Judas and the Modern Sin of Cults

 The name Judas actually means "Jew." This is important because Judas represents the betrayal that God's people are enacting toward Christ. 

First, Judas believes that Jesus is in fact the Christ. That is clear. This is not just a speculation from the fact that Judas has witnessed all of Christ's miracles, but in his own confession when he sees that Christ was :crucified, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood!" (Matt 27:4). He knows that Christ is innocent because He is who He says He is. So Judas believes.

Why does he betray Him? This is the most important question that most people never ask and then apply to themselves and it is the very sin we find in most churches and cults today.

Judas is also said to be dipping into the offering box. He likes the benefits that following Jesus has brought him. That's important to note because what it tells us is that Judas is in love with the benefits of following Christ more than he loves Christ.

This is likely why he hands Christ over to the authorities. He wants to force a confrontation where Jesus will take over and likely wipe out the Roman Empire, rule the world, and that brings even more benefits to Judas. He's had a little taste of luxury and riches and wants more. He's done sleeping in the fields. He wants to sleep in palaces. He wants that throne Jesus promised him. He wants the world bringing offerings. He wants the benefits and those benefits are more important than what Jesus wants. So he betrays Him.

How are modern churches and cults betraying Christ? I've seen the same thing over and over again. If you were to prove to the average Mormon that Mormonism is false, do you think they care? Nope. Because they love the community of the church they created. They love the people. They love the activities. They love the benefits. Whether Christ is distorted and replaced with a false Christ is secondary. They are so in love with what surrounded their false religion that they are unwilling to sacrifice it to lift Christ up.

Likewise, I cannot tell you how many church scandal videos I have watched in the last two weeks where the congregation does not care about their pastor's disqualifying sins. They love the church they have. They love the people. They love the activities. They love the relationship they have with the pastor. They love the benefits and so Christ is thrown under the bus. His holiness and what He says He wants in the Scripture when it comes to ministers doesn't matter. It's easier to make excuses and not look at it, say it's forgiven, say it's a long time ago, emphasize all of his good qualities and ignore the bad, etc. 

This is the danger in falling in love with the benefits of Christ over Christ Himself. If we love Christ more than the benefits of following Him in a particular community then we will lift up His Word over what we want to happen. We will lift up His holiness over our protection of the community, a pastor or pastors, etc. We will acknowledge His lordship by lifting up what His Word requires of us and lifting up what He says about qualifications of a minister and place them over our personal views and opinions that do not appear in Scripture. But if we love the benefits? Now we have to make excuses. Now we have to talk about how much this guy has been with me through thick and thin. Now I have to talk about how we're all sinners saved by grace. Now I have to belittle the sins. Now I have to belittle those who expose those sins. Now I have to slander and attack those people. Now I have to defend what no Christian who is loyal to the Lord should ever defend.

But if I love the community, I love the denomination the church is in, I'm in love with not having to make another move, I'm in love with comfort over confrontation, I'm in love with the benefits more than I love Christ, then I will find myself defending the indefensible and buying into whitewashed lies. 

You don't become a Judas by verbally rejecting the faith. You become a Judas by loving what you have as a result of following Christ just a little bit more than Christ Himself. When it comes time to choose between them, you will sell what you love less to buy what you truly love. 

Judas didn't see himself as a Judas. He saw himself as faithful while getting what he wanted and surely what he thought Christ would be happy with in the end. Instead, the Scripture remembers him as the son of perdition and he is removed from his eternal throne to spend eternity outside of Christ's kingdom that exists only for those who love Christ more than the kingdom one receives from following Him.