Nice to meet you
Today is the final session of the story of the Twelve Apostles
Judas Iscariot and Matthias,
I'd like to share the story of
these two apostles with you today
Let us first listen to the Bible verses
in John chapter 12 verses 4-6
about Judas Iscariot
(12. The House of Judas Iscariot by Son Mina)
'But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples..., said,
"Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii
and given to the poor?"'
'He said this, not because he cared about the poor,
but because he was a thief,
and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it' [Jhn. 12:4-6]
'Jesus answered,
“It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it"'
'So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot'
'Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him'
'Jesus said to him,
"What you are going to do, do quickly"'
'Now no one at the table
knew why he said this to him'
'Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag,'
'Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the feast,"'
or that he should give something to the poor'
'So, after receiving the morsel of bread,
he immediately went out. And it was night' [Jhn. 13:26-30]
An Italian painter
wanted to paint Jesus as a boy
So, he found a boy with a bright smile
and serious expression
Then he painted a picture using the boy as a model
And then, a considerable amount of time passed
As he began to paint the life of Jesus again,
he searched for a model for Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus
One day, he met a young man at a bar, exhausted by alcohol addiction
who had given up all hope for life
So the painter asked the man, "I would like to paint your portrait"
The man then answered, "Why do you wish to paint my portrait?"
"Whose model will I be?"
So the painter told the man, "I'd like you to be my Judas Iscariot"
Then, the man started to laugh then said,
"When I was a boy, I was the model for Jesus"
That's a story of the painter
We don't know if this is true or not
The lesson being conveyed through this story is this
The model of boy Jesus
could become the betrayer Judas,
showing the destructive potential of human nature
I think this is a lesson we could learn from this
First, let's reflect on the meaning
of the name Judas Iscariot
Iscariot refers to a region
It's the name of a region
If you travel south from Jerusalem of Judea, Israel,
you will come across a city called Hebron
If you travel little further South from there,
you will reach a region called Kerioth, or Iscariot
Because he was from that region,
he was called Judas Iscariot
The name Judas itself carries
a very good meaning
It means "praise"
But everyone,
if you were to have a child, a son,
would you name your son Judas?
Anyone? probably not, right?
After what Judas Iscariot did,
the name Judas became the least popular
But it used to be the most popular name among the Jews
Judas was actually a popular name
In the Old Testament, there are the Twelve Tribes of Israel
and among them, the most important is the tribe of Judah
"The tribe of Judah"
The tribe that carried on the lineage of the Messiah was the tribe of Judah
"Praise", that's the meaning behind it
In the Bible, there is a period between the Old and the New Testament
that lasts for around 400 years
During that time, Israel was conquered by Syria from the north
At that time, in order to restore
the occupied Jerusalem and Israel,
a family of Israel's priests rose up and led the independence movement
This family is called Judah Maccabee
Judah Maccabee
Judas, Judah. See how popular the name was?
It's originally a great name,
a really great name
And among Jesus' brothers, there was also a Judas,
one of his many younger brothers
As you read the New Testament, have you come across the book of Jude?
The book of Jude
It isn't a book written by Judas Iscariot
One of the brothers of Jesus, Judas
wrote a short document which is
one chapter long and called Book of Jude
Also, among Jesus's disciples,
there is, not Judas Iscariot,
but Thaddaeus Judas among the Twelve Disciples
Thaddaeus Judas
Again, the name Judas was quite popular
It can be understood that it was a very commonly popular name
We can see what kind of a person he was
as we trace the life of Judas Iscariot
appearing in the Scriptures
As we trace the person,
first, he was,
at least on the surface,
a trustworthy person
Because among the disciples, what did Judas do?
He was in charge of the financial affairs
But everyone,
If each of us were to contribute a little money
and use it to have a monthly gathering,
we should choose someone in charge, right?
Like an accountant
When selecting an accountant, we'd choose someone trustworthy, right?
You shouldn't let someone who cannot be trusted in charge of money
Therefore, Judas was a person who could be trusted,
at least, on the surface
And if you see,
one day, Jesus said something shocking when having some dinner with disciples
'...one of you will betray me' [Jhn. 13:21]
And each of the disciples ask, "Me?"
But the important thing is that no one suspected Judas
Therefore, it is clear that at least on the surface,
he was a trustworthy person
Nevertheless, he was someone who ultimately could not overcome
the growing desires within his heart
Ultimately, he could not overcome his greed for money
and became a thief, taking money from the moneybag
So he was the thief
And in the end, he even betrayed Jesus
for thirty pieces of silver, for his desire for money
He was couldn't overcome his greed for money
Ultimately, he appeared
before us as a hypocrite
In the famous scene where Mary breaks the alabaster jar
and uses the perfume to anoint Jesus' feet,
Angry Judas Iscariot appears,
saying that perfume could be sold
for about three hundred Denarii
and be used for helping out the poor
He didn't like wasting it for washing one's feet
He seems like a righteous person
"Sounds good"
On the surface, when we listen to what is said,
it seems like a very good statement
However, in reality, this was a hypocritical side of him
He was pretending to be righteous
Why did he betray the Lord?
As already pointed out,
he could not overcome the growing greed within him
There's a saying,
'Desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin' [Jm. 1:15]
'The love of money is a root of all kinds of evils' [1 Tim. 6:10]
We do need money,
but you cannot share love with money
Judas was fallen into greed for money
Another point to note is that
he ultimately failed in self-reflection
Self-reflection
Getting upset
over how he couldn't help the poor instead
If he reflected on the hypocrisy within himself,
He actually had an opportunity to repent
He could not do so
He was bound by his own sense of righteousness
The empty self-righteousness
Most importantly,
he could not overcome the temptation of Satan,
slowly crumbling before the temptation of Satan
What's intriguing is,
in John chapter 13, if you look at
the very beginning, this verse appears
'The devil had already put it into the heart of
Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray [Jesus]' [Jhn. 13:2]
The thought that selling Jesus would earn him something
It all began from just a thought
But in the almost final part of the same John chapter 13,
'Satan entered into [Judas]' [Jhn. 13:27]
Satan at first just put a thought into him
'How about betraying Jesus?'
The thought was sent by the devil
Later, Satan barged in,
completely taking over his mind
Judas was unable to resist such temptation from Satan,
and failed, ultimately becoming the tragic disciple
who betrayed Jesus
Judas repented,
and regretted
In Matthew chapter 27 verses 3-4,
Judas regrets and returns the thirty pieces of silver
he had received for betraying Jesus back to the chief priests
But they refused to take the money
So Judas regrets,
but regret is not repent
Regretting is part of repenting,
but that alone is not enough
Judas should have changed his life and come before the Lord,
but he couldn't
He only regretted about what he's done, and nothing more
I often think about it
Judas and Peter, whose sin was greater?
Peter also denied Jesus
He even cursed Jesus
However, Peter came before the Lord,
repented before the rooster cried
And eventually, Peter devotes his life
as an apostle working for the Lord
But Judas stopped at regretting,
taking his own life in the end
He hung himself
And his body fell on the rocks, and his intestines burst out,
bringing his tragic life to an end
Judas was among the disciples of Jesus,
but in reality, he did not experience salvation
He is a disciple who was not saved
How do we know?
In John chapter 13, while Jesus was washing the disciples' feet,
the disciples said, "It's not right!"
So Jesus responds with these words
"You are clean,
but not every one of you"
"There is someone among you who has not yet experienced cleansing"
"Although you've believed in Me and received forgiveness of sins,
there is someone among you who has not been born again"
Jesus was referring to Judas Iscariot
So, although Judas was among the disciples,
the tragedy is that he did not truly believe in Jesus
And he was not born again, not receiving salvation
That is the tragedy of Judas Iscariot
There shouldn't be such a tragedy of Judas among us
The lesson that Judas Iscariot
throws at us is quite profound
Through Judas Iscariot, we can reassess and reflect
The important lesson we must learn from Judas Iscariot is
how we should overcome the growing greed within us,
and when the opportunity for repentance comes to us,
how we should respond to it
Judas had multiple opportunities for repentance
Earlier, when Jesus was washing the feet of the Twelve Disciples,
he said, "One of you will betray me"
If Judas had said, "Yes, I had that thought,"
and repented, that would've been it
However, he missed that opportunity
Ultimately, it was the tragedy of losing the opportunity
That was the tragedy of Judas
Judas even reached the final point of repentance,
but he failed to come before the Lord
His tragedy ended only by regretting
This was the tragedy of Judas Iscariot
I hope this profound lesson that Judas Iscariot gives us
teaches us something
for all of us to engrave it in our hearts
Now it's the last disciple
who took the place of Judas Iscariot
Let's see the biblical testimony about Matthias
Let us look together at Acts chapter 1 verses 12 and on
Please listen attentively to the word
'Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet,
which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away'
'When they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying,
Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew
and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeusand Simon the Zealot
and Judas the son of James'
'All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer,
together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers'
'In those days Peter stood up among the brothers
(the company of persons was in all about 120) and said,
"Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke
beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas,
who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus"
"For he was numbered among us
and was allotted his share in this ministry"'
'(Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness,
and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out'
'And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama,
that is, Field of Blood)'
'For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it;
and let there be no one to dwell in it,"
and "Let another take his office"'
'So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time
that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
beginning from the baptism of John until the day
when he was taken up from us, one of these men must
become with us a witness to his resurrection'
'And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas,
who was also called Justus, and Matthias'
'And they prayed and said, "You, Lord, who know the hearts of all,
show which one of these two you have chosen
to take the place in this ministry and apostleship
from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place"'
'And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias
and he was numbered with the eleven apostles' [Acts 1:12-26]
It's our final apostle
Wouldn't it be more accurate
if we gave this apostle a nickname like this?
The apostle who filled Judas' place, right?
Since Judas was disqualified,
the apostle who took his place was Matthias
But why did that position need to be filled?
Twelve is a number that holds special meaning in the Bible
How many tribes of Israel were there in the Old Testament?
There were twelve tribes, right?
There were twelve disciples
The last chapter of the Book of Revelation
talks about the new heaven and new earth,
the completed Kingdom of God,
which has twelve foundations there
Twelve gates and twelve foundations
with twelve names of the twelve apostles
Therefore, twelve is a representative number
representing completeness
Even though there was a dropout, Judas,
the position could not be left empty
So, someone had to fill the position
and the person who took that place
was Matthias, the apostle and disciple
One of the things I keep emphasizing as I study this is this
The concept of a disciple and an apostle is a little different
A disciple means a learner,
and we start by being a disciple
But the reason the Lord chose the Twelve Disciples
was for them to become apostles
The meaning of apostle is one who is sent
So that they would learn well, be trained, and sent into the world
to live as those who will change the world
That's how one is called to become an apostle
So, even though one person failed,
the Lord could not end it there
That’s where Matthias comes into play
But what exactly are the qualifications of an apostle
The Bible mentions two qualifications
One qualification is that they must have been with Jesus,
someone who witnessed His life and ministry while He was on earth
Most importantly, they must've experienced His resurrection,
because only then can they
be a witness to the resurrection
Did Matthias meet these conditions?
The Bible doesn't tell us in detail
But in fact, besides the Twelve Disciples,
there were many other Christians and disciples whom Jesus used
For example, when Jesus sent them out two by two to preach,
how many did He send?
Seventy people, remember?
He sent out seventy, two by two, in pairs
So, there were many others besides the Twelve Disciples
Historian Eusebius suggested that
Matthias was one of the seventy
So, he witnessed the life of Jesus
And in 1 Corinthians chapter 15,
it says that the risen Jesus appeared to over five hundred brothers
So, Matthias was probably among them
Because Matthias had witnessed the life of Jesus,
though from a distance, and had experienced the resurrection,
he met the qualifications to be chosen as an apostle
So how did they elect him?
They cast lots
Should we still cast lots today?
In fact, the practice of casting lots ends in Acts 1
After that, there is no record of casting lots
It was common in the Old Testament
as a means to discern God's will
That's what casting lots meant
This reminds me of this verse
Proverbs chapter 16 verse 33
'The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord' [Prv. 16:33]
It was just a means, a tool,
and ultimately, it is God who decides
In the Old Testament, oftentimes casting lots was
used as a way to discern God's will
In Acts chapter 1, two people are nominated as the final candidates
Joseph called Barsabbas, and Matthias
Then, they place the two men before them, and they first read out the Scripture
They read the Scripture, prayed,
and after nominating them, who should be chosen from the two?
They cast lots and chose Matthias
Regarding the other candidate,
Joseph called Barsabbas,
how does Acts 1:23 record his nickname?
'Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus'
That's how it's recorded
He even had a nickname!
His C.V. looks better, right?
But he didn’t make it when it came to casting lots
Matthias had far less impressive qualifications,
and people probably predicted that Barsabbas would be chosen
However, God's perspective and man's perspective are different
Surprisingly, Matthias was chosen
So, he takes the place that was vacated by Judas Iscariot
I believe that there is no need to cast lots anymore,
because we have the Word of God
We can also pray, and moreover, after Jesus' ascension,
the Holy Spirit was sent
and we can be guided by the Spirit
Therefore, by reading the Bible, praying,
and being guided by the Holy Spirit, we can make reasonable decisions
I believe that there is no need to cast lots
like in the Old Testament times
Anyway, Matthias was chosen
What kind of work did Matthias do throughout his life?
We don't know for sure, because it's not recorded in the Bible
There isn't a thing recorded
He was chosen for the twelfth position,
but there is no record of what he did afterward
Therefore, some biblical scholars even think that
Matthias may have been chosen incorrectly
So, who was the true disciple who should've taken that place?
That would be Paul, who appears later in the Book of Acts
Some biblical scholars claim that Paul should've taken that position
But I do not agree
Although the Bible does not record much about Matthias,
he was the one who should've been there,
though he didn't speak much
in fact, in tradition,
which refers to writings outside of the Bible,
Matthias occasionally appears
In those accounts, he was who quietly did his work
Though he wasn't involved in much and there may be nothing to record,
He was someone who quietly fulfilled
his mission and responsibility in his place
According to church traditions,
he was martyred in the end, like the other disciples
Judas committed suicide,
and the Apostle John lived to an old age and died of natural causes
The rest were all martyred
And Matthias is considered to have joined the others in this
There are two theories about Matthias
One is that he died by crucifixion
According to the other tradition, he was stoned to death
What is clear is that he died while evangelizing
This person was martyred while evangelizing
He was martyred gloriously
So, God chose Matthias to take the twelfth place of Judas
as recorded in the Bible
What lesson could we take from this?
Even though we are not such special individuals,
we too can be used as disciples of Jesus, just like Matthias
Now, Matthias is a reflection of us
Like Matthias, we can also become the twelfth apostle
and join in that path
Although we were not there
to witness the resurrection of Jesus during His time,
as we have fellowship with Jesus through Scriptures and prayers,
we all experience Jesus
And when He answers our prayers, we know that He is alive
We also experience the power of the resurrection
We can also become His apostles,
just like Matthias
You are the twelfth apostles
Try saying it to the person next to you
"You are the twelfth apostle" Try saying it out loud
(Pastor Lee Dongwon Story of the Twelve Apostles Q&A)
Thank you, pastor
As I was listening,
it resonated with me that I could be another Judas Iscariot
I think it makes me reflect a little especially on greed
I think there were disciples among them who also had greed
I think that greed isn’t always visible at first glance
It can arise in seeking one's own benefit or safety
I think that's another form of greed
In the case of Judas Iscariot,
he might have been disrupted
to be reborn because of his greed
Regarding our daily lives,
I'm curious about what we can do
to control greed and resist
the thoughts, for example, the ones Satan gives us
Thank you for your good question
We can become Judas Iscariot, right?
At least in the Bible, it shows that Judas gradually fell apart
I don't think it was like that from the very beginning
But in the end, he was unable to manage and control his greed
No one is without greed, right?
I believe that a person with no desires makes them not fully human
There are also good desires, like ambition and righteous desires
If we don't have such righteous desires, we are not truly human
The problem is the evil desires
But that bad greed is also within all of us
But the real issue is whether we can control our desires or not
So, again, no one has zero desire for money
But Judas could not control it, turning his greed into action,
taking money from the moneybag
He began to embezzle, turning his greed into action
It is important that we learn how to control
I believe Christians are able to exercise control
Because when we received and believed in Jesus
Because the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, dwells within us
The Holy Spirit helps us
So, if we sincerely seek the help of the Holy Spirit,
I believe we can overcome greed
and exercise control
John Calvin asked,
"How are the sins of Christians different from those of nonbelievers?"
A Christian sin is what we did not control, though we could have
Nonbelievers cannot exercise control at all,
because they do not have the Holy Spirit within them
They have no choice but to sin
For us, we sin despite our ability not to
So, if we accept Jesus into our hearts, the Holy Spirit dwells within us
and we sincerely seek his guidance
we must believe that we can overcome the desires
Anyone else with questions?
Thank you, pastor
When you shared about Judas Iscariot,
you spoke about the difference between regret and repentance
Could you elaborate more on this part?
If you could share more, especially about repentance, that would be nice
So, the literal meaning of the word repentance is
"metanoia" in Greek
It means "to return" or "to turn around"
But the question is, to whom do we return?
It is returning to God, to Jesus
Think of the story of the prodigal son
When he went to a distant country and ended up wasting all his money,
surviving in a pigsty eating pods,
do you think he regretted it or not?
He did
But if there is only regret, that is not repentance
But the most important thing is
'I will arise and go to my father' [Lk. 15:17]
He didn't stop with regretting, and returned to his father's house
That is repentance
So, it should not end with regret
We must come before God, before Jesus
Judas did not come back to Jesus
If Judas had come to Jesus and said, "Jesus, I have truly sinned"
"I fell into the temptation of Satan,
and I failed to control myself, I have sinned in betraying You"
If he had done that, would Jesus have forgiven him?
Without a doubt, He would've
But Judas did not
Coming before Him and restoring the right relationship with the Lord
This is the fruit of, and the completion of repentance
One more question, anyone?
As you wrote your book on the Twelve Apostles,
I'm sure you must have thought about it a lot
It doesn't have to stretch so far to distinguish each of the twelve,
but what kind of disciple do you think you are, pastor, before God?
Which disciple I am similar to the most?
Yes, I would like to hear which disciple you think you resemble
I feel like I resemble Peter
You know,
very emotional and passionate,
but In fact, I also have a very weak heart
So, when it comes to Peter,
I could also possibly deny Jesus like Peter did
So, I am similar to Peter
And, just as Peter returned, I would surely have returned as well,
because I know I can't give up my love towards my Lord
Studying Peter has been the most inspiring for me
When Peter followed the Lord at a distance, he ultimately fell
So, if I remain close to the Lord,
communicate with him daily, this is the way I protect myself
That's how I can stay as His disciple,
and follow Him
until the end of the time, in my opinion
- Did that answer your question? - Yes
Thank you
Today, we've talked about the final two disciples
They wereJudas Iscariot and Matthias, who took his place
We have all been invited
to the lesson from the tragedy of Judas Iscariot,
helping us to be cautious of ourselves
However, on the other hand,
just like Matthias, who quietly remained faithful in his place,
it is so important to faithfully walk the path
as Christ's disciple and apostle until the end
We may not be the famous apostle,
but I look forward that you and I
can live like Matthias,
staying faithful in our places
- Amen? - Amen
Let us pray together Heavenly Father, thank You
We have been thinking about
the paths of the Twelve Apostles
We are all different in character,
gifts, and temperaments,
but you have called each one of us
to follow you as disciples in our respective places
I pray that this will not end as a learning session
When You send us out into the world,
I pray that we may become the light and the salt in our lives,
living as disciples of Christ, living as your apostles
Please use all of us to live out this life
May Korean churches be blessed
to once again follow in the footsteps of the Twelve Apostles
We bless and pray in the Holy Name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, Amen
Thank you