that has had a split and see that the biggest damage comes from within the church, not outside.
So why did God impress on me to blog about this? Honestly, I’m not sure. But I think the more important verse is Luke 21:34 where Jesus has been talking about his return.
"But be on your guard. Don't let the sharp edge of your expectation get dulled by parties and drinking and shopping. Otherwise, that Day is going to take you by complete surprise, spring on you suddenly like a trap.” Luke 21:34 (MSG)
Are we really expecting Christ to return at any moment? Sometimes it seems that busyness of ministry has dulled our expectation.
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