Bill Johnson - The Life of the Cross Is a Life of Resurrection
While the life of Resurrection is the Christian life, you only get there through the cross, and it is a daily expression of surrender that invites the spirit of Resurrection. Grab your Bibles and open to Matthew 26. I have quite a different word than I normally bring. I’ve got several verses here that I feel I have the time to look up; I’ve got them ready. Jesus never invited anyone to follow him so they would be blessed; he never used prosperity, and he never used success. He didn’t come to the political zealot and say, «Listen, I’ll make you successful as a great politician if you follow me.» He didn’t come to Peter and say, «I’ll make you the most blessed fisherman ever if you follow me.» He didn’t entice anyone with blessing to follow him, which is fascinating because his kingdom carries such a boatload of blessing.
It reminds me of how Jesus says there’s a straight and narrow way into the kingdom; it’s a narrow road. Jesus himself is the door, and it’s a narrow road that leads into the kingdom. Once you’re in the kingdom, the kingdom is very vast and very broad, but entrance is only one way, and it’s the entrance of discipleship; it’s the entrance of the cross. It’s embracing what is foolishness to all who are without Christ. Paul says in Corinthians that he preaches the cross, which is foolishness to those who are perishing but yet is the wisdom of God to those who are being saved. I love that phrase, «being saved,» because I was saved, but I’m also being saved, and someday I’m going to be saved. This three-dimensional aspect of salvation is absolutely the heart of the Gospel. I was saved X amount of years ago when I gave my life to Christ, but there is a work going on right now where I’m being saved, and someday I will see him face to face, and he will complete what was started.
In this talk, I want to bring up an unusual story that we’re familiar with: the betrayal of Judas. The context for the betrayal—I’ve got to be honest with you—is something I’ve been reading and studying for a lifetime, since I was 18. Yet I’ve never seen the context for his betrayal in this way. So let’s take a look at it: Matthew 26. Did I tell you where? No, Matthew 26. How many of you are already there? I want to see how many prophetic people are here. There are quite a few of you; that’s good. Yeah, you know Matthew 26. Some of you are already there; that’s kind of frightening to me. I did say the chapter but not the verse, and you guys are starting to scare me now.
In the early days of the renewal, we would discuss things in private as a staff, making plans, and somebody in the church would have a dream. We couldn’t do anything because the Lord would reveal to everyone the secrets we had as a staff about what we needed to do or plan, and someone would prophesy. We would say, «Come on, can we keep a few secrets?»
All right, Matthew 26, verse 1. It came to pass when Jesus had finished all these sayings that he said to his disciples, «You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.» Take a look at verse 2 again: «You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.» Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill him. Jump down to verse 14. Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, «What are you willing to give me if I deliver him to you?» They counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. So from that time, he sought opportunity to betray him.
Let’s take a look at the context here. What were the disciples anticipating with Jesus? We see it in their dialogues, such as when James and John’s mother talks to Jesus, asking if her boys can sit at his right hand and his left. They are all vying for a political posture of power. They are looking for Israel to be vindicated and restored to a place of prominence—can I say a place of political prominence and power? They are looking to be disciples of Jesus, believing they will be brought into this empire of rule and will each have a place of influence and significance. When did Judas betray Jesus? When he finally realized it was not going to happen that way. His selfish ambition undermined his discipleship and eventually set him up for betrayal.
The sobering part of the story, which we don’t have time to explore in detail, is that all of the disciples abandoned Jesus at his moment of need. Peter was the most vocal; the one who had no return was Judas. However, they all had some measure of betrayal. I’d like to suggest that when they lost their place, their position, their prominence, they suddenly had to apply the concept of the cross in a way different than they had expected.
I’m reminded of what I think is a funny story of a guy climbing a cliff. He gets up so far that he knows he can’t go back down but is afraid he will die if he tries to climb higher. He gets stuck and cries out for help. A voice comes back, saying, «Yes, this is the Lord; I’m here to help you.» He asks, «What do I do?» The Lord replies, «Let go.» He yells, «Is there anyone else up there? Do I have any other options?» Most of our concepts of the cross are self-inflicted instead of embracing the circumstances of life that require something from us that we were not expecting. Jesus did not hang himself on the cross, nor did he crucify himself or raise himself from the dead. It’s important to remember this because while the life of Resurrection is the Christian life, you only get there through the cross. It is a daily expression of surrender that invites the spirit of Resurrection.
The spirit of Resurrection is not at our disposal in the sense that we can direct or control it at will, saying, «I will now have the spirit of resurrection over my finances, the blessing of the Lord on my family,» or whatever. It’s not in my control. What is in my control is surrender. It is my responsibility to create a platform for the spirit of Resurrection to come and do something in me and through me that testifies of grace. Jesus gave himself to crucifixion, to a cross, to death, trusting he would be raised. He did not lay there for three days, saying, «Yeah, it should be about time to get up.» He did not raise himself. He was resurrected by the spirit of Resurrection through the Father. That is perhaps the best and ultimate illustration of the crosswalk of a disciple.
Here’s the fascinating part of this journey for me, found in the verses between what I read—where Jesus announced the crucifixion and Judas’s betrayal. I want you to look at that part of the story. It’s in verse 6: When Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. When his disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, «Why this waste? For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.» Jump down to the last half of verse 13: «What this woman has done,» Jesus says, «will be told as a memorial to her.»
I personally think you will be able to review that story in heaven, and I think the Lord will unfold eternity, unveiling layer after layer of the beauty of Heaven, the beauty of sacrifice that this woman offered to honor Jesus at his death and burial. It says the disciples raised their voices in complaint about this waste. Unbelief will always evaluate extravagant giving as waste. This gift was equal to a year’s income. We have heard this countless times; one year’s worth of income, and this woman takes it and pours it out, and the disciples begin to bicker, «Why this waste?» John chapter 12 tells us it was actually Judas who led the charge as he complained against this woman who wasted a year’s worth of income.
To illustrate this, consider that everybody is watching fifty thousand dollars evaporate before their eyes. There was only one person in the room who celebrated the moment and understood it: two celebrated—Jesus and the woman. Sometimes you do things honestly for an audience of one. It’s only for him, and only he gets it. John 12 says Judas was the one who complained against this offering, this sacrifice, and it states it’s because Judas was a thief. He wanted that oil to be sold, put in the treasury, because he was the treasurer who would steal money for himself.
It’s fascinating to me how morality demands expression. Here we have someone with secret sin taking money that was given to Jesus personally and privately, holding off for themselves, and pointing at the waste of someone else. Hidden sin invites the spirit of accusation. Why? Because there’s something in us that morality values, which demands expression. You’ll see it, perhaps in a silly example, with the mafia as they contend for family. An unrighteous lifestyle claims a righteous position, or those who are the most fervent promoters of abortion defend the rights of animals instead. It’s not to mock the animal rights movement; it’s to say something is broken, and oftentimes people will try to cover it with a righteous expression. We saw it back in the 80s when different Christian leaders who were the strongest critics of immorality were often the ones practicing hidden sin.
It doesn’t mean we don’t address these issues; it just means we must act out of our obedience, not out of our effort to silence our own shame. I find it humorous, although I’ve made these mistakes myself, how some people will confess their sin. For example, Jesus convicts you of being lazy. Instead of saying to your friend, «I need you to pray for me; I’m lazy,» we say, «I need you to pray for me; I lack discipline.» Jesus never convicts for a lack; he convicts for something that’s wrong. True confession owns up to the whole picture and doesn’t try to create a soft edge to make me look better.
Have you ever apologized to somebody? I remember as a young man apologizing to someone and saying, «God has really convicted me, and I need to apologize to you for saying something harsh.» «Will you forgive me?» Why did I need to say, «God has really convicted me»? Because I wanted to appear spiritual, even in my sin, as a strong spiritual person. Are you getting this? There’s this effort to protect ourselves, and what we actually do is protect ourselves from the full effect of the cross because it’s the genuine cross that leads to genuine Resurrection.