“Too smart for your own good.” Ever heard that evaluation before? Judas thought he was wise and had planned shrewdly. Betraying Jesus was, to his judgment, a smart move. Yet human wisdom is often faulty – and when contradicting divine truth is always dangerous. In this short communion service Pastor Clark explores how we can learn from yet another aspect of the Last Supper with Jesus.

<p>“Too smart for your own good.” Ever heard that evaluation before? Judas thought he was wise and had planned shrewdly. Betraying Jesus was, to his judgment, a smart move. Yet human wisdom is often faulty – and when contradicting divine truth is always dangerous. In this short communion service Pastor Clark explores how we can learn from yet another aspect of the Last Supper with Jesus.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Dalton SDA Church

Chester Clark

Too Smart


Well, the story is told of a certain lawyer in the state of North Carolina who had 2 dozen very expensive cigars. He had a bright idea. He took out an insurance policy on these cigars. After the insurance company had cashed his check, he proceeded to smoke the cigars and then filed claim, saying they had been destroyed in 24 very small fires. Now this case as you might imagine had to be adjudicated And when it went before the judge, the judge said, actually it's a frivolous case, we understand, but the policy did not give exceptions.

And according to the policy, those cigars were insured against fire. And so he ordered the insurance company to pay this man's claim. The insurance company paid, then waited for him to cash the check. And as soon as he cashed the check, they had him arrested for 24 counts of arson against insured property. Now this illustrates how sometimes we can be too smart for our own good.

When I think of the last hours of Jesus' life, I remember how particularly 1 person, but really more than 1, also illustrates too smart for their own good. We think of Peter, of course. Peter knew himself, right? Peter knew he was the most brave and fearless of the disciples. He assured Jesus that he would never deny him.

But Jesus knew Peter better than Peter knew Peter. I think also of Judas. Judas was a very, very wise man. In fact, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to chapter 26 of Matthew. Matthew chapter 26, We find the story here of Jesus and Judas.

And it all began at that feast at Simon's house. You remember, we've studied that together, the feast at Simon's house where Mary breaks the expensive box of ointment and anoints Jesus' feet, and Judas is 1 of the disciples. In fact, he's the 1 who says, why this great expense, for this might have been sold and brought a large sum, and the money could have been given to the poor. The Bible tells us that he didn't say this because he was really worried about the poor, but because he was the treasurer of the disciples in Jesus' ministry, and he was a thief. But of course, the disciples didn't know that.

Even Judas didn't know that. He had rationalized his thievery into thinking he was simply compensating himself for his amazing services. But Jesus knew Judah's heart. And the Bible records how Jesus, instead of going along with the criticisms that came from Judas and the others, Jesus gave an unqualified affirmation of Mary. When He said, "...Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this Gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial for her." Then the Bible says, this is Matthew 26 now, verse 14, then, Stinging from the very kind, covert rebuke that Jesus had given Judas, then Judas went out to the chief priests and said, what are you willing to give me if I deliver him to you?" Now we might say, well, Judas, this wasn't a very smart thing to do, but actually, Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, we can see that.

For Judas, this was brilliant. You see, Judas' reasoning went something like this. I like the way it's concisely described in the book, Desire of Ages, a commentary on Jesus' life. It says, Judas reasoned that if Jesus was to be crucified, the event must come to pass. It's gonna happen anyway.

His own act in betraying the Savior would not change the result. But if Jesus were not to die, if he was not to die, it would only force him to deliver himself. At all events, Judas would gain something by his treachery. He counted that he had made a sharp bargain in betraying his Lord. Now the reality was that Judas did not really believe what Jesus said, that was the problem.

Jesus has said I'm gonna die, but even though Judas knew that was 1 of the possible outcomes, he really did not believe that Jesus was going to allow himself to die. He believed that he was going to sit on David's throne. He was going to become the king in Jerusalem over the earthly empire of Israel. And so Judas reasoned that in his role of sort of forcing the hand of Jesus to deliver himself and to proclaim his dominion and to set up his kingdom, Judas would be seen as the brilliant stratetician That he was. And that he would in fact forever settle the question of who was to be greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

In Judah's mind, This was very shrewd and very wise. The problem was that Judas hadn't listened very closely to the words of Jesus. In fact, Jesus had said on that last supper, which we are remembering here today, after Judas has gone out to bargain with the chief priests and rulers, Jesus says to his disciples, "'Assuredly, I say to you, 1 of you will betray me. Now pause there for just 1 moment. Each quarter we remember the Last Supper, right?

We have a communion service, That's what this is about, the bread and the wine. We're remembering it. But we don't reenact that part of it, do we? We sometimes don't think too much about the fact that Jesus here, knowing his disciples' hearts, is saying that 1 of you is going to betray me. As I studied that this week, I just realized that maybe we ought to take heed to that part of the Last Supper too.

Jesus knows our weaknesses, doesn't He? Jesus knows our weaknesses, and the Bible goes on and each of them said, Lord, is it I? And as they're eating and Jesus is dipping His bread in the dip there in front of him, somebody else is also doing the same at the same time. And Jesus simply says, he who dips his hand with me in the dish will betray me. And Judas, rather shocked and stunned by this exposure.

He says, Rabbi, is it I? Of course he knew the answer to that question. He had already bargained. Jesus said, you have said it. So Jesus had given ample evidence to Judas that he knew his heart.

He knew the future. He had more than human wisdom. And yet Judas, we might say, was too smart for his own good. He was too trusting in his own ideas. Is it possible, and I say this as we are about to go and just to reflect upon the example of Jesus.

But is it possible, beloved, that you and I today might still sometimes be too smart for our own good? Is it possible that you and I, we might trust our own way of thinking, our own perception, our own opinion of things, our own worldview, when really we've had ample opportunity to hear what God says about something. This is just an opportunity for me to ask the Lord today, Lord, help me not to be too smart for my own good. Help me to be willing to be surrendered to your truth, to your Word, even when it says things and tells me things that cuts across my preconceived opinions and ideas, my long-established habits, my personal preferences, my pride. Help me not to be too smart for my own good, but help me to trust Your wisdom.

Is that your desire today? You want to ask the Lord, Lord, just let me have your wisdom and be willing to surrender my own to you. Let's bow our heads as we pray. Father in heaven, today we thank you that you have given us an opportunity to remember your words on that night so long ago. We thank you for this time of reflection.

We thank you for this time of practicing, as you told us to, to do in remembrance of what you did. We just pray that we might learn from the mistakes of others, not have to repeat them ourselves, that we might not be too smart for our own good, but Lord, if there's something in our lives that would be contrary to your will, help us not to rationalize, not to look for excuses, simply to submit ourselves to your word, to your wisdom, to your will, knowing that in the end, our wisdom, our own smartness, apart from yours, leads to suffering and death. But Yours, Your Word, Your Will, Your Wisdom in our lives leads to eternal life. May this be our experience, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. This media was brought to you by AudioVerse, a website dedicated to spreading God's Word through free sermon audio and much more.

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Too Smart

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