DON’T THROW AWAY YOUR VALUE
MAIN TEXT: JOHN 6:63-64
God has a plan and purpose for our lives, but if you don’t finish your assignment, He’ll find someone else who will. There are specific lessons we can learn from the life of Judas that will ensure we are on the path to fulfilling our destiny rather than losing it all.
It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him, John 6:63-64.
It is the value of what you know that you want to keep and will not want to throw away. Hold fast and let no man take your crown. It is when you know the value of the crown that you will not want to lose it. Do you know your value? Sometimes ago, the Lord gave me a vision and after the vision He spoke to me that the church has lost her true identity.
Judas saw absolute miracles over and over again, yet it was not enough to secure Judas’ complete devotion and loyalty to Jesus. He met Jesus, but stayed the same. In spite of everything he saw and experienced, he was not changed. Christianity is about transformation. It’s not enough to go to church and hear the Word. We must allow the Lord to change our hearts. We must be transformed by the renewing of our minds! Romans 12:2.
Judas wanted to give Jesus something, but not everything. Judas got upset when the woman with the alabaster box gave her most precious possession to Jesus. Judas thought her worship – washing Jesus’ feet and applying her expensive oil – was a waste. He didn’t understand that she was trusting Jesus with all that she had. Too many people want just enough of Jesus to go to heaven, but not so much that it interrupts their life. They’ll trust Him with eternity, but not with their day-to-day issues. If you want all of Jesus, you must surrender all of you!
Jesus knew Judas would betray Him, but He loved Judas anyway. Jesus could have thrown Judas under the bus, but He didn’t. He could have kicked him out of the circle, but he didn’t. He offered Judas hope, mercy and grace, and gave him a chance to make the right the choice. As long as you have breath, you have hope. Jesus loves you no matter where your heart is. There is no condemnation or judgment. Jesus isn’t holding a grudge. Choose right now to surrender all to Him and allow His grace to change you.
Judas knew about Jesus, but He didn’t know Jesus. Judas knew about Jesus but he did not know the worth of Jesus. When was the last time you spent intimate time with Jesus? Judas said “Master is it I?” He didn’t say, “Lord is it I?” (COMPARE AND CONTRAST MATT. 26:22 and 25). There is a difference between both. It is one thing to acknowledge Christ as King; it’s another thing to accept Him as YOUR King and Lord. Remember no one call Jesus Christ Lord except by the Holy Ghost; and Judas Iscariot could not call Jesus Christ Lord: Because he did not have the Holy Ghost. Do you have the Holy Ghost; can you call Jesus Christ Lord? Do you belong to the fold or are you about to get out of the fold.
Judas was impatient with God. He had incorrect timing. We cannot give God deadlines insisting on our will and our timing. God does things at His timing, not yours. When we get impatient, we can miss the Lord’s perfect will. Remember “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” saith the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts,” Isaiah 55:8-9.
If you ever get your hands on Jesus, don’t let go. Hold Him fast. Don’t loosen your grip on Jesus, EVER! Once you take hold of Jesus, don’t let go. Don’t let go of your joy, your freedom, your purity, and your hope. If you don’t finish your assignment, somebody else will. If you give up or walk away from what God has told you to do, God can raise someone else up to take your place. Where Judas’ name should be carved on, as one of the 12 foundations of the heavenly city, Rev. 21:14; instead it may say Matthias. God wants to use YOU, if you will let Him, but He doesn’t have to. Let no man take your crown. Be steadfast and unmove-able in the Lord Jesus Christ, as you see the day approaching.
If you don’t change, you could be headed in the wrong direction, just like Judas. You’re not reading this by mistake. Your future is in God’s fold, and where you go from here is up to you. Sometimes we have the best intentions with the wrong motives. Sometimes we’re too focused on the end to learn from the means. God has a good and perfect will for you. Surrender your all to Him—your thoughts, your fears, your dreams, your actions and words—and trust His timing!
Remember the scripture in 1st John 2:19, it happened to Judas Iscariot and is happening to may more today, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” Examine yourself if you are in the fold or have you gone out of us and you know it not. Do not throw away your crown, your value.
Bro. Olumide Ajigo
107 – DON’T THROW AWAY YOUR VALUE