Smoodock's Blog

The scriptures inform us that all the authority of Heaven and Earth has been given to Jesus (Matthew 28:18). Yet, how could such a thing be true, unless it also means Jesus is reigning as King of the Earth, even now? Either Jesus does have **all** authority, or he doesn’t. Nevertheless, how could Jesus be reigning today, in the midst of all the present troubles and turmoil, we find reported in the media? What change has Jesus’ reign brought the world? On the other hand, since Jesus claimed his Kingdom is not **of** this world (John 18:36), his reign as King cannot be judged by how successful or ineffective worldly kingdoms are. In other words, one cannot judge the effectiveness of Jesus’ Kingdom by the standards of success or failure of worldly kingdoms (1Corinthians 2:14-15).[1]

Jesus works both in the Church and in the world today regardless of the righteousness of Church leaders or those heading up nations or national organizations. Jesus is God Almighty (Matthew 28:18), and that means he is able to cause all things, whether good or evil, to work for the good of his disciples, who love him and are working out his plan of saving the world (Romans 8:28). Knowing this should tell us that Jesus didn’t call the righteous to do this great work, but the forgiven and grateful folks, who are willing to lay aside their own goals to work to attain and fulfill the will of God. We are not a special group of people who are above the dangers and temptations faced by ordinary people in this world. No, we are all very much like Peter, who, when he thought he could do a good work in the flesh, ended denying the Lord, he wished to serve. We must not ever forget that the flesh isn’t equipped with such goodness that we could serve the Lord, simply by working out the desires of our own hearts (Romans 7:18; cp. Mark 7:21-23). No matter what our motives are, the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21)[2] are opposed to the works or fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25).

In my previous study, we saw how some leaders in the Church get it wrong, sometimes very wrong, and end up embarrassing the name of Christ and hurting the Gospel effort. They, not those who get it right, end up making headlines in today’s media. Whether or not Peter would have made headlines for denying Christ, certainly Judas would have for betraying him. How do either or both of these men reflect the reign of Christ over the Earth? How did Christ handle the fallout brought to the Gospel due to the behavior of these two men, and how does that reflect how he handles such problems in the Church today?

The scriptures tell us that some sins are not unto death, while others are (1John 5:16), vis-à-vis some sins can be forgiven outright, while others need to be punished.[3] What did Judas do by betraying the Lord? It even appears that he may have thought, he was doing a good thing in Jesus’ service, because Jesus told him to do it (Matthew 26:21, 25; John 13:27-30). Judas’ sin wasn’t an ordinary sin; it was an act of rebellion. Judas tried to force Jesus to do what he wanted him to do, vis-à-vis act like the Messiah and destroy Rome. Judas couldn’t be restored without being punished.

On the other hand, Peter’s denial wasn’t an act of rebellion.[4] Instead, he acted in the flesh, as a spy to gain Jesus’ release, but that ended badly by Peter denying the one he hoped to save from death. Peter was repentant in the face of his denial, but was also in great despair over what he had done. He could no longer trust himself, and he figured he should go back to the fishing business and leave the Gospel to more spiritual folks (John 21:1-3). Nevertheless, although Peter was forgiven, he needed to be restored, which is what Jesus did (John 21:15-19).

“Forgiveness and restoration” (John 21:15-19) are Jesus’ methods of dealing with the fallout caused by the Church behaving badly in the world, while we preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Nevertheless, rebellion (Genesis 3; cp. Matthew 12:31-32) is a different issue entirely. Folks who rebel against the Lord, can be restored, but not without both repentance and punishment (cp. 2Samuel 12:9-14). Judas rebelled, but, although he regretted what he had done (Matthew 27:3-5), he never repented. Therefore, Judas couldn’t be restored without being punished (1John 5:16). On the other hand, Peter not only regretted his sin (Matthew 26:75), he repented (Luke 22:31-32; John 21:1-3) and was restored by the Lord (John 21:15-19).

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[1] We are in my last few studies based upon the Jesus we find in N.T. Wright’s book, Simply Jesus. While Dr. Wright is my favorite Biblical scholar, I don’t always take the position he does in his book, or I take his position perhaps further than he did, and he may not agree in total with how I’ve interpreted his work. Therefore, anyone who has been following these studies needs to read Dr. Wright’s book, if he or she wishes to be certain what the scholar believes.

[2] While works of the flesh include acting immorally, they also include seeking to fulfill the will of God through immoral means, such as modern white Evangelical Christianity’s support for Trump’s Presidency in return for Supreme Court Justices that would overturn Roe v. Wade. Their efforts do not serve Christ and are an embarrassment to the Gospel effort. One simply cannot use the power that crucified Christ to serve him in the Gospel.

[3] See my earlier studies: A Sin that Leads to Death and Unbelief: Too Heavy a ‘Rock’ for God to Lift?

[4] See my earlier study: Peter’s Disabled Spirit Healed.