a different kind of plan

I just finished reading a sermon by John Piper - Judas Iscariot, the Suicide of Satan, and the Salvation of the World. Piper wraps up the sermon with this paragraph:

The reason why this series of messages matters is this. If you embrace the biblical truth (and I pray you will) that God ordains spectacular sins for the global glory of his Son, without in anyway becoming unholy or unrighteous or sinful in that act, then you will not shrink back from the cross of Christ as a work of God. You will not be among the number of those who call the most loving act that ever was “divine child abuse.” You will come to the cross and fall on your face. And you will say: This is no mere human conspiracy. This is the work of God and the love of God. You will it receive as his highest gift. And you will be saved. And Christ will be glorified. And I will not have preached in vain.

So now you see the point that Piper was trying to drive home with this message. I picked up on something else though. Another thought stood out in my mind and has left me in awe and a bit nervous I guess you could say.

Piper's first main point was about Judas Iscariot's betrayal. He spoke of how Satan came into Judas. Jesus hand picked Judas to be one of His own. Judas must have been doing something right for Jesus to actually select him. How special and amazing it must have felt to have Jesus select him. Just think of how amazing it is when Jesus has us play a little part in his work - whether it's singing in the choir, helping at a kids camp, even cleaning up the church. Anything Christ lets us do for Him, helps us feel special for Him allowing us to play a part in His work. Judas knew Jesus, personally face-to-face. He knew His beard pattern, the lines on His hands. Judas knew the sound of Jesus' laugh and saw when He cried. We trust in Jesus by faith alone, Judas knew Him as the Man He was. Think of grade school out on the school yard when teams were being chosen. Think of what it felt like to be chosen first. Now combine that feeling with the honour we feel when we are chosen to play part of Christ's work. Judas must have felt 10 million times better than that when Jesus walked up to him and told him to be one of His personal followers.

Then it all went bad for Judas. He didn't clean up his act. He loved money and never kept his hand out of the group's money bag. Too often we let our little sins stay around even when we are following Jesus and doing our little ministries. Judas' sin left an opening for Satan to get in. Satan entered Judas and used him to betray Jesus before the cross. 

God's hand was over every single detail of Christ's death on the cross. It was His plan that was carried out, not Satan's. Jesus chose Judas first to follow then used his sin to let Satan in and carry out part of God's plan. How thankful we must be that God has not used us to carry out a part of His plan as that. God uses sin to show His glory. We must guard ourselves from even the little sins. We must continue to pray and ask God to guard us from those sins. We must remain faithful and pray that God will allow us to be faithful to Him. God's will be done, but I pray I will never be used to carry out the part of God's plan as Judas was.